Sprint Customer Service Woes

One of the things I dread most these days is having to call Sprint Customer Service. Since they merged with Nextel – it seems like I get shuffled from one department to another – and still never get my problems solved.

About 3 months ago – my Blackberry 8703e stopped working. The screen went blank, and while I could use it to make calls – I couldn’t access the menu screen or any of the core functions like Email, Text Messaging, Twitterberry, etc… At the time I was in San Marcos on Business, so I decided to visit a Sprint Store and see if they could troubleshoot my issue.

The folks at the Sprint Store are always nice people. Nice – but for the most part mis-informed. They checked my Blackberry out – taking off the battery cover and searching for water damage. Since the little white sticker on the back was still mostly white – they determined that it was indeed a manufactures defect and that they would order a replacement that I could pick up in about 5 days.

Problem was – I needed a phone now. One of the Sprint Reps – Jay told me that I qualified for an extra line on my plan – and that I could even get a cute pink phone for Free. And we all know how much I LOVE Pink Adding this extra line would only add an extra $10.00/month to my bill. Great. That solves all my problems.

But I was worried – I’d made changes to my plan in the past and ended up with a never ending headache of billing problems – all because something was accidently removed or added to my plan. I made Jay SWEAR that he would not mess up my bill. That I would still have Night & Weekend minutes starting at 6PM, Unlimited Data Plan & Unlimited Text Messaging. Jay said – no problem. This would not effect my current plan in any way – with the exception of adding another line for $10.00.

I left the Sprint Store with a cute little pink flip phone – a VERY satisfied customer. I felt like they had dealt with my problem very effectively – that is until I saw my bill.

Remember how I asked them to please, please, please not mess up my bill – well – they did. Normally my phone bill runs about $150.00/month. After getting the pink phone my first bill out of the gate was $225.67??? I paid this bill thinking that it must have something to do with an activation fee for the second line and an increase in taxes. But the next month was even worse – my bill was now $377.00 – I knew something must be wrong.

I was right. They had moved my night and weekend plan off of my Blackberry and put it on the line attached to the Pink Phone. Thing is – now that I had my Blackberry back – I wasn’t using the Pink Phone at all.

So I called Customer Service for the first time. I spent a total of 2.5 hours on the phone and was shunted from one department to another. Finally I reached the billing department (which has apparently been outsourced to India). After explaining what had happened – and asking that I be compensated for any of the minutes that “should” have been covered after 6PM I was happy to find that I was being compensated $89.00 for the current bill. However I was told that they couldn’t refund me any money on the previous bill – even though I was really due a credit – because they couldn’t access information that far back in their system. Instead they gave me 2 Notes on my account – and told me to visit a Sprint Store and see if they could help me there.

During this call I also asked them to change my current plan to the 1400 minute family plan – and make sure that the night and weekend minutes were now on my Blackberry starting at 6PM. I was promised that all of this had been done. Satisfied I hung up the phone – happy to have had another great experience with Sprint Customer Service.

Then I got my next phone bill. This time it was $450.00???? I couldn’t believe it – what in the world was going on. After taking a look at my bill I realized that they still hadn’t added my night and weekend minutes back onto my Blackberry and that they hadn’t increased my plan (as I had asked). This time I decided to visit a Sprint Store and see if I could clear this mess up once and for all. At the Sprint Store I was told that they could not help me with Billing Issue – but at this point I wanted results. One of the managers Dion said I could use a store line to call Customer Service – and he would help me to clear this matter up. Terrific – Dion was a Saint. He helped me wade through several department transfers (I kept getting sent to the Nextel Billing Department instead of the Sprint Billing Department), and even told me what to say to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible.

This time I again got a billing representative from India. I explained my story and what had happened – and what I now needed done. His answer flabbergasted me. He said that I was responsible for all the minutes I had gone over on my plan – and that I owed this entire phone bill in full. I told him that he was mistaken – and that the changes I had requested be made to my account 3 months ago had never been made and that had they been made I would not have gone over my minutes at all. He then proceeded to say – I’ll send you a copy of this bill to review – but you are responsible for all these charges. I said no – let me speak to a supervisor. His response was to say that he would go over the bill with me charge by charge and show me how I was responsible for all these calls and how this would take 4 Hours. So he begins – on August 1st you call 512.xxx.xxxx for 9 minutes, etc…

Feeling like I was getting no where fast, I demanded that he have a supervisor call me and that he add a note to my account about this issue. I also told him that I wanted my plan switched and my night and weekend minutes added back on my plan immediately. After several minutes on hold he came back on the phone and said that his supervisor would call me. Before hanging up, I asked again if he had changed my plan. Guess what – he hadn’t. He said – I didn’t know you wanted me to do that…where had he been during our conversation?

I hung up feeling satisfied that finally I was going to see a resolution to this situation and at least talk to a supervisor. As I was leaving the store I had Dion check again to see if my account had been upgraded and the night and weekend minutes added. THEY HADN’T. He also made a note on my account – and gave me his business card and told me to call him if this situation wasn’t resolved within 24 Hours. I have to say that while – Sprint Customer Service is a mess – their in Store Employees are extremely courteous and helpful.

A few days go by – I still haven’t heard from a Supervisor. I also haven’t been credited any minutes on my account or resolved my rate plan issue. Now I get another bill – this time for $1024.00. WHAT? How can this be possible?

I’ve reached a breaking point and decide to call Customer Service again. But this time I decide to use Skype and record the call with Pamela. The interesting thing about Pamela is when the line picks up it says: “This Call Is Being Recorded”. Kind of a fair warning. I thought if they knew I was recording the call – maybe they wouldn’t speak to me. Instead – what I found is that while I was still shunted from one department to another – I was now reaching 2nd tier support and supervisors.

Finally after 4 hours – and 17+ transfers I finally reached someone who found the problem. I’ve excerpted that part of the recording for you here. I want to say for the record that although I spent far too many hours trying to get Customer Service to Resolve this issue – I am very happy with the final outcome.

It seems there was a technical error on my account – something that had to do with their new billing system. It seems that they had indeed tried to change my account on their system – but that the change was not taking effect. After finally resolving the issue – it turns out that my bill was actually -$103.04. Yup – that’s negative – I’d been over paying for several months…o_O

Listen to a Portion of this Sprint Customer Service Call Now.

Time Management

The hardest thing about doing this 90-Day Reinvention is attempting to fit everything in. There never seem to be enough hours in the day. Here’s a look at my sample day:

6:30 AM - Workout
7:30 AM – The BIG MOO Moment
8:00 AM – Feeds, Blogging, Email
9:00 AM – Method Agency Work Stuff
12:00 PM – Lunch & Errands
2:00 PM – Method Agency Work Stuff/Client Meetings
7:00 PM – Dinner
8:00 PM – Method Agency Work Stuff
12:00 AM – Bed

There isn’t a whole lot of room in there for reading (i.e. The Personal MBA), or cooking healthy meals. One of my main goals over the next 90-days will be to find a balance between work, my health, relationships, & my free time.

Errant Errands

Right on the heals of Time Management are Errant Errands. Trying to find the time to run errands has become a nightmare of epic proportions. Everything from picking up my dry cleaning – to taking my car to the shop have become near impossible tasks. And taking the time out to run these errands wastes valuable time that could better be spent working, going to the gym, or spending quality time with my friends and loved ones. I think it might be time to hire an assistant.

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