November 21, 2007, 11:30 am

My phone rings and it’s from an 866 number.   “Not another Sprint survey – they’re really going to hear from me this time.”   I answer and I hear, “Hi, this is Twana from Sprint Executive Offices.”   Those last three words rung in my ears in a clear “OH CRAP” moment.   I’m thinking my account is going to be cancelled because I’m a nuisance or something but then she explains why she’s calling.

Flashback

You see, the night I wrote my blog entry, “Nightmare on Sprint Street“, I printed out thirteen copies of it and sent them to the thirteen executives of Sprint and attached this preface letter:

I write to inform you of the recent experience I’ve had with your company.   I’ve been a Sprint customer for quite some time and for the most part, I have been a happy customer.   Sadly, whenever I’ve had a problem, it’s taken at least 15-20 calls and hours of my time to resolve.   I can understand your ability to resolve many situations like this is limited and outside the scope of your job.   I hope though, that you care about the customer experience.   The following account is posted at my blog [site notated].

Because I wanted to show them I was not afraid or some crazed lunatic vowing a violent revenge, I signed it with my name, address, and phone number.

Twana

Twana was a very nice lady.   She said that she had read my blog entry and was amazed at what I went through.   She informed me that she would now be taking over my entire case to ensure that any and all acceptable solutions were found.   I thanked her and told her that my intentions were never to libel Sprint or smear anyone in particular but I thought that there was a great injustice going on.   She replied that she loved blogs and appreciated that I voiced the whole thing.   She also said that sometimes, that’s the only way that things get done.   Twana stated that she had split up each part of my feedback and routed it to various people around the company.   She identified areas were managers would be informed of lapses in training and even forwarded the website gripes to the website people.   Slightly embarassed at the way I ridiculed the website errors, I felt bad for slamming them a bit hard.   Oh well, I thought, better for them to get the errors than to let them keep existing.

Bronx Fees

We got down to the root issues after this and I kept pressing for why my address had changed to the Bronx.   She didn’t have an answer for me.   No matter how hard I pushed, she couldn’t give me an explanation.   I left the issue with me conveying that I would appreciate if she pursued the matter and found out why.   I really hope she does too, as that was a pretty serious error.

Phone Charges

As to the new phone debacle, she said that I was correct that I should have been charged $99.99 for the phone.   As great and such a relief as it was, I was pretty much done with the whole new phone thing… That is, until she said that she would like to rectify the whole situation and send me the phone for free.   I breathed a sigh of relief as I would have thought it a bit odd if something like this wasn’t done.   But who was I to send letters out to the executives?   My wife honestly didn’t think that I would get anything done by sending letters.   She even lamented the costs of the stamps.   Because I love my wife so much, I stuck out my neck and asked Twana if there was any way that she could arrange that my wife get the red phone as that is what she really wanted in the first place.   Twana said she would check to see if there was one in inventory.   If there was, she would call me and tell me that it was available, and finally send it out.

Resolving

Twana and I talked a little bit more, clearing up that it would take a bit more time for the 911 fees and Bronx county taxes to be reimbursed.   She said she would call me before the next bill in December was due to ensure that I was happy with what that bill said I would have to pay.   Finally, she gave me an 866 number to call and a case number that would get me transferred directly to her.   She also gave me her work email address too.   As she was giving it, she paused and asked me very politely that I would not blog it.   Of course I wouldn’t, I told her.   So I’m sorry dear readers, I cannot give that out as I do respect her privacy and the job she’s doing.   She did allow me to post her first name.

In Closing?

I don’t know if this is the end of this thread of issues.   My account currently says I have a bill due of $388.03 but have refunds and adjustments of $712.30 leaving me a balance of positive $324.27.   There’s some series of charges that will get me to a final bill.   I think it will be somewhere around the $100 range – but if I get a credit that lasts me for a month or two, I’d be pretty happy with that too.   It all comes down to being a respectful and respected customer.   I hope that the Sprint corporation and I can continue our relationship for some time to come.

