Typical. Someone probably got charged something legitimate, then a moron csr just made a guess without finding out the correct answer. Prophet Dumbass CSR's answer then went into the holy notes of the Book of Your Account History, and it became Gospel for every CSR who followed. Happened all the time when I worked for Dish Network. I miss my stewpid people list.

Aaah, memories.

Perhaps I would feel better about this if Sprint were 'taking this seriously', but at least they are taking responsibility for erroneously charging customers.

I'm sure lots of folks will come in and complain that Sprint isn't doing enough to solve the problem.

At least they are trying folks.

It's interesting that Sprint only cares about issues like this now that they are on the brink of failure. But I guess if they can come back from the edge with real support and a better service, it's not really a bad thing. If they were to fail, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile would celebrate by raising their rates.

@chuck0008: To be clear, also, I'm still blaming the company for not hiring/training better CSRs. I'm not blaming the customer. Bills can be tricky to read. Which could be fixed, too.

Well I am glad someone in that company cleared it up. Text/MMS billing can be frustrating. I am not sure how Sprint's billing works exactly, but most services offer online account viewing to monitor usage and then to see detailed data on usage/detailed account billing. it can be useful to review and it should be a free option.

Now I wonder if they're legitimate charges. A rep could have had her on the wrong plan. There were only 2 other ways to get "mystery data usage" when I did the work--people using other data features like e-mail or web browsing or ringtone shopping (knowingly or not) and malfunctioning phones that tried their damnedest to get online and send data all the time. I am sure a $700 data bill from a malfunctioning Blackjack is a scary thing to see.

The key with any of these guys is to understand that:
a.) Most of the people you speak to on the phone don't know much more than you do.
b.) They are wrong all of the time. Sometimes because they are lazy and don't care about your problem, sometimes it's just because they are human.
c.) If you think you are not getting the right answer or your problem is not getting solved call back. If you get the same answer a few times then you can safely assume that they are right.
Also with Sprint get their operator ID. It will make them treat you with at least a little respect because you know who they are. They can't lie to you about their Op ID because they would probably lose their job.

I, too, am glad they cleared that up.

Sprint's billing in general often confuses me. It seems like it confuses a lot of CSRs, too, as I'm routinely told that the system is supposed to be doing something it isn't and that the CSR can't figure out how to fix it without coming up with some work-around (for example, when Sprint gave me free data for a year in response to my problem with this issue, I was billed on one of my phones on my account for the data plan but not the other phones on my account. When I called to get that issue cleared up, the CSR said she didn't know why it wasn't working and had to put in a repeating credit to offset the charge).

Because of disappearing discounts and credits and odd charges that shouldn't be, I wasn't surprised to be mistakenly charged for data usage that I shouldn't have been. I was just thankful it only took two calls to solve the problem for me this time. It usually takes much many more calls to solve a problem.

I wonder what they consider a small amount?

@chuck0008: I had the opposite list when I worked at Earthlink (anybody not on the list was stupid until proven otherwise). If somebody reached me with a severe problem that wasn't my skillset I'd get them directly to somebody competent.

The thing I did that would piss mgmnt off the most though? Never transfer to the salvage team if my efforts didn't stop people from wanting to cancel.

@valarmorghulis: Yeah, I always wrote down their operator id numbers, then we kept a tally. It was like my team's inside contest joke. We also used to start the notes out on the accounts that were messed up with "monkeys have tails". That was our way to keep fromgetting written up (again) for leaving derogatory notes on an account. It came from the joke I made up, which anyone is free to use (with attribution, of course). What's the difference between a McKeesport CSR and a trained monkey? Monkeys have tails. We also prolifically used the ID 10 T failcode for our own reps.

Well, at least they seem to be blaming themselves for any real problems, and did NOT say they "are taking it seriously".

@chuck0008: If they did that it would require paying people more and paying for this extra training. Please do not bitch when rates go up. The commpon theme around here seems to be keep prices low while increasing service. You can have 2 of three of the following in business. Highest quality, lowest price, best service. You can not have all three.

Sprint Nextel's very own blog does not have as good or as up-to-date information as here on The Consumerist, even though it is listed on most of the Sprint and Nextel Customer Support as the last resort link to get an answer...

See: [forums.buzzaboutwireless.com]

Tomas

@thrid001: So how do you define you subjective terms then? What constitutes "good" service? "Low price"? If I am spending $150 per month on my AT&T Family plan, is that not sufficient to expect them to not screw up and overcharge me $100? The theme around here is to ask that we not be ripped off and to get what we pay for. If a company advertises about how great their service is, and I buy that product with the service as part of the deal (like Verizon, with its commercials), then why should I not be pissed when I try to get an expanded copy of my bill showing both where a call went but from whence it came as well and find out that they want $5 per day of record? Is it wrong to want a wee bit of competence with our products?

