Just found an extra deal for today from Sprint: Get a new Sprint phone line and get a free airline companion ticket, up to a $500 value. Get two tickets, up to a $1,000 value, with activation of a BlackBerry on a BlackBerry Plan or a Simply Everything Plan.
sprint
Verizon Refuses To Help Locate Body Of Missing Woman For Four Days
By 9.17.08
Verizon, which has no problem helping the government spy on its customers, suddenly turned stupid in June when a police department asked them for help finding the body of a woman who had been abducted on camera. Despite pleas from the woman’s parents, the police, and the FBI, it was four days before a technician was sent out to the appropriate cell tower. When that technician gave the police the location info, they found Kelsey Smith’s body within 45 minutes. Verizon won’t respond to requests for an explanation of why they couldn’t help sooner.
Woman Donates Cellphone To Charity, But It Ends Up On Ebay With Personal Info Intact
By 9.15.08
People! Always wipe your cell phone before you sell it, give it away, or trade it in. Do not assume or expect that someone else will do this for you! This was just one of the mistakes that led to Rachel Swanson being called by strangers several weeks after she thought she donated her old phone to charity. But the store that handled the donation, and the company responsible for actually processing the donated phones, screwed up their parts, too. Here’s how it was supposed to have work, and what you should always do before donating your phone to any organization.
Sprint Keeps Sending Mysterious Security-Related Text Messages, But Doesn't Know Why
By 9.12.08
Chelsea wants to know why she keeps receiving these cryptic text messages from 9099. The messages alternate between telling her new phantom services have been added to her account, and sending her an account PIN and security answer. We thought it was someone trying to gain access to her account, but the PIN and security answer aren’t hers, and the services never show up on her bill.
Congress Asks Wireless Carriers To Justify Text Message Rate Increases
By 9.10.08
The similar price increases, coming at similar times, Kohl said, “is hardly consistent with the vigorous price competition we hope to see in a competitive marketplace.”
Sprint Extends Yet Another Contract Without Permission
By 8.16.08
Sprint signed David up for a two-year contract without permission after he transferred his service between a Motorola RAZR 2 and a Sanyo 8400. David owned both phones when he made the transfer last month, long after his contract had expired. Sprint recently decided to send him a letter, charmingly called “keeping you in the know,” which showed that he was the proud new owner of a surprise contract extension.
Sprint Says It Lost Some Of Those 2.8 Million Customers On Purpose
By 8.8.08
By all accounts, Sprint has hit an iceberg and is leaking customers like the Titanic, but new CEO Dan Hesse says that they lost some of those customers on purpose because they were just crappy customers. As strange as this sounds, it does match up with what we’ve been hearing from (former) Sprint customers.
Judge Rules That Early Termination Fees Are ILLEGAL In California
By 7.31.08
A California Superior Court judge has ruled that cellphone early termination fees are ILLEGAL and that Sprint must pay $18.2 M as part of a class action lawsuit. Of course, the decision could be appealed, but in the meantime…. (drum roll, please) the judge ordered Sprint to stop trying to collect the fees from customers in California who were refusing to pay them!
Sprint Makes Customer Wait 6 Hours For Chat
By 7.31.08
Adam had a question on his bill—either about the $9.68 adjustment in his favor, or the $102,861.30 they say he still owes, we’re not sure—so he decided to take advantage of their online chat. He writes, “Conveniently, they have a link that says ‘Questions about your bill?’ When you click it, it brings you to a live agent. This is a picture of our session.”
Poor Reception? "Go To The Hilltop" Sprint Tells Customer
By 7.29.08
“Go outside, or to hilltop to make calls from your cell phone. Sprint does not guarantee call quality in buildings or homes,” a Sprint customer service rep told reader Nathan shortly before he canceled service. Sprint had told a long series of lies with various reasons and solutions that never materialized for why Nathan and his family couldn’t get any reception in their home. After wrangling for many months, Nathan told them to stuff it.
Sprint Loses Early Termination Fee Case In California
By 7.29.08
A California judge has issued a tentative ruling against Sprint regarding early termination fees. Although Sprint has two weeks to respond before the judge issues a final ruling, if the ruling stands then Sprint will have to pay $73 million in refunds to former customers. That Verizon settlement for $21 million earlier this month must be looking pretty sweet to Sprint’s investors right about now.
Want The New iPhone? Here's How To Escape Your Current Cellphone Contract ETF-Free
By 7.10.08
As the second coming of the Jesusphone 3G draws near, we wanted to remind customers of other wireless carriers that there are ways to escape your existing cellphone contract free of early termination fees, and trade your piddling Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile bills for hundreds of pages of gloriously itemized AT&T charges. Or just switch carriers.
By 7.10.08
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The Senate passed the FISA bill today, which effectively puts an end to any chance of legal repercussions for telcos who helped the government spy on citizens. Senator Obama voted for it, Senator McCain didn’t vote, and Senator Clinton, for what it’s worth, voted against it. Find out how your senator voted here. [TechCrunch]
Don't Maintain A Negative Balance With Sprint Or They Will Disconnect Your Service
By 7.5.08
Sprint disconnected Bill’s service for “exceeding his account spending limit,” even though his account had a -$50 balance and he was signed up for Sprint’s Simply Everything unlimited plan. Sprint quickly reactivated Bill’s phone after he pointed this out, but warned that his service “will probably shut back off in a couple of days.”
With The New iPhone On The Horizon, Now Is The Time To Threaten Your Cellphone Company
By 7.3.08
With the debut of that new super iPhone thing only a few short days away, now is the time to threaten your current cellphone company. What’s that? You have no intention of switching cellphone companies for the iPhone? Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon’s retention reps don’t know that. Do they?
13 Headlines The Consumerist Editors Wish They Could Write
By 7.1.08
Here at the Consumerist we get a lot of emails requesting more “happy stories.” While we wait for some to happen, here are 13 headlines we would love to write. They are in no particular order.
Sprint Responds To Your Request To Block All Internet Services By Signing You Up For A Data Package
By 6.29.08
Chelsea noticed several mistaken charges on her Sprint bill for internet access, along with a late fee even though she was enrolled in automatic bill pay. Sprint quickly reversed the erroneous fees and suggested that she block access to the internet. Chelsea replied that this would be perfectly acceptable, so long as it was a free service. In response, Sprint signed her up for a $15 per month data plan.
