has anyone had any results from pfb, specifically regards to sprint?
Here are the details of my complaint:
We have had Sprint PCS service for 4 years and have had little ups and downs. However the last incident has resulted in me actually be asked to leave a store.
Know I'm a pretty reasonable person (ex-police officer, current civilian federal employee), so I really don't fit the model of a person who stirs up trouble for kicks.
The whole thing started when we were in a position if life to start doing a good amount of international travel and wanted to expand our service to accommodate or lifestyle.
Prior to our first trip I inquired about expanding our service and was told on 2 separate occasions that since the Treo handsets we had wouldn't work in Europe our only options were to rent a phone through sprint or buy a pre-paid model in Europe. Neither of these options seemed reasonable, and knowing how most customer service centers work on the third attempt I got a rep knowledgeable enough to accommodate my request.
This rep explained that I could purchase a phone and they could tether it via a SIM card to my Treo's number. The only issues were that it would have to stay off until we reached our destination and the SIM card would only work in the new phone, since the Treo does not have a SIM card, and I would have to pay expedited shipping charges to get the unit before out flight out.
This was fine as we have 5 kids (two of which are kids we took in and have custody of, and have pending litigation on one of them) and really wanted to be able to stay in contact with our family.
I received the phone as promised and as instructed never turned it on and called prior to traveling (from the airport terminal) and was advised the service would transition as long as I had my Treo off and turned on the new phone when we landed.
Well upon arrival I turned on the phone as instructed only to learn there was no SIM card supplied! I called sprint (which the Hotel charged $4.00 US for me to even connect, even to a toll free number).
The rep started saying he saw no reason why it shouldn't work. I was finally able to explain the SIM card issue to him. At this point the rep started accusing me of not knowing what I was looking for and saying isn't it in the box, double check, etc. I affirmed that I indeed know what I was looking for and have checked the box, but would comply with his instructions. Finally the rep said well I don't see a SIM card registered to you number maybe we didn't send you one? At this ponit it was a Saturday and we were scheduled to depart for home on Monday, so there was no other option than to pay the $4.00 connect fee's and rates the hotel charged to communicate with people back home.
I contacted Sprint and a rep named Holly M. Cook took very good care (so much so I asked to speak with her supervisor to relay my feelings of gratitude).
The resolution was that I would receive a Blackberry 8830, a SIM card for the phone we already purchased attached to my wife's number, credit for the shipping charges, and a data pack for the rate of $12.50 (an increase of $2.50 from the vision pack i had with my Treo).
The real problems started when I attempted to activate the Blackberry. I was advised I was not set up on any data plan and to add it would be an additional approximately $50-$70 per month. I indicated that wasn't the agreement we established.
The manager (Tory) i was speaking with indicated that I would need the account pin to get the matter resolved. I didn't know the pin, she attempted to text it to my wife and I with no results either time. I was then told we would have to drive to a Sprint store and show two forms of ID to give them access to the account.
At this point I had been inconvenienced enough by sprint! We decided to comply with the request ID so the reps could assist us with cancelling the service.
Upon arrival at the store the greeter asked us what we needed we explained we wanted to cancel service. She said we had to do that over the phone with customer service (who because we didn't have a pin number wouldn't talk to us), I then asked for the manager.
I explained the situation to the manger, he instructed a lead rep to note ID shown in the system and dialed a number on a demo phone.
While I was on the phone the lead rep who was instructed to annotate the account stopped his progress to answer some of my wife's questions. While I appreciate his willingness to answer questions he did stop his progress which resulted in me having to hang up with customer service as the account verification had not been noted and I could not accomplish the task that a total of 7 people had to drive to a sprint store to accomplish.
I very sternly instructed this individual to please perform the task he had been assigned. This resulted in him and I having a boisterous conversation as to what exactly his job was and what he was instructed to do.
At this point the manager who initially helped me came over and began to input the information he instructed the lead rep to do and asked me to leave the store to contact customer service.
After the manager updated the file I asked for his, the lead reps, and their managers contact information. He supplied the requested information and I went to the parking lot to make the call.
Again I ran into the verification issue and had to go back in the store and the manger verified that ID had been established.
Finally! Getting to a point that I could cancel service, not quite! I had to repeatedly explain that I simply wanted to cancel and was growing more annoyed by the rep not honoring my request, and continuously badgering me as to why I wanted to cancel.
I ultimately had to request to speak with her manger who advised me that all i would have to do is port my number to a new carrier.
I am furious!!! It took me over three hours, a road trip and being asked to leave a Sprint store in order for me to find out all I had to do was port our numbers to a new carrier.
Based on this, here's what I would like Sprint PCS to do:
There is nothing Sprint can ever do that would make me use their service again. I will never step foot in a Sprint store; I will not use a Sprint pay phone, or crack a Sprint phone book (if they even exist).
The only thing that will make me keep Sprint service is free service for life so I can still get additional service so that I can be assured I have a reliable means of staying in touch.
I am fully aware that it will cost me $600 to cancel our Sprint service and am willing to pay this price, however if Sprint wants to waive this fee I will continue tell family, friends, co-workers, internet message boards, and ho-bo's on the street my experiences, but that Sprint did own up to it's responsibility and allowed me to make a clean break.
