Sprint can kiss my ass....
 

I was reading the Sprint Holiday special thread and it made me think about what I had to go through with Sprint just a month ago.

Sprint BY FAR has the absolute WORST customer service in the country.

I had a phone that wasnt even a year old, still under warranty and it quit working. Just stopped working, never took a charge. So I took it to a Sprint store (by the way there are 3 Sprint stores in Columbia, 2 of them by my house and one on the other side of town and lucky me the only store with a "diagnostics lab" was the one on the other side of town) figuring that they guy making $8 an hour at the front counter would take a look at my phone for 5 seconds and tell me there's water damage and tell me my insurance with a $50 deductible. Well I was right, he did do that and I told him to piss off and prove it. He pointed to a section of my phone (where the power source port is) and told me to look closely. There wasn't anything wrong with it. I looked him right in the eye and asked him "do you think I'm an idiot?" I obviously caught the guy off guard and he didnt know what to say. I asked to speak with a manager.

The manager came out and I asked him if it's common for your reps to take a look at someones phone for just a few seconds and just blatantly lie to people that there is water damage in their phone? He said no obviously. I said that I wanted a "lab tech" to take a look at my phone. He said that was fine and they kept my phone for a couple of hours to run test etc.

Come back from running errands since I was in the area and the lab tech reported that he couldnt find anything wrong with the phone. I asked him "ok so what's the next step?" He said that I could upgrade my phone for a couple hundred dollars, but I would get a rebate or some bullshit if I extended my contract. That sent a barbed wire right up my ass. I told him that I would decide to extend my contract when that time comes (next AUG '08) and that there was no way in hell I was giving them any of my money after I spent $300+ on this phone that no longer works anymore because of a possible manufacturing problem or something that you can't figure out.

I asked them if I could just have my phone replaced with what I had originally. Coincidently to them, the phone I had was no longer available and no longer was being made, but they could give me a phone with the same capabilities and functions as my phone. He now points me in the direction of the phone I hate more than anything in this entire world because it's such a piece of shit, the MOTOROLA RAZR!!! I told him that I would rather set my ball bag in a bucket of acid than to take that phone.

Then he didn't want anything really to do with me so he basically handed me a pamphlet and told me to go to this website and walked away and proceeded to help the next customer. I looked at the pamphlet and it was the god damned rebate upgrade information that I originally refused. As he walked towards someone else (this is when I get really pissed off) I cut in front of the person he was gonna help and I asked him if he was listening to anything I had to say? He then said Im sorry sir but you're gonna have to go to the website and call the toll free number for this situation as I can not help you further. Keep in mind this is the ****in manager of the store.

So I get home and wait a couple hours because Im so ****in pissed off I could kill a puppy and not feel bad about it. So knowing that I would get this ****in Paki over seas I called the number (after spending 15min it seemed like just selecting options so they can direct me to the correct dept.) and sure enough it was some ****in outsourced Paki that couldn't speak a damn worth of english. So I get easily irritated because of this because we aren't getting anywhere because there was such a communication barrier between us both. Finally politely I said could you please transfer me to someone else sir I am having an extremely difficult time understanding what you are saying. He said "I can speak louder" (as he raises his voice). I told him that wasn't the problem, and that I can hear him fine, but I couldnt understand him. He then repeated "But sir I can speak louder for you". I then just said that his English was terrible and to transfer me to someone else. So he transferred me (into a que as opposed to someone directly that speaks good english). I was on hold while he transferred me for 25 minutes.

Then the line picks up. Another Paki that I couldn't understand. I asked him off the bat if someone directly transferred me to him or did you just took the call from the que. He said the latter so that pissed me off. I asked then if there was anyone American in that office that could help with all due respect? He then said to hold and I interrupted him asking him how long it would take to get someone because I didn't want to hold again for nearly half an hour to get another person I can't understand because it was getting to the point where it was a on-going cycle. He said no more than a few minutes. I said that was fine. Nope, another half hour goes by.

