My Long detailed story of dealing with Sprint Customer Service.

[Woody426]

On Wednesday July 11th I left Louisville KY for Charleston South Carolina. About half way there I noticed that my Galaxy S2 would not hold a charge and was rebooting on its own. I stopped in Mount Pleasant South Carolina at a Sprint store.
I left the phone with them for an hour and when I went back I was told my battery was bad, I asked them to replace it under warranty and was told that he store did not have one. I asked them to check stores in the area and was told that they had checked and not a single store in South Carolina had a battery. I was told they would ship one to my house. I spent the next five days basically without a phone, unless it was hooked to a charger, but even then I had the reboot issue.
I arrived home on Tuesday July 17th and the battery was waiting. I installed and left it on the charger overnight. The next morning, Wednesday July 18th, I unhooked it and it showed a 100% charge on the battery. I drove to work, it

 

[vicshalls]

That is an absolutely crazy story. Hope it all works out for you in the end.

 

[Woody426]

I'm not very hopeful, but we shall see.

 

[Mr. Ed]

I am at a loss. I can truly understand your frustration, especially with the multiple avenues in which you have attempted contact with Sprint.
On at least two occassions it appears by your description that Sprint stores/store offered to order you a replacement device per the policy outlined in the Total Equipment Protection plan but you turned that down. What resolution were you looking for other than walking out with a new device from another manufacturer (which unfortunaty, as many times as I wish it were, this is not in the policy)?

 

[tenceriker]

Wow this is honesty disheartening. I hope you are able to get a more amcable solution to your battery woes.

 

[Woody426]

I got a call from "Sandy from the office of Dan Hesse Sprint escalations department" today at 5:40pm. "Sandy" told me that my information had been forwarded to her from "Joan". After I gave her my PIN and she opened my account she gave me a brief synopsis of her understanding of my situation, it was a fairly close description but it was clear that she had not read all of the information.
"Sandy" thanked me for my continued patience and apologized for the "less than adequate" customer service I had received to date. "Sandy" informed me that she needed to look into getting me a replacement device that was not what I had already had replaced multiple time. In order for who to do this she would need till Friday the 17th of August to gather the information she needed to attempt to make the new phone happen for me.
"Sandy" told me that she would call me Friday between 4 & 8pm EST. We then began to discuss the Sprint community forums issue, she was surprisingly interested in the issue with the forum. I got the feeling that she knew they were having issues with the forum moderators, she asked some very interesting questions. One interesting bit of information that "Sandy" offered up was a direct telephone number to the department that runs the Sprint Community Forums, up until now I have been told that it is "impossible" to call that department directly. I will update when I hear from "Sandy"

 

[Woody426]

I am at a loss. I can truly understand your frustration, especially with the multiple avenues in which you have attempted contact with Sprint.
On at least two occassions it appears by your description that Sprint stores/store offered to order you a replacement device per the policy outlined in the Total Equipment Protection plan but you turned that down. What resolution were you looking for other than walking out with a new device from another manufacturer (which unfortunaty, as many times as I wish it were, this is not in the policy)?

They have replaced the phone three times, I did decline to have the phone replaced two additional time, at some point you have to draw a line and say enough is enough. I think I have made enough trips to the Sprint store, I think its time for them to make a concession. What resolution was I looking for? Well to me there was acceptable solutions:
1. Allow me to purchase a new device at the two year agreement price, reset my contract from the date of the exchange.
2. Allow me to return my equipment, end my contract with Sprint and pay half of my ETF.
Too much to ask? apparently so.

 

[Mr. Ed]

They have replaced the phone three times, I did decline to have the phone replaced two additional time, at some point you have to draw a line and say enough is enough. I think I have made enough trips to the Sprint store, I think its time for them to make a concession. What resolution was I looking for? Well to me there was acceptable solutions:
1. Allow me to purchase a new device at the two year agreement price, reset my contract from the date of the exchange.
2. Allow me to return my equipment, end my contract with Sprint and pay half of my ETF.
Too much to ask? apparently so.

Unfortunately neither of those options are within policy, and the store reps are bound by that. But if the device has been replaced that many times within 6 months I am curious of why they did no follow the WEL policy.

