Dispute with Sprint 2007-09
From WhyNotWiki
[edit] My story
This is a story about me almost getting bitten by two of Sprint's terrible policies (the 2-year contract, changing plans requires new contract) and getting slightly misled by one of not-so-good customer service representatives (CSRs), but in the end about getting a very good CSR who did the Right Thing and made me happy.
I had been on a family plan with my friend David for _ [4-5?] years because we figured it would be a cheaper way to go than for each of us to have an individual plan. That worked out all right for us. But now David was married and was moving away, so it no longer made sense for us to share a plan.
[edit] 2007-08-15: Changed ownership
We went into the Sprint store on Wednesday, 2007-08-15, to get the phone transferred into my name. That was pretty painless. We just had to both sign a "Application for Transfer of Service" (version 1.1, updated 2006-02-01).
When we transferred account ownership from David to me, I assumed it would remain on a month-to-month plan (no contract). And it probably would have, too, if I had not tried to make any changes to my plan...
[edit] 2007-08-15: Changed plan
What happened:
While we were still in the Sprint store, we wanted to also get rid of the 2nd line (I wouldn't need it!) and to change my plan. To get rid of the 2nd line, they told us, we would have to call the customer service number and cancel it that way -- they couldn't do that from in the store -- but they could change my plan for me.
I don't even remember why I wanted to change my plan in the first place. But for whatever reason, I had Hans (a friend I know who works there) change my plan. I think had him change it to the $40 450-anytime-minute (Power Pack 450) plan, because that looked like the best deal. But I didn't stick with that for long (not sure if he even put it in the system; maybe he only put in the next one I chose)'...
I saw some advertisement on the counter for a $45 1000-anytime-minute (Sprint PCS Free & Clear Area-Wide) plan, very similar to the one David and I had' had (which was the $50 1200-anytime-minutes PCS Free & Clear Area-Wide plan). I asked Hans why he didn't mention this plan before when we were talking about options. I think he said that he'd forgotten that it even existed; it's not even listed in the main brochure.
The drawback to this plan was that roaming charges are not included and there is a travel rate of $.50 per minute if you go out of the plan's "area". But I'm used to that, since that's what we've had for the last _ years. We were all under the impression that that plan was no longer available -- that we only had it because we were "grandfathered" in but that it wasn't available to new customers. Apparently the same plan still exists, however, at least in the 1000-minute variety. Anyway, I'm not sure why I ended up picked that plan instead of simply staying with our original plan to begin with, but somehow, I did.
Then I looked around at all the nifty new phones and I considering buying one (since I'm eligible for a discount on a new phone), but I didn't want to rush into a big purchase like that so I decided to do that another time.
Analysis / Looking back:
When Hans changed my plan for me, I sure was not under the impression that this would require me to start a new contract -- the thought never even entered my mind! All I was doing was changing my plan!
Should I have known about the change-of-plan-means-new-contract policy?
Had I actually read the fine print of the "Application for Transfer of Service" that I'd signed, however, I would have read that the "Transferee agrees to abide by the Terms and Conditions of Service for Transferee's Service Plan". Well duh, that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. What might be surprising, however, was that I had never (to my knowledge) received a copy of these alleged "Terms and Conditions". So how could I agree to Terms and Conditions I'd never seen before?
Looking back, I probably should have said, "Hold it. What are these 'Terms and Conditions' that I am supposedly agreeing to here? Do you have a copy of them that I can read and keep for future reference?" But as I was with David and Kristin at the time and didn't want to keep them waiting (or keep any other customers waiting who may have been in line), I was probably a little less, shall we say, [conscientious/mindful] of the fine print than I normally would be. Besides, I feel that they should provide a copy of the Terms and Conditions to any new account holder (without them having to ask for them) before they sign on the dotted line.
All right, so that's history now and I can't change that now. But how would I find out what the Terms and Conditions are right now, should I be so inclined?
They don't exactly make them easy to find and read. You really have to go out of your way to obtain a copy -- or realize that you've obtained a copy, as the case may be. Apparently, a fairly condensed version of the Terms and Conditions is printed in a very unobvious location in rather fine print on all of their plan brochures (labeled "TERMS OF SERVICE -- Subscriber Agreement). I probably never would have realized that unless it had been pointed out to me.
