"Sprint ditches customers who complain too much"

[Only The Strong Survive 0]

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

 

NEW YORK (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.

 

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I see the point, but at the same time, for the crazy rates these companies charge, it's only fair that the customers should be 100% satisified, even if some of them can become a huge pain to deal with.

[Ripper 0]

If they had nearly 1500 people calling about issues close to a hundred times in a month, then perhaps the issue wasn't fixed.

 

I love Cingular. I have had to call them maybe twice in the last 4 years.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

It makes sense, though. If certain people are being unreasonable and taking up the lines that could be used to help other people, than I can see why they should have their account cancelled.

[Mik 0]

I have never had a single problem with Verizon in almost 6 years.

 

But yeah... I'm switching to AT&T next year.

 

Sucks being an apple fanboy sometimes...

[MrRant 0]

There are times when you have customers that no matter what, you can never make them happy and the continue to call and be an issue. There is one that I know of in particular with us and it ends up making them sometimes more expensive then they are worth.

[At Home 0]

It's all just a ploy to get the iPhone. If you throw up a big deal, they cancel your service and you can switch to AT&T. A good way to get this done is by contacting the BBB.

[MrRant 0]

If you got the bucks for the iPhone, paying a $150 (prorated?) term fee isn't that big of a deal.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I love Sprint, but I hate being locked into a contract with them just because I wanted to upgrade my POS phone. Maybe I should start calling customer service and complaining more often.

[Youth N Asia 0]

My Nextel contract ends Aug 17. I cannot wait to kill it. Bad service, paying too much

 

Going with Verizon after

[At Home 0]

I have verizon. It's nice, but works no where near where I live. I literally live on top of a mountain.

[Only The Strong Survive 0]

I have AT&T. My phone works, so I'm happy...

 

Not getting the iPhone though, way too expensive for me.

[2GOLD 0]

 

I have Cingular and have avoided signing a new contract since I haven't wanted to upgrade my phone. But thats going to change real soon when I have to double up and share minutes. That's going to suck cause I like my phone but since I'll have to change everything else, I might as well get the free upgrade.

 

It works fine out of my house. In my house...not so much.

[Only The Strong Survive 0]

Here's a follow-up article... a lot of the same stuff but still interesting.

 

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/ap_on_...nated_customers

 

Sprint Nextel defends cutting customers

 

By DAVID TWIDDY, AP Business Writer 2 hours, 28 minutes ago

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Sprint Nextel Corp. isn't apologizing for its decision to ax customers it determined were calling customer service too often.

 

The nation's third-largest wireless provider sent letters to about 1,000 subscribers June 29, saying the company's records showed they had made frequent calls for help with questions about billing and other account information.

 

"While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time had led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs," the letters said.

 

The customers were told their service agreements were being terminated, they wouldn't owe anything on their final bill, and the company would waive early termination fees. They also were told to switch to another wireless provider by July 30 if they want to keep their phone number.

 

In debate on the Internet, Sprint's move has attracted criticism that the company is penalizing consumers for trying to get what they paid for, or that the frequent calls are more a reflection of poor customer service by Sprint itself.

 

But Sprint officials said Monday this isn't a case of someone being flagged by a computer program, and that an internal review lasting six months to a year focused on the types of problems the callers had and what information they were seeking.

 

"These accounts have been researched very carefully," Sprint spokeswoman Roni Singleton said. "We feel strongly that the decisions we made, we stand by them. These decisions weren't made lightly."

 

Singleton said the targeted subscribers each made an average of 40 to 50 calls a month to customer service. She wouldn't say how that compared with the overall number of calls logged by the customer service department in a given month.

 

Singleton said the review also found that the subscribers often were calling about the same problems over and over after Sprint officials felt they had resolved the issue. She said some callers were repeatedly asking for information from other customers' accounts, which customer service workers aren't allowed to divulge.