My apologies for not catching that the phone has been replaced. I only caught that replacements were offered.

 

[Woody426]

WEL policy?

 

[Mr. Ed]

My understanding is that after 3 failed devices within 6 months there are options, basically a list of suitable replacements.

Note that my posts are personal opinion and understanding and not official Sprint posts or views. At M
NO tim can I post actual policy or proprietary information.

Sorry...I have to post that occasionally

I am also of the belief that the issue you are experiencing is software related and not hardware.

Have you asked a Sprint repair center or attempted on your own reloading the software. (not the same as an update, a complete wipe and reload of the new software version)

 

[Evo 5oh]

I know a lot of people want to know whats going on......they are wondering,...but too lazy too read dont spoiled the story on a post let them read xD

 

[Woody426]

My understanding is that after 3 failed devices within 6 months there are options, basically a list of suitable replacements.

Note that my posts are personal opinion and understanding and not official Sprint posts or views. At M
NO tim can I post actual policy or proprietary information.

Sorry...I have to post that occasionally

I am also of the belief that the issue you are experiencing is software related and not hardware.

Have you asked a Sprint repair center or attempted on your own reloading the software. (not the same as an update, a complete wipe and reload of the new software version)

Mr. Ed. first let me thank you for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it.

The two Sprint stores that I have been going to Corporate Stores that also do repairs, they have access to the device and have made changes. The problem is the changes they make, whatever they may have been be it a "hard reset" a "refresh" or an "update of ICS" haven't worked.
As a matter of fact when the phone was replaced the last time the assistant store manager that I was dealing with said "whatever you do, DO NOT install the Ice Cream Sandwich update" I agreed and used the phone that evening and got fifteen roaming notices, and the battery drained at an alarming rate, I took screen shots of each one and emailed them to "Joan" the CSR I was working with at the time, the phone also rebooted five times between the hours of 2pm and 10pm that day, now I'm not a total luddite, I understand that if the phone is roaming, battery life will suffer, the problem is that I was and have been in the same area that I have always been and never roamed before. Also, I have another Sprint account with five lines for the family, none of those phones have been roaming or had issues, four Iphones and a an EVO 4G LTE, I am the only one having these troubles.

When I spoke to "Joan" the next day, August 9th she informed me that it was OK to install the ICS updates, I waited a day and followed her advice, the phone has been almost useless since as it will not hold a charge, I took it upon myself to order two replacement batteries for the phone and they have not helped at all.

If I stand back and look at the situation, the first that comes to my mind is, WOW this guy is hard on phones, but to be honest that's just not the case, I have no issues with my Ipod, my Kindle, my notebook, none of my other electronic devices, just the Galaxy S2. Is it possible that there is an issue with a particular production run of these phones? I ask because there are three other S2 users in my office, we have all had the same issues over the last 6-8 weeks and we all got our phones, and our replacements at the same store.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Mr. Ed. first let me thank you for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it.

The two Sprint stores that I have been going to Corporate Stores that also do repairs, they have access to the device and have made changes. The problem is the changes they make, whatever they may have been be it a "hard reset" a "refresh" or an "update of ICS" haven't worked.
As a matter of fact when the phone was replaced the last time the assistant store manager that I was dealing with said "whatever you do, DO NOT install the Ice Cream Sandwich update" I agreed and used the phone that evening and got fifteen roaming notices, and the battery drained at an alarming rate, I took screen shots of each one and emailed them to "Joan" the CSR I was working with at the time, the phone also rebooted five times between the hours of 2pm and 10pm that day, now I'm not a total luddite, I understand that if the phone is roaming, battery life will suffer, the problem is that I was and have been in the same area that I have always been and never roamed before. Also, I have another Sprint account with five lines for the family, none of those phones have been roaming or had issues, four Iphones and a an EVO 4G LTE, I am the only one having these troubles.

When I spoke to "Joan" the next day, August 9th she informed me that it was OK to install the ICS updates, I waited a day and followed her advice, the phone has been almost useless since as it will not hold a charge, I took it upon myself to order two replacement batteries for the phone and they have not helped at all.

