Sprint #6 Customer pays $3.00 To Be Harrangued by Sprint Staff for Sprint's Mistake

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on March 23, 2002:

From: Cheryl Evans [cdevans@evanstraining.com]
Sprint PCS - Horrible Customer Service - $ 3.00 charge by Sprint to talk to customer sevice

In December 2001, I bought my daughter one of the new Sprint PCS phones (I believe it's the Touchpoint 1100). In February, the phone stopped working. I called Spring PCS and they said we had to take it to a Spring PCS store. The closest one was about 10 miles away.

We took it to the store, as instructed, and the store said they couldn't fix it, that it would need to be sent to Sprint for repair. We did that and Sprint returned a refurbished phone to us. All of this translated into over 2 weeks without service, which Sprint had said it would credit.

When we received the refurbished phone, I immediately called Sprint and asked for the credit. They said it would be placed on the bill. When I received the bill for March, there was no credit. (In fact, there was an additional charge for minutes apparently beyond the plan.)

I called Sprint PCS and went to the billing inquiry area. I was advised by the robot on the phone (the first robot...I spoke to a second later named Lamaont) that I would be charged a $3 charge for speaking to a customer service representative. Since the error was Sprint's error, I assumed they would reverse that $3 charge so I proceeded with the call.

That's when I met the most offensive, obnoxious and, yes, I must say it -- stupid -- customer service rep I've ever run into -- Lamont. (He claimed he couldn't give me his last name.) I explained the situation and he said he'd credit my account for $15. I asked him to reverse the $3 for the customer service connection. He said "No." I said that since it was Sprint's error, I shouldn't have to pay to remind Sprint to fix it.

He said that I'd been advised before I continued that I would be charged $3 and that was it. I asked to speak to a Supervisor; Lamont (the robot) said, "This phone call does not warrant bringing in a Supervisor at this time." I again said I wanted to speak to the supervisor. He said, "I'm going to put you on hold while I credit your account for $15." I said, "Credit it for $18". He put me on hold. When he came back on the line, I again repeated that I wanted to speak to a supervisor.

He again refused. I asked for his last name; he said that they weren't allowed to provide last names. I told him I was going to report Sprint to the Better Business Bureau; he said that the call was completed. I said a couple of choice words and hung up.

I am stuck with Spring for another 9 months, but I will spend those 9 months reporting Spring to every regulatory agency I can find and to every consumer protection website. Every consumer has a right to speak to a supervisor if there is a problem with the person handling the call.

Sprint's arrogance is appalling. And to have to pay $3 to be abused by a customer service representative is repugnant, but it's clear why they do it. If customer have to pay $3 to speak to one of Sprint's inept customer service reps, Sprint will receive fewer complaint calls.

Cheryl Evans

Sprint
Customer Service