A New Sprint Wireless (PUNISHMENT) Fee? $4.99 Account Spending Limit Fee? Classy.......

People who have the ASL program with sprint dont even know how the
program is suppose to work, yet they complain about the fee.
The fee actually is a justified charge if the ASL program was
implemented as it is stated in the Terms and Conditions, but sprint
has decided to breach this agreement and charge for the "program" just
the same.

Account Spending Limits ("ASL")
An ASL is a temporary or permanent limit we place on the amount of
unpaid charges you can accumulate on your account, regardless of when
payment on those charges is due. We reserve the right to determine
which charges count towards an ASL. If you have an ASL, we may suspend
your Services without prior notice if your account balance reaches the
ASL, even if your account is not past due. We may impose or increase
an ASL at any time with notice. An ASL is for our benefit only and
should not be relied on by you to manage usage.

I have been with sprint since 1998 and have experienced interruptions
for late payments since 2002 when my balances were past due yet I had
not reached my spending limit. The spending limit has been on my
account since its inception and I only started having problems when a
similar ASL type of program was introduced for “new” accounts and
failed. When I say failed I mean the program was scrapped and was
probably found to be illegal. This ASL account was called the
“Clearpay” account. This account was an ASL account added as an
additional account at the time in the T&C with only one difference in
its terms. Clearpay accounts had a provision that would interrupt your
services if your account went past due, until you made a payment on
the past due balance. Sprint has since adopted this practice with the
original ASL accounts but has never changed the terms and conditions
to reflect these changes. Therefore they are in breach of agreement
with this practice.

I have a spending limit of $200 which by the wording in the terms says
I can go to that limit without regard to when those payments are due,
provided I don’t exceed the limit to which I can never exceed at
anytime. Some like to think this is a monthly spending limit, but that
is incorrect. When I inquired as to why my services are interrupted
they claim it’s because of a past due balance. Yet when I point out
the “special” provisions for this type of an account they are ignored
and I can’t even get them to read the terms for the account.
The terms for past due or late payments are as follows:

Your Payments; Late Fees
Payment is due in full as stated on your bill. If we do not receive
payment in full by the date specified on your bill, a late payment
charge, which may be charged at the highest rate permissible by law,
may be applied to the total unpaid balance. We may also charge you any
costs we pay to a collection agency to collect unpaid balances from
you. If we bill you for amounts on behalf of a third party, payments
received are first applied to our charges. You may be charged
additional fees for certain methods of payment. We may charge you, up
to the highest amount permitted by law, for returned checks or other
payments paid by you and denied for any reason by a financial
institution. Acceptance of payments (even if marked "paid in full")
does not waive our right to collect all amounts that you owe us. We
may restrict your payment methods to cashier's check, money order, or
other similar secure form of payment at any time for good reason.

So if I have a recurring charge of $65 I would only have to make a
payment about every three months as I did in the beginning years with
a 3% then and a 5% interest per month on the past due balance now.

This fee could be a justified in the proper implementation of the ASL
program because then it becomes a privilege to be able to have such
long lengths between payments for those with questionable credit and
in the same hand securing Sprint from large balances from those with
these credit ratings.
It’s also the meaning of the last sentence in the terms for this type
of an account except the last word for some reason has been changed to
“usage” instead of “payments” but clearly makes no sense at all with
the word “usage” but makes all the sense in the world with the word
“payments”

The reason I believe they are in breach is the fact that my money
makes them a great deal more profit in their account than the
relitively small amount my past due payment gives them every three
months. Add an addtional $4.99 per month to their balance and they
dont even have to wait for my payment anymore.

"Spending Limit Fee"

I personally feel & KNOW that it is only a "Breach of Contract" (You
do have 60 days from notification to be releases from your contract
without penalty)

There is a very simple way of making this charge go away. Set yourself
up on Auto Pay with Sprint, (Which I had planned on doing, because who
wants to remember to pay your bill?) But Why would I do that Now? If
they are just going to add new fees whenever they want, and breach a
contract, I am MOST LIKELY not going to do that nor am I going to pay
$4.99 that I never agreed to pay in the first place.

GREAT STORY:

March 1st 2010 I spent from 7:13pm till 8:50pm on the phone with
Sprint over my f'en bill.

Started out at $163.15
Ended up at $94.54
Only Paid $89.55 I refused to pay that $4.99 fee (breach of contract)

I only have till the 10th of this month to decide on a plan, to NOT
pay the termination fee with cancellation.