If I stand back and look at the situation, the first that comes to my mind is, WOW this guy is hard on phones, but to be honest that's just not the case, I have no issues with my Ipod, my Kindle, my notebook, none of my other electronic devices, just the Galaxy S2. Is it possible that there is an issue with a particular production run of these phones? I ask because there are three other S2 users in my office, we have all had the same issues over the last 6-8 weeks and we all got our phones, and our replacements at the same store.

Your welcome. Trust me I wish I could fix every issue I run across but some are just not possible. On that note...I often discourage anyone in life from trying to fix a technical issue that requires hardware evaluation and or loading software over the phone, as it is impossible to do either over a phone.
Again, in my own opinion, it sounds like the the Store has done everything but the right thing to fix your phone's software issue. You have spent a ton of time talking with people on the phone that may not be able to help you at all (as reflected in your posts.) Concerns/complaints sure, but trying to get someone to fix my phone, over the phone, just isn't going to work. Most of the time when calling a company these days you are reaching a third party that takes the calls for them anyway.


You mention everyone having issues with the same phone in the same location. Is this indoors (could be interference) outside everywhere home and work etc? Locations within a small area (5-15 miles I would guess) could be a tower issue. Either of this can cause major issues and severely drain the battery.

Has everyone taken the ICS update? I have personally fixed similar issue on one of my personal phones by completely reloading the software with KIES, the update and sync tool provided by Samsung.

As for issues I can't confirm or deny any type of patterns on phones due to my position. I personally know over 10 people with the same phone that have no issues whatsoever. I can also tell you I have personally owned 4 Samsung devices on ATT...EVERY one of those had issues with ICS updates until I used KIES to apply the update. The issue had nothing to do with ATT, as Samsung makes and tests the updates themselves from hat I understand after speaking with my friend at Samsung about the issues I was having. The issue got so bad on the Skyrocket that ATT stopped doing the update over the air and sent people directions on how to apply it with KIES.

 

[Woody426]

Your welcome. Trust me I wish I could fix every issue I run across but some are just not possible. On that note...I often discourage anyone in life from trying to fix a technical issue that requires hardware evaluation and or loading software over the phone, as it is impossible to do either over a phone.
Again, in my own opinion, it sounds like the the Store has done everything but the right thing to fix your phone's software issue. You have spent a ton of time talking with people on the phone that may not be able to help you at all (as reflected in your posts.) Concerns/complaints sure, but trying to get someone to fix my phone, over the phone, just isn't going to work. Most of the time when calling a company these days you are reaching a third party that takes the calls for them anyway.


You mention everyone having issues with the same phone in the same location. Is this indoors (could be interference) outside everywhere home and work etc? Locations within a small area (5-15 miles I would guess) could be a tower issue. Either of this can cause major issues and severely drain the battery.

Has everyone taken the ICS update? I have personally fixed similar issue on one of my personal phones by completely reloading the software with KIES, the update and sync tool provided by Samsung.

As for issues I can't confirm or deny any type of patterns on phones due to my position. I personally know over 10 people with the same phone that have no issues whatsoever. I can also tell you I have personally owned 4 Samsung devices on ATT...EVERY one of those had issues with ICS updates until I used KIES to apply the update. The issue had nothing to do with ATT, as Samsung makes and tests the updates themselves from hat I understand after speaking with my friend at Samsung about the issues I was having. The issue got so bad on the Skyrocket that ATT stopped doing the update over the air and sent people directions on how to apply it with KIES.

We are all in an office where we have always had good coverage. Nothing about our location has changed, meaning no new construction near us and no new construction on our building.

The only commonalities are that we work in the same building on the same floor and use the same devices that came from the same store and we all have been told to allow the phones to update to ICS. We all live in different areas, one other person, like myself live 55 miles from the office and he has the same roaming/battery/rebooting issues that the rest of us have.

 

[Mr. Ed]

We are all in an office where we have always had good coverage. Nothing about our location has changed, meaning no new construction near us and no new construction on our building.

