I saw pretty much the same thing with US Cellular, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other carriers were the same. Well, unless you go with a pre-paid plan, where there is no contract at all, you just need to refill your minutes every 30 (or however many) days. I got a cheap Nokia (not from US Cellular) for $60 and as long as I refill $10 every 2 months, it stays in service. The nice part is being able to stop paying whenever I want and not having to worry about any contracts.

Good thing you dont have ATT. If you want to switch to a cingular rate plan you must purchase a new phone (and get a 2 year contract).

Yeah, pretty much all of the big carriers are requiring 2-year contracts these days. It's a major crock. I've been hearing radio ads for Metro PCS that say that they don't require a long-term contract.

Several years ago (~1997?), I had a phone from, umm... what were they called before they became T-Mobile? PowerTel, that was it. Yeah, back in the day, they did month-to-month plans. At $20/month, if you can believe that. What the hell happened to this industry?

I agree with Dougal -- the cellular industry has become such a racket in the last few years. They apparently think that since everyone has to have a cell-phone (and pay for it), they can jack prices and extend contracts at will.

I used to be an AT&T customer, but their customer service is absolute crap, so I switched to Verizon. I recently changed my calling plan over the phone, and the Verizon reps were very helpful. I didn't have to extend my contract by 2 years -- just one year from the change-of-plan date, which is okay with me.

The two-year contract thing confuses me...I don't even have a 2-year contract on my APARTMENT. Why would I want one on a phone??? And why do I have to pay more for a 1-year contract??? It's headache-inducing for sure.

I agree, of course if your old phone is getting dated you would need to take a new contract to upgrade the phone at the Sprint discount. So you now have two reasons to sign a new contract.

[BTW: I have been using Vonage for a month or so (I hope you got your credit), oddly, I went over the limit on my Verizon cell account for the first time in the two years I have had it. When I called Verizon to complain, they convinced me that the charges were legit but gave me a $40 credit anyway. One complaint: I don't like the fact that incoming calls don't show the source on their billing statements, so I can't really trace where the excessive calls were coing from - they all show on the billing as coming from me.]

Vonage is going great. I don't use the mobile at home any more and I haven't run over my 500 minutes yet - even after letting a neigbor use it for a 90 minute call.

Len

Far as I know, this is industry-wide. If you can't deal with this policy, you have two choices - stay with the plan you're on now, or don't have a cell phone.

On a similar note, I recently upgraded my cell phone (Cingular) and was confounded by the fact that if I kept my current account, I couldn't get a discount on the phone. However, if I cancelled my account and opened a brand new one (acting as a new customer), I'd get a huge discount on the phone. The downside was I'd lose my telephone number.

In essence, Cingular's policy is set up so that they seem a lot more interested in gaining new customers than keeping existing ones. Once I cancelled my Cingular account so that I could get a discount on the phone, it made little difference to me whether I became a "new" Cingular customer or a new [insert cell company here] customer.

As a business owner I know that it's a lot easier to get new business from existing, happy customers than to gain brand new ones. Just like you, I'd say that Cingular is acting really stupid here, except that all their competition does exactly the same thing. If they all do it, the policy doesn't hurt any of them really.

>I'd say that Cingular is acting really stupid here, except that all their competition does exactly the same thing.

Exactly. This is a standard cellular industry policy: new plan = new contract. They don't want people calling every six weeks to update to the newest five-bucks-less, twenty-minutes-more plan, then jumping carriers at the next good deal. The fact that you haven't been one of those people does not change the industry norms.

Switching carriers unfortunately won't make you any happier. May as well sigh and get that new plan. If you've enjoyed your service for seven years, odds are you won't have an issue the next 12 months anyway.

All plans seem to have this requirement.

About two years ago, my husband needed to put his plan on suspension. He was going into the Army and was not allowed to use his cellphone for several months. Verizon told us we could suspend his plan for $10 a month (rather than the normal monthly charge). Plus, there were some fees related to doing this.

Well little did we know that all this did was extend his plan for a little longer.

I also think the high fees to cancel your service is absurd, particularly if you have been a customer for many years.

I just made the same switch pcs (5 years, great unlisted $35 plan) to t-mobile for a few reasons. 1) I needed a new phone and sprint required either $150 for a cheap one, or a contract renewal for a discount. 2) sprint's sms implementation is horrible on the phone's I've used. 3) Similar complaints regarding inflexibility of changes without contract extensions.

I picked up a 1-year contract, and was basically paid 2 months of service to switch (see amazon.com rebates). So far so good, though the sending sound quality has dropped a bit, I believe due to difference in network protocol. I use google/sms constantly now (46645) to lookup words and addresses.

Be sure to give someone a referral if/when you switch!

"It just floors me that Sprint wouldn't bend over backwards to keep a loyal customer like myself. I had no intention of cancelling my service with them but their policies are so predatory and unfair that I am going to cancel my service on principle. Companies like that shoudn't be allowed to be in business."

Haha! Read this again. You tried to impress upon Sprint about how you were a "loyal" customer, but that you were unwilling to contractually obligate yourself to them, even after they offered a reasonable compromise which you rejected? Then after consulting with the omniscient blogosphere, you dumped Sprint to sign a two-year contract with their competitor?

What is "predatory and unfair" about their practices? When your lease is up on your apartment, do you demand a cheaper month-to-month deal from your landlord because you're not home as often as you used to be?

And finally, you say in one breath that you were happy with their service for seven years, then conclude in another breath by saying that when they wouldn't let you ride along on the cheap that they shouldn't be allowed to be in business.

You're not a loyal customer. You're a shameless consumer and Sprint called you on your bluff.

"You're not a loyal customer. You're a shameless consumer and Sprint called you on your bluff."

First of all, I have not yet cancelled my Sprint account. I am still evaluating my options.

Secondly, the issue is not one of deciding which provider to choose. The issue that I'm complaining about is the requirement of being forced to sign a new contract just to change plans - this, despite my seven years of loyalty. I had no intention of cancelling my account when I called - I simply wanted a different plan.

At this point, switching carriers and getting a new phone is a better cost option for me than re-signing a contract with Sprint, since I would need to get a new phone soon anyway.

Sprint had the opportunity to keep a long-time loyal customer who was happy with their service and they chose to throw that away because of a poorly thought-out policy.

Lastly, signing a lease for an apartment is completely different than signing a contract for a cell phone. Multi-year cell phone contracts for new customers is understandable because the carrier has to recoup some of their infrastructure costs. But I am not a new customer and Sprint has spent the last 7 years "recouping" costs from me. It's fair to say that Sprint has been making money off my loyalty for quite some time now. Forcing me to re-sign a new contract just to switch plans is definitely predatory and unfair when you consider that Sprint has no losses to recover from selling me such a service.

It used to be that not all companies required contracts, but paid pretty much full cost for the phone rather than the subsidized cost. I remember looking into plans back in oh, '98 or so and I got a Nokia 6100 series phone for $49 with a 2-yr contact, or I could have gotten the same phone from a different carrier with no contract for $200. That sunk cost in the hardware kept you from bolting too quickly.

So now, you get the cheap phone and have to pay a fee to get out of the contract... Pretty much balances out.

I am not sure why you were asked to sign a two year contract with T-Mobile. Also if you want you can call 611 and switch to the 1000 minutes with Nights and Weekend promo for $45/month if you want.

If you change plans, you are required to sign a new contract. T-Mobile is one of the few carriers in the US that makes you sign an one year contract, almost everyone else will require a two year contract.

