7/20/04 King Speaks to Sprint

So the world knows how evil Sprint is, here's my latest rant in the form of a letter I sent to them. Hey Google and Blogspot...if you're going to run ads on my blog, try a Sprint banner...that will help my cause.


Sprint,

Where to begin with the horror that is Sprint. This is the second letter I’ve written and no one responds, cares, nor tries to make me a happy customer. When I ask for the manager, I get things like, “They are not on shift yet.” or “I can’t do that.”

I’ve been unhappy with the customer service at Sprint for a couple of years now. Why didn’t I leave? My number is very important to my business. So, when the FDA pushed through the switch law, I was in. But, I had to wait until my contract with Sprint was up. I was willing to that. As long as I never had to call customer service, as long as nothing went wrong, I could get out without a hassle. But life doesn’t work like this.

By June 26th, 2004, my contract would be terminated. Hallelujah, I almost organized a parade in celebration. I set up that date with T-Mobile to switch my number. Soon, I would be free from Sprint. But, then the following events occurred, ironically to the customer who wanted out more than any other: Me. June 26th passed, no switch. T-Mobile informed me that Sprint would not release my number. Sprint informed me that T-mobile wasn’t being compliant---why wouldn’t they be...I was a new customer switching to them. This song and dance went on day after day after day. But I was reminded that the switch COULD take a week. But, it usually doesn’t. Onward. More than one FULL business and calendar week later, I still didn’t have my number. There were technical difficulties with releasing my number. What was wrong with my number: 503.381.9667. What was wrong with these 7 digits? When I called Sprint back, I talked to a customer service representative (representative of Sprint, NEVER the customer). They informed me that I was mistaken...my number had already been released to T-mobile on June 26th. Did it, did it? Is that why I’ve been calling Sprint and T-Mobile for a week straight? When I called T-Mobile, they informed me that Sprint STILL wouldn’t release my number. At this point, it was more than a week and a half. It appeared that I would NEVER get my number back. It was lost in a volleyball game in this abyss called a cell phone company.

And then things got worse. I call Sprint AGAIN, trying to figure out what’s wrong. A representative told me that there was technical difficulty with releasing my number...and that the last rep that I talked to was wrong. That’s it, just wrong. Of course, all this followed up by the robotic canned, “I do apologize, I do apologize, I do, I do...” STOP apologizing and take care of the problem. Then there is no reason to be so apologetic. The latest SNAFU? The time period in which the technicians had to rectify the issue had expired, so my number had to be re- released. So, what Sprint was telling me that because technicians couldn’t fix the problem in over a week, the process had to start all over again. At this point, I was so angry I couldn’t see straight. Thank God, T-mobile had given me a temporary number. Thank God, when I called T-mobile I got a human being who empathized, who cared, who DID NOT read from a script.

So, it’s going on two weeks, Sprint still can’t release my number. Technicians this, technicians on vacation, technicians can’t rectify, technicians went home for the day. Pass the buck here, pass the buck there. Sprint would blame T-mobile. T-mobile blamed Sprint. Someone was lying...who could that be? I would be put on hold by Sprint for twenty minutes while they investigated the problem and then be hung up on.

Then, when I could stand it no more, I called the T-mobile store in Portland, Oregon where I originally signed up. I told them the whole story. I begged them to do something, anything. I was tired of being in the middle of this mess. PLEASE, someone do something. Two hours later, a T-mobile rep called me to tell me that my 503.381.9667 number finally worked. I have no idea what happened, or why I didn’t call the store originally, BUT it worked.

Sprint, you are the worst company on the planet. I am in advertising, so you better believe that I will SMEAR your name on every feedback website, in every publication, in every way possible for the rest of my life. You show no remorse. Your responses are formulaic and canned. I have never received credit or minutes or breaks on any bills in five years. It is disgusting, how little you care about a customer that has been with you for over five years. Will this letter do anything? Probably not. But, at least I wrote it. And at least the one person reading it knows how disgusted I am with you.

Just make a note, because that’s all you do, that I will NEVER pay for another Sprint bill again. If I receive one after this mess, I will burn it. Send another, and I’ll burn it again. You will never see another hard earned dimed of mine again.

No thanks, very sincerely,
Elizabeth King
fedupspam@yahoo.com
503.381.9667
Switched