Comments on: Sprint breaks up with high-maintenance customers

Wireless carrier sends Dear John letters to customers who it says call the customer support line too often.

[tntsniper]

unreal

A previous user said "Good for Sprint" Now me (Being in business and accounting) hearing this is just unreal.
The user said "Sprint needs to be profitable" etc etc.. Basically stating that they need to boot customers to make money.

Boy if this isn't the number 1 no-no in business. This all has an effect some way or another on the company. The ONE customer they canceled knew the right place to go for help and discussion.. Now this has been a widely covered topic and now Sprint may loose hundreds if not thousands of customers.
I'm with sprint right now.. clean account, pay my bill on time every month, etc. But even though i dont use Customer Service that much.. it still scares me to call in now.

What was sprint thinking? I'm considering changing services now. I'm looking at going back to Cingular (att now).. Never had one problem like this before.

[maddlley]

sprint is sneaky

When I purchased my rzr phone and signed on with Sprint, I specifically did so on a date which would be of monthly convenience to correlate with my pay. Since opening the account 7 months ago, my Sprint payment due date has come back on my bill one day earlier every month. What was due on yhe tenth is now due on the third, and depending on whom you speak to in the complaint department this is a glitch;we will fix it right away or this is part of our billing rollover thingamajig you are screwed sorry for your luck please hold for another hour now you owe late fees and your perfect credit is screwed. Damn I'm pissed!!!!

[scottwilkins]

Good for Sprint

Customers that can't get a clue need to be kicked. I'm no Sprint fan, hate them dearly, but this is awesome! Truthfully I hope that Sprint get's sued. But I also hope that some folks learn a lesson that there are better ways to handle situations than being annoying.

[hotcracker69]

Cell Service in the USA SUCKS anyways

the Cell service in america suck in many way... If any of you have traveled oversees yuo will realized what i am saying.

take Hong Kong for example, any cell phone store have over 100 cell phone to choose from, vs. in the US we have maybe a bit over 20. and cell service is much cheaper.

the only difference is that cell must be purchase at full retail price. but you can always sell them back...

monthly dues are much cheaper....

[bazemore]

Worst Service Ever

This is the most rediculous thing I have ever heard. Sprint wonders why they are loosing market share. A customer centric company would ask themselves ?What are we doing wrong to cause our customers to have to call us so much, how can we fix the problem so that they don?t have to waste their time calling us? A pompus company says ?we?ll just get rid of the trouble makers so that we don?t have to hire any more agents to talk to these guys?

[hotboidrvsf150]

NEVER on AT&T

As an employee if Cingular, The New AT&T, and a Sprint customer as well; I am appauled by what this company is doing. I have never heard of a company doing this before. Sprint has lost more than 200,000 customers the first quarter of this year, now they are letting more go? It is stated that these selected customers that are being terminated are calling in for billing problems....well then....Invest more in your billing department!!!!! This would never happen with an AT&T customer, our customer is #1 and we over achieve in trying to make our customers absolutely happy and provide the best service possible. I think Sprint will be absolute in a couple of years if they keep doing this. All I can say is that I only have a Sprint account because I am in contract, and I think I will cancel my serice with them, as everyone else is doing as well.

[JohnJDougherty]

Every customer happy?

It is not possible to make every customer happy. Some things are even out of the control of ANY customer-service team. Just because a customer "thinks" the vendor is responsible for their dissatisfaction with the service does not make it so. This is the open secret of all customer service professionals. Ir is great to have a slogan that the customer is "#1" but suppose the particular customer is psychotic?

[subzero_logic]

WOW REALLY?

Fun cause i work for sprint nextel in dealer support so i do not handle customer calls but J.D Power in 2007 rates Sprint Nextel and Cingular as Last in Wireless Customer Care Ratings! Heres the link! I work for sprint nextel but would never make claims that are not true! Maybe if you are so good you should come work for us and help! My cousin work for cingular and can't afford to buy there service because it cost to much even with her 10% discount, but may be you should watch want you say because your customer who submitted to the poll by J.D Powers did not fell that your customer service was any better!

[i_am_still_wade]

Hmm... I have AT&T and customer service stinks

I have BellSouth, er, Cingular, er, AT&T. Going on 8 years now. While I'm happy with my service (because I really do never get a dropped call), customer service stinks. Oh, they aren't rude. It is just that the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.

Case in point, about 3 years ago I asked for my phone to be unlocked, the person said they will do that and put in with another department to handle that. The wait was 1 hour, and I wasn't going to wait that long. So I hung up. The next time I tried, customer service said they don't do that.

They aren't rude, which is good. They just need better training.