The only commonalities are that we work in the same building on the same floor and use the same devices that came from the same store and we all have been told to allow the phones to update to ICS. We all live in different areas, one other person, like myself live 55 miles from the office and he has the same roaming/battery/rebooting issues that the rest of us have.

It is still a possibility that it is interference, but unlikely (in my opinion)

If you would like I can walk you through reloading the software manually. If it works you can provide the others with the info and be a phone hero in the office.

Current version should not matter but the directions will be slightly different if you have already done the over the air update. Back up EVERYTHING, including sd card and make sure that the battery is fully charged.

I am giving you the directions on how I personally did it on my ATT phones making the assumption that it will be the same on the Sprint version. This process takes only a few minutes on a fast network connection, but longer on a slow one.


If you are still on gingerbread and did not accept the over the air update
1. Back up EVERYTHING, including sd card and make sure that the battery is fully charged.
2. Make sure you have drivers and KIES installed on your PC
3. Hook your phone to you PC and let it search for device drivers and such.
4. If KIES does not open automatically, open it.
5. IF you have not updated to ICS it will show you that there is an update available. Run it, and follow the directions.
6. If you have already upgraded over the air to ICS you will have to manually apply the update.

To manually reload ICS, again assuming it should work the same
This typically will wipe data so Back up EVERYTHING, including sd card and make sure that the battery is fully charged.

Step 1: Open KIES on your PC but don't plug your phone in.

Step 2: When KIES opens up, click on firmware upgrade and initialization under tools upt at the top

Step 3: KIES will ask for your device information. Fill it in. (you can usually find your info on the sticker that's in the battery slot. You will have to remove your battery)

Step 4: Follow the steps as KIES tells you to put your device into download mode.

Step 5: Now KIES will download and flash official stock ICS to your device.

Step 6: Enjoy!

 

[Woody426]

Well, here's the synopsis of my phone call with "Sandy" today:
1. Sprint will not replace my device with another compatible device.
2. Sprint is willing to give me a $100 credit if I return my phone.
3. Sprint is not willing to wave or reduce the ETF.

Interesting side note, "Sandy" DID supply me with a number to contact about my issues with the Sprint Community Forums, can you guess where this is going? Drum roll please..................... the number she gave me was "Janeedra's". Thats right, the best the office of the CEO could do was send me right back to the place I started.

And for the record, I had supplied "Sandy" with "Jannedra's" number and told her that was who I had been talking to. This is almost funny, no I guess its kind of sad that the incompetence at Sprint leads all the way to the office of the CEO.

I'm sure some people are questioning the validity of my story, hell I would too if it hadn't happened to me. I DID record my last six customer service calls, save the drama its perfectly legal, when the Sprint associate gives their statement about the call being monitored or recorded for accuracy all you have to do is say "Yes as long as we ALL agree to that" them not hanging up or protesting equates to passive agreement to be recorded. If anyone is interested I will edit out some personal information and make these fascinating conversations with these titans of industry available.

Congratulations Sprint, you win. I have been worn down and have lost interest.
Its difficult to battle a group that lacks conscience and and integrity.

 

[DonB]

Send Sandy a copy of this thread and see what they think then, LOL

Craziest stuff I ever heard.

 

[Woody426]

The link to this thread and three others have been sent to her and every other person at Sprint that I have exchanged emails with.
I also filed a report with the BBB this afternoon, doubt that will do any good but it cant hurt.

 

[Mr. Ed]

no offense meant at all man, but I don't see anything here but you wanting someone to do what YOU want them to... from the outside looking in you are all over the place with only one resolution in mind. Are you trying to fix your phone, trying to cancel service with no charge, trying to get a new device? It's all over the place.

In society I see this often, and forgive me , as this is simply a general statement not directed at you. At the pool store the very few complaints I personally had involved absolutely nothing to do with my customer service skills, but with the fact that I was unable to meet what the customer felt they were entitled to.

I am going to include my instructions again on how I fixed similar issues on my ATT Samsung phones, and then exit this subject entirely. This is something I do in my free time and it is important to me to know that time is being used to help people who want resolution to issues with their phone, regardless of carrier or brand.

It is still a possibility that it is interference, but unlikely (in my opinion)

If you would like I can walk you through reloading the software manually. If it works you can provide the others with the info and be a phone hero in the office.

