…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.