Sprint Officially Sucks

[Tony Laubach]

I am officially retracting any and all recommendations I've ever given for Sprint.

Last month, I added my phone-as-modem plan (Feb 19) which allows me to attach my phone to my laptop and use it as a modem. Later in the month, I saw my minutes being calculated separately, and called to ask why to find out they cancelled my voice plan without consent. After 45 minutes of fighting my way up the chain, I was finally put back to normal. This was phone call #2.

Phone call number 3 came when I received my bill a few days later. They billed me for the used minutes and failed to credit me for them. This was a quicker phone call and the credit was promptly issued. I was happy again...

Until today; I called them to confirm that all my plans were taken care of. On this, my 4th phone call regarding this incident, I went through to confirm my plan useage. When I asked about the phone-as-modem plan, I was informed that it was not currently activated on my plan. I asked them to add it on and was FINALLY informed that the phone-as-modem plan which I used in conjunction with my voice plan last year was no longer offered in conjunction with a voice plan. It has to be one or the other.

I'm livid right now. Absolutely livid. This change in policy took effect in February of 2007. A bullsh*t change in itself, but considering the crap I endured over the last month and today was the first time in FOUR phone calls I've heard of this is absolutely absurd!

If it weren't for the fact I just invested a bunch of money in the new phone and internet capabilites, I would pull my service from them today, no questions asked. Whatever cancellation fees they charged me would be well worth getting away from them.

So yeah, I'm far beyond annoyed right now with this company and am publically suggesting anyone looking into cell phones stay clear of Sprint. I feel completed cheated and horribly uninformed by them and would not recommend them for anything other than a giant pain in your @ss!

 

[John O'Keeffe]

Tony,
I agree with you 100%. I have had alot of trouble with Sprint over the last couple of years with their customer service department. If there is any kind of billing dispute it takes an act of congress for them to make any changes. If you get them to agree to any changes you end up having to call them back 3 or 4 times to remind them of the changes before they take effect. My contract with Sprint is up on March 14th and I have already changed my service to Verizon. I get alot better coverage with Verizon in remote areas and they have a better customer service department.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I sent them the following email... I'd rather not go through the trouble of changing providers, phones, etc... so using some of what I've learned from working with a big corporation, I threw this to them...

Please forgive my direct email; the email/contact form on your website is not working.

Last month, I added my phone-as-modem plan (Feb 19) which allows me to attach my phone to my laptop and use it as a modem. Later in the month, I saw my minutes being calculated separately, and called to ask why to find out they cancelled my voice plan without consent. After 45 minutes of fighting my way up the chain, I was finally put back to normal. This was phone call #2.

Phone call number 3 came when I received my bill a few days later. They billed me for the used minutes and failed to credit me for them. This was a quicker phone call and the credit was promptly issued. I was happy again...

Until today; I called them to confirm that all my plans were taken care of. On this, my 4th phone call regarding this incident, I went through to confirm my plan useage. When I asked about the phone-as-modem plan, I was informed that it was not currently activated on my plan. I asked them to add it on and was FINALLY informed that the phone-as-modem plan which I used in conjunction with my voice plan last year was no longer offered in conjunction with a voice plan. It has to be one or the other.

I'm livid right now. Absolutely livid. This change in policy took effect in February of 2007. A bad change in itself, but considering the crap I endured over the last month and today was the first time in FOUR phone calls I've heard of this is absolutely absurd!

Because the phone-as-modem plan was a vital part of my business, I am fully ready to pull my service from Sprint regardless of any cancellation fees which are brought about. This change and the lack of information given to me fully demonstrates the inability to maintain any type of customer support. I invested good money in upgrading my phone to the Treo 700p on the basis I could use it as a phone-as-modem before this change in your policy took place. Thus I also feel completely mislead and lied to; what I feel is basis to get out of my contract with NO fees on my behalf.

I would be willing to work something out to keep me as a customer as I require unlimited data access on the road. Its not so much that you no longer offer a very convienient plan, but the fact that after everything I went through over the phone over 4 phone calls, it took THIS long or someone to inform me of this change. Had I been informed on the first phone call on Feb 19, it would've made this much easier on everyone.

