Sprint has announced a fourth quarter loss of $29.5 billion, says the Chicago Tribune. Most of the loss is due to a one-time $29.5 billion writedown of its purchase of Nextel. The wireless carrier says it expects 1.2 million additional customers to leave this quarter, citing dropped calls and poor customer service as their reason for seeking less frustrating pastures.
Chief Executive Dan Hesse, who took over in December, said business is worse than he expected and is deteriorating.“We need an articulated strategy of how he’s going to turn around the business,” said Michael Nelson, an analyst at Stanford Group Co. in New York. “I don’t expect it to be a pretty picture.”
Hesse knows he is facing a tough road.
“We will have a difficult 2008 as we turn this ship around,” Hesse said on a conference call with analysts. “This turnaround will not happen for many quarters.”
Sprint is trying to stop the hemorrhaging by offering an unlimited plan for $99.99 a month.
Sprint records $29.5 billion net loss [Chicago Tribune]
(Photo:diaper)
More From Consumerist
-
Sprint Sets Nextel Execution Date: June 30, 2013
-
Swap Your Non-Working iPhone For Another Non-Working iPhone, Lose Right To Sprint Refund
-
How To Lose A Sale Through Laziness And Obnoxiousness
-
Sprint Fires Customer For Excessive Roaming, Won't Unlock His iPhone
-
Sprint Salesman Offers 25% Off To Get Me To Switch, Forgets To Mention I’m Not Eligible
GOOD! I eagerly await their death, and with it that damned annoying walkie talkie chirp!
After being merged into Sprint {Centel) and then cut loose(Embarq), I am glad to see their executives get what they deserve. They are a greedy bunch of crooks who would sell their Mother if they thought it would put another nickle in their pocket. I feel sorry for the lower level employees because they will take every benefit they have worked for away. They constantly talk about ethics but have absolutely none. My biggest problem is we still have some of them running us.
If you have a family plan with Sprint, you may have noticed that last month Sprint changed its billing format to include a new “Suggested” split between the expense allocation of your bill if you have more than one phone. I am a business user and have an extra phone for my wife that I pay for seperately. On the bill, it clearly has sections for my phone and another section for my wife’s. I simply deduct the amount of my wife’s phone from the total and submit the statement for reimbursement at work. But alas, Sprint in its infinite brilliance now adds a new section for a suggested split. One problem: the suggested split is over 7 times the amount allocated in my wife’s bill in the invoice detail?????? What does this mean? Well one thing is for certain, next month if I send in this statement and reduce my wife’s phone’s usage based on the statement numbers as I have been for 6 years, the accountant at my office will look at my expense report and say excuse me, you have been lying about the actual cost of your wife’s phone — see what Sprint says/suggests?? You are fired for fraud and owe us $7,823.32 (I am making this part up) for the last 6 years where you understated your wife’s share of the phone expense.
If you have this same concern, please call the Executive Desk at Sprint at 866-727-0665 today. The more the merrier. Sprint uses the old GM method of handling complaints, they don’t worry about repairing the exploding gas tank issue until at least 1000 people die. So unless 100 consumers call in to Sprint they are not planning on making a correction to address the math error. Either ask for a removal of this suggested number or ask that the numbers mathematically mirror the breakdown shown in the statement. Common sense yes, but not in Sprint’s view apparently.