I do think about all the people out there that are like me and went through a similar situation.   What if they gave up and just paid the extra money?   Sprint is making tons more of money off of them.   I guess it somewhat equals out with the cost of having to employ all the people that I had to talk to in the end.   I’m still left with a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth – I know I’ll be even more cautious in the future.   At some point though, we have to trust that businesses and other people  aren’t out to get you and aren’t trying to screw you for every penny.   I’m going to try and trust Sprint at least for a bit longer.

November 20, 2007 – 7:20 pm

During the day, I had logged into my Sprint account online to view my bill.   I was startled to see a bill due of $388.03.   Amazed, I decide something needed to be done and I would have to call Sprint again.   I also checked my credit card statement and found out that they had removed the charge from my credit card.   After reading another blog and listening to a guy deal with Sprint, I decided that the best approach to take was to initially move to cancel my account.   Also, I decided I would record the entire call.   Any of these recordings are available by request only.

Seral

Upon calling in, I said “Cancel” to initialize my call.   After a pretty lengthy wait, I got Seral.   After getting through the initial parts and catching him up on my problems, I got to the first issue of my Bronx problem.   He did indeed see my initial call on Nov. 3 when I escalated the claim for reimbursement.   I told him that the first person said I would be reimbursed before my next bill was due and he replied that it would actually take up to three billing cycles for the “audit” to be performed as it actually included tax charges and went beyond Sprint.   I kept my composure but was very upset as to why one representative would tell me a couple days, and this one – a few months.   I pushed to make things faster, but he said he could only re-submit it.   I whined and complained a bit but not much more could be done on this.   We moved on to the $388.03 issue.

Seral evaluated this and determined that the warehouse charged my account for the phone for some reason.   I was really upset because we had even taken extra steps to pack the phone so it would not be damaged.   We had returned all the parts too!   His next step was to forward me over to the warehouse to determine if the phone had been delivered and then to also check to see if they had reimbursed or charged my account.   Seral needed a reason to put a credit on my account for the amount of the phone.   Before he forwarded me, I asked him how I could get ahold of him as to not waste another rep’s time.   He said that I could actually call in and get a rep to email him – after which, he would call me back as soon as he could.   This sounded good to me and I was forwarded onto the warehouse…   the warehouse that was closed.   All I get is a short message instructing me to call back during normal business hours.   Then there was the dreaded click and dead silence.   Total time with Seral to dropped call – 32 minutes.

Dewan & Jason

I call back in and say “Billing” this time.   I’m pretty upset that I got sort of hung up on.   Dewan gets on the line.   I can barely hear him.   I explain my plight and he forwards me to customer care.   I get Jason who sounds kind of like he’s from India.   He tells me there’s no way he can connect me back with Seral.   I tell him about the email and he says it isn’t an option.   He forwards me to another place where I experience another dropped call.   Another 11 and a half minutes has gone by.

Chris

Again, I call back and say “Cancel”.   I’m a bit more upset but determined not to get all psycho on them.   I go back over everything with Chris.   He determines that this is “A BIG ISSUE”.   I’m soooo biting my tongue at this point.   He finally emails Seral and tells me I’ll get a call back in 10-20 minutes.   The clock ends at 20:42.

During this break, I did get the tracking number of the package and validate that the phone was delivered to the warehouse.

