The Pain! The Agony! Sprint Sucks!

Here are my dealings:


My Complaint with sprint with the BBB and my Dealings with MR. Monk. I
have had two phone conversations with Mr. Monk which I hope I never
have to speak with this (IMHO) arrogant person again:

First Ccomplaint:
I began service with Sprint approximately 1 year ago this month. I
switched from verizon to sprint due to an internal email circulated by
my employer IBM, offering great deals on smart phones and great
discounts on services. There were quite a few issues getting service
setup, because I began my contract with sprint in ND, which was later
described to me as a 3rd party state, and no corporate stores exist in
this state. The sprint store here had to send for my families
equipment, which I later had to spend my own time on the phone with
sprint getting the devices setup and working correctly.

My very fist bill was around 1300.00, which was totally incorrect,
they charged me full price for everything and I was not given my
employee discount on services and devices. This literally took me six
(6) hours of my own personal time to get sorted out. I had to
constantly explain my situation, my IBM discount, and go through being
on hold for countless hours, while someone sorted this out.

After that month, I have had to call sprint every single month (12
months so far) about my bill and the constant over charging on my
bill. Features are added and removed without my consent, an example of
this is when I signed up with sprint, I was supposed to have had free
roaming, as I travel all over the US for my job. I had it initially,
then it disappeared off my plan, and I started being charged for
roaming. The customer service rep had the nerve to tell me first that
I never had roaming, and then later changed her story to that I
requested that roaming be removed from my service plan. I later had to
threaten to leave sprint, and had retentions figure out that someone
indeed make a change to my plan while fixing a billing issue in a
previous month and admitted, it was their fault.

I have given a conservative effort of atleast 35-40 hours of my own
personal time spent over the last 12 months and this past Monday I was
on the phone with customer service arguing as to why I was double
charged my monthly 149.99 plan. That call took 3 hrs, resulted in a
transfer to retentions and I explained my dilemma to a retentions
supervisor and he was the one most unapathetic people I have ever had
the pleasure of dealing with. After speaking with him, I had enough
and asked for a cancelation of my account without an ETF, and he
refused despite all my personal time I have spent rectifying sprint's
mistakes.

Mr. Monk's Reply:
April 4, 2008


Nick Buckley
Kansas City Better Business Bureau


Re: Complaint of Karl Martin
Notice of Informal Complaint dated April 3, 2008

Dear Mr. Buckley:

Sprint Nextel is in receipt of the above-referenced complaint of Karl
Martin.

Mr. Martin expressed his dissatisfaction with his February 2008
invoice balance and our Customer Service Department. Mr. Martin states
that he was charged for two months of service on his February 2008
invoice. Mr. Martin requests that we investigate this matter and allow
him to modify his contract to reflect a month to month Subscriber
Agreement.

Sprint Nextel spoke with Mr. Martin on April 4, 2008 regarding his
February 2008 invoice balance. Mr. Martin contacted our Customer
Service On March 2, 2008 to receive an adjustment for a $149.99 that
appeared on his February 2008 invoice. Unfortunately, an adjustment
was not applied to his account. Based on our research, Sprint Nextel
applied a $149.99 adjustment on Mr. Martin's account, thus leaving a
$137.71 balance on his account, on March 31, 2008. Sprint Nextel
considers Mr. Martin's Subscriber Agreements valid, which have not
modified due to this issue. Sprint Nextel apologizes for any
inconvenience this matter may have caused Mr. Martin. We are
continually seeking ways to Ms. Martin's feedback and that his
concerns have been forwarded to the appropriate managerial staff for
further review.

Please contact us if there are any additional questions about this
matter. If I can be of any further assistance, you may contact me
directly by calling (201) 964-8069, Monday through Friday, between
8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Eastern Time.

My rebuttal:
I think the complaint here in questions is not so much about last
months bill, but extreme disatisfaction with Sprints Billing Practices
and Timeliness of Customer Service to resolve this issue. I have
indicated repeatedly, I have spent around 40 hrs alone dealing with
billing issues and that is absurd.

I spoke with Mr. Monk briefly yesterday, April 4th, and he assured me
this would never happen again, and he would forward me his personal
contact information. He did not send me any contact information, even
though he took down my email address. So where I am left is dealing
with Sprints Customer Service if my bill is once again incorrect next
month. I am pretty sure there will be some sort of billing error.

Mr Monk's reply:
April 14, 2008


Nick Buckley
Kansas City Better Business Bureau


Re: Complaint of Karl Martin
Notice of Informal Complaint dated April 3, 2008

Dear Mr. Buckley:

Sprint Nextel is in receipt of the above-referenced complaint of Karl
Martin.

Mr. Martin expressed his dissatisfaction with his February 2008
invoice balance, Customer Service Department and billing overages he
incurred on past invoices. Mr. Martin requests that we investigate
this matter and allow him to modify his contract to reflect a month to
month Subscriber Agreement.

Based on our research, Mr. Martin visited our third party dealer,
Platinum Retailers, to activate a Sprint Nextel account. Mr. Martin
stated that he worked for IBM and wanted to ensure he received the IBM
employee discount on his equipment purchase. Mr. Martin was informed
that his Sprint Nextel Corporate equipment purchase should be
processed online, via the IBM intranet within his office. In addition,
Sprint Nextel has assigned IBM representatives to assist with the
activation of new accounts. Equipment purchases, price quotes and rate
plan questions can be answered via our IBM account managers. However,
Platinum Wireless provided assistance with Mr. Martin's equipment
order. Mr. Martin's IBM employee discount was added to his account
within 24 hours of the account's activation. Sprint Nextel applied a
$483.99 adjustment on Mr. Martin's account, on April 28, 2007, to
offset the equipment charges, taxes, and fees from the activation of
the account.

Our records reflect that Sprint Nextel applied a $113 adjustment on
May 22nd, 2007 for activation fees on his four phones, as a courtesy.
Also, Sprint Nextel modified Mr. Martin's Text messaging plan and
applied a $359.26 adjustment on Mr. Martin's account for text
messaging overages. In November 2007, Mr. Martin requested assistance
with the equipment replacement of phone number 218-230-8404. Mr.
Martin informed Sprint Nextel that he did not want a Motorola Q
replacement, but a Palm Centro device. Sprint Nextel assisted Mr.
Martin with this phone replacement, which was not within the
replacement policies of his Total Equipment Protection Plan. Mr.
Martin expressed his concern about a shipping delay he incurred before
he received his new Palm device. Sprint Nextel apologizes for any
inconvenience this matter may have caused. Our sales management team
investigated this matter in an effort to ensure this does not occur
again.

In review of Mr. Martin's account, he was provided with a $149.99 3000
minute plan, which did not include roaming. Therefore, Sprint Nextel
modified his rate plan to the $149.99 3000 minute plan that included
roaming, in January 2008.

Sprint Nextel spoke with Mr. Martin on April 4, 2008 regarding his
February 2008 invoice balance. Mr. Martin contacted our Customer
Service Department, on March 2, 2008 to receive an adjustment for a
$149.99 service charge that appeared on his February 2008 invoice.
Unfortunately, an adjustment was not applied to his account during
this conversation. Consequently, Sprint Nextel applied a $149.99
adjustment on Mr. Martin's account, thus leaving a $137.71 balance on
his account, on March 31, 2008. Sprint Nextel considers Mr. Martin's
Subscriber Agreements valid, which have not been modified due to these
issues. Sprint Nextel apologizes for any inconvenience this matter may
have caused Mr. Martin. We are continually seeking ways to Mr.
Martin's feedback and that his concerns have been forwarded to the
appropriate managerial staff for further review.

