(Click chart to view full-size)

"Total Cost of Ownership: Motorola Droid vs iPhone 3GS vs Palm Pre vs MyTouch 3G" [BillShrink]

"Verizon Scraps Palm Pre Plans, Report Says" [PC World]
(Photo: idovermani)

AT&T isn't the first mobile provider to offer an in-home base station; T-Mobile and Sprint have similar devices. But T-Mobile's solution gives you unlimited calling on your landline for $10 a month, and Sprint's Airave is, well, actually it's just as bad as AT&T's Microcell, though the fees are slightly lower. AT&T's $20 monthly fee basically gives you access to the company's 3G network over the internet, using your ISP. As Gizmodo puts it:

If you are in a particularly bad spot, the 3G MicroCell will let you run your calls and data through your internet connection rather than over their shit network. Where do they get off charging for this? Femtocells will actually reduce the load on their networks. It shifts the traffic over to the internet provider you're already paying for (which I'm sure ISPs will just love). How does this earn AT&T $20 per month?

Of course, it will likely earn AT&T $20 a month many times over, given the number of people who do have spotty access at home and are locked into long-term iPhone contracts. So, get on the waiting list now, and you too can pay to help AT&T reduce traffic on its network and avoid having to build new towers.

3G MicroCells: AT&T Wants You to Pay Extra to Fix Their Own Failures

More specifically, the new principles are:

5) Non-discrimination — broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications.
6) Transparency — providers of broadband Internet access must be transparent about their network management practices.

And to recap, The "Four Freedoms" are:

1) Freedom to Access Content: Consumers should have access to their choice of legal content
2) Freedom to Use Applications: Consumers should be able to run applications of their choice
3) Freedom to Attach Personal Devices: Consumers should be permitted to attach any devices they choose to the connection in their homes
4) Freedom to Obtain Service Plan Information: Consumers should receive meaningful information regarding their service plans."

With the fifth principle, it's like they're staring directly at Comcast.

"Preserving a Free and Open Internet: A Platform for Innovation, Opportunity, and Prosperity" Prepared Remarks of
Chairman Julius Genachowski The Brookings Institution, Washington DC September 21, 2009 [FCC]

Of course, for an extra $30 a month, Sprint will give you unlimited calls to everyone, everywhere — and other carriers, including Sprint-owned Boost Mobile — offer unlimited plans for as little as $50 a month. But if you're a diehard Sprinter (there must be some of you out there) and need to spend hours on the phone with folks on AT&T, Verizon or other cell networks, it could work out in your favor.

AnyMobile Plan [Sprint]
Thanks, Randall!

Smartly, Sprint is honoring the offer for anyone who happened to sign up today while it was being advertised—so some lucky few are getting their hands on a $99 Palm Pre very soon.

"Sprint withdraws $100 credit offer for new Pre users" [Reuters]
"Sprint backtracks, cancels $100 Pre service credit offer" [Engadget]
(Photo: zoovroo)

Both were courteous enough to call Mike and deny the thief's attempts at opening the accounts, but their helpfulness stopped when Mike asked to know where his assailant was:

I got a call from AT&T asking to verify that I was opening a new account with them. I said no I'm at home. They apologized and then said they will halt the application process. I said, tell me where this is occurring so I can file a report. They said they couldn't divulge that information as it's private and due to the privacy act they cannot discus such information over the phone, I ask to speak to a manager they said nobody was available.

Next up Sprint. I got a call Monday 8/3 asking the same thing. This time I lost my cool. I demanded some sorta retribution for this. I asked repeatedly why they could not help me. They suggested I speak to their fraud department. I said well thanks that may help. I then call Sprints fraud department and got the runaround. It would seem that somebody would have to open an account in your name for them to actually be able to help you. I again speak to a person that gives me this "privacy act riot" I again ask to speak to a manager and was denied.

I went online and did a search on what to do, problem is I'm not sure how to file a police report if I don't know where this is occuring from. I filed a very brief FTC complaint. And I already have a Fraud alert. I also requested my credit report from one of the credit agencies (however due to my fraud alert I have to give my first born child in order to get it as I'm not able to view over the internet.

