Disapointed with Sprint
 

Well, I hate to start this with the "I love Sprint" thread being just started, but oh well.

All in all I have been happy with Sprint, I have had some troubles but other than a couple hours (total) on the phone everything has been resolved. However, recently I have been a little put off.


I have been with Sprint since 03, with an account that is in good standing. Currently I have 3 lines, nothing special, just a Family Fair and Flexable.

My problems started when I began the process of upgrading my phones. I'm one week from upgrade time, and I figured that Sprint would be more than happy to have a current customer renue their account, and be willing to allow them to do it early, thats where I was wrong.
First stop was the local store. I walked in and said I was interested in upgrading, the clerk said that regular phones were on the right, PDA phones on the left, and in the entire 30 minutes I was in the store that was the only contact I had. Nobody asking if they can help with anything, there were 5 reps and none of them were busy. The wife was a little put off but I figure what the heck, NBD.
Next the wife chatted online, asked if there was any deals Sprint would do for us, nope. The wife then asked if we could get upgrade eliability 2 weeks early, they said nope and then promptly ended the chat. Needless to say the wife was not happy.
Then tried calling, no good, no early upgrade, no sweeteners.
Ecare, nothing, wouldnt even match Best Buys price. In fact, basically said if you can get it for that price at best buy then go there.
Stopped by another local store, and had a good (friendly) conversation with the clerk, said she could offer upgrade prices, but I would not be eligable for rebates, then said she couldnt even match another Sprint dealers (Best Buy) prices.

So here I am, a loyal sprint customer, chomping at the bit to upgrade, yet not feeling much love from Sprint. Normally I wouldnt even look around, but I decided to do some digging, come to find out I can get the phones I want, Fuze and Centro, refurbished, for cheaper at ATT than I can at Sprint, AND I can get a plan thats cheaper than my current plan. Mostly because I dont have to have data on the ATT plan.

I would hate to leave Sprint, but jesh, all I really wanted was a very slightly early upgrade and Sprint cant even offer me that.

Let me know if I'm being unreasonable, but dang, I expected a little more than what I have gotten so far.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

You've either had an extremely unlucky experience or you have no idea what you are doing. Call account services. Let them know you have been having trouble redeeming your handset upgrade. Tell them you have no problem signing a new 2-year agreement. They will take care of you, I promise! :)

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Sounds like your not at the date for your upgrade... what are you waiting for pay the full tilts price or wait, it whould tell you the date on your account online when your date its.

RD

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Your right, I'm not at the upgrade date, I'm one week away. I know your thinking that its only one week, whats the big deal. Really, one week isnt that big of a deal, I can wait, what gets me is that for a continued customer I expected Sprint to also think that one week was no big deal and be willing to offer me my upgrade a tiny bit early to get me to re-sign my contract. Its this general feeling of "Your not important to us, yet".

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Threaten to cancel....they will give you whatever you want.

Mention AT&T and the iphone, and you're even more likley to get their attention.

Trust me...Sprint has coddled me like a baby in its crib. They have ALWAYS taken care of me....to the point that I would never even consider leaving them.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

And see thats why I'm upset. I love Sprint, I have never had a problem with them in the past, and thats whats frustrating. I'll admit, I was even c0key about having Sprint. My buddie has Verizon, and was complaining because he wanted an Omnia but didnt want to either have to buy a data plan, or have to pay full price for it, for his use of the phone it just want justifiable (we cant bring phones to work). In the end Verizon wouldnt do anything for him, meanwhile I was thinking that thats what he gets for having Verizon, Sprint would have done SOMETHING to make me as happy as I wanted to be. I was actually under the impression that Sprint would do practically anything I wanted them to do, well within reason. Now, all of a sudden, just to get my upgrade a tiny bit early, I ran into a wall.

I always pitied my friends with other carriers, I have always felt that the other carriers treated you like a numbered account, and yet my Sprint was different, they wouldnt do what was needed to keep me paying, they would go do whatever they could to keep me HAPPY. Now all of a sudden I dont have that happy feeling anymore. Thats what disapoints me, not that they didnt bend to my will, just that I didnt get the feeling that they were willing to do whatever they could to make me happy. And trust me, I dont look for much to keep me happy, heck a person on the other end of the phone just listening to me is usually all it takes.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

You need to separate Sprint the company from Sprint customer service reps. It's hard to do, but it helps. I have only been with Sprint for 6 months. I was with Qwest and wanted to stay on the Sprint network when Qwest went with Verizon.