Please contact us if there are any additional questions about this
matter.

My final rebuttal:
First of all, I was not informed to process my IBM employee order
online. In fact at the time, the intranet site indicated I should go
to a corporate store to process my order and discounts. I did not
realize until after the fact, that I had gone to a 3rd party store
instead of a sprint corporate store. I realized this, when dealing
with retentions with my first bill of over 1200.00 and they informed
me that ND is still a 3rd party sprint state. As Mr. Monk points out
that a credit of 483.99 was applied to my bill and my IBM discounts
were taken into effect 24 hours after my account activation. Those
statements are false. I received credits totalling more than 483.99
and my IBM discounts were not applied until I called in about my first
bill and threatened to leave sprint if they could not figure out why I
was being over charged. My IBM discount was not applied, because I had
to _RE-VERIFY_ my employment with IBM over the phone with sprints
retention department.

Mr. Monk's statement that I received $113.00 adjustment for activation
credits is also false. Under the IBM plane, I was to receive free
activation. So that means, I should have never have been over-billed
that amount, and I should not have had to waste my valuable time in
trying to receive a credit. Mr. Monk is continually trying to spin
this as Sprint is doing no wrong and that they are so gracious as to
keep giving me credits, when they are really blatant over-charges to
my account.

As for the $359.26 credit for text messaging, that was an over charge
on sprints part. They messed up my plan by correcting a previous
billing error and some how removed roaming from my plan. I know this,
because I was told by retentions, this is what had happened. So
retentions had to fix my account and apply back over-charges I was not
supposed to have been billed.

As per my wifes replaced Motorola Q that was swapped out for a Centro,
again Mr. Monk is misleading this investigation. It was Sprint that
offered to replace it for a different model. My wife had gone through
four different Motorola Q's, one of which was DOA in the store itself.
The customer service rep, indicated maybe we should look at trying a
different phone, because the insurance replacements, which are
refurb's, are simply not up to quality. We agreed and choose a
different phone. What Mr. Monk also left out from our phone
conversation on (April 14th, 2008) one of the main reasons Sprint
wanted to swap out my phone, is because I indicated to Sprint that my
wife is driving out on country roads in ND when it is -40 degrees out.
Just so happens that the customer service rep used to live in MN and
was a mother herself and perfectly understood my plight. Mr. Monk,
again can spin this anyway he wants, bottom line, sprint offered, I
did not ask for a new phone.

Moving forward, I do not wish to deal with Mr. Monk any further. I
view most of our phone conversations as a waste of time as he
arogantly points how much much sprint as done for my wife and I and
that I am just simply not happy with Sprints generocity with all the
credits I have been given. Every credit I have been given was a direct
result of Sprints poor billing process and as a result has caused me a
great deal of personal time lost and wasted. Again I am going to ask
one last time for my account to be transfered month to month or
canceled with the right to transfer my number.

I want my service either switched to month to month or have the
ability to cancel my account with no ETF and the ability to keep my
phone numbers.

I am not the least bit surprised by your story, I've got a huge
problem with any one who screws over their customers so intentionally
and frequently as Sprint! I am convinced that the only reason anyone
is still on a sprint plan is because they got stuck with the faulty 2
year contract time and time again for making a simple change on there
plan! In my experience a contract is an agreement between two people.
But Sprint seems to think its okay to renew it when ever they please
without even informing you.
A couple of years ago I went into a sprint store and purchased a
refurbished phone. Someone there made the mistake of charging me a
cancelation of contract fee. And they charged me not one cancelation
fee, but TWO!!! Yes thats $400.00 for somthing that I didnt even do.
As a result of having a false $400.00 charge, they suspended my
service for being over my spending limit. It took over a month to get
it back on because for some reason, they could only temporarally
credit for like 2 days at a time untill my billing cycle ended on the
13th. I just gave up on calling and calling and just didnt use my
phone for that month! Now remember, this is all because of their
mistake. Then they had the nerve to charge me for that month! This is
honestly only one of the ways Sprint screwed me, I'll share the REALLY
bad one next time! They are absolutley NOTHING more than a bunch of
theives who make it so you cant even contact them when they steel from
you, and I would love to see there joke of a company be held
accountable for what they do to their own customers! DOWN WITH
SPRINT!!!!

I have to join in on this discussion. Here is my Sprint horror story.
I have been with Sprint for 1 year. We have a 3 line family plan.
The 3rd line was just added, and ever since day one that line has
given us nothing but problems. Whenever someone wants to dial the
number, they have to dial it with a 1, and thats even including
numbers within the same area code. Basically, everyone who calls it is
getting charged long distance rates. We have called 7 times and spoken
with numerous customer service agents about this problem. The only
answer we had recieved was "We're sorry, we are not sure what the
problem is, we will look into this further and call you back". Of
course we never receive a call back. So this morning we called to
address the problem again. The person we were talking to recommended
we change the number and it might resolve the issue. So she puts us on
hold and comes back to tell us she changed to number. We're thinking
this is good news, but we were wrong. She accidentally changed the
wrong number (my wifes) a number she has had for the last 8 years!! A
number 200 people have!! Then she tells me sorry, and that she can't
get the number back! Then they change the # on the phone they were
supposed to from the beginning only to find it didn't resolve the
problem!!!
Then I call back a couple hours later to inform them that we have
finished moving into our new place( we just moved out of the city) and
that we're not getting service on our phones from the new house. We
told them we wanted to cancel our service because of all the problems
we have had, and because we no longer get service on our phones. They
tell us we have to fax proof of residence from our new home. I tell
her to hold on, and I fax the info right then( I don't feel like being
on hold for another half an hour if I have to call back). She looks at
the address and says that according to their "service area map" that
we should be getting coverage their. I tell her we obviously don't
have service here or we wouldn't be having this conversation. She says
"sorry, we don't guarantee service in the home"!!!!!
So basically we are stuck in a contract with 2 phones that don't
work where we live,a phone that has to be dialed as long distance,and
my wife just lost her number that she has had for 8 years and Sprint
has basically just told us to bend over and take it. I am going to
keep trying to get this resolved, and I will be contacting an
Attorney. Please, if anyone has had a similar situation or knows of
anyway we can be helped out it would be much appreciated. To anyone
reading this who may be thinking about joining Sprint. Please save
yourself the headache and stay as far away from them as you can.

There's talk of a class action suit. This company steals form its
customers and commits fraud every single day. It's bad business, but
more to the point, it's illegal, and Sprint is not above the law.

www.sprintblows.com

I'm a former employee of Sprint, and I can tell you a lot about what
you don't know about them. I can also tell you how to generally get
what you want out of them. Feel free to email me anytime:
freshairanywhere@aol.com


Jason White

I could not agree with you more! Sprint is the worst company that I
have ever dealt with. They lie to their customers, they are rude,
they do not care, when they do tell you that they are going to do
something they do not follow through. If Sprint was the last cell
phone company on this earth, I would go back to using pay phones! I
have never experienced a company that abuses their customers as badly
as Sprint. I would love to see Sprint go "belly up", they certainely
deserve it.