Although next year, in your 11th month with T-Mobile you will be able to call customer service, or walk into a T-Mobile corporate store, and get a phone upgrade for the same price as what new customers pay, albeit with an extension on your contract (you can jump to a new plan at the same time if needed.)

Cingular lets you change plans at will without signing a new contract. You can do either more or less expensive plans whenver you want. The only time you have sign a new contract is if you want a discount on a new phone. And that is pretty resonable since you get the phone way below cost. If pay full price for the phone then no contract is required.

GO T-MOBILE!!!

Two months ago, I too realized that I was paying for minutes that I never used. My contract had expired six months previously, but I had continued paying the same fees and getting the same minutes monthly.

When I called about reducing my bill, T-Mobile let me downgrade my plan (to one that costs less, with fewer minutes) without making me sign-up for a new contract. The only sales-talk I got was an offer of a new phone if I did sign a contract.

If you want to compare phone contracts to apartment leases, most apartments allow you to go month-to-month after you've completed the intial 1 year lease. Cell phone companies don't.

I also inquired about getting a new phone with Sprint, as my current one is a few years old. The best they could offer me was a $150 rebate, but you still have to pay the full cost of the phone upfront. And if you look at the costs of a phone with decent features, it's more like $350.

It makes more sense to just jump from provider to provider, to get their initial deals on new phones. I'm guessing across the board, they are all enforcing and pushing these longer contracts in response to the number portability act.

It really makes no sense though that they don't offer better deals to upgrade your phone. How are you supposed to take advantage of Sprints latest features if your phone cannot accommodate them?

While we're on the subject, I wanted to point out that Alltel's phone insurance is the biggest waste of money.

I was paying an additional 5 bucks a month for this insurance. I had a higher end motorola phone. Two years into it, my phone was damaged. When I went to use my insurance to replace it, they charged me another $35 service fee on top of the monthly fee I had already been paying. Then they told me that the Motorola was no longer being made, and their equal replacement for it was some cheap-ass Audiovox that didn't even have the same features.

Sprint will (now, they didn't used to) give you the same deal as a new customer for a new phone. If you've been a customer and haven't upgraded your phone in 18 months, you can get a cheap one free or the same discount off of a good one as a new customer. I recommend not being so mad at Sprint--see if they have a plan and a phone you like, compare them anew to your other options. Especially if the others all have the same (bad, admittedly) policy.

Indeed, I've found that while many companies are quite bad, my experiences with Sprint as a returning customer have never been good. I've been a customer since 2000 and last year I needed to get a new phone (the old charger wasn't working and there was no way to diagnose the problem to figure out what needed to be fixed, not that it was available). My previous phone # also wasn't working very well for me and I wanted to change the area code to a local one. I understood that I might need to set up a new account (a bit unpleasant and not entirely reasonable, but not terrible) to do so. More disturbingly this required a new 2 year contract.

The more irritating issue was that in order to get a new phone I wasn't going to be able to get it at the discounted price made available to new customers. The only option was to trade-in my old phone. This, of course, did not provide nearly the same discount.

The general impression it gave me is that Sprint cares far less about keeping old customers than it does about grabbing new ones and roping them into a binding contract. After you've been in one place for that long and realize that every other company does the same thing the chances that you'll put up with the same abuse rather than switching are pretty good.

Like you, I joined Spring PCS in 1998 and enjoyed years of fine service, but it was being treated as if I were not a bad customer that ultimately persuaded me to switch. When I signed up, there was no contractual agreement, and my nighttime minutes started at 7:00 pm. When I needed a new phone after 2 years, it was something of a shock to find out they wanted a one-year commitment, and later I found out the nighttime minutes started at 9:00 pm, so I was actually needing those extra anytime minutes I got with the deal. When that phone gave out, in 2003, I decided not to play the game. I switched carriers.

Unfortunately I picked AT&T Wireless. I can't complain about the coverage, but their customer information system was a nightmare. I nearly migrated to a Cingular plan (with 2-year commitment, natch) last month, but they couldn't manage to ship my required new phone to me, nor did they have any record of my order when I called back two weeks later to inquire. I fear that the merger of Cingular and AT&T Wireless has produced a beast with the worst attributes of regional Bell monopolies and of a company long grooming itself for aquisition. And why do they require a new phone to migrate to a Cingular service plan? Shouldn't any GSM-compliant phone work?

So now I also am considering T-Mobile, as much out of principal as anything. Their selection of phones is wretched, but the one-year agreement is easier to stomach than the two-year deals everywhere else. Plus, there is the appeal of unlocked GSM phones. An independent affiliate in my neighborhood has gray-market European models like the sexier new Nokias and the black Motorola RAZR, which are otherwise not available in the U.S., and they're even offering a $200 subsidy on them. Just make sure they're tri-band or quad-band.

Why would you expect a huge, multi-national business to treat you as the corner butcher shop does? You're going to be paying them less money, which means that you're worth less to them. You might think loyalty is valuable, but the fact is that it isn't. It's an old-fashioned notion, particularly in the Telcom world where people leap from service to service in exchange for 100 long distance minutes. I would guess it's how Sprint has built its business. Why do people expect companies to bend over backwards for them? I'm in the publishing business and if a client called in to ask for a better contract rate for advertising, we'd thank them for their business in the past but explain that there's a cost of doing business and we need to bill at a rate that reflects that. It's not a simple case where making any money is better than making no money. Fairness rules and it's my guess that Sprint knows that a huge number of people have no problem with the two-year contract, which ensures a certain level of revenue for them for a predictable period of time. Easy, peasy.

"If you've been a customer and haven't upgraded your phone in 18 months, you can get a cheap one free or the same discount off of a good one as a new customer. "

But only if you sign up for a *new* 2 year agreement.

I just need a new phone to replace my broken LG, but the cell phone contractor at Costco won't even sell phones for full price without a contract extension. If Sprint made it easy for me to replace my phone I would stick with them, instead, they make life hard for existing customers. I'm looking at other carriers now because if I'm going to have to get a new contract I might as well consider jumping to another company at the same time.

If their is one piece of legislation that we need for consumer protection it is the prohibition of cell phone contracts over 1 year long and or contract extensions for merely changing the plan. Only new laws will change this because the cell phone companies are too entrenched to change on their own.

"Cingular lets you change plans at will without signing a new contract. You can do either more or less expensive plans whenver you want."

This is true for some definitions of true. It's standard practice for carriers to add loads of promotional minutes and features to their plans. These promotions sound great to the customer (by design), but since there's *always* a promotion, they're essentially meaningless. To the customer, that is.

They're great for the carriers.

You're free to change your plan at any time; that much is true. But not to anything that looks like the plans you remember hearing about when you first signed up. Those plans included promotional minutes. The base plans -- those without promotional minutes -- are likely much worse. Can you switch to a plan that includes promotional minutes? Sure. Guess how? By signing a new contract.

But if you ARE willing to sign the 2-year agreement, you can get a new phone for basically nothing after rebate from Sprint. That's what I just did to solve some hideous reception problems. I'd been a good customer for at least 18 months, so I qualified for a $150 rebate. The phone I picked was $180, so it cost me $30.

Of course, I was a day or two late mailing in the rebate form, so I'll probably be screaming bloody murder myself soon when they refuse to reimburse me. At which point I'll be grousing as much as you, since I've also been a customer for 7 years. But that doesn't seem to count for anything anymore.

The problem is, I'm not convinced that any other provider is better. A former co-worker dropped one provider because he didn't get good reception at home; with his new provider, he didn't get good reception at work!

