24 January 2009

sprint screws up…and me

sprint logo
back in november, i decided to add a line (for my sis) onto my account.  it was thanksgiving afternoon.  i called them up and asked them what they could do for me.  the sales lady told me she could add the extra line for an additional $15.00 per month.  before i agreed to the changes, i asked her to confirm the total cost per month for me.  she gave me the amount as i understood it.  i ended up asking her to give me this total twice.  both times, it was the rate with only $15.00 added.

this past week as i was looking over my sprint bill, i found that instead of adding a line to share the minutes, sales lady had added a second phone plan to my account!  i was being charged over $75.00 for that particular line.  so, i found sprint’s chat feature and started conversing with a customer support representative.  when i told her what had happened, she checked on things, found we should have been sharing minutes, and told me she could fix this. my blood had started to simmer when i first saw the bill.  this turned down the pressure.  but then she told me that the best she could do was to adjust this amount down to $25.00 per month for the line, not back down to $15.00.  it seems the system they use won’t allow for those adjustments.  i asked for a manager.

i was transferred and proceeded to explain my situation to him.  he looked things over and told me the same story that the previous customer service rep had just told me:  the best he could do was $25.00 per month for this line and the system wouldn’t allow for any lower.  they will make an additional $120.00 this year if this cannot be changed because their system prohibits them?  in addition, they technically are in violation of the verbal agreement i made back in november.  and if they are technically in breach of this agreement, i could get out of my contract sans penalties.  the sales lady screwed up and screwed me.

he kept asking me if the reduction was something i wanted to do.  what i wanted sprint to honor the agreement they made to me.  since that wasn’t going to happen with these two employees i told him i’d accept the price adjustment down to $25.00 and the reimbursement for the overcharging and to put a note in the ticket that i was not pleased with this solution and would further pursue holding them to the promise.  having done this in a chat session, the whole conversation is logged.  my mistake was calling them to handle ordering the phone in the first place without recording the conversation.  from now on, i will either deal with the sales reps over a chat technology, in person at the sprint store, or using some recording method (like skype) when i must call over the phone.