Let me tell you about my joyous experience with sprint. I signed up
two cell phones and a sprint pcs data card almost a year ago.

The data card has given me nothing but problems. It takes 50
connection retries to get working. I call into their tech support
department and get a temporary "try it now" fix. Great, thanks, next
time I try to connect, the same error pops up on my screen. So after
10 months I decide to see if I can terminate the service, only to be
met w/ a $200 early termination fee.

They say that the don't have record of my technical issues. After
pleading my case w/ 3 service reps I decide to pay the $200
termination fee vs. $55/mo for the next 12 months.

Oh yeah, I never recieved my rebates either.

A class action lawsuit will wake them up! New laws that hold
companies accountable for bad customer service will also necessitate
change.


Here is what you do, in addition to what has been done above: (1)
Write your congressman and your state reps. Below is a letter example
I sent. (2) Post your complaint here (http://www.sprintrants.com/) (3)
and post it here (http://www.classactionconnect.com).

I feel your pain! I experience shitty customer service with my
electrical company, my gas company, my insurance companies, my
mortgage company, etc, etc....

I sent this letter to the sprint site:
http://www.buzzaboutwireless.com/cms/home-page/enhancing-the-customer-
experience.html
The VP of customer service was taking calls on August 6th. I also sent
it to the Better Business Bureau and to MASSPIRG the same day. 3 days
later the BBB was all over it and 3 days after that (Aug 6th), Sprint
CS made it right. The BBB is onto these cell phone companies and are
waiting to help. WRITE THEM!! Don't pay them a cent and fight for your
rights. It worked this time. Yay, goodness prevailed!


In August of 2006 I called customer service to remove the second phone
from my family plan account. The other user was my ex-boyfriend whom I
had arrested. I was protected by a restraining order, but he was still
running up all kinds of charges with internet usage and the like. It
was imperative that I change my plan.
I knew I had 4 more months of my contract and requested to be
converted to a single plan. Your representative spent a long time with
me on the phone. After much discussion, being on hold and running of
numbers, we agreed upon a solution. I paid additional charged for the
internet usage and converting to a single plan. I specifically worked
it out to not be bound to another 2-year agreement since my situation
had drastically changed.
My contract was up in December of 2006. I had incurred an unusually
large bill during December and was sure to pay it. I changed over to
another provider and transferred my number. When I later checked my
account on line to make sure the balance was zero, I could no longer
access my account. I assumed all was well and my account had been
closed.
To my astonishment I received a bill in March 2007 for $224.74. When I
called to inquire about the bill, I was told I still have an account
that I am bound to even though I have no number and no service and no
on-line account. During my 4+ years with Sprint I have had many
outrageous billing problems, but this is the most maddening.
In June I wrote to West Asset Management to clear up this issue and
have received no reply. You are my last attempt to make this right.
Due to these extenuating circumstances I am requesting a waiver of
this debt (which has now somehow grown to $267.54.

*On 7/31/07 the collections agency offered me a buy out of $190 or to
be reported to the credit bureau. I refused the offer explaining that
I have responded to all of their call and want it noted on the account
that I am waiting for a reply from the CEO of Sprint. I requested they
hold it back until that time and they refused.

I would like to share my Sprint horror story with you.
Sprint lies about everything. I can't believe they can legally scam
good people. They must have bribed some companies that suppose to
protect American consumers.
Sprint screw me over right from the start. I purchased my plan from
the stand in Sun Valley Mall in Pleasant Hill, CA. The manager of
that store lied to me about everything just to get his commission. He
told me I would get 10% military discount and that he would waive $35
activation fee for both lines. He also told me that if I change my
mind within 30 days then I would only pay for the days of service I
have used.
I got my first bill after just 3 days! No military discount, I am
charged the activation fee for both lines and I'm billed a month in
advance! He never told me that. Apart from that the quality of service
was really bad. I had some dropped calls and people couldn't hear me
very well. So, I immediately switched back to T-mobile. (They are a
very honest company with a great customer service and they don't
charge you a month in advance, they charge you one month after!)
This first bill from Sprint equals to a common theft.... I got charged
$400 disconnection fee and $138 for just 5 days of service! I was in
shock! They were supposed to charge me for 5 days only! Come on!
Sprint has 30 days disconnection policy. (Meaning you can change your
mind within those 30 days without being charged any penalties).
And then my ordeal with their customer service began. I called them
to fix this outrages bill. I was transferred from one person to the
next all over India. I was on hold for about 20 minutes each time.
Most reps said they couldn't help me or that they weren't authorized
to make any changes. They admitted that the mistake has been made but
they couldn't help me. Most of them wouldn't give me their employee ID
number when I asked for it. Finally somebody told me that they will
file the dispute and that I have to wait.
After that I called month after month and nobody would help. They
would just tell me that a different department is handling the problem
and there was nothing they could do. When I asked to connect me to
that department they said it was not possible. I told somebody that
my credit is being ruined because of their mistake and she hung up on
me.
I got this crappy service in May 2007 and now we have August. I
called them again yesterday and I asked to speak to a supervisor. She
told me that supervisor couldn't help. I insisted and then she
transferred me...back to some customer service rep in India. I called
again. Asked to speak with the supervisor. Another rep told me 'no'
like 5 times and then she said to hold and hung up on me. Sprint has a
special way of hanging up on customers. They put the phone down and
wait for you to hang up. They will wait for up to 15 minutes and if
you don't hang up they will. I was almost in tears. I couldn't believe
it. I did nothing wrong and they are negatively affecting my credit
and treating me like crap. I don't know what else to do. Sprint
refuses to fix their false bill. I'm going to write to BBB but that
won't help me with my ruined credit history. Is there anyone out there
who could help? I am helpless. Every word of my story is true. I wish
I had employee's numbers of these rude people but most wouldn't give
it to me so unfortunately I just stopped keeping truck of my countless
calls to them. If you can help me, give me some advice or just
anything at all please email me at achabinka@yahoo.com Thanks!
Spread the word people! Be aware of Lucifer Sprint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's hope that an appropriate government agency will take them down.
It's time; just look how many upset customers posted their complaints
all over Internet. And there are thousands more who didn't.
Ps. To Sprint company: If you want to make this right before somebody
else do it for you, my Sprint account number is 272256252.

