26 Rants this month

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1. I am a customer representative myself and I have to agree with a lot of the customers posting here (except for the lowlife’s who try to abuse adjustments).
   Anyway, since i started working as a customer care representative, I have never ever ever seen so much stupidity in my life. Everyday, I get calls in with people screaming and cussing (which is totally understandable), I’m lucky if they’re not. Anyway, people calling in are either disputing prorated charges because they don’t know what it is, but more often that not, it’s because of outrageous charges. Dammit, how hard is it to fucking change price plan codes and service order codes you fucking morons? By the time the account gets to me, the account is so fucked up the charges are already off the roof! You dumbasses! When a customer calls in to have some changes made, you idiots tamper with the wrong codes and fuck everything up! Argh. Honestly, I am so fucking fed up with these other idiot customer care reps. No wonder people here are so mad.
   To the customers, let me explain to you how your accounts get fucked up. Lets say you call in to have something changed, like a higher price plan. Although it is a long process of notations, expiring codes, adding new codes to service, it is a very easy method. But somehow, these other idiot CSR’s (customer care reps) dont fucking understand future dating, backdating or immediate effectivity. Anyway, lets say you add a new phone of service that would share on your plan. That would make it a family plan. What you have to do is, specify which is the main line, and enter the correct price plan code for that. Then, you get the other number (the additional) and give it the same code. Ok, here’s where the fuck up begins. CSR’s dont put the correct codes in on the additional line. Lets say the plan should include Unlimited texting for all, but only provisions the code for the Main line. So without you knowing, the additional line uses text messaging but the problem is, its not sharing the plan for text messages! Another error, is that it doesn’t share the minutes! at the end of the month, the additional line, thinking that it was well under the minutes and using unlimited text messaging, incurs so much overage that it just makes you wanna scream!
   Then the whole process of fighting begins! Customer calls in and starts going buck wild on the first CSR. CSR cant fucking solve it and drops you, this happens so many times and the customer keeps calling in. By the time the customer gets a CSR that actually knows how to fix, the customer is already off their rockers.
   I truly am sorry for all that the loyal sprint customers have to go through. (that does not include those fucking monthly moochers) But truth be told, out of 5 representatives, only one is actually doing his/her job well and is knowledgeable with the system. YouCSR’s are complaining that the training isn’t enough? Well fuck you, I have the same god damned tools as you and the same training and still im able to actually help and resolve.
   We are getting paid to do 3 motherfucking things.
   1. Use a computer.
   2. Explain policies/prices/promotions/features
   3. Follow the Knowledge Management System!
   You can’t keep up? Fucking quit. It would seriously help all of us. Both customers and the other CSR’s who actually do their job well.
   You say youre always worried about your score card? Worried that you are not hitting your sales? Look at your scorecard, ISSUE RESOLUTION will always top your strategic value points. YOU WILL NOT GET FIRED FOR NOT SELLING! Especially if your QA score and Issue Resolution + Average Handling Time is good! Sprint is one big stupid sack of shit for being cheap to us employees but i know they are not stupid enough to take CSR’s with high Issue resolution scores off the floor!
   My only qualms with customers are:
   1. Your daughter/son is not an angel. They used the internet/text messaging/went over the minutes, then pay for it. You don’t want to? Then make your kid pay you.
   2. Screaming at us because you have to pay a $50 dollar deductible? Lets see you get insurance of any property that does not require one.
   3. You refuse to pay the bills and cancel your service without paying? Well, its your credit score going down. So stop threatening to sue Sprint if you cant even afford to pay your bill that has Valid Charges.
   4. Stop fucking screaming. It’s not gonna solve anything. Nor is it going to help me understand the concern.
   5. Premium Messaging. Learn the fucking term. You dont want to get charged $9.99 montly? Stop going to those 3rd party vendor sites for ringers stupid! That’s not Sprint’s fault anymore. You went there. You downloaded the ringer, so pay for it and dont dispute it.

   Overall, Sprint really has very nice add-ons for customer satisfaction like free vision, unlimited texting and free minutes ranging from 60minutes to 1,000 minutes. If the CSR you are talking to actually knows the Service Order Codes for these, they can give you these as courtesy if there were any problems with the account and you aren’t screaming at them. Personally, I offer these right away and sure enough, it helps calm the customer down. Especially when you are able to fix the account and adjust the charges (not to mention restore service properly)

   Just had to get that out.
   To my fellow Customer Care Reps, please, learn the system and policies. You will actually see that your sales and score card will actually go up when you make yourself comfortable with the system.
   To those that are doing an awesome job, Kudos to you guys!
   To the customers,
   Thank you for your business with Sprint and have a wonderful day!
   HAHA!
   Kidding aside, if you think whoever you are talking to is dumb, put the phone down and call again till you get someone you think can help you. NOTE: calling for a supervisor doesn’t always help since the CSR just might drop your call. Give the CSR a chance to fix things. After your call and they say that its fixed, call back after a day to check on things if its all correct. Now, isn’t that much easier than calling back every end of the month to fight?

