SHOVE IT!! Why I have let Sprint

Gizmodo · Jul 30, 2010

Dear Fellow Droidsters,

I am done. It's over. Kaput! I will be receiving 2 new phones Fedexed overnight from Verizon Wireless tomorrow. How this happened is one for the books!!

I don't have to tell you the numerous problems we Moment owners have had to endure with our phones. About a week ago my phone began to freeze up, shut off, some of the programs would not work at all. It dawned on me that since my first Moment (have exchanged twice-both Moments; mine and my wife's) the large amount of time I have spent making trips to the local Sprint store, calls to Sprint tech support, searching this forum, all in an attempt to correct problems was insanely unacceptable.

When I realized the lost time both Moments have caused me, I decided to call Sprint. I explained to the lady, in more detail than I am laying out here, all my woes with the Samsung Moment(s). She told me that they would gladly replace our Moments with 2 more Moments. I told her that I am fed up with this phone and want another model. She said the only way I could do that was to pay full retail. I then responded by asking to be connected to anyone who could close my Sprint account. She connected me to a gentleman who assured me that I had a legitimate complaint and if I would hold on he would get satisfaction for me.

He came back on the line and said that all he could do was replace it with another Moment. I said then please tell me what to do to close my account. He responded, "But you have been a Sprint customer for 10 years and we don't want to lose your business." He then turned me over to his supervisor. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS 'GOOD.' She told me that there was no way I could have any phone except a Moment. I would have to pay full price. She then informed my that my contract had expired. I said if she would give me a different model phone (HTC) for the advertised web price, I WOULD RENEW MY CONTRACT FOR ANOTHER 2 YEARS. She not only told me NO, but she then, AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, proceeded to tell me how to port my Sprint phone numbers to Verizon Wireless and who to call at Sprint afterward and what to tell them!!!! :eek:

Ten years as a Sprint customer and I was never late once with a payment. But when I got a problematic phone, their only suggestion was wait until you are eligible for an upgrade or pay full price for a different phone. Offering to renew my contract meant NOTHING to them.

If you find this story hard to believe, imagine how incredulous I was as she explained how to take my business elsewhere. Well...I did.

So good bye to my fellow Moment owning buddies. I wish you all the very best.

Sincerely,
Gizmodeaux
Lafayette, LA

IOWA · Jul 30, 2010

Did you really have to post this twice?

vbetts · Jul 30, 2010

Aside from the issues with people you've had, you know you could have just bought 2 of the Hero's online for pretty cheap? Compared to what you probably spent on the Verizon phones, even more the plan difference...

It sucks that people have had issues with the Moment. But I haven't had one issue yet where it needed to be replaced. I've had to replace one because my original one was stolen, but not defective. It is now though.

Now the way they treated you, was nothing out of the ordinary. And you have to see where Sprint is coming from. They are doing what they can do and still abide by their rules, laws and contracts. Yes, the Moment and your moment in general have some issues but not nearly enough to where you can have yours replaced for free. They can't give special treatment to you just because you've had issue after issue with your phone. If it was something that was affecting the general performance and working condition of about 40-55% of all Moments in general and how severe it was(Like if it could be fixed by software or not), then they would issue a different phone or give a discounted price. I work at Radioshack, I get this all the time. That's why there's 30 day trial of the phone. There were alternatives to the Moment, and even are now. At the time of Moments release, there was the Hero if you're going from Android to another Android. Other than that, the Palm Pre, the Pixi, or touch Pro 2. Hell, even the Instinct HD isn't that bad of a phone.( Not so much for apps compared to the others I've listed.)

I'm not defneind their actions, but they did what they do for everyone else. Unless you know someone pretty up in Sprint, you won't get anything special.

ovrrdrive · Jul 30, 2010

For every legitamate claim like this (giving you the benefit of the doubt here) the people at the sprint store hear a thousand bs stories from people that just want an upgrade out of their contract period. I'm assuming they do this out of self preservation....