"But if you ARE willing to sign the 2-year agreement, you can get a new phone for basically nothing after rebate from Sprint."

And I can get a new computer for "basically nothing" if I'm willing to pay $50 a month for 2 years. There is nothing free about a 2 year lock in contract, especially one where there is an early cancellation fee of at least $150 dollars--not including the additional cancellation fee of the re-seller if they aren't a company owned store.

The fundamental problem is that the cell phone companies are very effective at lobbying for lax regulation, or for regulation that specifically benefits them. Does anyone think for a second that in a truly competitive market place such bad customer policies would be the norm?

"On a similar note, I recently upgraded my cell phone (Cingular) and was confounded by the fact that if I kept my current account, I couldn't get a discount on the phone. However, if I cancelled my account and opened a brand new one (acting as a new customer), I'd get a huge discount on the phone. The downside was I'd lose my telephone number."

Actually here is where Sprint actually shines. Their customers complained about this very thing. Now, if the phone you are replacing has been in service with Sprint (the PCS division has re-merged with its long distance parent) for 18 months you are given a very generous rebate deal. I think I got a $150 rebate on my Sanyo 7300p a few months back when I replaced my dead Samsung.

It just stikes me as strange that one would sign a two year agrrement with a carrier you don't know (I can't comment on T-Mobile's service, no idea) instead of the same agreement with a carrier that you were admittedly satisfied with.

I'm into Sprint for the biggest plan they have (heavy business use and two teenage daughters all on the plan) I'm satisfied with the service and while T-Mobile may be a fine company I can't imagine taking them as the bird-in-the-bush.

BTW before changing to my current plan I had one really bad month and ran up a heck of an overage and got my phone shut off. Call their customer service (insist on customer service, not billing). They will almost immediately comp you 180 complimentary 'Customer Service' minutes (retroactive on your current bill). When you are over your limit and paying 40 cents a minute thats a pretty sweet deal. They are basically handing you $120 that they could rightly collect.

I was a loyal Sprint customer since 1999. All that changed when I got sick of all their best deals and breaks going to new customers only. Funny thing was that when I cancelled my account they tacked a bunch of stuff on my final bill that I never asked for. Not to mention they stop displaying my minutes used on their website and then said I went 116 minutes over my plan... which was impossible.

Oh well. Glad to see we are both with new carriers.

I HAD ALMOST THE SAME EXACT CONVERSATION WITH SPRINT AND AFTER RESEARCHING OTHER COMPANIES I WENT AND GOT MY NEW PHONE WHICH INCLUDED A TWO YEAR AGREEMENT, BY THE WAY I WAS WITH SPRINT FOR ABOUT THE SAME LENGTH OF TIME YOU WERE.

heh. another "me too" here. i had the exact conversation with a sprint rep (had been with them for 5+years) and i cancelled and went with tmobile. i'm sure tmobile will do the same to me when i ask to change plans. :\

Too bad you weren't able to terminate your account on the spot. That's what I did with AT&T, and it felt GREAT. I went to Verizon, btw, and after about 18 months I am still 100% happy with them.

I learned a long time ago: When your contract is up with your cellular carrier -- don’t renew it, cancel it.

That's how you can get the best deal from your current provider. At least, that’s what I learned when I attempted -- unsuccessfully -- to renew my contract with Sprint, my now former cellular carrier.

The lesson unintentionally taught me is that consumers get a much better deal from the “Retention” department of a large subscriber-based corporation than they do from the "Sales" department. Its not just Sprint -- but they were the company that taught me these things. It turns out to be the case not only from mobile service providers, but other entities, such as ISPs -- AOL is notorious in this regard.

We are also former customers of credit card provider Capital One, for the very same reasons: The deal they offered to the public was unavailable to us as customers. Over the years, their rates crept up on my (triple A credit) wife's Master Card to 15%. They advertise a 10% card all the time. When they would'nt offer the same deal to us, it was buh-bye Capitol One (we got the preferred rate elsewhere). I suspect its true for a slew of other subscriber services.

T-Mobile is the way to go!

Ask for "Customer Retention." They'll bend over backwards to keep you.

I'm not a customer of Sprint, and never will be.
I paid a part time employees phone bill (check by phone) two months in a row to Sprint. Last month Sprint charged my account (without my permission) for the full amount of his currant bill. When I called to complain, they told me that my bank information was in their records a not change that. Any time this person wants to charge his bill to me, he can. It seems that the only way to avoid this is to change all of my bank information including account number, that I have with several other vendors. Never, Never Sprint.

Eventually every huge mountain will be broken down piece by piece. The cellular industry will soon come down to reality just like "Ameritech". Over charging customers, inconsistent interpretation of policy by customer service representatives seems to be a major issue with SPRINT.

I too found out this year,sprint is more interested in new customers more so than the ones who for years told everyone how great SPRINT was.

I solved my problem by going to EBAY, and purchasing a phone there. It cost nothing to have them(sprint) switch the phone and guess what? No new contract. Even added the vision service(2 months free)without a contract.With the vision pack it gives me unlimited web access, and the phone I bought makes a great modem for my laptop.So no need for AOL anymore !

There's more than one way to skin a cat...lol

Oh and if your going to ask me if by connecting the phone to the laptop is against Sprints policy,its what the Sprint customer care rep recommended me to do. Just be sure and speak to the buisness side of Sprint not the individual plan reps.

The 1st person who wrote about changing his plan and being subjected to new contract extension, I know exactly how you feel and if it weren't for the names and name of the company, I would have swore I had the script to my conversation with T-Mobile. We've been a long time customer of their's and had to change our plan upward to avoid overage and you guessed it. Their "promotional" plans don't exist to new customers on their main web pages; but inside the "My T-Mobile" pages, under change plans, is when you learn of this. Under Terms & Conditions, no where in writing does it state the length of the term. Right now that's my only option is to hold them to the T&C.

The web sites you refered to may be funded by the phone companies they recommend. Familiarize yourself with SKYPE. There is a cell phone revolution already dawning called satellite transmission. I-mate PDA2K PDA2 & JAMS, pay for the phone ...that's it.

When you first call Sprint and they make you go through the automated phone sequence, say representative. When you get a human, ask for the cancellation department. The cancellation department for sprint pcs will usually give you pretty good deals when you threaten to quit. By threatening to quit, I got unlimited nights and weekends starting at 7pm.

T-Mobile does not do 2 year contracts, only 1 year contracts. Also, if you decide to change, you can move to a non-promotional plan with no contract. Basically the difference between the promotional plans and the non-promotional plans is whether nights are included or not. As it sounds like you probably only would want about 300 minutes every month anyways, doesn't sound like it'd even be an issue for you.

As some people have said, asking for the retention department can get you some better deals. Having worked for a retention department for a cell company in the past, I can tell you this much. Be polite but firm with the representative. If you border on being rude or insulting, you're likely to trigger irritation in the representative. Don't take the first offer, hem and haw about it. Lots of times, a second offer including a fun extra like a month of service will get tacked on.

That said, Sprint rather sucks and you'd probably be better off elsewhere. All the Sprint customers I know are unhappy with them and I live in OPKS, which is where Sprint Headquarters is based!

"With the vision pack it gives me unlimited web access, and the phone I bought makes a great modem for my laptop.So no need for AOL anymore !"

