[twolostminds]

This has been posted in the General Discussion section for the purpose of providing informative links to Sprint customers

Whether you love Sprint and want to remain a customer and watch this corporation grow and become successful or hate Sprint and are only a customer because they give the best bang for the buck, changes to services over the past year and recent actions by Sprint require the attention of all its subscribers.

Over the past year Sprint has made many changes to its benefits and services in an attempt to increase profits. You may or may not like or agree with many of these changes, that is up to each individuals preferences.

However, if you take into account all the previous changes to discounts, warranties X2, 4G Fee's & then smartphone fee's, as well as the gutting of the premier program and leaked documents showing the demise of it and add the latest actions surrounding the Administration Fee increase, the actions of Sprint have become quite concerning.

Recently Sprint made the decision to raise the Administration Fee to $1.50 per line per month. This is perfectly acceptable as they have the right to make this material change to the subscriber agreement, see the underlined portion below.

[Our Right To Change The Agreement & Your Related Rights
We may change any part of the Agreement at any time, including, but not limited to, rates, charges, how we calculate charges, discounts, coverage, technologies used to provide services, or your terms of Service. We will provide you notice of material changes—and we may provide you notice of non-material changes—in a manner consistent with this Agreement (see "Providing Notice To Each Other Under The Agreement" section). If a change we make to the Agreement is material and has a material adverse effect on Services under your Term Commitment, you may terminate each line of Service materially affected without incurring an Early Termination Fee only if you: (a) call us within 30 days after the effective date of the change; and (b) specifically advise us that you wish to cancel Services because of a material change to the Agreement that we have made. If you do not cancel Service within 30 days of the change, an Early Termination Fee will apply if you terminate Services before the end of any applicable Term Commitment.]

Sprint provided its subscribers notice of the fee change as they are required by contract and law. Under the contract we as subscribers are entitled to end our contract without incurring an EFT if we disagree with this material change and notify Sprint withing the required time period, see bold section above. Several customers have taken advantage of this and have left Sprint having the ETF waived.

This past weekend Sprint made material changes to the Terms & Conditions without notification to its subscribers.

(Previous Terms & Conditions)
“Monthly charges exclude taxes, Sprint Surcharges [incl. USF charge (varies quarterly), cost recovery and administrative fees, & state/local fees by area (e.g., in some areas up to 16% but in most areas less than 3%)]. Sprint Surcharges are not taxes or gov’t-required charges and are subject to change.”

(Updated Terms and Conditions)
“**Monthly charges exclude taxes, Sprint Surcharges [incl. USF charge of up to 14.4% (varies quarterly), Administrative Charge (up to $1.99/line/mo.), Regulatory Charge ($0.40/line/mo.) & state/local fees by area (approx. 5-20%)]. Sprint Surcharges are not taxes or gov't-required charges and are subject to change. Details: Sprint.com/taxesandfees.”

This material change to the Terms & Conditions is not only in direct violation of the "Providing Notice To Each Other Under The Agreement" section that binds both subscribers and Sprint but I believe several federal laws and regulations as well. Customer and account services representatives as well as supervisors and managers are citing this updated portion of the terms and services as the reason for denying requests to have the ETF waived. Adding insult to injury many representatives claim that this changed verbiage has always been there and that there were no changes to the T&C made recently.

This type of corporate behavior if continued will do irreparable harm to not only Sprint's reputation but its ability to attract customers and maintain a low churn rate. This will eventually affect us all in the form a higher prices and slow/nonexistent growth of the network footprint.

Now is the time for all Sprint subscribers to speak out. Your silence now will only serve to harm Sprint and do a disservice to yourself as well in the future.
Send a complaint to the Consumerist
File a complaint with the FCC
File a complaint with the BBB
Really want to get Sprint's attention? File a complaint with the Anti-Trust Division of the Department of Justice.
And lets not forget the FTC.