FWIW, I've had my moment since december and never been to the sprint store once or even had to call tech support. You just got a lemon.

pastafarian · Jul 30, 2010

I'm confused. If you're out of contract, you're due the full discounted device prices and rebates. How did you buy the Moments without renewing? Paid full retail? The Moment hasn't been out a year, so even on a 1yr contract you'd still be locked up. Sprint seems to have made the decision that you're unprofitable even with your 10yr loyalty and it would be better for them if you went to a competitor. Sprint has for years had a reputation for being the easiest to game for free upgrades. I know of several people who have been able to get new devices yearly or better without ever paying a dime by exploiting the system. Maybe Sprints decided it's time to change that? Look at it this way, now you can sell the Moments on ebay to subsidize the higher monthly cost you'll be paying from now on.

ed_mcnasty · Jul 30, 2010

I thought they were replacing Moments with Intercepts if you had problems?

Rigmaster · Jul 30, 2010

it's also safe to say the samsung moment has never been a good phone.

avacomputers · Jul 30, 2010

Good luck with Big Red.

81_ · Jul 30, 2010

Customer service sucks. they are robots with 386 processors

SoulTerror · Jul 30, 2010

That's weird. When we had called to get the price for ET, they offered to give us 6 numbers to call for free as an incentive to stay. So when we renewed our contract I made for sure to get those

Glad you got out of Sprint, their low prices is the only thing that keeps us with Sprint. I will admit that their service is good, but it's their CS where they drop the ball.

Rigmaster · Jul 30, 2010

I use CS as little as possible. My plan's accurate, my Evos work, and I get great coverage in the PA/NJ/NY/CT/DE corridor. TMo - tops in CS but no coverage outside major metros so I can't see Sprint being any worse than the other two major carriers.

Now with Froyo, it's just going to be even better.

ragnarokx · Jul 30, 2010

I can't believe in 10 years the OP never learned that Sprint customer service is simply inconsistent, and that if you get a bad rep all you have to do is call back and get someone else who will be much more helpful. No need to take it personally - what a shame.

Gizmodo · Jul 30, 2010

I myself cannot understand why they would not do anything for me with no contract either. Had it been just one person, and she was Indian, I would have thought, she did not understand me. BUT 3 people??? I don't get it, but more importantly, I don't give a flying shit as my Verizon account is open and my phones are Fedexing their way to me right now. And they are not android. So I am outta here. For good. And to the asshole who asked if I "had" to post this twice, none of your damned business, but YES I DID. And I spent 2 hours last night posting the same letter on every phone forum I could find. Even registered just to post the one letter on those requiring registration. I may come back here to visit and upload the bumper sticker that my company's art dept is making for me. I am giving to all my friends and family who are brave enough to put it on their car.

Hasta la vista

pastafarian · Jul 30, 2010

Still curious. Did you pay full boat for the Moments? If not, how did you get them for less than that without a contract renewal? If you are off contract, you could basically walk/surf into any Sprint store or affiliate and buy at the lowest discounted price w/rebate. OTH, you could have behaved in the manner of your last post in your dealings with Sprint. The rep(s) may have decided it was in Sprints best interest to cancel your contract and sic you on their competitor.

Stoney62 · Jul 30, 2010

pastafarian said:
Still curious. Did you pay full boat for the Moments? If not, how did you get them for less than that without a contract renewal? If you are off contract, you could basically walk/surf into any Sprint store or affiliate and buy at the lowest discounted price w/rebate. OTH, you could have behaved in the manner of your last post in your dealings with Sprint. The rep(s) may have decided it was in Sprints best interest to cancel your contract and sic you on their competitor.

