RegGuheert
join:2005-11-06
Berryville, VA
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
·Millenicom
| Recommendation: Beware Sprint's billing department
Here's my story with Sprint:
After having some success with Millenicom for internet access, I decided to give Sprint's Simply Everything plan a try to replace my current cellular plan with a more comprehensive plan, including EVDO service. The plan was great, but unfortunately the telephone did not work well at my home, where I work. It would often drop calls and many times did not ring when I was called. This is true even given the cellular repeater that works well with T-Mobile.
In any case, I cancelled the service and switched back to T-Mobile before the 30 days ended. That's when the fun with Sprint started. They DID close the account, since it's hard for them to keep it open without a telephone number.
However, when I received my final bill, I found that I had a late charge for the first month's billing. This was a result of the fact that I had set up this account for automatically debiting my credit card on day one, about a week before they processed my first bill. (I originally had NO intention of canceling this account.) The first bill had come, asking for payment. I got online to pay it and the message there said not to pay since I had automatic payment set up. I didn't really believe it, but I decided not be pay, since I didn't want to pay twice. In any case, I decided to ignore the late charge since it was only a couple of dollars.
The final bill had the following statement above the amount due: "DO NOT SEND PAYMENT. This amount will be charged to your credit card on Apr 29." That bill was dated "Apr 09, 2008". Fine.
A week later, I received a letter from Sprint with the very bold title "COLLECTION AGENCY ALERT!" saying, among other things, "Please call us today and allow us to help you avoid additional collection activities. We value you as a customer! Please call us today at 800-639-6111." I ignored it. What else could I do, since my account was now closed and there was NO WAY for me to log in and turn off the automatic credit card charge that was scheduled? No big deal, right?
Next I received a telephone call a few days later from a lady at Sprint asking if I would be able to make a payment on my account. I told her that I had EXPLICIT, WRITTEN instructions from Sprint NOT to make a payment and that they would charge the payment to my card on Apr 29. She was completely confused by this and totally unable to verify that such a debit would occur. She recommended that I verify that the debit actually took place after Apr 29, since my account would be sent to a collection agency on May 4. I recommended that Sprint honor the agreements that they had made regarding the credit card payments and quit bugging me. I also told her that Sprint was FULLY AUTHORIZED to charge their payments on my card from day one, so how in the world could they be calling me trying to collect?? Simply charge the amount on the card.
Then I received another letter, just like the first "COLLECTION AGENCY ALERT!" This one was dated "April 28, 2008", one day before the credit card withdrawal was scheduled.
On April 30, Sprint DID charge the credit card for the amount involved.
A few conclusions from this little stint with Sprint:
- Sprint has NO IDEA what they are doing when it comes to billing.
- As a result of this incompetence, Sprint spent WAY MORE than the $144 trying to collect a payment that was already AUTHORIZED and SCHEDULED.
- Sprint is EXTREMELY antagonistic toward their customers.
- It's no wonder Sprint loses over 1 million customers per quarter.
- Sprint works hard to ensure that customers that leave will *NEVER* return. I assure you I never will.
My advice: Deal with Sprint at your own peril. While I didn't intend to have a 30-day trial period with them, that's what I ended up having. The result was a royal pain due entirely to Sprint's incompetence.
Never again,
Reg
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HughesNet DW7000 PRO | AMC3 87W 1250 MHz H H | Signal 65 | D-Link DIR-655 | W2000 SP4 | WXP SP2 | Vista | CentOS 4.3 | Firefox
Millenicom Mobile Broadband | Franklin CDU-680 | EVDO-REV A | Assent Wireless MBR-100 |
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vobguy
A fool with a tool is still a fool
Premium
join:2003-01-21
Mineral, VA
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·HughesNet Satellit..
| My billing problems with sprint have been less dramatic but still annoying. Unfortunately, they have also been somewhat frequent. The granddaddy though was when they switched the billing systems and my monthly auto pay was shut off and they didn't tell me, then charged me late fees. 
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A happy customer of Millenicom.com - so far. |
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blazintails
join:2007-08-25
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Sprint Broadband D..
| Every single month, Sprint has some extra charges on my cell phone bill. This month it charged me for 2-way calling and texting. Which I have unlimited direct connect and the text message came from Sprint then they had the balls to charge me 10 cents.
I called in last month about the extra charges, over $20 worth and the young man said that he would have to have his supervisor credit my account because it was noted that I could NOT have any credits until October 2008. I about tossed a fit. I said I am NOT paying for charges that are not mine~! I paid my bill online less the $20 and this month the $20 is deducted from my bill but there are STILL extra charges.
Figure if they over charge 1 million people $0.15 extra monthly, that is a hefty chunk of change.
Shame on you SPRINT! |
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T_Flight
join:2007-12-30
·Millenicom
| reply to RegGuheert
It's posts like these that make me thankful, I took the time to read these forums before I got into this mobile stuff. I don't have the time nor the patience for stuff like that, and a company like this would've been on the receiving end of something they would not have liked. I don't waste their time, and I don't expect them to waste mine. If they waste my money, that's where they cross the line. I will give a company the benefit of the doubt, but monthly charges? No way!
SPRINT! My God People! Get your act together. These people are gonna end up taking you for everything you've got if you don't cut it out trying to rip people off! Enough Already! They are sick of it. If you keep pushing people they will nail you again and again like you've already ben so many times. How mnay times do you have to be sued before that sinks in?
I swaer these people are like a lawsuit magnet? What the heck is wrong with 'em? Are they inviting commercial suicide or what is the deal? |
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CMoore2004
i r teh smarts
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·HughesNet Satellit..
| Well, I took the advice and checked out my Sprint bill. Let's say I was shocked I was charged $75 for data on my handset (2500KB@ $0.03/kB). Last month, I was only charged $22 for data usage, which is why I didn't notice anything unusual. Somehow my navigation package magically disappeared from my plan.
I just got off the phone with Sprint's billing department, took me 10 minutes to get this month and last month credited, and he added back on the navigation package so I shouldn't be billed for any "overage" again.
How my navigation package disappeared is a mystery to me. |
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mark42
join:2006-02-07
USA
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to RegGuheert
Just for the record:
Sprint's has not over billed or under billed me ever. Ever. That is in all the time that has passed since the beginning of time. Including the 1960's even though most of you can't remember it for some reason or another. Also included in that time is period from the discovery of ice to the inception of the internal combustion engine. Also do not exclude the time from when the land mass called Pangea moved from being one land mass to separate continents. But do exclude the period of time prior to the creation of the moon to the first ice age. That time period is excluded.
Any questions?
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CellAntenna CAY1912 Panel antenna, Cyfre CA-819 amp, Linksys WRT54G3G-ST router, Pantech PX-500 data card. |
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