   Comment by pissedoffrep — June 2, 2008 @ 2:56 am

2. “pissed off rep”,

   from your previous rant you sound like a fairly reasonable/intelligent person, why do you have to be a jerk to me? I always pay my bill and I’ve never called a tech and yelled at them, simply because I work at a call center and I know first hand that it won’t get me anywhere. I also work with a few “less then desirable” people and in the end they f*** it for them selves, by underestimating a loyal customer’s tenacity.

   Besides why pick a fight with someone who is on your side? A lot of experienced and reasonable sprint employees have helped me by simply explaining their policies on this site. By reading your post I now know the best way to make a change to my plan without running into any hostility and that not all sprint reps are the spawn of satan/uneducated trailor trash…

   Maybe you can answer a question for me? Does sprint charge any kind of fee if I pay my bill online?

   Comment by Helen — June 2, 2008 @ 7:31 am

3. hi helen,

   sorry if I sounded hostile on my last rant. Just had to blow some steam off after going through a shift of non-stop account repairs because of error setups by previous customer care reps.
   Anyway, you can actually make the plan changes through sprint.com (we were advised by the management to suggest this to customers) and also, if you will be paying your bills online, Sprint will not have any extra fees for that. That would be between you and your bank if ever they have any extra charges for online payments. Customer care reps can also take payments for you if its through credit card or checking account and they can even give you the voucher number right away.

   Here are a few other tips for everyone:
   1. If you think you have gone over your minutes (check by dialing star 4), call star 2 (customer service) and let them know. We have what we call relief minutes. I dont have my notes on me now, but from what i remember, its about 5 dollars for every 100minutes that you have gone over and 10 dollars for 300 i think. (i cant be too sure but ill check my system later at work and update this). But relief minutes are only issued once. There is also relief text messages. I will post that as well later on.
   2. If at any time you are unsure of what you have in your plan, call customer care or check your plan at sprint.com (its really helpful i tell you)
   3. Stop downloading ringers or games from any other site other than sprint.com because these sites SUBSCRIBE you to their service the moment you download from them and they charge $9.99 compared to the rates of $2.99 from sprint. These 3rd party vendors will keep charging you every month. They are seriously nasty.
   4. If you really do not want to get charged for internet services, we can block that off for you. We can even block off inbound calls, outgoing as well as text messaging.

   Oh yeah, just to let you guys know, we are actually sick of saying “Im very sorry for this inconvenience” but we really do have to. i know you guys are sick of hearing it as well. But its really protocol. If we dont say it, its an instant deduction on our score.

   If you have any other questions about what you can do about your account, post them here, ill try my best to answer them for you.

   Comment by pissedoffrep — June 3, 2008 @ 4:35 pm

4. oh wait, HELEN! im not the same guy as “pissed off rep”!!!

   i am using “pissedoffrep”!!

   i didnt notice that there was another guy using the same name. that wasnt me. honestly.

   Comment by pissedoffrep — June 3, 2008 @ 4:41 pm

5. lol… sry. Thank you for the answer especially when your answering questions all day at work, then coming to this site on top of that. Thats very gracious of you. You mentioned that you can block in coming and out going calls… My mother calls me 9x a day (not joking ) and fills my voice mail with long pointless messages. Long story short, can you block incoming calls from a specific person?

   Comment by Helen — June 4, 2008 @ 10:27 am

6. Aloha Helen and pissed off rep! Thanks for all your continued participation in the site, hope it’s helping some with questions and getting frustration out.

   Do you think it would be useful to require users to login and register to be able to leave a rant? It may reduce participation but would eleviate being able to leave the same name.

   Your opinions would be great.

   Aloha.

   Comment by Erik — June 4, 2008 @ 1:24 pm

7. hi helen and erik,

   regarding blocking off a certain number or caller id, I think it can be done. But this is pretty advanced stuff so make sure that you get a good rep to do it. he might just end up blocking up everything. Call barring is nothing new, sometimes this can even be done through your cellphone.