I would like to share my Sprint horror story with you.
Sprint lies about everything. I can't believe they can legally scam
good people. They must have bribed some companies that suppose to
protect American consumers.
Sprint screw me over right from the start. I purchased my plan from
the stand in Sun Valley Mall in Pleasant Hill, CA. The manager of
that store lied to me about everything just to get his commission. He
told me I would get 10% military discount and that he would waive $35
activation fee for both lines. He also told me that if I change my
mind within 30 days then I would only pay for the days of service I
have used.
I got my first bill after just 3 days! No military discount, I am
charged the activation fee for both lines and I'm billed a month in
advance! He never told me that. Apart from that the quality of service
was really bad. I had some dropped calls and people couldn't hear me
very well. So, I immediately switched back to T-mobile. (They are a
very honest company with a great customer service and they don't
charge you a month in advance, they charge you one month after!)
This first bill from Sprint equals to a common theft.... I got charged
$400 disconnection fee and $138 for just 5 days of service! I was in
shock! They were supposed to charge me for 5 days only! Come on!
Sprint has 30 days disconnection policy. (Meaning you can change your
mind within those 30 days without being charged any penalties).
And then my ordeal with their customer service began. I called them
to fix this outrages bill. I was transferred from one person to the
next all over India. I was on hold for about 20 minutes each time.
Most reps said they couldn't help me or that they weren't authorized
to make any changes. They admitted that the mistake has been made but
they couldn't help me. Most of them wouldn't give me their employee ID
number when I asked for it. Finally somebody told me that they will
file the dispute and that I have to wait.
After that I called month after month and nobody would help. They
would just tell me that a different department is handling the problem
and there was nothing they could do. When I asked to connect me to
that department they said it was not possible. I told somebody that
my credit is being ruined because of their mistake and she hung up on
me.
I got this crappy service in May 2007 and now we have August. I
called them again yesterday and I asked to speak to a supervisor. She
told me that supervisor couldn't help. I insisted and then she
transferred me...back to some customer service rep in India. I called
again. Asked to speak with the supervisor. Another rep told me 'no'
like 5 times and then she said to hold and hung up on me. Sprint has a
special way of hanging up on customers. They put the phone down and
wait for you to hang up. They will wait for up to 15 minutes and if
you don't hang up they will. I was almost in tears. I couldn't believe
it. I did nothing wrong and they are negatively affecting my credit
and treating me like crap. I don't know what else to do. Sprint
refuses to fix their false bill. I'm going to write to BBB but that
won't help me with my ruined credit history. Is there anyone out there
who could help? I am helpless. Every word of my story is true. I wish
I had employee's numbers of these rude people but most wouldn't give
it to me so unfortunately I just stopped keeping truck of my countless
calls to them. If you can help me, give me some advice or just
anything at all please email me at ertuertu@excite.com Thanks!
Spread the word people! Be aware of Lucifer Sprint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's hope that an appropriate government agency will take them down.
It's time; just look how many upset customers posted their complaints
all over Internet. And there are thousands more who didn't.
Ps. To Sprint company: If you want to make this right before somebody
else do it for you, my Sprint account number is 272256252.

I would like to share my Sprint horror story with you.
Sprint lies about everything. I can't believe they can legally scam
good people. Sprint must have given a bribe to some companies that are
suppose to protect american consumers.
They screw me overe right from the start. I purchased my plan from the
stand in Sun Valley Mall in Pleasant Hill, CA. The manager of that
store lied to me about everything just to get his commision. He told
me I would get 10% military discount and that he would waive $35
activation fee for both lines. He also told me that if I change my
mind within 30 days then I will only pay for the days of service I
have used.
I got my first bill after just 3 days! No military discount, I am
charged the activation fee for both lines and I'm billed a month in
advance! He never told me that. Apart from that the quality of service
was really bad. I had some dropped calls and people couldn't hear me
very well. So, I immediately switched back to T-mobile. (They are a
very honest company with a great customer service and they don't
charge you a month in advance, they charge you one month after! )
And then I got my second bill from Sprint.... I got charged $400
disconnection fee plus $138 for just 5 days of service! I was in
shock! They were supposed to charge me for 5 days only!
And then my ordeal with their customer service begun. I was
transfered from one person to the next all over India. I was on hold
for about 20 minutes each time. Most reps said they couldn't help me
or that they weren't authorized to make any changes. They admited that
the mistake has been made but they couldn't help me. Most of them
wouldn't give me their emploee ID number when I asked for it. Finally
somebody told me that they will file the dispute and that I have to
wait.
After that I called month after month and nobody would help. They
would just tell me that the problem is being handled by a diffrent
department and there was nothing they could do. When I asked them to
connect me to that department they said it was not possible. I told
somebody that my credit is being ruined because of their mistake and
she hung up on me.
I got this crappy service in May 2007 and now we have August. I
called them again yesterday and I asked to speak to a supervisor. She
told me that supervisor couldn't help. I insisted and then she
transfered me...back to some customer service rep in India. I called
again. Asked to speak with the supervisor. Another rep told me 'no'
like 5 times and then she said to hold and hung up on me. I was almost
in tears, I couln't believe it. I did nothing wrong and they are
negatively affecting my credit and treating me like crap. I don't know
what else to do. I'm gonna write to BBB burou but that won't help me
with my ruined credit history. Is there anyone out there who could
help? I am helpless. Every word of my story is true. I wish I had
emploee numbers of these rude people but most wouldn't give it to me
so unfortunately I just stopped keeping truck of my countless calls to
them. If you can help me, give me some advice or just anything at all
plese email me at ertuertu@excite.com Thanks! And people, spread the
word. Be aware of Sprint!!!!!!!!!!

WOW SPRINT IS FUCKING RETARDED! I JUST SPENT 30 MINUTES ON HOLD THEN
THE STUPID OUT-SOURCED PIECE OF SHIT HANGS UP ON ME. IS THIS SOME
SORT OF STRATEGY BY SPRINT CUSTOMER SERVICE?
-"IF THE CUSTOMER IS TALKING ABOUT BILLING, DISCONNECT THEM AND THERES
A 50% CHANCE THEY WONT BOTHER CALLING BACK DUE TO THE HASSLE."

WOW SPRINT IS STUPID AS HELL. IF THERE WASN'T SOME RIDICULOUS
CANCELLATION FEE I'D CANCEL RIGHT NOW.

Can someone tell me whats better than sprint? And if there's a way to
get out of cancellation fees?

I HATE SPRINT!!!!

Everyone knows sprint blows the big one! Sprint f'ed up my credit some
years ago when they charged me $1900.00 for PREPAY I ask them how do I
get a $1900.00 bill on a PREPAID SERVICE? I ask them what is their
meaning of PREPAY? They just said I owed the money,I told them that it
must be some sort of billing glitch and they said that I owed them
$1900.00! they sent it to one of those COMMIE COLLECTION COMPANIES
that reported it to the CREDIT Bozos Know I am PHALLOED UP THE A'CANAL
without any grease! I say do not get sprint! Yes they suck! I saydo
not be fooled by sprint send them packing! This is a shadey company
that has screwed many good people as they have the worst customer
service I have ever seen! I hope they never go into the used car
business because there will be a lot of dead people on the roadways!

I have had similar, but different issues with Sprint. I have put in
at least 5 calls about my service---when people call me, they get
through about 1 out of 10 times. Each time I put in a help ticket,
they say they will check this issue then call me back. Then, they
don't call me back! The issue has not been resolved. They say they
can't duplicate the problem and then they close out teh call for help.
Apparently, to them, the problem is solved. I've wasted HOURS on teh
phoen trying to get this issue resolved. So, finally tonight I tried
to cancell my service. They wanted me to either find someone to take
over my plan or pay them $200 to end crappy service (both techinal and
customer). I refused and asked to speak to a supervisor. five
minutes into the conversation he had clearly made up his mind that he
wasn't going to help me. He said all he could do would be to send me
back to technical service once again. IT WAS CLEAR THAT HE JUST
DIDN'T BELIEVE ME! "I can't waive the termination fee if we can't
duplicate the techniical problem." What about the problem with the
fact that nobody is trying to help me?!!!

Can any one help me out here? What is my next step? I can't handle
trying to talk to these people again. I spend at least an hour on the
phone each time I call them!!!!

What should I do?