Then my husband wanted to be added to the plan recently and port his number. Chat said I was only authorized 3 phones. Called and was told the same thing ...

SOOOOOO.... I asked for a supervisor. Still a no. I asked for the credit department. Transferred, but sent to the wrong department ... same customer service as before. I got a bit aggressive and finally made my way to the credit department. I explained that I was already upset from the prior conversations and sorry if I was pointing my disappointment at her ...

She added another line to my account, appologized for the problems and noted everything on my account so when we went to the store everything ran smoothly ... and it did!

I woould also like to mention that if you are looking at the Touch Pro, you minght not want to put data out of the question. It really does add to the "fun" of the Touch series of phones.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Yes, you are being a bit on the unreasonable side by trying something that no wireless carrier on earth would do for any of its customers. If you would like to leave your current carrier just becuse they won't go out of their way to bypass regular guidelines, that's on you. I wouldn't bother opening up a can of worms with anyone anywhere for such a reason as it's pretty much frowned upon IMHO.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

I have an extremely hard time believing your story. Sprint is more than happy to renew your contract early. It means they have you longer. They will give you the best price they can possibly give you to keep you. It's called customer retention. Best Buy has been known to have special deals in the past that has beat Sprint, but it's not a Sprint thing and it is usually a rebate or requires a new line of service for that price. That's Best Buy's policy.

A lot of Sprint Stores aren't Sprint corporate stores run by other companies. You'll get that with any carrier. And by now, salespeople in stores know to back off unless you look like you want them to be around. Did you walk into the store with a intimidating demeanor? That would tell me that you're there strictly for business and don't bother talking to you.

As for chat support? All chat customer service in the history of chat customer service has sucked for any company, ever. No exceptions. Don't bother using it.

But I still have a hard time believing your story about them not renewing your contract early.

And it sounded like the clerk at the store that was willing to give you upgrade prices to help, but you wanted your cake and to eat it too. She said you wouldn't be eligible for rebates because she was already doing something to help you out, but she was also telling you that if you sent in for the rebate, you would automatically be rejected and would go through hell in a futile attempt to get someone to override their system that says you aren't eligible because you upgraded before you were eligible for the rebate. It's simple.

Other phone companies will do the same thing; except they will be more blunt and tell you that you are SOL.

Then you go and compare apples to oranges by saying you can get a better price by switching to another carrier with a refurbished phone.

Why is it that you can't wait two weeks to renew, get upgrade pricing, and the rebates from Sprint?

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

For what? Wanting FULL upgrade eligability 2 weeks early? I'm not talking about early termination, I signed a contract and I am looking to fuflill that contract and I knew ahead of time that it would cost me to get out of it early, but thats not what I was looking for.

Mutiny32,
Its not that they wont let me renue, they will certainly do that, I'm just asking to get the same things now as I would in 2 weeks. Sure, I could wait two weeks, thats not what the big deal is about.
The reason I asked to do it now in the first place was because Best Buy had a sale on the phone my wife wanted. Now, I did ask if Sprint if they would be willing to price match, and they said no. Well ok I suppose but its unusual for a company not to price match especailly thier own retailer, but thats not really what I was looking for, I just wanted the ability to upgrade now. Thats not the issue here, just one of the pieces.
In the end I could wait two weeks, well, less than a week really. But if you think that its just two weeks and I sould wait, does not the same thing apply to Sprint? Its just a week, its not like its 8 months, and heck, they get to guarentee me for the next two years.
Oh, I dont think I was in a mood that indicated "back off" when I was in the store, maybe I could have. Having a wife walking around on crutches though would make me assume that they would try and go to her instead of making her go to them. I did lie though, I did have one interaction, one of the salesman approached me and asked me to take my 30lb daughter down from sitting on the counter since he was afraid she would break the 1" thick glass, so no problem I did, I only had her up there because she like to see the phones with me. But after I took her down he promptly turned and walked away, no other interaction even though he was already there.

