sprint--new contract hoax

November 15, 2005

New contract hoax

NY, NY

After being out of contract with Sprint for almost a year and a half I was offered what I thought was an amazing deal if I signed a new 2 year contract. A Sprint representative offered me a $50 credit toward by bill every month for the first 12 months of my new contract, after which my plan would go back to the same great plan I currently had. I couldn't believe this was actually a new plan! I told the representative that there was no way that Sprint would credit a customer $50 every month for 12 months. He swore up and down that this was absolutely true and that I was being offered this plan because I had been with Sprint for years and was an excellent customer. I still didn't believe him but he even gave me his name and login ID to provide at any later date if I encountered a problem with my bill. So, after listening to him for about 30 minutes breaking down what was to be my new plan if I signed a new contract, I decided to go ahead with it. Who would pass up saving $600 on their phone bill?!?!?!

So, my first bill gets here and yes, I've been credited $50! This is when I actually started believing that this plan is real! Today, a month later, I decided to call in to get this month's account balance and I find out the amount due is back to what I was paying was before I signed the new contract! I get transferred to a representative who at this point I am sure would fix the problem, credit me $50 and apologize for the mistake. Instead, I get placed on hold and when she comes back on the line, she says that the credit was only good for the first month!!! So, still thinking that this problem would be resolved when I give her all the info the representative had given me in case there was a problem, I gave her his name and login ID and all the details he had broken down. She puts me on hold again and then comes back on the line and tells me that there is no such plan like the one I signed up for and never was one! As compensation, she tries to offer me $150 towards a new phone...a credit I had already had on my account for at least a year and a half. Basically I was being offered nothing and I was still in a contract I was duped into signing!

I then ask to be transferred to a supervisor...trying to get someone to listen to what I had to say! The supervisor basically calls me a liar by telling me that the representative who offered me the plan did not document anything of what I was saying to her and that the only documentation was that I would be credited for one month! I listed everything that was told to me when I signed up for the new plan and she shot everything down. She then asked if I knew that calls were sometimes recorded. The only thing I could get from her saying this was that if she wanted, she could go back to the call during which I was offered the new plan to try to prove it was I who misunderstood what was being offered to me! I told her going back to that call was a GREAT idea!!! Go back to the call and listen to me asking at least 5 times during the conversation whether this plan was legitimate before I signed up!! She then takes a quick step back and tell me that only SOME calls are recorded and the one that I had with the representative was probably not one of them! I asked her why after being out of contract for a year and a half I would want to sign back up if I was told that I was only going to be credited $50 for one month! She basically said that maybe 2 years was a small price to pay if I needed $50 for the one month I was credited!! Incredible!

I asked to talk to another supervisor who then terminates my contract and says that I was lucky that I was credited $50 by the supervisor I had spoken to before. I wasn't sure what credit she was talking about so I ask her if this means that my current bill would also be deducted $50. She replies that the credit was for the previous bill...the one that I was already credited $50 for!! How is that even possible?!?! The last supervisor had nothing to do with that credit! Did she mean that I was 'lucky' that I wouldn't have to pay back the $50 from my first bill since she terminated my contract?? She then says there is nothing more she can do for me so I ask her if she will at least let the representative's supervisor know what he did so that it's not done to someone else. All she could say was that she would forward on the complaint and maybe he'll be reprimanded! Maybe!! I tried to give her the representative's name and login ID that was given to me to make sure she had the right information but she actually admits to me that it does not match the name and login ID of the representative who applied the credit for one month!! So I get offered a credit for $50 for 12 months, a representative gives me a bogus name and ID, credits me for only one month and MAYBE he'll be reprimanded!!

After I got off the phone, I decided to call Sprint Corporate. Surprisingly enough, I got the same attitude there. They apologized for the misunderstanding, but again made it seem like it was I who misunderstood what the terms of my new contract would be. I told her that was impossible...I had documented every detail of what was being offered to me. She then made excuses for the representative who offered me the plan saying that maybe he was confused. That's ridiculous because for someone who may have been confused, he was very specific in his outline of my new contract, stressing more than once how much money I'd be saving if I signed up again. Again, another apology but no hint of any action being taken.

So, according to Sprint, I am making this all up. They have a representative giving out false information and duping customers into signing new contracts and then trying to cover his tracks, but I am still being accused of making it all up!!! I understand that this is one employee out of the thousands that Sprint employs, but to call me a liar is unacceptable! To tell me that I am making this up is absolutely ridiculous! I may have been naive into thinking that my new contract was actually the real deal, but there was absolutely no reason to dupe me into signing a new contract. I was out of contract for a year and a half and still stayed with them. I would never have expected this total lack of respect from them.

I know that this is a very long complaint, but Sprint customers and prospective customers out there, please be aware of this. Call back to verify with another representative the details of any new contract you sign. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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