SPRINT IS A RIP OFF....ITS A LEGAL SCAM..THATS IT!!!

I GOT A BILL FOR $370 FOR ONE MONTH... HAVE NOT USED ANYYYYYY OF MY
MINUTES...NOTHING..

AND NO EXPLANATION.

I CALLED AND THEY TRANSFERED ME TO 7 DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND THEN HANGING
UP ON ME.


SPRINT IS THE WORST WORST WORST WORST COMPANY ON THIS EARTH.

I feel you..I use to work for sprint most of the customer rep dont
know what there doing so you get tranasfer around to get an agent that
finally know what's goin on with your account..If you get one that
knows how to deal with your account he/she might not know how to speak
english since sprint is outsourcing..Even if you ask for a supervisor
you get dont get a supervisor you get someone who is what they called
an escalation team. Its a bunch of people that dont know what there
doing still. There just there since they know the right people on the
company or they just kiss ass to the right people..Everytime to you
call also get noted into your account if your being rude or
anything...what you could do is if you call and if you feel that the
agent your talking to cant help you hang up and call again since its
goin to be noted in your account that cust called and hang up and say
that the agent you just talk to hang up on you and ask for there
log-in ID and tell the new agent you talk to to file a case report to
the agent you just hang up on and dont forget to get the case number
so that if no changes happen to your account with the concern you hae
you can fzx the case number and your concern to the corporate
office..if you got any more question i can assit you with just post it
here and ill be more than willing to help..I still have friends that
work there that might be able to help you with your account..

I HEAR YOU!!!!! I could've written your EXACT letter! I have never
felt such passionate HATE for something EVER. We have THREE (yes
THREE) lines with this company. I am at the point where I am almost
willing to pony up the $600 to give them the boot. I've requested
SIGNED copies of my contract. Perhaps you might do the same. If they
can't provide you with this, then you are home free to cancel away.
The more people that cancel (either early or when they can) the more
Sprint will (hopefully) learn that they can't treat people this way.

I to was a loyal customer since 1998. Untill recently service was OK.
Then the dropped calls started to happen. Now, I have a special ed
daughtuer who is prone to seziures and in an emergency I need my cell
phone. There was already one case when the call had dropped while
needing to get a hold of emergency services. Now i was getting 30-40
dropped calls a day. They said it was my phones, I told them yeah, all
brand new phones on my account are messed up, and every sprint
customer out theres is messed up to....Yeah, whatever. They changed
their story everytime, never consistent. One rep promised me
cancelling with no ETF...

I had already filed with the BBB and the FCC about this situation and
Sprint got my complain in. They went back on their word with the whole
NO ETF thing and said they weren't going to cancel me, and then they
dropped the trouble ticket.... So I filed more and more complaints.

I called them every day and yelled at every rep untill finally they
cancelled all lines on my account with not early term. fees.




6 weeks of calling every day. One hour minimum with each rep daily.


I had to at least spend 30+ hours on the phone with them....but they
did do me right and now i'm with verizon and am happy as ever. 0
dropped calls, perfect signal strength and awesome call quality

My Sprint Horror Story - aka the $767 bill.

9-18-06

I'm not sure where to begin..

Let me start by saying that I have been a sprint PCS customer since
summer of 1998. (My Bad - I should have left them LONG AGO.) I have
weathered and negotiated through EVERY kind of problem you could
imagine with sprint, epsecially in the first 3 years.

Then sprint started to ge ta lot better - the billing problems
stopped, the signal improved, the number of dropped calls wentto
virtually zero - and I started receiving discounts for being a 'loyal
customer'. By the end I was getting 1100 anytime mins plus unlimited
nights & weekends for about $55 - and my trusty motorola timeport
phone (circa 1999, last of the startac series) still served me well
with the ORIGINAL BATTERIES. indestructible phone.

As time went on I got a land line with unlimited calling for a low
flat fee - so I started using my cel phone a LOT less - but I kept the
1100 minute plan becuase it was so reasonable.

I ended up movong cross country from San Francisco to Florida - made 2
driving trips across - in august & september. I used my sprint cel
phopne a lot. I knew I was going to use my cel phone a lot. I also
knew how sprint could be - so on the first trip, I check my minutes
carefully, making the bulk of my calls after 9PM depending on the time
zone I was in, and calling the sprint *2 operatot when I could to
check my minutes usage. In August, as I reached the end of my billing
cycle, I was about to exceed my minutes - so sprint offerd me the
opportunity to buy a bundle of extra minutes for $5/100mins. GREAT! I
said - so I bought some more minutes - my bill was a little higher
than normal but still very reasonable, everyone was happy.

For the 2nd trip, I already had a good idea about how many extra
minutes I might need so I bought IN ADVANCE 500 extra minutes -
bringing my plan to 1600 minutes. During my 2nd trip, drivingin a
moving truck, no access to the internet, the ONLY way I had to check
my minutes usage was to call the sprint operator. on 9-2-06 I did
just that. operator said - I'd only used 1200 mins, had 400 left, 10
days till my billing cycle ended - fine = oerfect - no problem -
p[lenty of minutes - if calculated that if I kept using minutes at
about the same rate I should just about make it.

Just to be SURE, I called in again on the 12th to double check - I
figured at MOST I'd be over 100 mins - but because sprint changes
their billing cycle date by a day or 2 each month (somrthing they
deny) I had already missed the billing ending cycle - this month it
had ended on the 11th (not the 12th like the operator said). When
this happens, sprint's 3rd world computer system is unable to check
their OWN billing records for 2 or 3 days - so I had to wait for my
printed bill to become available in the mail or online. I had a bad
feeling so instead of waiting I found a still OPEN sprint store in
florida (many seem to have closed in this area since the nextel
merger) and had them print out the bill - I WAS 1600 MINUTES OVER -
THE BILL WAS $767.39!

Looking at the bill, I see where sprint started billing me on 9-1-06
for overages as I had already exceeded my max 1600 minutes! THEY WERE
WRONG BY 400 MINTES WAY BACK ON 9-2-06!!!!! THATS MORE MINUTES OFF
THAN MOST PEOPLES ENTIRE PLAN!

I also noticed somthing funny about the blocks of dialed out calls on
the bill - it seems that as I passed time zones, the calls started an
hour earlier. My free minutes start at 9PM so I was careful to make
the bulk of my calls after 9PM. as the dates when on, the bulk of my
calls started at 8PM, then 7PM then 6PM as I crossed times zones. I
had earlier asked sprint operators how that worked and they said that
billing for that worked off the the phones clock and the satellite so
there was NO CHANCE that could be wrong and that it was 100% accurate
(yeah, accurate like the MINUTES USAGE figure they gave me on
9-2-06?)

It was then 7:30PM - I called the sprint customer service from the
store (because of course the store employees "dont handle billing
issues" and was still srguing with them about this when the store
closed (at 8PM) then they finally closed the store at 9:10PM and I had
to leave - I was STILL on the phone with them until about 10:30PM (the
whole drive home, in the house, etc) mind you - the date is 9-14-06 -
my birthday - my whole day ruined from this eposide..

but it gets BETTER.
I had spoken to severla operatorsand supervisores - some who would
give me their ID#, some not - the most any of them would seem top
pffer me was $200 off my bill (that would still be a bill in excess of
$500!)

