[basilray]

So,

My mom has a TP that was a refurb replacement less than 30 days ago. Yesterday, she started having problems with her earpiece. Today, it was not working at all. She does what anyone with TEP would do, and swings by a repair center.

They open the phone and swap the earpiece. After they swap and test it, they tell her there was corrosion on a coil in the middle of the phone. A less than 30 day old phone that has never seen any liquid. My mother is 53 years old and very careful with her electronics. After telling her they replaced it, but shouldn't have, they re-assemble the phone and give it to her. She walks out the door.

After getting outside, she tries to send me an SMS. They keyboard was no longer working. She then realized that the hard keys on the front (including d-pad) were not working either. She immediately walks back into the store and tells them. They rudely told her it wasn't their problem, and that she water damaged the phone. She told them it was a refurb, and asked if it was possible that the supposed water damage could have been something that wasn't caught during the refurb process. The employees at the store told her that she was being rude and that they always check these things when phones are refurbed. She asked if there was anything to be done, and they pretty much told her to buy a new phone, live with it, or file a claim with Asurion.

After being insulted and disrespected, she left the store in near-tears and called me. As she was recanting the story, she fully broke down crying over the way she was treated. I've been in the same store and had 2 TP's and a Diamond replaced that were mine, and went in with her when her original TP needed replacing, and have never been spoken to that way.

What should be my next step? Both my lines are out of contract. I do not want to switch them to another carrier, because there is no way I get the as good of a deal with anyone else. The account has been open for 8 years.

I tried chatting with eCare, but that never gets you anywhere. They fed me the "I apologize on behalf of Sprint...want to file an insurance claim?"