Wondering why Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has time to wander around NYC telling people about Sprint products? Well, it’s apparently come to that. Sprint has lost another 1.1 million customers.
The truly sad part about this bit of news is that Wall Street considered it “good,” as Sprint was expected to have jettisoned far more of its customer base.
Way to look on the bright side. Keep pounding the pavement, Dan. Remember, he’s not just the CEO, he’s also a client.
UPDATE 5-Sprint loss narrows though customers go, shares up [Reuters]
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Karma. I had so many problems with Sprint (when they were SprintPCS). I was a good, loyal customer, who never had a late payment. I had multiple phones (urban area with good coverage too), but consistently bad service (and terrible customer service). I eventually ended up going to the BBB for help with my case. When that didn’t work, I turned to my state’s attorney general. Problems finally solved.
I chose to never deal with this company again, and I’m glad to hear they’re having trouble.
I JUST canceled my account with Sprint. Haggled for days with shotty retentions for a new phone while out of contract. Blessed be, AT&T. I have seen the light.
@SoLovelyDarling: “haggled for days” for a subsidized phone while out of contract… so you wanted their best handset for free? Or just wanted a better deal than they actually offer? You would have been able to get any of the published new-customer deals in return for a contract renewal, so I’m guessing you were wanting that extra-special reach-around or something.
@GearheadGeek: Not true for me. I was out of contract with Sprint, and wanted to get their “new customer” deal. I was told no way, as I am an existing customer. I explained that by treating your existing customers this way, they’d become new customers somewhere else…
While I was shopping around for a new provider, I started getting Sprint calls about “Hey, you’re not under contract right now, you should sign up for 2 years”. The offer still wasn’t as good as the new customer deal and I declined.
i love sprint…i have an awesome deal. dunno if sprint cut down on this but if you email them or call, you use to be able to get free perks added to your acct. i have free u/l internet, M2M, text, pic mail, and 6pm nites and pay under $35 total.
call me a shill too…i dont care. all i know is that i pay each month and it isnt more than $35. LONG LIVE SPRINT!!!! hahaa…
My reception and call quality with Sprint has always been excellent, but whenever I have to call in to speak with an actual person it’s an absolute nightmare. I wouldn’t have ever had to call in except a sales rep at the Sprint Store flat out lied to me about not charging me to upgrade my phone. The Sprint Consumerist line to get it reversed but they weren’t happy about it!
Maybe when NASCAR goes away and there’s no longer some cup they’re all chasing, I’ll think about using their service. But then again, Verizon would have to start screwing up big time too. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the fact that VZ has their name plastered on stuff either. It’s just that when my old ATT contract expired and their service didn’t work in my new house, that I looked for a new carrier. A friend had them and her phone was working even when she was working in the pit in Ground Zero, so I joined up. At least the VZ arena or field or whatever it’s called isn’t in nyc, so I don’t pass it every day like I’ll have to when I take the #7 train past the Shea Stadium stop and see Shitty Field.
So how many people remain? Can I count them all on my fingers?
Those of you who do nothing but complain about Sprint really do need to get a life. Sprint offers the best value in Wireless. True, the commercials are boring and the classical music will put you to sleep, but the equipment is first rate, the data is the fastest you’ll find and the coverage is more than adequate. Sprint’s rates are much lower than the others and the company has done a complete 180 degree turnaround in customer care, pulling ahead of T-mobile and AT&T and only slightly behind Verizon in the latest ranking published only 3 weeks ago. Quit your whining and go to a Ready Now corporate store and let them show you what real customer service is about.
Got Sprint back in the 90′s because of travel. Every other cell phone carrier up until around 2003 wanted you to pay extra if you called outside of your zone. The zone could be 3 states, it could be your current time zone, whatever… At least with Sprint at the time I always knew what my monthly bill was going to be. Guess I’m the exception on this site. I’ve never had a problem with them.
I have to weigh in with “love Sprint.” Two years so far, almost no dropped calls even in areas that always dropped with AT&T and Verizon, no compressed sounding calls, and no billing issues. I also have their broadband internet, which works astonishingly well…almost as fast as cable modem and I have yet to have a drop or find a dead spot.