Good job for you on getting rid of AOL :) As for using your phone as a modem, it's true that the rep probably did recommend that (I worked for Sprint for 6 months and I did the same thing many times), but what the rep (and I) didn't realize is that Sprint will shut off your vision access within about 3 months. They track the data usage on the account and if it's more than a normal person using vision on the phone would use, they'll shut you off until you buy one of their modem cards and the plan to go with it. After I told Sprint to shove their job, I used my phone as a modem too. That lasted for a month and a half before it was turned off. I contacted them and got them to turn vision back on as long as I promised not to do the modem thing again. My advise would be to buy a wireless card for your laptop. There's plenty of (unsecured) wireless hotspots out there across the nation! I'm using one now! ;)

Contracts are unfair!!! We are purchasing their services and products. They should be on a contract, not the consumers.

I want to file a class action law suit. Let's all join together and sue Sprint for having us sign contracts for service plan changes. I don't see why we should sign new contracts for changing a service plan.

I certainly understand where you're coming from. However, you pretty much answered your own question. Since you need a new phone and plan, you're going to end up signing a contract with either Sprint or someone else.

If you're otherwise happy with Sprint service, why not make the contract with Sprint? Chances are you're not going to want to go anywhere within 2 years anyway. If you do, the penalty to get out of your contract is only $150. Incidentally, that's the exact amount Sprint will give you off a new phone if you sign a new 2 year contract (so it ends up being a wash). In general, the more lousy the carrier, the higher the fee to get out of the contract. Caveat emptor!

Upgrade your phone, downgrade your plan, sign for 2 years, and don't worry about it. Besides, a contract can benefit you--Sprint can't raise your rates for 2 full years without giving you the opportunity to walk!

Good luck with whatever carrier you end up choosing.

I was paying $50/month *each* for two Sprint cell phones ($100). I called them to get a better deal, since newbies could do the same for less. They made me call a special number, which it turned out was an automated way of signing me on to a contract - for *each* phone. Then my next phone bill was through the roof (around $250). I complained via e-mail. Their support finally agreed that they gave me the wrong plan. Then I told them they should credit me. I decided it was time to cancel. They told me that a) yes, they did give me the wrong plan, costing me money and b) they would only credit me if I stayed with them. I told them that whether or not I stay is irrelevant. Since they admitted their mistake, they should credit me. They told me if I cancelled, I'd still owe the contract-breaking fee. I told them it was the same amount they cost me, so "we're even." This was the summer when it was widely reported that about 8,000 other Sprint customers were fed up and bailed. I think it cost someone their job.

So after I cancelled I got a bill for the disputed amount. I ignored it. Then they handed it off to a collection agency. I ignored that too. After a few years of this being on my credit report, I decided to dispute it. I stated my case with one of the credit bureaus. They called Sprint, who then instead of calling me to discuss the issues, called the collection agency and had them call me up and harrass me. He didn't want to hear my explanation. He just wanted his damn money. So I hung up on him. Sprint deals with some real classy folks, because that arrogant twit called me right back and got even nastier. So I swore at him and hung up. This is the kind of class act that you can expect when you deal with Sprint.

When I stated on my credit report that I had a dispute with SPRINT. I would expect SPRINT to contact me. Not some goon. Who runs that company? Tony Soprano?

Some day when I'm really bored, I'll write a letter to Sprint and see if I can retrieve their customer support e-mails off my old hard-drives, since I mentioned them in my complaint and no one bothered to look it up.

BTW, I just added another phone onto my Cingular account. It was much smoother.

i had a 2 year contract i paid 110 before i was shut off they told me i was good for 2 more weeks they lied and lied to me i put down 260 to get 2 phones i had the 800 plan and i did not go over they said i went over my spending i never heard of it and i been out of a phone now 4 2 months and i lose my 260 they say i owe 261 then 249 now it says 271 i hate what they did to me i have the phones but no service

Sprint is the worst phone service that I have ever had. Dont't get me wrong reception is good Their management and their customer service have no clue what each are doing. You even get a boss and they are just as bad as the customer service dept. An no one gives a crap about the customer on the other end. Then they hang up on you and you have no means of every getting the same person who just maybe was nice and helpful (few and far between) then how about someone on the other end that can't speak english because they are in another county?? Use another company and cancel with sprint if we all band together we can make them understand. What ever happenened to the customer is always right... Gone .. ANd so is my entire family from SPRINT

I am currently a Sprint customer and I am continuously getting screwed by their CSR's who constantly give false information, which results in a huge bill at the end of the month. You can't win with Sprint. I've been a customer for three years now and have been countlessly lied to, deceived, given wrong information by customer service representatives, and told "sorry sir, there is nothing I can do" with no justifiable reasons. My recent encounter just takes the cake. I bought a new phone in April, and in order to get my rebate, I had to put vision on my phone. Soon after that, I started text messaging quite a bit. From previous conversations with CSR's I knew I was paying a cent a kilobyte and called to get unlimited text messaging at which time the CSR told me that since I had PCS vision, I already had unlimited text messaging. I text messaged away for the rest of the month (at a rate of almost 1000% more than I had at any other time .... why would I do that if I still thought I was paying for it). Then I get my bill, and I am charged 99.00 for going over my text messages. I call a number of times, I get hung up on, and finally I'm told a supervisor will call me back within 48 hours. During that same phone call I add the unlimited texting for 10 dollars. After not getting a call for over a week, I call back and I am told that I should have known that I only had 100 free text messages and that nothing can be done to credit my account. To top things off, I check my account today and even though it shows that I have unlimited text messaging, I am charged for going over 88 messages. This is just one of the many blunders that many people I have spoken to have had with sprint. They make the bill complicated so that the customer doesnt understand it, wherein sneaky hidden charges are incurred that no one told you about before. They give the good paying customer no incentive to stay with them and comparing it to a lease is just utterly assanine because there are major differences here. What if you had paid timely on your lease for years and your place needs some work done on it (it's an old phone). Then, someone new moves in right next to you in an identical apartment (new customer), yet they are awarded a complete renovation (free phone) for a one year contract, and you're left to pay a good sum of money just to be able to continue living there (using your phone)and you STILL have to agree to a contract JUST to be able to PAY MORE MONEY to have a nice, liveable house (new consistent phone). Oh, and finally (for this posting at least, I could go on and on), how convenient is it that if you make any change to your plan, even if you're spending more money, you can't check your minutes because "the system cannot see your total usage". BUT, as soon as your billing cycle is over, the computer can miraculously tell you how many minutes you've gone over and exactly how much extra money you owe them? Basically, Sprint PCS is the WORST CELL PHONE COMPANY known to the free world with the WORST most UNINFORMED, UNTRAINED, UNEDUCATED CSR's and have among the lowest reception quality around. I await the day when I no longer look in confusion at my phone when I see that I have a new message yet my phone never rang. As soon as my contract expires you'd better believe I'm SPRINTING away from SPRINT P.C.S., which stands for (Poor Customer Service)

All this is is a bunch of complainers who fail to take responsibility as adults. "Incorrect plans and iformation" and "I dont want to sign a new contract" and "I've been a loyal customer for so many years, I feel i deserve a better deal." None of you are "giving" money to any of the providers, you are paying for services rendered. These companies are spending billions of dollars a year to expand network coverage to better serve the consumer yet some of you feel you deserve a deal on your service plan or your phone for being "loyal" customers but you know you remain with them not because you are "loyal" but because the service works. Why would any company give you a free phone or new plan promotion without a contract renewal only to have you dump their service when T-Mobile or who knows what other company introduces a new gimmick with a bunch of "quality" network minutes at a low cost?? As for misinformation, the brochures are there for all to read and if your weren't so lazy you would read them and find out what it is that is exactly included with your plan. Don't expect to have these companies hold you by the hand and explain to you at every turn something as simple as the number of minutes in your plan or the number of text messages you are allowed so you don't go over. Take some responsibility and act as adults; for those of you looking for free phones, either sign the contract or be willing to pay the cost of the phone...it's that simple. What other industry gives it's customers so many options and of course they'll ask for something in return...it's a business not charity.

sprint customer service is now better than before they are very helpful and kind. i talked to a representative located in asia , first i hesitated but they happned to be helpful.