So bottom line. I'm at my wits end. I don't know where else to turn. I don't even know how they got a hold of my social as I'm very very anal about giving it out and shred all of my papers that would've had it. I don't even carry my social card with me it's in a fire proof safe at home. The only thing I can think of is I recently bought a house and switched my cell phone into my name. So either Verizon or somebody at a bank stole my info.....

At least Mike is better prepared than most identity theft victims. But his story is a cautionary tale that no matter how careful you are, you're always vulnerable to such attacks, and won't necessarily find potentially defrauded corporations in helpful moods.

(Photo: Spidra Webster)

Is this a substitute for carriers removing the extraneous instructions? No, of course not, but it's a worthwhile stopgap until the carriers act on their own.

If you're a Sprint customer, you can cut out the annoying greeting altogether with these instructions:

Access your voice mail box. Press 3, for personal options.
Press 2, for greetings.
Press 1, to change your personal greeting.
Press 3, to add or remove the caller instructions. Follow the prompts to turn instructions on or off.

If you haven't already, tell your carrier how you feel about wasteful voicemail instructions:

• Verizon: http://bit.ly/FJncH
• AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations: MS8460@att.com.
• Sprint: http://bit.ly/9CmrZ
• T-Mobile: http://bit.ly/9CmrZ

Take Back The Beep, Part II [The New York Times]
(Photo: Ninja M.)

David Pogue, who is trying to start a crusade to do away with these long messages which are only designed to rack up illegitimate profits, says the trick is:

STEP ONE. Press 1. If it's Sprint, you get the beep, and you're done. If you hear an error recording, go on:

STEP TWO. Press *. If it's Verizon, you get the beep. If not:

STEP THREE: Push #. You get the beep for T-Mobile or Cingular.

You have to pause after each one, and you have to keep listening. But it's one small way to fight back. Remember: One Star Pound.

These long messages are no accident. Cellphone companies have entire conferences devoted to getting you to spend more time on the cellphone, and these really long messages are one of their favorite tricks. Another way to fight back is to send in piles of complaints to these locations:

* Verizon: http://bit.ly/FJncH.
* AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations: MS8460@att.com.
* Sprint: http://bit.ly/9CmrZ
* T-Mobile: http://bit.ly/2rKy0u

RELATED:
The Mandatory 15-Second Voicemail Instructions [NYT]
How to Bypass Stupid Voicemail Instructions[NYT]
The Cellphone Industry Strikes Back [NYT]
Verizon Wireless CEO responds to David Pogue's article on the American mobile industry [IntoMobile]
The Irksome Cellphone Industry [NYT]

(Photo: blueoneiam)

Why would they do such a thing? To remove and acquire a competitor in the growing prepaid mobile market.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

As consumers tighten their belts amid an economic slowdown, more people are gravitating toward cheaper pre-paid plans that don't require lengthy service contracts. The U.S. pre-paid market is expected to grow by a compounded annual growth rate of 3.9% through 2014, according to market research firm Atlantic-ACM. The firm estimates that Sprint and Virgin Mobile combined control 17% of the market.

The deal is a $483 million stock swap, and will be finalized in early 2010.

Sprint Expands Pre-Paid Ops With Virgin Mobile Buy [Wall Street Journal]
Sprint to Buy Virgin Mobile USA [NY Times]

Verizon Says It Will Limit New Handset Deals [Reuters] (Photo)

Wait...what?

After navigating the circuitous Sprint tech support line, unsuspecting callers are routed to a promo for phone sex. One man has documented his experience on YouTube, revealing Sprint's secret plan to make millions by offering customer service that's so shitty, you'll pay just to get someone-anyone-on the line.

Called Sprint, Got Transferred to Porn Ad [Hardware Geek] (Thanks, Josh!)

Update from commenter Ezra Ekman:

"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."

Guest Bloggers Carrie McLaren & Jason Torchinsky are coeditors of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. In previous lives, they worked together on the hopelessly obscure and now defunct Stay Free! magazine.

We don't want to ruin the suspense by giving away how things unfolded, so read his story for yourself on his livejournal page. We can say, however, that the phone tracking service seems to work pretty well—especially if you can manage to have live access to the web and Google Maps while you're trying to track it down in a strange city.

