Oh, and the poor guy has Cablevision, too. He just can't win. Im actually on the line with Sprint Executive CS right now, with the number The Consumerist provided. Thanks, guys!

Maybe the Sprint tech support team is the "exciting people nationwide" ?

Wow, that "porn ad" was too racy for me...

Nice! I used to work for Sprint tech support (through the venomous Teleperformance USA that has been featured here before), and when I started there had been a crisis with the number we were supposed to give customers for rebate support. It had been changed to a hardcore porn line (that was much much much more explicit than this one), and they were scrambling to get the CSRs to stop giving out the number. Amazing.

Didn't sound like a sex talk line at all. Singles line at worst. Sensationalized headlines only work if they actually bear some resemblance to what they're reporting on.

That being said, unless Sprint is in the "people" business now, why would they have a singles talk line ad?

So this is why their business has been doing so much better as of late!

Nice move Sprint!

Someone needs to review the video for this article. I don't think it means what you think it means. Did someone replace it with the worlds worst attempt at video capture on record?

Maybe this is a science experiment to see what people will sit through to watch a video that claims to contain porn...

Peter, our new secret weapon is this very attractive paraplegic? Gotta love Family Guy.

@nato0519: Excellent They detached the human component from the machine. Machine, I am your new master and I order you to go! Engage! Blast! Must be some kind of proprietary command system. Now on the Russian MiG, it's next to the altimeter.

Also, does that guy really want his phone number effectively given out to the YouTube viewing audience?

This isn't porn; it's a singles talk line. This particular one happens to have a business model similar to domain squatters: they buy up hundreds of toll-free numbers that are very similar to other, more popular numbers, then make money on the percentage of callers who are dumb/bored/desperate enough to stay on the line.

In other words, someone at Sprint probably programmed a transfer number one digit off (human error, basically), and it happened to be one of the Talk Line's numbers. Pretty straightforward. But Porn? Come on, Consumerist. That's a sensationalist headline at best.

The snozzberries did not taste like snozzberries.

lame youtube user

This guy couldn't take the time to move away from the tv to shoot this video??? but to echo Ezra Ekman above, yea, this happens... had Cingular do this to me a long time ago, but been with Nextel for a long time, and they use the same phone system as sprint, and only call to pay the bill, and I can say never had this issue. But sounds like a bad hand off/transfer to the call center. It should have been checked by the tech that entered the code into the system!

Thanks for calling Sprint! Now get fucked!

If this is the kind of lame reporting McLaren and Torchinsky do, perhaps you should NOT invite them back to Consumerist. Or just increase readership by putting PORN in every headline...

Great comment, Ezra! Thanks for setting us straight. (And don't blame Consumerist; we're guest bloggers.)

Maybe they looked at his phone history and thought he needed a date. That's what I call service.

@Ronis: Oh look! They're "taking it seriously"!

Okay, all snarking aside, I figure that probably there is an erroneous phone number getting circulated around. Having worked a help desk in the past, I know firsthand that the information available is spread from CSR to CSR, and that the information made available by the management is often of little utility. As such, if someone got ahold of a number that was relevant to a particular type of problem, this number will get propagated. If someone transposes a couple of digits, well, then stuff like this happens.

@I_have_something_to_say: Well that's it, I'm selling my Everlasting Gobstopper to Mr. Slugworth!

We appreciate the customer bringing this matter to our attention. As such we take it very seriously and we are currently investigating the issue and will work to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

Thank you.

Roni Singleton
Sprint PR

@kc2idf: We had an official sheet that was sent out with phone numbers for our vendors (we have to call them daily). Whoever created the sheet got one number wrong, and it was directed to a phone sex line. It happens.

Shortly after I started my current job, I was having some issue or another with my computer that the desktop support guy determined was somehow related to the McAfee security suite. He dials their support on my speakerphone, as he has the number memorized. He either mis-dialed or remembered the wrong number, because he mistakenly dialed a phone sex line. He was mortified, but I had rarely laughed so hard as I did then. Nearly three years later and the guy still doesn't like me.

When I worked for AT&T one of the transfer numbers we had was wrong. No one was sure which one because it was one of the cold-transfer lines. But the number we got on our list was for a phone sex line. Yeah. it wasn't employee tomfoolery, it was honestly the number the company gave us to transfer the customer to.

@pmcpa4: I think he may have done that to "prove" when the video took place. Show the time on the cable box, and show a popular channel where you can verify what episode was on the air.

@ScottCh: Have to agree. Place the camera on a stable surface, w/the TV in the background, and use the viewfinder to make sure you're in focus.

@kc2idf: I find it interesting, and somewhat telling, that Roni Singleton is from Sprint's Public Relations department. I get the feeling that they are more concerned with the bad publicity than anything else.

It also seems that Sprint doesn't come to this site too often otherwise the "taking it seriously" comment would not have been used.

With that said I must admit that I have been a Sprint PCS customer for well over 15 years and for the most part I have been satisfied with their cellphone service. Their customer service, in general, is in the toilet but the the times I have needed them I go to their executive customer when the standard cs department does not want to do their job.

Eh, that was a long time to wait for that quick and not so juicy line at the end. I became more interested in finding out which episode of Family Guy was on in the background. That guy sits REALLY close to his tv...

@mbgrabbe: "A Hero Sits Next Door" from the 1st season.....I really watch too much Family Guy :P

Someone above mentioned it in passing, but I wonder how many people have taken the time to figure out this guy's phone number by the touch tones? Or even just held the right kind of phone up to the speakers when he's dialing...
I'll bet he has to change his number soon.

1-800-ibm-help is like this / or use to be as well.

@undefined:
you know that by hearing the tones, we can identify your cell phone number right? I'd update the video and skip some of the tones...

I'm just curious, using the tones, has anyone figured out this guys phone number?

We are still investigating the issue but so far have not been able to determine how this customer's call may have been routed incorrectly.

Because we also have not had any other calls about this occuring we would like to get in touch with the customer to help us with resolving this matter as we have no contact information for him.

If the customer would like to contact me directly please email me at eronia.singleton@sprint.com.

Thanks,
Roni Singleton
Sprint PR

@NutToNut,ByMyBastard!_GitEmSteveDave: That's what I'm thinking. Besides, what video was he supposed to be shooting for this? Squirrels?

@Ratty: This happened to me when I called AT&T for customer service and they tried transfer me to some other department. When I called back to modestly chew them out, they told me what you said and apologized.