Back to Seral

Finally and amazingly, I get Seral back on the line – I really didn’t think this could actually happen.   He never apologized for forwarding me to the warehouse when it was closed.   He did say he would call them in the morning to make sure the phone was received so he could take the charge off.   I then told Seral I was pretty upset that I had to call in so many times to get all these issues resolved and asked him what would happen if I ended my contract.   He stated my termination fees were $200.   I asked about this new rule I heard about that the FCC mandated that termination fees would now be pro-rated.   He knew nor heard nothing about this.   We broke down the rest of the charges of the $388.03.   The extra charges above my normal bill was the weird warehouse charge, directory assistance calls, and text messages.   I checked with my wife about the 411 calls and she had made them.   Of course, the text messages were also valid.   I had checked earlier that day with other carriers – and they are charging 15 cents per message.   I pointed this out and then asked him if there was any way he could give me 25 free text messages a month as that’s normally the maximum that I would use.   He couldn’t do that so I asked if there was any way that he could just enable texting my wife for free and disable all other messages.   This too was not allowed.   Lastly, I threw out the notion that I thought any Sprint customer should be able to text another Sprint customer for free – I mean they do that for voice calls…so what’s the deal?   He didn’t have a reply for that either, except that he ended up giving me 500 free text messages on each line.

Next, I told Seral that my wife’s internet wasn’t working.   He checked and said it should be and that I was getting charged for it.   I tried connecting to the internet with it but it responded with an Error 67.   After a few more questions, he forwarded me onto Cori.

Cori

Cori was pretty easy to work with.   She told me that, unfortunately, the internet was not enabled on my wife’s phone.   I got into a huff about how Seral had told me it was and that I was concerned about all the charges floating around.   While triggering a provisioning on my phone, we discussed those charges and still talked about it more after we were done getting things working on the phone.  

However the real problem came when she tried to talk me through getting my phone to connect back with the internet.   She told me to go to some menu that I couldn’t even find.   I knew I  could dial ##3282# which would give me a menu that says “Update Vision Profile” but again and again, she told me this was the wrong menu.   She had me do a few more things that still didn’t work.   Finally, I just got frustrated and dialed the ##DATA# keystrokes and updated the Vision profile.   After it completed, I tried the internet and it worked just fine.   I was glad I knew what I was doing but sad that the tech didn’t.

Finally, after two hours, my night was complete.

…an experience of life running at “Sprint speed”

Friday, November 2, 2007 –

My wife had been having problems with her Treo 650.   It used to be my old phone and had enjoyed a great number of years with us.   Being the penny-saving customer I am, I researched around trying to get the best quotes for the new Treo Centro.   I first check their website.

Issue #1 – I click on the PDA phones and am prompted for my zip code.   I happily enter in my zip code and press submit.   Instead of phones, I get this message telling me to define region:

Service Available in Your Area

Sprint currently offers wireless service in the 57006 area. To purchase Sprint products and services:

• Shop online
• Call 1-800-213-5431
• Find a Sprint Store

Thanks – I’m glad Sprint offers wireless service in my area.   I was wondering why my Sprint phone has been working since 2001.   I am then prompted to enter in my zip code again.   I’m getting a little frustrated at this point – as a developer, I’m dreading every moment of this.   Then I am prompted with this:

The following errors were found while processing your request

To change your current ZIP Code, please enter another ZIP Code.

By this point, I realize I’m getting nowhere and so I enter in 10026 (New York area).   I’m happily presented with the PDA phones I am searching for.

I move on, searching for the Centro – the page loads up all the phones, then applies a filter to narrow down to the PDA phones.   Doesn’t seem like very efficient coding to me as it is visible – but I can deal with it.   I see that they do offer  the phone  for $99.99.   I continue with selecting that I’m upgrading/replacing – as to mock what I am paying for.   I’m next prompted to login.   I enter my credentials and continue on to the purchasing screen.

Issue #2 – The user interface is horrible, the use of all these colors and dark bars with radio buttons embedded draws my eyes down to two options for 12 month contracts and 0 month contracts, thereby telling me I would either pay $324.99 or $399.99.   I’m totally confused at this point and have lost all faith in the computer system.

Where are the people – I need the people – we trust the people.   They will tell me how much I have to pay.   I call Sprint sales department and one person informs me that I can get the new upcoming Red Centro for $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate.   Great, I’m ecstatic and line up the sale to be processed on the day the red one comes out.