"Find My iPhone works, and it is awesome." [happywaffle.livejournal.com]

We don't know, maybe the OP has a name that someone at Sprint didn't hear correctly, like Clay Pendergrass, or Raymond DeBlass, or Payton Morass.

Whatever his real name is, he adds that a Sprint customer service supervisor has called him and assured him that they're investigating it—"The supervisor... told me that they are digging through their DB to find out who made the change." As of this afternoon the name-changer remains a mystery to SprintUsers readers and to us, but we'll post a follow-up if anything comes to light.

"A Lesson in Customer Service" [SprintUsers] (Thanks to Anon!)

If you're a new customer, consider the Palm Pre instead. Since AT&T didn't announce a lower data plan yesterday, the Palm Pre is more affordable on a month-to-month basis. It's hard to compare the 3G S and the Pre side by side because their features don't match up, but basically if you want auto-focus and the ability to record video, you want the 3G S; if you want a physical keyboard and the ability to multi-task, the Pre is a better bet.

Your other option, of course—if you can't or don't want to jump ship to Sprint—is to take a deep breath and wait it out. The introduction of the Pre is a great thing for customers, and it's still possible AT&T may drop the price of its data plan for the iPhone in the coming weeks. Prices for either phone may drop further depending on sales. And if you're a current iPhone 3G owner, the free OS upgrade later this month should make you feel like your existing phone just got a tune-up, which may hold you over for another 6-12 months until, hopefully, prices fall. In the meantime, apps like Quick Shot and Reply Butler can bring some added functionality to your existing iPhone 3G at nominal cost.

(And of course, don't forget Android phones. The OS is awesome, even if the $179 G1 phone on T-Mobile is a bit clunky.)

"Real Cost of iPhone 3GS: About $218 More Than You Think" [Gizmodo]

Hypothetically, your dumb boyfriend may have even taken that scammy Facebook IQ test and entered his cellphone number for the results (results: FAIL), and since you pay the bill, you're hit with a recurring $15 monthly fee from PlayPhone Inc. This is all hypothetical, of course.

If you're with AT&T, there's a simple fix for this: call them up and ask them to block purchases from that line. You'll be emailed a PIN that will be required to authorize any future purchases. Then, in our hypothetical scenario above, you can print out the PIN, delete the email, then eat the paper the PIN was printed on.

We couldn't locate similar free options from T-Mobile or Verizon, but if you're a customer and know of a free way to do the same thing, please let us know in the comments.

Sprint does offer a similar feature called Parental Controls. Or you can just wait a few more months to see if Sprint goes belly up. Ha ha I kid, Sprint. No I don't because I hate you.

(Don't feel too bad for Sprint; they overbilled my account by more than $900 several years ago, then tried to stall on returning the funds.)

(Photo: lizjones112)

The bill in question is not fake and is in fact from a third-party vendor that Sprint has hired to help us with billing wireline charges to a customer who does not have an account with Sprint or to a customer whose local exchange carrier does not have a billing agreement with Sprint.

Although this explains the off-brand look of the invoice, we think Sprint—or perhaps their third-party vendor—should take greater pains to make the billing more seamless. This invoice is sort of like the American Express verification call that sounded remarkably like a social engineering scam—in both cases there were several things that we (and our OPs) interpreted as red flags, and they could have probably been explained away with better communication on the company's side.

From the original post:

Roderick writes,

My mother received a fake phone bill today. A few interesting notes:

• The number listed was not hers
• The collect call received was never made
• The P.O. box and 800 number are not in Sprint's database
• The bill stated that the charges would not show up on any other bill.

I suppose that last bit is supposed to snare people who realize that their "Sprint" bill went from vibrant yellow and black to white with a blue table. I was going to wait until the bill was scanned to send this email, but I wanted to make sure that the info went out A.S.A.P.

The guy's address is listed as:

Sprint
PO Box 600670
Jacksonville FL 32260-0670

From the letter:

THE FOLLOWING CALLS WERE COMPLETED USING SPRINT'S NETWORK.
THE CHARGES FOR THESE CALLS WILL NOT BE ON ANY OTHER TELEPHONE
COMPANY BILL. AMOUNTS DUE MAY BE REFERRED TO A COLLECTION
AGENCY IF NOT PAID. PLEASE PAY UPON RECEIPT. THANK YOU.