Current version should not matter but the directions will be slightly different if you have already done the over the air update. Back up EVERYTHING, including sd card and make sure that the battery is fully charged.

I am giving you the directions on how I personally did it on my ATT phones making the assumption that it will be the same on the Sprint version. This process takes only a few minutes on a fast network connection, but longer on a slow one.


If you are still on gingerbread and did not accept the over the air update
1. Back up EVERYTHING, including sd card and make sure that the battery is fully charged.
2. Make sure you have drivers and KIES installed on your PC
3. Hook your phone to you PC and let it search for device drivers and such.
4. If KIES does not open automatically, open it.
5. IF you have not updated to ICS it will show you that there is an update available. Run it, and follow the directions.
6. If you have already upgraded over the air to ICS you will have to manually apply the update.

To manually reload ICS, again assuming it should work the same
This typically will wipe data so Back up EVERYTHING, including sd card and make sure that the battery is fully charged.

Step 1: Open KIES on your PC but don't plug your phone in.

Step 2: When KIES opens up, click on firmware upgrade and initialization under tools upt at the top

Step 3: KIES will ask for your device information. Fill it in. (you can usually find your info on the sticker that's in the battery slot. You will have to remove your battery)

Step 4: Follow the steps as KIES tells you to put your device into download mode.

Step 5: Now KIES will download and flash official stock ICS to your device.

Step 6: Enjoy!

 

[Woody426]

Your right Mr. Ed, I have been all over the place. I finally gave up, bought a different phone, EVO 4 G LTE. I just couldnt bring myself to give Sprint anymore money. I haven thrown the Galaxy away, I'll toss it in a drawer and maybe get it out some day and play with it.
I'm sure some people will disagree with how I handled this, but that's their prerogative. Overall it has been a very educational experience. Forget the phone, just look at the customer service issues, the level of incompetence is MIND BOGGLING, truly an embarrassment for Sprint but I'm positive they don't mind or care about their comical antics being exposed.
Stay tuned though, I'm working on something for The Consumerist that should be delightful.

 

[Adar]

Your right Mr. Ed, I have been all over the place. I finally gave up, bought a different phone, EVO 4 G LTE. I just couldnt bring myself to give Sprint anymore money. I haven thrown the Galaxy away, I'll toss it in a drawer and maybe get it out some day and play with it.
I'm sure some people will disagree with how I handled this, but that's their prerogative. Overall it has been a very educational experience. Forget the phone, just look at the customer service issues, the level of incompetence is MIND BOGGLING, truly an embarrassment for Sprint but I'm positive they don't mind or care about their comical antics being exposed.
Stay tuned though, I'm working on something for The Consumerist that should be delightful.

I don't see that you were being at all unreasonable. Didn't you say that you had gotten at least 2 replacement devices and ended up with the same issue? Or did I misremember? If that is true, I'd say asking for a different model is not out of the question, as long as it was the same value. Whether it is against Sprint policy or not, I have had two occasions in the last 4 years where Sprint did exactly that for me. Once in store, and another time over the phone. I have had a mix of good and bad support from Sprint, but I have to say, any time I have had to escalate an issue, it has been resolved.

Based on what you have relayed, you have had far more patience than I would have, especially since I have worked in customer and technical support in some capacity for almost 20 years. On the plus side, at least you have a far better phone, not that it is all that much comfort to you right now.

I am glad you are getting the story out there though, and very glad that you kept pretty detailed records of everything you went through. So few people do that, and without it, these stories tend to be just stories. I look forward to hearing more.