I'm glad that I'll never have this problem because I'll never switch to Spring. But I am debating switching to AT&T because it's cheaper than Verizon.

@Ratty: I'm going to go with you and the OP downloads ring times and things they are included.

glad that Sprint has acknowledged the mistakes and has tried to do something about it. i applaud them for doing so. SERO ftw

Sprint should decide if they're a cell phone company or a car race organizer. That way they can hopefully do one thing right for whichever customer base they would then have.

How come in "small cases", companies like phone and credit cards never undercharge by accident?

Letter says: "include unlimited text, picture and video messaging at no additional charge"

But then: "there are no charges for data usage associated with using picture or video messaging" without mentioning text messaging.

My guess is that Sprint configured the phone wrong (using the regular data NAI instead of the MMS NAI? I don't have much experience with CDMA phones...) and data transfers used for MMS are being incorrectly charged as generic data usage.

WAIT!! On the other thread, the comments were about how both Sprint and ATT charge as a matter of policy for picture messaging and anyone who said something otherwise was shut down. Now that we see its Sprints fault, everything is fine?

I've worked for Sprint the better part of the past two years, both retail and at a call center and let me tell you this is the same line they've been feeding their CSRs for pretty much the entire time.

They claim the picture/video messaging packs shouldn't use data when a lot of customers claim otherwise.

I would say the odds of ANY customer actually getting a credit for data use due to picture mail as a result of an "investigation" is slim to none. Sprint calls their investigations "cases" and gives a standard 72 hour turnaround time.

However the reality is the cases can sometimes take a lot longer (I've seen cases open for WEEKS with no action taken) and they almost NEVER get decided in favor of the customer, if they are ever decided at all.

It may seem obvious to most of us, but perhaps some of these [il]legitimate charges could be the result of confusion between instant messaging and text messaging... My Sprint phone came with an IM program pre-installed, but IMs count as data usage, AFAIK.

I don't intend to defend Sprint in any way, and as a matter of fact, I utilized info gained here to duck out of ETFs just before the new year. I used the online chat to do it, and it went similarly to the well known AOL cancellation call. I was lied to three [more] times during said session. They told me my service was prepaid until the 20th, they had no functionality to send emails as a chat agent, and that I could port my number until the service was terminated. What actually came to be, was that they killed the service on the morning of the 19th, it was documented here on Consumerist about the other guy's rep stating an email transcript would be sent, and when I tried to port my number on the 17th, the rep at my new company said Sprint wouldn't release it.

I simply can't believe how many times, and by how many reps I've been flat out lied to by Sprint. Some other examples are:

Being told the 'seasonal' plan will allow me to run out my contract, when in reality, it places it on hold.

Being told I would get discounts for a year for crummy service, which only lasted six months.

Being told every month for six months straight that 'shortcode' services cannot and will not be charged to my account, that previous charges were removed, and that a block was placed on the account restricting all text messages to be sent, received, or allowing shortcodes to bill me, period. I seriously had to call every month about this.

In one phone call, the rep told me as soon as my insurance-replaced phone gets to the warehouse, they'll take the ridiculous $200 fee off my account, then toward the end of the call, telling me it sometimes takes three months, and from the previous three months experience, that means I have to call and get an extension, or temporary credit, even if I pay my bill in full, or they will kill my service for 'past due' amount.

This is more the insurance company's fault, Asurion, but they sent me a replacement with neither return instructions nor envelope, then charged me $200 for not returning it. This caused the last problem, which I fear will haunt me for months to come.

It's the kind of stuff that warrants a daily spoofed EECB with goatse, one-man-one-cup, and lolturd attachments for the next year.

I would only come back to Sprint for a free Palm Pre or similarly-new phone once a year, along with the Everything Plus plan [replacement for the now-gone SERO plan] at a discount. With PAM. And a lifetime supply of NERDS candy.

@chuck0008: Yeah. The letter does nothing to explain why she was told that the billing was correct. It sounds like either the CSRs and managers involved were conspiring to make crap up OR this was the actual position of Sprint until it was pointed out that they were committing false advertising.

I am guessing they don't want any Attorney Generals involved.