(Photo: RBerteig)

Be sure to 1) be nice and professional ! and 2) read our tips on what to say when you call.

Sprint
703-433-4401

Verizon
845-365-7700, 908-306-6750, 910-794-6200

T-mobile
877-290-6323 Ex. 8025, 8025, 8024, 8023, 8021

AT&T
Eastern States: 877-707-6220
Western States: 800-498-1912

(Photo: helgasms!)

It's #4 Citibank VS #20 Sprint:

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2009 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers, and seeded according to number of nominations. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Download the bracket here.

Smackswell writes:

After my last smartphone died on me (palm centro) and I found a new blackberry for cheap on craigslist, I went to one of their stores to get it activated. They informed me I had to change my plan to some $70 a month deal, and confirmed all my billing info was correct. It's expensive, but it was worth it to me.

Ever since then, I keep on receiving calls from sprint. The first time I answered, and a woman informed me she wanted to make sure my service was going well, that I was happy with my plan, that I knew all the details of my plan, billing info correct, etc and so on. I humored her, went through the dialogue, and just when we were finishing up, the call dropped. It's funny, cuz it's the only dropped call I've had with the phone. I thought we were done, but she decided to call back anyways. I didn't answer, as I was sick of talking to CSRs.

Since then, I keep getting 877 numbers calling me. Been going on for a few days now. Today, I called the number back and they wanted to go through the whole spiel again. I told her I already did this and didn't want them to call me back. She said she'd put me on their "do not call" list. Great. Problem solved, right?

No. An hour or so later I get yet another call, this time a guy wanting to play the game all over again. I tell him I keep getting the same call over and over, and he tells me he'll put me on the "do not call" list. I'm almost positive I'm going to get this call again any second now, and it's driving me nuts. Any advice?

Smackswell, they probably just don't have enough customers to call. Try to get some friends to sign up with Sprint so they'll have more people to bug. I'd do it but I hate them too much.

(Photo: public.resource.org)

It's #20 Sprint VS #13 Verizon.

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2009 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers, and seeded according to number of nominations. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america. Download the bracket here.

See Dan's new public-access-style ad below.

Here's Tonya's irate piggy clip that inspired us (warning: cursing).

Bob canceled his account. They billed him for 11 days after he canceled because their "policy" is to bill for the entire billing period. He protested to no avail He filed an FCC complaint. Nothing happened for a month. Then he called up identifying himself as a reporter. The FCC then forwarded his complaint over to Sprint who just reiterarted the policy. Oh, and they told him his account hadn't been canceled and he owed them more money. Bob and the Sprint rep kept missing each other's calls, and then she responded to the FCC complaint saying Bob was unreachable, and, here's the kicker: they said Bob called back after he canceled and asked for the cancellation to be postponed - a blatant lie. The FCC then closed the investigation.

Dan Hesse, you should be ashamed.

FCC: Sprint Can Be Judge And Jury [Red Tape Chronicles]

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]

B. says:

As a loyal Consumerist reader I have read horror stories about Sprint's customer service. I've been with Sprint for years without incident, but I was never an apologist. I assumed I hadn't had an issue with customer service because I'd never had to contact customer service.

That being said, I wanted to share a positive Sprint experience I had today. I have a brother who has bad credit, is unemployed, and has been (unfortunately) on my Sprint plan ever since I foolishly agreed to help him get a cell phone. At the time he asked for it, he was working, so I wasn't being a complete idiot when I agreed to put my credit on the line for him. However, for the past six months he hasn't worked and has made me become a bill collector in order to get his portion of the cell phone bill paid.

I finally decided I was fed up with the situation and would just eat the $200 early termination fee. I called Sprint this morning and advised the phone representative of the situation. She asked if I knew about the ETF, and I told her I did and was fine with it. She looked at my account history and commented on the length of time I've been with Sprint and asked me to wait on hold while she figured out what she could do. Mind you, I was fully prepared to pay the fee. I signed a contract and would have fulfilled my end of it. I simply answered her question when she asked why I wanted to cancel his line with my sincere, truthful response.