   Erik, i thought about that but then again it kinda misses the point of just leaving a rant. As much as I would like to leave my real name here, i could lose my job for some of the information I am giving out. But also, anyone can just use the name “pissedoffrep” and pretend to be me. what we can do is probably give the option to use a login ID so that whatever username they register cannot be used by anybody else for ranting.

   I really like this rant site and I hope that i can be of more help to the other Sprint customers out there.

   Oh by the way erik, I have a feeling this rant site will be filled with more responses/rants soon with the Sanyo Instinct Launch. For sure there will be a big influx of new accounts which in turn gives us more account setup errors. I am dreading the months following the release of this phone

   Comment by pissedoffrep — June 4, 2008 @ 5:17 pm

8. As a web chat agent I do feel that many of the phone agents are idiots. I spend many hours fixing there mistakes. Some will change one phone line to a family plan. Tell the cust to have a good day. Then chat in with **** up bill. If a phone agent messes up your bill please do not chat in with attitude. Call sprint yell at them first. After you calm down chat in on sprint.com. We can fix your bill

   Comment by Anonymous — June 4, 2008 @ 8:12 pm

9. I would be willing to log in and/ or register, but I have nothing ot lose.

   “pissed off rep” whats a good way to judge whether the rep im otp with is intelligent or not?

   For example, in my industry if an “IT” guy calls in to support and he doesn’t understand what I mean by “Can you ping your server?” than I know its an employee on a power trip.

   Does your support department have different skill levels? Are there any “level 3″ technicians?

   Comment by Helen — June 5, 2008 @ 4:27 am

10. Erik,

    Where are you time stamps coming from? I’m leaving this message at 9:43am CST.

    Comment by Helen — June 5, 2008 @ 4:43 am

11. Time stamps are in Hawaii Standard Time.

    I believe if I allow registering then the time stamp will be up to the registered person. I think I’ll open registering up as an option, not a requirement.

    Aloha,
    Erik

    Comment by Erik — June 5, 2008 @ 9:00 am

12. UGH. I hate sprint so much!
    I want to cancel my plan and go back to Verizon.

    I was thoroughly disgusted with their service, and as soon as my contract is over, I wilL NOT GO BACK.

    I bought an LG Rumor a month ago and today, the thing’s screen was malfunctioning. Obviously, I took it back to the Sprint store where I bought it to get it fixed/replaced. I had the bloody thing for a month.

    But no, they told me to contact LG because I didn’t have insurance on the thing. Even though I only had the phone for a MONTH. The guy was ESPECIALLY rude and condescending, just telling me pretty much, if you don’t like it, screw off and cancel your plan.

    I wanted to tell him, straight up, and piss him off because hey, the fact remains that I’m going to be a graduate of an Ivy League school while he’s some fat bastard selling phones.

    FUCK SPRINT. FUCK THEM..

    Comment by Ahra — June 5, 2008 @ 2:24 pm

13. hey helen,

    again, its “pissedoffrep” without any spaces. =)

    anyway, unfortunately, we are not divided by skill level, only by departments. The problem with determining if the rep you are speaking with is knowledgeable, is that some would try to pass off as one by giving you quick answers that they just made up. So, I cannot really say how to determine over the phone. The way I determine is when I look at their screens and how they navigate their systems in response to the questions/needs of the customer on the phone. Usually, the “slow and stupid” reps cant give you a straight answer right away. When you get these from the start, just hang up. Try to get another rep.

    Yo Ahra,

    so you’ve had the phone for a month already? Sprint’s policy is the 30 days guarantee so I’m sure you are past that already. However, a rep, or a store can actually “sneakily” back date Total Equiptment Protection Plan (TEP) for you which in turn can get you a new/refurbished phone. When you went to the store, did you ask them to pull up your account? If they did, they must’ve left notes already. But assuming that they haven’t, try to ask one of the store employees and state your case. Be nice and try to pull them aside. ALL OF THEM IN THE STORE WHO HAVE ACCESS TO OUR SYSTEM CAN DO THIS. So just try to pick out one that can help you.

    One tip about TEP (Total Equiptment Protection) is that you dont need this for more than one year. Not even more than 6 months. If the phone doesnt demonstrated any weirdness in its first 6 months, chances are, it wont. The moment you get a new phone, get this service right away and keep it on for about 6 months then cancel it. No need to keep it if you already know that the phone has demonstrated it’s sturdiness in the past 6 months.

