UCAN

Over a number of years, I have been responsible for cellular purchasing for a mid-size firm. I have seen Sprint pull more tricks than any other company to date. These little charges they make are akin to skimming pennies from a bank.

1. They turn everything on for the first 30 days, and require the customer to turn them off, even if the customer does not want them at the point of sale. The idea is they will forget, and little .10 charges here and there will not be noticed, or be swayed by the long waits on the phone. Suggest always going back to the store when you get your first bill for them to remove the extras.
2. Slammed. I have had Sprint Air Cards that don't use or have text messaging be slammed with text and text services and fighting long and hard with Sprint to reverse them. I told them I would love to see how you get text messages on an air card, it is only data, and if you could, why would you want to? Should be off by default. Air Cards should not be treated as phones with all of the extras period. You didn't buy it for call waiting, you bought it for data.
3. Stores. I don't know why they have stores, since these folks have as much power as a Best Buy or Radio Shack. BUT, Always go into a store with a problem and have them dial customer service for you. You get a different attitude every time, and I have done this many times. This leads to the following example:

I own a PPC6700 that I use for a phone, and modem when I need data on my laptop. It was getting a lot slower, so I went into a Sprint Store and was told to try a data card with the new network, and I could bring it back within 30 days and just be charged usage on it. Sounded easy enough.

I tried the card and found it locked up my laptop and was not much faster than my phone as a modem, the problem did not seem to be hardware. I took it back to the store, and the salesman did say that the network is getting over-provisioned in areas. OK, I will stick to my phone as a modem. Returned it, got a receipt and all is good - so, I thought.

One month later, I get my Sprint Bill. It is still on there charging me service for a card I don't have. I called the 800 number, told them I returned it, could fax or email a copy of the receipt, etc. Was told I have to go back to the store.

A few days later, I went back to the store. They were pretty busy, but a manager copied the receipts and said she would take care of it.

Next bill comes in. No credit, and a $150 disconnect. I call customer service again. First person can't help me. He transfers me to another person. Same thing. Then a third, she does not have access to the new bulling system. It is now over an hour on hold (have the video) and finally get Emily (Sprint ID EDURLI01). Told her right off that I had been going round and round and on the phone for an hour already and I apologize if I come off cranky. She took the code and looked at the account. It is in my wife's name, so she said she had to add me to the communications for the account. I said that is fine, she just had the first phone in the family, I pay all of the bills and signed the contracts on the other phones. Then I told her the story. Simple, bought the card, returned in within 30 days to the Sprint Store, and I am still being charged plus the cancel fee. I advised her at that point that they need to clear this up or I may be forced to file a lawsuit and to notify management to keep the recording of this conversation.

Now you attorney folks pay attention to this.

She said the following:

1. I am required to call Sprint Customer Service after returning the phone within 30 days to cancel. The act of returning the device to a Sprint store does not constitute cancel to them. The verbiage on the back of the receipt says only to return it within 30 days and I would be refunded all but usage.

2. Since I am not the account holder, I could not cancel the phone. I told her then she needs to refund all including the usage since I signed the contract for the phone. If I am not able to exit a contract, then I am not able to enter into a contract, thus the contract is null and void. She stated that is not true. That is interesting. Maybe you legal folks can explain how the person who signs a contract is not able to cancel a contract. Regardless, she did not want to serve the customer. Little did she know how many phones I am responsible for.

3. I asked to be transferred to a manager. She said she can't transfer me to a manager, but a supervisor who will tell me the same thing. I said that is fine. I waited on hold for another 40 minutes, and gave up.

4. I then drove to the store and asked for the manager. He came out, heard my story and said that is crazy. I agreed. He called the number they have for customer service, and in 5 minutes everything was taken care of.

Sprint is losing a very loyal customer, and not over an isolated event. It is not money, it is principal in all of the little billing issues, text messaging (even when asked for it to be blocked at purchase). I even had one company air card that within the first month, a pay service claimed it was texted back an authorization for the monthly service at $7.00 a month. That would have been a neat trick. I asked Sprint to show me when the outgoing text went out. They said they don't keep track of those. How do you charge for them if you don't keep track of them. They refused to credit the fees, but blocked the service. This is a clear case of something easy to prove, but resulted in less than $12 of charges that is not worth fighting for. They know that, that is why they do it.

Add those up to the thousands of customers, and they have a pretty good revenue stream on fraudulent charges. Attorneys, you need to take them on to get this practice to stop.