Complaint Review: Sprint

   I repair cell phones and a client brought in a Sprint phone he bought from someone else to get it unlocked. (That is to make the phone available to be used with another carrier.) I called Sprint to have them unlock the phone. I gave them the IMEI number of the phone—this is all that is necessary for them to give me the unlock code and make the phone available to be used with another carrier. They claimed they needed the old phone number as well as the account number of the person my client bought the phone from. Who would give their account number to a person who bought their phone? No one in their right mind would do this. And it’s unreasonable to expect that everyone who sells an old phone would remember to have it unlocked beforehand. Sprint knows this; they just want a reason to claim they can’t unlock the phone and force you to sign with them. To prove this point I called the sales department at Sprint to see if they could sign my client’s phone up for Sprint service without this account information from the old owner. The sales department told me on two occasions one does not need these numbers if they want to sign this phone up for Sprint service. I had both of them double check this to be sure this phone could be signed up; I Gave them the IMEI Number of the phone and they both assured me the phone was cleared to be signed up today and I did not need the old account number.

   In other words it is settled policy at Sprint to make it very difficult for anyone to change to another carrier with a Sprint phone they buy but as easy as you like to sign up on Sprint with the same phone. This is the reality whatever BS they tell you but it is astonishing how creative Sprint reps get when you point this reality out. They will tell you they require you to have these numbers for the protection of old clients or for your protection or to prevent theft. Of course all these concerns are put aside if you want to sign the phone up for Sprint Service. Then they don’t need any of this information about the old account. All of the sudden security is no problem; it’s only a problem if you want to choose a service provider other than Sprint. In the service of this policy Sprint employees engaged in some truly sleazy tactics. Mind you, I’m not speaking of one member of their tech support team, but all three of the ones I spoke to. In their attempt to get me to accept that they can easily sign my client up for new Sprint service without the account information of the person he bought the phone from, but this same information is essential to unlock the phone, they repeatedly engaged in half lies and willful misinformation. I was I was even lied to about one of their clients committing fraud no less.

   After I had pointed out Sprint’s real policy on this matter, to intimidate me a Sprint supervisor named Nichole at the Sprint Oklahoma City Tech office got really aggressive and told me that “after research” she had just found that the phone “has been involved in a claim” and “it is the property of the insurance company” …”the phone can’t be signed up for service” “I am noting the account” she said. Then I had her read back the IMEI number to make sure she was talking about the right phone and she verified it was that phone. After this I called back to make sure this was accurate because if it had been it would have meant the person that sold my client the phone had committed fraud. That’s what it is when someone sells something that does not belong to them. It turned out Nichole had lied, the phone was not the property of the insurance company and she had not even noted the account. Notice what happened here: a supervisor at the Sprint Oklahoma City Tech office accused a Sprint client of fraud just to intimidate me. I’ve had problems with cell companies before but nothing like this. Look at the countless complaints on BBB and others of Sprint reps hanging up on people and lying to them. This is Sprint policy.  It is as if Sprint hires creeps as policy—or perhaps they make them so. Sprint’s tag line should read: “Whatever we can get away with.”