[asaberan]

This is very long and it is what I originally typed in the BBB website, but it was too long so I had to summarize it, but I don't think it got the full story enough, so here goes:

SUMMARY: Sprint continues to bill me hundreds of dollars for a replacement phone that I have already returned that took 9 calls and over 2 months to receive an RMA. Now they have the phone and still refuse to credit my account for an additional 2 months, even though this delay was due to their errors.

I had been having significant problems with my handset (PPC-6700) so I decided I was going to cancel my service and go with another provider since I couldn't get any help from Sprint whatsoever without taking it to an "Authorized service department." When I called to cancel in August 2007, I got the Retentions Department who eventually offered me a good deal on a new phone (PPC-6880/Mogul) that promised better coverage and battery life so I purchased the phone and signed a new, 2 year agreement.

I received the phone and activated it and discovered that the phone had a button that was very loose and didn't work well (turns out the second one is actually worse but that's beside the point and I'm not doing this again!). Sprint has a 30 day return policy so I decided to return the phone and get a replacement under this 30 day policy. It took approximately 5 calls and 8 hours of hold time/being transferred/educating customer service of their own policies to get this done. I would be transferred from department to department, each telling me that they could not help me and I had to go here and there, etc. Eventually I discovered that rententions ordered my phone so I would have to exchange it through them. As I stated earlier, this took approximately 5 phone calls and 8 hours of my time.
I received the replacement phone on September 15th, 2007 and was told that an "RMA kit" would be sent to me which contained labels to send the defective phone back. Approximately 2 weeks went by and I never received the labels so I called Sprint again. I was told that I would receive the labels in the mail within 5 business days. 5 business days go by and still no labels. At this point I realize that Sprint had billed my account for $550, which is the full retail price of the replacement phone. I call Sprint again and continue to be told I will receive the labels via email within 2 business days. 2 business days go by again and no labels. This same situation happend FOUR more times with 1-2 hour calls to Sprint; they always eventually promised the labels but they never came. After each call (beginning with the third call) which averaged an hour and a half to two hours of being transferred department to department (sometimes being transferred to a CLOSED department!!!) I would wait approximately 5 business days later to request the labels again. On each subsequent call I was told that there was no previous request for labels and that would send them.
The 7th time I called to request the labels I was told that since I was beyond 30 days, I would probably not be credited back for the phone since it was beyond their return policy, but the rep didn't know for sure since "the warehouse credits your account back not customer care." The customer service rep stated that I could send my phone in and "see what would happen at the warehouse." I was told that this was the only way to go about rectifying the situation and he promised I would get the labels. Of course this time I still didn't receive the labels so I called back the next day. Call number 8 lasted approximately one hour and I was told that the customer service rep could place a temporary credit on my account to prevent my phone from being disconnected and he would send me the labels. The next day I still had no labels.
On call number NINE it took an hour and a half of being on hold/transferred etc. for me to get the labels. This time I forced the customer service rep to stay on the phone with me until I received the email with the labels, which took multiple attempts and multiple email addresses to be completed.
I was sent Fedex labels in my email and I sent the phone back on November 16th. By this point I had been receiving many bills that included the $550 charge, plus late fees for not paying the entire billed amount (I was only paying my monthly service charge to avoid a situation where Sprint stopped helping me since they already had my full payment for the phone). However, I was under the assumption that a temporary credit was placed on my account and the service would not be disconnected and they knew that I had been calling since late September to receive the labels.
On November 17th my service was disconnected and I called customer service explaining that it had taken me so long to get labels and I had already returned the phone that my account should have a temporary credit on it and it should not have been disconnected. I spoke with a customer service rep for approximately 45 minutes and was told that nothing could be done until they received the phone despite the fact that i had the tracking number. I asked to speak with a supervisor after 45 minutes of getting nowhere who at different times would tell me either they only used UPS for shipping (when I clearly had been sent Fedex labels) and they had no such thing as a temporary credit and then five minutes later she would tell me how she saw the temporary credit and that it was only good for 7 days and had expired 2 days prior. I would ask her why she told me that there both was no credit and then told me that there was a credit for 7 days she would tell me that she couldn't provide that credit and there was no such thing; that they had no such policy to provide a temporary credit. Eventually, after an hour and a half this person told me that there was basically nothing they could do until they had the product back at their warehouse.
On November 19th, my phone was still disconnected so I called Customer Care again to tell them that the phone was was scheduled to be delivered to their warehouse on November 20th. I spoke with a very nice person who was willing to help (in fact this was the only person I have talked to at Sprint who was truly willing to help) that did in fact provide me with a temporary credit and opened a "dispute of the charges." She also told me that she would credit any reconnection fees as well as any late fees since the delays were due to Sprint's errors. She reconnected my phone and it has been working since.
On November 20th the phone was in fact delivered to Sprint (Fedex tracking number 567646411994240) and they have signed for the package.
On November 26th my Sprint bill (billing cycle ended November 23rd; 3 days after they received the phone back) was available online so I decided to check and see if they have credited my account. My account balance was still $674.90. The phone was billed to my account at $549.99, and my monthly bill is $96.13. This indicates that they still have my account billed at $578.77 for the phone.