I explained (several times) that was not acceptable - I said that I
was not trying to get something for nothing and was willing to pay for
the extra minutes I used in the form of prepaid bundled minutes like
the ones I purchased earlier in the month or for the previous month.
I told them that if I had been given reasonably accurate information
at the time I could have curtailed my use of the phone, not used as
many minutes, bought extra minutes etc - and when I bought extra
minutes I tend to be conservative and buy more than I need. I
calculated at $5/100 minutes that it would cost an extra $80 to buy
enough minutes to cover my overage. I said that I would by 2000
minutes - that's an additional $100. so my bill would be for my
normal charges ($55) plus the 500 extra mins I bought earlier in the
month ($20) plus 2000mins ($100) - for a totoal of $175 plus all
related taxes & fees.

Sprint said NO to my offer - repeatedly - all they could see was the
1600 overage minutes and had dollar signs in their eyes. They just
COULDN'T see past that to see how their mistake not only affected my
knowing how many actual minutes I had used, but that it also impacted
the RATE at which I perceived I was using minutes- I had no idea how
fast I was burning them up.

I remind you again that I have been a customer since 1998, nevr
oncewas late on a bill and never went over my minutes before.

So anyway, around 10:30PM, this supervisor at sprint (who I only know
as a jumble of lettrs: AGRIFF) offered my a one-time only 'deal' - a
courtesy discount he called it - for $321 (it might have been 327) but
it was a one-time only verbal offer, take it or leave it... (some way
to run an FCC regulated public utility - monty hal, lets make a deal -
lets play with MY BILL of HUNDREDS of dollars like it was MONO[OLY
MONEY). I was angry that was the best he would offer to fix THEIR
mistake - and told him that no matter what I was leaving sprint and
paying the early termination fee of $150 - so lets get this resolved
properly so we can both move on - THEN (this is good) he said - Oh -
well - you can't leave if I offer you this discount - whats the
incentive of me offering you this courtesy discount if you're just
going to leave - I'm flaging this account and now we're watching it -
if you try to terminate and leave we will bill you back the $321 to
your account. (I assume he meant to my credit card, which is linked to
the sprint website which was how I recently started to pay my sprint
bill).

Now I had been threatened and I honestly wasnt sure if what he said
was legal or not - so I asked him if he wouldnt mind emailing that
offer to me as I didnt think it was legal- he declined and said it was
a one-timeonly verbaloffer only - I said fine - then let me just get a
tape recorder and hold it up the phone - would you mind just repeating
what you just said? CLICK (he hung up)

Next call with cusomter service I asked how I could obtain transcripts
or recordings of my cusotmer service calls - conveniently all the
calls I wanted apparently were not likely to be recoreded accoridning
to sprint - and the next 2 operators said that the threat the previous
supervisor made about billing back the charges couldnt be done. And
said something like I had 2 months before sprint would turn it over to
collections (not the 2 weeks to pay the bill in full an earlier
operator told me).

The last cusotmer service call I made ended up at the 'customer
retention' department where I spoke with some lady named VERT who gave
me to her supervisor named CATHY at 5:52 pm on 9-15-06. After
reciting my story for what felt like the 30th time in 2 days, CATHY
made the same offer as AGRIFF the previous night - sprint will credit
me only $321 and if I try to pay the early termination charges and
leave they will bill me back the $321.

at that point I snapped - I said FINE FORGET IT - I'LL JUST TAKE THE
LOUSY $200 CREDIT AND I'LL PAY THE EALRY TERMINATION FEE OF $150 AND
CLSOE MY ACCOUNT - NOW!!!!! I then threw the phone down on the
concrete floor, jumped up & down on it, crushed it and threw the
remaining pieces around till they were unrecognizable junk. I
screamed, yelled and cursed and cried.

I called customer service back in 5 minutes when I regained my
composure to see about making a payment arrangement (the final bill
was $737.39 after ET fee) but as my account was closed, they would not
offer payment arrangements of any kind - the bill had to be paid by my
billing end date (THIS month it's due by Oct 9 - but of course, the
billing dates NEVER change at sprint - THATS just my IMAGINATON). I
also asked about porting my number to another provider - they said
impossibe as the account has to be active to do that. UNBELIEVABLE.

So I steal $737.39 from the money I was saving to make a downpayment
on a modest house here in central florida (thats why I left SF CA),
went to the same sprint office in orlando, and paid the bill in full
in cash. As I am getting close to hopefully buying my first home at
42 years old, I wasnt going to let a bunch of clowns like sprint mess
with my credit rating which took me 8 years to rebuild.

I went into the store at 7:30PM 9-15-06, friday night - store crowded
with people all waiting - said in a LOUD booming voice I HAVE TO PAY A
$737 BILL HERE TO PAY FOR SPRINTS ERROR - WHO DO I SPEAK TO HERE?! - I
never got rushed through a line at a store so fast in my life. A
sprint cahsier named YVONNE M. took me BY THE HAND and led me directly
to a register where I started to count out IN A LOUD VOICE FOR ALL TO
HEARD - ALL 737 DOLLARS - $20 bill by $20 bill - the store fell S I L
E N T - you really COULD hear a pin drop - IN THE MIDDLE OF COUNTING
I SAID - WATCH CLOSELY PEOPLE - THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU - IVE BEEN A
CUSTOMER SINCE 1998 BUT I'M LEAVING OVER THIS ONE MONTH BILL - I CANT
AFFORD TO LET THESE POEPLE MESS WITH MY CREDIT SCORE - everyone
watched in stunned horror as I turned over $737 to these criminals.
several people left on the spot. others just nodded grimly as if they
knew exactly what I was gong through.

I went across the street and bought a t-mobile phone. I'm not sure
that they are much better - time will tell, but at least I can use the
phone to digitally look attheir network biling in real time and see
how many actual minutes I have REALLY USED.
Their employees also dont hide their names - first or last.

Today is Monday 9-18-06 - I called the California PUC and explained my
situation. They put me in contact with sprint 'executive level'
customer resolution speacialist AMANDA QUISENBERRY (does that sound
like something you would expect the Dept of Public Utilities to do?
???) She listened to me and assigned me a case #. She gave me a # I
could reach her at. I called bck in a few hours. She said that she
was JUST going to call me - she had discussed the situation with her
'teamates' they decided that they would refund me $160 - basically my
early termination fee.

So I told here that was not an acceptable solution and asked her how I
could get transcripts of my conversationswith sprint. Se said I'd
have have them subpeonaed. I said fine - whats the address - she said
my attorney could get that. I said fine - PRETEND I am an attorney -
whats the address?

She declined to answer and said If you're an attorney you will haveto
go CA attorney general' office.

Okay - then that's what I'll do I said..

I also submitted a case review request to Judge Judy at CBS - I Know
that its probably not possible for a corporation to appear in small
claims with judge judy - but I just HAVE to give that a shot. Win
lose or draw - if I can draw national attention to how sprint does
business on national TV - wouldnt that be worth it?


I am honestly not sure what my next move is.

I dont have a lot of faith in the California PUC process but I am
going to try that as well.

In the meantime, I understand that metro-pcs is looking for people who
have an interest in a franchise in Orlando. Metro PCS is currently
the only cell phone provider to have a business model that works by
offering cell service at a flat rate of about $40 -$50 month with no
minutes - at all - just a flat rate. They currently are not yet in
all major markets - but I'd like to do my part.

