One of the best moments for those of us at Consumerist is when we’re directly able to help one of you, our fellow consumers, in resolving a sticky situation. And so it is with great displeasure that we must update the story of a Sprint iPhone 4S user in such an unsatisfactory way.

To recap! Reader David wrote in with his tale of woe involving a miscommunication about the return window of his Sprint iPhone 4S, which he ordered online. Sprint said it started the day he ordered it, even if it took a few days to arrive, and David was given the runaround by a few different employees, ultimately ending up feeling saddled with a phone he didn’t want.

But we thought all would be well when someone from Sprint contacted Consumerist and passed along some contact info, to be given to David if he wanted to seek further help in the matter. “Hurray!” we thought. But alas, things have taken a turn for the worse.

David writes that he was connected to a customer service rep through the kind employee:

With his assistance, we put in a support ticket, and I finally got to speak with a customer service representative today. She then told me that my 14 day policy started on 10/10 (the day of activation) and ended on 10/23. Keep in mind that the phone was delivered to my house on 10/14, which is also the release date of the iPhone 4S. (Also note that this is yet another piece of conflicting information that I had been provided.) I repeatedly asked how I could have tested out a phone (or billed for service!) if it was not in my possession, but they said nothing could be done for me. My call was escalated several times with no change in answer.

I asked, “so I effectively had a 9 day return policy from 10/14 until 10/23?” and she said yes, and that there is nothing that can be done for me. I asked for any compensation or credit (and they might retain me as a customer) because I had been given the run-around for over 8 hours spanning 3 separate days, and she said that they can’t offer account credit for misinformation. I told them that my story had already been published on Consumerist.com and that I would be trying to post an update with the disappointing news, and she said that customers are able to do what they like.

As David points out, in effect, he ended up with a nine-day return policy, not a true 14 days of trying his product. C’mon, Sprint, whaddya say? We’re all ears.

Previously: Sprint Stinks, Won’t Take Back My Unwanted iPhone 4S

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