Sprintual Warfare
06/27/2005 11:55 Filed in: Technology
It's situations like this that makes me wonder how some companies stay in business...
Okay, so about a month ago, I attempted to order a new phone to replace Kathy's phone because it was no longer holding a charge and the battery wasn't replaceable. SprintPCS is the service that we use. I've had the same number and account since 2000 which is pretty long for staying with a cell phone service. There's nothing in particular about Sprint that I really like. Their service is not outstanding in my opinion. In fact, after recent circumstances, they've sunk even lower in my mind.
Originally I stayed with Sprint because I didn't want to change my phone number. Kathy and I don't have a separate home phone. We don't need one. We just have our cell phones, and we're on a plan that allows us to share our minutes.
Only in the last year or so has it been possible to take your number with you. You would think that because a customer can now switch a whole lot easier to another company that cell phone providers would work harder to keep their customers. Evidently not.
Incident #1. So Kathy and I picked out a phone for her to replace her old one. According to the SprintPCS website and TWO representatives I talked to on the phone, the phone we picked out DID qualify for a $150 rebate. I guess I made the mistake of calling on a Saturday to place the actual order. The SprintPCS customer service rep I talked with told me that some of their computers were down, but she could renew my contract for two more years (requisite for the rebate) and then she would take down my order by hand and a salesperson would contact me within 24 hours.
I waited much longer than 24 hours, so I called SprintPCS on Monday to check on the order. The person with whom I spoke said that there was no order in their system at all. Great. So I placed the order again. A few days later when I downloaded recent Amex transactions into Quicken, I happened to notice that I had been charged TWICE for the phone. So I called Sprint and they removed one of the charges. The person I talked with said he didn't know why we had been charged twice. There was only one order for a phone in their system.
A few days later, UPS dropped off TWO phones--in separate boxes with separate purchase order numbers. I left one unopened and took it back to UPS. A less-scrupulous person could have made a nice little profit on eBay.
Incident #2. Within a couple of days of getting Kathy's new phone and setting it up, I sent in the rebate form. I followed their instructions to the letter. Yesterday, I decided to check the status of the rebate online by going to http://sprintrebates.com. I found a tidy little screen saying that they had received my rebate form, but the phone did not qualify for the rebate. I don't get angry easily. In fact, I consider myself to have a pretty high threshold, but I could feel my face turning red as I looked at the words on my eMac screen. I read them again. And again.
So I called Sprint. They gave me a separate number for the rebate division. I explained to the rebate rep my situation--that I had been told by two of their salespeople and I had read on the website that this particular phone qualified for a rebate. I suggested that we would not have even ordered this phone had it not come with a rebate. He never gave me an explanation. He just said that he was approving me for a rebate and that I should have it within 30 days. I hit the refresh button in the Safari web browser, and sure enough--I was now approved.
Incident #3. As I was trying to sort out the rebate issue yesterday, my monthly SprintPCS bill came in the mail. It was roughly five dollars over its normal fee. In spite of the extra flyer that came with the bill extolling the benefits of Sprint's new simplified bill, I could not understand where the extra five dollar charge came from. Plus, to complicate matters more, the bill included the transactions for the new cell phone including the double charges and the removed charge. This was in spite of the fact that I had handled the phone purchase on my American Express. For that reason, I felt like the phone purchase was none of the Sprint bill's concern.
Nevertheless, because I couldn't figure out where the extra $5 charge came from, I got to call Sprint yet again. I explained to the customer service rep the situation--that I couldn't figure out where the extra five dollar charge came from. He asked for a minute to look over my bill. When he came back, to my amazement, he informed me that he didn't know where it came from either. Neither one of us could figure out exactly what I was supposed to be paying an extra five dollars for. And he works there for the love of Margaret! In the end because I stumped him, he decided to give me a $5 credit on my bill.
Companywide Incompetence
Okay, in each of the above instances, the issues were resolved to my satisfaction, but my satisfaction level with Sprint is extremely low right now. I don't understand how a company can operate like that. I ran into incompetence at every level of service in simply trying to get a new phone.
Granted, the rebate offers are a bit of a racket. Most companies and stores that offer mail-in rebates on products are selling the items at or slightly below their cost. They make money from the fact that the average person, although intending to send the rebate in, either never gets around to it or procrastinates it until the offer is expired. But I can't possibly imagine that it's company policy at Sprint to reject all rebates and hope the customer doesn't call. I would think they could get into serious trouble for that.
No, I just think SprintPCS has major issues that it needs to resolve on both the employee level and the process level. Obviously, there are some folks who are simply asleep at the wheel, figuratively speaking, in the offices at Sprint.
And I haven't even mentioned yet that every time you call SprintPCS you have to first go through Claire (or is it Marcia? I don't remember), the automated answer-girl-bot in order to speak to a real person. "She" is supposed to understand basic words and commands and forward you to the right line or account information. However, I usually get from her the phrase, "I'm sorry. I didn't understand what said" or something to that effect. To which I usually say, "That's because you are a machine--you're not real." To which she says again, "I'm sorry. I didn't understand what you said." To which I start pressing the zero button and rambling about needing to speak to an actual human being to whom "she" finally transfers me.
I've heard that lots of customers aren't thrilled with Claire. In fact, at one point I heard Sprint was going to cut back on its use of her for that very reason. Well, she's still there. She just doesn't introduce herself to you by name anymore.
Remember those old Sprint commercials with the pin dropping demonstrating the sound clarity the company supposedly provided? What about a clarity of service? I don't hear that Sprint pin dropping anymore. All I hear is "I'm sorry. I didn't understand what you said."
