American Capitalism In Action

post 1: Its been an entire week since i've first started to try to activate my phone. I recieved my phone from Handspring (after a month wait) on nov 17th., a Treo 600. I waited 6 grueling days till the 24th so I can get my Cingular number ported over to Sprint. Ok the 24h rolls around and I call Sprint at 11am, I get this lady who doesn't seem to understand english very well, hard of hearing and seems to be her first day at the job. After an hour and a half of repeating everything I say to her and correcting her over and over I finally get my phone activated and she says 10 hours and my number will be ported over and everything will be ready to use.

Okay, 10 hours sounds a bit steep, but fine I can live with that, i'm finally going to be able to use my Treo! 10 hours later, nothing. I call back the next day and the person tells me I have to wait 5 days from the time I called. 5 days? My Cingular cycle starts again on the 26th, I don't want to pay a full months of Cingular bill for 3 days worth of phone service while I wait for the number port to go through. So I try to cancel the number port and just settle with a new number instead. Sprint tells me that my number is in the "pending" stage and they can't touch it, try calling Cingular instead. I call up Cingular and explain my situation and how I wish to cancel the port, they can't touch it either, but looking into my account they discover that my number isn't in the top100 so it can't be ported in the first place, something Sprint failed to tell me. If I knew ahead of time I would have just activated my account on the 17th!

I called Sprint back and tell them what I discovered from Cingular, they tell me that Cingular was lying to me and they were just trying to keep me as a customer. They assured me that my account had nothing wrong with it and it was going to get processed fine. Nothing was wrong and everything was fine and dandy, just wait till the end of 5 days.

Well since I was stuck with the number port now, I call up Cingular again and ask for a prorate for the 3 days that my phone will still be active while waiting for the port and they agree, sorta. They tell me to call them up when the bill arrives and they'll deduct the amount. Anyway I wait 5 days and my phone STILL is not working, so I call Sprint up and they tell me to wait till tomorrow afternoon and it'll be ready. I complain that I have been without a phone for the last week and that I was supposed to have my service up and running 5 days go, they offer me some compensation to be discussed later. Okay, cool compensation, that sounds good, I guess it'll make everything worthwhile.

So today my phone still is not working, I call them up in the evening telling them that my phone is still not working and they tell me once again to wait till tomorrow afternoon. At this point i'm completely frustrated and ask to talk to the number port CRS directly instead of using a proxy (and getting put on hold over and over). I get transfered to the number port rep and tell him my situation. He tells me my number has been canceled since the 25th.

MY NUMBER HAS BEEN CANCELED SINCE THE 25TH? YOU MEAN ALL THOSE TIMES I'VE CALLED IN AND ASKED ABOUT MY NUMBER BETWEEN THE 25TH AND THE 29TH, THEY WERE LYING TO ME? WTF?!

Then he proceeds to tell me that I have to wait another 5 days because the number was canceled and they have to reinstate it into the system and put me on the bottom of the list. At this point I didn't give a sh*t about which number I got and since my number port was canceled I'll just settle for a new number instead. He says that that will take 5 days for any number to port in. I asked him again to make sure he understood what I was saying, I didn't want ANY numbers ported from ANYWHERE, not any carriers, I just wanted a new number created by SPRINT, and he replied, 5 days. I didn't believe what I just heard, so after nearly going berserk on the poor rep, he went and checked the system again, came back and apologized for misinforming me. He tells me that my number was canceled outside of the system (by some higher power? huh?) and he couldn't activate a new account for me unless I get a new phone. I explain to him ITS A FREAKING TREO 600. I am NOT going to get another one of these for at least another month, all the stores are out and all the websites are backordered till Jan 2. So he goes off and checks something again and tells me that my account will be cleared in 8-12 hours and to call back after that to set up a new account. ARGH, ok I asked about the compensation that I would be getting for all this trouble and frustration i've been dealing with, and he tells me i'll get 10 courtesy minutes on my account. WOOPDIEEDO! 10 freaking minutes for an entire week of not having a phone and having to spend hours each day talking to CSRs? He then tells me that I can discuss compensation terms tomorrow.

At this point I just hung up and decided not to give myself more ulcers until tomorrow. I was considering opening another line with Sprint because my dad wanted a new cellphone provider, but after this nightmare, I don't want to deal with Sprint customer service again. Ever.

Called Sprint at 10am, went on hold, talked for an 2 hours while driving to school using my Treo 600 (by dialing *2). Got transfered over and over, got to school and talked to someone who told me that they will fix my account and get it so the port process stops. She tells me to call back in about an hour and they'll get my account set up.

