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Timmn
join:2000-04-23
Tinley Park, IL

Timmn

Member

[Sprint] Disconnecting Service

A friend of mine is having some major financial difficulties, and he would like to disconnect his cell phone, the problem is that his contract doesn't expire until December.

Is there anybody he could talk to at Sprint that would even consider it? Up until this time, all he's been getting is a polite, but firm, "No".

I would really like to be able to help this guy out.

BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

It is not going to happen, and they have already logged in his notes why he has called in the past. If the last months are cheaper than the early termination fee, and do that if they won't pro-rate the etf.

If he has any he can remove extra features he is paying for obviously.

cvrefugee
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Riverside, CA

cvrefugee to Timmn

Premium Member

to Timmn
He can do a Transfer of Liability, which will move the contract to someone else who can pay the bill. After the contract ends, they can terminate the service or keep the plan.

michaelp95
Premium Member
join:2001-08-23
Tucson, AZ

michaelp95 to Timmn

Premium Member

to Timmn
Call every hour to Sprint and complain about the service, dropped calls etc. Enough of them and they might drop him.

dumwaldo
Premium Member
join:2001-03-12

dumwaldo to cvrefugee

Premium Member

to cvrefugee
said by cvrefugee:

He can do a Transfer of Liability, which will move the contract to someone else who can pay the bill. After the contract ends, they can terminate the service or keep the plan.
A transfer of liability would start a new contract that would lock in the person that the liability is transfered to.

cvrefugee
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Riverside, CA

cvrefugee

Premium Member

said by dumwaldo:

said by cvrefugee:

He can do a Transfer of Liability, which will move the contract to someone else who can pay the bill. After the contract ends, they can terminate the service or keep the plan.
A transfer of liability would start a new contract that would lock in the person that the liability is transfered to.
When did Sprint change that? I remember additional lines used to not be under contract, but that was probably around four years ago , so maybe that was changed at the same time.

Anonuser
join:2003-01-03
Milwaukee, WI

1 recommendation

Anonuser to Timmn

Member

to Timmn
Tell him to also get his $10/month in dropped call credits.

hit *2 from the phone, when the prompt's come up, press 3, then select 1, then it will talk, bla bla bla, press 9, then, press the 3, then the 1 again, then the 9 again.

You can do this up to 4 times every 4-7 days. So he will be able to get $10 credit on his bill.
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

1 edit

CMoore2004

Premium Member

I recommend finding another solution.
Timmn
join:2000-04-23
Tinley Park, IL

1 recommendation

Timmn

Member

I wish I could find another solution, I guess nice people get penalized with Sprint. He has always paid his bill, never complained, and now when he really needs help, Sprint gives him no options whatsoever.

The thing is, Sprint seems to want to go to great lengths to get rid of the "dirtbags". I'm sure that if he were let out of his contract a few months early, when his situation improves, he probably would have gone back to Sprint, but now, forget it.
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004

Premium Member

The point of a contract is to guarantee you'll be with them that long. That's how they make the money back on the discount they give on the phones. Even if he would have gone back to Sprint, I doubt they would have wanted another customer who didn't honor the contract. My bill's always been paid on time, I've helped them find some network issues, but I wouldn't expect out of my contract early.

AmeritecTech
Change we can believe in, 1922
Premium Member
join:2002-09-06
Houston, TX

AmeritecTech to Timmn

Premium Member

to Timmn
He can put his account in a "travel mode" thing for 3 months or so. $6/mo. and all calls are .50 a minute. Its a good placeholder if you're in a tight spot.
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

It will also likely extend their contract, but is an option.

dumwaldo
Premium Member
join:2001-03-12

dumwaldo to CMoore2004

Premium Member

to CMoore2004
said by CMoore2004:

The point of a contract is to guarantee you'll be with them that long. That's how they make the money back on the discount they give on the phones.
This sounds good but does not explain why they force contract renewals for many situations that do not include a phone rebate. Change your contract and a contract renewal is forced. Transfer liability on an out of contract line and a contract renewal is forced.

I was with sprint for 8 years and paid over $10,000 in bills during that time. I had 5 lines of service but only got a total of 3 phone rebates in all that time. When i finally left them I still had to pay ETF's on 2 of my lines because contract renewals were forced on me when I was not getting any phone discounts.

