Amp'd revises shutoff date: July 31 at the earliest

Verizon has got to be rolling its eyes at this one. We're not too sure what's going on behind the scenes here, but Amp'd has seemingly somehow bought itself a few additional days of life on Verizon's backbone, moving its drop-dead date forward one week to next Tuesday, July 31. For customers -- or ex-customers, as the case may be -- expecting to wake up this morning and find a bricked Amp'd handset, we imagine this is probably a welcome reprieve. The frequently-asked questions list still claims customer service is dead as of the 23rd, though, so don't expect to get chatty with any Amp'd peeps this week.

[chuck @ Jul 24th 2007 1:33AM]

i like how the url to their suppport page is at promotions.ampd.com

"our latest promotion... we're going bankrupt and your phone will soon be useless!"

[o.kruetzmann @ Jul 30th 2007 2:09PM]

I wish I had a screencap of that page. At least they have a sense of humour in their dying days.

[Amp'd Pwned @ Jul 24th 2007 1:53AM]

Jesus, they can't even die right.

[JeffM @ Jul 24th 2007 1:54AM]

MVNUh-Oh!

Do you suppose they're on a pay as you go plan with VZW?

[Forest @ Jul 24th 2007 2:18AM]

Crap, i was spending the rest of the money on my pay as you go phone under the impression i only had an hour to use my phone....

[Josh @ Jul 24th 2007 3:32AM]

im a ampd customer, and im so pissed about this. not really that pissed about that as much as i think that they were trying to collect some money off me by taking my text package off.

i just went on the ampd site and read the news about them going out of business, they sent me a text about service cut off today, but thought it was because of my phone bill due. nope. wow.

with them for 4 months and now have to find a new company.

[AsianZensation @ Jul 24th 2007 4:07AM]

So basically here at amp'd corporate office we were given this extra time so that we can port out as many phones as possible before verizon takes over it. thats all. still closing as of August 1st.

[rene @ Sep 25th 2007 7:18PM]

i am behind 3 months on unpaid phone bills for ampd do i have to pay them if i do who do i contact about it. do i have to pay a cancellation fee too if so who do i contact. please help

[Teddy @ Jul 24th 2007 4:47AM]

did you have to pay an early termination fee?

[Teddy @ Jul 24th 2007 4:49AM]

The only thing that is bothering me and i read about a few others bothered about it is that we want to get new phones right away so that we can keep our old numbers. but not if that means paying an early termination fee for canceling the service before the 31st

[AsianZensation @ Jul 24th 2007 4:50AM]

you will not be charged the early termination fee. at this point we just want to port everyone so that they dont loose there numbers.

[Teddy @ Jul 24th 2007 5:06AM]

thank you asianzensation for the info, i actually read another comment you left somewhere else about your working conditions. and it was pretty hilarious. well thank you for the info cuz getting hit with a 150 fee would have been pretty stupid.

[SSNPGuerrilla @ Jul 24th 2007 9:33AM]

Spam.

[Lyn Steinberg @ Jul 24th 2007 9:34AM]

How very interesting... Amp'd happened to be a company in the communications business; unequivocally, their communication skills lacked!!! As for their accounting skills, they cashed our $300 check, yet refused to credit our account for it! Good riddance!

[Stace @ Jul 24th 2007 10:10AM]

They pushed the date back. Pushing it forward means it's coming sooner.

[bob @ Jul 24th 2007 10:54AM]

hmmm so should we bail now? Or if I don't care about keeping my number should I stick around and see if someone buys Amp'd....?

[asianzensation @ Jul 24th 2007 12:47PM]

at this point we dont know what may happen other then knowing that were being shut down on the 31st. verizon is not taking over the ampd service. what may happen is that the ampd content may be sold to Qualcom and then possibly continued by them....but nothing is certain. honestly if you dont care about your number then cancel service and move on.

[asianzensation @ Jul 24th 2007 11:14AM]

For all that where wondering about the early cancelation fee: well I stated earlier that you would not be charged the fee. Unfortunately because of the crappy management we have left here at Ampd. I cannot confirm anymore if you will or will not be charged that fee. I asked someone in management and all they could say to me was: "they didnt know what the billing was doing about that" so again is answers and information or lack of information why Amp'd is and was a horrible mis-managed company. so Teddy sorry, but I'll keep everyone posted as I try to get through the remaining days left here at Ampd.

[Nathan Smith @ Jul 24th 2007 1:26PM]

I'm a Helio customer and I don't know if I should be nervous about this news. Amp'd after all is the major competitor to Helio as far as being similar to what they offer. I pretty much love my Helio and I am hoping Amp'd customers will consider Helio. I've heard rumors that Helio wasn't doing so well - but, they have some major money behind them - so I'm thinking they might survive.

[JT @ Jul 24th 2007 1:49PM]

It was announced the other day that Helio is doing quite well.

[Josh @ Jul 24th 2007 2:04PM]

I called Amp'd yesterday about everything that's going on. They told me that there will be no termination fee do to the circumstances. All we'll have to pay is the final bill for this month.

[Marcus @ Jul 24th 2007 2:57PM]

What do you mean customer service ends the 23rd? I have not been able to reach tech support for three weeks. I called the billing department, and their supervisor claimed only 20 ppl worked in tech support. Amazing.

[asianzensation @ Jul 24th 2007 5:04PM]

honestly with the hole Ampd has dug itself into and pretty much buried it self. I wont make sense at all if they charged customers that fee. Think about it, if Joe Dumbass went to Best Buy this saturday to purchase an Ampd Phone, has no clue that Ampd is shutting down on the 31st, and of course the pimpled face 17 year old harry potter look a like doesnt informed the customer either, and sells him the phone anyways. well for that customer to be charged the early cancelation fee would be unfair and just wrong and possibly ilegal. Oh and if anyone is curious, Ampd will still exist up north in Canada with Telus. Apparently our fearless leader or Ex-leader CEO adderton, will try to sell the Ampd content to Qualcomm as long as the Bankruptcy judge and Qualcomm agree to it. Which means Adderton will still be making money of the deal and leaving the rest of the remaining Ampd employees broke, jobless and absolutely upset....some are saying if that deals goes down then they would go work for Qualcomm. FUCK THAT! FUCK AMPD! i would never work for anyone still providing Ampd Service!.....well unless they paid me alot more then what i was getting.

[VeryPissesLSP @ Jul 27th 2007 11:38AM]

I'm an Ampd customer and I got a text today (and one yesterday) in regards to the close down/termination of service on my phone, now I just paid the bill, because I didn't even get an email of what was going on! The girl at the customer service center, when I paid the bill, didn't even tell me anything either, it was like everything was fine, I found this site through a friend - this sucks!

[Teddy @ Jul 27th 2007 3:05PM]

well i figured the company was closing down on monday so i ordered a new phone from sprint and requested for them to port my number. Since ampd isn't getting shut down or at least not for another week, am i gonna get hit with an early termination fee?

[{MHWW} DMan @ Jul 28th 2007 9:41AM]

i kept my amp'd moto razr and i switched over to verizon. too bad i have to pay more now for service.

[bob @ Jul 28th 2007 3:39PM]

DMan...Do your ring tones work? Did they update the software to make the phone interface look like Verizon's? Can you still use all of the phone features? Obviously not the Amp'd live.

[bob @ Jul 31st 2007 3:40AM]

As of 2:40AM central standard time I have full Amp'd service. Text, Talk, and Live.

What's the dealio!?

[andrew @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:26AM]

same here man now todays is thursday 8/02/07 and i still have fully ampd mobile services, what is going on, i need to know what is going to happen, should i switch or should i wait and see what hapeens

[Rob @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:34PM]

i'm wondering if they're trying to port numbers out still, 'cause its noon here and i still have service too. (actually just talked to the company i ordered my new phone from:) i'm a little concerned because i still have service and my new phone should be here tomorrow. i don't know what will happen when i try to activate it 'cause my number was supposed to be transfered. overall though i think this bankruptcy thing will be good for me cause my contract is up like... right now, and with all the rebates on my new phone i actually make $50, plus my new phone takes a micro sd card (the same card i got for free from ampd) haha!

[VA4Life @ Jul 31st 2007 5:24PM]

absolutely sucks. I ordered a amp'd razr 3 before I found out about the bankruptcy last week. Now I have to sell on ebay again. Better for me to stay with virgin mobile, at least they are a reliable pay as you go service. Topping up can be less than 15$ every 3mnths and free 5 minutes with sugar momma almost every day. Nothing is topping that. If there is a better pay as you go plan. Let me know......