Consider me - um - driven.

Ted B.
New resident of Florida
Former sprint pcs customer

Sprint used to be good - we've had them for many years. Yet in the
past year or so, they've slid to becoming the epitome of a true
consumer nightmare. Salespeople blatantly misrepresented the
capabilities of the phones and service plans they sold our family
members, and rude, often incompetent customer service people have
replaced formerly honest and knowledgeable folks. Sprint's Walnut
Creek CA office used one lame excuse after another to avoid honoring
the warranty on a phone - on our first visit they said no technicians
were available to examine the phone, on our repeat trip they said that
phones are only replaced under warranty in the store during the first
30 days, and then they finally blamed our new phone's malfunctioning
on customer abuse (they said I must have leaned on it), despite the
fact that the phone's case is completely unblemished. If one excuse
didn't work, they just went to the next. It's truly sad to see a good
company go bad so quickly.

Sprint/nextel is unbelievable I used their service for over 6 years
(2 phones), and have never gotten such a joke for customer service.
I've been over billed by hundreds of dollars, turned into the credit
company and now can't get ahold of someone in customer care to get
reimbursed the $330.24 they owe me. Yes, they over charged me. After
3 long calls with care to get my billing right, I still had to pay
them AND their credit company so it wouldn't impact my credit report.
I've never, ever had such a run around. Finally on the 3rd call the
nextel rep actually listened to me and resolved the over billing issue
in 2 mins. But I still can't get my $330.24 cents back b/c their
computer system is now DOWN! So, I'll call them again tomorrow. I'll
keep you updated. Oh, and I was only transfered twice tonight -- a
record low!

I was a Sprint customer for about 3 years. My trouble started when my
old phone's battery start to not work properly. Sprint's upgrade plan
seemed like a rip off to me. They will not offer their 29.99 per
month plan (I had for 3 years) to their old customers. Instead, I
have to get their 39.99 plan. I do not use the phone as often as most
people, so 39.99 per month plan would be excessive for me. I had the
bright idea of just get a brand new line (I got the phone for free and
they had a promotion online that waive the activation fee). I order
the phone on a Friday, and on Saturday I received a message from
customer service telling me that they CAN NOT fulfill my order since
my monthly payment for my old phone has not cleared yet. Here is the
funny part, I order the phone as if I was a brand new customer, but
they check your name, ss#, and credit card number, apparently once you
are in their system, you are in for life. I had just send in my
monthly check to Sprint, so its possilbe it hasn't arrived yet. If I
had know the amount of trouble this would cause I would have just let
my husband place the order under his name. I was under the impression
after waiting for a long time on the phone that I will not receive my
phone for a couple of weeks. I was getting very frustrated with their
customer service. I kept getting transfered from one department to
another, and every single person I talk to can barely comprehend
English. In the end, I cancelled both my old phone and the new order
that I placed on Friday. Another problem with Sprint is that they
will not credit you for a partial month like the cable company. I
cancelled the account at the beginning of the billing month, they will
not let me pay 1/3 of the month that I already used, I will have to
pay for the rest of the month even though I will not be using it.
This was not a huge problem for me. I am ending my association with
this shitty corporate conglomerate by paying them an extra $20.


A week goes by and guess what I got in the mail? My brand new phone.
The one that I already cancelled. The one that they told me can not
be sent to me because of my late payment for the previous month on my
old phone. Once again, I had to talk to the robots on the phone, wait
for a long time, and finally get to speak with a real person who may
or may not have master the English language. I asked them how come
they send me the phone even though I already cancelled the order.
Their response was when I cancelled the order, the phone already left
the warehouse, which brings us back to a week ago, why did I receive a
message from customer service that my order will not be fulfilled if
the phone was already sent? It appears that we are running around in
a circle. The guy at http://www.loganet.net/~doumakes/sprint.html was
right on the mark when he used "The right hand doesn't know what the
left hand is doing" to describe sprint's customer service. They have
so many departments that none of them communicate with each other
effectively. My phone was probably send out right after I ordered it
online because the shipping department just look at what orders to
send and some other department come in to check the credit history of
the person placing the order. After much hassel, they were pleasant
enough to send me a return package. I returned the phone as soon as I
received the return package, and I thought to myself, ok, its over. I
am ready to get a new phone from a different company.

Fast forward about a month and a half. I received a bill from Sprint
charging me $60. Basically, after I cancell the phone, the phone LINE
was still active even though I never open the phone, therefore the
charge reflect 1.5 months of service charge. I called this morning to
cancel the line too and I was assured that my account is credited, I
do now owe anything, and I will not be charged for anything else in
the future. At this point, I am just going to cross my fingers and
hope that I do not recieve a bill one month later for $90.

I am not saying Sprint is the only company that have nonexistent
customer service. All the large corporate conglomerates have shitty
customer service since they have grown so big that they don't really
give a damn about loosing some business from a few unhappy customers.
I went through the same trouble when I tried to set up online payment
for Chase credit card, got transfered all over India only to have the
standard corporate bs "we will take care of it in a few days" repeated
everytime.

I've had Sprint for a couple of years and will be switching back to
T-Mobile. While I agree, you should always pay your bills, I would go
one step further and say the early cancellation fee is a good
investment, as dealing with Sprint could cost you hours, if not days,
of frustration. If you are a person that makes way too much doing
what you do to sacrifice this kind of time, then just pay the fee.
That's what I'm gonna do. With the time savings, I'll have better
phone service and can take my wife out to the beach and talk to her,
rather than some Sprint rep overseas with a fake American accent.

I know I'll be happier with T-Mobile and Verizon as I've had them in
the past.

Now that the world is flat, we can expect less satisfaction any time
we're on the phone with Customer Service, and since Sprint has the
most probs, just pay the fee and get out. If everybody gets away from
Sprint, then they can outsource themselves to Timbuktu while the rest
of us enjoy life.

I have to say that everyone on this forum is ignorant and want
something for nothing.
1. Cellular service is built on a wireless network. Any carrier that
tells you you will not have a problem with dropped calls, overloaded
towers, or roaming is lying to you.
Sprint isn't the only carrier that this problem exists. Cingular
advertises that they have the fewest dropped calls. This is in fact
true, but they also have the least amount of towers in the industry
and the highest in roaming charges.

2. Sprint phones aren't manufactured by Sprint or warrantied through
Sprint. If there is a problem with your handset, it isn't Sprint's
responsibility, it is the responsibility of the manufacturer. Sprint
merely resells the handsets at a profit loss to make it convienient
for the consumer to activate service and purchase a handset at one
time.

3. READ YOUR BILLS. Most billing by Sprint isn't in error. It is the
consumer not reading the bill and understanding the charges. A 1000
min plan doesn't cover you if you talk on the phone all day.

4. Quit being Ignorant. If you have similar complaints and you
refuse to go through the proper channels to resolve your issues, like
these people, you are being ignorant.

The Sprint store in Walnut Creek, CA sold us a Sanyo 8300 to replace
our aging 8200, and also sold us a data access (USB modem) plan for
the new phone. Several weeks later, we tried to use the data access
feature with the 8300, and found it not to work. Two different Sprint
customer service people then confirmed that Sprint does not support
data access on the 8300. When both my wife and I separately expressed
our dissatisfaction with this situation, in each the customer support
people ("Ryan" and someone else who mumbled an unintelligible name)
hung up on us immediately. I suspect that we will be able to resolve
this situation ultimately, but this is not the first time that Sprint
salespeople in the Walnut Creek store have made false claims to us
during the pre-sale process. I suggest that customers take note of my
experience with Sprint before choosing Sprint as their potential
cellphone vendor.