    Comment by pissedoffrep — June 5, 2008 @ 3:27 pm

14. Sprint Nextel collection computers call me three times a day - early in the morning, midday, and at night - to attempt collections on an account for someone unknown to me who gave my home phone number to Sprint. And Sprint will not / ‘cannot’ stop the calls. It’s driving me insane.

    Comment by Anonymous — June 7, 2008 @ 6:41 am

15. I called in today to cancel my Sprint datacard. I originally got the card to use with my laptop because Time/Warner Cable took over my internet cable service from Comcast, and it became unstable and unreliable. The first year was okay, then in March of this year I began getting daily fluxuating speeds that were 50KB/s downloads up to the promised 700KB/s. After many attempts and service orders and finally verifying that the card was fine but the service wasn’t…I thought I should try and terminate the contract that had six months left on it. I looked up “cancel Sprint datacard” on Google and for the first time saw the 5MB limit then pay vs. unlimited change. Hurrah! Since they are changing the service agreement, I can legally cancel my service without penalty easier than canceling for poor service.

    Calling Sprint was an experience in itself. I was literally shaking with anger as I tried to control my voice and what I said. Of course, the rep didn’t want me to cancel. She wanted to deny that the contract was changed, or that I could cancel without penalty, but I had already verified I could with a service agent a week prior. The announcement of the change was in this month’s billing statement. I finally said she needed to pass me on to someone who was able to cancel, since I wasn’t willing to answer any more questions regarding “solving the problem of slow data downloads/uploads”. She placed me on hold and came back and said I would be cancelled.
    Now I plan to call back and verify the cancellation is indeed in place and that I won’t be charged a cancellation fee. From all the post I’ve ready on various sites, the most important keys to getting things done is documentation and checking back. An informed consumer is a powerful consumer.

    p.s. DSL is now available in my area and is my next source of frustration, no doubt.

    Comment by DallasDeb — June 9, 2008 @ 7:03 am

16. My brother mentioned a site that monitors sprint and sends out alerts anytime sprint changes its policy/contract.

    Has anyone else seen or heard anything on this?

    Comment by Helen — June 9, 2008 @ 11:16 am

17. I work in a tech support department for sprint and I haven’t even heard of that yet, we do send out notifications now through email, text, or a letter anytime we make changes to someone’s account

    Comment by smiley — June 9, 2008 @ 3:09 pm

18. I dont understand why all these people with super plans like SERO keep messing it up for the rest of sprints loyal customers. We’ve be customers for 8 years. I have three lines and pay a pretty hefty sum for all my services. I have never called in to complain about random charges on my account. But we have to Treo’s and honestly they suck, they’ve been horrible for the entire time we’ve had them. I’ve had mine for 20 months and the other for 19 months, i’ve tried multiple times with tech support and with the store to resolve the problems. Did I demand a refund? Absolutely not, I understand sometimes a phone isn’t the greatest and maybe the coverage in a local area kinda stinks. But after nearly two years of calling tech and going into the store it’s become cumbersome. So I call sprint and ask for a break since we’re so close to the 22 months. After 8 years they practicaly tell me to go fuck myself. How’s that for customer service? Then another rep in retentions tell’s me sure we can give you an upgrade credit but only for one phone. I wish sprint would start telling these losers who are screwing it up for all of us loyal customers to go fuck themselves. Sadly after 8 years we’re packing up out shit and moving to AT&T. Hopefully one of these days when sprint gets tired of alienating it’s long term customers we will come back………

    Comment by mike — June 12, 2008 @ 11:14 am

19. I have read all this months rants. I used to be an employee. Firstly, about the TEP insurance. I say don’t remove it after 6 months. That insurance covers any lost, theft or just damage to a phone. Say you bought your phone 7 months ago and you lose it at the mall. If you just removed the insurance you have to buy a whole new phone and pretty much at full cost. Most people don’t want to pay a few hundred bucks on a new phone when the lost one.

    I have seen many CSR’s totally mess up accounts. I was there for almost 6 yrs. Nothing really surprised me by the time I left there. I actually worked several depts over that time and learned alot about how things work. Though I never would have posted why I was working there. They actually monitor sights to see who is posting what. If you mention you are an employee, they can find you. And they can fire you if you release any information that is for company use only. Read your internal website people. It’s not as safe to post as you think.

    I have dealt with reps in my old depts that started the company with me, and still couldn’t change a rate plan correctly. Its not about length of tenure when dealing with a rep. Best thing to do with any company is to verify what you have, know what it includes. That part is called being a knowledgable consumer. and always keep receipts, records, all that for anything important. It will save you alot of hassle in the long run.