I waited on hold for about five minutes. When she returned, she advised me that she would place my brother's phone on a suspension until the contract is up in June. At that time, I can cancel his line without being charged an ETF. She also advised me that the phone won't be usable at all to my brother, so it will appear to be shut off, not just suspended.

This solution was above and beyond what I was expecting when I contacted them. I would have gladly paid the $200 fee in order to wash my hands of this entire mess. I'd have just chalked it up to another life lesson learned. However, this Sprint representative was awesome. I appreciated her empathizing with my situation and proposing a solution that is likely to keep me as a Sprint customer for years to come.

We certainly read a lot about things a company does wrong, and I wanted to give Sprint kudos for doing something right.

It was kind of you to help your brother that way, and we're glad you didn't suffer any consequences as a result of it. Using your credit to help family members can be a risky undertaking and can have emotional consequences as well as financial ones.

We're not saying you shouldn't do it — but you should make sure to protect yourself in the event that things don't work out. In your case, being able and willing to pay the $200 fee (rather than getting stuck paying an extra cellphone bill, or having your credit affected if you couldn't afford to pay) was smart. It's wonderful that it didn't come to that.

If you've got a customer service issue with Sprint, why not try the Sprint Consumerist Hotline: 703-433-4401

(Photo:smcgee)

According to an inside source, these posts about the Teleperformance USA call center in Fishers, Indiana got sent up the company ladder. When they hit the Senior VP level, there was much teeth grinding. A Sprint vendor manager was hauled in on his ass to explain himself. Guess it wasn't very convincing. Then again, it could just be the economy. Whichever the case, no matter, all roads lead to Rome.

Sprint closing call center [Indystar] (Thanks to Josh!)
RELATED:
Call Centers: Teleperformance USA Is A Cancer
Teleperformance USA: Call Center Of Customer Service Nightmares

(Photo: robertDouglass)

(Emphasis ours.)

I saw your article on Sprint’s Everything Messaging plans. Sprint’s Everything Messaging plans include unlimited text, picture and video messaging at no additional charge. With these plans, there are no charges for data usage associated with using picture or video messaging. However, it has come to our attention that a few customers have received charges for data usage that may be related to picture messaging. Sprint is investigating these situations and in most cases has found that the data charges are being billed for other data usage, such as checking email, downloading ringtones or visiting Web sites. In a very small number of cases, charges of 4 to 9 cents per message are mistakenly being billed to the customer. Sprint is conducting testing to fix this issue for those customers affected. Customers on Everything Messaging plans who feel they have been mistakenly charged for sending or receiving picture or video messages should immediately report the issue to Sprint Customer Care at 1-800-Sprint1 in order for their usage history to be researched.

So there you have it; although they're saying the number of cases where customers were incorrectly billed is small, they're admitting that it's real and being investigated.

If you're being charged extra on your unlimited plan, first make sure you're not going online, checking email, or downloading ringtones; if you are, you owe the money. If it looks like a real error, let Sprint know so they can reverse the charges.

I have Sprint's "Everything Messaging Family" plan, also called "Talk/Message Share Plan - 1500" on my bill. It's Sprint's unlimited text messaging and picture mail/picture messaging plan.

From Sprint's website: http://www.nextel.com/en/stores/popups/talk_message_popup.shtml

I have saved a copy of that page, and its fine print, in case it should change.

It never occurred to me that "unlimited" may in fact mean "limited," so I never thought to check the exclusions until recently. The exclusions don't actually include anything unusual. It's the standard surcharges stuff, to wit:

Rates & Fees: Monthly charges exclude taxes, Sprint Surcharges [incl. USF charge of up to 11.4% (varies quarterly), Administrative Charge (up to $1.99/line/mo.), Regulatory Charge ($0.20/line/mo.) & state/local fees by area]. Sprint Surcharges are not taxes or gov't-required charges and are subject to change. Details: sprint.com/taxesandfees.

Nothing in there about my unlimited plan being limited or costing extra to actually use. However, that's what's happening. According to some Sprint representatives, the wording above ("Unlimited...picture and video messaging...") means that you have the capability to send picture messages. It doesn't mean you can actually send them. Unless, of course, you want to pay the extra data usage fees. That's right, my unlimited picture messaging plan does not actually include picture messaging of any kind — it costs extra to use it. This month I have been billed $18.64 to use my "unlimited" picture messaging feature (for which I'm already paying $99/month).