OH YEAH, it also does not explain why they charge a $200 ETF but only give $150 off on a new phone.
said by CMoore2004:

Even if he would have gone back to Sprint, I doubt they would have wanted another customer who didn't honor the contract.
Yet when Sprint decides to not honor the contract they are not faced with any penalty. I know this because the reason I finally left sprint was because, over the course of 2 years they managed to remove EVERY option that was included in my contract agreement. I signed a contract with them that included unlimited messaging and data service. When I left them I had the same contract but they were charging me for messaging and refused to allow me to buy a new phone without agreeing to pay for data service.

The contract only seems to matter when they are using it to charge ETF's and I would bet a dollar against a dime that more people who are forced to pay ETF's have already satisfied their phone subsidy that people who have not.
said by CMoore2004:

My bill's always been paid on time, I've helped them find some network issues, but I wouldn't expect out of my contract early.
Even Verizon shows some grace to customers that have satisfied 22 months of a 24 month agreement and you would be hard pressed to find a greedier company than verizon. The problem is Sprints cooperate policies are fashioned in a way that they are downright hostile to good customers.

Straight up, Sprint has a great network and the most bleeding edge services available but it is backed up by the most incompetent and hostile company I have had the displeasure of dealing with in my 37 years of life. They make my cable company enjoyable to call.

peace,
dumwaldo

KunKun
@cebridge.net

KunKun

Anon

said by dumwaldo:

I know this because the reason I finally left sprint was because, over the course of 2 years they managed to remove EVERY option that was included in my contract agreement. I signed a contract with them that included unlimited messaging and data service. When I left them I had the same contract but they were charging me for messaging and refused to allow me to buy a new phone without agreeing to pay for data service.
Do you still have the contract? If you do, don't you think you can force Sprint to honor it?
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004

Premium Member

The contract is worded in Sprint's favor. You agreed to the contract. You signed an agreement you were going to honor. When you signed up, did a Sprint employee come and sign the contract, too?

KunKun
@cebridge.net

KunKun

Anon

"CMoore2004", you seems like a Sprint fan. I don't know if it is good or bad, as I remember "dumwaldo" used to faithfully defended Sprint and "sang" the Sprint anthem. My own experience with Sprint was consistent with most of the comments on this forum. It is a hit or miss. I guess you can say that with the rest of the carriers. It is just interesting to see a drastic move from being the fan to go to the other side of the fence.

dumwaldo
Premium Member
join:2001-03-12

dumwaldo to Timmn

Premium Member

to Timmn
CMoore,

I went back and forth with Sprint for over 6 months on the issue that finally resulted in me leaving. I communicated with them through every means possible. I spoke to reps in stores, I spoke to reps on the phone and I attempted to communicate with them through e-mail. I did not want to leave Sprint, I had to leave them.

They closed all the doors to communicate with people high enough to actually have the authority to do what is logical and right. At the same time the tightened their own cooperate policies to the point that I found it outright hostile towards certain types of customers. After I left them they proved me right by forcefully ejecting people they deemed to complain to much.

How blatantly can a business tell their customers they do not care about the customers satisfaction level?

Just so you know what happened to me...

I signed a contract with sprint MANY years ago that gave me 2000 anytime minutes, unlimited web, unlimited messaging and one free additional line. This was at a time when Sprint did not even have true SMS and there was no such thing as video mail. I got my wife a seperate account with the same plan. Additional phones got unlimited web and unlimited messaging for $5 per month.

Between the two accounts were 5 lines of service all equipped with unlimited web and messaging. I did eventually merge them all into one plan and also changed phones on various lines at various times through the years. Each time I did so I lost a little bit more from my included 'extras'.

I bought video phones, without rebates, before they even launched video mail. When they launched video mail I got grandfathered in with my unlimited messaging.

I lost the video mail on one line when the phone had to be replaced under warranty when it became defective. I lost it on the other line in a completely arbitrary manner when it simply stopped working after over 6 months of use.

One of my lines of service lost all picture mail because the phone associated with the line was not a camera phone. I begged them to leave the picture mail code intact because if I did purchase a camera phone for that line I was sure Sprint would charge me for those services. I turned out to be right.