[dean721]

Never on AT&T

If you do work for Cingular then you must be some corporate lackey. You know (or you should) that Cingular is sending their customers similar letters and booting them for excessive off-network usage and are refusing upgrades for other customers who use too many mobile-to-mobile minutes.

[The DB]

Never on AT&T?

If you are actually an employee of Cingular - The "NEW" AT&T, ask *your* people why they make it so hard for long time customers to want to stay? I spent six months trying to get moved from the old TDMA "we will charge you five bucks extra and cut down your service" to a new contract with a GSM phone...why??? AT&T's billing department is just as bad...ask the poor fools that had AT&T Wireless and got sucked into the Cingular cesspool! I was unlucky enough to be a Cingular customer for 7 years! Do yourself a favor, don't throw stones especially if you live in a glass house! I feel sorry for the folks that got an iPhone and find out the AT&T customer service is iDon't care...

[JohnJDougherty]

Good idea

Actually, this is not a bad idea. Not every customer is a good one - and in a very competitive field, you may just have an advantage if your competition is stuck with the bad ones. Anyone who works in a heavy volume customer-oriented industry knows that there is a core of customers who are never happy - and they are addicted to calling customer-service to complain - about anything.

[bfried7]

A message to the Sprint Board of Directors and Shareholders

Sprint, formally know as Worldcom (are the directors still in jail?)
created this mess. It is driving everyone crazy trying to keep
Up with the minutes, updates, ringers, internet, downloads, contracts, photos, renewals, nights, weekend, Plans, Phones, text minutes, mp3, applications, billing ect. This is like a second job. They created this confusing mess and when customers complain, they think the answer is that maybe if we just got rid of the complainers all will be well. But that?s all their customers. This is sort of like Frankenstein. Sprint was a cutting edge innovative company when they started and they need to get back to their roots. First they need to clean house, from the CEO on down. Second they need to think outside the box, try this Idea. One flat rate that includes everything for a reasonable low price. This will stop the complaining, stop the craziness, When was the last time you complained to your land line company who charges you a flat rate? Sprint could do away with most of their customer service reps and get their customers back..

[Martouf]

Off topic, but could not let this go...

Sprint and WorldCom almost merged, but it was called off. (http://news.com.com/2100-1033-243110.html) Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think Sprint and WorldCom ever had any formal business relationship. Maybe you are thinking of MCI. I know this has little to do with firing customers, but I just could not let this go.

[i_am_still_wade]

Sprint has been getting worse

In my local paper, there are always 2 or 3 ads for Sprint. Why so many ads? Because when you are hemorrhaging customers, you need to replace them fast.

On TV, Sprint always attacks AT&T/Cingular and never any other carrier? Why? Because the only advantage they have over anybody is more 3G coverage than AT&T. Other than that, Sprint is behind everyone.

Sprint has a lot of ads, but that only means the service stinks all around. Before the merger, Nextel was half-way decent. After, you have a better chance of climbing Mt. Everest then to get through to someone. And it ain't getting better, but worse.

I just wish Sprint would fold and end the misery of its customers and those who call its customers.

[mayibefrank]

Sprint's Decision Based On Profit - Shifting Blame On Customer

That letter is utter bull#$@^! Sprint prefaces it by placing blame unfairly on the customer. The reality is that Sprint is losing its profits due to the customer's high roaming usage under his/her "no roaming charges" plan. The letter should just come out and state it.

This type of cowardice and blame game behavior is typical of corporate America these days...and its only going to get worse!

[darkbreed]

are you on crack

ATT or what ever they call themselves this month customer service truly sucks. I've been trying to get them to correct my $9000 phone bill for the past two months. Here's how it goes, you call, you wait, you explain everything, you get transfered, you wait, you explain everything again, you get put on hold, you get cut off, you call back, you wait, you explain everything, you get put on hold, you wait, you get transfered, you explain everything, you get put on hold, you wait, you get cut off... repeat that at least 5 times. By the way, my bill is still $9000.

[a_sprint_byproduct]

pick and choose

WoW!!! Sprint must be doing extremely well to be able to pick and choose their customers. This exclusive option leaves me wondering just how much Sprint is going to push the envelope with their customers in the future."Be happy and silent or lose your service"...will be the new motto for Sprint. This approach is far from being democratic but rather is dictatorial. Having spent over 15 years as a Sprint customer service rep I can honestly say that Sprint was always on the forefront of "stupid" when it came to eliminating incentives, benefits and morale boosters for their employees. Now I will have to stop calling my Sprint retiree benefits office for fear that my oxygen line will be disconnected. Breaking up is hard to do....