I say "some Sprint representatives" because when I first called about this issue after my first bill in November, I was told it was a mistake to be billed for using picture messaging, that it was a new plan and they were still "working out the kinks." I got an immediate credit of the data usage fees and an apology. All seemed good. Until this month, when I was billed over $18 extra for using the features of my "unlimited" plan.

I spoke with two levels of supervisor. The first level (Nicole - 4751) was extremely rude and stated quite bluntly "There will be NO refund, you used the feature, those are the fees for it." I asked for another level and got someone who was very polite (Tracy - tr467794), but only offered to refund half the extra charge incurred by my "unlimited" picture messaging usage.

When we were done talking, I found that this is a common and known issue with Sprint's unlimited messaging plans and that Sprint is well aware that they have very misleading advertising and messaging on these plans (http://forums.buzzaboutwireless.com/baw/board/message?board.id=OffTopicRantsandRaves&thread.id=6756&view=by_date_ascending&page=6). No one seems to be able to get their story straight at Sprint. Some people are able to get refunds, others are simply told to spend more to "upgrade."

The bottom line is that the Unlimited text and picture messaging plan that Sprint advertises and sells doesn't actually include unlimited picture messaging, or picture messaging of any kind. The "capability" to send picture mail is a function of one's phone. To claim that's what I'm paying for with their unlimited messaging plan and that I must actually pay extra to send those messages is disingenuous.

(Photo: xanteen)

Anonymous writes:

Subject: Verizon Online, Apple, AT&T, Sprint, AOL, Boost Mobile, DELL, Microsoft, X-Box Live Support and many others

When customers have issues with the company/service listed in the subject, I can honestly state it is most like not because of the company themselves, but a company named Teleperformance USA.

Chances are that the reason a large portion of consumers receive poor customer service is because the reps they are speaking with are employed by Teleperformance USA. Human Resources basically severely lowered the bar in standards when it came to hiring.

Training for each project varied between two weeks to five weeks. Sprint being a four to five week training course, Verizon being two weeks and so on.

The clients such as Sprint and Verizon had policies set for us to follow, but management would over-ride them and set their own policies. For example, Teleperformance hired absolutely non-technical people for Verizon Online and would pretty much force the agents to refer to vendor for even the most minor issue.

Verizon provided a very large knowledge-base for the agents that would help resolve a lot of issues. Supervisors and Trainers alike would have the representatives get rid of the call because it "wasn't their responsibility".

When it came to training new-hires or even updating current employees on new standards, it was more like babysitting a room full of children. Trainers were pretty much told just to provide "numbers" for our clients to make it look like they were being trained. After many years of that being done, it was practically impossible for trainers to actually help train and uptrain. Management looked the other direction when it came to "cheating" on the final exams for training for new hires to be fully employeed or current employees to be considered 'certified'.

Due to the fact that agents weren't being properly trained, policies weren't adhered to. Simply because, no one knew them. Their supervisors don't care what they do. Especially in Sprint. In training, we told new hires that they are there to help customers with billing and phone issues and upselling is the least of their concern. On the floor, supervisors told the agents that trainers did not know anything about working on the floor (which was an outright lie, since we had to have high QA scores and Customer Satisfaction ratings from Sprint to be a trainer) and told them that sales was their highest importance.

So, agents didn't care about billing issues, blamed the customer for it then tried to upsell them more junk. That way agents would make a commission and supervisors got a percentage of their teams overall commission amount.

The overall attitude within Teleperformance is that their clients demands do not matter for the most part and will lie, cheat and steal to make number look good to provide back to these clients. On more than one occasion, Sprint, Boost, and Verizon has came through call centers and pulled projects because Teleperformance was not doing their job.

Teleperformance holds about 70% of Sprint Call Centers. Sprint holds pretty much only the Consumerist Line, Executive line and a group called White Glove for VIP members.

Now, there are some agents that really do want to do a good job there, but they are few and far between. So the only thing I can say is that the consumer needs to exercise caution when contacting the listed companies.

