Poker In Colorado
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

5 posters

Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  dexman1349 Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:32 pm

Ok, I just want to rant a bit about Sprint (the country's worst rated cell phone customer service).

I have had Sprint for as long as I can remember as my cell phone service provider. For the most part they have been relatively good to me since the beginning. However things went south starting last month:

Out of the blue about 2 years ago, they call me and say that since I've been such a good customer and had such a good record with the company, they will send me a free phone and a free 3rd line to my family account (amanda and I each have our own cellphones on one shared plan). At the time I thought it would be a good idea to have a third line to leave at home for my son's babysitters with all of the important numbers pre-programmed since we have never had a land line. Well about 6 months later, they start charging me for the line (granted it was only $10, but it was the principle), so I call them and ask WTF? "Due to the phone's inactivity, we have to charge a fee in order to maintain the line." - Horseshit. I ask if I can cancel the line since it was inactive and I'm not using it: "You may cancel at any time, but there will be a $180 early termination fee since it came with a 2 year contract." - again, Horseshit. Because there were 18 months left at $10/month versus the 180 early termination fee, I decided to keep the line since I was going to pay the 180 either way I might as well get the service out of it.

Fast forward to last month: April 21st was the phone's contract expiration date. So I call sprint and say that i would like to cancel the third line (I have since lost the phone, mostly from lack of use). The operator looks up my account and says: "It looks like you're only using about 800 of your monthly 1400 anytime minutes (next smallest plan they offer is 700 minutes), and if you decide to keep this third line I can offer you this unadvertised plan that only has 1000 minutes but will cut your bill by $40." I'm thinking this is great since I was calling to cancelthe line and save $10 and they are offering $40, so I agree. I know that Sprint does not renew contracts with plan changes, so I wasn't worried about each of the phones getting extended another 2 years. A couple of weeks later, I check my account online to verify that all of the changes have been implemented. Lo and behold, the fuckers are still charging me the $10 for the "add-a-line," but have changed the third line to the primary number. So I call them back to cancel the third line, the guys asks: "Why didn't you cancel that line when you changed plans a couple of weeks ago?" FUCKERS!! About 10 minutes later on the phone the line is canceled and I have the cheaper 1000 minute plan (now saving over $50 from my previous bills).

Fast forward to Sunday: I get my first e-mail from Sprint after the changes have all taken into effect with my first e-bill. It says I have a credit of $57. WTF? I'm not complaining about the credit, but I have no idea where it's coming from so I again check my online account. When the jackasses canceled the third line (which was switched to the primary), they canceled my entire plan altogether. In addition to that, they actually refunded me what they would have charged had I kept the more expensive 1400 minute plan. Fearing that I would get charged $.50/minute for my cell phone without a plan, I call Sprint again. "Our records show that you actually have a $127 credit on your account and that the $57 credit previously sent was inaccurate." WTF? Their automatic system can't even send out correct e-mails? So I aks what's going on with my plan, and she replays: "It looks like whoever canceled the third line forgot to switch the phones over again." - No shit sherlock, your handbook tell you to say that? "Would you like me to reinstate your 1400 minute family plan again?" What happened to the 1000 plan @ $40/month less? "Oh, how do you know about that plan, it's not advertised?" I then explain to her the entire story as to how we got to where we were, and after several periods on hold while she attempted to get the system fixed, I finally get my phone updated to what I had attempted to do over 2 years ago.

Finally the system is fixed. I'll check on it in a couple of weeks to verify they fixed it correctly.

Next issue:

Yesterday I was flipping through my past e-mails (it's been over a year since I cleaned it out) when I find another e-mail from December about a mail-in-rebate request I had sent into Sprint when I last upgraded my phone. So I chcek the link and sure enough, I had completely forgotten about this $100 rebate I had mailed off back in November. The link also says that the rebate was denied because I had not signed a 2 year contract when I had purchased the phone. - Bullshit, I bought a $400 phone for $150 and I know that Sprint doesn't give discounts on their new phones without a contract extension (I got a Palm Centro which had only been on the market for about 3 weeks), so I call them to find out more. The operator confirms the website's information, but when I tell him that every phone I have ever purchased I have done so with a 2 year contract extension so that I can get the purchase price discount. He tells me that he's can see the electronic version of the receipt, but his computer system for some reason wasn't updated correctly (something neither he or his superviser could fix). He tells me I have two options: either update the contract now and he will get the rebate processed or I can contact customer service to see if they could look up the info and correct the information in the system. Stupid me thought it would be better to have customer service fix the system instead of just doing the short-cut and fixing it with the easy option. After two hours of arguing with the customer service rep, explaining the situation to both her and her manager, and sitting on hold for multiple times at 10-15 minutes each they finally say there is nothing they can do to correct the issue and that my only option is to update the contract starting today. - Lazy ignorant fucks. So I finally give in and renew the contract as they explained it and they tell me that they will now need to transfer me back to the rebate department to finish processing it. In the process of the transfer I get disconnected (probably on purpose since I was really getting into it with the manager). I promply call back and the phone system won't allow me to go to the rebate department without first talking to customer service. Of course I get a different operator, to whom I have to re-explain the entire process and that all I need to do is to talk to the rebate center. Nope, she has to re-verify all of my information taking over 30 minutes in the process, only to come back to me and say: "looks like you just need to talk to the rebate center, let me connect you" - no shit dumbass.