Now I understand fully you're a multi-million dollar company and could honestly care less about losing a customer, so I'll spare you the usual rants. However, I am fully prepared to take my service elsewhere. I have been a well documented customer of yours for over a year now. I pay my bills on time and give you a healthy chunk of money monthly and assuming we can work out, will be giving you even more money over the coming months. Again, I understand this is simply pennies to you, but understand my situation.

I'm not asking for free service; what I am asking for is something along these lines.

I will not pay for additional equipment as I have already spent $400 on a new phone to cover this plan which I can no longer use. I would be happy to use a data card with unlimited access for the phone-as-modem plan price of $49.99/month. However, I also have no desire to want to extend my service contract, thus would ask that this plan be attached to my current plan.

I feel this is fair considering the trouble which has resulted in the lack of communication to me by your company in regards to this recent change. I also feel this would make up for the misleading information in regards to my upgrading of phones which I specifically looked for phone-as-modem capabilities.

I am making this offer on my behalf and would appretiate a prompt response. My customer information is below.

Sincerely,

Tony Laubach

A long shot, I know... but I'd rather take my chances with this before I go through the shpeel of changing everything again. I think its a fair offer all things considered, but we'll see if it makes any difference on them. I'm shopping around elsewhere in the meantime...

 

[Tony Perkins]

Wait.... wha? You can't have voice and phone-as-modem on the same device anymore? Is this because it's a Treo? I hope they aren't going Verizon's route of absurd mobile internet prices.

 

[Caleb Kimbrough]

Tony, how long have you been with sprint?

Three of my friends, including my girlfriend, work in the customer care department at Cingular so I know a few of the ins and outs of the cell phone business by just listening to them talk all the time.

If you've been with them for awhile, then they will do more for you. One thing that they stress at Cingular is that if any long standing customer threatens to switch to another company and cancel their plan, then the customer service rep should try almost everything to keep them from doing this.

If I were you I would call them (again) and ask them to do what you wrote in the letter, if they say no...then threaten to cancel your plan, better yet....threaten to switch to Verizon (they are known as the evil empire in the cell phone world).

Just a few thoughts... I hope you get everything worked out

Caleb

 

[Tony Laubach]

Wait.... wha? You can't have voice and phone-as-modem on the same device anymore? Is this because it's a Treo? I hope they aren't going Verizon's route of absurd mobile internet prices.

Apparently what they're doing is you can't have both, regardless of the phone you use. Last season, my phone-as-modem plan ran $39.99/month (special rate offered) and included unlimited tethering to my laptop and basic internet services on the phone, so I didn't need the additional vision plans. So figure the entire deal ran me an extra $25/month. This was on top of my voice plan, thus was an add-on and didn't require a new contract.

As of February 2007 (last month), they still offer the phone-as-modem plan for $49.99/month, however you cannot have a voice plan on the same phone at the same time. While the logistics of this make sense in terms of them milking more money out of customers, it's a horrible idea and one that wasn't well passed along to me when all this started last month. I'd have to get a separate phone with another line, or a connection card in order to connect. This on top of my current voice plan.

Tony, how long have you been with sprint?

If you've been with them for awhile, then they will do more for you. One thing that they stress at Cingular is that if any long standing customer threatens to switch to another company and cancel their plan, then the customer service rep should try almost everything to keep them from doing this.

If I were you I would call them (again) and ask them to do what you wrote in the letter, if they say no...then threaten to cancel your plan, better yet....threaten to switch to Verizon (they are known as the evil empire in the cell phone world).

Thanks for the advice! I'm hoping to avoid a phone call til at least tomorrow cause I'm not exactly ready to deal with a 5th phone call yet. I'll see where the email goes and then turn to the phone if I get a response which sends me that direction. I'm tired of talking to these people! LOL They have obviously hired people like the yuppie idiot who backed into me over the weekend to handle the phones! LOL

I've been with Sprint since Nov. 2005, so not terribly long, but I had a previous stint with them before I changed to Verizon.

 

[Brian Stertz]

More words about the Cingular vs. Verizon situation...