Someone picked up the line and by god it was someone that could speak fluent English, it was the supervisor on duty. I told him the situation about my phone and complained about that particular store and manager and the wait and pretty much bitched about everything I had to go through with Sprint that day. I said all I wanted was to get my phone replaced that was still under warranty with the same phone. I asked if he could do that and he said yes. He said that he was gonna enter info in the computer and asked if it would be alright if I could stop by the Sprint store and pick up a temp phone until they can mail me my replacement. I said that was fine and asked how long that would take and he said no more than 5 business days, usually it's 3 though depending on the mail and they said to return the phone to the store once you get your replacement phone. I said no problem and thanked him for assisting me after all I went through and he apologized for the inconvenience (even though he could give a shit, and has to say that for the most part).

So at this point I feel better about the situation.

10 days later......

Still didn't get anything so I called Sprint again and immediately asked for the same supervisor I talked to previously without going through all of that bullshit again and they said hold and once again I asked for how long and they said a few minutes. They then said he wasn't available. I asked him if he was even at work? They said no, so then I smarted off back to them "So he's actually not at work today, instead of being at work and not being available like you somewhat implied. (I was getting pissed at this point). I asked to speak with another supervisor and they transferred me to (it was a she this time, not that it matters) to her and explained all of the shit I went through and what the other supervisor had informed me about my replacement and she said that there was nothing on file regarding that situation. I then couldn't help but to start cussing up a storm because that mother ****er lied to me just to get me off the phone after he had me waiting for a ****ing week or more to get my original phone I thought I was gonna get. She said that she was sorry and that she understood. I said no she didn't understand and proceeded to tell her that I currently work in a call center for one of the biggest companies in the country and that my company will at least try to rectify a problem as opposed to trying to blow it and the customer off, hoping that theyll never come back. She then basically fed me a whole line of bullshit and fine line print shit on my contract, and basically told me tough shit and that I can't have my phone replaced blah blah. I started to cuss again because Im still pissed that ****er lied to me and she said that she would take $50 off of my bill the next month. I told her I've been a Sprint customer for nearly 9 years and your gonna give me lousy $50 credit on my account? I told her **** this company and that I wanted to cancel my account WITHOUT the early cancellation fee since you are doing nothing to correct this situation. She then said she would do that and then I asked her if she really was gonna do that because I told her I have now started to record the conversation once I found out I was lied to (I was bluffing, I really wasn't), and she said that I will see it on my final invoice. I now have Verizon and Sprint can go **** themselves.

No wonder they deliberately canceled 20,000 customers and paid them 200 dollars or whatever it was just to get them off of the customer service lines, their customer service is so terrible they have pissed off customers calling them back week after week because they never help anyone.

I just ordered service from them and my damn order got completely fugged up. I have been going round and round with them on it and now have to wait until Friday to get my phone, that I received last Thursday, activated.

considering all the crap I have heard about Sprint and all the crap I am going though, I am of a mind to just cancel before my 30 days even gets here.

I ordered on the 12th got my phone on the 15th and won't be able to use it until the 26th if I am lucky.

On top of that, I don't know how many times they said they would call me back that day or the next and never heard word one from them. I have had to contact them almost daily.

Sprint is terrible, take that shit back before those 30 days are up, It will be the best move you can make with sprint.

It was either Sprint or nobody. It was the SERO plan for $30 per month for unlimited web/data and text. 500 anytime and free nights after 7pm.

Really good plan.

And I am actually considering dropping the whole thing before I even get to try it.

Cingular. The new at&t. Never had a problem. The only thing I haven't liked is having to wait until my contract is up before being able to upgrade my phone for free (with another two year contract). Even if I do it before my contract is up, though, I can usually get a good deal on another phone.

Yeah. I don't see any favorable deals with them though. No, if I cancel this, I won't be using anything but Net10 for quite a while.

I have the SERO plan. It's totally worth it. I get great reception, maybe 1 dropped call per 3 months, and haven't had any problems with them in the 8+ years I've had their phones.

