My family has been using Sprint since 2006. A little over two years ago, both my husband and I upgraded our telephones. He got a Blackberry, because he was deployed overseas, and needed a device that would work with their international internet service. There were only two possibilities, and the Sprint person I spoke with recommended the Blackberry as the better device. I had been using an LG Fusic, and decided to upgrade to an LG Lotus. From the moment we got the new phones, we had issues.
First, the very expensive overseas internet, that my husband was trying to use, almost never worked. Another soldier, with the identical device and service, had his working. Multiple complaints did no good. Replacing the device did no good (and you would not believe the run-around we got to do that!). When he was home for R&R, he replaced it yet again, and within 24 hours, it was not working.in the end, he went through at least four replacements. After returning stateside, we cancelled the overseas internet, that never worked, and demanded credit. We never got it. Stateside, he could not even receive text messages. Multiple trips to the store with tech support (3o miles from where we live, since the local store doesn't offer any tech support...), got no results. Months of this nonsense, and his internet working only sporadically, before he finally got anything resolved. Again, we demanded credit, through the entire process, and received none. The final step with his phone was yet another replacement, because the phone was entirely non-functional. With a different model, he finally had a phone that mostly worked. I say "mostly" because ALL of our phones (three on the account) have calls drop on a regular basic, signal issues, and so forth. For that final replacement, we did it through the mail and sent the totally non-functioning phone back in the pre-addressed mailing envelope they provided for that service.
Meanwhile, my cell phone had issue after issue. I had the phone checked at the service center (yes, the one 30 miles from where we live) many times, and they found NO issues with the phone. Every single time, starting when the phone was no more than two months old, they suggested an upgrade. Yes, an upgrade, which I had just done! My biggest issue was the internet on the phone. We were paying for an "unlimited data" plan, at a not insubstantial cost. Yet, for some reason, I could not use the internet service we were paying for. I would try using it, and the phone would actually restart itself. Keep in mind, I had the phone checked, and was assured it was in working order. The internet would not work, the GPS would not work, and the instant messaging function would not work. Updating the data profile, turning the phone off and on; nothing helped. I already knew the phone wasn't defective, so I would call. Every single time, they stated it must be a "coverage" issue. NOT the case, because my son's phone (the cheaper, older model on the account) worked perfectly two feet from me. When I told them that, they said it must be a defective phone. When I pointed out that it wasn't, because I had just had it checked, they stated they didn't know what the issue could be, and recommended an upgrade. Gee, what a surprise... I stated I had already upgraded, and suddenly, mysteriously, they were able to "fix" the issue. It was very clear at this point that they were cutting off my service to try and get me to upgrade yet again. Even though the tech on the phone agreed that they could not, over the phone, fix an issue with a defective phone, or an issue with no service, they were always able to make it work again. Yet, they swore they ere not turning it off. That was the ONLY possible option, however, even according to them. This went on, for long months on end. I asked for credit for not being able to use that part of my insanely expensive service, and was told that would have to wait until the issue was resolved. Of course, the issue was never resolved, and no credit was issued. Added to all of this, every single time I took my phone in to be checked, they stated it was working fine, but they reset it, erasing all my ringtones that I paid them for, and had to pay to replace.
Near the end of this summer, this really came to a head. My husband was trying, yet again, to talk to people about all of the long-term, ongoing issues. Again, they suggested we upgrade, which would lock us into another contract. At that stage, only MY phone, of the three, had a contract left, which is set to run out sometime this month. My husband told them in no uncertain terms that we would NOT be doing another contract with them, because we could not get the service issues fixed, or receive any credit towards the service we paid for, and never got. Within 24 hours of him telling them this, we were charged for the totally non-functioning phone of his, that we had mailed about a month prior. Suddenly, they claimed they "never received it". At this stage, we were furious, and I flat out told them that we were NOT paying for a broken phone that we returned. They then spent the next two months turning the service off, even in the middle of a supposed "investigation", and trying to get us to pay on the rest of the bill. We told them we were not paying a single penny until ALL credits for lack of service were applied to the account. We explained that we had been waiting years for resolution, which they claim happens in 90 days, and for credit, which we never got. At that point, they applied a small credit, (I think $10-20) for only ONE of the phones, for only the current month. Again, we were told they could not calculate the rest until the issues were resolved.
During all of this insanity, with them trying to charge us for a phone that was so non-functional that the Sprint store could not even transfer contacts to the new one, my husband was told they would send a device to us, that would check the service we got at home. We never even received that. Several times, when we were expecting a return call from some higher up, they would call, the call would drop (which happens all the time), and they would not call back. They knew this was a major issue, and lower level techs did, in fact, call back, but the management level never bothered. I was told during this time that the charge for the "missing" returned phone would be set aside from the main account, so that it would not affect our billing. No explanation was given as to why this didn't occur in the previous two months, or why they kept shutting off our service because of that disputed charge.
Today, after still receiving NO information from them regarding the dispute, and after having all of our service totally deactivated, I called, yet again. I was transferred four times, each time being told that person could not handle the issue. Finally, I got someone that stated she could. After listening, with many interruptions on her part, to all of the issues, she stated that she could do (yet another) investigation into the account. She kept repeating that she didn't understand why we had this "recent" problem, or why "all of a sudden" our service wasn't working. Yes, she was told this had been a problem for two YEARS. Yes, she had notes on the many calls we had made. Yet, to her, this was some "recent" problem. She also informed me that there was no way they would make adjustments for the two-year period in question. She repeatedly asked me to pay the back due amount, which is FAR lower than the credits we are owed. Then, this woman had the gall to state that this was OUR fault, because, get this, we refused to upgrade, and give them yet another contract!
In summary, they have spent two years, since we actually DID upgrade, shutting off internet and text services to two of the phones, and telling us we should upgrade again to "fix" the problem. When told we would NOT sign another contract with them, they charged us for a non-functioning phone that was returned to them, and stated it was our fault that we could not get good service. They spent two years holding our service hostage for payments, for a service we could not get. This company is filled with crooks. I refuse to believe that all the techs that were able to mysteriously restore my net service didn't know it was shut off at their end. I refuse to believe that someone intercepted an envelope that we placed in a large mail drop box, and that they didn't receive a phone that doesn't function at all. Conveniently, mind you, that we were charged for 24 hours after stating we would NOT renew a contract with them.
I would recommend that no one does any business with this horrible company. Every single person I know that has ever used them had issues, and changed companies. They don't care about customers; they only care about taking your money and giving you nothing in return. They use blackmail (by withholding service and charging unfairly) to try and force people to stay with them. I am not listing my location here, because this area is small enough that they would know who it was, based on the account details, and I don't want even more nonsense charges added to the account. Yes, I think they are that crooked.
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