Sprint/Touch Pro Hell - Sorry for the long read!

[mrchris1234]

This is gonna be a long post to explain this all and make it make sense, for that I apologize in advance.

Late October I called Sprint to inquire about touch pro pricing and see if I could wheel and deal on it, was told $299 (although later charged 399 and learned that the last $100 was a rebate, although this wasn't explained at the time) and he changed my plan to supposedly save me $50 or so per month over the current plan I was on (3 lines plus data card).

Got the touch pro and immediately had big time battery problems. Now before someone starts flaming, this was beyond short. I was getting about 30 minutes standby and less than 10 minutes talk time. This was with bluetooth and wifi off, data connection on. Based on others observations about the battery improving I tried to deal with it for a couple weeks. instead of getting better it got worse and I was down to the phone going dead within 10 minutes being unplugged from the charger without even a single call. When plugged in I could make calls up to about 10 to 20 minutes until it overheated and stopped charging. Certainly not a situation I could live with.

I called customer care and was told the faster resolution was to exchange it at a sprint store. Went to the nearest sprint store and was told that they had not yet received refurbished phones for exchange and wouldnt for another 6 to 8 weeks but they would call me when they came in. I was asonished, this is a brand new defective phone. I am not waiting for a refurb, give me a new one. They wouldn't. Call back to customer care, the poor gal was floored and went to send me a new one. Then came back and said sorry they are backordered and we will not get more for at least a week.

10 days later I get the replacement phone along with a postcard stating that the return kit (for the original phone) was backordered. Activate the new phone, wow now I get 3 hours of standby time and about 20 minutes talk time, longer than before but still not in the ballpark, but to make matters worse it freezes up repeatedly during the day. Every time I try and do a send/receive in pocket outlook it crashes and requires a soft reset. Randomly sometime even during the night on the charger it locks up and not even a soft reset works and I have to remove the battery to reset it. Try a hard reset and start all over, still doing the same thing (bone stock, no registry changes or any additional software installed).

Another week goes by and I still dont have the return kit for the first phone but now I have two touch pros billed to my account ($900 with tax and shipping) ughh... Call back to customer care and they resend the return kit only to receive a postcard saying its backordered yet again. Call again after receiving the postcard and finally two days later I receive it. Send back the original and call about the replacement being worse than the original (at least it was stable even if I had to leave it plugged in 24x7).

Then I get my bill, $1800+, two touch pros and then a $200 Early Termination Fee for sending in the first phone (the account didnt change just supposed to be a warranty replacement) And then the supposed plan changes were messed up and instead of going from roughly $340 per month it was supposed to drop to about $270 and instead was now $830 for the current month.... what the hell... So after spending several hours on the phone and finally working my way up the ladder I reach a very helpful gal. She was really quite amazed at how messed up things were, fortunately there were pretty good notes by the customer service reps and she could see what was supposed to be happening.

She got the plan issues resolved and credits in place for that, got the ETF fee reversed. Turns out the second phone was sent as if I had ordered it instead of as a replacement which never would have been billed (unless I had not sent in the original) but as I had already sent it in I had to wait until the returns department issued a credit and was told that could take 2 to 3 billing cycles. So she issues a temporary credit so it will not impact service and give them time to process it. And then sets up another replacement (the correct way) to replace the second defective phone. But now the very next day (today) I get an email from returns saying that the phone I returned is INELIGABLE for credit but also will not be returned...WTF

I've been a sprint customer nearing 12 years, I've had occasional issues but I have always had them resolved pretty quickly and found them pretty responsive. This though is getting ridiculous, in the last 2 months I have probably 15 hours into sorting through this between time on the phone either talking with someone or explaining it or on hold, time at the sprint store waiting in line, time wasted to and from the UPS store to either pickup or send back equipment..... Geez this is frustrating and to make matters worse its still not over.

[Insoc]

Sorry but I do not understand how you got this messed up.

The Sprint 30 day return policy is just that.

Did you keep the 1st phone for more then 30 days?

And you will get credit for the 1st phone, what reason could they possibly not give you credit for it? Are you not telling us something, like you used it to spread butter on your corn and BBQ on your pork? Took a swim with it because you thought it was a rubber ducky? (I need popcorn).

Sorry, but it sounds like you need to make some more calls, and get some credit for your problems, in the end, I would not think that it is worth it, and drop Sprint like a hot potato, I could not imagine going through your nightmare, and it sounds too much to me to be true, not saying it is not, but it is hard to imagine, something you are doing or asking for, maybe your wheeling and dealing, got you and Sprint all confused.