Really looking forward to accessing the NFL Network with it too. UGH.

Do you use the Phone as Modem feature?

No. I don't have a laptop, so no need for me to do that.

Here's the sad part... when that piece of shit company finally keels over, it's going to hit the KC economy hard.

We had trouble with a couple of companies. Add to that my wife frequently travels to Russia. We use GSM phones, and as we travel we simply switch SIM cards. If a company causes us grief, then we simply get a SIM card from a new company, without being obligated to use their phones with long term contrats.

Sprint was our first cell company. We did not renew our plan when our first contract was up.

because their customer service SUCKS


and we had calls on our bill that was not ours ALL the time

Actually you adapt in time. You sort of set time aside each month to call your Sprint buddy and review the bill, have the changes made, fix the billing errors, and renew your friendship.

Sprint management has to be the sorriest bunch of people in the world if they dont understand the cost to sprint for the literally thousands of hours the sprint CS department spends just fixing their own screw ups. Sad to see such incredibly incompetent people running a company that size. None of that has squat to do with the unfair practices associated with contracts, contract extensions, bad phones, and no service that deals with the silly assed phone.

My greatest achievement with sprint occured once when I too went from rage into a calm but seething state and called Mr Esrys office...polite...I got Mr Esrys secretary, a delight to talk to and when I told her the purpose of m=y call was to see if Bill knew just one competent Sprint Employee I could talk to so I could get my issue fixed she started to laugh and she said I bet we can get it fixed....

She did, in about 10 minutes.

So my suggestion is to call the Chairmans office, be nice, polite...follow up...send any correspondence you send to the bastards to the Missouri or Kansas Attny Generals office. Its time we stop allowing ourselves to be so abused, taken advantage of, and defrauded of the time we spend fixing this crap.

Sprint is working furiously to improve service. I have not seen an effort like this in 10 years to improve things. Give them a chance and support your local business that employs 1,000's of us. I know it sucks right now but it is honestly going to get better I swear.

Cellphone services are all the same. a decent product for a decent price with poor service.

I had a situation with Sprint about my phone. Last year I moved from MO to KS. The move was no more than 40 miles. Over in NE KS Sprint has no towers so my phone was on analog roam. It sounded like I was talking in a can. I setup another service with Cellular One, about the only carrier out here, and called Sprint to see if I could end my service early. The Rep on the phone told me I would have to pay the early disconnect fee. I was a customer of Sprint for 5 years and they wanted more money out of me. I told her to shove it and I would wait out my contract ( I had 3 months left).

I waited until the last month of service and tried it again. I stated that I havn't used the phone in months and that my usage profile would prove it. She gave me a credit for the last months service and that was the end of those bastards!

I try to avoid anything with the letters "A T & T" in it.

I have never had Sprint. Verizon is as close to criminal in their business practices as I have ever seen though. My contract runs out with Cingular in January and I will be considering other carriers as they lied to me once. Other than that they have been OK at best.

verizon blows balls

Thank God I've never had to contact their customer service department. I have Nextel....and I'm looking for another carrier.

Anybody know how much their early termination fee is and if they prorate it?

I want to sign up for SERO, but I have to go Nextel in my area unless I sign up with a different zip code and have a different area code. Nextel's phone deals suck! PPLs CS nightmares worry me too.

But $30 for 500/min, free TXT, free data, nights at 7pm is sweet!

Is it possible get a similar deal by talking to the right ppl at other carriers?

I'm sure that they are getting those people in India trained to speak English as quickly as possible.

Don't get too excited about the NFL network. I tried that last year when I was living in Charlotte NC, where Time Warner rules cable television. They just absolutely refused to pick up the NFL network so I figured "No worries, I'll watch the games on my Sprint phone."

Wrong. When the games were slated to come on, the nfl network popped up a message on my phone that said "The area in which you reside does not offer the NFL Network and its Thursday night games provided. Please enjoy this alternative programming." It was awesome.

