Sprint cuts off customers who complain too much

[blazin]

I read about this on another forum.... I have Sprint and they are always making billing errors, which makes me have to call them repeatedly.

They are making it sound like 'high maintenance' customers, but there are reports of other's just calling to correct errors that Sprint made.

Total BS, and a shitty business decision with the release of the iPhone.

Luckily, I havent gotten a letter, yet!

On a positive note, if you are trying to get out of your contract, this may be the way.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/2079/sprintletter550x590rb6.jpg

The best part is they give you a number to call if you have any questions!

[Kid Brock]

I used to manage a Sprint PCS retail location and then a Verizon store. It might be the most frustrating industry to be employed by or a consumer of in the world.

[abudabit]

Consider yourself lucky, blazin.

[HummerTuesdays]

Holy shit. They're relying on US mail for this?

[Captain_Spaulding]

Oh my god I wish they would send me that letter.

[coolyellowbus]

damn. Im gonna start calling sprint CS every day now.

[blazin]

Consider yourself lucky, blazin.

Lucky that I didnt get the letter?

The only thing I would be pissed about is my newly purchased $500+ Treo that would be worthless and untransferrable if Sprint ever gave me the can.

Plus, their data plan is the fastest and cheapest out of any of the carriers.

[yellowstonesteve]

damn. Im gonna start calling sprint CS every day now.

me too, and I don't even use Sprint. Thats just fucked up.

[BullsLawDan]

This sounds like a big story, but it really isn't.

They reported this in the WSJ. Out of 53 million Sprint customers, they are dropping about 1,000 people who call customer service on average 25 times a month...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118376389957059668.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The country's third-largest wireless provider, with more than 53 million subscribers, has sent letters to about 1,000 subscribers terminating their contracts, according to Roni Singleton, a company spokeswoman.

The terminated subscribers called an average of 25 times a month, a rate 40 times higher than average customers, Ms. Singleton said.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

Calling your wireless provider 25 times a month - or more than once per business day - is grounds to be hit in the genitals with a ball peen hammer, let alone having your service dropped. Get a life, tools.

[Sinn Fein]

I agree. Get a fucking life. 25 calls a month. Holy shit.

When I first read the title of this thread, I thought it meant they were dropping people who make too many calls that use "free" minutes like nights and weekends. I know that some of the VOIP companies will drop you and Comcast will shut down your cable internet for "excessive use" as well.

[pnigga]

Sprint is basically a jihadist cell phone provider but I still can't figure how you'd have to make 25 calls to them a month

[JimsInfectedEye]

I agree. Get a fucking life. 25 calls a month. Holy shit.

When I first read the title of this thread, I thought it meant they were dropping people who make too many calls that use "free" minutes like nights and weekends.

Me too. I have the 300 outgoing/unlimited incoming plan. I seldom place phone calls for more than a minute with my cell, but I'm slammed with incoming calls from work, or when I forward my home calls to my cell.

Actually, when I called Sprint to ask about my contract, I found out that I'm on a "rolling contract", meaning I don't have any recourse if I switch now. The Sprint lady practically offered fellatio if I stayed with them. Whats a cool Sprint phone to get?

[jackjack]

The part of that letter where it reads 'credit has been applied to bring your balance to zero' implies to me that the people getting them are deadbeats who they are cutting their losses on.

[DowntownDave]

25 times a month is more than once a business day. These are probably like old people who have no one to talk to or pervs with a dot head fetish. It costs money to man those phones and, at 25 calls a month, those people are costing more than they are paying. And they are definitely not high-end customers if they have time to push all those buttons and sit through interminable hold times once or twice a day

[HummerTuesdays]

I wonder of those 25 calls, how many are call-backs because the CS rep "accidentally" hung up on them. :)

[vcdburn]

There's an old trick where you can call a special number talk to a computer complaining about dropped calls, and bad downloaded games. They would give you 0.25 credit for each dropped call and up to $10 credit a month for bad game downloads. I wonder if this is a way to weed out the "probems". Also, what a set of balls Sprint has... (In a meeting) CEO: These customers arn't working out for us anymore. Nag nag nag. Screw them lets show them that we don't need customers to run a sucessful company.


