[shankscomp]

Here's my letter to sprint... They SUCK... I had to send it in 7 parts because their online form won't take more than 1200 characters... Good luck to everyone... Not 100% their fault... But the replacement they sent me sure doesn't match up to the original...
Tim



Part 1 of 7:
Wow, where do I start. I’ll start by saying that my company that I work for is in the process of moving to a different provider. After my experiences for the past week and half, my boss was none to happy to hear my stories…

It all begins back on August 2, 2009. All of the sudden I could only make phone calls, but could NOT access the Internet or any data services at all. I contacted your technical support team, and each time the lady asked me to punch in a code into the phone, the phone rejected it. She said that my insurance plan on my account would cover a replacement phone. I told her sure, go ahead and ship one out, but PLEASE wait until later in the week, since that week was our county fair, and since I was a very busy person at the fair I would not have any time to even switch to the replacement. Plus I didn’t want to take any chances of anything else happening. Well, was I wrong? First, she sent me the phone; I received it on August 4, 2009, not towards the end of the week as requested. But, I did not touch the phone, just left it at home and continued to use my original phone.

Part 2 of 7:
Well, on Saturday night the 8th, I was driving the tractor with the scraper on it at the tractor pulls. Sometime during that night, I must have dropped the phone, because when I got off the tractor, I did not have it. I’m guessing that the crappy phone case that comes with the mogul worked itself off of my belt, and then fell to the ground. Go figure that something like that would happen to me.

Now, I don’t have my original phone to send back since I got the replacement. I read the paperwork, and it said if I did not sent it back, I would be billed $200+. I thought that was unfair, so I called the Customer Service team. Keep in mind; it was 1:30am when I got home and made that phone call. So, instead of talking to Customer Service, I told a technical support person. The first lady I talked to, said there was absolutely nothing she could do for me. Said that I would be billed probably closer to $250. Boy, did that make me hot under the collar.

Part 3 of 7:
I asked her to talk to a supervisor to see if there were any exceptions to the rule, since I knew the insurance covered lost or damaged phones. Again, she said there was nothing she could do, but to put me on hold and transfer me to a customer service rep. I asked her why she couldn’t help me. She said it’s because other people like to advantage of the situation and try to get a new phone. I asked her why would someone like me, who (during that week) was a Director for the county fair, a salesperson for a John Deere dealer, a part-time farmer, and a father, would want to try to pull a fast one on the company. I then said, never mind, just transfer me. She goes to transfer my call, and instead of getting the hold music, I get the disconnect sound.

I walked away from my desk for about 10 minutes to get some fresh air before calling again. I called back, and got another lady. However, this lady told me to send the replacement phone back in, and then go to phoneclaim.com/sprint to file a claim with the Asurion Insurance company.

Part 4 of 7:
I told her thanks, hung up, and proceeded as instructed. But when filing that claim, it said that my Mogul was not an option as a replacement, instead would be a HTC Snap. I couldn’t understand why a less comparative phone as a replacement, so I called back.

The third lady I talked to, sounded very much like the first one I talked to less than an hour earlier. I even swear I had the same name and everything. She said that she recognized my voice, but had claimed she had NOT talked to me earlier. Hmmmm… I told her what the other person had told me to do. She promptly and with a harsh voice, told me that no one there had ever told anyone to go to that website. Then she said good night and then transferred me to the disconnect line.

Part 5 of 7:
I then figured, ok, it’s now close to 3am. I might as well get some sleep for a few hours and then call the Asurion company in the morning. The lady that answered my call there said that the Mogul was either out of stock, or no longer an option for replacement. I then asked her what the replacement was, and she said it’s an HTC Snap. I told her how could a far less quality phone be considered a replacement. She said there was nothing she could do. I told her to charge me my deductible and send me the phone, because I needed it, since I don’t have a landline and only live on the cell phone.

I got doing some checking. I don’t understand how Sprint or Asurion can consider the HTC Snap to be a comparable replacement to the Mogul. Lets start with the main differences:
Mogul: Windows Mobile Professional, Wifi, Touch Screen
Snap: Windows Mobile Standard, NO Wifi, NOT a touch screen, very small buttons on the keypad (hard to push accurately)

I finally received the SNAP phone on August 11, 2009. It has taken me close to 12 hours to get my stuff reconfigured on it. What a pain in the butt.

Part 6 of 7:
When I received it on Tuesday, I called the 888-211-4727 number that was on the papers and followed the prompts to activate the phone. The lady that answered, I explained to her I wanted to activate my phone. Instead the tells me that she has to transfer me to the activation department. I told her I had dialed the activation department, but she told me I must have hit something else. Hmmmmm, sounds like she’s telling a customer they were wrong. She goes then said hold on… Then she goes, I can’t transfer you, do you mind calling back. I told her that I had dialed the correct department. She then tells me that she’ll have the activation department call me back on the phone number that I’m trying to activate. What doesn’t sound right there? I ask her how she expects me to answer a number that I’m trying to get activated. So, now I get irriated, and I hung up this time… Figured I might as well finish eating my lunch and then try once again. About 3 minutes later the phone that I called from rings with a different person on the phone. I explain to her that I’ve been trying to just activate a phone. Nothing more, nothing less.

Part 7 of 7:
10 minutes later, the phone gets activated. I asked her what she thought about them shipping me a phone that’s not even a comparable phone. She agreed with me that the two phones aren’t even close together. She told me if I wanted to, come October, I have the option of upgrading phones since my 2yr contract will be about up. I told her that I’ll be shopping around for another carrier that actually cares for their customers.

By the way, Windows Mobile Professional and Standard are not the same systems when talking to a certified computer technician.

SO NOW, I’m asking YOU… Sprint people. 1. How do you consider that HTC Snap to be a replacement for the Mogul. 2. Why am I getting charged a $100 deductible for a replacement phone that’s not even the same? 3. What are you going to do to keep me as a customer and to keep my employer as a customer?