I spoke to a rep in a store once just to ask some questions about buying a new phone and that somehow resulted in one line losing unlimited messaging and being set to 100 per month.

I had basically lost all my included extras except the unlimited messaging and unlimited web on my primary line. Any saving of merging the two accounts had been lost in a series of nickel and dime additions that were 'accidentally' removed as free additions. I started with 2 separate plans that came to around $300 per month and ended with one plan that cost about $300 per month.

I wanted to buy a new phone for myself to use on the primary line and Sprint simply refused to honor my unlimited web and messaging if I purchased a new phone. I simply could not tolerate that. I am a private individual spending as much as some small business and I could not get ANY consideration for my long standing loyalty or impecable payment history.

There is just no way I am going to buy a new phone from them, at full price. Not because a recent phone rebate but because they renewed my contract when I merged my Wifes account into mine and since I was under contract I couldn't get a rebate. So pay full price for a new phone AND get to have my bill go up $25 per month for the same service I was currently getting.

I just couldn't do it. I HAD to leave. I paid a $200 ETF for my line and a $200 ETF for my wifes line. My line had one phone rebate associated with it since 1999 and my wife had one from 1999 as well. Aside from those two rebates I had one in 2001 associated with one of the additional lines.

I still think Sprint has the best service of the big 4 in America but as a company they suck more than any company I have ever dealt with. If it had not been for the 'backdoor' customer service numbers and e-mail addresses I had I doubt I would have been able to tolerate them as long as I did. For 5 years I got great service but after the nextel merger all the backdoors started closing and my account(s) started getting whittled away to fast.

peace,
dumwaldo
Timmn
join:2000-04-23
Tinley Park, IL

Timmn to CMoore2004

Member

to CMoore2004
To put it nicely, I have never dealt with a company as inflexible, stubborn, and hard-nosed, as Sprint, but I guess that's the very reason they make money.

The fee for terminating my friend's contract early is more than the remaining payments left on it, so I guess what he is going to have to do is just pay it off. Sprint won't budge an inch.

If nothing else, I have learned a lesson, I'm never going to buy a subsidized phone that comes with a contract again. If worse comes to worse, I'll pay the grossly overinflated retail price for the phone and make sure that there is no contract associated with it.


AmeritecTech
Change we can believe in, 1922
Premium Member
join:2002-09-06
Houston, TX

AmeritecTech

Premium Member

said by Timmn:

To put it nicely, I have never dealt with a company as inflexible, stubborn, and hard-nosed, as Sprint, but I guess that's the very reason they make money.
Imagine that, they have a legal agreement with someone and they expect the person to abide by it.
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004 to dumwaldo

Premium Member

to dumwaldo
So you had unlimited web and text messaging, but figured that you should have the video mail and other new features that they came out with? Video mail uses more of their resources, not just the simple bandwidth that you got with your unlimited web. They're stored on their servers, accessed on their servers, and served to the people that view them from their servers.

Them booting customers because they were complaining too much was a good move. If there was simply no satisfying these customers, give them a free ride to take their service to someone who will put up with their unreasonable requests. Look around on the forums, I see MANY people that say to just keep calling in until someone will give you a free add-on that they're not in any way entitled to. At some point, you've got to get rid of customers that don't pay more than their service costs.

dumwaldo
Premium Member
join:2001-03-12

dumwaldo

Premium Member

said by CMoore2004:

So you had unlimited web and text messaging, but figured that you should have the video mail and other new features that they came out with?
No, I paid every month for a contract that included anytime minutes, unlimited web and unlimited messaging.

Through 'accidents' they managed to remove the unlimited messaging on several of my lines. A service I was paying for in the fee agreed to in my contract. There were never any stipulations placed on the type of messaging. They chose the wording and they wrote the contract.

When they adamantly refused to honor the contract, that they solely set the terms of, by refusing to honor the web service that I was paying for in my contract I had enough.

make no mistake, ETF does not stand for Early Termination Fee and it is not for them to recoup a phone subsidy that is not really costing them anything. ETF stands for extortionate termination fee and it is just a tool that they use to take advantage of their customers.

The point I am trying to make is pretty simple. When the contract says something in favor of the customer it means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to sprint. The contract ONLY matterws when it says something in favor of sprint.

