When I had the had the opportunity to get a Sprint PCS phone on a company rate plan, I thought it would be a good idea. What a mistake that was. Sprint PCS has the WORST coverage (at least in atlanta, ga) and what really adds insult to injury is their HORRENDOUS CUSTOMER "CARE".
The whole debacle began in January when I cancelled my Airtouch/Verizon account of 5 years to get a corporate discount by switching to Sprint PCS. I spent almost two hundred dollars on a Motorola phone. My first bad experience was trying to activate it. After an HOUR on hold, I was transferred six times, because only a representative from the "business department" could get me on that rate plan. Finally they give me a number and walk me through programming the phone. Well it would be another TWO DAYS because the rep entered the WRONG SERIAL NUMBER into their system, and therefore I was unable to make or get calls. It took multiple (over 30) call ATTEMPTS to reach customer care - always busy or eternal hold. On the third day the mistake was corrected (took all of 10 minutes - once I actually GOT THROUGH). Great! My phone would work - nah - don't think so.
I tried making a call to my home phone. It rang! Yes! After all this it works! But no "come here, Watson, I need you" after I connected I quickly saw the "signal faded" message and the call dropped. Almost NO SIGNAL inside my home, just a mile from a major highway. Surely this must mean my phone is a dud - it happens. After all, my verizon phone worked flawlessly, and other associates that have cingular, nextel and at&t use their phones at my house have no problems. So off to the sprint store I went. I stood in line for an HOUR AND A HALF. The technician looked at my phone and said their was nothing wrong with it. I told him of my dillema, he asked me what area I live in. I told him Smyrna (a suburb of atlanta) and he said "you should be fine" and told me to be sure the battery was charging overnight the first time.
I did that. The next day, the service is still bad. So I began to use the phone and noticed that it doesn't work in many areas around here, like Life University and many places around town. So I returned to the Sprint store, waited around only 15 minutes this time, and another tech deemed that my phone "was defective" though he could not explain why or why the other tech didn't find it. So he swapped out my phone with a new one. Well guess what, same problems. No service at or around my home and many parts of Smyrna and Marietta, which according to Sprint's maps and customer care are "fully covered". Bull. No wireless service is perfect, but this is a bad joke. Over the next two months, I called customer no-care at least once a week, they issued 20 trouble tickets but no resolution. I was offered free minutes but WHAT GOOD ARE THEY IF I CAN'T STAY OR GET CONNECTED?
So I contacted Sprint's corporate office in atlanta. Finally I was told that there are "service alerts" for Smyrna and Marietta. When asked what that means I was told that "there are not enough towers in these areas" and that we are "working on it" though no date of resolution or anything offered to make it right. So Sprint PCS KNOWS that they lack the network to support even street level service in these areas, yet they have NO PROBLEM selling service or advertising "full coverage" in this area. It is fraudulent and dishonest. And the company could care less about keeping it's exsisting customers. Spending hours on hold and wanting to CHARGE PEOPLE to PAY A BILL in person are yet more examples of Sprint absurdity. The only thing FREE AND CLEAR about Sprint PCS is that they CLEARLY have POOR SERVICE and are FREE to RIP YOU OFF if you let them.
I will be switching back to Verizon as soon as this contract is up. It may be more expenive, but at least the service WORKED well here and all around atlanta and they NEVER CHARGED ME TO MAKE A PAYMENT, nor did I ever get put on hold for eons when calling customer service.
James
Smyrna/Marietta, Georgia
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