.

[AndrewAZ]

I have sprint and yes they do make errors but at most I have had to call one time every 4-5 months to get it fixed.

One person who got that letter on the sprint forum was calling in to complain about not getting "free" items added to the plan properly. I know this sounds odd for other cell phone companies but if you have been for sprint for a long time and you get a nice rep chances are you can ask for say free texts, discounts ect. Anyways this person got a rep that said ok ill give you a credit for internet, well the credit didtn show up so the person kept calling in.

If you go to the sprint forum they have an entire section of people who just call in to get free stuff, I dont blame them for canning these people all they do is make the wait time longer for me when I have a real problem.

[CougarHunter]

CEO: These customers arn't working out for us anymore. Nag nag nag. Screw them lets show them that we don't need customers to run a sucessful company.


.

Sounds like another company I know....

Beyond A.M., Beyond F.M., it's sitting silently in the corner collecting dust.

[Burger]

(In a meeting) CEO: These customers arn't working out for us anymore. Nag nag nag. Screw them lets show them that we don't need customers to run a sucessful company.


.

Its actually pretty easy for these companies to determine what kind of customer you are. Every time you call a CSR from a major corporation their application tells them what class of customer you belong in. If you are a great customer, they do extra things for you - give you Americans to speak with, call you back if you get disconnected, answer your call sooner, offer unadvertised promos, etc.. if you are a crappy customer, you don't get those perks.

Sprint made a pretty easy business decision. They figure out how much each of these 25 calls to the CSR costs, so it costs the company $X to do business with one particular customer. If that customer isn't giving the company more than $X in revenue, why keep them? I wouldn't, nor would any intelligent business person.

[bnceo]

Me too. I have the 300 outgoing/unlimited incoming plan. I seldom place phone calls for more than a minute with my cell, but I'm slammed with incoming calls from work, or when I forward my home calls to my cell.

Actually, when I called Sprint to ask about my contract, I found out that I'm on a "rolling contract", meaning I don't have any recourse if I switch now. The Sprint lady practically offered fellatio if I stayed with them. Whats a cool Sprint phone to get?

Sanyo M1 is a beauty. Only probs I see with it is no slot for memory cards and it's battery (maybe it's me) deads to not last super long. I'm looking for a better battery for it right now. Here's the Cnet review if you want it: http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/sanyo-m1/4505-6454_7-32177298.html

[Kris_LTRMa]

I've been with Sprint for over 10 years and while I've had problems over the course of those years, none were to where I've had to make a lot of calls to get everything resolved. If for some reason I wanted to get out of my contract, it would cost me $150 to do so. I've been grandfathered at $150 but newer accounts are being charged $200 for an early cancellation. If you're making 25+ calls to customer service you're obviously not happy with the service and more than likely would cancel your service if it wasn't so cost prohibitive. By Sprint canceling the account for you, they are acknowledging that even if they were to offer to have some young hotty from the Asian call center office fly over to America to give you an hour long massage complete with happy ending you'd still not be happy, they're actually saving you money.

[Garyisajoke]

Whats a cool Sprint phone to get?

It's not flashy but I like the Motorola SLVR. It gets great reception and looks slick. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but I didn't know how much of a "fancy man" you were. I'm not.

[jackjack]

If you're making 25+ calls to customer service you're obviously not happy with the service and more than likely would cancel your service if it wasn't so cost prohibitive.


They could be dickheads that are trying to get a dropped call credit every time they make a call.. That'd be a lot of work for 25 more minutes, assuming Sprint credits a minute per dropped call like Verizon.

That would be a really easy pattern to spot, and a good reason to cancel the account.

[Bill Lehecka]

There was a time I was calling Sprint once a month because my bill was fucked up. Once they fixed it, I never called them again. I believe I've called them once or twice since then.

25 times a month is harrassment.

[CM Mark]

I have had T-Mobile for about 7 years. I honestly yhink I can count the times I have had to call customer service in that time on one hand. I had one problem when I switched from a pre-paid account to a post paid account. I tink I only had one or two other problems with them since that. They know me well in the local store because I go in there and pay my bill every month in cash. But that's only once a month. How the hell do you call them 25 times a month?

