[dmcgrady]

Well lets just say that Sprint is a dirty cell phone company.

I was afraid of this as I had bad experiences with them during the phone card and 800 home number days, yes back in the early 90's they screwed me.

Well here it is. I asked sprint off and on when they were going to come out with a Blackberry Curve starting in November. And they really didn't want to tell me. I have been a customer of Nextel and then Sprint for at least eight years. And I really didn't want to switch companies. But TMO had a very competitve pricing plan and the Curve. So I canceled my service with Sprint effective 01/23/08 and even got a confirmation of the cancellation.

Keep in mind that I had 15 days left of my billing period. I receive a bill the other day for $2.05 for frigging messaging charges. What about the 15 days of unused service at $80.00 a month plus taxes? I feel like they owe me $35.00 or $40.00 dollars , ok if they want to deduct the messaging fee's fine.

Well after going ruond and round with this guy that speaks poor english, understands it about as bad. I finally ask for a supervisor, 10 minute hold. Oh the supervisor comes on the phone asking me, "what is your problem" , you cancelled your service and only have a $2.05 bill how can you have a problem, he says to me?

I explain again that I cancelled my service, and I pay a month in advance every month and I want a refund for the prorated amount of unused service.
He asks me if I gave them 30 days notice of my intent to cancel my service. And of course I say no, and say", look you people are keeping my money and then you have the audacity, to charrge me two dollars for messaging. He says to me that he can't refund the $35.00, but he will wipe out the $2.05. I got a confirmation number and hung up.

I will use a carrier pigeon before I pay Sprint another dime for cellphone servive.

Lesson here, give Sprint 30 days notice of your intent to cancel. make sure you cancel on the last day of your billing cycle. Otherwise they will screw you.

Oh by the way did I mention in eight years I called customer service 8 times, and was never late on my bill.

Ok you have been warned.

[John Clark]

Moved to Rants and Raves,

[Micpip]

That’s standard practice in the wireless industry....read any companies fine print and it will say if you cancel in the middle of your billing cycle you will not be credited back for proration....I work in the industry and all customers complain of this when switching carriers....I always recommend switching a 3 days before the end of your billing cycle then call to confirm you account is canceled.

[ezrunner]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Agree and cofirm with above post

[Sith_Apprentice]

JD Powers and Associates worst customer service award of National Wireless Carriers

[[IFC]Area51]

Ive been with all carriers except sprint, they're toooooooo ghettoooooooo, me no likes.

[ricpac]

There was an article off consumerist.com last week and t'was all about Sprint and how they suck.

[Dawg]

I agree with the OP though they could have had more courtesy though even know they were right, they could have handled differently.

[cmguerra77]

That's why I switched from Sprint to AT&T. Their customer service was terrible. I'm glad I did

[someonexh]

I will never ever go back to sprint. I had them years and years ago. Every year I had them there were new excuses on extra charges and the fact that my phone would die nightly because I moved to 4 different locations all amazingly on the EDGE of their coverage area.

[TBOLTRAM]

All the cell companies have issues of one sort or another. Dead locations, billing problems, sorry after sales service, questionable business practices in regard to turning off phone features and others. Picking one is sort of like determining if you would rather be hung or shot.

That being said, I am going to a customer this week in another state that got so mad at Sprint that they gave a site and services to Verizon to install a cell tower on their property.

Buyer beware.

[dmcgrady]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Well some people in the industry may think its acceptable to have your pocket picked. But what Sprint did was no different than going out to eat, the bill say $20.00. You throw down a fifty and when you ask for your change, they say we don,t make change, didn't you read the small print on page 34, paragraph 42 of the Eula.
I think people are so used to getting screwed when doing biz with a company that they just accept it.

By the way I didn't get this type of treatment when leaving Cell One to go to AT&T.

[DacyJ]

Wirelessly posted

My theory is that the cable company, cell phone company and a few others are all tied in with the mob (I say that while looking over my shoulder) what can you do, luckily you got the bill taken care of but when it comes to them having to give money back... They don't really like doing that. I hope they don't hear this or I'm gonna need some relocation lol

[NickfromIL]

This is my Sprint(Nextel) story. It all started when I was going to be out of the country for a little over a month. Since I wasn't taking my phone with me, I called CS to place a "seasonal suspend" on my account. I was told that this was not a problem, and I needed to have my account turned back on within 3 months or it would automatically be canceled. Ok no problem. I get back to find a bill including a $200 ETF. Called CS up and was like I had a seasonal suspend, not a cancellation. Well after 30 mins and 2 reps, I got the EFT taken off, but they had ALREADY assigned my number to someone else. I'm not happy, but I will survive. Service is restored, no balance due, time to use the phone. Pick it up, walk to the kitchen, and crap, there it goes right into the sink full of water. Ok time to call CS again. Explain the situation to the CSR, he tells me "ok I see you have the Total Equipment Coverage, so I will transfer you to the insurance company to file a claim." No problem, pay the deductible and I'll have a new phone tomorrow. Yea right. Since my service had been cancelled, even thought it shouldn't have, for the insurance to have restarted I needed to make 1 phone call. Had not yet happened, so they wouldn't cover it. Back to CS. After 2 hours I finally got someone there to admit it was their fault. Thats progress, but wait, I had a spending limit account so they couldn't send me a phone for free. Not sure than I understand, but ok. Also, they cant give me credit and then charge a new phone to my account, for the same reason. So now I have fought tooth and nail to get my service back the way it was, just to not be able to use it Sure I could have just gone and bought a used phone on E-Bay, but I shouldn't have to. Finally I work them out of about $380 worht of credit on my account, for my troubles and to cover a new out of contract price of a phone. A few hours later, I decide this whole event really upset me, so I called CS back yet again, this time to cancel my service. I specifically asked the CSR if the credit on my account would cover my ETF, asked him 3 times. Everytime I was told it would, and after 30 days I could call and request a check be sent to me for the $180 that would remain. Great, no more Sprint. 28 days later, I recieve a bill from Sprint, for $237. Ok this cant be right. Call CS, and am told that the credit was given to me to prevent me from canceling, so when I did all the credit got reversed, and I owe the ETF plus tax. Wait I asked specifically about this. I proceeded to tell the CSR this, and my ultimate solution was to retract my cancellation, and I did get them to add my credit back. I immediately switched to the lowest plan they had, never used the phone again, and the credit was enough to get me to the end of my contract.

Good riddance Sprint.

[ezrunner]

wow Nick that is quite an experience

[kurichan]

Doesn't sound like the problem is with Sprint on this one.

[LinkMobile]

Wow!!! I have all my customers call me direct. I won't allow them to call the 800 number to a CS dept. located in a country where English isn't the preferred or understood language. They have good coverage, just a stupid CS model. If anyone has any issues, you can PM me. I speak English just fine and located in the dead center of the U.S.

Sorry to hear about everyone's bad experience.

[Rolo1971]

I cancelled my sprint service 4 years ago due to bad customre service. It only takes one time for me to change! I pay them and shouldn't have to work so hard to get questions answered or problems solved. After all it's their job! And I am as nice as can be when I call with problems on anything.

[ArgonNJ]

Dude, its $2. Get over it and move on. Life is too short.

[Rolo1971]

In his defense, it wasn't about the $2.00. It was actually $35-$40 as he mentioned. And $2 from 10,000 customers adds up. Do the math.
I am sure he wasn't the only one who had this happen to him.

But as micpip stated, "read any companies fine print and it will say if you cancel in the middle of your billing cycle you will not be credited back for proration" It's unfortunate but obviously this happens.