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 Sprint's Misleading Tactics and Disreputable Service
Posted Sat January 10, 2009 12:00 pm, by Amy N. written to Sprint Wireless
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One year ago, I brought my Brazilian Au Pair (babysitting exchange student on a special visa) into the local Sprint store, my wireless carrier of 7 years at the time, to help her to sign up for a phone line. We had a PDA phone that I had just upgraded to give her to use for free. She just needed a line.
When we got there, the sales folks interested her in a cute little pink phone that was only $30, something she could afford. When it came time to set up the account, I realized they were suggesting a 2 year contract and informed them that she was only on a 1 year visa and this wouldn't work.
They indicated that this was not an issue, in that if she left the country, we could cancell without any cancellation fees. I indicated that we needed this in writing, and they agreed and added it to the notes on the purchase and initialled a note indicating as much on the receipt/contract.
When we asked if she needed her own account they said no, and suggested we add her as a second line and plan on my account where I had a discount in place. So this is what we did.
Yesterday, I called to cancel this line, because she has returned to Brazil and though customer service looked up the note and verified that there should be no issue and no cancellation fee, when I was transferred to cancellation services, they refused and insisted that I would pay the cancellation fee.
I wasted 6 hours of my time, on 6 separate calls and escallations to no avail. Several customer service reps confirmed I should not have any issue, and yet, cancellation services every time refused my request. I offered to share with them the Au Pair paperwork that indicates our AuPair's name, nationaltiy, and visa term, but they indicated that this was insufficient. And so I spent half of my one day that I spend with my children each week, disappointed, frustrated and angry on the phone in an extremely poor customer service experience. And my children had to sit through it all. They do not have a positive impression of Sprint right now. Perhaps they should make a YouTube video of their thoughts. My little 5 year old would make quite a consumer advocate.
Nothing can make this experience go away. But it would go a long way toward repairing my impression of Sprint's management if you would cancel our Au Pair's line line with no cancellation fees and no more account fees. Compensate me and my family for our lost time and frustration. (My childrens' time is priceless but they can be bought with cheap ice cream.) And most importantly ask the cancellation services professionals that I spoke with yesterday to write me letters of appology for not handling this issue fairly and reputably.
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by olie Posted Sat January 10, 2009 @ 9:34 PM
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Let me get this straight. You had a phone for your employee to use,
presumably for a just a small fee per month if added to your existing
line. Instead of standing firm with your employee, you agreed to her
choosing the "cute" phone.
Exactly how much is your time worth? If you make, say, $20 per hour,
you wasted at least $120 on this.(I'd guess that anyone who can afford
to hire an au pair makes at least this much.) Compare this amount to
the cancellation fees.
Would you have been subject to a new contract for the new line, even
if your employee had used your PDA? I'd guess so. Did you ask how
long this contract would be for? You might have been stuck with a
2-year contract anyway. In our experience, any time we upgrade a
phone, add a line, or upgrade the service, a new 2-year contract kicks
in. We don't have Sprint, though.
I completely disagree with your subjecting your children to a 6-hour
campaign to get the fees dropped. Ten or fifteen minutes, maybe. But
after that, wait until they've gone to bed, for Pete's sake. Buy them
some cheap ice cream, yourself a pint or two of Ben and Jerry's(I
prefer Chunky Monkey, myself), and get over it.
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Geez. We tell letter writers "You should have gotten it in writing,
you can't take their word for anything." Then when someone does get
it in writing, they're screwed anyway.
This is ridiculous. I hope this letter yields positive results for
you!
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You should have just gotten her a prepaid wireless phone.
Good Day
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by S W. Posted Sat January 10, 2009 @ 9:51 AM
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Sprint should absolutely honor what they agreed to.
This is a well written letter up to the point where you bring your
children into the mix. I would consider rewriting the letter without
referencing them at all.
I have to say that Sprint isn't going to be the least bit interested
in your 5 year old's opinion of them nor are they going to care to
compensate your children for the frustration of listening to you deal
with Sprint on the phone. Threatening them with a negative child
based video on youtube lessens your credibility, IMO. Stating that
you only spend one day a week with your children, yet their time is
priceless, and that you had to spend 1/2 of it dealing with Sprint
doesn't make you sound so great. I would definitely edit that part.
Good luck in getting this resolved.
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