SPEAK WITH YOUR MONEY!!!! If 1.1 million people are jumping ship they apparently don’t think it’s worth it. I think it’s fantastic that 1.1 million people are rethinking their support of Sprint. Not because it will cause people to loose jobs but it says they’ve stopped complaining about something and started speaking with the one thing businesses truly understand, their money. If you speak with your money your words are more likely to be heard.
Partner and I stopped in a 4 Sprint Stores last weekend trying to have his phone numbers ported & printed off of his current phone since it was acting wonky. Despite having had it done last year, no one seemed to know how to do it and 2 store flat-out refused.
We decided that night that he was dropping Sprint after 13 years and coming over to AT&T.
I was with Verizon for four years and hated every minute of it. Switched to Sprint a few months ago because the wife’s family has Sprint so she can talk to them for free and their unlimited nights started at 7. From my perspective, they’re way better than Verizon ever was. Not regretting switching to them at all.
I’ve been with Sprint since 2000–haven’t had any bad experiences with customer service (but then again, I approach the CSRs as an adult, not a spoiled child…). They have worked to improve customer service, but their biggest problem is lack of sexy phones to capture the public’s imagination like other carriers. And Dan Hesse’s commercials suck, especially when compared to the color and humour of other carriers’ commercials.
I, too, am a Sprint customer. I live in an area of Kentucky that most cell providers just can’t reach and likely don’t want to. Sprint not only reaches us, but also provides EVDO internet. Although I have to go through an internet reseller for the service (due to Sprint’s new cap), I deal with Sprint directly for our phones.
Yeah, I’ve had problems with them, but then the next time I call I get great service. Sometimes it is me wanting something for nothing, but sometimes I do have legitimate issues. When I am trying to get out of an excessive bill, yeah, that is when I don’t get a lot of help. If the issue is legit, then they are always helpful. Also, sometimes, if the answer isn’t what you like, then call back in an hour, be friendly and see if this CSR is more understanding (or even UNDERSTANDS) the problem. I’ve actually come across as confusing to some (no, seriously).
When you’re stuck with a company because they are the only ones around, you have to pick your battles. At this point I hope they don’t go under, because the next could be worse.
Sprint blows less than it used to. Their customer service has improved from the days when you’d rather have French kissed Amy Winehouse than called to resolve a problem. They have good deals on unlimited service. But they burned a lot of customers in the past and they’re paying for it.
My wife and I left Sprint this month, even though we had great SERO plans, just because the future of the company was not looking good. I didn’t trust Sprint to let us keep the SERO plans we had and their selection of phones isn’t that great.
Also, no one we know is on Sprint.
We actually had terrific Sprint reception in our area. Never a complaint. Now we’re with AT&T…lots of friends and family with AT&T and we are both using the heck out of our iPhones.
I was one of them!
JustKimberly here…
I have been with Sprint for over 10 years. Yes, their customer service has gone down, but no other phone can touch the rates I get. I have compared. I am paying just about 100$ (before all of those rediculous taxes) for a phone for me and Mom, 800 shared any-time minutes, unlimited nights (7pm – 7am) and weekends, and unlimited text messaging on both phones, and unlimited internet on my treo 700p.
No other company offers the lower rate on the internet. Of course, I may be grandfathered, not sure what or if the rate has changed. I pay 15$/month for unlimited internet. Plus, I get a 15% discount for my employer which covers most of the “taxes.”
I also live in mostly metropolitan areas. But, I have been to low parts of GA, TN, and *never* lost coverage. My friend on Verizon goes camping and loses coverage. In fact, other than an occasional drop when switching towers, with digital roaming, I have yet to find a location where I do not get a signal.
Not sure about these complaints about the sound quality because I have *never* had an issue with that on any of my phones with Sprint.
So, yes, I am a relatively happy Sprint customer with no plans to change. Waiting anxiously for my Palm Pre.
And no, I do not work for Sprint, nor am I a shill. Just a happy customer.
Granted, I do not travel internationally. I will give it others, Sprint could do much better in this regard.
I recently used their customer attrition to my advantage and received unlimited data access for free.