[Kris_LTRMa]

I have had T-Mobile for about 7 years. I honestly yhink I can count the times I have had to call customer service in that time on one hand. I had one problem when I switched from a pre-paid account to a post paid account. I tink I only had one or two other problems with them since that. They know me well in the local store because I go in there and pay my bill every month in cash. But that's only once a month. How the hell do you call them 25 times a month?

You're right - there are at least 30 days in the month ... they fell down on the job tee hee :icon_wink

[gleet]

Ha ha. Sounds like when my old boss fired some idiot. "I don't know if we can make it, but we're gonna try to get along without you."

[blazin]

Ive heard the number was 15, I also heard 25.

Yes, I admit, 25 is a bit much, but how is a call logged?

If you speak to 3 people on one call, it could count as 3 calls. I've read if they ask you your account password, it counts as a call.

Harrasment is one thing and I agree on cancelling them, but there are people, such as in this 134 page thread (http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=136518) who claim they didnt call 25 times per month, and the only reason she called was to get Sprint to correct a billing error that occured month after month.

Theres points on both sides, but the truth is it is bad business regardless.

I think Sprint TRIED to weed out the bad customers and a few good ones got cut also. If one good customer got canned without cause it makes it a jackass move regardless of their intention.

EDIT: It seems the OP in that thread, plus another had their accounts reinstated. They claim 2 calls per month. Another user, who has been a Sprint customer for 1 month, claims to have gotten the letter.

[OpensFridayWide]

They should worry less about how many new fantasy football features they can add and concentrate more on a decent network.

[Sinn Fein]

The part of that letter where it reads 'credit has been applied to bring your balance to zero' implies to me that the people getting them are deadbeats who they are cutting their losses on.

AFAIK, most cell providers bill you in advance for each month.

[jackjack]

AFAIK, most cell providers bill you in advance for each month.

Exactly. It looks like the people receiving that letter were in arrears at least a month. Probably just the official notice that they weren't going to be bothered with any more.

Edit:
Wait, I just re-reread your post.. My Verizon agreement doesn't bill me for the month that didn't happen yet..
They can't, they don't yet know how much I might go over my basic plan. I thought the only people that got billed in advance were called pre-paid customers.

Anyways, the basic point is the same.. Balance credited to zero means they owed, and were being written off and kicked out.

[vegasbob]

A lot Sprint customers with berg, stein, & itz in there last names must be the ones calling over 26 times per month.

[blazin]

Anyways, the basic point is the same.. Balance credited to zero means they owed, and were being written off and kicked out.

Dude, this isnt about customers owing money or deadbeats. Crediting the customer to 0 is just their way of trying to maintain some level of decency.

Why isnt the customer entitled to an ETF like Sprint would expect the customer to pay for early term?

[Blu Swade]

Blazin! Be honest did you really call sprints customer service that many times? I think it might be relevant to the story.

[Mud Duck]

Only golfers use Sprint...

[blazin]

Blazin! Be honest did you really call sprints customer service that many times? I think it might be relevant to the story.

I never got the letter! I am interested in this story because I have made my share of calls to Sprint to fix their fuck-ups.

But the one person who did (whom i read about) claimed 2 calls per month to fix a recurring billing problem.

[BullsLawDan]

But the one person who did (whom i read about) claimed 2 calls per month to fix a recurring billing problem.

That person is, not to put too fine a point on it, a complete fucking liar.

Cell phone customers bitch more than the Rutgers' womens' bball team and Al Sharpton combined. The majority of people out there think they are being screwed by their company. HELLO? It's an entire fucking phone. In the palm of your hand. That works almost anywhere in the United States and many places around the world. Technology that was utterly fucking inconceivable a generation ago.

If customers would try listening to what the reps tell them instead of doing 15 minutes of research on the internet and walking into the store thinking they're an expert, i bet most of these calls wouldn't have happened.

