[greenG4]

FOXNews.com - Sprint Hangs Up on High-Maintenance Customers - Business And Money | Business News | Financial News

This is great customer service, let me tell ya! I suppose there is some line in the contract that says they can terminate service for any reason, but this is terrible. Some people are a little more challenged than others, but that shouldn't be a reason to cut them off.

[Dakarʒ]

Unless, of course, you want out from Sprint.

[greenG4]

Originally Posted by Dakarʒ 

Unless, of course, you want out from Sprint.

Good point. Attention all Sprint customers who want iPhones!

[amazing]

Let's not forget that we really, really have a duty to be complaining about ATT customer service!

This stuff about other wireless companies being just as bad makes it look as if Apple chose the best of the lesser evils in going with ATT.

[smacintush]

I don't know, according to the article they were calling about 30-40 times a month each.

I don't think they should have to put up with idiotic, pain-in-the-ass customers if they don't want to.

[greenG4]

Originally Posted by smacintush 

I don't know, according to the article they were calling about 30-40 times a month each.

I don't think they should have to put up with idiotic, pain-in-the-ass customers if they don't want to.

It sorta depends on the circumstance surrounding them, though. If I have an issue I feel is not being resolved, I would pester the snot out of them too. Most people simply give up and take it.

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by smacintush 

I don't know, according to the article they were calling about 30-40 times a month each.

I don't think they should have to put up with idiotic, pain-in-the-ass customers if they don't want to.

Yup. I think it's a great idea. And it's better for the regular customers. A private company doesn't have to do business with anyone it doesn't want to. It's like a restaurant kicking out obnoxious customers. And if you genuinely need to call "hundreds of times per month for 6 to 12 months," either you're an idiot or you need a new carrier anyway - my guess is the former.

[smacintush]

Originally Posted by greenG4 

It sorta depends on the circumstance surrounding them, though. If I have an issue I feel is not being resolved, I would pester the snot out of them too. Most people simply give up and take it.

Well, yeah you're right of course. It's possible that they are having unresolved issues and such but anyone (like my wife) who works with the public can tell you that there are a lot of people that are just a pain-in-the-ass.

[greenG4]

Originally Posted by BRussell 

either you're an idiot...

Probably true...

Originally Posted by smacintush 

there are a lot of people that are just a pain-in-the-ass.

That's true too.

I still question how they did it (I understand the "why"). It doesn't seem like they got any warning. No text message saying "You're an idiot. Stop calling 10 times a day or we'll assume you lack the brain capacity for a cell phone." You know, to a least be polite about it.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by amazing 

Let's not forget that we really, really have a duty to be complaining about ATT customer service!

This stuff about other wireless companies being just as bad makes it look as if Apple chose the best of the lesser evils in going with ATT.

T-Mobile and Verizon are supposed to have better CS than AT&T.

And I believe it, because AT&T's CS is horrible.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

T-Mobile and Verizon are supposed to have better CS than AT&T.

I've never used Verizon, but T-Mobile is worlds better.

[Y3a]

When is the last time you actually GOT good customer service?
I think it's probably SPRINTs FAULT.

You chase away anyone who might need CS and then when they are gone, you can get rid of the CS team.

[Cold Warrior]

Consumer Reports rated Sprint routinely at the bottom throughout the country in many areas. I've used Sprint since 2003 and they've gone from ok to horrible.

[wallinbl]

Have you ever worked retail? Sure, there are bad policies and times when people actually have a valid complaint. Most of those get resolved pretty quickly. If a company were deliberately failing to correct actual problems, they'd get sued and lose. The reality is that there are some customers that are just total jerks. I worked at Target when I was in college, and the customer service desk was a running joke. People would come up with all kinds of crap. Several times per day, someone would come in demanding to return something that Target didn't even sell (sometimes, the Walmart price tag would still be on it!). They'd complain and complain and raise a stink, demanding a manager. If you paid some attention, there were a handful of people that were doing this once a week or more. Target never told these people to screw off, but most of the employees really wanted to.

[nonhuman]

I've dealt with customer service with all of the major providers (T-Mobile, Cingular/AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon). I would definitely rank Sprint at the bottom, with Verizon and T-Mobile tied for the top.

I've also dealt with Cingular and T-Mobile as a corporate client. T-Mobile has a whole separate customer service number for corporate clients where the service you get is leaps and bounds better than anything I've ever experienced before. Cingular just dumps you to the regular customer service.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by wallinbl 

Have you ever worked retail? Sure, there are bad policies and times when people actually have a valid complaint. Most of those get resolved pretty quickly. If a company were deliberately failing to correct actual problems, they'd get sued and lose. The reality is that there are some customers that are just total jerks. I worked at Target when I was in college, and the customer service desk was a running joke. People would come up with all kinds of crap. Several times per day, someone would come in demanding to return something that Target didn't even sell (sometimes, the Walmart price tag would still be on it!). They'd complain and complain and raise a stink, demanding a manager. If you paid some attention, there were a handful of people that were doing this once a week or more. Target never told these people to screw off, but most of the employees really wanted to.

