Jan 23

I’ll try to keep my blog posts concise, useful and for the most part,
positive. But I’ve had enough frustrating experiences with large
corporations like Circuit City, Cox Communications and now Sprint where they think they can trample the little guy and there will be no repercussions.
I reserve this small corner of the web to use my humble publishing abilities to expose some of these
customer service atrocities in hopes that others can have a peek at how these companies do
business before deciding to become a customer themselves. this is a repost of a note I just sent to a local arizona
internet professionals list i’m on here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/azipa/message/33153

**********snip***********

i have been customer of sprint for 3yrs- never once late on a payment.
just this last month i switched online billpay services and in doing
so made an honest mistake in entering the address incorrectly for my
sprint bill. the payment went out on time, just went to their
corporate headquarters instead of their PO Box. i received notice
from them via mail and within 3 days took corrective action and resent
payment to the proper address (1/18/05). yesterday I get a text
message sent to my phone indicating that I needed to take immediate
action to prevent interruption of my cel service. I called their
support line per the instructions and spent no less than 30min being
bounced from automated phone system to annoying automated phone system
entering my phone number each time and of course having to repeat it
to each person that answered the line before being redirected to the
next automated system. all told i waited on hold for a human for
probably 45min. I finally reached an operator, explained the
situation and paid the remainder of the balance with my credit card. i
was assured that my service would remain uninterrupted. okay, no
sweat.

this evening they suspended my service and now any number i dial gets
forwarded to their collections department where they demand I pay the
reminder of my bill on my creditcard. having already sent the check 5
days ago, spent 45min yesterday and another 30min this evening, I have
no desire to now pay this bill via cc only to have their processing
dept deposit my check tomorrow and double-bill me, so i refused. i was
patient with everyone i talked to this evening and 30min into it when
I was talking finally w/ a supervisor who probably had the authority
to do something, my cel died from lack of batteries. now I don’t know
what three years of loyalty to their service and making religious
on-time payments means to them, but I have to know that if were i
sitting in a room face-to-face explaining the situation, they would be
no "let me forward you to the appropriate department", they would hear
my explanation and reinstate service and all would be fine. These
CSR’s seem to have no motivation to solve the customer’s problem or
SERVICE the customer at all, rather the goal is to stick as closely to
the playbook scripts they are given so that if their call is monitored
for quality assurance, it meets the guidelines and they keep their
robotic job. what’s ironic is i’ll undoubtedly be charged on my next
bill for the 100minutes I have spent this weekend on the phone trying
to resolve this problem.

Anyone who relies on their cel as their sole number will relate to how
much of a colossal inconvenience it is to have your number shut off.
As soon as I have service again the first call I will be making will
be to another provider. number portability baby. the question is,
which one? Can anyone recommend a carrier they are happy with? some
place where (even if it costs more) you talk to a human being who ACTS
like a human and not an automaton? Does anyone write that cellphone
bill check and feel like their getting their money’s-worth each month?

and also, I know there’s a verizon rep on this list- if there’s by any
chance a sprint rep listening- how the heck can you refer to this
system as customer SERVICE? can’t we at least call it what it is:
customer inconvenience, customer strip search or something equally as
humiliating and degrading?

okay i’m done now. feel free to forward this to anyone who you know
that might be considering sprint. it’s just not worth it. next time
you’re chosing cel providers remember this simple equation:
sprint=$#%@

sean

21 Responses to “Sprint customer service: a 100min hamster-maze for humans?”

  1. Brian says:

    You are so right about this! I have been with Sprint, Verizon and Cingular. Sprint IS the worst by every sense of the word. Keep it real!

  2. Rj says:

    I can empathize with you, sprint has been such a pain lately. We were with them for 3 years and these riduculous charges!!!

  3. i have never experienced a company as pitiful as sprint says:

    i have bee trying for 4hours and 28 minutes to complete one simp[le billing problem. i have invoiced sprint $130.00 per hour for my time. lets see what happens. our time is just as important ya know.

  4. Fred says:

    I ordered a mobile card from Sprint last Friday….The rep told me they would deliver on Saturday…I had to remind her that they don’t….She then said the card would be here Monday AM…..No car……I have spent 1 hour on the phone trying to cancel my order with this company…..If the first days are like this, I can only image what 2 years would be like. No thanks….My company is going with someone else.

  5. […] Every citizen is now potentially a journalist. I learned this power first-hand through posting a negative experience on my blog after dealing with Sprint customer service. […]

  6. […] Sean over at Scrollin’ on Dubs has had a similar horrible Sprint PCS customer service experience. […]

  7. Congress should make companies liable for the time they force people to wait on the phones & wading through shoddy customer service.