[GonzoRadio]

The 2 calls guy getting a letter is full of shit. Sprint simply ran a query to grab the top 1,000 "problem customers," which from my understanding averaged 25 calls over MULTIPLE months. For you SQL guys, I bet the query looked something like this:

SELECT TOP 1000 sum(COMPLAINTS) from CUSTOMERCOMPLAINTS WHERE ComplaintDate >= '1/1/07'
group by customerid
having sum(COMPLAINTS) >= 175

(No i didn't check my syntax, and I'm sure its more complicated than that)

There's nothing magic about it, they just shaved off the top 1000 customers that lose them the most money. The database person at my job gets asked to run reports like this all the time so that we can get an idea of who is abusing out website.

[patbattlefield]

Sprint Cuts 1,000+ Customers For Excessive Complaining

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Hundreds of cell phone customers are being given the boot, accused of being too high maintenance.

Sprint-Nextel is disconnecting more than 1,000 subscribers on grounds the clients call customer service too often and make "unreasonable requests."

The 1,200 people getting dropped will have to find a new carrier by the end of the month.

A Sprint representative said the average customer calls customer service less than once a month, but the 1,200 clients getting the boot call 40-50 times as often.

Sprint said whatever the complaint, it has worked to resolve it but due to the volume of calls it's obvious customers involved are not happy.

In a statement, the company said: "Rather than continue to operate in a situation that was unsatisfactory for Sprint and our subscribers, we chose to terminate our relationship with those customers to allow them to pursue other options."

Cell phone user Joe Graham said Sprint reserves that right.

"I guess the company had good enough reason to get rid of 1,200 people. You don't just do it on a whim," Graham said. "Because they make the contracts they can do what they want."

"I didn't even know you could do that with a contract. That's astonishing," said cell phone user Winston Bryant.

The customers told to find a new service provider were notified by mail last month and will not have to pay a termination fee.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/13650557/detail.html

[Furtherman]

Some of these jackoffs were calling Sprint customer service an average of 25 times a month. Probably all about their bills. There are a lot of assholes out there who always try and get something for free.

Good for you Sprint, kick their asses to the curb.

[HummerTuesdays]

My ouja board tells me that this is being discussed elsewhere: :)

http://www.wackbag.com/showthread.php?t=71105

[Blu Swade]

I never got the letter! I am interested in this story because I have made my share of calls to Sprint to fix their fuck-ups.

But the one person who did (whom i read about) claimed 2 calls per month to fix a recurring billing problem.

I think whoever it was might be a "Nudge"!:action-sm

[circpro]

Dude, this isnt about customers owing money or deadbeats. Crediting the customer to 0 is just their way of trying to maintain some level of decency.

Why isnt the customer entitled to an ETF like Sprint would expect the customer to pay for early term?

I am willing to bet that 90% if the customers they terminated had balances in excess of $150. Under my TOS my ETF would be $150 per line of service, so zeroing a balance is essentially paying an ETF. Besides, you pay for service you already used..you should responsible for those charges....

I recently had conversations with a couple high level Sprint execs who helped me with my problems (one is a fan :action-sm)... They mentioned something like this may come down and said the money they lose from constant calls to retentions (whose job it is to keep people ...and they are right here in the US) are astronomical.

I don't blame them for doing it(unless I got the letter)...if you called me that much about issues then that tells me we are failing you and you should probably stop doing business with us...

[jackjack]

What exactly is EFT? All I can think of is 'Early Fucking Termination'.

I should know, I just can't think of the acronym..

[VMS]

Whats a cool Sprint phone to get?

I suggest the Treo 755p. Smartphones, IMO, are the way to go. Real smartphones, not the phony bullshit that Apple tries to palm off as a smartphone.

[DanaReevesLungs]

Wait, I just re-reread your post.. My Verizon agreement doesn't bill me for the month that didn't happen yet..
They can't, they don't yet know how much I might go over my basic plan. I thought the only people that got billed in advance were called pre-paid customers.

Some companies bill you for the monthly service in advance and the overage is arrears...AT&T being one of those.


What exactly is EFT? All I can think of is 'Early Fucking Termination'.

I should know, I just can't think of the acronym..

Early Termination Fee