In the end it wasnt the pieces, it was the general feeling of the interactions, especially ecare. In the past I have always felt like a valued customer, very very valued as a matter of fact, which is why I love sprint, but this time I felt like I would expect to feel as a Verizon customer, or an ATT customer, not what I normally feel like as a Sprint customer. And maybe its more of a fear, a fear that in Sprints current situation they will resort to customer service like the other providers have. IMO the last couple of years of customer service have been to try and convince people to come back after the years, and their stigma, of horrible customer service. But when your loosing billions and ATT is showing a profit, it could be mighty tempting to try and emulate their services.

Meatgel,
If I could use the dang thing more I would like to have data, but since I cant bring it to work thats 8-10 hours a day I couldnt use it, and most of the rest of my day is spent at home and I have Wi-Fi there. I would love to have it for traveling, its just hard to justify the cost when I would be using it very little.

In the end I could try and beat up retentions, and threaten to end my contract, but I dont want to be that guy who plays those games. I have 3 months left on contract, I'll play out those 3 months and see if I just had a bad week, and if it then comes to the point of canceling I'll see what retentions does, but I'm not going to threaten to end my contract over this, I'm only disapointed in Sprint, not upset, mad, furious, or anything else, just a little bummed.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

having been in your situation maybe 2 weeks ago, i would suggest calling *2 and CALMLY explain what's going on and what you're trying to do. take a look here for some pointers http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread...horror+stories

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Thanks for the link, that was a good read. I have definatly had my horror stories, 3 hours on the phone to fix a tax issue was one of them, but when I finally got re-routed to the same guy for the 3rd time he dragged in the manager and got the issue fixed.

I'm not to the point of calling in and complaining.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Well, I am happy to say my issues have been resolved and, as of right now, I am pleased to be with Sprint.

For those that may be interested, I took mr8820's advice and just called and had a friendly conversation (even though I said I wouldnt :lol: ). The person I spoke with was very receptive and without me even asking about anything started trying to apease my disapointment.

So now I am resigned with sprint and with new handsets on the way (TP and Centro) for a reasonable price, and full upgrade potential for my third line.

I still fear that new regulations have taken place within Sprint limiting what the stores and ecare can do, but as of now the good old Sprint I have grown to love is still there.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

So, this has gotten more interesting, and more disapointing.

I had called Sprint to find out what my ETF might be since ATT had been offering some good deals. I was immediatly booted to retentions who tried to resolve my issue. In the end, I got a TP for a decent price, nothing amazing, but decent, a Centro for upgrade price without having to do the mail in rebate plus $70 to upgrade that line, and what was supposed to be a data plan, which one she didnt tell me.

Fast forward a couple days.
I get a call from an Ecare customer, called me directly which was nice, to let me know that my account had only been granted data access, not a data plan, and that I was about to be hit with nearly $150 in data usage charges. Well, after 2 hours on the phone the tech was only able to add a vision pack for $8 a line, not able to give me anything else, but by nixing my messaging and giving me 1000 messages a month for free my bill would end up being $6 a month more. That was supposed to give me data, and navigation and messaging, but at the loss of picture messaging and the added cost per month, but it was to be back dated so I wouldnt get hit with any data charges. Oh, and a $100 credit on the TP line since vision wouldnt give me the mail in rebate. Well, since it covered my issues I took it even though I lost picture messaging and my monthly bill went up, I still considered it a decent outcome.

2 days later I loose caller ID. 2 hours on the phone and I still didnt get it fixed, but the ticket was sent to another department. A couple days later I got Caller ID back. The tech I spoke with thought it might be to all the changes on my account, who knows and it really wasnt a huge deal.

Today, I check my bill, and this is where the fun begins.
My bill is showing correct equipment charges, the $70 upgrade credit. HOWEVER, it is showing a $130 charge for "Data and 3rd party charges", and a $56 charge for "Access and related items". Now my plan is showing "Sprint Data pack plus" on my wifes line and mine, but when I click on that at Sprint.com it says "Add-On: Unknown Item".