Saturday, November 3, 2007 -

My wife, being the diligent person she is, brought up the rebate form to double-check that we would be elgible to get the rebate.   She notices that the rebate officially ends 11/3 – which is today.   Slightly alarmed, I call back to Sprint Sales.  

Problem  #1 – Sales tells me that because my phone is  attached to a business discount, I have to call a different department.   They forward me, and the connection dies – hung up on.   I call back and get someone else.   They inform me that I need to go to a Sprint store as the only place I can buy a new phone is through the iConnect internal website.   I go into the local Sprint store and they won’t offer me the $99.99 and they have absolutely NO clue what the iConnect internal website.   The rep at the Sprint store calls in and speaks with the same people I did and he tells me that I can use that sales number.   Since the Sprint store is an affiliate store, I can’t get the discount that I get with Sprint Sales over the phone.

I get back home and get another sales rep on the phone.   I inform them of the rebate issue and they say in mocking up the sale, that I would have to pay $249.99 and then get the rebate – AND I would have to make the sale today.   At this point, we’re not sure of what we want to do, so I tell them to hold on while my wife and I discuss the now heightened price – $149.99.   We decide to go for it as we want to make sure we get the rebate.   I get back on the phone and told the sales rep that we would like to go ahead and place the order – providing he assures us that we are getting the rebate.   I ask him how I will obtain the rebate and he states that I will receive it IN THE PACKAGE the phone comes in.   That sounds good to me, we go ahead with the order and the phone will be here in 3-5 days.   But during that order process, something else comes up…

Problem #2 – When bringing up my shipping address, she asks me if (omitted) address is correct.   The address is in the Bronx, as in New York!   “Umm, no.” I reply.   I give her the correct address (which is in South Dakota).   She advises me that I should look on my account settings on the Sprint website.   At this point, I’ve been the good customer and have signed up with auto-withdraw from my checking account for some number of months now.   I watch my checking statement and usually I know if something is wrong when it’s over $100.   This month’s bill is $114 – I’m slightly alarmed.   I decide I’ll look at it after I’m done with the sales rep as she informs me she isn’t able to answer billing questions.   We finish the order and and she tells me that the final price to my credit card is $273.99 after taxes.   Slightly alarmed and upset, I again check with her that she’s removed the activation fee and shipping fee which she replied that she had.   We finish the order and hang up.

I’m perusing my bill from the past month when my wife spots 911 fees – from NEW YORK!   They total up to about $10-15.   Alarmed, I call Sprint’s customer care to rectify this.   While I’m on the phone and talking with the rep, I decide to see how far back the fees go.  

Issue #4 – The billing interface is horrible.   I have to open up a separate window for a month’s billing statement.   I cannot open multiple bills as it always goes back to the same window and overrides what’s there.   Why are there no forward/backward buttons for this interface?   That’s usability right there.   Back to the address problem…

I discover that this has been going on for 5 or 6 months now.   I inform the rep that I’ve NEVER lived in the Bronx, much less been in the New York area in quite some time which was WAY before I ever became a Sprint customer.   He’s astounded at this and checks with his supervisor and finally informs me that he will total up the charges and forward the request for reimbursement to his supervisor.   A real gem this rep was – he did a good job.   With the problem basically resolved, we hang up and await the arrival of my wife’s new phone.

UPDATE(11/16/07): I was still charged the fees for this latest bill – the “gem of a rep” said that it would be positively rectified before I was charged.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007 -

The phone arrives and we anxiously unpack it.   My wife activated the phone  and all seemed well.