I call back an hour later and I get a clueless guy and I had to explain the situation to him. Had a hard time understanding his broken english and he gave me this "FSN" (ESN?) number and started setting up a plan for me. Not sure what the number was for because I couldn't understand him, why do I always get the ones that I can't understand? Its why my activation is all messed up in the first place. After explaining the exact options I wanted (300 mins, PCS Professional Vision pack and Insurance), and correcting him multiple times (he didn't know what a Professional vision pack was.), and after an hour of talking to him on the phone I tell him, "Just look on my existing account and you'll see what plan options I want."

He tells me, "What other line?" ARGHHHH!!! I thought I clearly explained the entire situation, but apperantly he was just saying "Yes. Yes. Yes" as a reflex or something instead of listening to what I was saying, and then he transfers me. At this point my phone runs out of batteries right when I get home and I plug it into my charger (which disconnected my call for some reason).

At this point I decide to call MTA guy in these forums that left me his number in the PM. I get a voicemail, I called about 4 times between 4 and 5. I just said screw it and drove to the sprint store in the next city.

It was pretty packed and for anyone whos looking for a Treo 600, they just got two in, one got sold on the spot (thanks to me, wheres my commision? :P) so theres still one at the store! The store is located in West Covina. Anyway the guy told me he'll open a new account for me and to use the red phone to call Customer Service. After a bit of waiting I was talking to the CSR, finally I got someone who gave a S**T. She got through to the Portting people, as usual the story is my account is limbo and couldn't be touched, so she made them keep her on the line until it was resolved. Very cool.

She got to level 2 of the porting people and talked to the supervisor. He tells her that the systems are not up to the task of canceling the port process at this time and will be done tomorrow. So I have to call in tomorrow (sounds like the same old story) and check, but this CSR told me that she'll personally make sure that it gets canceled and will give me a call on my land line tomorrow to check up. Or rather leave a message because we don't use the landline except for outgoing calls.

But like the day before, and the day before that and the day before that, i'm still stuck with my phone not working. 7 days and counting...

Alright I called Sprint AGAIN today, its like a daily routine to me now, and asked about my account. The lady yesterday told me that she'll make sure it gets fixed today, so I asked the rep if my account was fixed yet. Still pending. The same status it has been for the last 7 days. He then put me on hold to investigate this, an hour later he comes back and tells me that the person who originally made the cancel on the port made a mistake and they are NOW getting to fix it and I should call back in 48 hours to activate my phone. Still sounds like the same thing ive been hearing for the last 8 days, eitherway, my phone still is not working. At least the rep decided to waive the $35 activation fee, at least its better than the slap in the face insult offer of 10 courtesy minutes. I only managed to spend an hour on the phone with Sprint today, thats a new record for me considering the last 8 days i've been spending 2-4 hours a day, mostly being on hold.

I'm going to give MTA a call tomorrow and see if we can get this resolved sooner, before my head explodes, along with my Treo 600.

Post4: Okay it is now two days later and im calling as they told me, as of now I am on hold trying to get to tier 2 service, first thing they tell me is my "account is still pending". Well I see after ALL this my account has gone NOWHERE at all. After 30 mins of being on hold the rep comes back and tells me that the tier 2 service isnt picking up and that she'll leave a note on my account, I tell her that if you leave a note nothing will happen, because everytime I call in over the last 11 days I log at least 2 hours a day talking to a rep or being on hold and I know what happens if you leave a note. I told her to try to reach the tier 2 again and now im once again on hold. I recieved my phone 16 days ago so the Sprint stores won't allow me to replace my phone for a new ESN. This is so frustrating, I seriously expected my phone to be working nearly two weeks ago and now i've invested so much time calling Sprint. Everytime I call in they make it seem like i'm making progress, but in reality I have gone back to square one.

Post5: Ok I got to tier 2 port support again and this time they tell me: "Your cancelation is ready to be fulfilled, all we are waiting on now is for Cingular to send a cancelation confirmation. You should call Cingular to speed up this process". Ok it seems like we are finally getting somewhere, I call Cingular up and ask them about it, they tell me that no port requests were EVER sent to Cingular, so I spend 2 hours on the phone with the rep trying to reach Sprint in a 3 way, we finally get through to the Sprint rep and the Cingular rep hangs up. ARGHHH. After explaining the problem for the 100th time I get transfered to the number port dept so I can explain it again for the 101th time. As usual that didn't get me anywhere so I asked to be transfered to tier 2 port, explaining my story AGAIN, and having the guy not understand me and completely missing the point I was trying to make, I asked to be transfered to somewhere higher. I didn't even think a tier 3 port center existed but I got a tier 3 technician. This guy looked at my file and told me exactly what the problem was, and told me all the little details about the porting system. Apperantly this is how the system works, there are two computers that tell eachother information, if the information is a match then the port happens, if not then the account gets canceled. There is also a 3rd computer, that sits inbetween the two, that computer is the referee computer and makes sure everything goes smoothly. My number was stuck in the 3rd computer and someone needs to go in there and get it fixed, so the guys wrote me up a trouble ticket so a technician can get to it on hands on basis. They tell me that my number COULD be transfered and to just wait it out. I told them that I don't really care anymore and to do whichever is faster, open me a new account or transfer my number. After writing me a trouble ticket I am stuck once again with the empty filling of knowing that tomorrow I will probably be stuck with the same exact problem i've had for the last 11 days, no working number. I set another personal record for myself today, 5 hours on the phone today trying desperately to get this fixed.