“Until when?,” I asked. “Until infinity,” they answered. It helped that in exasperation I inquired as to why I would stay and not take my number to AT&T and get an iPhone.
hated sprint
bought an att prepaid plan and a tilt
hated att
bought a year of skype for 60$ and use my phones wifi to make calls, make calls through AIM and I couldn’t be happier.
Now, what is the CEO’s salary in terms of customers lost?
where’s everybody deflecting to?
@cheesebubble: perhaps i meant “defecting”
interesting, since they have cheaper plans when it comes to voice and data.
And currently their network has the fastest data, better than att or verizon.[i.gizmodo.com]
This is bad news for me at least. I’m a Computer Science major at a University near KC. Sprint is one of Kansas City’s biggest employers and probably the biggest employer of tech people in the city. I was hoping to get a job at sprint when I graduated but things are looking bleak.
Dan wants us all to experience a big 3G network…on a big 3G contract. Sorry Dan.
Maybe if this guy weren’t out wandering the streets of NYC, he could actually do something to improve Sprint’s customer service.
A CEO should appear in advertising only if he or she helps people remember his product — Frank Perdue reminded people of a chicken — or if the CEO has become larger than life — Lee Iacocca challenging viewers, “If you can find a better car, buy it.”
This sorry Sprint guy looks more like someone who has just been laid off — or is about to be…
love love love sprint!!
I’m very happy with my Sprint account. I think the commercials are boring.
Sprint is based in Kansas City, why is the CEO always in New York?
I had Sprint years ago. Loyal customer, as the service here in Boston and elsewhere was pretty good.
THEN Sprint started playing games with their billing. Customer service was appallingly bad. Clueless reps, frequent disconnects while on hold, etc.
I never got any responses to my written questions.
So I turned off the phone and stopped opening the bills.
When the dunning calls came, I told the bill collector that “when Sprint answers my few simple questions about their billing practices, I’d pay off what I owed and then I would cancel. Please pass that along to them. Have a good day!” and then hang up.
Sprint never answered my questions, I never paid, and eventually, I stopped getting bills and dunning calls.
Sprint loses customers because they do not value their time. Most of their customer reps are in other countries. it usually takes me 30-60 minutes to reach a rep in USA. I’ve only done business with 2 reps outside of the USA – 1. asked me for social security # right off the bat before any assistance can be started, and 2. mis-programmed phone during activation causing it to freeze up and shut down.
16 hours of my time were then spent on resolving this issue…part of that was resolving the 2nd replacement LG Rumor that started having issues after a few days. So, bottom line….Sprint had me do the administrative work of trying to resolve an issue caused by a foreign worker without paying me for my time.
Here are some things you can do if poor customer service asks for your wasted time to resolve issues with ANY company…… Contact executives at phone #’s listed on people.yahoo.com or, for Sprint, call John Batalia at 914-407-7225. He is the SVP of Customer Service. Most other executives can be reached at #’s already provided on this site. Most Sprint executives are from Kansas.
Sprint loses customers because they do not value their time. Most of their customer reps are in other countries. it usually takes me 30-60 minutes to reach a rep in USA. I’ve only done business with 2 reps outside of the USA – 1. asked me for social security # right off the bat before any assistance can be started, and 2. mis-programmed phone during activation causing it to freeze up and shut down. 16 hours of my time were then spent on resolving this issue…part of that was resolving the 2nd replacement LG Rumor that started having issues after a few days. So, bottom line….Sprint had me do the administrative work of trying to resolve an issue caused by a foreign worker without paying me for my time. Here are some things you can do if poor customer service asks for your wasted time to resolve issues…… Contact executives at phone #’s listed on people.yahoo.com or call John Batalia at 914-407-7225. He is the SVP of Customer Service. Most other executives can be reached at #’s already provided on this site. Most Sprint executives are from Kansas.
Ive had Sprint for about 4 years now and compaired to Cingular (Now ATT Wireless) and T-mobile they are alot better in coverage. There customer service used to be really bad but has improved if you ask me and lately Sprint will call me once a month usually during the day time and ask if I am happy with my service and if I have any questions they can answer, honestly this is going a long way if you ask me in makign customers happy because I actually did have a question to ask them and they were very skilled at answering it, on top of this the customer service that has called me lately is US not overseas.