Sometimes. But here's a little anecdote of mine. Not cell-phone related, but anyway. Way back in the mid-90s, in the dialup days, I sent some e-mails to some people requesting replies. Several days later, I wondered why these people still hadn't written me back. A few more days later, I realized that I had not received any e-mails at all for the last few days, even spam. So I decided to test out my account. I sent an e-mail to myself. Nothing happened. I had someone else try e-mailing me. I never received the e-mail, and they never got a bounceback message or anything, either - all e-mails to me were apparently disappearing into a black hole. Trying a different e-mail client didn't work, going straight in with Telnet and the POP3 commands still turned up nothing. Clearly, something was wrong with my e-mail account. I didn't want to change my address, so I called up the ISP to ask them to fix it. The guy on the phone said, okay, it should be fixed now, but it might take a few hours for the change to go through the system. Great, I said. Well, I figured 24 hours was "a few hours", but the next day, e-mails to me still were not getting through. So I called again. Same thing - guy says he fixed it, wait a few hours, and next day it's the same thing. This continued for several weeks, with me getting progressively more agitated each time. Each time, they'd claim they'd fixed it, and each time, the problem would definitely not be fixed. Finally, after numerous calls, seeing that I was seriously pissed off, the rep decided, instead of trying to fix my account, just to delete and recreate it. That finally fixed it, but only after I had easily made a double-digit number of calls to the company.

Sometimes, a customer has to make a lot of calls to CS because of CS's incompetence, not the customer's.

[Chuckit]

Honestly, I'm not at all surprised to hear about crap customer service at a phone company, but hundreds of calls a day over a period of a year does make it sound like something is wrong with the customer. Anybody sane would already have left of their own volition.

[macroy]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

Sometimes, a customer has to make a lot of calls to CS because of CS's incompetence, not the customer's.

Yes. But you handled it properly. And really, it was a real inconvenience for you.. but in this case, I think it was somewhat of an anomaly. And my guess is that what this guy did was not normal (I'm assuming any e-mails you had in your box was lost as well? perhaps that was not the policy then).

Regardless, Imagine someone else in the same situation, but instead, they called back the 2nd time and started to go off on the person who answered the call - being a jackass and everything. I'd think the ISP would be justified to just tell that person to take a hike.

Bottom line, its a two way street. The phone industry puts the consumers at a bit of a disadvantage because of the multi-year contracts...but that does not mean you get to call CS and yell at them (and I mean that in general... I know you didn't do that). If you have an issue that is not being resolved, you need to see alternative methods (letter, escalation procedures, etc). I think calling 40-50 times a month is a bit excessive. Just my .02 of course....

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by macroy 

Yes. But you handled it properly. And really, it was a real inconvenience for you.. but in this case, I think it was somewhat of an anomaly. And my guess is that what this guy did was not normal (I'm assuming any e-mails you had in your box was lost as well? perhaps that was not the policy then).

Regardless, Imagine someone else in the same situation, but instead, they called back the 2nd time and started to go off on the person who answered the call - being a jackass and everything. I'd think the ISP would be justified to just tell that person to take a hike.

Well, by the fourteenth or fifteenth time, I'm sure I wasn't the most pleasant person to deal with anymore.

Anyway, here's something I found that might put this in perspective a bit more...

Splitting up with your cell phone carrier - page 2 | Tech News on ZDNet

Rene said she had only been calling the customer support line to correct Sprint's billing mistakes.

"I wasn't calling to be annoying," she said. "I was just trying to get them to fix their mistake. I still like the service and feel like I am getting a great deal. I even renewed my contract a couple of months ago and upgraded to the new Treo 755."

She claims Sprint began charging her in January for additional services that had previously been included in a special plan the company offered her in 2005 when she renewed her contract for the third time. The plan consisted of 1,000 anytime voice minutes, free night and weekend calling, free text messaging, unlimited data usage, and free mobile-to-mobile minutes for $40 a month, a great deal to say the least.

When charges started showing up on her bill, Rene called customer support to straighten out the issue and was assured it had been a mistake and the same problem would not occur the following month.

But when her bill came the next month, the charges were still there, she said. For five straight months, Rene called the Sprint customer support line after she received her bill to clear up the erroneous charges, and each time was assured the problem had been fixed.

While she said the customer representatives she dealt with seemed helpful, she often had to sit on hold for 30 minutes or more. She was transferred to several different operators in different departments, she said. And numerous calls were dropped, forcing her to call back.

What Rene didn't realize is that Sprint was keeping a tally of her phone calls, counting each transfer as a separate call to the support line. Finally, without warning, she was told in the June 29 letter to find another carrier.

"Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information," the letter reads. "While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs."

If they're playing the runaround game with you and transferring you back and forth between departments as companies love to do, and they count each transfer as a separate call, you could quite easily run up a lot of calls quite quickly!

[Eriamjh]

Dear Customer,

Your contract with Sprint has been terminated. We have determined that you are too stupid to use a phone and no longer wish to do business with you.

Don't call us about this letter.

Sincerely,
Sprint

I wonder if they are too stupid to buy an iPhone or use it?

[amazing]

Let's summarize Sprint's policy as "don't you dare question your bill! You WILL be disconnected. Just to muck you over, we WILL put you on hold, TRANSFER you all over, and TERMINATE your account."

[Eriamjh]

Originally Posted by amazing 

Let's summarize Sprint's policy as "don't you dare question your bill! You WILL be disconnected. Just to muck you over, we WILL put you on hold, TRANSFER you all over, and TERMINATE your account."

At least it gets you out of the termination fee.

[Rumor]

It comes to show that they were cancelled for scamming free service.

[Kerrigan]

greenG4, did you read the article?

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

It comes to show that they were cancelled for scamming free service.

According to the guy at Sprint. I'm sure some of the customers were doing that... but not all of them.

Searching the Internet will turn up plenty of articles about people who got cancelled for calling about legitimate things.

[PEPPERRULES]

Crappy PR to say the least. What a lame and vague rebuttal.