End a service contract during military duty
Which contracts
Phone, internet, TV, health-club, or health-spa contracts made on or after July 21, 2016, before you entered qualifying active service.
When it applies
Your active service lasts at least 90 days, and the provider cannot supply the contracted service at your duty location.
How to cancel
Within 14 days after receiving orders to report, send the provider written notice and a copy of the orders using the usual cancellation method. Name a future end date.
What changes
The covered contract may end without a termination penalty.
Have a contract crossing state lines? Ask whether New York law applies before canceling; a New York address alone does not settle it. Find military legal help .
Read the full conditions and limits
- Who it covers
- Someone who entered a covered service contract, or had one made on their behalf, before qualifying active military service.
- Service conditions
- Entry into active military service for 90 days or longer after the contract was made, with service at a location where the provider cannot supply the contracted service. The particular order must fit Military Law article 13.
- State connection
- The law gives no simple test based on where you live, signed the contract, serve, or where the provider operates. If the contract crosses state lines, ask whether New York law applies; selecting New York alone is not enough.
- Who must honor it
- The telecommunications, internet, television, health-club, or health-spa provider that made the covered service contract.
- What it covers
- A covered phone, internet, TV, health-club, or health-spa service contract executed on or after July 21, 2016 and before the qualifying active service, where the provider cannot supply the contracted service at the duty location.
- Relief
- The covered contract may be ended without a termination penalty after the statutory written-notice conditions are met. The section does not promise a refund of prior charges or cancellation of unrelated contracts.
- Timing
- The service period must be 90 days or longer. Deliver written termination notice within 14 days after receiving orders to report, and name a future date for the service to end.
- Notice and documents
- Send the provider written notice with a copy of the orders, using the industry-standard cancellation method, and specify the future termination date.
- How to use it
- Notify the specific provider, keeping the notice, orders, delivery record, and evidence that it cannot provide service at the duty location. Seek legal help promptly if the deadline or interstate reach is disputed.
- Limits
- The contract does not end automatically. A New York address, duty station, or provider branch alone does not settle whether the law applies to an interstate contract. Federal contract-cancellation rules have different conditions.
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