I prev. worked for Cingular for 5 yrs. in the customer service(billing) and tech dept. and can say this with firm conviction & experience that Cingular is a company that grew way too fast and too soon. The real goal it seemed was to become the biggest $$$$ cell company without spending the needed $$ to make sure the network was rock solid and dependable for it's customers . They've gobbled up lots of customers by essentially buying out smaller carriers so they can have this territory added on the "nationwide" network. Cingular does have some great techs working for that company, but they've got a ton more stuff to do to make the network they dream about having ...a reality. I would put Verizon and Cingular as #1 & #2...but the gap between the two is still pretty sizeable through the various categories that matter. Sprint sadly enough is a very distant third...paper thin network and way too much reliance on roaming agreements to make their coverage greater in most areas.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

I work with customers from all carriers and it seems the one that cares the most about thier customers and thier Satisfaction is ALLTEL . I am a Verizon Customer as we do not have ALLTEL here in Buffalo. Tony if you have Alltel in your area they do have tethering plans still

 

[Robert Edmonds]

This is partly why I haven't tried all that hard to get internet from a cell phone provider. All the plans, minutes, contracts, fees, its way too confusing I would likely spend lots of money be over charged and not be able to use it.

 

[Patrick Martin]

If they let you have the plan to begin with before, and then jacked up your service, I would think they would put you back. If there were no problems, would you have been booted off the plan, or would you have been grandfathered in. Seems like you are getting hosed on this one.

I manage a CS unit (not for a cell company though), and this is what I would suggest. Give them 24 hours, if you get no response, hop on the phone and call them. Do it when you have plenty of time. When the CSR answers, remain calm, and ask directly for a supervisor. They will follow their training and ask if they can help you and what the situation is. They may also say they need to know what it's about to transfer you - don't fall for this tactic. Just restate you are having an ongoing issue that is not resolved to your satisfaction, and inform them you need to speak to a supervisor. To make sure you get what you want, don't yell or curse, it gives them a plausible reason to disconnect the call and takes away from your credibility. Instead, stay calm, but be very firm throughout the call with the facts, how irate you are. As long as you do this, you are in charge of the call and you dictate the duration of the call and what direction it goes in, and what THEY need to do to keep YOU and everyone you know, as a customer. If you stick to your guns, you can wear them down. Are you still over at channel 7? If all else fails, it could not hurt to let them know you'd be happy to walk over to the Consumer Beat Investigative reporter to see how good of a story they think this might make and ask the person you are talking to if they should contact them directly. If you strike out, the next immediate step is to find out who the CEO of Sprint is (don't ask the CSA, you might end up with some lame complaint dept address), and fire them off a letter. Presidential complaints at my company are read by the president, and handled with kid gloves.

BTW, it's garbage like this why I dropped my wife off of sprint years ago and vowed never to return. Have had VZW for 10+ years and have rarely ever had an issue, and when I did, it has always been first call resolution.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

I had a similar customer service problem with Cingular a few years ago. I've been with Verizon since then, and have never had a complaint to file.

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

I used to have Sprint as well and we would lose service in my basement let alone the middle of western Kansas. I switched to Verizon last fall and it hasn't let me down yet.

 

[Mike Umscheid]

Kind of ironic to say this, but I feel fortunate to live out in western Kansas where this is ALLTEL territory. Alltel has an incredible network over the central and northern Great Plains, with roaming agreements with Verizon. I've heard too many horror stories with Sprint wireless internet. You would have to seriously convince me otherwise to say that there's a better network over the Great Plains as a whole than the Alltel/Verizon CDMA. Alltel customer service is also extremely easy to work with, and if there are issues with billing, they are extremly easy to work with to straighten it out. Tony, do yourself a favor, seriously consider Verizon out there in Colorado.

 

[David Drummond]

The nice thing is NOW Sprint can data roam on the Alltel network Mike...for free.

 

[Eric Whitehill]

The nice thing is NOW Sprint can data roam on the Alltel network Mike...for free.

Same with Verizon......

Verizon, Sprint, and Alltell are all getting very close in coverage maps.