[sethco8904]

Executives Point Of View

I too being a Berkshire Hathaway executive, find this troubling. I called probably once or twice. Our attorney's are researching the legalities in this business decision as it may impact future relationships with Sprint and their subsidiaries. I do believe there will be a strong class action suit out of this and I would also encourage customers to do the reverse, basically saying dear Sprint, you as an organization have been unable to meet my needs or our needs as a company or individual, so based on you (Sprint) violating the terms and agreement of our contract you have been fired. I as customer or company am taking my account to a zero balance based on your inability to deliver and sustain service.

[adg045]

so what?

the next time you go to your hair salon, dentist, optometrist, or any other service-related purveyor, ask them if they've ever had to deny service to someone. guess what - odds are they have. this comes as no surprise to me. sometimes a customer is not worth keeping and therefore they must be "fired."

[kribor]

The only problem with that is....

Somewhere in the terms of service the customer agrees to pay the bill regardless of the level of service received. I seriously doubt you could make a case for a quid pro quo. There should be, but I'd be willing to bet that the TOS prevents the kind of customer revolt you suggest....

[gargoyle_collector]

If You Get This Letter

Clearly, if you get this letter your service has sucked so bad that you've had to call so many times it flagged the company. Why would you think this is a bad thing? If your service doesn't suck, you won't get the letter. If it does, you're free to go somewhere else. How does the customer lose in either situation?

[Jab_47]

You clearly work for Sprint

Have you called customer care? If you have you would realize on average it takes about 3 calls to rectify your issue. If a sales representative assures you you will have coverage and you complain...um genius then what would you do-if you work for Sprint you should know there are numerous tools to verify this as well as the coverage map. Lose as well? Well you lose your MDN if you don't port over to another carrier.

[Benji2112]

Yes !!!!!

There ya go, finally a free way out of a contract !! I wonder how many calls it would take though?

Another thing would be do you then get listed in your chart as difficult because you actually WANT them to provide the service that works, get your bill right, etc etc? Maybe they could pass out "difficult guidelines "so others of us could get out of contract for free. This is the start of something big !

[quilter64779]

sprint

I wish I had received one of the letters. I have tried for 3months and have called alot to correct a problem of not being able to pay my bill online. Now I can't even sign on to spring. So I wish they would send me a letter because I am going to cancel with them. Already have another phone.

[wesleyaring]

Been a Sprint customer for YEARS!

I've had absolutely no problem with Sprint. I dumped AT&T back before they bought Cingular because the customer service was so arrogant, and I owned an expensive plan which I paid for on time all the time. I ended up a Sprint customer because I just couldn't find better plans-to-coverage. I've never had a problem with their service, AND, their customer service has always catered to my every need, I guess I just don't get why everyone has problems, maybe its in the approach? I just got an Upstage for free with them, just by speaking with their retention department and telling them I'm unhappy with my current equipment. Last year I got a premium phone for free too! It's hard to believe I've been lucky all these years, I think they get a bad rap.

I hope I don't live to eat those words!

[jty12388]

TalkingBack-

Okay, so Sprint dumped some of its "problem" customers...Do any of you have jobs working with people? If you do you would know that there are some customers that you just can not please. I currently have a sprint and a nextel and I have encountered the issue where they don't actually fix the problem the first time around, but I have not found it that difficult to get things worked out eventually. Personally I am thankful that when I do need to call in I will not have to wait so long.
Something I did not see in this thread is a reference to the time frame. Does anyone remember that the iPhone just came out? Now I say this only because I have seen it posted on cNet that a good way to get rid of your current carrier (in order to get the iPhone on Cingular/AT&T) would be to costantly call and complain...and you know some people are doing just that. I think Sprint might be trying to say, "you missed your chance- we already made the cuts".
Now as far as shifting the blame onto the customer and cutting them off for high roaming usage, this may play a part, but I am pretty sure they wouldn't send you this letter if you have not called CS a few times. Every cell company cuts people off for this reason anyway (Cingular especially in my area) so what does it matter the reason that they give you?
As for the topic of discrimination, being classified by your actions is not illegal. If I remember correctly felons are stripped of their right to vote. I am not saying that there will not be any lawsuits over this, but I do have a hard time seeing it. Sprint writes those contracts and I am pretty sure they can cancel you for almost any reason (given that actual discrimination would not be one of those reasons).
And my final comment is that there is really no need to discuss coverage. Coming from someone who has dealt with a lot of phones I can tell you that every carrier has dead spots. Find a carrier that works where you need it to and be happy for yourself. I do empathize with the people who had legitimate problems and where cut off because of it, maybe Sprint did work for them, but again there are customers out there that you are better off without.