Former Rep Kvetches About Sprint's Lax Identity Theft Protection
"We took pride in shredding all information of the customers and being as mindful as possible to their security. Something that always blew my mind was that right on the computer screen, available for anyone to see (depending on the store layout), was the customer's social security number, date of birth, license number and more. Incredible! I never understood that. My store had two registers in the front and two in the back. A customer could stand behind us at the front register and get a full peak at everything we were doing. Where is the protection?"
This especially gets me fuming because today I was trying to do a port-in for my father who had run credit already with Sprint and when they accessed the account, I was told that my father's social security number already had service on an existing account. We pulled it up and it was some random person. Now I have to fix the whole issue. Something that will take time because the fraud department moves like snails when it comes to identity theft. I have dealt with 12 identity theft cases, two involving minors, and each time it has taken between 2-4 weeks minimum to clear up the issues.....Three times in the last 5 months I have ordered a phone for a family member and when they received it, it already had service on it, but for someone else located across the country. When I called in about it I was given the third degree about everything. Like it was my fault. One turned into a fraud case where the guy who's name and social was used without him even knowing about it.
Indirect dealers really chapped my hide. There was a Hispanic dealer nearby. They were just awful to customers. They took advantage of everyone that walked into their shop. The thing with indirect dealers is that they can tell you whatever they want, but if you buy from them and you have an issue, they will refer you to a corporate store. I dealt with countless issues like these because for some time I was the only Spanish speaker in my store. These poor people were taken advantage of and nobody was holding this store accountable. On one occasion I went down and spoke with the manager and then the owner about them activating a phone for a minor...which is illegal. What did they say to me? She should have known not to activate a phone. Now how does this make any sense? They try to enter into an illegal contract with the girl and then put the blame on her. I sent numerous emails to the high-ups, but never received any response and as far as I know, nothing was ever done. In fact, after another incident with this particular store, I sent an email to the guy over the indirect dealers and I later found out that he was got upset because I even contacted him about it. Pathetic!
This is what happens when you have poor leadership. ...these issues exist and for Sprint to move ahead, maybe Mr. CEO Gary Forsee should take a look into it.
This isn't the first time we've heard about Sprint stores contributing to and abetting identity theft. They definitely need to do more to crack down on that. This story also shows the importance of regularily examining your credit report to make sure that no one has opened up any accounts or lines of service in your name. You can get a free credit report once a year from all the three major credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) by visiting annualcreditreport.com.
(Photo: The Consumerist)
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Comments:
I don't understand why the tipster had to point out that the shady indirect dealer was Hispanic?
Sprint gave your family member service without that family member's permission? Sprint should be sued.
@Graciela:
Sounds like he was implying that the Hispanic dealer was bilingual and taking advantage of customers who only spoke Spanish and couldn't read all the English fine print on the contracts.
Then, because the OP spoke Spanish, he ended up helping lots of Spanish-speaking people who came into his store, already having been screwed by the other guy.
I'm not sure, but that was the impression I got from reading the post.
@Graciela:
I think to explain why he had to deal with them so many times, as he was the only Spanish speaker at his store.
the dealer probably had a lot of hispanic customers who maybe couldn't speak english well or just felt more comfortable dealing with someone who spoke spanish. They're easy targets to get ripped off.
If you must do indirect, go with a Chinatown shop. No hassle and good discounts. Sometimes you can get really good deals on import phones too (out of luck if you're Sprint or Verizon).
I work for an AT&T store, and am concerned about the same problem of customers looking over our shoulders at the screens.
Behind each register are accessories, so someone can pretend to look at the accessories while really watching the screen.
We've requested screen protectors that black out the screen unless your at the correct angle but have been given the run around about actually ordering them.
I guess they're waiting for a customer to sue them for allowing the potential for identity theft....
I work for a Alltel and we have the same problems with people standing over our shoulders looking at the screen. Which, but the way, is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Also, the desks are lined up behind each other so anyone could turn around and see what the rep behind them is typing in. They make us jump thru hoops shredding info, making sure no customer info is anywhere unlocked in the store but will not purchase screen protectors or separate the desks because it's not "in the budget".
We have issues with indirects too. I don't understand why wireless companies have them. They have no accountability, God knows what kind of equipment they are selling, and usually have poor training. People don't realize that any company that sells more than one carrier, or isn't the actual name of the carrier is an agent. The funny thing is the my company is so anal retentive on every policy and procedure for corporate stores, but agents can basically say or do anything they want with no retribution, and still represent the company to the customer.
@Graciela: Because they are new to this country for the most part, and are very easy to take advantage of. At a Sprint Corporate Store the contact is in both english and spanish, at dealers the contract is english only. Most people don't want to explain the contract a million times a day, So they just say "Sign here" And let's face it, everyone takes advantage of hispanics, as low paid wages, screwing them out of money. My other half owns rental properity from before we met. Every hispanic who rents from him pays twice as much, because twice as many people will end up living at the apartment that aren't on the lease. He's white and fluent in spanish, because his step was hispanic. Without trying to go off topic, the more hispanics push for immigration reform, the more those who are here legally will hate them and take advantage of them. It's just like gay rights also, the more gays fight for them, the more the people get out to hate em.
That is pretty brutal. Here's another. I was an outsourced t-mobile rep working in a call center that included bell csr's. We worked on the same computers, and in the same spaces. Any bell rep at any time could look at my screen and gain that same info(and vice-versa) - name, address, #, SSN, DOB, DL#, etc. T-mob eventually changed the SSN policy so even we reps only ever saw the last 4, but all the other info was wide open. Add to that we weren't allowed to lock our computers so they were left on while on break/lunch.
Also, indirect dealers are horrible. After 2 years as a CSR, I knew alot, but not everything. How can you expect a wal-mart dealer to know everything, for all the carriers too? Any one of us could get that job tomorrow and we would know nothing. My point is your info is not as protected as you may think.