    Any CSR nightmare that takes longer than 2-3 hours of my time almost stops seeming worth it (except in principle) on a monetary basis.

    Someone should start a “we’ll be a dick for you to big companies when they try to rip you off” service that takes a cut of whatever they get back from the companies for you. (you’d have to give them your credentials & they might have to impersonate you, but other than that the plan is sound! j/k)

    Glad you post this kind of stuff too. Maybe if enough bloggers keep posting about this they will eventually take heed.

  8. Nina says:

    I agree with the posts that Sprint is the worst customer service. Ok, in all fairness, I’ve never had any other cell phone provider, but Sprint was so bad, I can’t imagine any other company being worse!

    I was overcharged to the tune ov about $250 for service that they said they were providing me after my contract with them expired. I wrote to an address in Virginia–what I assume is their corporate office. I haven’t gotten the formal apology that I hoped for, but the collection calls have mysteriously stopped. . .

  9. Craig says:

    I too have had my Sprint troubles… they are more than pleased to extend my contract… but I realized the other day that when I downloaded a ring tone I had to pay not only 2.50 for the tone but also their .03/KB downloading fee (I do not have vision which is an additional 15/month)… which makes the ring tone not worth the money…

  10. Jamie says:

    After receiving unacceptable service via your customer service line, I thought it would be beneficial to advise you of how I was treated.

    I have been a valuable customer to sprint for 5 years now. After moving to Japan we made the choice to continue our service with Sprint for our daughter who is attending college in the states. Our daughter called Sprint on November 15th to see what our options were during the time she was in Japan. She went into the Sprint store on November 21st to put our service on hold immediately for the 2 months; I authorized the transaction via the telephone. She flew to Japan on November 26th for a 2 month visit.

    Today, January 3, 2008 I received the bill and was astonished at the amount, $129.85. I picked up the phone and that is when I really became upset. I called 1-888-211-4727 (which is not FREE for me) at 0927am, a gentleman answered, I explained the situation and he said I needed to call the correction department at 800-808-1336 (this call took 4 minutes). I called the correction department and Renee advised me that she could not help me that she would transfer to the correct department. After 5 minutes being on hold, Carrie answered. I again had to explain the situation only for her to tell me that I was not connected to the right department. She said she would transfer me, I was disconnected! I called back the original 888-211-4727, at 9:34 I was finally connected to Evindago. I again explained the whole situation and told him I wanted a supervisor because I have already spent too much time trying to correct their mistake. He said he needed to know about the situation before he could connect me. I explained again, by this time I am getting more irritated by the minute because this is my time and money that Sprint is wasting. Again put on hold, this time for a total of 13 minutes!!!!! Let me explain that a phone call from Japan cost me $1.93 per minute, therefore Sprint has already cost me $34.74 and I am not done dealing with this situation! Finally spoke to Latram, a Sprint supervisor, I once again had to explain the whole situation. AGAIN put on hold for 9 minutes. When he returned back to the line I was told that my account is now on vacation mode and when she returns back to the states she can reinstate her previous service at the same price. I asked how much I needed to send in with the current bill and he said $121.31; I told him this was not acceptable! He said hold on while he researches something. He then proceeded to tell me not to send in any money with this bill and that I needed to wait until the January 2008 bill arrived and if there are any late fee’s on the bill to call back and get them refunded. I told him that this was not acceptable as phone calls are expensive for me and I wanted this situation rectified with this phone call. He said he could not do that. I asked to speak to his supervisor and he said “Why so he can tell you the same thing I am” and I said “Well I guess so”. Latham put me back on hold at 10:03 am and the line was not connected to representative until 10:16 am. Can you imagine spending over 20 minutes on hold for a situation that could have been corrected from the start? At 10:16 when Latham came back on the line, he told me that it looked like the $99.00 had already been put in the system to be refunded and that I should pay about $18.00. I told him that I needed the correct amount and he said “Hold on again while I figure it out by hand.” On hold again at 10:18 for a total of 2 minutes, once Latham returned back to the line he said I owed $14.30. The situation was rectified, if you can call it that, and the call was disconnected at 10:21 am January 3, 2008 Japan time.

    I am very upset with the time and money that I have had to put into correcting Sprint’s error! I wanted you to realize the type of service your customer service department is giving a customer that has never been late on a bill, that at one time had 4 lines with Sprint and has been a valuable customer for over 5 years. Now, I am asking Sprint to show me how they are going to rectify a situation that has now cost me $104.22. Not much of a savings, what do you think? I am asking Sprint to reimburse me for the cost of the phone call which totals $104.22. I look forward to receiving a timely response from Sprint.

