Sprint Misprint
We have all heard stories of billing errors. I can understand that mistakes occur, but companies need to work to resolve these issues promptly, something that Sprint together with Nextel failed to do. I had seven months of horror with Sprint, and in this article I will share how I finally got their billing mistake resolved.
When I opened my July 2005 Sprint bill, I had the unpleasant surprise of seeing a $460.00 bill. Shocked by this I examined the bill and found that I was being charged for a phone number that I never had. I called to inform Sprint of the situation, which we assumed was identity theft. I was transferred to the fraud department to file a report that was never followed up on. I called my local police department and filed a report. Sprint assured me the situation would be resolved, but failed to tell me it would take more than six months.
After many follow up calls to customer service, it was determined it was not identity theft but just a billing error. Relived by that news, I notified the police department. I was informed that identity thefts are very rarely solved. Sprint issued me a temporary credit because the amount was too high for anyone in the customer service department to issue.
I was eagerly awaiting my June bill, to see the final outcome of the issue. I was mistaken, again my June bill showed the same mysterious number and charges associated with it of $145.75. I started calling Sprint, and they once again told me the issue would be resolved and issued me a temporary credit for the charges. One thing that really bothered me about Sprint is every time I asked to speak with a manager; they were always unavailable and would not allow me to hold for a manager. This started to get very frustrating. I was told to Be patient we will resolve the issue.
By the end of June, my temporary credits had expired and I was now past due on my account for charges that were not mine, so service was disconnected on my phone. When I tried to call customer service I was automatically transferred to a collections department in either India or the Philippines. I would have to explain to the associate that this was a billing error and I am not paying for someone elses phone bill. They were rather rude with me and after trying to explain my situation they would magically transfer me back to customer service in the United States.
Now that were living in the era of political correctness, I am disappointed with Sprint. Why would a giant like Sprint send American Jobs overseas and not give them the full range of duties of Americans performing the same work? Sprint saves money by placing call centers over seas. In the same breath Sprint says because you are foreign you can not do as good of a job as Americans so we will limit you in the amount of customer service you can provide. Not only is that an inconvenience for sprint customers, it also sends a message that the job force in India are not our equals. People could correctly interpret these types of corporate decisions as somewhat racist in nature.
I did get more temporary credits because no one in customer service could resolve the issue by producing a permanent credit and my service was temporally restored to my phone. By this time I had spent more than 20 hours on the phone with Sprint. Little did I know I was just getting started. Sprints customer service representatives were now starting to fill out a form to escalate my situation. I was always advised that a supervisor would respond to the request within three to five business days. Sprint representatives filled out at least eight of these requests on my behalf. None of the escalated cases were ever followed up on. By this time I had been billed another month for the number. Now I had more than $500 Dollars in charges and my service had been interrupted four times.
A friend suggested I visit a local sprint store. I did and spoke with the manager. He tried his best to resolve the issue, but his only uplink to customer service was the same method I had been using. Fortunately, we were able to secure more temporary credits.
When September rolled around, my bill provided me with a chuckle. Not only was I charged again for the number, but I was also charged a $150.00 cancellation fee for a phone number that was never mine. By this time the charges and fees totaled almost $800.00 dollars with many interruptions to service. Sprint always acknowledged that it was a billing mistake, but everyone I was speaking with was unable to resolve the situation. The fact that I could never speak with a manager or the person who was going to authorize the credit on my bill was becoming very frustrating.
Understanding that my 40 plus hours on the phone with Sprint was not paying off and the retail outlets did not provide any additional assistance I contacted the Better Business Bureau to file a complaint. I filed the complaint online and was called by Sprint within 72 hours. The woman on the phone was very nice and understanding and assured me she would have the issue resolved within three days, but probably the next day. Three weeks later she never called back and my service was disconnected again. Did I mention it was January 2006? Remember, this started in July of 2005.
With my service once again disconnected I was talking to a call center in India and finally transferred back to the United States. Fortunately for me I was transferred to the Business General Customer Care Department. (877) 812-1223. When you call this Sprint number directly a human actually answers the phone. They resolved the issue immediately. Well immediately for them, seven months later for me. I have used more than 10 different phone numbers to Contact Sprint, but this one is different.
In summary, more than $800.00 dollars in charges, at least six service interruptions and seven months of agony.
From a consumers aspect, I have some recommendations for Sprint. The simplest of which is to give more authority to your customer service agents. Customer service agents should be able to resolve customer issues, hence the name. From my 70 hours working with them, they are pleasant and possess high-quality training and sincerely want to help, but operate with their hands tied.
Whoever supervises the customer service department or the department that is responsible for authorizing the permanent credits that the hard working agents kept filling out for me should be reorganized. It is very counter productive to have the agents fill out a form, if the person in charge of authorizing them never follows up. The fact that I was never allowed to speak with them in person was also very frustrating. Additionally it works against the agents productivity and cost the company money in the form of producing useless paperwork. Assuming that Sprint pays their agents $10.00 an hour not including the hourly cost of the associated equipment and the 800 calls, I can assume my situation cost sprint at least $700.00 dollars. Including my cost of at least 90 hours at $40.00 an hour and lost productivity from having service interrupted, and not collecting the money from the rightful owner of the account the total cost of this incident could exceed $5,100 dollars.
I have no idea how often situations like this occur. If companies empower employees to resolve issues it would save everyone a huge amount of time, money and most importantly keep customers happy.