    Comment by Anonymous — June 19, 2008 @ 4:27 am

20. Lets not forget the dumb a** sprint customers that can not read a bill. Or understand if sprint credits a ten dollar surcharge, They still have to pay the $500 dollars in overages they racked up. Sick and tired of sprint customers!

    Comment by Big Mike — June 19, 2008 @ 10:48 am

21. On Tuesday, June 17, 2008 I was mugged by two young men trying to get into a gang. I was beaten, bruised and sore. They got my purse with everything in it. Fortunately, they were caught, due to the extraordinary efforts of the Montgomery County, Maryland police department. They are the best.

    I called Sprint to get the phone turned off and replaced. They told me two things: the people who stole it would still be able to use to access the Internet (and run up my bill) and that I would also have to pay $50 to replace the phone (I have the insurance, and they have no provision for victims of violent crimes.)

    Sprint promised me a replacement phone no later than Friday. At 6 PM on Friday, still no phone. I call, and get a UPS tracking number, and look it up. Sprint gave the phone to UPS without an address on it, just the city in which I live. There are about 500,000 people in my town. So, needless to say, they can’t deliver. They are going to send a postcard to the listed address (none) to get clarification (which I will never received since there is no street or house number.) I call Sprint back and they tell me they will send out another phone for Saturday delivery and that they will call me back with the tracking number. They don’t.

    I call shortly after noon on Saturday, and find out after nearly two hours of being pushed from one person to another, being placed on hold, that they didn’t send the second phone. Not only that, but they aren’t going to. It’s not part of the contract they have with UPS. Sprint is pointing fingers at the insurance company, and the insurance company is pointing fingers at Sprint. The phone is going to float around UPS until it goes back to Sprint.

    Sprint is made up of a company of useless fuckers who probably don’t even have opposable thumbs. The biggest fucker of them all is a call guy named Joe, who’s employee number is 10017. Of at least that’s what he told me, he’s just another lying bastard with very little command of the English language. I could hardly understand his accent, so I have no idea where he is actually based.

    Bottom line: I have no idea when I’m going to get a phone. I hate Sprint.
    I really hate Sprint. I wish I’d never signed up with them, and as soon as my contract is up, I’m gone.

    Comment by Anonymous — June 21, 2008 @ 9:02 am

22. to ‘big mike’:
    keep it up genius, you won’t have to worry about ‘dumb ass sprint customers’ for too much longer……. soon there won’t be any.

    Comment by another time wasting customer — June 23, 2008 @ 10:25 am

23. I had the worst experience today with one of the customer service reps. Being a loyal customer for over 3 years, and never having a returned payment, I thought I would get a little more respect. I had identity theft, and a hold placed on my account at the bank, which my sprint payment hadn’t come out of yet. Trying to explain this for hours on end, I ended up getting what I thought was an extesion on payment….that is after paying over 200.00 in one week. I was wrong. My phone didn’t get turned back on, and because they no longer were taking my credit card (which was actually a debit card, and my payment had already come out of my bank account,) the 200.00 I paid was being ut back into my account, and I was going to have to wait for that to clear in order to take out the cash and pay at the sprint store. Not only this, but the woman on the phone didn’t let me get a word in, and was not understanding at all of my situation. Afer going online and reading about sprint, I now see it is rated one of the worst in customer service. You might want to teach your people to be a little more polite, because you are really getting a bad rep out there….and I see why.

    Comment by Anonymous — June 24, 2008 @ 3:39 am

24. sprint sucks, yes. I’ve had service with them for 3 years now and almost every month I have been over billed. Sometimes I receive a credit but who has the time to wait on hold for hours waiting on customer service and always having to check your bill every month?????? Also, my plan included web access but I have never been able to use that service. I have talked to customer support too many times and they always do something different but never fix the problem. It goes from wrong username or password to busy try later. crazy. I finally just gave up trying to use it at all.

    Comment by mary — June 24, 2008 @ 4:10 pm

25. I am sick and tired of seeing all the complaints on this site, you actually waste your time to post all of these complaints here just to have them here so you can be heard, you do all of this for nothing because regardless of everything you post here, nothing seems to change, If you have so many problems with the service then why not cancel, stop sugar coating shit and things for what they are.

    Comment by N.Y.O.D.B — June 24, 2008 @ 4:25 pm

26. N.Y.O.D.B. -

    Doesn’t that feel good to rant and get your complaint out to the world.

    Comment by Erik — June 28, 2008 @ 11:08 am

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