 

"If the average person is calling less than once per month and these people are calling 40 or 50 times more, that takes away from customer service," Singleton said. "Our priority is to improve the customer experience."

 

Officials at competitors AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless said that while they may terminate customers who are abusive toward customer service operators or violate other terms of their service agreements, they don't terminate customers because of customer service calls.

 

"We have never severed ties with customers in a mass mailing like this," said Verizon spokeswoman Cheryl Bini Armbrecht.

 

CIBC World Markets analyst Tim Horan said in a research note to investors that he didn't see anything alarming with Sprint's decision.

 

"Sprint has taken a number of steps to improve the 'quality' of its customer base and we view this measure in the same light," Horan wrote.

 

Sprint, which has about 54 million subscribers, has been trying to upgrade its customer base, tightening credit requirements and attempting to attract customers who will spend more each month on data services, such as Internet browsing, music downloads and streaming video.

 

During the most recent quarter, the company said it gained just 600,000 new customers, while AT&T and Verizon gained 1.2 million and 1.7 million, respectively.

 

Earlier this month, Sprint unveiled a new marketing campaign aimed at highlighting its network speed and capabilities, an attempt to distance itself from earlier marketing campaigns that were criticized as unfocused and confusing.

[2GOLD 0]

They don't really say why these people were calling but 40 to 50 times a month? Holy hell, that's gotta eat up most of their minutes dealing with customer service. I see no problem axing someone who was calling about someone else's account information. But what in the world could you be having trouble with that you need to call Customer Service 50 damn times a month?

 

I have called Cingular all of once and that was about my inability to download ringtones. Course they told me I would need a new SIM card which would mean a new contract so I just loopholed it and had my girl download them to her phone and MMS the ringtones to me. Same price and I avoided signing a new contract to a crappy plan, well for now anyway.

[AndrewTS 0]

I hate cell phone contracts. Or worse, termination fees in cell phone contracts. Not that pay-as-you-go are perfect solutions either.

 

Do (any?) cell phone contracts have an "out" for incidents where their service sucks?

[LJSexay 0]

I have, and love Sprint.

 

there, I said it.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Good. Fuck the customers. Take your business, and your complaints, elsewhere and clog up some other place's phone lines.

[At Home 0]

Are we completely forgetting that these people are just calling in to cancel their shit just so they can get the iPhone? That's what this is. It's all over the internet. Bloggers are cumming all over the place telling people to do this. I guess it works. It's not like all of the sudden, 1000 people were just REALLY REALLY unsatisfied.

[Guest Smues]

Umm, it takes 40-50 calls to cancel your service?

 

As for contracts yeah they suck ass. That's why I bite the bullet and just pay for my own phone and don't do the contracts. Haven't been on one for almost 5 years, and while I haven't switched companies, I like having the freedom to do so, plus I have changed my plan a few times and had I been in a contract that would have been a bit of a hassle.

[Guest Vitamin X]

That would be pointless if you had a CDMA phone (Sprint or Verizon), but useful if you had GSM.

[NoCalMike 0]

I happen to have Sprint, and I don't really have any complaints. I have compared prices, and I do think Sprint's rates are a little higher then the competition for what you get out of it, but at the same time the service itself has never done me wrong. I don't really do anything fancy with my phone besides their Vision plan, and my bill is pretty much the same every month.

 

With that said, I have heard nightmares about Sprint's customer service. A lot of the complaints I have heard, are from people that get over-charged or flat out charged extra for features that are supposed to be included in their plan, so they end up calling and getting the charges taken off, but the person fails to eliminate it for the future, so basically every single month they go through the same routine, and it never changes no matter what rep they talk to, even if it goes to second-level help. It's almost like they hope the person just gets fed up with calling, gives in, and pays the charges.

[At Home 0]

Any rate increase or shit like that automatically voids your contract.

[krease 0]

Ok, so when I first read the headline on this, I was like "WTF? How can they get away with that?"