My husband and I use Speakeasy for both Internet
and VOIP service. The price is a little steep, but
reasonable for the service we get, and we've never
had to change contracts to alter services.

Yeah, everyone has this two year contract now. May I reccommend Cingular, though? More bars in more places, with Cingular's new HUNGOVER network. Wait...

Seriously, though, I'd say Cingular or T-mobile, because they both use GSM, which works in like two hundred some odd countries. It all depends on what you want.

A lot of people have noted that all companies do this, but actually Verizon does allow you to change your minutes allowance without any fees, any time. As long as you stay in the same basic plan, you can change from 500 to 1000, 1500, whatever, without extending your contract.

Be careful though if you do it mid-month. I got screwed for overages because as I was checking my usage throughout the month, the numbers were wrong leading me to way over-use for that month because of the pro-rating and allowance change. I got a discount after complaining, but clearly their reporting is broken for this situation.

Randy

I've done very well without a cell phone for 54 years now. I think I'll just keep it that way. :)

There is no worse cellular company than Cingular. You will get a different answer every time you call; even supervisors have no authority to over-ride the smallest policies; longterm contracts, ludicrous fees and .20 per SMS. Cingular is the model of a rotten, consumer-hating, bloated company.

Um, isn't one of the basic principles of sales that it costs many times more to win a new customer than to keep an existing customer? What is Sprint thinking?

To echo what some people have already said here about T-Mobile, they only make you sign a 1 year contract, and you can change plans at any time during or after that 1 year without having to sign a new contract. The only time I've been asked to sign a contract is when I asked for a discount on a new phone, but I agreed to pay $20 instead of getting it free and they waived the new contract too. And T-Mobile has the advantage of being a GSM carrier, which means you can use their phone with any other GSM carrier, should you choose to switch. I refuse to consider signing up with CDMA carriers any more because of this.

I feel you.

Not to mention their service.

I think you would like reading my experience with them.

My contract is up in March. I am open to suggestions for a good cell phone company.

Sprint is a crap pile smelling up the universe.. they have sent me a phone I did not want I was just looking for a service and they did not reply so i went to att then I get a phone witch is activated sent to me and I don’t need any stinking phone I have one all ready.. so I put phone up to send back well someone steels phone from me and is using it because it is activated not by me but by them so I call and have sprint turn phone off so I don’t get any bills for usage and report to them that phone is stolen from me but I never wanted phone and never was even emailed saying that I have been approved for such phone..
so low and behold I have phone that is not working because it is turned off sitting on my door step the next morning so I make sure every this is clean and phone is in perfect condition and send it back to where it came from and that was that until I started getting mean phone calls from collection people saying that I owed a phone bill plus an early out fee at about 200.00 dollars so I say up yours you know that the phone was stolen from me I reported it so they say but you are responsible for the phone and I say no I am not I did not even want your phone… so we hash around a bunch of stuff and it comes down to pay the phone usage of 20 some odd dollars and they will call it quits… so I do stupid me well now I just said yes I am responsible for that phone I am paying the money but I am paying to have them stop hassling me but that is not the way they see it now I am being hassled by collection co's that are ruthless and my credit report says I am a dead beat and not paying my bills and is hurting me now they say I owe over three hundred dollars for some thing i did not want and ever used " sprit is a piece of sh(* i am not going to pay for some thing I never used and on top of that I am making a web site witch will have top ranking and be up in the first 20 hits any time any one asks about sprint as a keyword boom my site telling all don’t use sprint and tell all about my story and i am also going to file a suit against sprint for all the stress and bad nerves they have inflickded on my being. so lets rock sprint.. fix your mistakes or feel the wrath of my get even way of thinking ................... tohip2002

Kind of sad how this came out... You were offered a new Sprint plan for $15 less per month than you were paying, that had a 3-month "Best Plan Guarantee", and a 1-year contract, and you would've also received a $150 rebate on a new Sprint phone. Sounds like you didn't get a better plan with T-Mobile, and a far inferior phone, and more expensive data service charges, and STILL had to agree to a 1-year contract. As to the post before mine, punctuation might help, especially if tohip2002 plans to have a website that people actually read.

I'm not sure why so many people here are under the impression that you simply must sign a long-term contract to have a cell phone. You don't. Some people who use a lot of minutes may find that a contract plans saves money -- at the cost of flexibility and privacy -- but it is definitely not required.

If you don't want to sign a contract, go with a pre-paid phone. If you pay cash for the phone and minute cards, and don't give your name, it's effectively anonymous. The cell phone company can't market to you, sell your personal information, carelessly expose your SSN and financial info to hackers, bother you with bills for things you didn't order, ruin your credit with false information, etc. On the other hand, if the privacy part isn't important to you, you can order the phone online and have it delivered to your door, and set up your account so that your fees are charged automatically to your credit card.

Depending on your usage, it can also save you a ton of money. The people I know with pre-paid cell phones spend less than any of the "regular" cell phone customers I know, while getting equal service (same networks after all) and all the minutes they personally need or want.

People's needs vary, but from your description I'd suggest looking into the pre-paid plans to see if one of them would work for you.

The problem with the Cell industry is they are paid on commissions, or paid bonus for these renewals or activations. Most employees need 25-35 new activations on average. Not renewals. I work at a cell company and I get a bonus for 1 year extensions. We offer 50% access discount for 2 months. or add on a promotions, if they do not already have one. Another reason for the issue is billing errors, stupid employees or devious employees. Sales rep care about their paycheck, if you add nights and weeks, you get the first month cost as commission. So get over it.

Good luck finding another carrier that's any better. Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint are all scum with their locked phones, locked plans and brain dead customer service reps.

ohmigod.

What's the deal with Sprint? I tried to transfer a phone no. from Verizon on August 4. It's now August 12 and I still don't have the no. ported over. Apologies and understanding my "frustration" does NOTHING to make up for the lost calls over the past week.

I'm at Sprint's mercy since they are the only provider that works in our neighborhood.

