Sprint / Nextel Nightmare!!! Read this if you have Sprint or Nextel

[O2BBubbleFree]

After several billing errors and poor customer service, when my contract was due I switched from Sprint.

What annoyed me the most was that every time there was a billing error the rep told me that I would have to somehow upgrade my service to get it resolved. i.e. when I disputed a roaming charge, (after the rep gave me a seriously hard time,) he told me the only way to have the charge removed was to upgrade to nation-wide no-roaming! When I asked to speak to the rude reps supervisor, he hung up on me. I called back and asked for a supervisor. After explaining to the second rep what had happened, she informed me that the charge had been removed.

After trying to get several issues resolved I got the impression that the customer service reps were getting some kind of reward for selling new services.

According to Consumer Reports, customer service for all cell phone providers sucks, but Verizon sucks the least...

Since switching to Verizon I have had no dropped calls, and have yet to see the phone in roaming mode while in my home area. Both of those happened regularly with Sprint.

And I’m getting more free minutes on a slightly cheaper plan.

As always, YMMV.

 

[gfisher4792]

My place of work issued us Nextel phones (all Motorola) and even though I have no knowledge of the billing, I do have two complaints:

1) These phones have bad speakers, and many other people with Nextel (and different phone models) have told me the same and ...

2) Why can't you personalize the freakin' Direct Connect beep? If one goes off, eveyone has to check their phone. It's actually funny in a restaurant or other public venue, seeing a dozen random people checking their phones.

If anyone knows of a way to change it, please let me in on the secret!

 

[timle]

My first cell phone was Sprint, my next one wasn't - nuff said.

 

[GrierHPharmD]

All I can say about ATT is that they slammed me when I moved to FL, and I ended up paying almost $400 to get them off my back, so they're beneath contempt in my book.

As for Sprint, I've heard all the stories before, so I've never given them a chance to screw me. I guess that we'll be subject to even more of those irritating "mating call of the idiots" Nextel beeps and folks yelling at their phones now that they've merged. I used to have a Nextel/Motorola for work, and I refused to talk about my business (which is very confidential) over it. It took months for our upper management to realize that, if you have sensitive information, it shouldn't be shouted at a Nextel walkie talkie with strangers around.

Now I'm with Verizon, and things are going relatively well. Decent service and no billing errors yet.

Hang in there,
Grier

 

[ItsBruce]

I just had a very good experience with Sprint. I expect to continue service forever. My family had about $700 of roaming charges while on a cruise. It seems that we had service aboard the ship while at sea. So, we used them Sprint to Sprint (which is advertised as free). Only when we got the bills did we discover that we were being billed for roaming. One call was all it took to get this fixed. Very impressed.

 

[RonDawg]

Among U.S. cell phone providers, Sprint is considered among the worst regarding customer service. The Nextel merger has, if anything, made things worse. Their website is even more difficult to work in now.

Actually I think it's the other way around: Nextel had the worst, and now with the merger they're pulling Sprint down with them.

Public safety (law enforcement/fire fighting/EMS) are the biggest customers for Nextel, and at least on the law enforcement end whenever we refer to Nextel there's always a colorful name added to the beginning that starts with an F and ends with a G. I'm not sure if the other public safety occupations feel the same way.

I had Sprint for a couple of years and actually I was quite satisfied with them. The only reason I dropped them was because when my contract ran out, they dramatically upped my rates. So I went off to AT&T, and was happy with them until they merged with Cingular. Now I'm a T-mobile customer.

 

[fsik]

I was thrilled to dump Sprint, their customer (and phone) service was terrible. I went to TMobile, which is better, but as everyone says, Verizon is on top, and you pay slightly more for what you get. Depends on your region but I think Sprint typically rates dead last.

Keep lots of records of conversations and write lots of letters. But in the end, you have to vote with your feet. My contract obligation was over, but I would have paid the fee to leave Sprint. I know several people who have willingly, because they're just that bad.

As for the Nextel merger, I have a couple friends who worked for Nextel in VA, the epicenter of their business (a huge portion of their business is federal government), and they're moving much of the operations to Kansas City, eliminating a bunch of positions (both in tech and in marketing). They weren't able to tell where the technology was going, either...both Sprint and Nextel use techonologies nobody else uses much/at all anymore (nor are they compatible with each other).