 

Then looking into it - they're having problems with a small number of people (a few thousand isn't that many when you're as big as Sprint) that are calling their customer service on average at least twice a day, to repeatedly ask for information from other customers' accounts.

 

Honestly, it sounds like those "customers" are trying to do something fishy, and if it was my company, I'd probably do the same thing. Good call.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I happen to have Sprint, and I don't really have any complaints. I have compared prices, and I do think Sprint's rates are a little higher then the competition for what you get out of it, but at the same time the service itself has never done me wrong. I don't really do anything fancy with my phone besides their Vision plan, and my bill is pretty much the same every month.

 

With that said, I have heard nightmares about Sprint's customer service. A lot of the complaints I have heard, are from people that get over-charged or flat out charged extra for features that are supposed to be included in their plan, so they end up calling and getting the charges taken off, but the person fails to eliminate it for the future, so basically every single month they go through the same routine, and it never changes no matter what rep they talk to, even if it goes to second-level help. It's almost like they hope the person just gets fed up with calling, gives in, and pays the charges.

 

Not to mention that second level help is absolutely useless and usually extremely rude and completely unhelpful. Cell phone companies like Sprint love lording that contract shit over you also. If there's one thing I regret about my cell phone service, it's that I always saved that extra bit of money by signing a contract.

 

I mean, I like Sprint and for what I get from them, I don't have any complaints, but sometimes I feel like cutting down things from my plan or consider switching to another carrier and every time I have to get an issue like that resolved by customer service, they always tend to think they're right. I remember a couple months ago my cell phone bill ballooned up to about $150 out of nowhere and my service was disconnected because of that. It took forever to find out that I was getting charged for some frivolous data plan bullshit they should've taken care of months before, and it took a ton of calls and a couple weeks to cut it down to my normal $67 bill. At that point, I threatened to cancel and/or switch my service, and every time, this is the supervisor mind you, they basically had no reaction except talk to me in a condescending manner and that if I wanted to cancel it would be a $150 termination fee from the contract. Fuck that!

 

It's okay for now but as soon as that contract's up, I'm probably switching to a pay as you go plan and doing the landline thing. A lot of VoIP networks and similar things of that nature have made it so it's not so bad having a landline, and I hate having a cell phone in some ways because I don't like people freaking out if I don't pick up.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

It makes sense. I work for Comcast, and I have seen some customers get shut off because they would constantly call in to bitch day after day. I have no problem helping out someone, or that some people get a raw deal so they may call in a bit. But when it becomes excessive, then you might as well cut your losses on that customer

[NoCalMike 0]

Well NOW I am having an issue with the Sprint website. There is a section to click on that you can add or subtract add-ons from your plan. I am trying to cancel my Vision plan, which would knock $15 off my bill per month(because I hardly every actually web browse on my phone) so everytime I uncheck the Vision box, you are supposed to click the "save" button, and whenever I do, I get a message saying "Sorry the changes have not been updated on your account, please try again later" I have tried this about 10 times now and I get the same message everytime.....FUCK.

[Guest Vitamin X]

You can always call them. They're open pretty late.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I have, and love Sprint.

 

there, I said it.

I now have their unlimited mobile broadband via a USB aircard hooked to my computer.

 

$60 a month and Im getting close to the max of the EVDO rev A speed because Im freaking like..2 feet from a Sprint Cell Tower which is a tad over 1 mbps. Which, to me is good because out here its only this, dialup or satellite which is even more expensive and not unlimited. Whee!

 

[Eclipse 0]

I can't stand Sprint. After being with them since 2003, we get shafted on the upgrades to our phones! All the phones were TOO EXPENSIVE to upgrade to! The phone I have now, which is a piece of crap low end phone was the most affordable! If you see this phone and it's cost in the local Sprint Store here (over 150 bucks), you wouldn't believe it. I'm getting my own line with Verizon. I have a line with my mom's family plan on Sprint, but it's time to move on. Thank god the contract is up next month with Sprint.