CONTINUED ON NEXT POST

[asaberan]

On November 26th, I called Sprint to find out why they had not credited my account for the phone which had been returned for 6 calendar days. I was told by the Customer Care representative that the bill was in fact valid and current because it can take up to 2 billing cycles to credit my account back because "they have a lot of returned phones that they have to go through and do a quality check." This was absolutely unacceptable to me as I have been dealing with this issue since September and I estimate that I have over 25 hours in phone calls to their Customer Care. I believe that the entire delay is due to Sprint's poor customer service and frequent mistakes. I asked the representative why I was being billed $578.77 for the phone and she indicated that there was only a "dispute of the charges" for $549.99 and that a "supervisor must have missed the $29 in the dispute." I told the customer care rep that this was absolutely unacceptable and I was worried about my phone being cut off and most importantly my credit being affected. I have excellent credit and this entire situation is entirely the fault of Sprint. After approximately 30 minutes of going back and forth of the Customer Care rep repeating the same thing I asked for her supervisor. After being on hold for 35 minutes the same rep came back on the phone and told me that she had been working with "a supervisor in financing" to get the dispute opened and never let me speak with the supervisor. I repeated that I was worried about my account being past due for ANOTHER 2 months and she said that since there was a dispute of the charges my account would not be suspended. I told the rep that I had heard that more than once previously and that it had been false information on previous occasions. She insisted that the dispute was open for $549.99 and I could just pay the $125.13 (which is my monthly bill + the late fees that I should not have been billed). I asked why the dispute was not opened for the additional amount and was told that she would ask the financial supervisor to open the dispute for the $29 as well. I told the rep that I still sat here with a $674.90 bill (of which she was telling me to pay $125.13) which had been past due for months and that this was unacceptable to me due to Sprint's errors. The customer care rep then said "okay then just pay the $96.13." I asked why is it okay to pay less than the bill and just hope that Sprint credited my account back for the proper amount? She then continued to repeat the same information multiple times that it takes "1-2 months for the dispute to close and that it would be credited back at that time." She also continued to tell me that I was "not listening" and that's why she was repeating the same information. I told her that it wasn't that I wasn't listening, it was that her "solution" was absolutely unacceptable to me. After an hour and fifteen minutes on the phone I decided that I have had enough of dealing with Sprint's "Customer Care" and that I needed to get off the phone and pursue this further.

Sprint's handling of this situation is absolutely unacceptable. I have approximately 25 hours and 14 calls into Sprint to resolve this issue. Had I known it was going to take this long I would have just cancelled my account, paid the bill and moved on. My time is worth much more than this and continuing business with a company like this is very difficult. Once again had I not just signed a contract and been worried about never being credit back for the phone, I would have cancelled MULTIPLE times.
This is very frightening that a customer who had been a Nextel and now Sprint customer for 6 years, who is billed nearly $100 monthly, is treated this way when trying to simply get Sprint to follow their own policies.

[mnsweeps]

call executive services and PM for a list of emails to fire your complaint.

[asaberan]

Thanks for the suggestion, but to be honest I am done with calling Sprint. The next time I do I will probably cancel.

What did you mean by PM for a list of addresses to email? PM you?

[mnsweeps]

Originally Posted by asaberan

Thanks for the suggestion, but to be honest I am done with calling Sprint. The next time I do I will probably cancel.

What did you mean by PM for a list of addresses to email? PM you?

yes PM me...also try calling exec services one last time and see if they can help. You have the number...just search and its posted all over.

[chilidogtampa]

consider using ecare, emails are clearer, numbered and everything is in writing.

[kulnet]

Sadly, it takes filing a report with the BBB to get anywhere sometimes.

[mnsweeps]

Originally Posted by kulnet

Sadly, it takes filing a report with the BBB to get anywhere sometimes.

Does SPRINT respond to all BBB complaints?

[JeffDTD]

Did you continue to pay your bill for "service" in the 1 or 2 months that have elapsed since this fiasco started?

[spazticrecords]

I understand your problem, and I feel for you, but also being a forum member should know that CS doesn't have much power, let alone being able to resolve such an issue. You ordered your phone through retentions, so you should of been dealing with retention's from the start. Also, after you didn't recieve the labels the first time, you should of called Executive Services to continue your complaint. There is no waiting time on ES and shouldn't take an hour to resolve that issue. Why did you wait 9 times before you made the rep send you the labels to your e-mail.

Here is the executive services number (you shouldn't wait more than 5 to 10 mins) 888-881-9571

Explain to them the issue and have them issue and imediate credit or dispute which there able to accomidate. Don't waste your time with CS which it seems you've been doing this whole time which is why you got no where and wasted all this time. Also, call back retentions. Just press *4 and say cancel, and it will transfer you to a retention rep. It doesnt take a BBB threat to get what you want done, it just takes learning who to speak to. Also, like someone else said E-care can be effective is the sense they have more power than CS reps and also everything is in writting.

[asaberan]

Thanks for the replies everyone and a big HUGE thank you to mnsweeps. The email addresses provided were just what I needed. I actually got a reply back in about 2 hours and a call from an English speaking guy (who was a little rude so I imagine it kinda got thrown on him, haha) who credited my account the proper amount (minus like 75 cents, but I'll pay that to not have a single phone call again with Sprint).
The worst part is that the warehouse was only going to credit me $209.99 of the $549.99 since I was past the thirty days, which is ENTIRELY their fault and apparently they either didn't notate my account or didn't both to read it. In any case the guy who called me yesterday fixed it all and my balance online is correct.


Jeff-Yes I did continue to pay my monthly bill-it was just the price of the phone that I did not pay. I knew if I paid that then they never would've refunded me and at the VERY MOST I would've gotten a credit on my account. I'm not pre-paying 6 months of bills for their mistake.

Spazticrecords-I had no idea that Executive Care existed before yesterday and I had talked to retentions MULTIPLE times in those 9 calls. They would just bounce me back to customer care, order support or not help me at all saying they couldn't do anything. I was even told by customer care in more than one occasion that I did not need to talk to retentions and that they could send me the labels.