In this case, the customers are getting ripped off just as the companies who hired Teleperformance USA. No wonder it's necessary to keep telling aggrieved customers to escalate to executive customer service or send an EECB just to fix basic issues.

Jordache Thank you for contacting Sprint. My name is Jordache. How may I assist you today?

4:19:34 PM Ken I want to cancel my account.

4:19:48 PM Ken I was being transferred to someone but it took too long, so I decided to restart the chat.

4:20:02 PM Ken I'm hoping it will be quicker this time around.

4:20:13 PM Jordache May I ask the reason for canceling, Ken?

4:20:19 PM Ken It's complicated.

4:20:33 PM Jordache One moment please.

4:20:35 PM Ken Okay.

4:21:38 PM System You are being transferred to another queue. Please stand by...

4:21:38 PM System Jordache has left this session!

4:21:53 PM System Jermaine B has joined this session!

4:21:53 PM System Connected with Jermaine B

4:21:53 PM Jermaine B Thank you for contacting sprint account service department. My name is Jermaine. How may I assist you today?

4:21:58 PM Ken I want to cancel my account.

4:22:23 PM Jermaine B All right, one moment please.

4:22:46 PM Ken Okay

4:23:11 PM Jermaine B Thank you, for account verification, may I please have the 6-10 digit pin number on the account or could you please answer your security question for me?

4:23:22 PM Ken Answer to the security question is XXXXXXXXX

4:23:38 PM Jermaine B Thank you for that information.

4:24:08 PM Ken Mhm

4:25:28 PM Jermaine B Do you wish to cancel one line on your account, or both lines?

4:25:33 PM Ken Both lines.

4:26:43 PM Jermaine B Are you aware you are able to place the account on hold by placing the seasonal standby plan on that line instead of canceling, the standby plan is $5.95 per month?

4:26:46 PM Ken No.

4:26:53 PM Ken And I don't know of anyone who wants to take over the lines, either.

4:27:53 PM Ken I was told earlier that my ETF would be waived, because of the Admin Charge clause: "Administrative Charge Effective Jan. 1, 2009, the Administrative Charge will increase to $0.99 per line. For details on surcharges, please see Sprint Terms & Conditions or visit sprint.com/taxesandfees"

4:28:23 PM Jermaine B One moment, while I research that information for you.

4:28:37 PM Ken And that I could cancel my account today with that in affect, granted I pay my most recent bill on or by December 1st.

4:30:34 PM Ken I'm hoping your research won't take long because I have an obligation in half an hour.

4:32:09 PM Jermaine B I appreciate your patience. I am still researching that information for you.

4:32:44 PM Ken Okay. I don't mean to rush you either, but again, I'm on a time restraint.

4:35:09 PM Jermaine B This cancellation will take effect on 12/7/2008. This is the end of your current billing cycle. You will not be charged on the next bill for these lines because Sprint bills a month in advance. The early termination fee's has been waived.

4:35:33 PM Ken Okay, great. Thank you.

4:35:39 PM Jermaine B Your welcome, do you have any further issues I can assist you with today?

4:35:45 PM Ken If I could get that confirmed in an e-mail to me, that would be great (XXXXXXXX)

4:36:09 PM Jermaine B Yes, you will receive a email to your email address of this chat session.

4:36:19 PM Ken Ok, great.

4:36:30 PM Ken So all I have to pay is the December bill, right?

4:36:40 PM Ken the $170 something due Dec 1st?

4:36:59 PM Jermaine B Correct, $170.34 then your all set.

Easy as pie. For more information about this admin fee increase and how it affects your contract with Sprint, check out this post.

(Photo: balmes )

This person writes:

What has come out internally is that they have till Jan 8th to accept the VSP [Voluntary Separation Package], and then all bets are off. Also, the tech ops force is going to be diminished and Sprint is going to start contracting out their site maintenance and upkeep. What does this mean? Assloads of the techs who have been there since Nextel are going to be losing their jobs, and contractors are going to be taking their place, leading to worse service than there is now with the skeleton crew they've got left.

How do I know all this? My husband was one of the first to lose his job during Nextel's downsizing prior to the buyout, and we have quite a few friends left at Sprint who are all sweating blood.