Apparently I'm not the only one to have discovered how hard it is to find their Terms of Service, as this experience written by Victoria Pynchon demonstrates [1]:
On my way to the grocery store this morning , I drove by a Sprint outlet. So I stopped, ran in, and had the following conversation with the Sprint representative.
"Can I get a copy of Sprint's service contract?"
"Huhhhhhhhhhh?????????"
"You know, the terms and conditions of the Sprint cell phone service plan."
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh -- you mean the, uh, Plan Brochure?"
"Does it have all of the plans' terms in it?"
"Terms?"
"You know, the FINE PRINT? the contract? the parties' agreement if I sign up for service."
Smiling, "sure," she replies, handing me the brochure [...].
Perhaps I'm asking a lot here, but I sure hope that new subscribers are made unambiguously aware of they terms of service they are agreeing to before they sign a contract with Sprint. I don't know whether that is the case because I was not the one who originally signed the original contract (it was in David's name); all I know is that when we transferred the account into my name, they sure didn't do a very good job of informing me of all the terms and conditions.
The terms of service given in the brochure are not comprehensive:
They read:
The agreement is provided to you at activation and includes any documents you are asked to sign, the detailed service terms (in this guide & other relevant materials) and a specific Terms and Conditions document for the services selected.
Well that's clear as mud. But it sounds like they might furnish "detailed service terms" and "a specific Terms and Conditions document" at the time you sign a contract, in addition to the condensed terms in the brochure. Let's hope so.
Continuing on in the brochure's mini-terms, I read:
If you agree to maintain service for a minimum Term, the Term begins when you accept the Subscriber Agreement (e.g., signature, activate service, use phone, etc.). You may terminate any line of service before its Term ends by calling us, however you will be responsible for an Early Termination Fee of up to $2000 ("Fee") for each line/number terminated early -- except for terminations consistent with our return policy.
Specifically, I did not see anything mentioning that changing your plan requires you to enter into a new 2-year contract. The closest I found to that were the words "Two-year subscriber agreement required with all plans", which appear in small print beneath each of the plans in the brochure...
Which I suppose could be interpreted to mean that changing your plan would require a new two-year agreement. But I'm more inclined to interpret it as saying (since they don't explicitly mention the case where you already have a plan and you want to change it; and since this brochure is' primarily intended for an audience consisting of new customers, I believe) that all new customers are required to sign a two-year agreement, and that it doesn't apply to those customers who have already used up their two-year agreement. It's really ambiguous.
Apparently everyone is expected to just know that changing planes requires a new contract. Many people do know that, but somehow for whatever reason, I never got that memo.
The only mention of it that I've found so far is in the Terms and Conditions that are available online. And the only way was able to find those Terms and Conditions online was by Googling for Sprint terms of service. (I didn't notice any links to that page when I was logged into the Sprint site.)
PCS Terms & Conditions (http://www.sprintpcs.com/common/popups/popLegalTermsPrivacy.html).
Your Ability To Change Services & When Changes Are Effective
You typically can change Services upon request. In some instances, changes may be conditioned on payment of an Early Termination Fee or certain other charges, or they may require you to accept a new Term Commitment. Changes to Services are usually effective at the start of your next full invoicing cycle. If the changes take place sooner, your invoice may reflect pro-rated charges for your old and new Services.
Again, it's rather ambiguous -- "in some instances"? which ones? "or they may require you to accept a new Term Commitment"? when is that the case? -- so I really don't see how they could have expected to know this just by reading the terms and conditions.
So really, if they are going to require me to sign a new two-year contract just for changing my plan, they can't simply assume their customers are aware of that policy; they need to notify the customer of this policy before they finalize any changes to their plan.
Phone upgrades, maybe, but not this...
I was made aware by the salesperson there that in order to take advantage of any of the phone deals there I would need to sign a new contract. That I can understand, because here they are enticing me with a "special deal". I think it's fair to ask a customer to consider (knowingly) entering into a long-term contract in return for getting some promotional deal. That makes sense to me and that I was aware of.
But nowhere along the way did they inform me (to my knowledge) that a long-term contract renewal is required just to make a change to my plan.
[edit] ~2007-08-16: Changed plan again, over the phone: talked into switching to "family" plan
What happened:
I called up Customer Service (for the first time ever, that I can recall) and asked to please cancel my 2nd line. (Since I was under the impression that this was the only way I could cancel the 2nd line. Now I am aware that you can make most types of plan changes via the Sprint web site -- that probably includes canceling a line -- which is definitely what I'll choose to do next time.)
But of course this nice friendly CSR/salesperson on the other end tried to talk me out of canceling the 2nd line. He did it very tactfully and skillfully, of course, and made it sound like it was in my best interest to have a family plan.
I don't know how he pulled that off, but he sure did. Here I was calling with the single purpose of canceling my 2nd line and I somehow ended up not only failing to cancel my 2nd line, but also (I would find out later) committing to keep my 2nd line for another 2 years. Wow.
How did he do it? Well, first he probably said something like "are you sure you don't want to try our family plan? It will give you 550 minutes -- that's 100 more minutes than your current plan -- and of course it comes with two lines."
"Well I really only need one line -- I'm just a single guy," I probably tried to argue.
But, brilliant salesman as he was, he wouldn't take "no" for answer. This time he was back with the big weapons: discounts! He must have somehow sensed that I don't want to pay any more than I have to for phone service and that was why I wanted the single-phone plan: because it was cheaper.
So he said something like, "I can give it to you for only $50 -- a 15% discount. That's only $5 more than the plan you're signed up for right now."
Well that did it. How could I refuse an offer like that? But I was still rather suspicious. I couldn't understand why he was so intent on selling me this family plan. (I figured it out later.) So I kept playing hard-to-get.
"What's the catch?", I asked him.
He probably said "There is no catch" or else waited for me to continue.
~"Why are you trying so hard to give me this plan with two phones? Why would I want another line?"
He said something like how Sprint wants as many people to use their service as possible, so that's why they want me to have more lines. (That may be the truth, but it was only a half-truth: the other half of the story is that they make money from the early termination fees that apply to each line.)
He said that he personally had this plan (or a multi-phone plan, anyway) too, and that he kept his extra phone in his car in case of emergencies... (Well, that's fine for him -- he probably also gets free service from Sprint since he works there...)
I eventually succumbed to the lure of that "only $5 more" argument. What a sucker.
Analysis:
He hadn't said anything about needing to sign another 2-year contract. That was exactly the kind of information that my "What's the catch?" question was supposed to elicit from him. So he's either a liar or an idiot, because as I would find out later (from Kim, on 2007-09-17), it was when I accepted the 15% discount that I actually inadvertently started another contract (that's what I picked up anyway; she didn't state it explicitly like I did here) .
I think his real motivation for urging me to choose this plan was not that it was in my best interest but because he probably gets a commission every time he can talk someone into signing another 2-year contract, and probably an even bigger commission if the contract they get them to sign is for two lines. Each line that gets canceled early will be $200 in their pockets; so my 2 lines would be a potential of $400 in early termination fees! (I'm just speculating here, by the way; I do not know this for a fact.)
[edit] ~2007-08-17: Received in mail
Around ~2007-08-17 (I don't remember the exact day, but it was probably not too far after the "Contract Start Date" of 2007-08-17 that was printed on these documents), I received two documents in the mail from Sprint (each in its own envelope, if I remember correctly).
They were both the same thing -- a "Here Are Your Recent Account Changes" notice -- except they were for different plans. The first one was for the $45 1000-anytime-minute (Sprint PCS Free & Clear Area-Wide) plan -- which was only "in effect" for 1 or 2 days, if at all. The second document was for the $60 Sprint Power Pack Family 550 plan, which superseded the previous plan.
They both had the following information:
"We appreciate your business and because you've recently made some changes to your wireless service, we wanted to send you a detailed confirmation to keep for your records. Please review this information to ensure it reflects your new selections." [It does not]
...