Problem  #3 –  When we searched through the documentation with the phone, we could not find the rebate form.   Alarmed, I call Sprint customer care.   I inform her of my wish to file a complaint to which she replies that they take the compaints through the website in email form.   Wow, I could really go off on a rant on this one, but I restrained myself.   I told her that I’d rather speak to someone and she gave me Sprint Corporate’s 800 number.   She found a rebate on the Sprint website but it was the new set of rebates that Sprint is offering.   Next, I am informed that they don’t handle rebate questions and tell me I’ll have to call the rebate department.   Cynthia gives me the 800 number and tells me that she cannot transfer me because she needs a supervisor’s approval and the supervisor was pretty busy at the moment.   Begrudgingly, I call the 800 number and cannot press a sequence of numbers to talk to someone about obtaining the correct rebate and there is no operator or representative so I eventually get hung up on.

Problem #4 – After the line dropping, I’m pretty upset.   I was determined enough to call corporate right then.   The “enter this number to” beast and I had it out.   Finally I got an operator who routed me to Sprint Complaints which was an endless void of waiting – not even any music to listen to while on hold.   This being a week-night before 7 pm, I was wasting my minutes and called it quits after about 10 minutes.

By this time, I’ve worked myself into a pretty foul mood.   It’s really hard to be respectful to people when you’ve had as long a day as I did.   Then I spoke to Andre – who spoke English just fine.   Unfortunately, that was the only admirable trait about Andre.   He was the worst rep I’ve talked to since the beginning of this fiasco.   I’m getting ahead of myself – I told him I was upset and calmly took him through everything I had experienced.   He then ran through a mock purchase and on the website it was $99.99 but buying it from sales it was supposed to be $203.99.   I asked him about the $100 rebate and he told me there was only a $50 one on the website.   Oh great, here we go again.   I told him that rebate form was the NEW one and there was a different one that expired on the third.   He said that his supervisor had the Centro and that there had never been a $100 rebate on the Centro.   So he pretty much took the stance that I had underpaid and there was no record of me ever getting the phone for $173.99 after the rebate on my account.   The only thing on my customer notes was that I’d get free activation and shipping.  

Problem #5 – I’ve had enough of Andre at this point and told him that I would like to send the phone back in and get my money back.   He stated that this would be fine but I would lose my upgrade discount.   About this time, my wife handed me a card that came with the phone talking about Sprint’s 30 day guarantee.   I asked for a supervisor and he told me I would be waiting a while.   After 15 minutes of being on hold, I ended call and glanced down at the length of the call – 40:53.

<Insert rant about how Sprint just took 40+ minutes of my life away>

Problem #6 – I call into the 800 number on the 30 Day Guarantee and am informed yet again that because I have a business account, that I have to call another number.   Why the heck did I get a card with this number on it then?

I finally get Agatha on the phone – Agatha is noticeably foreign however handles the call with great skill.   She finds out the situation, tells me why things were the way they were.   She processes the return and I hang up – in total, two hours after I got home from work.

Problem #7 – I didn’t notice but the card said that a label could be emailed to me.   Agatha said I would receive the shipping label in 3-5 days.

Issue #5 – Why is it that when I call in, I’m asked if I speak Spanish to press a number?   If caller ID works, can’t you do a pre-lookup on my account to see if I prefer Spanish?

Issue #6 – Why when I call in do I have to give them my mobile number?   Doesn’t caller ID handle that?

Issue #7 – When I call in to get a quote on a phone, can you put that quote in my account notes section?

- Lessons Learned -

1. The best deals are always on the website – there also doesn’t appear to be any hassle with rebates.

2. Sales departments are always looking for their cut.

3. The Sprint Affiliate stores are also looking for their cut.

4. They don’t actually write down the prices you agree to pay in your account notes.

5. Beware going to the supervisor – it takes forever and my mind was filled with images of Sprint reps taking bets over how long I would actually stay on the phone before I hung up.   15 minutes of that kind of imagery takes a toll on a person.

6. Calling Sprint Corporate seems to get you no where – be prepared to ask for the CEO?

7. I don’t want to pay for a network in South-Dakota-Bronx when I’ve never been there.