    Very disappointed,
    Jamie

  11. Brittany says:

    I AGREE!!!! I had to cancel my service because their customer service was HORRIBLE! I REPEAT : SPRINT IS HOORRRIIBBBLLE!! I have been with Cingular, T Mobile, and Cricket long ago. I have never been SO MAD at a business!! They are charging me over $1000 to get my service cancelled! Who the hell has the right to do that?! When it was THEIR fault i cancelled in the first place! OH!! I HATE SPRINT! Worst phone company ever! and i plan to tell everyone and anyone how horrible they are.

  12. Keantha says:

    I have to agree with everyone here; and I am glad that it’s not just me that has horrible customer service experience after the next. And the sad part about it is that the most you will ever get is “I’m sorry”. I don’t feel valued as a customer at all!!!

  13. Duane says:

    Doing business with a friend and he’s on Sprint and I am on Verizon. Bills were mounting on both sides. He had the great idea of getting a second line on his account for $10/month. That’s less than the increases in both our bills. Great! Get first phone won’t activiate. Two weeks of trying they say its the phone. New one on its way, with a return kit for the first. 10 more days the phone shows up. Second won’t activate. Two more days the phone is working. I know without a doubt the first phone is good, rep’s didn’t know how to correct the issue causing the problem.
    So, time goes by, life is busy and I don’t get a return kit. Out of sight out of mind. My friend calls and he hasn’t been credited his account for the first phone. I say oops my bad. Call Sprint and figure get a return kit all is good. Wrong. It’s past 30 days and they can’t give credit or take the phone. I point out that they didn’t send the return kit. That’s just a courtesy and its my responsibility. I tried to explain it was almost 30 days till I got the second phone up and running. To bad, policy. Since I am not the account holder they wouldn’t push me up to someone higher. Been with Verizon for over 10 years and anything like this they have been prompt and easy going about make changes or returns. Told Sprint rep that’s why they are at the bottom of the food chain in the market and she said that’s a matter of opinion and quickly pointed out that no the numbers speak for themselves. More accounts lost then added. Great thing is soon they will put themselves out of business and us out of our misery. Well done Sprint.

  14. Holly says:

    I had the same thing happen to me. Being a customer for OVER 3 years, and no returned payments. I lost my job, had identity theft, and had a hold placed on my account which they were pulling from. I then paid with a credit card, over 200.00 and they returned the payments to me, saying they would not take anything but cash. SO, after I paid them which ended up being 300.00 for a freaken phone, and service, they said they still needed cash to make any kind of payment. THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER. The lady was also the rudest person I have ever met in customer service, not letting me get a word in, and so stubborn. I am switching service as soon as possible

  15. John Von Stenbourg says:

    Sprint sucks! Enough said. I cant say that I have never had bad customer service experience but Sprint has got to be in the 3 worst if not number 1!

    Call their office after 5pm and it seems you get the “broken English” department. Horrible! Just got off the phone with some Fillipino guy that thinks he can speak English and asian woman ( a bit better) whose English was only slightly understandable.

    Cheap Cheap Cheap! Im done with Sprint. Just cancelled my service. I am SO done with them!!! Yaaaaay!! Happy Days!

  16. Ariana Duvall says:

    Sprint SUUUUUUCKS!

  17. arti423 says:

    I have been a Sprint customer for 9-years, but now I am leaving them as soon as the noose around my neck, called the contract, runs out. They have no concept of customer service, no desire to retain loyal customers and willingness to solve a problem. I have been lied to, I have been made to upgrade my plan when I didn’t need to to add-on services and every person I spoke with gave me different answer to the same question. I was tranferred multiple times whether on the phone or in a chat session and every time at least once they disconnected on me. Enough is enough. I can’t wait for 11/17/08! Oh and by the way, I have never defaulted on a payment.

  18. anita thomas says:

    Sprint is a big disappointment! I cannot get customer service to understand that I am getting no messages and am missing most of my phone calls because their towers are not adaquate enough to service their telephones. I am missing most of my business calls because of Sprint and am wondering if I can sue for loss of business since I cannot get this problem resolved.

  19. George says:

    I could write a book on my nightmare customer service experience with Sprint.