I have to agree with everyone about sprint. I went in there 3 weeks ago because my wireless web was acting a little slow and I was due for the PRL update to be in sync with the latest towers. The phone itself was working fine except for the web being a little slow. So I went into sprint and got it updated. three days later I was getting dropped calls, wireless web was taking 5 minutes to load pages and then telling me server not responding and when people called me and I spoke into the phone on their end all they could here was static even though I could hear them crystal clear on my end. I went into sprint and they ran diagnostics on it and said they don't know why its doing it, and they told me the phone was out of warranty and I needed to purchase a new phone. At this point I had only had the phone 7 months I recieved it in november after the other one's battery wouldn't hold a charge. I called customer care and talked to a rep who told me that my phone was infact under warranty and to march myself back into the sprint store that she would put it in the notes on my account under high priority and get myself a new phone and if sprint store gave me a hard time to call customer care from inside the store. Well sprint reps at the store told me tough luck the phone isn't under warranty and that I needed a new phone it didn't matter that customer care said that I get a new phone they ignored it. I called customer care and got a rep who started to agree with me until he talked to the sprint store rep then he changed his story and informed me that he didn't even know that the rule existed on refurbished phones until he just now looked it up. Its wrong that even the customer care representatives don't even know the rules and several of the supervisors I talked to weren't even aware of the rule until they looked it up either. I even got transferred to the technical dept and talked to them and they said they would put in order in on the network for them to check into it. When i checked back a couple of days later the technical rep told me he had no clue why my phone was doing what it did. I asked him what he recommended doing with the old phone if it would be possible to donate it to a womens shelter or somewhere, he told me to trash the phone and that it was a piece of junk since it wasn't working correctly. I had to purchase I new phone and renew my contract again and I had just renewed it in january, so now i am locked in to sprint until 2007. But if you are persistent with sprint and complain a lot sometimes they will give you credits I have gotten a 50 credit to my account because I have been battling them for 3 weeks. I am also never setting foot into the sprint store that I used to frequent they don't know what they are talking about and the fact that sprint doesn't have any benefits if you have been a loyal customer. The only reason I am staying with sprint is because all of my minutes are pcs to pcs, I hardly use my anytime minutes. I also found out that when the sprint store transferred my phone number from my old phone to my new phone they didn't delete my phone number from the old phone. I can still recieve text messages and voicemails on both phones. I can't go and retrieve or make calls on the old phone but they should have cleared it off. Even one of the many customer care representatives I talked to said that they should have done that so I have to make sure my bill doesn't have any extra charges over this too.

I just joined sprint for about 6months now and its the worst choice i ever made. Sprint has the worst customer service ever, every encounter i have with a representative to a supervisor is pure hell. They express no empathy, they are rude and just give's you the worst service. I have so many examples i could give but the latest "rude encounter" was on 11/5/05 at about 3:20pm. The situation was that i needed an extention on my service, i spoke to a manager by the name of JAMIE IN FECILITY B16 THAT WAS RUDE. she put me on hold for about 10mins then when she came back on the line had no memory of why she put me on hold and ask me for information over again then said NO, she raised her voice several times at me and Cut me off several times. My advice to anyone that is considering chosing sprint pcs as ther wireless provider should do their reserach and might want to reconsider, though their plans i havnt had any issues with the customer service however is the worst.

I have same experience as did your folks though I have been Sprint customer for just couples of days. Their service is the worst of all wireless providers I have ever tried. No clear regulation and policy. How policy is excercized depends pretty much on which rep. you talk to. Meanwhile I have feeling that sprint tries to discriminate customer based on some factors which should be used.

Fortunately I can say goodbye to Sprint without too much lost (I hope).

I Worked for Sprint PCS for 4 years, I couldnt stand their policies, All they worry about is getting new customer's, they never worried about keeping the customer they have , I still have sprint service and pay about $150 amonth for 3 phones, thats $1,800.00 a year you would think they would treat their current customer's better, They also went by your credit status on how much they would help you. The reason I quit was the way they treated the customer's, as a customer service rep my hands were tied alot of times, , you would have to argue with management to give them a credit . What a joke, the days were exhausting from trying to help the customer and most of the time the customer was right.....I got tired a taking the abuse from the frustrated customers and the management that only cared about SALES>>>>>>>

I have sprint.. n truly, honestly they are the worst!!! I just wish i can get out of it...

Personally if I would have totake aare of this issue I would have apologized for the inconvenience & informed you htat we do value you as a customer although this is policy I will change your rate plan, your contract date is .... and it will remain as such, I can backdate the rate plan to the beginning of your last bill cycle, I would verify the rate plan with you and if possible send you a follow-up of the converstaion and again express regret regarding the issue

My husband and I have had sprint for 8 years,I needed a new phone because my $200.00 phone that I purchased from them broke even though I seldom use it. All I wanted was a basic cheap phone. No go, I would have to pay the full $150.00, for the cheapest free phone. If pay as you go gets cheap enough to compete, I would definately consider this. Ps. you think cell phone companies are a racket, I think comcast cable is worse.

I just left Sprint after 7 years and received a lousy deal from them. I had three phones on my account and they were continually dropping calls between the three phones for the last two years. I couldn't get any satisfaction from Sprint regarding the dropped calls. My contract was ending 2/25/07, the second phone was ending 3/12/07 and the third phone was ending 4/16/07. I called and talked with their representative who stated that due to the continued problems I could cancel all three phones on 2/25/07 with no cancellation fees. I switched to T-Mobile at that time and then received a statement charging me $150.00 for each of the two phones which had later expiration dates plus fees which totaled $326.44!!! I have called and talked with numerous persons and they tell me that I have to pay the bill. The person who told me that I would not have to pay it denies telling me that. I have filed a complaint with the BBB - we will see what happens. I will NEVER use or recommend Sprint PCS to anyone. If the woman had just been honest with me, I would have paid the extra time on the two phones - much less expensive. Now I don't know what will happen.

I have had a similar experience with Sprint. I switched to the fair and flexible plan in March, 2006. (My original plan would have expired May, 2006). I was told that my contract would only be an additional year. Now I find out that that they signed me up for two years without my permission. So I found out that I can opt for a 'vacation' plan, which is much cheaper than the cancellation fee. The 'Vacation" plan is $6 per month (including tzx and surcharges) for the duration of the contract. Of course you can't use your phone during that time, but you save a bundle compared to paying the cancellation fee. I have been a prompt excellent customer, and they treat me like crap. Except for the contract trap they have pretty good service.

There is no reason for contracts on cell phones. They are as common as house phones now, and land lines don't require contracts or specialized phones. So why don't they have to compete with land line companies? Sounds to me like someone with power is lining their pockets by protecting wireless from having to comply with fair regulations and no forced contracts.

I also was watching my contract date and planning to switch to a new carrier because Sprint's customer service and care is the worst! I did so only to get a bill for over $400 based on cancellation fees. The last contract I signed and agreed to was for two years signed in February 2005.....I changed carriers in March 2007 to be on the safe side. When after hours of calls I finally get someone with answers I am told that I went from a 700 minute per month to 800 per month in July 2006 thus resigning a new two year contract. This NEVER happened! Now for the last week I have been calling only to get the shaft....I have yet to even talk to a real person. They always ask for your cell number and I think they know why I am calling and think I will just give up and pay it but I won't. I have made 40 calls at various times and days to their "fraud" department I was told to call only to waste 10 minutes going through prompts so I could in the end get a recording telling me they are experiencing heavy calls and to try later! Of course NO time at all works for them. I am not paying them money for their fraud! DO NOT EVER sign up for Sprint...they will rip you off for all they can and have you paying them to treat you like crap!

sprint sucks period. Ive been a customer for 3 years now, and i wanted to add a line to my account. Im on the phone for 4 hours, with 7 diffrent people, and still no luck???????!@#$

Am I the only one on this site reading how bad the customer svc has been but reaped benefits from Sprint (just keeping their svc on)? No contracts, they give me long distance svc from Sprint every month for $15 for as long as I can talk! 24x7. Honest, just for staying with Sprint and I have been with Sprint since 1997, when I have dropped PCS calls, I call customer svc follow the prompts and get 50cents credit per minute for every drop call, you just keep calling back for each drop call or talk to a rep if you were talking daytime for 20min or so and they will correct your bill for the credit time. I haven't signed a contract in 2 years. Last year someone at Sprint accessed my acct by accident and renewed my contract for 2 years and it should have been Joe Shmoe from Kalamazoo, when I received a letter saying so, I called and told them, they claimed I was the one who did it and I proved I wasn't because they never verified all the security info when it was changed & they breached HIPPA & violated my rights entering my record changing info, speaking to someone else when they renewed my contract, & so be it I ended up with a supervisor who not only canceled that contract but took 3 weeks off early on an existing contract that was about to expire. It's a matter of persistence and knowing something about the law. Good Luck to everyone!

sprint is the shities phone company they do nothing but stealing you'r money do'n even think about it.

sprint is the shities phone company they do nothing but stealing you'r money do'n even think about it.

