A reconciliation of my December bank statement revealed that my latest Sprint PCS bill had somehow been paid twice with payments two days apart (12/26/03 and 12/29/03). Each was for exactly the same amount. Upon further inspection, I noticed that one payment was the one I sent which cleared on 12/29, and the other was a standard debit made to "SPRINTPCS AUTOPYMT" in Overland Park, KS on 12/26. I immediately realized what had happened. I'd been down this road before.
Sprint PCS had subscribed me to their Automatic Credit Card Payment system a system which cost me hundreds of dollars in fees over a year ago when it failed to automatically withdraw payments - without my permission. I unsubscribed from that system a year ago, as well, and have never authorized a new subscription since. I even have a different bank account and debit card.
Since I did not subscribe to the Automatic Credit Card Payment system again, the 12/26 payment that was debited from my account was withdrawn without my authorization. I notified my bank of this, of course. I also attempted to contact Sprint PCS several times on January 2nd and 3rd. I found I could not logon to my online Sprint account because the site was down. I was also unable to get through via telephone despite hours of calls. All calls were met with busy signals. No wait time, no voicemail, no automated system. Just busy signals! I was finally able to logon to my account on the morning of the 3rd, and I sent an e-mail to Sprint PCS Customer Solutions.
Janette G. Of eCare and Sprint PCS Customer Solutions did respond, but explained that she showed I subscribed to Automatic Credit Card Payment on October 29th. I did not. She also explained that my manual payment was for the invoice due at the end of January and that the automatic payment was for the amount due at the end of December. This is also false, as the payment *I* made was for the amount due in December. The payment Sprint automatically withdrew was an erroneous duplicate and was withdrawn without my permission. They've just moved things around a bit so it looks better for themselves.
Since then, I have been in frequent communication with representatives from Sprint who have each given me different information. One person shows I subscribed to the Automatic Payment system on October 29th. Another shows I subscribed on October 4th. No one shows I made a duplicate payment, and everyone claims my payment was for the amount due in January, even though I hadn't even been invoiced for that date yet.
The bottom line is this: Sprint signed me up for their automatic payment system without my permission and withdrew funds from my bank account without my authorization. Their customer service has been rude, patronizing, and dishonest. They refuse to let me speak to anyone in management unless I mail a letter! Nor will they refund the amount they took. Sure, they've credited that payment for January, but how do I know this won't happen again WITHOUT the proper credit? It wouldn't be the first time I've had to pay fees I didn't owe just to keep my phone on. Sprint's customer service has even gone so far as to suggest I DID authorize the whole thing but am LYING about having done so. Whatever happened to respect? I feel like I'm being put on trial for Sprint's own lousy service.
I'm switching to another cellular service. It's not as good as Sprint, but their customer service has already run circles around that of Sprint's, and that's worth a small sacrifice to me.
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