I've had Sprint for over 2 years now. I have some good and bad experiences with them. It's mostly bad though. Their customer service has improved TENFOLD since I signed up with them, and it's still a C grade at best. I've been lied too more times than I care to discuss. There is nothing really worse to me than inept individuals who are too lazy to find out how to do their jobs, so they just lie and tell me it's done.

It happens far too frequently. It has at times taken me 2 weeks to get the most simple of situations resolved. An example, my wife got a new phone. It broke. We had the internet cancelled and blocked off of our phones because at $40 a month for both lines, it was a little ridiculous. So I called and said I needed the internet restored long enough for the wife to get her ring tones, screensavers, and all of the other stupid ass shit that 23 year old girls want on their cell phones. They assure me it's done. I call the wife, it's not. I call back, same thing. Then, they turn my phone's internet back on. Nightmare. Finally 3 days later, it's taken care of.

They also credited me $35 for my time. That's the upside to Sprint. If you bitch, and you are willing to take the time, they'll compensate you for your bullshit. The only problem is, you will call them every single month. Reason being, you WILL be overcharged. A LOT!!! Every month it seems. Literally.

Upside for me, is I get a 28% discount every month because of a company I used to work for. I pay less than $100 a month for 2 phone lines, 6pm nights, 1500 minutes, etc. While Sprints customer service has improved, it still isn't worth a shit. Problem is, NO ONE'S is. NOBODY. Customer service died some time back in the 90's.

If you didn't have an MU flag in your avitar I would curse you til next Tuesday.......next Tuesday even you hear me Mary?

Then they lay you off a couple years later and continue to outsource to ****heads over seas.

I can't say the layoffs have not been totally ****ed up. Sprint has made employees pay for following the leader's orders. I can't argue that at all.

But ......that does not change the fact that things are being done to make stuff better.

I was with Sprint for 9 years myself, had numerous phones break and kept hanging in there because they were "local".

I finally dumped them and went to Cingular and haven't had one damn problem at all.

What a garbage company Sprint has become. Your phone money was spent buying a small bill board in the Sprint Center.

Sprint doesn't make phones. Sorry to disappoint you.

Also keep in mind Sprint was at the forefront of PCS type communications so a lot of the development and trial and error was done by Sprint.

Cingular\AT&T still has the most over prices plans and slowest network.

Horrible customer service or not....the SERO plan is money!

Hate to point this out, but your return policy on phones is only 14 days, not 30, and if it's not defective, you'll have to pay a termination fee.

Moreover, the "dumbass tech" was most likely looking for a small sticker on the phone that indicates water damage. It will have red or purple x's if it's fine. If it got wet, then they will blur and the person will know what happened to it.

Yeah, Sprint sucks. It's a complete crapshoot to get a competent rep on the phone, but it's like that with anyone. Verizon is a completely hopeless company, US Cellular sucked dog nuts, as well, and AT&T is still AT&T.

I worked at a RadioShack through college. I saw this crap a lot.

Correct. Sprint does not have a monopoly on this stuff. All the Telecom companies have bad service.

When my house burned, I lost the charger to my Net10 phone. Since Wal-Mart didn't have a charger for it they called Net10 who sent me a whole new phone, charger and all. Free.

I work at radioshack selling sprint and ATT. We honestly see stuff this bad all the time. The customer service for sprint is desperately understaffed and undertrained. I'm a rep and I've been put on hold for hours at a time. It's pretty awful.

I'd recommend T-mobile if you can get coverage for them. They've been rated first for customer service 6 years running. I actually just got hired at the T-mobile call center in springfield and the process is by far the most thorough hiring process i've ever seen with a cell phone company.

Anyways, yeah drop sprint. I really only sell sprint to customers if their deposit with ATT is too high. There's a reason a 500 deposit for ATT is a 150 deposit for sprint.

OK, so you are saying that they won't air the game on Sprint Mobile if my local service providers i.e., Cox, DTV, Dish, do NOT carry the game correct?

Every service in my region carries the NFL Network.