It's comical. I just got off the phone with Sprint "customer service" after arguing with Kesh. The guy does not understand why I told him to get customer service training.

He poses as the "supervisor" and has been in customer service for two years.

The problem is that Sprint does not put competent people in these roles. They are not allowed to make common sense decisions.

I explained to Kesh that he made $50 for Sprint and cost them their reputation.

He didn't care....

So uh... If you're such a loyal customer, what's the issue with signing a 2-year contract? I mean, you like the service and the coverage and you like the company, so... What's wrong with signing another contract? All they want to do is secure your loyalty with them and have a parachute in place if you decide to screw them over. That's normal when you sign a lease, when you get a credit card, when you take out a mortgage, when you buy a car. Why should cell phone providers be any different?

I just got off the phone with sprint. Prior to talking with one of the customer service rep. I had checked my Sprint Agreement Expiration Date ONLINE and it says 9/19/07....Then I called to make sure because knowing sprint, I would like to make sure it is correct. While talking to them, they had told me that my agreement expires on 9/19/08 instead of '07. And all they can do is apologize for the wrong information shown online. Now, my question is would it be a problem cancelling my account because on their record when I call it's telling them that my agreement is due in 08 and online is due on 07. I printed out my account page where it says 9/19/07. Now do I have the right to cancel with wrongful information given to me?

I just spoke to Sprint 'customer service' to complain about unauthorized charges on my bill. After waiting 20 minutes to speak to an individual, the rep. said that if she was to give me a credit, her salary would be reduced. Then she wouldn't pass me on to her supervisor.

I can't believe I'm dealing with a company that hires customer service agents that don't provide customer service.

I can't wait for my two (I hope it not three) year commitment to expire.

OMG......... I am so shocked all of you have so many problems. I have been with Sprint now for 8 yrs. I have had a couple of problems with them here and there with billings, wierd charges, very few dropped calls etc and everytime I call they reverse all of those fees fix it all etc. I get awesome customer service. If for some reason I get a dumb ass, I hang up and call again and get some one not so stupid. My biggest prob was when I added a line, they wanted $150 deposit, I fought it, they fought it so I said to hell with you then, I will cancel and we will not add another line and I will go else where. All of a sudden they were able to reverse that $150 deposit. They messed up the plan and billing cycle, but by the time I was done with the supervisor, I now get 19% discount on top of my 20% employee discount. So I can't complain a total of 39% in credits yes. I do hate the contracts, but I LOVE sprint so I do not care, I would never chose T-Mobile or Cingulair, too many of my friends have both and hate both so no thanks to that. Good luck all in your desicions.

Sprint did it to me once more....I have been with them steady for 11 years and when I started the service sucked so bad, and its gotten much better. Today i had my treo crap out and i went to the sprint store for help. Long story short they erased all my numbers and photos of my brother who had passed. Well the ass at the store said he was sorry but I should have known that would happen....Someone tell me how to get the hell out of my contract!!

Jason.......... Are you elegible for an upgrade? If so upgrade your phone it starts a new contract, you have 30 days from date you start new contract to like it or not. That is the only way I can think of. Or call Sprint and ask for the Rentention Dept, they will give you deals and loops of things you would never expect. Thanks to me being smart and them stupid I just got a $300 phone yest for $20 lol. Thanks to the retention dept. Let me know how it all works.

I have one thing to say. i have been with pretty much all cell phone providers consider the jobs that I have had. I also know what it cost to run a cell company. The rates that we are charged are great in comparison. Think about this for a second. the avg cost for a cellphone company to keep you getting service is about 12 dollars per customer. Ok say your bill is 75 bucks a month that leaves them 63 dollars a month in order to pay employees. So the company its self may make free and clear 9 bucks a customer is the avg. And then they dont ask questions when you go over they try to lower the price to help the customer out even if we are at fault. So first the best service does come from SPrint. Sorry guys they have more towers then anyone in the US. its a fact look it up. Secondly, the phones they have do suck I will give you that. but The Retention Department will do anything to save a contract not the case with other providers. So keep that in mind. Also if you try to get out of you contract with a company they will black ball you for 2 years. Meaning you can not go back even if you pay the fine. Or if you try to come back they will snap a connection fee on you. best deal's for phones are on Wirefly.com. Name Drop lol. But I am just letting you know that the Cell Phone company is not that big of a scam like most of you scream.

Try All-Tel. They allow you to make any changes to your plan without extending your contract. Plust their nationwide service is one of the best and definately comparable to Sprint, whom I had previously and also had terrific problems with. Plus, All-Tel doesn't charge for roaming.

I agree I currently have sprint and it is really hard to get through to the service representatives. I have had my phone since last nov and it is damaged and when i call to get a new phone they never want to help. I know it is my fault that the phone is not working like it did but when i was with At&t Cingular they gave discounts on phones all the time. This was before At&t got bought out by cingular and bought back again by AT&T. So just hang in there and just know that all the cell phone companys are doing to is to make money like mentioned above by new customers and really those reps really don't make much in pay so its not to their benefit to make us happy. I just can't believe how expensive their phones are even being a customer they offer no discounts like AT&T did. Well thats my thoughts..

I AGREE WITH THE OTHER PERSON IN REFERENCE TO SPRINT'S RETENTION DEPARTMENT. SPRINT'S RETENTION DEPT WILL DO ANY AND EVERYTHING TO STOP YOU FROM CANCELLING YOUR CONTRACT. THE SAID PART HOWEVER IS ONCE YOU GET TO THE RETENTION DEPARTMENT YOU ARE SO HEATED THAT YOU REALLY WANT TO CANCEL YOUR CONTRACT. IT WOULD HELP IF THE CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPT COULD DO MORE. I INITIALLY STARTED MY SERVICE WITH SPRINT FOR MY BUSINESS IN AUG 2006, I PURCHASED A PALM TREO 700P THE WORST PURCHASE EVER, I PAID $399.99 FOR THIS PHONE. GOING FORWARD MY HAS BEEN REPLACE 4 OR 5 TIMES. UNTIL FINALLY, I COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE I'VE CALLED SPRINT AND THEY SENT ME A MOTOROLA Q IN WHICH I AM ON MY SECOND Q, AND IT ALWAYS TELL ME THAT MY BATTERY IS DYING AND MY PHONE WILL LOSE ALL MEMORY AND SHUT DOWN. I'VE CALLED INTO SPRINT SEVERAL TIMES TO FIX THIS PROBLEM AND THEY'VE SUGGESTED THAT I CONTACT MOTOROLA! AT THIS POINT IN TIME, I AM SO PISSED WITH SPRINT! WHY CAN'T THEY GIVE US WHAT WE ARE PAYING FOR WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO PURCHASING A PHONE. WHY ARE THESE PHONES ONLY LASTING 2 OR 3 MONTHS. FURTHERMORE, WHY IS SPRINT THE ONLY CELL PHONE PROVIDER THAT ARE HAVING SOME MANY PROBLEMS WITH THEIR EXPENSIVE PHONES??? I JUST DONT UNDERSTAND!

Lets see, where should I begin?