This is scary--you were reading my mind. I was going to post exactly the same thing--S/He never did bother to explain how he was no longer under contract with a phone that is less than a year old. Unless he had paid full price or bought it from an outside source (then got them replaced for free).

electricsheep · Jul 30, 2010

I think Sprint is extra belligerent with the Moment when it comes to replacing it with a different phone because they know all Moments are inherently defective due to the CDMA lockups issue. So if they replace one Moment with another phone because it's defective they could be looking at having to replace all of them.
I think the most anyone has ever got out of them was a waving of the early termination fee for the Moment. They are just trying to ride out the Moment's issues and hope nothing major comes of it.

ovrrdrive · Jul 30, 2010

Gizmodo said:
I myself cannot understand why they would not do anything for me with no contract either. Had it been just one person, and she was Indian, I would have thought, she did not understand me. BUT 3 people??? I don't get it, but more importantly, I don't give a flying shit as my Verizon account is open and my phones are Fedexing their way to me right now. And they are not android. So I am outta here. For good. And to the asshole who asked if I "had" to post this twice, none of your damned business, but YES I DID. And I spent 2 hours last night posting the same letter on every phone forum I could find. Even registered just to post the one letter on those requiring registration. I may come back here to visit and upload the bumper sticker that my company's art dept is making for me. I am giving to all my friends and family who are brave enough to put it on their car.

Hasta la vista

Your diligence is admirable but do you really think you're hurting spring or samsung with this post?

Or android?

And if you're so glad to be out of here, why are you still here?

AlkiDweller · Jul 30, 2010

Gizmodo said:
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS 'GOOD.' She told me that there was no way I could have any phone except a Moment. I would have to pay full price. She then informed my that my contract had expired. I said if she would give me a different model phone (HTC) for the advertised web price, I WOULD RENEW MY CONTRACT FOR ANOTHER 2 YEARS. She not only told me NO...

You had me up until that part. No contract? Pay full price? More than likely it was "pay the highly discounted price" for another model and a contract.

my1zamboni · Jul 30, 2010

Good One ovrrdrive.
I was thinking the same thing.
Out of here but comes back to check comments on his post.
Was pissed about the time he wasted with Sprint, but now is spending way more time putting up useless posts.

pastafarian · Jul 30, 2010

Stoney62 said:
This is scary--you were reading my mind.

You're hungry, get something to eat.

dntesinfrno · Jul 30, 2010

pastafarian said:
you're hungry, get something to eat.:d

hahahah

Rigmaster · Jul 30, 2010

If CS is a problem, politely escalate until you get to someone who can resolve issues without being 100% bound by policy and procedure. That's what they pay managers and executives for, and none of them like to see their name's in negative light.

I left ATT after more than 15 years with them. The CS was always poor, but I didn't factor it into my decision so much because there's always a way to work around bad CS agents. ATT's issues for me were dropped calls, high costs, and poor phone selection outside iPhones.

I also tend to believe that any company that has a dedicated, separate customer service group/process is simply admitting that they will not let most frontline employees resolve issues and that the company knows they have a high enough % of issues that something special has to be done.

I enjoy doing business with companies that surprise you with "we have no CS department, but I'd be happy to help you...." but I can't even remember the last time I ran into one.

Zardos · Jul 30, 2010

I don't see why they need to give you a phone for free. You have a Moment, that's what they can replace it with. If you want a different model you upgrade or buy something else. I understand this perfectly, I've been with them for about 6 years. Sounds like your sense is entitlement is pretty bad.

itmike · Jul 30, 2010

This smells of bs to me. Your out of contract but they wouldn't give you the discounted price. I work with sprint on a daily basis and never ever had a rep deny one of my customers the upgrade price on a phone with contract renewal. If your going to try to hurt sprint with a story, you could at least be honest with it. I mean it isn't hard to do. It is crap that they make you keep these known defective devices until your contract is up. I was just lucky that I could get an intercept for cheap and that has solved my issues of the radio lock up and the rev 0 radio is fast enough for youtube normal quality and sprint tv.

dbelleman · Jul 31, 2010

Story as is basically contradicts itself.

SHOVE IT!! Why I have let Sprint

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