Sprint disconnected over 1,000 customers for complaining too much

[one...two...tree 2,762]

(Hmmm...might be a good strategy if you want to get out of your current wireless contract)

Reuters

Sprint Nextel Corp, which recently launched an advertising campaign to attract new customers, is disconnecting more than 1,000 subscribers for calling its customer service lines too often and making what the company called unreasonable requests.

The No. 3 U.S. wireless provider with 53 million customers said on Monday it started sending service termination letters on June 25. Sprint said the cancellations involved 1,000 to 1,200 customers who had called the company about 40,000 times a month in total.

"These customers were calling to a degree that we felt was excessive," said Sprint spokeswoman Roni Singleton, adding the company needed to cull its customer base to improve services.

"In some cases they were calling customer care hundreds of times a month for a period of six to 12 months on the same issues even after we felt those issues had been resolved," she said.

Singleton, noting that mass cancellation letters were not routine, said this call volume was 40 to 50 times more than average customer monthly calls. She would not say how often customers can call before being deemed too demanding.

The company also declined to say what percentage of monthly service calls the 40,000 figure represented.

Singleton said some of the cancellations involved customers who repeatedly asked for information about other people's accounts.

Sprint waived final balances on canceled accounts and gave customers 30 days to transfer their phone numbers to other wireless providers, she said.

"We're working very hard to improve customer service. That's our number one priority," Singleton said.

The termination letters started going out days before Sprint kicked off a nationwide "Sprint Ahead" ad campaign on July 1. Sprint's customer growth has disappointed investors for several quarters after its marketing message was criticized as being confusing and it had network problems after its 2005 purchase of Nextel.

Providers AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, were quick to point out differences between their policies and Sprint's, saying they very rarely cancel services.

AT&T, the U.S. wireless service with the greatest number of subscribers, sometimes cancels or restricts services for customers for "excessive data or voice roaming on other carriers' networks," according to spokesman Mark Siegel, who said competitors had similar policies.

Tom Pica, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless which is second to AT&T by number of customers, said his company sometimes cancels services for callers who are "extremely abusive" to its customer service representatives. But, he said, this would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Sprint shares were down 32 cents at $21.55 on the New York Stock Exchange early Monday afternoon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070709/us_nm/...lRFKw9JGywXIr0F

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

[Fuzzness 2]

Good on Sprint!!!!!!

[Mephys 2]

My husband had change his cell phone for sprint for better rates, and we are really disappointed. I wouldnt recommend Sprint to anyone. He missed a lot of phone calls because of their poor network and never got missed calls for those, or was receiving my messages sometimes 1 week after I left it. They were also charging us services thats we didnt ask for and took 3 months calling every month to finally have it removed.

We are changing company now and they want us to pay 200$ for cancelling the contract, even thought they couldnt provide the promise service as per that contract.

Edited July 9, 2007 by Mephys

[Jasman0717 9]

Wow, the squeeky wheel gets the boot

[TracyLuis 0]

I wish they'd send me one of those letters....

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

I wish they'd send me one of those letters....

the article tells you how to get one.....call and complain a lot

[TracyLuis 0]

I wish they'd send me one of those letters....

the article tells you how to get one.....call and complain a lot

I don't have the time...unlike most people who make a career out of complaining, I actually work for a living

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I wish they'd send me one of those letters....

the article tells you how to get one.....call and complain a lot

I don't have the time...unlike most people who make a career out of complaining, I actually work for a living

That's so '90s...

[Jamie76 0]

What grinds my gears is when you get a customer rep that has an attitude. I'm probably one of only a handful of people that dont have a cell phone. Never been very impressed with any cell companies service.

[L_n_O 3]

My husband had change his cell phone for sprint for better rates, and we are really disappointed. I wouldnt recommend Sprint to anyone. He missed a lot of phone calls because of their poor network and never got missed calls for those, or was receiving my messages sometimes 1 week after I left it. They were also charging us services thats we didnt ask for and took 3 months calling every month to finally have it removed.

We are changing company now and they want us to pay 200$ for cancelling the contract, even thought they couldnt provide the promise service as per that contract.

Maybe you should try the 100 calls per month tactic! =)

or just threaten to and then maybe they'll send you one

[Mary Lou 681]

We have Sprint/Nextel and we hate them!! We have so many dropped calls between us, or unavailable service. Forget calling customer service, they are useless..... Wish they would drop us.

[Heracles 417]

Who wastes their time calling CS so much.

If you have a problem with a company move on.

[~Nini~ 2]

What grinds my gears is when you get a customer rep that has an attitude. I'm probably one of only a handful of people that dont have a cell phone. Never been very impressed with any cell companies service.

Oooh, that totally pushes my buttons too. Luckily my service provider in Canada has been really nice to me so far (Rogers Wireless) but at my retail job I deal with customer service reps from cell phone companies all the time, and some of them are so rude.

[Marilyn. 340]

I saw this on the news the other day... It said that these customers were making an average of 40 to 50 calls a month