Complaint Review: Sprint - Internet

My fiance and I have been with Sprint for approximately three years, and have renewed our contract a few times in the course, as we have upgraded phones. Every now and then we'll have a glitch with the company, but as of late, things have gotten progressively worse.

About four months ago, we started getting charged for Jamster ringtones we never downloaded or authorized. We were instructed by Sprint that they weren't responsible for charges from third parties, and we had to pay the 6.99 and click unsubscribe on our account page at Sprint.com. We did so. Next month, same charges. The rep this time took off the charges and walked us through the same steps. Next month, same charges. The representative again told us he couldn't take the charges off, and we had to unsubscribe. I got irate, and told him what he was going to do-- take off the charges, and make sure the d--m thing stayed off. Needless to say, it didn't work. Contacting Jamster was near impossible, but finally I got through to a guy who spoke English about as well as my friend's Boston terrier. When I threatened legal action for fraud, he spoke English real nice and took the ring tones off. Funny, huh?

I thought it was over, but then guess what? We had a UPstage phone die! My fiance had replacement plan, though, and only had to pay 50 dollars to get it replaced. I think that's a rip, but it was clearly stated and he agreed to the terms. Long story short, they mailed us a new phone, but didn't properly instruct activation. We were getting messages from the Verizon network about unavailable services. Great, right? Various techs told me how I had done something wrong, and one girl ventured to tell me to remove the battery-- battery?! Anyone who has seen an UPstage knows they are built like an mp3 player-- that is, internal, unremovable battery. Real competent personnel, huh? I finally got someone who would listen instead of talk at me, and we figured out the problem-- we had been given the wrong codes to type in.

Well, this new phone would give us another kick in the pants when our bill came. It seemed they had taken off the text message package, the PCS vision package, everything that we had on that line when the phone was replaced. It doesn't make sense why they'd do that, especially as I had been assured they would NOT do that (call me paranoid, I suspected them by now). The man offered to take off the 20 something dollar charge for the packages being re-added and we would only have to pay the 29 something for the used text messages and the 60 something for internet. I politely informed him what he could do with that offer, and that the charges would all be taken off and the account set up correctly. I pride myself on being persuasive, and he fixed it. Good.

Well, the UPstage didn't seem to hold up to my fiance's abuse-- works on docks with freight-- and he wanted something a bit more pocket-friendly. He saw the Musiq and fell in love, so he got that one. The girl at the kiosk (we don't apparently have Sprint stores anymore in the world, given runarounds from the past) told him it was all set up, nothing would change, and there was no need to pay any upgrade fees as it would not be classified as an upgrade. Terrific! A few days later, the phone freezes, the outside buttons stop working. He consults the Sprint store here in town, and all they can do is try another battery in it. Nothing doing. He is told to take it back where he got it. Now, when we have had faulty phones in the past, we take them back, they give us a new one, no problem. The kiosk we had used, please shoot me now, was in a mall an hour away. We get there and the girl won't switch it out unless we have the box and everything, even though they have never asked for that before. New policy, apparently, so the fiance goes all the way back the next day to get his phone.

Now, that isn't the end of it. Our bill came.. and guess what was on there? Yes! TWO upgrade fees of 19.00!! Charges for text message use, as well as a text message plan-- apparently, plans don't cover use anymore? And here's to boot, the new plan my fiance had apparently signed up for with another non-English person was supposed to be unlimited messaging for both lines for 20? It was listed under my phone number, even though his is primary. Weird, no? Here's the clincher-- there was also a TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR equipment fee!! Needless to say, my happy little butt was on that phone in an instant.

Sprint apparently doesn't want our business, because I talked to no less than SIX people, all of whom told me different things about the text plans, several who refused to remove the upgrade fees (one who finally did), a few who wouldnt take off the text fees (ah, another finally did), two 'supervisors' who shouldn't work for an English speaking company and then get mad at ME when I can't understand them (snotty you-know-what, hope she's fired, I was being polite), and someone who suggested that we drive back to the kiosk with our credit card statement, the bill, and the phone and argue it with them. I was foaming at the mouth by this time, and came pretty close to smoking again and ruining my seven months nicotine free. The head honcho woman I finally got to said all she could do was remove the text messaging fee, the two charges for upgrades (which we shouldnt have had, and if we should have, there was only one fricken phone line with a new cell!), and open a case about the 200 bucks.

Funny thing is, the phone was 299.00 plus tax, I believe, which made it around 314 or so, give or take for my bad math. We paid with Capital One, the payment cleared. Where did an even 200 come from? Nobody seems to know. I thought maybe it was the battery, but my fiance popped that theory-- the girl at the store who tried a new battery never gave it to him to keep, never took his name or phone number, and never saw any identification. In other words, she couldn't have put it on a bill. As it stands, Sprint said they would look into it and contact US when they figured out what happened. All I have to say is, if they try to charge us late fees for nonpayment of SUSPENDED charges, I'm going to blow.

Nbales

lynchburg, Ohio

U.S.A.

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