My Rant Against Sprint

I’ve had a terrible time getting a refund from Sprint. Normally, I would never think to blog about it, but Michael Hyatt did about his last horrible costumer service experience. Even if it doesn’t change anything, it makes me feel better. 🙂

Here’s what happened:

I ordered a risk-free data card from Sprint on 6/10/08 for $49.99 to set up a wireless network in my home. (I have a witness who heard me ask, “So I can return it for any reason before the 30 days are up and not owe a penny?”)

When I learned I’d have to pay a early-cancellation penalty fee if I canceled my satellite internet, I returned the unopened box according to Sprint’s explicit instructions well within the trial period.

They had charged my credit card $49.99. Though I closed the account with a call on 6/24/08, they still billed me. After many phone calls, long waits, and multiple holds in mid-July they reversed billing charges of $114.90 and said $49.99 would be credited to my Mastercard. I again asked for the account to be closed and, this time, was given a confirmation number. They asked me to wait two billing cycles for it to appear on my credit card.

Today, 9/10/08, I called because the reversal of the charge had not shown up. Here’s the breakdown of what happened:

1st call–go through all the rigmarole of getting to talk to a live person and they hang up as they answer. Argh!!

2nd call–same rigmarole, get to talk to live person, spend at least 15 minutes, occasionally on hold, until she leaves me on hold so long I drop back into the line of calls waiting to be answered. New rep answers and wants to help me, is helpful and says they may have to issue a check to resolve the issue, transfers me to the financial department. This employee–whose ID# I have–argues that they don’t owe me any money. And I mean, argues, telling me I don’t understand how the billing works, that the original “no-risk” offer only meant the equipment, not the contract, etc … When I ask for his supervisor, he says he is the supervisor. Sticks me on hold. Finally comes back admitting that they do owe me $49.99 but they are unable to issue credits for equipment and gives me yet another number to try. The total time spent on the phone is 50 minutes!

Why do they make it so hard to get your money back? My theory is that by making the process so aggravating and time-consuming, they hope the average consumer will give up. $49.99 isn’t much money, but a lot of little amounts add up to a BIG number. Well, they lost this consumer’s future purchases, which I guarantee would have added up to more than what they owe me.

I’m going to go crazy if I spend one more minute getting shuffled around.

Guess who’s heard about this in the four hours since it happened? Um, let’s see … our local news, KATU Channel 2, that does a problem-solving segment called On Your Side. Oh, and I did shoot an email off to Good Housekeeping for their GH To the Rescue column. Oops, don’t want to forget the complaint I filed with the Better Business Bureau.

They messed with the wrong chick!