A Sprint account was on 'vacation plan' for a year, after I smashed a
Sprint phone after the millionth dropped call.

For the next year I called monthly, to have MapQuest removed from the
account, as I was being charged every month. I was told that they
could not remove it or credit me for the subscription.

I reactivated the account with a new phone, hoping to make use of it
as a phone as modem.

Immediatly after leaving the store, the phone was suspended for having
gone over the monthly limit - because Sprint charged a contract
termination fee of $150.

Hours latter I was finally able to convince Sprint that I had only
activated a new phone on an exisiting account.

For two months I've had nothing but trouble, have called Sprint's
Vision Advanced Technical Support daily with the same issue. I've been
through three phones, and have spent more time on a landline with
Vision ATS than using the phone for voice or data.

After two months, Sprint finally admitted that the problem with using
the phone as a modem exists in their system, not with my phone.

I just talked to Sprint's cancelation department, hoping to get a
loaner data card as they've given other people, only to be told that I
should just cancel the account, pay $200, and go with another
carrier.

Sprint has sucked, every day that I've had a Sprint phone, before, and
now.

If I connect as a modem, afterwards features in the handset become
unusable, I can't reconnect to the internet, and cannot call and get
my voice mail. The only way that Sprint has found to get around the
issue is for me to reset my phone, losing anything I've stored
(contacts, etc.), reprogram the phone, and update my Sprint Vision
profile from the handset.

Every single time I connect as a modem I've got to go through the
reset, reprogram, profile thing, sometimes two or three times a day.

This is getting old, Sprint will not swap the phone for a device that
does work on their defective network, will not loan me a data card as
they have others, and will not let me out of the contract for a phone
I can't use.

Twice I've been to the same Sprint company store in Nashua, New
Hampshire, only to be mistreated both times by different Sprint
employees.

The so called technical people at the store say they test phones when
they don't - when I left mine there was no record of a test in
Sprint's network logs, and there wasn't even a single voice or data
call placed with the phone. Had they preformed the test and update by
wire that they said they did, all of the stored user data (contacts,
etc) would have been erased.

At the Sprint company store, they lie about testing phones, just
because they are busy and want it to look like they've done something.
The greeter told me that my phone just sat on a shelf for the hour
that I was gone, and the tech just says he's tested phones while he
plays on the internet. She said that Sprint is the worst company she's
ever worked for, for how they treat/mistreat customers and employees.

Two months down the drain with respect to 40-50 hours on the phone
with tech support, knowing the phone wasn't the issue, but hoping to
resolve the problem for me an everyone else. Now they admit it is a
network issue, and abandon me with a phone that doesn't work.

God, Sprint really, really sucks!

Couldn't agree more. I was talked into switching carriers while at a
Radio Shack Store. Two days after I switched to Sprint my phone was
shut off because I had reached my pre set spending limit. I can't even
begin to tell you how inept the customer service reps are both on the
phone and in the stores.

If you have a problem with a phone and need service watch out, you
will be blown off sent to other stores and told "we used to be a
nextel store and can't service sprint phones" even though the sign on
the store says sprint.

Please think twice before joining Sprint they do truly suck.

I had the Same problem. but my bill was not past due. We should try to
sue for breaking contrack and disconting service... Im going to look
in to it. Jason98204@gmail.com

Oh my gosh I so understand you! My fiance and I have been disputing
our phone bill since December 05 up till Feb 06, even the customer
service people said all of it was in their notes that we had been
calling EVERY FREAKIN MONTH! Of course our issues with billing still
haven't been resolved, even though they said THEY OWE US CREDIT, which
was like 200+! They even said that because it was THEIR FAULT, that
they would honor our request of terminating our contract for FREE! So
of course we thought, FINALLY!! Someone heard us and this is all
going to be resolved! So we switch to VERIZON..HECK YES!! We kept
waiting for a last statement and letter (which the customer service
rep said we would be getting via mail). She said all we had to do was
sign the letter and mail it back for documentation..blah blah crap. So
instead of recieving a letter, guess what I get. A statment saying I
owe 300+!!!! Can you believe that crap!? SO now I'm gettin heated,
as of right now we are writing a letter to Sprint to solve this, and I
am so glad that I printed out all the bills from December before they
took me off their carrier (which mind you was that same day we called,
when it wasn't supposed to be till the end of the month!) I am also
going to send a copy of the letter to BBB and FCC!!! These guys really
need to get their stuff together! I totally support you! Don't give
up!! Power to the people!! ;-)

I feel your pain I've been trying to get out of sprint and its like
trying to leave the mafia they first hit me with an early cancelation
fee when they shouldn't have my contract was up that day and now they
are turning my porting over of my numbers to cingular into a week long
ordeal that has had me on the phone with their terrible costumer
service non stop for three days. My bill has been paid on time for two
years and the thanks was a 175 dollar early?? cancelation fee and now
the we have our tech team working on transfering your number it should
be two to three business days.On top of all this their service is
garbage as well ...free and clear my ass. Calls drop like crazy and
its never clear and certainly not free. I'd use two cups and string
before i use sprint again.

I never understand why people think not paying their bill will resolve
an outstanding issue. Non payment will only result in disconnected
service and black marks on your credit report. If you truely believe
that you were overcharged you need to notify the proper people and go
from there. If the company isnt willing to work with you to resolve
the overbilling that would be the time to bring in some help where it
be the BBB, Attorney General, or personal attorney. Also if Sprint is
so awful it might be a better idea to just pay the early termination
fee and hash it out with them in court.

Elise, I can understand your frustration, but it seems the problem is
one of communication, at least at this point.

During your entire letter, you've never stated what the discrepancies
to your account are. Instead you've only stated that you stopped
paying for the service because you're "tired and burned out", and then
you instruct them to not terminate service unless they make sure it is
what the customer wants. What exactly did you think they would do?
The truth is, if you're just not paying your bill, you're not their
customer, you're a liability. If you've went 90 days without paying,
I'm sure they're now hitting you with the standard termination of
contract fee and making the appropriate bad marks on your credit
report.

I might suggest starting with contacting their billing department.
Don't argue about the amounts of the account. Just ask them to fax
you an itemized copy of your account showing the charges that have led
up to your currant balance.

With the statement in hand, you can now take responsibility or dispute
the individual charges. Again, arbitrarily claiming you're not paying
for the bill and then complaining that service has been discontinued
should come as no surprise. I'd suggest making sure you are overly
honest with them. If you don't have grounds or evidence to dispute
the charges, you would be better advised to accept responsibility for
them. If you start disputing charges that you shouldn't, you'll be
giving them no reason to trust you on charges they should. Itemize
your discrepancies with thorough explanations.

Contact them back, even faxing them a copy of the statement you've
just written. Ask them to review the account information and contact
you back with any corrections within a short period of time, i.e. 5
business days. You are now able to address the individual areas that
they claim you owe that you may not, instead of taking the actions you
have.

As things stand, I guarantee they will end up forcing you to pay for
the balance and early termination fees. As long as you let the bill
stand, your credit will be ruined.