[Al @ Jul 31st 2007 10:31AM]

Yes there is try PAGE PLUS Cellular. They allow you to keep your same number and same phone. They are also an MVNO on Verizon with awesome rates $25 for 300 minutes that do not expire for 120 days.

[VA4Life @ Jul 31st 2007 5:26PM]

Al what about browsing the internet with that service? and Amp'd live? non-existent, it also doesn't have messaging packs like virgin mobile and charges .50 cents a month for maintenance fees. I only use the cell about 5minutes a day to talk with virgin mobile service, so basically I don't pay anything to talk when I get free min. using sugar momma. Topping up only cost me $10 every 3months. Only pay as you go service I can think of that would be close as good is T-Mobile To Go, but would have to spend a 100$ to get the 1,000 minutes(.10/min.) and full yr. activation. Plus it's also a dollar a day to access the net. Don't get me wrong though Page Plus is a cheap service to just talk on. On the road though, internet on a cell phone comes in handy. Another problem is Amp'd is integrated in all their phones one way or another, which is annoying since amp'd service is(will)be gone. So I'm still forced to sell this Amp'd Razr.

[Lea @ Oct 7th 2007 5:14PM]

VA4Life I am thinking of getting Virgin for emergency phone use & few minutes adding Sugar Mama for some additional minutes. The cheapest I see is automatic renewal for $15 for 3 months. How do you only pay $10 for 3 months?

[VA4Life @ Oct 7th 2007 10:50PM]

some local gas stations have the $10 top ups

[cj @ Aug 1st 2007 2:49AM]

We found a local (but not official) Verizon seller here in Santa Barbara who flashed my daughter's phone. This allowed her to keep the phone and move to Verizon. She did have to take a new number, but it seemed like the cleanest way out. I advised her to call her credit card co. and tell them that Amp'd is no longer authorized to bill. We have tried to contact customer service at Amp'd and, of course, there isn't anyone to answer calls or e-mails, so....no way to cancel service. Pretty tricky, I'd say; file for bankruptcy, send a text to subscribers saying, "so sorry, we're outta here," shut down the customer service dept., and then bill customers for THEM breaking the contract!!! Trippy

[jim khan @ Aug 2nd 2007 3:06PM]

Anybody been able to use the phone with another company? anyone got their rebate?

[Geoff @ Aug 9th 2007 9:51PM]

I just bought the Moto-Q not even 2 months ago for $599 and I'm now looking for a class action suit!!! I went to Verizon to port my # today and they told me that I needed a NEW PHONE! For some reason they were not able to convert my Amp'd Moto-Q to a Verizon phone?? Same network, Same phone Verizon offers, What Gives!?!?! Amp'd obviously knew they were going bankrupt long before I bought this phone so how about a little heads up to their customers whose $ got them this far! Oh, I guess bankruptcy makes companies bullet-proof as far as lawsuits go so I'm really screwed huh?

[Geoff @ Aug 9th 2007 10:05PM]

My last post was actually dated 7-28-07 not 8-9-07. Sorry for any confusion. Verizon has said it will not allow Amp'd phones to be switched over on their plans because "Amp'd phones are not held to the same quality testing standards as Verizon's" What a bummer and Best Buy won't take my Moto Q back because I'm a month past their return agreement which is 30 days!!!! Not a snowball's chance in hell I'd try another "middle-man" company like Amp'd! Once you get screwed like this you learn to stick with an established wireless provider.

[Bobbi @ Sep 23rd 2007 4:30PM]

This company has taken advantage of alot of young people and it really pisses me off. My 14 yr old son just had to have their phone and service. He bought it back in December 2006. Here it is July 2007 and he never got his $100 rebate. They came up with every excuse not to pay, claimed the rebate forms were wrong. The hell they were. They should be ashamed of themselves for taking advantage of a bunch of kids trying to learn responsibility. Way to go Ampd, show them how life screws them if they are not careful.

[Lea @ Oct 7th 2007 4:34PM]

VA4Life I am thinking of getting Virgin for emergency
phone use & few minutes adding Sugar Mama for some additional minutes. The cheapest I see is automatic renewal for $15 for 3 months. How do you only pay
$10 for 3 months?