Kinda pisses me off. Mostly because I just signed a contract with sprint. Legally how can they jack up rates? Needless to say, if this goes though I guess I'm not locked into the 2 year contract I signed.

On the bright side I can save the extra money and just do online bill pay plus save an extra five bucks plus save the stamps.

I need to go check how much my last surcharge was last bill.

 

Not sure this is related, but The Consumerist (site run by Consumer Reports) is reporting that Sprint has confirmed they will increase monthly regulatory fees from $.20 to $.40 on January 1st. This change in policy appears to open the chance to void your contract without any penalty. Very interesting...

Sprint Fee Increase Is Your Chance To Escape Without Early Termination Fee - The Consumerist

 

okkkkaayayyy...
I started reading through this thread, and when I checked my bill, this is what I saw... Someone tell me why, or what this crap is? My wife handles all this. She's the one that started the account, so I never checked over it.
What is this?

Sprint Surcharges are rates we choose to collect from you to help defray costs imposed on us. Surcharges are not taxes on you or amounts we are required to collect from you by law. Surcharges other charges incurred to recover costs associated with governmental programs, and certain taxes imposed upon Sprint. The amounts, and the components used to calculate Surcharge amounts, are subject to change. Federal-Univ Serv Assess Non-LD $2.06 Administrative Charge $2.97 Regulatory Charge $0.60

 

If they add a surcharge not include in your original contract you can break your contract without paying an ETF. You have to do it in a reasonable amount of time but contract/service plan/billing changes that come later in your relationship with your carrier give you a chance to break your contract without paying the ETF. If you don't want to leave then you are stuck with the changes but if you want to leave you can do so without a penalty. My spending limit was just lifted, got the letter two days ago, so this is a change I am not worried about.

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what is a spending limit with regards to a Sprint Account?

 

My last months surcharge breakdown.

Keep in mind that these vary from state to state.

Federal-Univ Serv Assess Non-LD $1.24
Arkansas State-High Cost Charge $0.72
Arkansas State-TRS Charge $0.04
Administrative Charge $0.99
Regulatory Charge $0.20
--------------
$3.19

 

It's actually kind of silly with the required plans for a Hero. A spending limit is just what it sounds like. Sprint places a dollar amount on your account that are not allowed to go over and if you hit it you will only be able to access services that are unlimited or free. For instance if you have a plan that includes unlimited airtime but limited data you could end up not being to access data until you made a payment. I know mine had a spending limit because my credit sucked when I got the phone and I had to put down the deposit and all of that. It's been about two years and they lifted the limit. It's a way to make sure people don't get in over their heads and limit Sprint's losses on deadbeats.

 

The way to get rid of the Account Spending Limit is by making sure that you are making payments on time for at least 18 months, that's why an account holder that signs up for auto pay will have the 4.99 waived. I was ASL for 2.5 years then I started making a $10 payment a week plus my monthly $69.99 until my bill was showing a credit of over $100.00 at that time I just started paying my $69.99 as soon as the bill showed on sprint.com, about 6 months later my ASL was lifted. Now my first 2 years with sprint I was always behind and getting bills for $140.00 and above, now my account always shows a credit... rainy days, if I can't pay a month I am not as worry because I have at least one month credit. One more thing, I went to my local store and asked if they had employee discount for my employer and I have a 16% discounted off my bill every month..

 

I thought the spending limit was a good thing when I saw it on my account. I always shiver when I hear about those horror stories of cellular users that rack up unexpected bills that are several thousand dollars or more. I figured this was a service Sprint offered to make sure this didn't happen, not something associated with crappy credit.

 

Another silly question, would the ASL show up on our online account anywhere? I just came back to sprint for the hero from AT&T (had been gone 4 years) and I dont see mention of an ASL online.

 

How would you know if you had a spending limit?

Where would you see it on your bill?

 

I couldn't find anything online in my account info about a spending limit, so I called Sprint to see if I had a limit and they confirmed I don't have one.

 

If you have an ASL account you will see a green bar under your phones like the one attached. I got this image from a friend's account.

 

That image that salpiche posted is right. It shows how far you go until you hit the spending limit in place. This is the best explaination of it that I have come up with, and seems to be the least confusing:

The Sprint spending limit program is different from other wireless companies' prepaid plans which are often subject to higher rates. It was designed with you in mind:
* You are not limited to any special plans or phones.
* All our services are available to you, as long as you stay within your limit.
* We will help protect you from excess charges by sending you a text message when you are approaching your limit.
* As long as your balance doesn't exceed the limit or become past due, there will be no interruption to your service.

So yes, it is based on your credit evaluation, but if you have crappy credit, it allows Sprint to provide you with service for a lower deposit (usually $125 or $150 per line) instead of the $300 - $400 per line that AT&T / Verizon will charge someone with the same credit rating. It's a good alternative to a prepaid service, especially if you're trying to build up your credit.