In conclusion, I have discovered how the cell phone companies make their money: They only advertise random obscure plans, charge fees for random stupid shit, and offer rebates they have no intention of honoring. The only way you can get the good plans, fees removed, and the rebates given is to call them, threaten to cancel everything, and go through about 3 hours of the most mind-numbing stupidity you will probably ever experience. Most people I know would rather just forfeit the $100 than go through with it, hence the profit for the cell phone company. They skirt the false advertisement accusations by giving the managers (not the operator techs) the ability to award the refunds, but only after several hours of abuse.

ok end rant. Thanks for reading.


Last edited by dexman1349 on Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:39 pm; edited 1 time in total
dexman1349
dexman1349
Admin

Posts : 481
Join date : 2007-12-26
Location : Not at a Poker table :(

Back to top Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty Re: I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  PoWdA Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:38 pm

tl;dr

sprint sucks
PoWdA
PoWdA
Admin

Posts : 1117
Join date : 2007-12-22
Age : 40
Location : Probobly out of position

https://pokerincolorado.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty Re: I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  Scrupboy Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:54 pm

That sucks! I think all these cell phone companies are pain in the asses. Cingular has been my best experience so far, but that's not saying much as their communication between their stores and support is never the same.
Scrupboy
Scrupboy

Posts : 506
Join date : 2007-12-27
Age : 50
Location : Lakewood

http://pokerzerotohero.blogspot.com

Back to top Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty Re: I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  dexman1349 Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:57 pm

The coverage of Sprint has treated me well. I honestly think Sprint is a great provider as long as you NEVER have to talk to customer service. Once you call them, it all goes downhill quickly.
dexman1349
dexman1349
Admin

Posts : 481
Join date : 2007-12-26
Location : Not at a Poker table :(

Back to top Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty Re: I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  pseudoswede Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:28 pm

Example of why T-Mobile rocks...

Me: "I'd like to add the T-Mobile Hot Spot to my plan."
T-Mobile CS: "Sure! No problem."
Me: "So it's $19.99 per month, but I only need it for three weeks. Will that rate be pro-rated?"
T-Mobile CS: "Absolutely. Since you only need it for three weeks, do you want me to automatically cancel the service after three weeks?"
Me: "Sure. Please cancel it on May 13."
T-Mobile CS: "Okay. Your T-Mobile Hot Spot account will be active within 24 hours, and it will cancel on May 13. Have a nice day!"

On May 14, sure enough, my T-Mobile Hot Spot service was no longer listed on my account.

T-Mo FTW.
pseudoswede
pseudoswede

Posts : 157
Join date : 2008-04-04

Back to top Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty Re: I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  idh78 Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:05 pm

pseudoswede wrote:Example of why T-Mobile rocks...

Me: "I'd like to add the T-Mobile Hot Spot to my plan."
T-Mobile CS: "Sure! No problem."
Me: "So it's $19.99 per month, but I only need it for three weeks. Will that rate be pro-rated?"
T-Mobile CS: "Absolutely. Since you only need it for three weeks, do you want me to automatically cancel the service after three weeks?"
Me: "Sure. Please cancel it on May 13."
T-Mobile CS: "Okay. Your T-Mobile Hot Spot account will be active within 24 hours, and it will cancel on May 13. Have a nice day!"

On May 14, sure enough, my T-Mobile Hot Spot service was no longer listed on my account.

T-Mo FTW.

this was not the case when I had T-Mobile they did the old "you switch your plan, we automatically change your contract end date to one year from the date you changed it" horseshit...

I actually threw a chair across their store in Park Meadow once...when the little piss-ant employee tried to follow me out of the store flapping his gums....I turned around and asked him what he'd like to do about it....apparently nothing (I used to be a little bit psycho)

but in all honesty, they all suck to a degree....I am currently with AT&T and haven't had any problems for a long time....plus I will be getting the new iphone when it comes out so I am stuck with them anyway.
idh78
idh78

Posts : 455
Join date : 2008-01-09
Age : 45
Location : on the rail

Back to top Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty Re: I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  PoWdA Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:09 pm

idh78 wrote:
I actually threw a chair across their store in Park Meadow once...when the little piss-ant employee tried to follow me out of the store flapping his gums....I turned around and asked him what he'd like to do about it....apparently nothing (I used to be a little bit psycho)
LOL.. I read this knowing it was Ian without even looking at the avatar or screen name.
PoWdA
PoWdA
Admin

Posts : 1117
Join date : 2007-12-22
Age : 40
Location : Probobly out of position

https://pokerincolorado.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty Re: I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  idh78 Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:21 pm

PoWdA wrote:LOL.. I read this knowing it was Ian without even looking at the avatar or screen name.

To quote Dave Chapelle's character from Half Baked "for a pothead, I was kinda a hyper-guy."
idh78
idh78

Posts : 455
Join date : 2008-01-09
Age : 45
Location : on the rail

Back to top Go down

I hate my cell phone company...(long rant) Empty Re: I hate my cell phone company...(long rant)

Post  Sponsored content


Sponsored content


Back to top Go down

Back to top

- Similar topics

 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum