one more down

Sprint customer service has improved in some aspects in the past few
months, while worsened in other areas that really matter. The wait
times are much shorter now, and the reps all seem to be located in the
US. But.....

I have had Sprint voice service for the past 10 years, plus data card
service for the past 5.

A month ago, my Samsung M610 broke for the 3rd time in 2 years. I could
not use it for 3 weeks and resorted to a prepaid phone instead. I
canceled my service in early April after confirming that I would not be
charged for early termination. I was told that since I had already paid
for the month, my cancellation would not go thru until May. I got my
phone back from the Samsung repair shop a few days ago and decided to
resume my Sprint service.

I called Sprint to rescind the cancellation. The rep was very helpful
and agreed to resume my plan with the agreement that I was
out-of-contract.

Despite that, today I found my phone disconnected. After just one
transfer, my account was reactivated, but I was then told that I was
still under contract. After several minutes of discussion, the rep
insisted that I was under contract for another year despite me being
told otherwise on two separate occasions in the past month.

Of course, if the rep hasn't made an issue of it, I probably would be
using Sprint anyways for the next year and beyond.

I decided to cancel both my phone and data-card accounts ($110/month) on
the spot. I was told that I will be assessed a $150 early-termination
fee for the phone account. I will of course contest this, but it is
worth $150 to avoid dealing with Sprint ever again.

To sum up: good coverage, cheap plans, horrible client servicing.


Bill T