The confusing part is how exactly it is calculated. Say you are on the Everything Data 450 plan ($69.99) and you have a $125 ASL. Your bill has charges of $69.99 for your plan, and say you used $10 for international calls, and $5 in ringer purchases, and is due by 12/25. The ASL balance will show that you have used about $15 of your $125, because it does not count your plan cost during that billing cycle. Now, say you don't pay your bill by 12/25. Your next bill generates, and you now have a past due balance of $85, plus you kept making calls to other countries, so you have $20 in international charges. The past due balance goes against your ASL, along with the "casual" usage (not included in your plan) charges. So now your ASL balance is $105, even though the bill says you owe $175. Got it?

You get an alert (usually by text) when you reach 80% of your ASL balance, so you can make a partial payment to get it lowered. Once you hit 100% of it, you have some usage restrictions (pretty much anything outgoing is not allowed until a payment is made), and when you hit 120% of the ASL, your service is suspended until you make a payment to get back below your ASL.

As for the $4.99 charge that is being put into place in January, customers in some states were already being charged this fee, and Sprint decided to move it to all ASL accounts. Think of it as an incentive to pay your bill on time (and in FULL, you'd be surprised how many people get pissed off their service is interruped "but I make a payment every month" ... Yeah, for HALF what is owed!!), or just sign up for the AutoPay option. When I make my water / sewer payments, I'm charged $1.50 to use a credit card online, but setting up automatic payments waives that charge. So I set up the AutoPay, and just pay my bill manually each month anyway (as long as it's paid before the bill due date, the AutoPay doesn't actually hit, so you don't get charged twice like a lot of people think will happen).

Oh, and if you're an ASL customer, you can't bill equipment to your account, you MUST pay for it at the time the order is placed. Another reason to pay your bill on time.

BTW --- Yes, I work for Sprint. But I'm not here in an "official" capacity, I just felt the need to explain the ASL thing, because it confuses people pretty frequently, and I'm used to being the one people ask for how to explain it.

 

When it looks like a pig, chances are it is a pig!


First off, I want to express that the supervisor I spoke with on the phone was courteous and helpful and made every attempt, given by corporate Sprint, to address and resolve my concern.

Unfortunately, corporate Sprint had made questionable limits on what could or could not be provide by its supervisors to resolve my concerns.

Corporate Sprint believes, and has instructed its employees, that this letter and $4.99 monthly fee outlines a customer benefit. However, it is obvious that a benefit would offer a customer a discount to create a desired action rather than impose a fee otherwise.

As I do not see how using auto pay to make monthly payments rather than my current payment method would provide Sprint with any cost savings, Sprint has assessed a penalty as a result of my decision. I presently have the freedom to use the sprint.com website to pay my bill a number of ways including credit card, debit card, checking account, and savings account. Corporate Sprint has decided this freedom is worth a fee of $4.99 per month.

As a result of Sprint

 

To clarify the 4.99 surcharge allows you to cancel without an ETF but the universal service fee increases do not. It is also waived by using automatic payment. The accounts affected by this would be charged more than twice the deposit by Verizon and in my case almost ten times the deposit by ATT (1000 vs 150) and if you pay on time for 18 months you spending limit is lifted. So if you are really that upset about the 5.00 fee then cancel without the ETF and go spend much more with a company with worse plans. Verizon would be a 400 dollar deposit for me. Sprint was 150. With the new fee for 18 months that's 240. While I lose 90 of that it wasn't all out of pocket up front, I had a better overall plan, and still lower monthly rates. So while the internet, like the previous poster pointed out, is a powerful tool in this case getting people all worked up won't serve much purpose.

This fee was announced publicly so Sprint isn't trying to pull a fast one. It allows you to cancel without paying the ETF. And even with the fee Sprint still has the best plans going. So get your ire up and rant if it makes you mad most people won't be doing anything about it and new customers get it in their contracts.

 

To clarify the 4.99 surcharge allows you to cancel without an ETF but the universal service fee increases do not. It is also waived by using automatic payment. The accounts affected by this would be charged more than twice the deposit by Verizon and in my case almost ten times the deposit by ATT (1000 vs 150) and if you pay on time for 18 months you spending limit is lifted. So if you are really that upset about the 5.00 fee then cancel without the ETF and go spend much more with a company with worse plans. Verizon would be a 400 dollar deposit for me. Sprint was 150. With the new fee for 18 months that's 240. While I lose 90 of that it wasn't all out of pocket up front, I had a better overall plan, and still lower monthly rates. So while the internet, like the previous poster pointed out, is a powerful tool in this case getting people all worked up won't serve much purpose.

This fee was announced publicly so Sprint isn't trying to pull a fast one. It allows you to cancel without paying the ETF. And even with the fee Sprint still has the best plans going. So get your ire up and rant if it makes you mad most people won't be doing anything about it and new customers get it in their contracts.