So who knows what the hell is going on, but I'm a little pissed at all the charges that were supposed to be covered, and the multiple hours on the phone trying to get things resolved.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Whats funny is i was in the mall of america and they are located right next to best buy. And spirt had a sign out side and it said with will match compitor... and i walked over to best buy and looked at prices and then i went over to sprint and there said they couldnt do that but the sign said make any prices lol

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

I've had my good and bad experiences with Sprint but altogether, I'd rather stay with Sprint than go to any other Carrier :P

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

snoman, call them and calmly tell them what's going on. it will(not may) take a while but trust me, sprint will end up giving you some kind of credit for your headaches. just make sure if you haven't already to have whomever you talk to note your account but also keep notes of who you're talking to. stay with it soldier!(but calmly)

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Calmly, got it! LOL

Sounds like you have been at the recieving end of those calls.

I'm going to give them a call, I just have not had a chance yet. The only problem I have right now is I am not sure who to call. I have already spoken to the "normal" reps, and although they are helpfull, they seem to be quite limited in their abilities. At this point I would like to get what I had before (picture mail) and what has been promised me (data, navigation), and get the charges wiped. As far as I can tell thats the PRO pack add on, but the normal reps wont be able to do that without costing me $30 a month. I dont mind a little bit of an increase in my monthly bill for some features, but I'm not dropping another $60 a month for things that I had before, or what Sprint said they were going to give me.

Do I call customer support and just keep asking to get booted up untill someone has the power to take care of this, or call retentions back since it seems they have the power to take care of this. Direct calling retentions seems like cheating since I believe Sprint can take care of this for me and I'm not quite to the point of canceling, but since it seems they are the ones who screwed this up the first time IMO they should be the ones to fix it.

What does not help is my wife is also disapointed with her phone and is thinking about another phone. I have 30 days to do that, but just getting my bill straight is taking a while and putting a phone exchange in the mix is just going to make things more confusing.

BTW, what is with all Sprints options, not even the techs are aware of them. Seems to me that Sprint could cut a bunch of costs just by booting everybody to one of the new plans that includes whatever they had before, and then just charging them the same as they were paying. All these options and add-ons has to be costing a fortune to keep track of, not to mention bogging down the system. Sure, some people might get a mild "upgrade" out of it, but I would think the benifits would outweight the costs.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Wow, some of the responses that come up in these threads are surprising. What is the problem with waiting TWO WEEKS!! Why must everyone say "threaten to cancel you'll get what you want" I will admit that I only talk to retentions, but I have always advised them that there is no plan to cancel, with the exception of my most recent problem which I will cancel over if not resolved. It is this culture that thrives, on and encourages immediate gratification, that leads to some of the problems we have today. I do agree the the way the online chat was handled was rude, as well as the first store. Also, I have been with Sprint for almost 7years (got first phone on 18th Bday) and have seen that they are more than willing to help as long as you are upfront HONEST and polite.



To the OP don't threaten to cancel unless you are prepared for them to say goodbye, if that happens get ready to pay out the A$$ for your phone bill.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

What the OP needs to realize is, the non corporate store will not get paid for giving him a "hookup". No matter what you say, we're all in business to make money. I have had to turn away plenty of people who were days away from two year eligibility only to have them get the phone somewhere else.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Though I've had my share of experiences with very dense Sprint reps, where it took days on days of calling and fixing what they messed up, I am currently very satisfied with them.
I have been with them ever since I owned my first mobile phone. A loooong time. I have been upgraded to premier customer status when they started doing that.
I upgraded my family plan to the limited everything plan. Very cheap, compared to other companies for what we get and use.
We were offered out upgrades about 2 month before the contract was out. Since I didn't want to upgrade yet, they gave me $70.00 per line to renew the contract. Then I upgraded some of the phones and got the discounts too.

I had the experience that they did a lot to keep me happy, and they have done so successfully.

I have had less than stellar experiences with Sprint vendors - they have nothing to do with sprint and are just authorized dealers. They get the new phones in later than they are online and are not very knowledgable. I usually end up educated THEM about things.

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

sprint isnt how they used to be.i been having crazy problems and they havent done anything to fix it....and i been wit them for 9 years and i have 5 lines..the problem is alot of the reps are incompetent...they suck for real..i have had to many billing errors and have spent unnecessary countless of hours dealing with them..lets see if they fix my problems tomorrow if not i will gladly leave to tmobile

Re: Disapointed with Sprint
 

Sprint could careless about how long you been ripping you off and the fair and flex plan is nomore so if you change plan u will lose that plan for good u kinda have to beat them at there own game.