benos Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Actually this is from my friend, Nidaa. (The infamous "voice" in the Audio Book Testing thread.) Never in my life have I experienced such outrageous and disgusting customer service. On August 7th 2006, I switched from Nextel to Sprint so that I can use international text messaging. I paid for a new phone and signed up for a 2 year contract. My total cost was $216.19, but they “accidentally” charged my credit card twice. I asked them to reverse the charges, they said they can’t, but will submit a case regarding a refund to their Refunds Department. It has been more than four weeks since that happened and I still have not gotten my money back. I have called Sprint in the last month more than 20 times and spoken to 4 or 5 people each time, sometimes for 2 to 3 hours, including being hung up on at least twice each time and not to mention getting transferred to the wrong departments. They once gave me the phone number for the Finance Dept, and I confirmed it with them several times, and when I called I reached the cell phone of some girl named Megan! And whenever I am transferred or I call back they never have the information and previous conversations posted on my account and we would have to start all over!! The phone calls obviously are not “monitored or recorded to improve customer service.” The most interesting thing is have yet to get the same story from 2 different reps, and that’s why I continue to call, in hope that someone will be able to help me or at least give me a straight forward and honest answer. So far, I have been told: “You will get your check in the mail in 5 business days; your card will be credited in 2-3 days; there is no such information on your account about a refund being issued, and we do not have the phone number to contact the refunds department!!; we will submit another case and you can call us back in 72 hours; I’m sorry maam but there is nothing I can do about it at this time......” and on and on and on of such outrageous responses...and lies. In addition to all that, the reason I switched to Sprint in the first place was to be able to send and receive text messages to Europe and Asia, based on information they gave me about the availability of this service. But I could never get it to work!! After about 10 lengthy and frustrating phone calls to technical support, all I got was several different excuses, and made-up solutions to troubleshoot the problem, including telling me I must not be entering the right country codes! I finally found out they don’t have such service, or at least not to the 8 different countries I had been trying to send text messages to! So it turns out they misled me about that as well. I finally cancelled my Sprint service last week, sent back my phone, bought a new one and switched to T-mobile. Sprint still owes me about $350. The last time I called to check on that they said they will mail me a check for $90 on October 7th!!! And they will submit a case to the refunds department in order to get some information back regarding the refund!!!! What they have done to me is illegal and unethical. They are the WORST company I have ever dealt with, and they should not be allowed to stay in business. I don’t know if their representatives are simply clueless and incompetent or they are trained to be master con-artists! They have put me through so much pain and frustration, and wasted hours of my days for over a month. Sprint basically STOLE my money and is making interest on it. I disputed the charges with my bank today but they said it may take up to 90 days to be verified and credited back. I HATE SPRINT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Dispute both charges on the credit card, like, right now!!!!! bastards... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sturmruger Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 I work for a small Midwest carrier sometimes bigger is not always better. We switch a ton of people from Sprint because there customer service is so bad. I hope it get straightened out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Sorry you had such a bad time. FWIW I have had nothing but great service from Cingular for the past 6 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Front Man Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 After fighting monthly with my Alltell (and crappy phones) billing I switched to Nextel. Best move I ever made. Hope sprint doesn't ruin Nextel. FM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Gawd, what a horrible, horrible experience!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz-0 Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 sprints billing system is a joke, and that's being kind. Since you got double charged, I wouldn't be surprized if you had two accounts opened. If that happened i would also be amazed if they sent you two bills, and did not have one account hang out someplace going unpaid and getting pushed to collections. (they are a little bit better about asking for all the money they are not owed, but not much). Had a firend who ordered an unlimited data plan for his business. Got billed for the unlimited plan AND the per-minute charge for data use on the same bill. Now that is stupid. Dispute with the CC companay ASAP. They will have different contact information registered with them for sprints account. Make sure you inform them that sprint is both refusing to reverse an accidental double charge, and that the legitimate charge is in dispute because they misrepresented their product and you cancelled. You may not be able to ahve the CC company reverse the charges on the second charge as it was legitimate and you have to deal with it within the terms of your contract. Keep an eye on your account, and if you don't you might want to keep an eye on your credit report, as I wouldn't expect any increased competence out of sprint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgtsvi Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 For the last two months I have had to call Sprint in order to remove $50 worth of charges for screen savers, ringtones, and text messages that I did not subscribe to. I just fininished a phone call 20 minutes ago for the same thing. I told them if this was a monthly hassle then I will take my business to another carrier. Their coverage sucks half the time anyway when you are in rural areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 This is not a rebuttal: Document your problems in a letter and send it by registered post, informing them that if the situation is not rectified within 1 week you will sue them. Send it to their mailing address and mark it for the attention of the Legal Department. Getting things resolved over the phone is almost impossible these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Diesel and ammonia fertilizer, are two thing you find on the farm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul B Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Where I live there is only one choice for phones and internet - Sprint (now Embarq). They know they have us trapped like rats so everything is more expensive. If my cell phone service (not Sprint) was only one bar better I'd can them in a moment. Maybe I will anyway and buy one of the cell phone booster antennas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Front Man Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 Yes they really put the srews to us in the rural areas. Like we have ALL of the money. My saving grace is I live close to I-29. FM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeInNePa Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 Diesel and ammonia fertilizer, are two thing you find on the farm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No.343 Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 After six years of using Sprint I cancelled their service and paid $300 to cancel my wife's and my son's accounts. I'm glad I did it and would do it again. That was a lot of bullets, but I refuse to allow them to treat me in the way they tried to treat me. Their policies are extremely short sighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cking Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 BellSouth is no better. Interesting is that Cingular was bought by SBC/now ATT and Bellsouth. They divided up the territory. Both did survey about what to call themselves. Seems SBC had burned everybody so they took the name ATT. Bellsouth had done the same survey and kept the name Cingular. I build/design Wide area network in the Southeast, mostly for Schools and hospitals. Every single site has been severally over charge by carriers. I means lots like $65,000.00 refunds. Now that the FCC have given carriers back there monopoly expect things to get more expensive. Most of carriers have bought up the wireless carriers in there area also. So tell me how much choice do we have! The Internet neutrality is another area that the carriers will muck up soon. If they sell a service that has a some competition, they will fail to expedite the competors service. The next battle field is on demand video. If you buy bellsouth version it will work. But try and buy somebody elses and the quality will be poor. Because they do not have to allow priority access to anyone on there network. Florida public service commission is in Bellsouth pocket book paid for by huge lobbies to both parties, just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timamal Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 I use tmobile now .Text my wife in Morocco free of charge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robomanusa Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Shame you've had that problem, I use Verizon and have never had any issues with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Diesel and ammonia fertilizer, are two thing you find on the farm. I really like the way you think. I HATE that we are now both on that government watch list.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrettone Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Ever since Sprint acquired Nextel, the tower service has sucked BIG TIME!!! I have a freind who is in their procurement department (tower acquisitions and project phasing), and he told me that in no uncertain terms that Sprints strategy was to antiquate and phase out the old Nextel technology, and transfer over all the towers to help boost their network so they could compete with the likes of Verizon (the #1 tower owner in the US). The goal was to eliminate competition and boost their market share in the cellular business. There was never any real intention to utilize Nextels revolutionary two-way technology as the patent had already expired. Sprint is bringing online their own version...they just needed the towers to make it work in the short-term. So, I couldn't beat feet to the door fast enough to void out my 7 company phones and switch to Verizon. Their service is 4-6% more than most carriers, but the coverage is far superior, and service means more in business, as a lot hinges on a phone call sometimes...so you have to pay that little extra to get what you need. Just a little inside info for those who are in the process of choosing a new carrier. Sprint will be great again (especially the new two-way) once they get all their towers converted, but until then, I'd steer clear. It's pretty much gonna be a two horse race in a couple of years (Verizon and Sprint). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uscbigdawg Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 PCS'ed from Korea. About 3 days before flying, I called Sprint to turn my cell phone service back on, thinking, the number that I've had for 4+ years on again, when I step off the plane would be great to have. Sprint informs me that I have a $700 bill unpaid. After determining what the bill was for, it turns out that they didn't put my account on hold as they do for military personnel going overseas. In September of last year I did a prisoner transfer to Fort Lewis, WA and was TDY for 4 days. Turned the phone on to call friends, family, etc. Before leaving Sea-Tac I had the phone put back on hold and Sprint and I agreed that I would just pay for the 4 days via wire transfer through their website (how I've normally paid my bill in the past). Well upon returning to the Land of the Morning Calm, I couldn't log in to Sprint's website for about 6 months. They chalked it up to the Sprint/Nextel murger. Thankfully, I had everything documented via e-mail with their Customer Service Department. Flash forward to July. I land in Sacramento, and begin the process of getting my bill corrected while in route to the house. Long story short, I had an unpaid bill, associated late fees and penalties, plus contract termination costs x 2 ('cause they kept my original number in Kansas City where I started service as a second number). In the end the bill was about $30 which was fine with me as with most phone companies whether it's 1 day or 30, you pay for the whole month. The only really crappy part of the whole deal is that I lost my old phone number and have been praying that people I know haven't been trying to call it since I returned. I'm hoping that I got everyone covered with the new number. My point. I haven't had great luck with any cell carriers since my first one (AT&T). They were probably all around the best then, but now, it's probably a wash of everyone the same as everyone else. Plan-wise Cingular is probably best with their roll over minutes; especially since you can take your number with you. Just my two Lincoln's. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac266 Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Well, it's good at least that you're no longer doing business with them. Didn't you know Sprint is anti-gun? They're part of the AOL-Time-Warner conglomeration, who donates millions every year to groups like PETA and the Brady bunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uscbigdawg Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 A fellow shooter once said this to me. As much as I try to not support anti-gun companies, there are so many of the corporations that are, that sometimes, you have to make a concession to meet societal needs. Now, if y'all know of a pro-gun cell company, please advise. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michiglock Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 T-Mobile's service area was poor, but customer service quite good. I'll stick with Verizon from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Murphy Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 We had quite a few billing problems with sprint when we used them for the business. Drove us nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9x21 Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 Sprint / Nextel together, amazing! At the beginning of 2006, I switched the family from Nextel to Sprint (same company sort of). The switch caused a credit of $63, for which I received 8 bills in a row showing a credit balance from Sprint, while receiving separate invoices for the new service. Finally, I had to call to request a refund check for a closed account showing a credit balance. I asked them if they could apply the nextel credit to the sprint bill?, No can do I asked if they would keep sending the billing statement with a credit balance forever?, Yes they would! amazing customer service Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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