I did make sure that there would not be any late fees or surcharges or
interruptions in my phone service over the $4.99

Look at all those man hrs I used up on $4.99 (Breach of Contract
"Spending Limit Fee")
Started out with a new bee "Chasity" for 20 mins
Supervisor "Christy" for over an 1hr.
Account Services "Danielle" for the remainder of the time period.

Now: They tell me that if I'm a good girl and pay my bill on time
every month for 18 month, they wont charge me anymore. Totaling
$89.82

How much did my phone call cost them tonight 1hr & 37 mins? Not to
mention the account services girl Danielle is calling me back on the
9th at 6:30pm to see what I have decided to do and go from there.

March 3rd 1:51pm till 1:57pm

Sprint called me today... First thing they started with was their
introduction and thanking me for being a Loyal Customer. I interrupted
and said "I'm Not" he continued with "This call maybe recorded for
training purposes" Where I added, "I hope so" and then caught that I
said something. He said "excuse me? Are you not a customer?" I said
No, I'm not Loyal to Sprint. LOL

The hysterical conversation lasted for 7 mins where John wanted more
information, so I felt (only to waste time) John deserved to hear
more. Then, I wanted to rub salt in the wounds in my "Recorded
conversations" that over the $4.99 - $89.82 over the next 18 months,
That I am SURE that I wasted more Man Hrs then it was worth with ME.
And it is my goal between now and the 10th to waste as many Sprint Man
Hrs as possible over this "Breach Of Contract" I told him that if he
has any free time to talk more on company time, to please feel free to
call me any time between now and the 10th.

The conversation ended with his "Altered" Statement of "Thank you for
being a customer (NOT Loyal) of Sprint, have a great day!"

Just remember everyone Contracts work BOTH ways! Always ask to speak
to a supervisor until you get the answer you want. At some point or
another, Man Hrs get to the bottom line!

BTW: Still can't wait to hear from Danielle on the 9th at 6:30pm.

I couldn't get the Spending Limit removed, but I found out that the
way Sprint does their Auto-Pay is different then it was years ago. So
instead of my bank account just getting charged right when the bill
comes out; I actually have 3 weeks before Sprint takes out the money.
So if I see a Billing-Error; then I have time to refute those charges.
And while it can take a few months before the Auto-Pay is setup; I was
told I wouldn't be charged the monthly fee.
I still don't like this new tactic, but Sprint is the only carrier
that will let me use my Palm Pre, with Unlimited data and the other
features; for $59.99 a month. So while I hope Sprint gets rid of this
stupid limitation A.S.A.P; I am willing to just deal with this for
now. It doesn't make any sense to get out of my contract and go to
another carrier; when the added costs of those plans would be more
then anything I would be paying with Sprint.

But I REALLY hope Sprint doesn't add anymore of these types of fees!!!

This month, I received the same letter as you and when I called they
told me that this is the "NEW PROTECTION PLAN" ( but... for who?) So I
will stand up my voice in every blog, page, or forum. I never signed
for Automated Payment and at the time of sign, 4.99 fee it was not on
my contract.

This month, I received the same letter as you and when I called they
told me that this is the "NEW PROTECTION PLAN" ( but... for who?) So I
will stand up my voice in every blog, page, or forum. I never signed
for Automated Payment and at the time of sign, 4.99 fee it was not on
my contract. What do we need to do? I am ready for anything.

I'm starting a twitter movement for all who feel wronged by this new
fee!! We'll use the power of the people and maybe get somebody's
attention. Use #DearSprintCEO and tweet your thoughts!!

I am having the same problem! I have paid my bill on time and never
even COME CLOSE to my spending limit in the almost year I have been
with them. I contacted customer care the day I received the letter,
which I would like to note was a DAY after this new fee went into
effect!! The letter was oddly enough dated 12/21/09. Funny how it took
about 3 weeks for a letter to get from Kentucky to Georgia! Hey??
Anyways the woman I chatted with assured me that if I signed up for
the automatic payments I would NOT be charged this fee. Now I did sign
up, against my will really, but NOW my bill is showing the charge. So
it is show down time!! I've sent 2 e-mails and if I haven't heard back
by Monday I'll be on the phone until someone fixes this.
HOWEVER, I still find the whole thing disgusting. It seems to me to be
just another way to squeeze a few bucks out of their customers. I for
one am considering starting some sort of movement... perhaps using the
strength of the internet and the power of the people to teach
Sprint... and all these other companies a lesson!!
anyone with me??