"Be sure to note that a $200 early termination fee may apply to each line on your account if you cancel service before your contract end date."
"If you have more than one line on your account, information about your additional lines can be found on the following page(s)."
...
"If you have any questions, or believe any of this information is not correct [It is not], please contact us immediately at 1-888-211-4PCS or press *2 Talk on your Sprint PCS phone."
Contract start date: 2007-08-17
Contract start date: 2009-08-17
Your service plan includes: [...]
On the reverse side, there was this additional information:
Sprint is committed to ensuring that you are satisfied with your service plan, your phone and our network. You'll benefit from:
Sprint Right Plan Promise
If you're within the first three months of your contract [...], you can change your plan to a plan with an equal term without having to renew your contract.
...
Analysis:
Really? So now I am in a 2-year contract again, huh? This came as quite a shock to me, since I don't remember ever being told that I was entering into another 2-year contract. Also, aren't contracts usually signed by both parties? This seems a little bit asymmetrical to me.
Regarding "If you have more than one line on your account, information about your additional lines can be found on the following page(s).": There were no additional pages. Does that mean I only have one one line? (Apparently not, as I later had to cancel my 2nd line.)
Does that apply to me or does it not? It is not 100% clear just by reading this document, although I would probably lean towards the "it probably does apply" option (a Sprint employee at the store would later (incorrectly) tell me that no, I don't have to pay an early termination fee simply to change back to a single-line plan).
That seems awfully low of them. It's bad enough that they want to charge you an early termination fee at all, but to then say that there's one of those hefty fees for each line that you want to cancel? That's just going too far. To me anyway, it just feels like they should limit cancellation fees to one per "contract" -- one for the whole package deal that you signed up for.
Regarding the "Sprint Right Plan Promise", that's awfully ambiguous and confusing to me (as seems to be normal for Sprint verbiage and me): I am now (according to this letter) within the first three months of my contract. What does "a plan with an equal term" mean? Aren't they all 2-year terms? Or does "term" mean something else here?
Regarding "If you have any questions, or believe any of this information is not correct, please contact us immediately [...]": It certainly is not correct. Okay, I will contact you. And hopefully, since this was not my intention and since I am going to contact them about the mistake as soon as I realized there was a misunderstanding, they will let me out of this contract...
[edit] ~2007-09-06: Tried calling to resolve the issue: no luck
(Thursday, 2007-09-06, or possibly Wednesday 2007-09-05)
[edit] 2007-09-14: Went to Sprint store; got some encouragement and some misinformation
I went to the Sprint store and talked with one of the employees there (not Hans, but the other somewhat familiar face).
First I asked him for a copy of whatever document I'd signed on 2007-08-15. After he finally figured out which document I was referring to, he disappeared into a back office and re-appeared in a flash with the copy. It wasn't the one with my signature, of course, (that had no doubt been mailed to headquarters), but at least now I know exactly what I had agreed to with my signature.
Next I explained how I got these notices saying I was now in another 2-year contract and that I hadn't even realized that changing one's plan requires one to also begin a new contract, and how the guy on the phone had somehow talked me into going with a family plan even though I only have one phone. I explained that I would actually like to not be stuck in a contract and just want pay month-to-month like I was before.
He seemed to understand how undesirable my situation was. -- What a welcome change! Someone who, rather than trying to talk me into keeping my stupid plan, actually felt free to agree with me that yeah, having a 2-line plan when you only have 1 phone ... doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. -- He was very nice and friendly and gave me his advice. He recommended that I call the Customer Service line, tell them that I had been signed up for the wrong plan by mistake, ask them to please undo/reverse this change and put me back to a month-to-month plan like I had before, and change my plan back to a single-line plan.
He admitted that Sprint's customer service department was a bit of a crapshoot: you may either get someone who doesn't know what they're doing and isn't helpful at all or you may get someone really good. But he said that'd probably be my best shot. Although he could change my plan for me there, he's not able to change me back to my previous state where my contract had been fulfilled and I was paying month-to-month; I would need to talk to a CSR to do that. And he figured it was better to try to take care of it all at once than for him to change anything there and potentially cause confusion when I called customer service later ("But it shows here that you already had your plan changed back to ..."). Well, I appreciated his candor.
I pointed out (or tried to -- I'm not sure if he actually looked at what I was pointing at) the part of the letter I'd received that said "Be sure to note that a $200 early termination fee may apply to each line on your account if you cancel service before your contract end date." and asked him if he thought that would pose a problem if I tried to switch back to a single-line plan.
No, he didn't seem to think so. After all, I was "just" changing my plan -- ~"you can change your plan from one plan to another all you want -- that cancellation fee is only if you cancel your service", I think he said (something to that effect). He obviously considered changing from a 2-line plan to a 1-line plan to be a simple "change of plan" rather than a "cancellation" of service. Unfortunately, while I am inclined to agree with him that that's certainly how it ought to be and is what makes intuitive sense, that is not how it works, as I would find out later from the "experts".
Then we got to talking about Linux: I asked him if they had any Linux-powered cell phones for sale here yet (nope) and told him about what I'd read recently about how Palm was going to switch to Linux as their operating system on their PDAs. He showed me his little Windows-Mobile-powered PDA phone and related his experience with putting the Fedora Core 3 distribution of GNU/Linux on his computer at home. Good times. (Yeah, I definitely like talking to people in person over talking on the phone. People are personable; phone conversations are drab and fraught with communication perils.)
[edit] 2007-09-17: CSR #1 only marginally helpful
When I called in today, I was actually only intending to get one issue resolved: to get my plan changed back to a 1-line plan. I had actually resigned myself to the fact that I would be stuck with another 2-year contract; I would just chalk that up to experience and be sure to never let it happen to me again. I'd decided that I didn't really want to go through the trouble of fighting this battle, even if I was right -- it just wasn't worth the stress involved with getting that worked up. I had actually prayed this morning that I could just have peace and be able to accept whatever resolution should come of this. Amazingly, after resigning myself to having this contract, I ended up getting out of it! (That part wouldn't happen until the second CSR I talked to though.)
I made the call at 16:08 and was connected for 48 minutes.
I had to wait on hold for probably 5 minutes before I got through to a human.
The first CSR I talked to had a hard time understanding and hearing me and I likewise had a difficult time understanding her. Communication was pretty difficult and I think we were both getting pretty frustrated by the end. This was partly due to a poor connection -- it was kind of choppy and staticy (which is kind of ironic considering that I'd had very little troubles like this with most calls I've made, and it's only until trying to communicate with the "pin drop" phone company itself that I actually have this trouble). The other reason for communication frustrations was simply misunderstandings. (She also seemed to have a slight Hispanic accent, though I can't say for sure whether that had anything to do with it.)
She asked for me name, and then my social security number (last time they only asked for the last 4 digits), and then for my password. "My password??" I asked, confused, since I didn't remember ever setting or receiving a "phone-in password" (GoDaddy has such a thing, and perhaps other companies) and I sure wasn't expecting to be asked for my password that I use to log into the website when calling on the phone. Utterly confused, I said "What password? I don't know which password you're referring to." And she was probably exasperated already too, so she just said "okay" and skipped that part.
Now came the part when I was supposed to tell her how she could help me. So I tried to explain that I would like to change from the family plan that I have right now to just a plain, single-line plan.
She responded, as if to confirm that she heard me correctly, "So you'd like to cancel one of your lines?"
This confused me rather greatly, as I had said nothing about "canceling". I simply wanted to change my plan, not cancel anything. The word "cancel" immediately set off red flags in my mind: "She's gonna try and charge me that $200 cancellation fee, isn't she? What a meanie!"
So naturally (?) I became a little bit defensive. ~"No, I don't want to cancel anything; I just want to change my plan to a single-phone plan."
Now it was her turn to be confused. "So you'd like to change both of your lines over to individual single-phone plans?"
It was like she and I had completely different understandings of how this plan/contract thing worked: in her little world, it was like I had 2 individual accounts/contracts; in my little world, I only have one account, one plan, one contract, which just happens to include 2 lines. So what? It seems like it should be as simple as simply changing from this multi-line plan to a single-line plan. But apparently that's not how it works in their computer system, and that's what matters: apparently when you go from single-line to multi-line, it's like your account splits into 2 accounts which are now eternally separate. Pretty weird stuff, but I guess that's how it works.
"No! I just want to change my plan to the 'Power Pack 450' plan."
Finally, I think some communication was starting to happen, slowly.
"Okay, I've changed your ___-___-____ number over to that plan. I can transfer you over to Account Services now and they can help you with canceling your other line."
"Okay," I said, "Thank you." Although inwardly I was groaning that she'd used that word "cancel" again.
I was put on hold again for another ~3-5 minutes. Then she came back on the line and told me she was sorry, they were having some trouble transferring calls over to this other department or something. So she gave me an 800 number I could call (1-877-677-7697) just in case I got disconnected. Would I like her to keep trying to transfer me? Yes, please.
After another ~2-3 minutes, she came back on again and said something to me over top of the hold music that was still playing. I only caught a tiny part of what she said so I asked her to repeat it. I still didn't catch it. So I asked, "Should I keep waiting?" and she said "yes". I don't think I heard from her again after that; I just heard the hold music.
[edit] 2007-09-17: CSR "Kim" is my hero!
Finally, after ~5-10 minutes of waiting, I reached another human being. This time I caught her name: Kim. She turned out to be very nice and very helpful.
First she asked me for my phone number. Then she asked me for my password. I asked, "You mean, like the one I use to log into the website?" Yes, she said. I gave it to her, even though I am shocked and disappointed that they store my password in plain text (unencrypted) and I think it's a bad policy for them to be doing that.
Next I explained that I needed to cancel my second line please.
She said she was sorry to hear that I wanted to cancel.
I explained my story, how it used to make sense back when I was sharing a plan with David, but he's gone and it doesn't make sense to have 2 lines any more.
She did her best to talk me out of it. She said that I had a 15% discount if I stayed with the family plan, which is about $9, so it would only be about $50. Yes, I told her I had considered that, but that the plan I wanted to change to (the single-line, 450-minute one) was $10 cheaper even than that ($40)! She admitted that this was true. I went on to maintain that I think what I really need/want is the plan that costs less (the $40 one).
She tried another tactic: Do have any friends or anyone else who might like to use the other line? No. I explained that all of my other friends already had cell phone plans -- and so did my parents. So, so much for that idea.
She said that the line I was asking to cancel -- the 8630 one -- has (or is still in, or however she worded it) a 2-year contract on it, and that if I canceled that line, I would be subject to a "$200 early-termination fee".
I said "What's that?", pretending that I didn't hear her. Okay, so I mostly heard her (it was a little bit hard to understand though), and half the reason I said that was because I figured I had a better chance of getting my way if I played ignorant (not that this was a hard part to play -- I had indeed been ignorant). I also probably hoped that she would feel guilty about asking me to pay this ridiculous $200 fee if she had to repeat herself.
She repeated herself.
I said ~"I wasn't aware that changing plans would cause me to begin a new contract."
She said something like "Yeah, that was from when we gave you that 15% discount."
~"Nobody said anything about it. Shouldn't they have told me about it when they gave me that discount?"
She admitted that yes, they should have. Yes! I got her to admit it! How could she help but give me a break now?
She said that she would cancel the line and put it back to the way it was before. I can't quite remember just how she communicated it, but she I think she was saying that it would be put back to the state it was in before my contract got renewed. And she also said that I wouldn't be charged the early termination fee. I could scarcely believe my ears.
She said she was sorry to hear that I was canceling my 2nd line. "It's okay," I smiled. "I'm pretty happy with my 1 line!"
She said that it could take up to 48 hours for these changes to take effect in the system. She went on to explain that since the new billing cycle had already started (1 day ago), that I may see a charge for 2 lines in my next bill.
I tried to clarify, "Like a pro-rated charge?"
I think she answered in the affirmative and then "but you should see a credit for it in [the bill after that]."
"Are you pretty sure I won't get charged the $200 early termination fee?" I asked, reluctant to trust anyone anymore.