Best stick to the sticker price next time...

[mrchris1234]

Well, I wouldn't be the first one to try and wheel and deal and I have had pretty good luck in the past being a longtime customer with a sizeable plan.

I called and requested the replacement phone at the 14 day mark. The replacements were backordered and I received it right at the 30 day mark. The return kits were backordered (I kept the little black and white postcard they sent). When I called customer care they suggested returning it to the store, tried, after standing there waiting 45 minutes for my name to be called I was told they could take it back but not guarantee I would get credit for it (what would the point of that be) and strongly recommended sending it to the returns. Called customer care back and the resubmitted a request to send a return kit. got another postcard stating that they were backordered (which astonished me once I saw what it was, a prepaid ups bubble bag and a shipping label). Finally received it though and sent it in. At this point it was about 45 days from original activation, but the delays were on Sprints end not mine. So the day I activated the replacement I get slammed with a $200 ETF (which they have corrected after a few hoops to jump through) and a couple weeks later get informed that the original phone will not be credited nor does it say anything about returning it.... so what I pay for it and they keep it???

I did call customer care tonight, the gal was helpful but the order department was already closed so I have to wait for a call back tomorrow. But damn this is just too much work, I'm sure ATT or Verizon would love my business.

[Insoc]

I think your first mistake was to keep the phone past 30 days... You should have returned it to a store and swapped it for something else, until they got a TP back in stock, or just returned it for a full refund and tried again later. Sometimes our wishes, wants and desires get the best of us.

Sorry, but part of this is your problem. Yes I understand:

1. Out of Stock.
2. Backorder.

But 30 days is 30 days, you had to do something, and what you chose to do seems to have landed you in this mess.

I wish you the best of luck, and I know that hindsight is not very helpful, but try to learn from it.

Good luck! In the end, I am sure you will get it fixed being such a long standing customer with multiple lines, it just is too bad it is taking you so long. Have you talked to retentions about this?

[orlandojumpoff]

that sucks... this is why i never call them.. i do everything through ecare so i have a record of everything. plus i dont have to sit on the phone and cycle through multiple people until i get someone willing to help or know what theyre doing.
i exchanged my mogul for a touch pro when it came out.. when they got my mogul return kit, they called me and left a message saying sorry this is not eligible for a return so we cannot credit your account. i simply emailed ecare on my exchange ticket and asked them what was up with that.. they said sorry and immediately applied the credit.

[mrchris1234]

The last person I spoke with had a title along the lines of Senior Escalations Manager... Retentions is who I spoke with when I originally ordered the phone.

I understand the 30 days, however I was repeatedly told by customer care that as long as the replacement was ordered within 30 days that was sufficient, I did ask and was aware of the 30 day policy. And it was on the 30th day when I tried to return it to the store and they wouldnt accept it, stating that they had no way to make sure it would be properly credited unless I had a receipt showing I purchased it there, allowing them to pull that transaction record.

[Insoc]

So back to retentions and Ecare you go... I see where this is going, but I think you might have let the store off too easy...

Sorry, and good luck!

P.S. Escalations seems to be as high as the sky with Sprint, you are at the top already, so you should be getting taken care of.

P.P.S. Why would you talk with retentions 1st to order a phone? Are you saying that you wheeled and dealed by saying you wanted to quit Sprint to get your TP? Shame on you, maybe part of your problem is karma related... :P Telesales, or ecare to order the phone 1st, then retentions for a credit next time maybe? I don't know, I have never ever ever spoke to retentions, that scares me!

[r1_rydah]

retentions seems like the only dept that actually knows what they are doing, I need to have a drink before I deal with that 1st tier of their CS

[Baffles]

If you were in contact with a senior escalations manager, I assume he left you contact info? I'd call him back and get the phone return issue straightened out.

I make this assumption because I had to deal with escalations over a fried Mogul after being told it was OOLed (a lie) and no longer being replaced. Escalations called and worked with me several times, and gave me a direct phone # + extension.

[grodriguez]

Sorry im laughing. but, im laughing with you. ive been held hostage with sprint for 9 yrs now and ive been where you are several times over.my method is to talk to retention all the time. the last time they gave up and gave me the everything plan for 55 bucks with free second phone line.....tell them theres a phone at verizon you like. good luck!