"Sprint offers voluntary package to employees " [Fierce Wireless]
(Photo: Getty Images)

Stephanie writes:

I did my research and found out that Credo Mobile (a MVNO piggybacking on the Spring network) is offering $200 towards cancellation fees on your current cell phone plan. So, I called my cell phone provider, Verizon Wireless, and explained that I'd been a loyal customer and that my contract was due to expire in less than three months but that Sprint had this great offer and that I was considering switching. They representative told me that Sprint's coverage sucked and she was sorry to hear that I was considering a switch, and offered to give me a month free! She put me on hold and within two minutes she came back on and confirmed that I'd been given an $80 credit on my bill.

I couldn't believe how easy it was.

Next I called Comcast. I was more than a bit intimidated, because I've had issues with Comcast in the past, but I figured I'd give it a try anyway. I tried the same tactic: loyal customer, can you give me a break on my bill. The customer service rep played hard ball. I told him that their website had all kinds of deals. He said they were only for new customers. I told him Verizon Fios was offering deals. He wouldn't budge.

Finally, I said, "Would Comcast rather I switch to another company?" He finally said he would check for any promotional offers. He put me on hold and said he could knock off $25 from my bill for the next six months.

So, I just wanted to say thanks.

RELATED: Consumer 101: 3 Ways To Lower Your Out Of Control Cable, Internet And Phone Bills

Here's the fee notice:

Administrative Charge
Effective Jan. 1, 2009, the Administrative
Charge will increase to $0.99 per line. For
details on surcharges, please see Sprint Terms
& Conditions or visit sprint.com/taxesandfees

And Matt's story:

I called sprint with the bill (with the exact wording) open, and their taxes and fees site (sprint.com/taxesandfees). First I got a normal CS rep, asked about getting an ETF waiver because of this "materially adverse" change, she said no, but that she would transfer me to an "account specialist" (retentions).

Was transferred to retentions, got a woman who also said no. We debated a little bit, me asking why it wasn't materially adverse, her saying because its a fee, etc etc. Once I realized I was going no where with her I asked to speak to somebody else. Apparently I got to talk to the King of Retentions, or something.

I remember this part the best, because he picks up the phone and says "Hello! I heard you had a question about one of our government mandate fees?" This really set me off. I had been saying the whole time it was their administrative fee and picture message increase. Anyways, we debated, a lot. Basically the only key was to never stop. He kept saying they could change their fees at any time, it even says so in their T&Cs. I pointed out how that was not valid, and how it was the whole point of a contract that both parties agree to the terms as presented, and how could you agree to terms in advance? After about 10 minutes of this I said "is there anybody else I can talk to" and he said "no, I'm the end of the line before you cancel", and then he said "Do you want the number to legal" and I said "yes!".

I was put on hold for about 10 minutes, when he came back he was much much nicer. He said they couldn't ETF free it now because it hadn't affected the account. I told him the reason I called now is because I wasn't to make sure paying the Nov bill is "agreeing" with the change (I'm sure if I called back in Jan there would have been nothing that could have been done). I said ETF free in Jan was reasonable, and asked him to put the note on the account to let me cancel ETF free in January if the account was affected by the change, he obliged.

Called back the next day, and the note was there.

Yes, the account is still not canceled. Yes, that note could mysteriously disappear. But Matt was able to go most of the way towards getting it ready to be cancelled once that new fee starts hitting the account. He just needs to go the next step. He needs to argue with them that it doesn't matter if it hasn't hit the account yet, the terms of the contract have changed. That alone gives him sufficient reason. If they respond by waiving the surcharge, he should insist that the contract has still been changed.

Just because it's in the terms and conditions that they can change the contract doesn't make it so. Ski lodges can make you sign death waivers but if you really do bust your leg up, the lawyers know you still can sue and probably will win. If
contracts could really be changed like this mid-term, then car dealerships could decide 6 months into your lease that you need to start paying a $300/month administrative fee.

Whether or not they obviate the effects of the contract change, the contract was still changed without his consent. If you stab someone, and then put all the blood back in the wound and put a band-aid over it, you've still stabbed them.

Administrative Charge Increasing Jan 1... [Howard Forums] (Photo: your_favorite_mart ian)