General Interest > Tacitus' Realm

Telephone Service

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BuzzKill:
My worst telecommunications nightmares have all involved Sprint.

First: My son ran up my cell phone bill up into the hundreds. As my contract for service was up, I told them to cancel my service, so I could get the bill paid down. It took several months to get this taken care of - and required numerous phone calls, with long waits on hold, which often resulted in a disconnect. But they did finely get it stopped, and they did finely credit back the charges accrued after the point I said cancel the service; but I am certain this would have been much more difficult had I not kept very detailed notes about every call I made - who I talked to, how many tries to took to get a person on the phone, date and time of day, and what was said.

Second: My daughter wanted a cell phone; and I too felt I could use one. I had the two old phones from before from Sprint, so I called to see if they could be reactivated and what kind of two fer deal they might have. The "deal" sounded reasonable, and the sales man assured me that he could activate the phones. But he couldn't. After many attempts and waits on hold, taking over an hour, I told him never mind. Then the bills began to arrive. I fought with them and fought with them - going through the same hell as always - long wait times and frequent disconnects and persons making promises they didn't keep. When they did finely stop billing me for monthly service, they hit me with the disconnect charge! I filed a complaint with the BBB and that took care of it.

Third: My daughter bought a Sprint phone and contract on Ebay. The add had been very deceptive, and it cost her WAY more than she thought it would from what she understood the add to say. But she paid it. Then they offered her a free trial "upgrade" service for a month. After the trial, she called to cancel it. They kept billing her for it. Again she calls - and again they still charged her. Many many attempts to get it stopped and no luck. We filed another complaint with the BBB - and that got it taken care of.

Fourth: My son wanted a cell phone. I told him make sure he didn't go with Sprint - stay away from Sprint. The sales girl had more influence apparently, b/c he went with Sprint.  They sold him a warranty agreement as well. Told him it covered lost, stolen or damaged phones. The first time he had damaged the phone. It somehow ended up in the cat's water bowl. It took weeks to get it replaced - and then weeks more to get them to activate it - all the while of corse, he was paying for phone service he didn't have.  

Then he lost the new phone. Hoping to expedite the process, instead of calling, he went into the store and talked to the sale girl who talked him into buying a new phone, with a new warranty contract. She didn't tell him this would restate his Sprint service contract. She didn't tell him the new warranty only covered damaged phones.  

Again, he lost his phone. This is when we learned he had no coverage for lost phones - according to the warranty company - although the literature from Sprint reads as it if was a full coverage warranty. So he tried to cancel the service, only to learn this would cost 200.00, b/c they had restarted his service agreement. So, he tried to get the service down graded to vacation time, so he wasn't paying 50.00 a month for service on a phone he no longer had. This they would do, but only for a short amount of time - and after that if he would have his contract began again at 2 years; and it would still only be good for a limited time - and then it would be back to full charges and no phone - unless he bought a new phone - which would also once again re-start his service contract.  

They were rude to the point of seeming openly hostile. After much frustration I told him go ahead and cancel it - I'll help you pay the cancellation fee - lets get this monkey off your back. So, we called to cancel. They put us through to a "customer retainment" department. The lady there was very polite, apologetic, and extremely helpful. She promised a new phone (couldn't understand why there had been any trouble over this to begin with) which was all he had originally wanted - as per his warranty agreement. She gave him a credit to cover the time he had been billed with no service. She made a note that his contract was not to be re-started as a new one. So, we thought things would be OK after all. But the phone never came & The bills kept coming.

 Theres more - but to cut it short - we once again filed a complaint with the BBB, as well as the state attorney general's office,  and that took care of it.

My advice to anyone dealing with phone companies; insurance companies, doctors offices and any office whose service you are paying for - Keep very detailed records about every contact you have with them; and if legal in your state, it is worth while to record the conversations.  All this will make your case far better when you file your complaint with the Attorney General's office, the BBB or the Bar association,  the Insurance commissioner - and so on.

Deborah:

--- Quote from: ""Antigen's Ghost"" ---I caught that ep of TAM when it aired. Funny shit!
--- End quote ---


Did you roll on the floor laughing/moaning when MCI told the woman they didn't have the technology/capability to set up a three-way call between her, MCI and Verizon. And the part about a silo with only an incoming fax machine, no phone number. It was too hilarious. :rofl:
The total lack of ethics in business is just so repulsive. And unfortunately I see many young people who have no experience dealing with ethical companies assuming this is just normal business practice. Gone is the concept of customer satisfaction.

Anonymous:

--- Quote from: ""Deborah"" ---And unfortunately I see many young people who have no experience dealing with *ethical companies assuming this is just normal business practice.
--- End quote ---

(You mean unethical.)

Anonymous:
Nevermind; dyslexics untie.

Deborah:

--- Quote from: ""BuzzKill"" ---My advice to anyone dealing with phone companies; insurance companies, doctors offices and any office whose service you are paying for - Keep very detailed records about every contact you have with them; and if legal in your state, it is worth while to record the conversations.  All this will make your case far better when you file your complaint with the Attorney General's office, the BBB or the Bar association,  the Insurance commissioner - and so on.
--- End quote ---


Good advice, but I've had it happen that when they were out of lies/excuses they'd simply say, "I'm sorry Mr. So-in-so told you that, but that's not our policy. He was wrong, and I apologize." I've never taken my complaints to the BBB, perhaps I'll try that next time. Next time, because it is certain to happen again.

They treat people with such utter disrespect to the point of frustration/ rage and then hang up on them if they raise their voice or become demanding. Sound familiar? Take your fuckin and keep your mouth shut. You have no rights or voice in the matter.

Just like with programs, we need ex telecommunications people to talk about their training procedures. I feel certain they are trained to intentionally deceive the customer. Ya know, those l-o-n-g waits where you know they're reading the manual. If your question isn't listed then they have to call in a superior. I imagine them rewinding and listening to the conversation so the rep can be coached on how to respond. Those sales reps work on commission, they aren't hourly employees. It's not beneath them to outright lie.

My son was scammed too and was going to let it go until I encouraged him to keep fighting. He wanted to add his girlfriend to his plan. Later finds out that he will be billed for the two new lines, as well as the old line and was put into a new contract. None of this previously disclosed. So then he had 3 phones and 3 lines. Only needed 2. The second new phone was to be free, but he had to pay for it upfront and wouldn't receive a credit for months into the contract. Hours later, and hours of minutes he had to pay for, to straighten the mess out, he was able to negotiate a little better deal. Tired of wasting his time, he took a compromise.

Another scam that I've read about... Dish Network pressures people to set up auto debit payments. Dish then double bills, sometimes several times during the course of the contract. They don't issue an immediate credit when they double debit your account, but will gladly apply those payments to extra months of service at the end of your contract.
Given that it could be several years before you cancel service with them, who will remember there was credit on the account. How they get away with debiting your account for services there's no invoice for is beyond me.

I have received paper invoices for TW services, but if I had agreed to allow them to switch my analog phone to digital I would have to pay with automatic credit card/debit payment. No paper statement. Statements are online for 3 or 4 months.
I downgraded services in Dec and therefore had a credit in Jan. No statement was sent that month. I wanted an itemized statement. Took multiple calls to get to the person who could issue one. It was late evening and I think she must've been working from home, I heard a child in the background. As expected, there was an error to their advantage, but it wasn't enough to warrant hours of frustration to get corrected. Those $10-20 errors add up to huge profits. How much of their revenue is from intentional errors?

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