We have all heard stories of billing errors. I can understand that mistakes occur, but companies need to work to resolve these issues promptly, something that Sprint together with Nextel failed to do. I had seven months of horror with Sprint, and in this article I will share how I finally got their billing mistake resolved.
When I opened my July 2005 Sprint bill, I had the unpleasant surprise of seeing a $460.00 bill. Shocked by this I examined the bill and found that I was being charged for a phone number that I never had. I called to inform Sprint of the situation, which we assumed was identity theft. I was transferred to the fraud department to file a report that was never followed up on. I called my local police department and filed a report. Sprint assured me the situation would be resolved, but failed to tell me it would take more than six months.
After many follow up calls to customer service, it was determined it was not identity theft but just a billing error. Relived by that news, I notified the police department. I was informed that identity thefts are very rarely solved. Sprint issued me a temporary credit because the amount was too high for anyone in the customer service department to issue.
I was eagerly awaiting my June bill, to see the final outcome of the issue. I was mistaken, again my June bill showed the same mysterious number and charges associated with it of $145.75. I started calling Sprint, and they once again told me the issue would be resolved and issued me a temporary credit for the charges. One thing that really bothered me about Sprint is every time I asked to speak with a manager; they were always unavailable and would not allow me to hold for a manager. This started to get very frustrating. I was told to Be patient we will resolve the issue.
By the end of June, my temporary credits had expired and I was now past due on my account for charges that were not mine, so service was disconnected on my phone. When I tried to call customer service I was automatically transferred to a collections department in either India or the Philippines. I would have to explain to the associate that this was a billing error and I am not paying for someone elses phone bill. They were rather rude with me and after trying to explain my situation they would magically transfer me back to customer service in the United States.
Now that were living in the era of political correctness, I am disappointed with Sprint. Why would a giant like Sprint send American Jobs overseas and not give them the full range of duties of Americans performing the same work? Sprint saves money by placing call centers over seas. In the same breath Sprint says because you are foreign you can not do as good of a job as Americans so we will limit you in the amount of customer service you can provide. Not only is that an inconvenience for sprint customers, it also sends a message that the job force in India are not our equals. People could correctly interpret these types of corporate decisions as somewhat racist in nature.
I did get more temporary credits because no one in customer service could resolve the issue by producing a permanent credit and my service was temporally restored to my phone. By this time I had spent more than 20 hours on the phone with Sprint. Little did I know I was just getting started. Sprints customer service representatives were now starting to fill out a form to escalate my situation. I was always advised that a supervisor would respond to the request within three to five business days. Sprint representatives filled out at least eight of these requests on my behalf. None of the escalated cases were ever followed up on. By this time I had been billed another month for the number. Now I had more than $500 Dollars in charges and my service had been interrupted four times.
A friend suggested I visit a local sprint store. I did and spoke with the manager. He tried his best to resolve the issue, but his only uplink to customer service was the same method I had been using. Fortunately, we were able to secure more temporary credits.
When September rolled around, my bill provided me with a chuckle. Not only was I charged again for the number, but I was also charged a $150.00 cancellation fee for a phone number that was never mine. By this time the charges and fees totaled almost $800.00 dollars with many interruptions to service. Sprint always acknowledged that it was a billing mistake, but everyone I was speaking with was unable to resolve the situation. The fact that I could never speak with a manager or the person who was going to authorize the credit on my bill was becoming very frustrating.
Understanding that my 40 plus hours on the phone with Sprint was not paying off and the retail outlets did not provide any additional assistance I contacted the Better Business Bureau to file a complaint. I filed the complaint online and was called by Sprint within 72 hours. The woman on the phone was very nice and understanding and assured me she would have the issue resolved within three days, but probably the next day. Three weeks later she never called back and my service was disconnected again. Did I mention it was January 2006? Remember, this started in July of 2005.
With my service once again disconnected I was talking to a call center in India and finally transferred back to the United States. Fortunately for me I was transferred to the Business General Customer Care Department. (877) 812-1223. When you call this Sprint number directly a human actually answers the phone. They resolved the issue immediately. Well immediately for them, seven months later for me. I have used more than 10 different phone numbers to Contact Sprint, but this one is different.
In summary, more than $800.00 dollars in charges, at least six service interruptions and seven months of agony.
From a consumers aspect, I have some recommendations for Sprint. The simplest of which is to give more authority to your customer service agents. Customer service agents should be able to resolve customer issues, hence the name. From my 70 hours working with them, they are pleasant and possess high-quality training and sincerely want to help, but operate with their hands tied.
Whoever supervises the customer service department or the department that is responsible for authorizing the permanent credits that the hard working agents kept filling out for me should be reorganized. It is very counter productive to have the agents fill out a form, if the person in charge of authorizing them never follows up. The fact that I was never allowed to speak with them in person was also very frustrating. Additionally it works against the agents productivity and cost the company money in the form of producing useless paperwork. Assuming that Sprint pays their agents $10.00 an hour not including the hourly cost of the associated equipment and the 800 calls, I can assume my situation cost sprint at least $700.00 dollars. Including my cost of at least 90 hours at $40.00 an hour and lost productivity from having service interrupted, and not collecting the money from the rightful owner of the account the total cost of this incident could exceed $5,100 dollars.
I have no idea how often situations like this occur. If companies empower employees to resolve issues it would save everyone a huge amount of time, money and most importantly keep customers happy.