Post6: Grrr 14 days and my phone still isnt working. The reps tell me its AT&T is backlogging all the systems for all the carriers and all I can do is wait. I wish I could just get a new ESN, but its been over 14 days for the Sprint exchange, would a handspring exchange work? If so how long would it take for me to recieve my phone?

clue for you:
"virgin mobile PREPAID"

15 minutes.
You will save so much on the hidden charges that the big "S" intends to screw you over with, via the service agreement terms over the next six months, you will be able to buy four of them, and put as many minutes as you need.

yes.. been a Sprint customer since they pretty much opened up the shop...

they lie, dissemble and hire folks who don't understand english, network protocols or databases... screw em...
When you cancel your order, contract and agreement.
They will threatedn to sue, and discover they can update the whole friggin thing in less than thirty minutes.

multiple PERSONAL experiences with them..

PURE EVIL... imho

Sprint?

SPRINT???

About two months ago, I received a mailing telling me that, at long last, I was DSL-able. I've been wanting a high speed connection ever since I discovered the internet.

I visited the Sprint website, typed in my phone number and, lo and behold, I discovered that I am indeed in a DSL area!

I called the 800 number and, for the first time, got a Sprint CSR who did more than just grunt. She said I would be contacted by the service department. They would have to visit my house to install a splitter on the phone line outside.

The next day another fairly articulate CSR called saying that someone would be at my house the day after tomorrow, and that a DSL modem would be shipped to me. At that time, I could just hook up the wires and - viola'! - I'd be joining the high speed set.

The day before I was to greet the technician, I received yet another phone call from Sprint. She was sorry, but we were NOT eligible for DSL service. Some sort of equipment problem was to blame. I was pretty steamed. I fired off a letter to the V.P. of Customer Relations expressing my anger and frustration with Sprint, and my burning desire to become a 100% cellular household so I could bid Sprint a not so fond adieu.

I have, since then, mailed yet another letter to the V.P. of Ignoring Customer Complaints, and have yet to receive a reply.

Postscript: I contracted with our local ISP. They said I could absolutely receive DSL - in a week!

Ha! Of course, our local ISP relies upon Sprint phone lines. They called me to say that Sprint, for some unknown reason, was "upgrading" all the lines into our neighborhood and, as soon as they were finished, I'd have my DSL.

Well, I have a DSL signal. The glowing green light on the "Netopia" DSL modem says I do.

Of course, the computer refuses to acknowledge this signal. There's something wrong with 1) the Ethernet card, 2) the installation (I did it myself which, in itself, is highly suspect or 3) there's something horribly wrong with my computer.

A happy ending, however: Tomorrow, I'm bringing the whole computer to the local ISP. They've offered to take a look at it and make repairs as necessary. They've promised that, in a day or two I will, at long last, have DSL service. It's great to do business with a local company, especially one that is partly owned by my nephew.

the problem is NOT your system, most likely.
it's usually with the proxy server setup on their d-slam.

providers are closing d-slams all over the country to drive prices up, and get permission to force DHCP on all of us, even those of us who want STATIC IP's.

Yes, it is a government/bigbusiness conspiracy.
They want MORE money and they want to choke bandwidth with government's permission... wouldn't want you to be able to work or teleconference from home now would we?

This is because they received authorization from the powers that be, to charge major reconnect and late charge fees, if they can manage to shut you off once a month!!!

that 79.95 talk 3000 anytime minute plan is not netting them enough profit to buy that third mercedes and the extra two mistresses!
with the reconnect fees, they can really make a killing and make YOU feel guilty for NOT paying them on time... even when you have paid them, in advance.

look for telecom leaders to end up in martha stewart's position in the next 18 mos.

It's clearly a scam. If they are scamming YOU and ME, they are surely scamming some senator's grand daughter away at college... wait and see... heh heh... target rich environment is emerging for FCC and ICC to feast on.

and they usually do just that.

I had sprint phones a few years ago. I lived in CT at the time. Somebody from Baltimore called up, gave them the wrong spelling of my name and the wrong zip code, and had 10 phones activated and shipped to him. It took me a good day on the phone to explain to sprint that I lived in CT, and didn't ship any phones to Baltimore. The people were so stupid, every 15 minutes ago they would be like "So when were you in Baltimore? Or, so then you are saying that you did not give anyone permission to order phones on the account?".

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