Beware
Every Realtor using Sprint PCS that signed up during the initial phase of the E-Key launch that were offered freebies to change their plans should immediately be aware that Sprint is expiring those freebies. Offers differed in many areas of the Country, so it is impossible for me to break down what problems you may experience. These expirations come with no warning and you may incur serious charges for downloading your MLS data to your phone, text messenging, peak and off peak times, without refund or explanation. Realtor beware, read your bill and pay very close attention to the “data usage” on your bill.
We’ve spent the better part of 4 hours on the phone with customer retention as well as several hours in the Sprint store over the past month resolving these issues to the tune of nearly $1,000.00. It is Sprint’s policy to address no charges more than two months old so I advise you contact Sprint immediately. I would also recommend if you are unsure what exactly will or has expired that you contact Sprint Customer Service as soon as possible.
I can only speak for myself when I say we were never told these plans would expire, nor was I ever told that the discount offered to Reators would expire- We have seriously been mislead, and the outcome is that the new plans offered by Sprint are much higher per month than what we switched from. A Sprint Store manager stated while speaking to Sprint Customer Service by phone, “There’s going to be a lot of pissed off Realtors lined up in my store.” The Sprint response was, “The plans no longer exist.”
According to Customer Retention, these plans offered to the local boards had a life expectancy of 2 years in most cases. We found it odd that even the Sprint associates that were charged with signing up thousands of agents had no idea of any expirations of the promises being made by Sprint.
I would assume that other services offering data phones and plans for E-Key such as Cingular will suffer the same fate.
Bill Lublin
April 22, 2008 at 5:41 am
You might guess there’s a problem with meeting customer expectations when a company needs to set up a department called “Customer Retention”
Daniel Rothamel
April 22, 2008 at 9:02 am
Our experience with Sprint was the most horrendous customer-service experience we have ever had with a corporation. We switched to Alltel and couldn’t be happier. My advice– downgrade to the display key, and get a good smartphone. I’m partial to BlackBerry, but whatever floats your boat.
Glenn fm Naples
April 22, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Lani – I have always found that dealing with certain areas of a corporation the individuals follow the policies and procedures as handed and explained to them. Sometimes the executive management in the corporation are not aware of how bad experience the customer is experiencing. Just a suggestion try finding the CEO’s name and corporate telephone number – and call the CEO. You might not get the CEO, but if you get the person’s secretary there will be some action taken, usually.
As consumers, we do not “aggressively” assert ourselves and we should.
TheHarrimanTeam
April 22, 2008 at 9:56 pm
And to think I was toying with the idea of switching to Sprint from Verizon, a company I have been with, and happy with, for over ten years, since they were known as Bell Atlantic Mobile. After talking to reps from both providers, I decided to stick with Verizon and simply buy new phones for my wife and me. I pay a little bit more per month, but the savings in stress and in not having to deal with the above-mentioned debacle is more than worth it.
jaybird
April 23, 2008 at 6:09 am
Yes, try to reach what Daniel Odio calls the VITO–very important top official. His article on that is here: https://drodio.typepad.com/effecting_change/2008/03/how-to-pitch-pe.html
I bet if enough realtors fuss one of the cell phone co.s will come out announcing their e-key discount permanent and will announce it through local real estate channels such as the association and RE offices to grab a disenfranchised group for the long haul as customers. 1st carrier to do this and set it in motion on a wide scale in each marketplace will take over 100s or 1000s of accounts of people who tend to have high cell phone bills.
Thomas Johnson
April 29, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Sprint is the K-Mart of cell phones.
Les Sulgrove
May 1, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Any more news on whether Sprint is actually ending the REALTOR package as described above? If so, does this constitute a change in our customer contracts with Sprint allowing us to depart their jail based contract period before our contract period expires without the penalty?
Eric Blackwell
May 17, 2008 at 11:07 am
@Les– I didn’t see this post until just now, but i would think that it “would” constitute a change. I’d check with your retailer to find out for sure.