In the past several weeks, I have had such horrendous experiences with Sprint PCS that I felt the need to share and possibly save someone else the trouble of dealing with this company.

In June, my old flip phone broke, the ear piece having snapped off. I purchased another one and at the same time, bought the breakage and theft insurance they offer in case it should happen again.

In December, the new phone broke in the same place! I called in a claim to the customer service folks and was told that I would have a new phone via UPS in 3-5 working days. Day 5 came, no phone. I called them back, only to be told that my replacement was on backorder, and I would just have to make do with my old one until the replacement arrived. Considering that my phone was of NO use to me and no one had even bothered to let me know not to be waiting for a new one, I was pretty angry. They sent me to the retail store, telling me that the retail store would be able to set me up with a replacement at no charge to me.

The store, though they had been contacted by customer service, had no intention of getting me a new phone. I was pretty irate by then, having been given the runaround both literally and figuratively, and I complained vehemently until the manager of the store contacted customer service herself and arranged for a $100 credit to my account toward the purchase of a new phone. I chose a new one and went home, content in the knowledge that if I hated it, I had 14 days to return it.

Day 9: I noticed that the supposed 8 day standby time they had advertised on the new phone was pure fiction, as I was lucky to make it through a full day without a dead battery by 7 pm, even if I hadn't used it to make calls. Unfortunately, on Day 8, I had just flown to Monterey for Laguna Seca and then arranged to drive back with Clark to Chicago, such that I would not be at my home store within the 14 day return policy to return my phone.

I called customer service and explained the situation. They told me that as long as I had my charger with me, I could go to any Sprint PCS retail store, return my phone, and trade up to a better one. I asked about their policy requiring that the box and instruction book accompany the phone, but the customer service agent assured me that it was ok, since this was a special situation. She made a note to my account detailing all of what we talked about and what she approved.

Day 14: I arrived at a Sprint PCS store in Littleton, Colorado and attempted to return the phone, only to be told that they refuse take it without the box and book, regardless of what customer service approved. Understanding that I would be returning to Austin (and within reach of the book and box) late Sunday night, they told me that they will make a note that they will extend the return policy until Tuesday (Day 18).

Day 18: I went into a store in Round Rock, an Austin suburb, only to be told that they don't have to honor the other store's notes, and that the other store's notes state "two days" rather than "Tuesday." I can understand the mistake, but shouldnt' common sense take over here, since at their close of business 2 days later, I still wasn't in Austin? Furthermore, one store doesn't have to honor the other's promises? WTF??? The Round Rock store sent me to the Austin store where I originally bought the phone.

Day 19: Returned to the Austin store, only to be met by a sawed off, smart ass kid who refuses to let me see the manager or do anything for me but point me to the customer service phone, which is where the initial problem started. When asked what he would do in my position, he replied, "I'd have gotten back here before the 14 day return period expired." Correct me if I'm misunderstanding something, but I did that, followed the instructions given to me by their customer abuse, I mean service, hotline, and am still wrong? He said they were being "kind enough" to give me another battery, but that wasn't my point. Somewhere between customer service and the retail store, I lost my right to choose what product I wanted!

Lesson learned: Sprint sucks, and if you ever find yourself caught between the morons in customer service and the equally inept people at the retail store, you're screwed.

So Sprint, was it worth it? A customer of 2.5 years, a relative lifetime in the cellular phone industry, and you blew it!

 

Sondra,

I wonder if you had the Samsung 3500? I had one a few years back when they first came out, and after a few months, the ear piece broke too. I returned it to the store, but for some reason, they said that they wouldn't cover it, even if it was samsung's fault. I started raising hell, and after talking to a manager, she said, ok, we will replace it. I got another 3500, and one month later, I could hear a click and knew it was going to break so I went back to the store, and wanted to inform them. This time, they said that Samsung informed them of the problem and what to do, unfortunately, too many people already came to swap out their phone so they didn't have one in stock. I decided to forget the samsung and go for the nokia phone. They guy tried to tell me it was a better phone, and that he will be nice and throw in a vibrating battery. I had friends who had the nokia and knew it came with it, but I didn't bother correcting this young lad. Well, after a few months of Sprint, I decided I couldn't handle their Customer Service because of the long wait, the bad service and the horrible reception, and the fact that I got a job with Verizon Wireless, I cancelled. It took me three months to finally get them to cancel the service.

Everyone knows for a fact that Sprint has terrible service, they just sell you the product, and the rate plan, and have nothing to back it up with. I never heard of a company who will keep someone waiting for over a hour, but Sprint manages because they think people will be fooled with their "crystal clear" reception. "The only true Nation Wide Long Distance they have is the ones between their coverage area." -Mike Conrad, President, Verizon Wireless.

