I have had my cellular service through Sprint for a little over a year now. Midway through my first 1 year contract with Sprint my family and I fell on some hard times financially. Now I certainly do not blame Sprint for my money troubles, I am however exteremly disappointed with most of their 'business practices'.
Let me start off by letting you know that my husband and I both have cell phones through Sprint. So Sprint was making about $110 off of us per month.
Like I mentioned before we fell upon some hard times. My husband needed his cell phone more than I did, so we made sure that his bill was paid in full. Now my bill I tried to pay on it as much as possible and I do admit I tried to play the game of keeping my amount below the allowed spending limit. After 2 months of this my phone did get shut off, I did not call right away to make a minimum payment because in 6 days I was getting a bonus check that I could just pay the amount in full and get back on track with paying my entire bill on a monthly basis.
That is exactly what I did.in 6 days I called and made the full payment to a CSR. My bill at this point was almost $200. The CSR told me I had three different options on my payment; hang up and make the payment through the automated system and not get charged anything extra to make the payment, pay an extra $5 for Sprint's processing fee to make the payment with her, or make an extra $10 payment at this time and instead of paying Sprint $5 for the processing fee, I would have a $10 credit on my next month's bill. I paid the extra $10.
To my surprise my phone was shut off 2 weeks later. When I called Customer Service, the CSR told me that my bill was $189. I asked him if he showed the payment that I had made 2 weeks prior, he did. I told him that I should have a $10 credit not owe $189! There is no way I used my cell phone that much, not $400 worth. My plan had just started over, I had 500 anytime minutes.
The gentleman did some research and came back with "Had I paid my bill on the 5th day that it was shut off, I would have been okay." But since I paid it on the 6th day, I was triple billed. He also said that I was one of the lucky ones, because Sprint could either triple or quadriple bill someone but for some reason they only triple billed me. Yeah, that is what I felt, LUCKY. Thank god Sprint only triple billed me!
Are you kidding me?! I asked the gentlemen if that triple payment that he wanted me to make would act as a deposit and after so many months of making payments on time would I get it back? No, you never get it back! Correct me if I am wrong but I am pretty sure that you cannot bill someone for services that were not used. It's called usery and it's against the law! Had it went toward a 'deposit' that would have been okay with me. Had I'd been informed of this triple billing on the 6th day rule would have been nice as well. I still have not found anywhere it stated in any type of writing that I agreed to that, info packet, internet, etc.
I refused to pay those charges. I have fought them for over 5 months. I asked for a something in writing showing these outrageous charges be sent to me, etc. I have received nothing. I pay my current monthly charges but have carried these triple billed charges for 5 months. Until my phone was shut off again. I knew I was not over my spending limit. Sprint's 'new to me' rule, if you carry a balance over 30 days they shut your phone off.
I called again, this time the CSR told me the above mentioned rule. I asked him when they changed their policy and why wasn't I informed in writing of new policies. It is not a new policy. I asked him if he noticed that for the last 5 months I have carried a balance, I explained to him what had happened, I was disputing the charges, blah, blah. His response was that I only had to pay $24 to get me service back on. I hung up.
After I cooled off I called back. Somehow I got connected to the residential side of Sprint. This CSR started to sell me home services which we had been trying to do anyway but were told that Sprint was not in our area. She checked, Sprint had been in our area for some time. I told her that I didn't think I was interested in Sprint's residential services after the way the PCS Dept had handled my account. I told her the complete story, her reply, let me take care of that for you. She said she was sorry for my trouble and wiped my account clean. I took her name down, thanked her, and let her set up my home service.
1 month later my cell phone was shut off. She had only credited my account $24. They have no record of my talking to this CSR. Yet she set up my home service for me.
I have not paid the money to get my cell phone turned back on, nor will I ever pay it. My husband's contract with Sprint is up in 2 months, it will be cancelled. The home service that I just started with Sprint gets disconnected in two weeks.
I was happy with Sprint's phones, calling plans, coverage areas, etc. This company's business ethics and training for their CSRs are lacking.
How do you expect us, The consumer, to know all of your policies when the people who work in your call center don't even know them. Do you draw from a hat each day to see which policies your are going to enforce for the day?
I have many other issues with this company, but this was my biggest.
Thanks,
Cell Phone free and loving it!
Jennifer
Greenwood, Indiana
U.S.A.
0 comments