    I’ll give you the short version:

    1) I Made the mistake of buying a Blackberry from a Sprint Telemarketer. I travel extensively, and was in need of a new phone so I was actually glad the guy called. He told me that Sprint was offering a special price with rebates galore. Hey, Sign me up! I purchased the phone using a Visa card. The phone I ordered was the wrong one so I went to the Sprint store to excange it for an upgraded
    Blackberry World Phone. The store didn’t have one in stock, however
    the clerk kindly handed me their phone to order it from another
    department. The clerk then did an exchage using my Visa at the cash
    register, and my new phone arrived at my home two days later. Cool.

    2) Since I’m not exactly a tech-savvy phone genius, I returned to the Sprint store to get some help setting up my new Blackberry. They were marginally helpful, however they got me fixed up nonetheless.

    3) I chose the Blackberry World Phone because as I said, I travel
    extensively. I was leaving for China in a few days and just as I do every month, I dial *3 to pay my Sprint bill. I was a bit shocked when the lovely robo-woman told me that my new balance was $1100.00! As I said, I purchased one phone, exchanged it for another, all on my Visa card. My normal phone bill is around 100.00 per month, and now I’m looking at an $110.00 phone bill! I called “customer service” immediately to get to the bottom of it.

    Oh my God! I spent two days, and a total of 9 hours on the phone
    dealing with one idiot after another. In two days, I spoke with 29 different people. I was hung up on, mysteriously disconnected with, put on perma-hold, and treated like dirt by these evil mutants employed by Sprint. I was yelled at, called a liar, insulted in a half a dozen other ways, and still nobody could figure out why my phone bill was $1100.00.

    I had only two days to go until I’m on a plane for China, and I’m
    going through a living hell with Sprint!

    On the third day, I return to the Sprint store to try to resolve the
    issue. The manager of the store dialed some kind of secret magical
    number and handed me their phone to speak with some big chief, or the “King of Sprint”, or whatever. The guy was very pleasant, and tried to help me unravel the whole mess. Turns out, I was charged for three phones. They charged my Visa bill, and there were overlapping charges on my Sprint bill. He credited me for part of the damage, however I was told that the credit for $700.00 on my Sprint bill wouldn’t show up
    until my next montly statement.

    At this point, I was just happy to know that I had a working telephone
    to take to China, and I was glad to know that the issue was more or
    less resolved. Had I not been on such a hectic travel schedule, I
    would have dropped Sprint immediately.

    4) One month later: I return from China, dial *3 to pay my Sprint
    Bill, only to hear robo-woman’s voice telling me that I’m past due for the amount of $700.00. Now, I’ve never been late with paying my Sprint bill. In fact, I usually pay early. I’ve been a loyal Sprint customer for eight years.I didn’t use my phone in China, except to answer annoying messages from Sprint which I was recieving daily.(Apparently, when you have an open dispute with them, they try to annoy you into submission by hounding you to death across the globe. You can run,but you can’t hide!)

    So once again, rather than go through another two days of degradation trying to resolve anything on the phone with “customer service”, I
    drive to the Sprint store. During my jet-lagged attempt to get some
    answers from the guy in the store, I was told that this was somehow my
    fault because “we told you it would take a month for the credit to show up on your statement”. He also suggested that I pay the bill,
    even though I don’t owe them money, and wait until yet another month goes by for the billing department to straighten it out. Rather than get violent with the guy, I marched out of there and promtly called “customer service” again to see if I could find some answers.

    Finally, I get someone who isn’t on drugs to speak with. The
    “supervisor” more or less got it straightened out.

    It’s been almost three months, and I’m still waiting for that rebate.
    Never did get that “special offer”. After the mental anguish Sprint put me through, they should give me free phones and free service for life. I would drop Sprint, however I’m in China again this month. As grueling as my travel schedule is, I don’t have time to change service right now. Whenever I can take a break, dropping Sprint is high on my
    to-do list!

  20. kayla says:

    sprint customer service system and staff is completely incompetent, with details causing delay shipment with the order long overdue, one order missing apt #, and another inc0orrect building number. they are incompetant they dont know their own system to route to the right department which requires that i spent many times calling different rep and hope for the one who knows what to do for solutions. If anyone from corporate is reading, they should fire everyone they have and retrain and hire quality people to give at the least standard service if not too much to ask. My suspicion is the sales support people they hire are from the Phillipines and the people they have in the States are as useless.

  21. It seems that a lot of people have problems with the customer service representatives of service oriented companies. Maybe it’s because CSRs are mostly trained to be experts in just passing it on to their superiors. Perhaps, it would be too much to expect but personally, CSRs should at least have some knowledge about how to address customers’ most frequent service related problems.

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