So I called Sprint Executive Relations (1-866-727-0665) and asked to
speak with someone. The woman really couldn't have cared less; so she
put her manager on, and he couldn't have cared less. I explained that
I had already been with Sprint, blah, blah and the woman said she
would resubmit my info to see if they could remove the spending limit.
She Didn't bother calling back and I still haven't heard from her. I
called Sprint Customer Care, and the woman there said there were no
changes to my account. So I'm guessing nothing will happen. I did find
out that it takes Sprint UP TO 3 MONTHS To Add the Auto-Pay; So your
going to get charged $4.99 per-month no matter what!

The Care reps I have spoken to seem annoyed when I mention anything
about the $4.99 fee; because they are being blasted my other customers
for this! The Executive Relations woman slipped up and told me people
were already posting negative reviews and leaving the company. That I
could leave without paying an Early Termination Fee. I'm still not
sure what I want to do yet, but I honestly think customers need to
leave in drovers; causing Sprint to repeal this STUPID fee! Will it
happen? Maybe. Good thing I don't own stock in Sprint!!!


Do You Want To Know (HOW) To Lose A Million Customers Per-Month? Add A
Spending Limit To Their Accounts; Even Though Their Credit Is Perfect.
Charge Them A BULL **** Spending Limit Fee And Say The Fee Will Be
Waved If You Activate An Auto-Pay Service. BUT! Wait Up To 3 MONTHS
Before You Actually Activate The Service Onto The Customers Account.
All While Still Charging Them A Fee That You Always Planned On Forcing
On Them Anyways! NICE PLAN SPRINT! Way To Throw Away All Of The
Positive Work You Had Done For The Past Year!!! In A Crowded Wireless
Market, Which Carrier Fails? GUESS!!

Apparently I am in the ASL program even though we have paid on time
since our contract began 16 months ago. There is no way that I am
giving another company my account iformation when they have not
business requiring it of me. So I called Sprint to get out of the
$4.99 fee. They told me that there is no way they can make an
exception for me, even though I have had no problems with my account
in 16 months. I am lumped into the same category as someone who never
pays on time.

In an industry that is driven my providing great customer service, why
would Sprint only have one category to lump everyone into? At the
heart of "customer service" is the idea that not everyone's situation
is the same. Cases may require a human touch. With Sprint I am locked
int this "program" without ever having the chance to have a human look
at my faithful payments and grant me a reprieve from the extra fees.

They can't even re-review my account to get me out of the ASL program
until 18 months. What can you determine after 18 months that you can't
at 16?

Bad idea Sprint. Why not just put people on the ASL program if they
miss a payment? As it is my wife and I may jump to AT&T.

I have PERFECT credit! Never a missed payment on anything! I don't
want to leave Sprint, because they offer the best value for what I
wanted to get. I would have to spend a lot more to use the Palm Pre or
any other PDA on another carriers network. I just want to be left
alone. I'm not going anywhere; so why can't Sprint just let me pay for
the service I use and they just let me be? Why do they want to start
charging me extra? Why can't a company just offer me service and I pay
for that service; without having to be scammed into some stupid
garbage like this? If I were to sign up for this stupid Auto-Pay; then
what happens if they overcharge my by, let's say $200? When Sprint has
overcharged me in the past; they gave me a (CREDIT) for those fees.
They didn't actually give me that money back. So if Sprint overcharges
me and I no longer have that money in my account; then how am I going
to pay my other bills? And I checked the letter again; Sprint wants me
to pay this fee for 18-MONTHS; not 12 like I first thought. I'm just
really annoyed by this, because overall I'm happy with the service I
am getting from them. I was actually going to send Sprint a positive
letter through Planetfeedback, but I kept putting it off. Now I'm glad
I didn't, because I would have felt so stupid sending kind comments;
then sending comments with me upset. I just don't know what I am
suppose to do. I can't risk Sprint overcharging me and I end up not
being able to pay my other bills. But I also don't want to (WASTE)
$4.99 Per-Month on a (USELESS) feature that only serves to set me up
to end up having my bank account overdrawn...

In my opinion, this equates to a change in the terms of your agreement
and would allow you to leave Sprint without any Early Termination Fees
due to it being a materially adverse change of your contract.

They did this to users with less than stellar credit. Once again, it
pays to keep your credit crystal clear.

The real reason they did this is to probably offset the money they
lose when they charge off accounts of people who decide not to pay.

From Sprint:
"I didn’t know I had an account Spending Limit.
o The decision to place you on the Sprint ASL program was made at the
time you originally applied for
service with Sprint and was based, in whole or in part, on a review of
your credit history as reported by various consumer reporting
agencies.
o At the time, Sprint provided you with notice of your particular
spending limit and details of the Account Spending Limit program."