Posted on 03/15/2005 6:37:57 AM PST by discipler
My wife spent 40 minutes on the phone with a Sprint service rep the other day clearing up $70 worth of charges for calls we didn't make. We were charged for roaming and it took a lot of convincing that nothing was wrong with our phones, that we don't use the roaming feature, etc, before the representative finally removed the charges. Turns out that our local paper has a story that others had the same happen to them. And they had to go through the same ordeal to have the charges removed. Too bad that Sprint thinks so little of customer's time. If you are a Sprint customer, be sure to watch that bill.
I'm also happy with alltell. I've had thier service for about 8 years now and I cannot think of a single billing problem. I am not an occasional user either, I am on my phone at least an hour or two each day and I travel a lot.
If you can get rid of Sprint, do so. They are the worst cellular company. Their reception sucks and customer service is even worse. I wouldn't use a Sprint cell phone if it were free. I've had good experiences with Cingular.
Won't be long until I switch to cable.
I had AT&T and they told me that I had to switch over to Cingular.
But the Cingular ads and website were so confusing and contradictory that I got one of their help people on the phone (1 hour wait) and he walked me thru it.
Except that instead of converting me to Cingular, he made me a 'new customer' which meant completely new phone numbers- not what I wanted.
So I called and they said, "You have to send your new phones back and go to the right website to change your service over. You were on the wrong website."
I pointed out that I'd done so with the help of their CSR and still they wanted ME to fix it.
So I wrote a nasty letter to the President (Stan Sigman, let me know if you need his email address).
One of his underlings called me and we repeated the website debacle. The woman was surprised- I wasn't- that they'd set up a classic catch-22: they were directing people to do something that even she and a programmer together could not figure out. You literally 'couldn't get there from here'.
So she overnighted me two new phones, set to my old numbers.
Then they started billing me for the wrong phones, for cancelling the account, and the new right phones and that account.
True, unadulterated incompetence.
Never, ever, under any circumstances- even threat of death- do business with Cingular.
They truly and utterly suck.
Bellsouth refused to offer me any credits, refunds or anything like that in my case. which is why I am using a different phone service now.
Never, ever, under any circumstances- even threat of death- do business with Cingular.
They truly and utterly suck.
My dad had a Sprint cell phone. When he passed away I called to inform them. They said take the death certificate to a local store and fill out some paperwork, which I did. I received a bill the next month for charges after the date of death, I sent a copy of the death certificate with that invoice instead of payment. I received another bill the next month (all the time being charged monthly and late fees). This time I wrote the corporate office and included the death certificate. Once again, the next month I received a bill. This time I called custtomer service, after 45 minutes I convinced the person my father was indeed dead and was not using his phone. The next invoice I received had four months worth of payments (plus past due charges) and aa early disconnection fee of $200.00.
Don't you have to agree to a change in due date? That's changing the terms of the contract.
I was told iI within 5 miles of the Interstate 5 route I would never get roaming charges from Sprint. I could toss rocks at cars all day for entertainment I am so close to the I5.
After more calls and arguments on roaming charges than I care to remember, I decided to cancel my cell phone. They told me the extra charges I would need to pay as penalties.
I told the witch I would think about it and get back to her.
I then called my credit card company the cell phone was through and canceled the account, claiming I lost my card.
When I had a new account #, I called the witch back and canceled Sprint at that time.
I had the phone over 2 years already. I was well out of the contract terms where I needed to pay any penalties to cancel as I understood it.
Uhgg!!
I was in the same boat as you. I have three phones and my wife accidently washed hers. I called to get it replaced and experienced the same drivel. They have phones if they were insured, but you can not buy a replacement. I can get 3 new phones free if I simply sign a new two year contract at almost 75% more.
I went to EBAY and purchased a used phone for 31$. Swap out the SIMS card and your back in business. Make sure the phone is ATT or your screwed. As you will see by the activity on these phones, you are not alone.
Cingular can kiss my A$$. Their treatment of my contract means I will never resign with them. Sorry Jerk-#ffs!
Amazing that a teenage girl can talk that much, yet when you ask her what's happening in school, it's "....nuthin'....." and walks away........
I actually went so far as to GIVE Cingular the names and phone numbers (with permission) of family members who were exasperated with them
I've found that the solution in any bureaucracy is to pit people against each other (that is, you noisily make yourself known to the CEO, a vice president, a marketing guy, a sales guy and some underlings pointing out the stupidity of the people you're dealing with). And you let them know that you've notified the others...
You can be reasonably sure that they don't want to have a finger pointed at them as having dropped the ball on a PO'd and motivated customer. In fact, if you notify a variety of them they almost HAVE to act, lest they be accused of knowing about a festering problem and not acting
Speaking of Sprint: I got so fed up with them in a billing dispute that I cancelled their service, but not without overpaying them by 25 cents.
This billing credit caused them to generate monthly credit statements to me for another year, at which time they sent me a check for 25 cents which I duly cashed. If I'd have had my wits about me I'd have sent them a check for a penny or two each month to prolong their agony
Maybe not everyone can use this option, but when I finally broke down and got a cell phone, I was determined not to spend a lot of money (the cable company has first dibs).
I got a service from Virgin Mobile. You buy the phone (at various prices) You can pick up a phone at Target or have them send you one. You spend a minimum of $20 for 3 months.
Some billing cycles, I will have paid for service I didn't use, and sometimes I'll have to add more money (like another $20), but I never have $200 phone bills. I have called from various cities, called long distance, always have a good connection via the Sprint network.
There are all kinds of bells and whistles available (the product is geared toward young people), but all I wanted was a cheap phone service for emergencies and travel. It works for me and I rarely pay more than the $20 basic fee per quarter.
For people who don't need hard core cell phone service, this seems to be a good option.
My father, deceased in January 2001, received a Sprint bill in January of this year, and now is in arrears three months. He hasn't even been listed in a phone book for over two years. I sent his bill and a nasty letter about Sprint tactics to the FCC in Jan. Have not heard a thing from them. Sprint CEO should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail for condoning such practices.
Daughter will not leave sprint. She started with 750 minutes and each time she called Sprint added a feature at no cost (this was 2000-2001). She still has 1500 minutes, unlimited after 7 pm and weekends and pays $74 a month.
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