Thats my experience with the company and it was a consistent experience for a number of years. As I said before I think the only reason I was able to deal with them for so long was because I had phone numbers for direct customer support with no hold time and English speaking reps. I had email addresses for individuals in the corporate office.

I understand what you are saying about some of the people in the forums and grabbing for every free extra they could but I was a loyal and very long standing customer with over $300 per month of service and a perfect payment record. I should not have been treated like a 'freeloader'.

It makes me question the judgment of those responsible for deciding what customers were these 'impossible to please' individuals that should be booted regardless of the fact that they have a contract. Again like I said before the contract means NOTHING to sprint when it says something in favor of the customer.

I am sure at least a few of those impossible to please customers were simply people that wanted something unreasonable, such as for Sprint to honor the contract that THEY fashioned.

BTW
I once purchased a phone from a source that was not sprint and they decided to charge me for the phone on my bill. In fact they charged me twice for over $1200 extra on one bill. It took over 40 hours of phone calls to correct that problem. In Sprints eyes someone who calls customer support for over 40 hours during one month might be considered an impossible to please customer.

Maybe they would have fewer constant callers if they could just get some competent help so things get fixed the first time and people don't have to call multiple times. The only reason I even got that $1200 problem cleared up was because I sent emails to len lauer's and gary forsee's offices and ended up getting in touch with someone in the corporate office. Left to deal with regular customer service it would have taken even longer.

peace,
dumwaldo
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004

Premium Member

Just an FYI, the contract is a per-line contract and not per-plan. Would you please show me a contract that states you have unlimited messaging or unlimited web?

dumwaldo
Premium Member
join:2001-03-12

dumwaldo

Premium Member

Yeah, actually I do have my contracts. This weekend I will try to find some time to dig them up and scan them.

BTW
you should consider applying for a job with sprint. You seem to have an abundance of the same screw you unless you can force me into it by law attitude that has destroyed the company so I would have to think you are very qualified to work for them.
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004

Premium Member

You mean the mentality where I actually live up to contracts I sign and expect the other party to do the same?

dumwaldo
Premium Member
join:2001-03-12

dumwaldo

Premium Member

WHAT!!!

I was with them for OVER 8 YEARS. Not one single bill was paid late in all that time. I only received 3 phone rebates during that entire time and I had 5 lines of service. I had to have at least 10 phones during that time that were purchased from sprint at FULL PRICE. I paid 2 ETF, not because I cheated them on a phone rebate but because I had to make an administrative change to my account and got EXTORTED into a new agreement. One which I got NOTHING to sign but had to sign to merge accounts that were both completed with their contract date.

You are NOT trying to imply that it is me that does not honor contracts are you? I really hope thats not what you are trying to get at because I don't want this to turn ugly but if that is what you are getting at I can go there too.
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004

Premium Member

How were you extorted into a new agreement?

Pingi
@xo.net

Pingi to dumwaldo

Anon

to dumwaldo
Dumwaldo, I guess when you made changes to your account, Sprint changed your contract. When you merged your account, Sprint might have used that to put you into a new contract.

tao
Frazzlebats
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Lansing, MI

tao to Timmn

Premium Member

to Timmn
Look for this to soften up Sprint/Nextel, suits will start popping up everywhere. I am certain that Sprint's non-disclosure of contract renewals is in violation of Michigan's CPL.
»newsfeedresearcher.com/d ··· .18.html

CMoore2004: Show me a contract, that is funny. I am actually surprised that Sprint does not renew your contract when you pay your bill via the web, or when you just use your phone. In any case, you are being a bit unfriendly in a Sprint stockholder kind of way.
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004

Premium Member

Yes, because someone thinks people should honor their contract, they must hold stock in the company.
Timmn
join:2000-04-23
Tinley Park, IL

Timmn

Member

Wow, remind me to never enter into any kind of business agreement with you.

Other than you and Sprint, there are certain circumstances under which a contract can be modified. Several companies I have worked for have done this, sometimes they did it simply for good customer relations.

I'm sure that letting my friend out of his contract two months early wouldn't hurt Sprint's bottom line. Bad things happen, and unlike you and Sprint, most businesses understand that, and appreciate the fact that you are willing to work with them rather than stop paying the bill.