 

[Woody426]

Here's a little update for anybody following this. I requested one last escalation and I got a call from "Kendra" today. We had a nice chat she asked some interesting questions about my coverage area.
We discussed the non functional S2 and I mentioned to her that as we spoke my daughter was sitting net to me getting nonstop roaming notices, this surprised "Kendra" and I reminded her that I had told "Joan" AND "Sandy" that while I had one account with my phone on it, I had another account with FIVE phones on it and they were ALL roaming at our home.
All this prompted "Kendra" to check the nationwide coverage map at Sprint . Com, what did she find? My home is surrounded by off network roaming areas, and so is my office.
This is surprising to me as like I stated I have always had good coverage, maybe I just wasn't getting the roaming notices or maybe I just never noticed them. So I say to "Kendra", "Soooo, this means that since I don't have coverage, Sprint will let me out of my contract with no ETF right? All SIX phones on BOTH accounts right?"
Her response "Yes, that would be the case".
Now think about this for just a second, by "Kendra's" own records, I have been to the Sprint store ELEVEN times, had THREE phones, made TWENTY SEVEN calls to Sprint customer service, and now after all of that, she discovers that I am in TWO coverage holes (at home and at the office) I asked her if Sprint had lost or moved some towers and she said she did not have that information.
All of this could have been avoided if just ONE of the EIGHTEEN Sprint associates that I have dealt with since early July would have had enough common sense to check the map.
Were my phones defective? I don't know, I know I did what Sprint said to do every step of the way up until I declined a fourth device.
This has been a truly fascinating exercise, regardless of your thoughts on me or how I handled this, when you look at THEIR customer service efforts, the level of incompetence boggles the mind.

 

[droidcentric]

Surprised they did not send you a free Airave and try to extend the service commitment another two years.

Count your blessings and be done with it.

 

[Woody426]

Heres another update. "Kendra" called me back on 8/24/12 with "GREAT NEWS", I wasn't "actually" roaming, even though my phone was giving me very frequent roaming notices while I am at home:

And even though the phones on the other account are doing the same thing, we aren't actually roaming. This logic fascinated me, I asked her to explain and I got some gibberish about how the level of roaming that we were doing wasn't affecting our bill ETC, blah blah blah. I countered with "well then if we aren't roaming, then there must be an issue with the phones, ALL SIX phones, she wasn't prepared for this line of questioning and attempted to evade answering the question, I repeated "So if there is NOT a coverage issue, like you clearly stated during our last call, then the omnipresent roaming notices must be directly related to a hardware issue with the phones, ALL SIX phones, encompassing different models from different manufactures?" She told me she was not a technical service representative and couldn't answer my question.
"Kendra" agreed to escalate me to the "final tier" (I heard Vaders theme from Star Wars in my head when she said that), and she told me to expect a call the week of the 27th.
On 8/27/12 at 3pm I received a call from "Angela" who I assume is with "final tier" escalations. Angela read me the boiler plate statement that the call may be monitored or recorded for accuracy and I told that it may also be recorded on my end, she was adamant that she was not giving permission to be recorded, I said fair enough then I do not agree to be recorded either, "Angela" informed me that she had no way of knowing if the call was being recorded on her end or not, I told her either way I was not giving permission to be recorded and we continued. "Angela" had not bothered to review the case at all and expected me to start from the beginning and explain the whole story, I refused and told her I could forward her all emails I had had since mid July and the transcripts of all the conversations, or she could research the history herself, either way I was not going to waste an hour of my time jumping through hoops for her amusement. She agreed to do the research herself. "Angela" was not one of the more polite Sprint associates that I have dealt with, very eager to interrupt me while I was speaking and I could tell by her sentence structure and her presentation that she does now or at some point has worked in the legal field.
"Angela" is supposed to review the case and get back tome next week.

 

[ScandaLeX]

Had this saga been made into a book it would've become a #1 best seller overnight.
I've been with Sprint about 12 yrs and during that time I can say for the most part they've been extremely helpful. There's only been 1 times I had to go the Dan@Sprint route and even then my issue was handled by 1 person who had everything rectified in less than 48 hrs.

I'm sorry your experience has been a tragedy. From everything you've posted it's been going on for way too long. Now, unless I missed it, according to you "So I say to "Kendra", "Soooo, this means that since I don't have coverage, Sprint will let me out of my contract with no ETF right? All SIX phones on BOTH accounts right?"
Her response "Yes, that would be the case"

My question is why didn't you take advantage of the opportunity to end your contract? It was right there but instead you went on and on about the coverage map.....made me think you were trying to trip her up or something. Especially considering this is one of the things you wanted after so many exchanges anyway.