Yes, she assured me.
"Well I appreciate that."
She gave their usual closing remark that goes something like, "Just to make sure you are satisfied with your service today: Was I able to resolve [take care of?] your reason for calling today?"
Yes, both of them, in fact! Kim gets an A+ in my books.
[edit] 2007-10-17: Was charged $200 cancellation fee
I checked my 2007-10-17 invoice and sure enough, there was a $200 cancellation fee, even though I was assured there would not be one.
[edit] 2007-10-21: E-mailed customer support
On September 17, I called the Sprint customer service hotline and requested that my plan be changed back to a single-line plan, since I have no need for two phone lines. I ended up being transferred to a different department and talking to Kim.
She was very helpful and helped to get my account changed back to how I wanted it.
At first, she was going to charge me cancellation fee. But I was very confused by this, since my contract had lapsed several years ago and I had never knowingly done anything that would have renewed my contract.
When she said that my contract had been renewed when I had changed plans over the phone and the CSR had given me a 15% discount on that plan. That was when I changed to "Sprint Power Pack Family 550 plan" (sometime around August 16). I explained that I had not even WANTED a family plan -- the CSR had pressured me into choosing this 2-line plan by offering a discount. At NO TIME during the conversation did he say anything about my contract being renewed.
Anyway, I had NO intentions of signing another 2-year contract and if I had known that was required in order to change plans or accept a discount or whatever, I would NOT have changed plans.
When I explained my situation to Kim and explained that I just wanted to go back to how things were before (no contract, paying month-to-month, and just a single line for me), she seemed to understand and said that she would change it back to that, and she said I would NOT be charged the cancellation fee. I asked her if she was SURE I would not be charged. And she said yes, I would not be charged. I thought this was all taken care of.
However, when I checked my October 17 invoice online today, I saw that it shows a $200 cancellation fee! What?
I will not pay a $200 cancellation fee when I have been a customer for like 5 years and am still a customer and my contract ran out several years ago.
Please tell me, when will this cancellation charge be refunded?
Thanks in advance, Tyler Rick
[edit] 2007-10-22: Resolved
Sprint's reply:
Dear Tyler Rick, Thank you for your reply. I understand you were informed that the early termination fee will not be charged on the account. I apologize for the inconvenience as it is billed on the account. I have applied the credit of $200.00 on the account. This credit adjustment will reflect on the next invoice. You can also verify this credit adjustment online by following these steps: Steps to view credit applied online ========================= 1. Log on to http://www.sprint.com 2. Enter your PCS Phone Number in the first box and Password in the second box. 3. Click on 'GO' 4. You can view this amount in front of 'Refunds/Adjustments' on the Welcome page under the heading 'Payment Due'. Now, after the credit adjustment there is $36.91 credit balance on the account. I am sure the above details have addressed your concern. Please let us know by responding to this e-mail. It helps us in ensuring the satisfaction of our valued customers like you. Thank you for emailing us. It was a pleasure assisting you and I look forward to more opportunities to serve you in future. Have a great day! Hector G. E-Care Sprint "Where our customers come first!"
[edit] Moral of the story
If you are the company:
- Be honest and up-front with your customers about your terms and policies. Even if there's a chance they won't like these terms, it's better than hiding them and letting the customer find out about them later when it bites.
- The customer is always right. (You really don't want to get someone upset and tell all their friends about their bad experience with you.)
If you are the customer:
- Read, read, and double-read all fine print.
- If you don't receive all the terms and conditions with whatever paperwork you are signing, complain and don't sign until you've received a copy of it and have had a chance to read through and ask for any clarification until you understand it.
- If you ask "What's the catch?" and there isn't one, then there probably is one anyway.
- Apparently, you have to know about every potential catch ahead of time so that you can ask about each catch by name: "And just to make sure, can you please confirm for me that by paying my bill over the phone right now, I'm not also inadvertently signing away my first-born son to Sprint, giving permission for my backyard to be turned into the new Sprint corporate horse racetrack, agreeing to be the personal slave of Sprint's CEO for the rest of my life, etc.?" (Even then, who's to say whether they will give a straight answer.)