@computerwiz3491: I noticed that also. I have AT&T with a "unlimited" message plan and it includes sending text, pictures, and videos in the messages. The only data it charges for is if I get a message with a link in it (not the actual pic but a link to go view the pic) and I click on it and view the pic that way instead of it being sent as a multi-media text message. No one with my plan gets charged for any data used to send or recive any multi-media text messages.

@chuck0008: At Sprint, at least in my time there, it was less "bad CSRs" or "bad training" and more "shitty corporate attitude". All charges are valid until proven otherwise, all credits are invalid unless very clearly justified. And there's a lot more justification in the docs for charges than for credits.

In this specific case, there probably wasn't clear, unambiguous, and easily-accessible documentation saying that unlimited _data_ is inlcuded with this plan. (It is, or at least was, a region-specific plan whose details were buried in an obscure corner of the internal info systems.) CSR then goes by usual rules: Data is extra. Hell breaks loose.

On top of this, Ensemble (the software that actually controls account changes) has a very poor failure mode for data/messaging bonus features (probably three in this case, one each for text, MMS, and data): These features can't be added without changing the rate plan entirely, but they can be deleted and often are, generally by accident when editing other features. The only way to put them back on is to change the rate plan and then change it back. If the CSR knows to do this (most don't, and it's not in training or docs anywhere), it'll slap you with a new contract unless they remember to fix it (quite a few don't). There is no automatic auditing to make sure the right features are present, either, unless it's a MASSIVE widespread issue.

Erica, if you're reading, I would VERY highly reccomend checking your commitment date once this issue gets fixed.

@dragonfire81: Thanks for your honest report describing multiple experiences I had with Sprint. Sprint people are the queens of doublespeak. And it does appear to still be the Sprint culture that the customer loses.

@thrid001: I'm not sure about "Highest Quality" but I've had t-mo for two and a half years now, and I'll say they've got the "lowest price, best service" thing nailed pretty good.

@razremytuxbuddy: I was with them as recently as December and I can guarantee you it still is.

Another word to the wise: Don't take ANY OFFER on getting a call back, that's a trick agents use to get you off the phone, because they know if you DON'T get a call back and you have to call the company back, you'll be talking to a different rep.

Forget the call back, just take it to a Supervisor (or executive care if you must) and let them know YOU will keep calling back unless your problem is addressed. Don't do it in a rude way, just be FIRM and let them know you won't take it lying down.

@Blueskylaw: I've seen it happen. Someone gets a promotional rate too long, gets the wrong service code entered (like promotional free unlimited data vs. $20/mo unlimited data).

@computerwiz3491: Well, my comments were that in Sprint and AT&T's (older?) policy it states they can charge per kilobyte for MMS. I've only seen it happen a few times consistently, on legacy messaging plans, but a lot of people had those old plans.

Most of the time there were weird data charges involved with MMS that weren't supposed to be there, far and away, it was user error by doing things like e-mailing or folowing picture links on the phones from MMS. Since MMS requires data access to be left open that means they're browsing and eating up data.

Sprint messed up my account and incorrectly charged me for texting (over $1500); after a couple of calls, and some emails, someone from sprint was able to fix it. I'm happy again! Sometime, Sprint can be bad - but when they do fix it, they usually do it right and get you what you want, which is a lower bill or extra "perks" - I'm sticking with them, and encourage my friends to come back, since they are among the lowest in terms of "the whole packages"

@dragonfire81: Man, that's harsh! at least with AT&T I would credit them and make sure their plans were accurate. If it was a repeat issue it got Tier 2. I was also business support so maybe I got a bit more leeway. then again, some of the credits I gave probably would have got me fired if QA heard them.

But the callback as a "yeah, we're never talking with you again" applied. If someone asked for a supervisor we HAD to give them one. Not until they told us the problem, though--which weeded out some real assholes.

One issue resolved, only 987,578,256,634,914 more to go.

I worked at Sprint and it actually did happen frequently. To answer your question I have to ask a question. Why do customers only call in to complain about a billing problem when it is not in their favor? That question is your answer to your question. @Blueskylaw:

LoL.... loved it. I was fired from Sprint for high AHT. Funny thing was, I could not control it and I explained that once the cutomer got me on the line and realized I spoke perfect English and I was intelligent to resolve the first issue, they then would have me resolve any other issues that have been plaguing them. Sprint does not want their Customer Service Reps etc resolving all of your issues. They only want the one you called in about resolved and then move onto the next call. This is very sad for Sprint as a company has mistreated their customers and continues to do so.

Sprint isn't saying this (no charge for picturemail) to me. That's as of 1/29. I had them turn off data, but I am unhappy with that as a solution. I do believe that this qualifies as a bait and switch.