Okay, so about a month ago, I attempted to order a new phone to replace Kathy's phone because it was no longer holding a charge and the battery wasn't replaceable. SprintPCS is the service that we use. I've had the same number and account since 2000 which is pretty long for staying with a cell phone service. There's nothing in particular about Sprint that I really like. Their service is not outstanding in my opinion. In fact, after recent circumstances, they've sunk even lower in my mind.
Originally I stayed with Sprint because I didn't want to change my phone number. Kathy and I don't have a separate home phone. We don't need one. We just have our cell phones, and we're on a plan that allows us to share our minutes.
Only in the last year or so has it been possible to take your number with you. You would think that because a customer can now switch a whole lot easier to another company that cell phone providers would work harder to keep their customers. Evidently not.
Incident #1. So Kathy and I picked out a phone for her to replace her old one. According to the SprintPCS website and TWO representatives I talked to on the phone, the phone we picked out DID qualify for a $150 rebate. I guess I made the mistake of calling on a Saturday to place the actual order. The SprintPCS customer service rep I talked with told me that some of their computers were down, but she could renew my contract for two more years (requisite for the rebate) and then she would take down my order by hand and a salesperson would contact me within 24 hours.
I waited much longer than 24 hours, so I called SprintPCS on Monday to check on the order. The person with whom I spoke said that there was no order in their system at all. Great. So I placed the order again. A few days later when I downloaded recent Amex transactions into Quicken, I happened to notice that I had been charged TWICE for the phone. So I called Sprint and they removed one of the charges. The person I talked with said he didn't know why we had been charged twice. There was only one order for a phone in their system.
A few days later, UPS dropped off TWO phones--in separate boxes with separate purchase order numbers. I left one unopened and took it back to UPS. A less-scrupulous person could have made a nice little profit on eBay.
Incident #2. Within a couple of days of getting Kathy's new phone and setting it up, I sent in the rebate form. I followed their instructions to the letter. Yesterday, I decided to check the status of the rebate online by going to http://sprintrebates.com. I found a tidy little screen saying that they had received my rebate form, but the phone did not qualify for the rebate. I don't get angry easily. In fact, I consider myself to have a pretty high threshold, but I could feel my face turning red as I looked at the words on my eMac screen. I read them again. And again.
So I called Sprint. They gave me a separate number for the rebate division. I explained to the rebate rep my situation--that I had been told by two of their salespeople and I had read on the website that this particular phone qualified for a rebate. I suggested that we would not have even ordered this phone had it not come with a rebate. He never gave me an explanation. He just said that he was approving me for a rebate and that I should have it within 30 days. I hit the refresh button in the Safari web browser, and sure enough--I was now approved.
Incident #3. As I was trying to sort out the rebate issue yesterday, my monthly SprintPCS bill came in the mail. It was roughly five dollars over its normal fee. In spite of the extra flyer that came with the bill extolling the benefits of Sprint's new simplified bill, I could not understand where the extra five dollar charge came from. Plus, to complicate matters more, the bill included the transactions for the new cell phone including the double charges and the removed charge. This was in spite of the fact that I had handled the phone purchase on my American Express. For that reason, I felt like the phone purchase was none of the Sprint bill's concern.
Nevertheless, because I couldn't figure out where the extra $5 charge came from, I got to call Sprint yet again. I explained to the customer service rep the situation--that I couldn't figure out where the extra five dollar charge came from. He asked for a minute to look over my bill. When he came back, to my amazement, he informed me that he didn't know where it came from either. Neither one of us could figure out exactly what I was supposed to be paying an extra five dollars for. And he works there for the love of Margaret! In the end because I stumped him, he decided to give me a $5 credit on my bill.
Companywide Incompetence
Okay, in each of the above instances, the issues were resolved to my satisfaction, but my satisfaction level with Sprint is extremely low right now. I don't understand how a company can operate like that. I ran into incompetence at every level of service in simply trying to get a new phone.
Granted, the rebate offers are a bit of a racket. Most companies and stores that offer mail-in rebates on products are selling the items at or slightly below their cost. They make money from the fact that the average person, although intending to send the rebate in, either never gets around to it or procrastinates it until the offer is expired. But I can't possibly imagine that it's company policy at Sprint to reject all rebates and hope the customer doesn't call. I would think they could get into serious trouble for that.
No, I just think SprintPCS has major issues that it needs to resolve on both the employee level and the process level. Obviously, there are some folks who are simply asleep at the wheel, figuratively speaking, in the offices at Sprint.
And I haven't even mentioned yet that every time you call SprintPCS you have to first go through Claire (or is it Marcia? I don't remember), the automated answer-girl-bot in order to speak to a real person. "She" is supposed to understand basic words and commands and forward you to the right line or account information. However, I usually get from her the phrase, "I'm sorry. I didn't understand what said" or something to that effect. To which I usually say, "That's because you are a machine--you're not real." To which she says again, "I'm sorry. I didn't understand what you said." To which I start pressing the zero button and rambling about needing to speak to an actual human being to whom "she" finally transfers me.
I've heard that lots of customers aren't thrilled with Claire. In fact, at one point I heard Sprint was going to cut back on its use of her for that very reason. Well, she's still there. She just doesn't introduce herself to you by name anymore.
Remember those old Sprint commercials with the pin dropping demonstrating the sound clarity the company supposedly provided? What about a clarity of service? I don't hear that Sprint pin dropping anymore. All I hear is "I'm sorry. I didn't understand what you said."