Sprint PCS Customer Service STINKS! There is definitely room for a lot of improvement.

I have been a customer of Sprint PCS for quite a few years (over 6) and really had not had any problems with them until I decided to add a 3rd line to my existing account. Of course I was unaware that my plan had become obsolete, which of course Sprint did not bother to communicate to their customers. Needless to say when this was realized by the CSR, everthing went down hill from there.

First of all I was on the phone a total of 2 hrs (10 p.m. - 12 a.m.)and then another 3 1/2 hrs (9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.)the following day, which led to nothing! I was placed on hold, transferred from one department to another and course hung up on a few times and the best one yet, promised a call back after the issue was resolved. The people I spoke with had no clue what needed to be done to add the addional line to my plan (there is no work-around procedure in place for obsolete plans). There isn't a work-around procedure because this is the company's ploy to get more money out of their existing customers, by introducing them to new plan options, which would require another 2 yr contract and more money per month.

After speaking to over a dozen people during my 5 hr ordeal, the best solution that was offered to me is signing up for a new plan. Wow! I was literally flabbergasted. I just could not believe what I had to go through just to add a 3rd line to my EXISTING ACCOUNT!

I don't have a problem with companies changing plans; however, you owe it to your customers to keep them abreast of changes that could impact their services.

A word of advise to Sprint...
If you are going to oursource, please outsource to qualified people. For the most part, you get what you pay for. Cheap labor is not always best for a company and Sprint is a prime example of that.

I will definitely change my cell phone service provider after my contract is up. Nobody should be subject to service in this manner by any company... It is unacceptable!

First, it amuses me to no end that the original blog here was posted years ago, yet people are still finding things to say about this issue. I guess it keeps showing up on search engines? Well, I won't stop tradition....

I (well, my family, to be more precise) have been a Sprint customer since I was 14 years old. 9 years. I am continually annoyed with the way cell phone companies, specifically Sprint but probably others as well, treat loyal customers the same as if they're new customers.
I have not had a new phone for at least 3 years - and with the short life span of most cell phones - I needed a new one years ago. I've had to go through several hand-me-down phones, and because of the fact that I've changed phones several times (I guess), Sprint says I'm not eligible for a rebate on a new phone.
So I call up Sprint to find out when my contract ends so that I can take my number to a different provider, and they spend tons of energy trying to get me to stay.
Ultimately, my decision to leave has little to do with the customer service factor - probably any cell phone provider I chose would have similar policies and service - but about the fact that I need a new phone and I refuse to pay full price for one when I've been a loyal customer for years.

All I'm saying is, cell phone companies would probably do a lot better to treat loyal customers more, well, loyally.

OKIES WERE WE GO AGAIN......... There are some major differences in all companies. Like said above this forum started quite some time ago. Over these amount of yrs from day one alot has changed. Cingulair is now AT&T, Nextel is Sprint, T-Mobile is shit......... and so on. There is a difference between a business customer and personal customer with sprint too. I do not really see why they would really treat all there customers differently..... but ok.

Also I know for a fact it all depends on State you live in to how Sprint is bec in CA they are asses. I live in Wa state and they are awesome. My advice the main things to do is when you call Sprint ask for retention dept right off the bat the eliminate all the BS from every one else. Also if you do not want to sign a new contract go to ebay, or craigslist and get a phone there and activate it. That will eliminate the contract if that is your issue. ALSO this is for MICHELLE.... it is not Sprints phones that persay suck it is the manufactures. Motoralla sucks period, there phones, DVR's etc. They are so much more interested in appearance of there products than durability and reliability. I WILL NEVER EVER buy another motorola anything.

Best phones from any company in my own personal note are LG and Sanyo. Cinguliar and verizon have so many dif fees. I think they are more expensive than Sprint. My friends plan is smaller than mine and she pays $40 more per month than I do.

Personally you just have to know how to deal with the companies.... and fortunately but unfortunately I had to and know how to deal with them. I yell Retention dept and they are great. Cingulair / AT&T suck big now since merge, verizon has great quality but high plans, T-mobile oh no never, not long enough forum for me to talk about them.

Good luck to all of you. Feel free to hit me up on email if ya'll need to talk about ways of Sprint bec I know them all. Thanks and take care guys.

Sitting here reading all these comments; I have to agree with everyone. I have been with sprint/nextel since 2005 I have to call in every month because sprint seems to screw up my bill. I have had unlimited text on my plan since I started with them and back in october I was charge 258.00 for text. I had to fax in the last one year of bills. And on top of that it took them over a week to credit my account for the error they made. I have tried almost every carrier. They all have the down sides. However I say sprint is the worst.

Wow i have been reading down these posts for much of the same reason they were created. 2-year contracts are lame. I have been with sprint since 2004 and before that I was with T-mobile. This current contract I made the mistake of getting a razr bad call because as mentioned above Motorola sucks at everything. My moto digital TV cable box doesn’t hardly ever work, my cable modem was Motorola but changed it after it kept turning off for no reason, then of course the phone the sprint moto razr is the biggest piece of junk I think Motorola has come out with yet.

But back to sprint, I love there service they have always worked well for me. When I left t-mobile I was so pissed because I would lose calls in my basement I would lose them outside when it said I had full signal. It was awful. But sprint works good for me. There customer service is crappy they can never get anything done right the first time you call them unless its adding a bunch of services to your account. My family has gotten the point that none of them will even call sprint except for me because it always takes a long time and accomplishes nothing until you start swearing at them and wanting to pay the cancellation fee. But I think I will be going to be buying my next phone on ebay because as someone mentioned above why in the hell would I want a 2-year service agreement. You would think with the amount of competition there is between cell phone companies the consumers would be the ones on top. But there not I have vonage for my homephone service unlimited calls usa,Canada,mexico,and Europe I pay 9.99 a month lol. But I only have 1400min Usa only with sprint, unlimited text insurance (because my razr breaks monthly) and I end up paying close to 100 a month wow…. What a deal.

So long story short if you are not interested in there lame phone discounts because ide rather pay an extra 150-200 for my phone and not have to extend my contract why can I just pick my plan and pay it and just cancel when I want. That’s so lame. Or how about 6 month service agreements if you decline phone rebates. There has got to be a better way.

I will tell you that if you go to change your plane with t-mobile and your contract is up they will do the same thing to you and that is why I switched to sprint. I am still under contact with them and can change my plan when I want with no more added on. So I think they all do that to get you back under contract (plus you dont get a bonus of a new phone), I found with sprint at least they give you a discount toward a new phone every year (up to 150 I think).

I will tell you that if you go to change your plane with t-mobile and your contract is up they will do the same thing to you and that is why I switched to sprint. I am still under contact with them and can change my plan when I want with no more added on. So I think they all do that to get you back under contract (plus you dont get a bonus of a new phone), I found with sprint at least they give you a discount toward a new phone every year (up to 150 I think).

Im not sure if anyone knows but long time customers dont really mean a damn. you know how long ive been shopping at wal-mart? it seems that anyone who uses the phrase "the customer is always right" should be slapped in the face with both sides of a hand. before i signed an agreement with any of my cell phone carriers i did research... dont accept any promotional credits or handset upgrades unless your interested in keeping your cell phone provider. things have changed with rateplanes. no carriers at this point extend a contract when making rate changes, unless its a new subscriber(all carriers provide customers with a 30 day RISK FREE TRIAL. WE AS CUSTOMERS NEED TO REALIZE THAT 30 DAYS IS WELL ENOUGH TO DETERMINE A BAD CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.