How a long time customer of Sprint PCS got screwed in his time of need.
Wow.
This month I had such a bad experience with my wireless carrier, SprintPCS, that I have to make it public.
May 2005 was a tough month. In the first week, my grandfather (who I used to live with and was very close to) passed away. I grabbed a flight down to Nevada to be with my grandmother and family down there. A couple of days later, my father fell very ill and was in intensive care in Oregon. I grabbed an emergency flight up to Oregon to be with him. They told us he might not make it.
During this rough time, I had to make a lot of phone calls. To prevent a $200 cell phone bill, I called my wireless carrier, Sprint PCS, and request an upgrade of my plan. I wanted to pay a bigger monthly fee to get more minutes. I explained my difficult situation, but they refused to upgrade my plan unless I signed a two year contract. I told them I could not sign the contract because I was going overseas later in the year. They still refused to upgrade my contract. Apparently they wanted either the $150 I was going to rack up in over-usage minutes, or the $200 (or whatever it is) cancellation fee for my two year contract when I went overseas. I asked them to cancel my account at the end of the billing period. I had to go back to the ICU, and my batteries were dying. I told them I needed to get off the phone, but they kept trying to talk me in to signing the contract. I eventually said, "Cancel my account, I need to go," and hung up.
Today I noticed that my phone is still working, even though the end of that billing period was May 18th. They didn't cancel my service. My most recent bill is about $150 (usually, it's $40).
Sprint PCS took full advantage of my family emergencies.
I called today to ask why my phone had not been disconnected. I was almost hoping they'd offer me a discount on my huge bill to keep me as a customer. Instead, Tom from the cancellation department again insisted I sign a two year contract. They said they hadn't disconnected my phone because I'd hung up on them. I told them to listen to the recording of my last call; they wouldn't let me off the phone. Tom said they only randomly monitor customer calls.
Did I mention that I've been a customer of Sprint PCS for
six years!? Allow me to summarize how they treated me:
- Faced with a grave family emergency, Sprint PCS wouldn't allow me to upgrade to a plan with more minutes (without signing a lucrative contract).
- When I called around May 9th to request a cancellation of my account on May 18th, they basically would not let me do so.
- When I later called (June 2) to see why my phone still worked, they said they hadn't cancelled my account, and that I'd be responsible for the full $150 plus usage through June 18th.
- I told Sprint PCS's cancellation department that I intended on keeping my number. They said that they would not cancel my account then (that I needed to do it through Verizon). I agreed, but after I got off the phone, I could no longer log in to my SprintPCS account.
I used to think that Sprint PCS had the best service and technology. This is no longer true. They have joined the ranks of companies who'd rather squeeze a customer for every last penny than provide a quality service.
I'm moving my number to my girlfriend's Verizon account.
