[Macpartners] Sprint - Warning and Plea for Help

Mon Oct 1 14:46:43 EDT 2012

Submit a complaint with the FCC:

http://www.fcc.gov/complaints

I had similar problems with T-Mobile a few years back, and after a few
days, it got things moving.

On Sunday, September 30, 2012, John-Elmer Canfield wrote:

> I'm hoping someone may have a suggestion that will help me, but meanwhile
> I want to warn anyone considering purchasing new phones and/or service from
> Sprint: Whatever you do, DON'T give them any information about porting your
> existing phone numbers to Sprint, especially if you rely on those working
> numbers for your emergency phone service. Sprint will disable your old
> working phone service long before they're able to ship new phones to you,
> leaving you with no way to receive or make emergency phone calls for a week
> or more! Don't trust any reassurances they give you otherwise!
>
> I'd hoped that ordering through the MIT portal would help get a better
> response with any customer service problems, but Sprint's representative
> for MIT, David Saccardo, did nothing but give me the runaround for several
> days and then stopped answering phone calls or responding to email.
>
> Here's the short version of the series of events:
>
> Thursday, Sept 20th - Ordered 2 new iPhones from Sprint with a 2-Year
> agreement. Projected delivery date was estimated at 3 weeks (but they
> immediately charged my credit card $550.00).
>
> Monday, Sept 24th - One of the old phones goes "Out-of-Service" - it can't
> make or receive any calls! When I called the old carrier, they said the
> number had already been ported over to Sprint. I spent an hour and a half
> on the phone with Sprint that night getting absolutely nowhere, and then
> they wind up disconnecting my call.
>
> Tuesday, Sept 25th - I email and also call Sprint's representative at MIT,
> David Saccardo, directly. He "apologizes" and says he'll have the problem
> fixed right away, but the day ends and he's done nothing.
>
> Wednesday, Sept 26th - I try it again with David Saccardo; more empty
> apologies, but then he pawns the problem off to someone else at Sprint.
> They call me, I waste more and more time with more people having to explain
> the problem from the beginning over and over again to each subsequent
> person, but still nothing gets fixed.
>
> Thursday, Sept 27th - Sprint now tells me that the only way they can get
> the phone number they disabled working again is if I purchase another new
> phone for from Sprint (actually, it's $499.99 they'll be charging me for an
> old used iPhone) to use temporarily until the new iPhones are available to
> ship. This seems bizarre, but at this point I'm really desperate to have
> the number working again and they assure me I'll receive the phone the next
> day.
>
> Friday, Sept 28th - I receive an email from Sprint that the additional
> phone is only just now becoming ready to ship (but it's already Friday
> afternoon, so there's no way it'll arrive at MIT before Monday!)
>
> At this point I've had it with Sprint. I decide to completely CANCEL my
> order with Sprint - I tell them to refund the $550.00 they charged my
> credit card and LEAVE THEIR HANDS OFF MY PHONE NUMBERS!
>
> Several more hours on the phone with Sprint and the old carrier
> (StraightTalk) trying to get the number back in service. StraightTalk says
> they can't turn it back on because Sprint has the number, but because I
> never received any phones from Sprint, it's never been activated there, and
> the carrier can only port numbers that are currently active.
>
> I'm absolutely seething inside, but to get anywhere, I know I must remain
> calm and collected as I call over and over and over again. Finally, after
> wasting hours on the phone explaining the problem from the beginning again
> and again to countless people, a technician from Sprint agrees to make a
> conference call with a technician at StraightTalk and it looks like they
> get the problem ironed out; I'm told the phone should be back to normal in
> about an hour.
>
> Saturday, Sept 29th - Still absolutely no service. Next, StraightTalk
> tells me that when Sprint ported my number it zapped the SIM card and I now
> need a new one for the phone to work again. They'll send me one
> free-of-charge, but it'll take several days to receive. However, if I buy
> another new SIM card from Walmart, they can reactivate the number right
> away.
>
> I drive to my local Walmart, but they don't stock SIM cards for
> StraightTalk. A very nice lady there took the time to call around to other
> Walmart stores for me; she is told no stores in Massachusetts carry them,
> but stores in New Hampshire might. I drive back home and call all the
> Walmarts in New Hampshire; none of them carry them. (I even tried calling
> Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, and New York… but no store I
> call has them or knows anything about it)
>
> I call StraightTalk back and then she reads off a list of "selected"
> stores in Massachusetts that supposedly have them. I start calling, Salem:
> "no, you've got to order on the web", North Reading: "no, but Tewksbury
> might have them". Tewksbury: at first "never heard of the things", but I
> plead and plead for him to look and finally he finds them!
>
> I drive up to Tewksbury and pay $64 dollars for a new SIM card (which are
> only sold bundled with another $45 pre-paid refill card) It's over an hour
> drive each way, but when I get back home and call the carrier again, after
> a little while the phone finally comes back to life after being without
> service for the past six days! Hooray!!!
>
> Sunday, Sept 30th - I'm still feeling totally beat up and exhausted from
> losing sleep for several days over the matter, but at least the worst
> telephone experience of my life is finally over… or so I thought…
>
> ...It's now Sunday night and THE OTHER PHONE has suddenly gone
> "Out-of-Service"!!!   …says it needs to be Activated, but then keeps saying
> "Could not Activate iPhone". Worse than the first phone Sprint took out of
> service, this one's completely bricked…  it won't even bring up the Home
> screen!!!
>
> The first phone belonged to my friend and I felt horrible for leading him
> astray by suggesting Sprint; he lives alone and has no other method of
> communication. The second phone (that has now stopped working) is mine; I
> also live alone and have no other phone service, so I'm unable to call my
> carrier (AT&T) to get any help at this time.
>
> I'm sorry to be going on with such a rant, but sometimes it helps to just
> write down what happened during terrible experiences. If you've been kind
> enough to read this much, I'd be very grateful for any suggestions on how
> to get out of this awful mess. Does anyone know how to reach someone with
> real authority at Sprint? (the other Sprint representatives for MIT, Brian
> LaBree and Sonia Restall were just as useless as David Saccardo; they don't
> answer their phones and never responded to any of my emails)
>
> I just want everything to go back the way it was before I had any dealings
> with Sprint. I thought AT&T service was terrible; SmartTalk is cheaper, but
> the service is just as bad. However, I had no idea how much worse it could
> be with Sprint. The bottom line is that Sprint does not recognize the
> responsibility they have to deliver emergency phone service, despite being
> granted a franchise to the public airwaves. Most of my career was spent as
> a field service technician repairing phone systems - when a customer had no
> phone service at all, it always took priority over "adds moves and
> changes". Not with Sprint; they simply don't care.
>
> It's not as though these service failures were caused by a storm knocking
> out facilities or some major piece of equipment failing, it's nothing but a
> clerical error; a stupid, stupid clerical error by Sprint; an error that
> could be fixed in two minutes if someone really cared! … If Sprint were the
> last carrier on the planet, you'd be better off with two tin cans and a
> string.
>
> FINAL WARNING - If you or anyone you know is considering a move to Sprint
> - DO NOT give them any information about porting your existing phone
> numbers until you actually receive new working phones. Otherwise, Sprint
> will port the numbers in advance and you'll be left with absolutely no
> phone service at all.
>
>
> I've literally been reduced to tears over this, and I don't know what to
> do next.
>
> Elmer
>
>
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-- 

--Patrick

IT Manager | J-PAL <http://povertyactionlab.org/> | MIT <http://mit.edu> |
+1-617-324-2721 | mcneal at mit.edu
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