If anyone is smart, they will choose Verizon Wireless. I am not saying this because I work for them, but because I can honestly say that we have the best network, the best customer service, and Voted by JD Powers to be the best company. * ok, i might have to add that it is for the east coast area, i don't know much about Verizon in the western half of the US.*

Ask Airgate, he will say the same thing.!!!.. *about SunCom
BTW, if anyone here on the east coast has Verizon service and needs to contact Customer Service, PM me, and i will take care of you.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dkhl
[B]Everyone knows for a fact that Sprint has terrible service, they just sell you the product, and the rate plan, and have nothing to back it up with.

 

Sondra I think that this is past the point of being nice.

Call head office and demand to speak to the vp of customer service, they have to get you to atleast the VP's EA and complain right to them. The worst response they can get is they have customer service reps giving the incorrect information at differing locations.

If you have names even better.

Time for blood.

 

Vince, it's all documented as to who I spoke to and while I probably will go up the chain, it will be after I go to another company. Unfortunately, in the past I've had the same problems DKHL mentioned about having to wait on hold for an hour at a time to get billing problems taken care of, and that went on at least twice a month for 6 months at one point. In short, I'm done fighting to get what I paid for, and I'll be going somewhere else. The only thing I can't complain about is the nationwide long distance, which I love and will miss

Yes, DHKL, I think my old phones were the 3500. The new one is the N300, and thanks to the morons at the store today, I have 2 batteries for it, presumably ONE that works. It's a brand new phone (2 weeks old) with three chargers: one a corded car style, one car charger, and one desktop. If anyone wants to buy it from me, I'll cut them a GREAT deal.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dkhl
[B]Sondra,

If anyone is smart, they will choose Verizon Wireless.

 

Regarding Sprint: They've been pretty good service wise, except the commie bastards changed my phone number on me without prior notification. I had about a 20 minute wait on hold to get it changed, but there was no reason to have switched my number as far as I can tell, they just did. And the "nationwide network" is pretty bogus, but I don't know that any other company is any better. If only we had 1 or 2 standards like Europe, we'd all have good service.

Regarding Verizon: They're far from perfect. Many of the cellular retailers want little or nothing to do with them in Wisconsin because the service (meaning usability of the phone) is so spotty.

Sorry to hear of your troubles Sondra...

 

Sondra, I feel for you. I too have had nothing but problems with Sprint. In fact, most everyone that has had problems with sprint has had one of those samsung phones.

If I had a choice I would go back to AT&T right now. Two years with AT&T, never had a problem. Six months with Sprint and I have been through three phones and at least two days of dealing with "customer service".

 

What a pain!

I've been lucky. I stated with Contel who became Alltel way back in the days of the big bag phones that had to be plugged in. I've changed phones 5 or six times and I've kept the same 7 digit number through 3 area code changes. For the last three years or so I've been carrying a Motorola StarTac. I was afraid the phone would be fragile but I've had no problems and I'm even still using the original battery. I will probably upgrade in the next year to a newer version of the StarTac but I'll stick with Alltel. I don't know who the best provider in your area might be but I'll bet it's not Sprint.

 

Sondra,

at least you got some kind of customer service with Sprint PCS. As far as PCS is concerned, I STARTED the bandwagon. When Sprint began its PCS campaign, I bought in and got on the service plan in 1997. The phone service was awesome for the first two months. But as their customer base grew, I got more and more dropped calls than I could care to live with and pay for.

When I called to complain or try to rectify my bill, it was a joke. I NEVER got customer service. After many months more of just dealing with it, I got angry and tried cancelling the service. That was a bigger joke!!! I kept getting bill after bill, and collection notices after I finally managed to cancel the service.

It wasn't until two years later that I found a phone number to a corporate account manager. I called the number and for once in life, I spoke to a Sprint PCS rep. She took care of everything and tried to convince me (more like swindle) to come back to Sprint PCS. She tried enticing me with free re-activation, $200 credit towards the account, and a free top of the line phone.

I refused and joined AT&T PCS. I got great choice in Nokia phones, great customer service, timely billing, accurate billing, and very good coverage. The only thing I didn't like was the high rate plans for what I needed. I ended up cancelling for that and right before Asheville (S2KDays '01), I signed two accounts up with Cingular.

Cingular,....don't do it! Great rate plans, but un-timely billing, un-accurate billing, customer service waits of up to 45 mins, and a sign on of a mininimum two year contract. I hate contracts, something about the committment. However, they do have regional customer service centers where I can just go, rather than wait on the phone.

I think after this year is up I may either go back to AT&T for one service line, or just give up on mobile phones all together! I'm leaning towards giving up on the damn things.