Starting tomorrow, Sprint will offer an unlimited everything plan for $100. That’s unlimited unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, TV, music, GPS navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect. The move comes after all the other carriers announced unlimited voice plans for $100, which itself was a reaction to Sprint’s limited deployment of an unlimited plan for $100. What comes next? We’re guessing family plan deals that are better than simply $200 for two lines, $300 for three lines, etc, and perhaps even price drops.
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An Interview With Sprint CEO Dan Hesse About Customer Service At Sprint
By 2.26.08
The author of the BuisnessWeek article “Sprint’s Wake-Up Call”, Spencer Ante, has posted his entire interview with Sprint’s new CEO, Dan “At Least I’m Not Gary Forsee” Hesse.
Dear Sprint: "Die In A Fire"
By 2.25.08
Sprint. Hilary’s boyfriend wanted one phone. You signed him up for, like, a bazillon and took all of his money, plus an extra $400 from his bank account.
Inside The Sprint Customer Service Meltdown
By 2.22.08
BusinessWeek has a truly excellent article about the customer service meltdown that lead to Sprint’s current notorious reputation for poor customer service. The article sums up what we’ve been reporting over the past year: After the Sprint/Nextel merger, “customer service” was essentially destroyed as a concept at the new company. The CSRs were rigidly timed and judged only on how short their calls were and how many contract extensions they were able to bring in. Even bathroom breaks were monitored, one ex-Sprint CSR told BusinessWeek.
Librarian Takes Sprint Nextel & Wells-Fargo To Small Claims Court And Wins
By 2.22.08
Last December, Theodore Karantsalis received a letter from Sprint, where he was a customer, telling him that someone who banks with Wells-Fargo—where he’s not a customer—was presented with his invoice and personal data when they logged into their Wells-Fargo Checkfree account. The customer contacted Sprint, and Sprint contacted Karantsalis. Karantsalis decided that he’d deal with the issue on his own instead of bringing a lawyer into it or throwing his hands up in frustration, so he took both companies to small claims court.
Sprint Testing Unlimited Minute Plan
By 2.18.08
Just like it hinted, Sprint has rolled out an unlimited minute plan. For $119 per month, you get unlimited voice, texting, web, email and picture mail. However, it’s only available in the test markets of San Francisco Bay Area, Upper Central California, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Tampa. We actually got a tip about this four days ago on February 14th (it got lost in the email shuffle), so it looks like Sprint did in fact beat Verizon to the unlimited cellphone game and then forced Verizon to react to their offer, which, considering Sprint’s bottom-dog status right now, is a major coup for new CEO Dan Hesse. It remains to be seen whether these plans will actually be unlimited or if we will see the same secret caps that Comcast put on their “unlimited” broadband plans.
Verizon To Offer Flat-Rate, Unlimited Minutes Cellphone Plan
By 2.18.08
Starting February 19th, Verizon will begin offering a supposedly unlimited cellphone minute plan for a flat $99 per month. It’s only really a deal, though, if you use more than 1000 minutes per month. More important than the actual value is that a brand-name cellphone carrier is offering a flat-rate unlimited minute plan. Notably, Verizon’s move came on the heels of Sprint’s new CEO suggesting last week that Sprint might be headed in that direction. I predict a flurry of plan-matching by the other carriers. The breakdown of the various new Verizon unlimited plans, inside.
Sprint Muses Unlimited, Flat Rate Pricing Plan
By 2.11.08
The days of hoarding over your cellphone minutes like Ebenezer Scrooge over pieces of coal could be over if Sprint follows through with a plan to offer a flat-rate, unlimited voice call plan. It’s but one “nuke” in the new CEO’s brain arsenal of tricks designed to disrupt the industry and regain market share for the beleaguered cellphone service. “If we can’t be different, we can’t win,” says CEO Dan Hesse.
The $6,516.67 Sprint Bill
By 2.11.08
JD writes:
My device was stolen in Mexico. I reported it. The Sprint rep. suspended the WRONG line. My bill comes a few weeks ago: $6,000+. My Sprint bill was $6,000 this month and two calls to Fraud Prevention/2 tickets/and my bill is almost due (with no response or adjustment, was was promised within 2 business days, twice). I don’t know what to do at this point…
It appears your claim has gotten lost somewhere within the deep dark bowels of Sprint’s billing system. The best thing we can suggest at this point is to call the Sprint Executive Customer Service line at 703-433-4401 and get your claim expedited. Oh, and happy Valentine’s Day.
Why Is Sprint Blocking MMS Picture Messages On High-End Phones?
By 2.8.08
Sprint appears to be blocking MMS picture messages on certain phones, specifically high-end ones like the HTC Touch. Although the phones are fully capable of sending and receiving such messages, Sprint sells them with the required features disabled, and each time a third-party developer comes up with a software solution that solves the problem, Sprint swoops in and “fixes” it so that it no longer works.
Sprint Sued For Illegally Extending Customers' Contracts
By 2.7.08
Sprint got hit with a class-action lawsuit for illegally extending customer’s contracts. Like most cellphone providers, up until recently they would put you in a new two-year contract if you added minutes, got a new phone, got refunds, or wore a blue shirt on Tuesday.
Tmobile Ranked Highest In Customer Care
By 2.1.08
Tmobile is yet again as number one in customer care., according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Wireless Customer Care Rating. Tmobile scored 105, Verizon comes just behind at 101, Alltell and AT&T tie at 99, and Sprint puts in a poor showing at 83. The survey measures quality of interaction with customer service reps, automated response systems, in-store visits, and online chats. Tmobile consistently ranks high on the survey due to a company culture dedicated to solving problems on the first call. As for the other providers? The subheading on the rating agency’s press release says it all, “When Customer Care Issues Are Handled by an Automated Response System Wireless Provider Performance Drops Dramatically”
Sprint's Company Policy Is To Rip You Off
By 1.28.08
Sprint has been charging a TortDeform blogger’s family $6 a month in local Texas taxes for the past three and half years, but the problem is the family hasn’t lived in the Lone Star State for three and half years. In addition, Sprint has also been charging local Nevada taxes where they now live. When the family asked for a refund, Sprint said they would refund only the last three months, because of “policy.” The blogger’s dad is an attorney, and plans on taking the issue to court. Oops, looks like Sprint picked the wrong partner to tango with.
By 1.23.08
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S&P thinks Sprint will continue to hemorrhage customers in 2008. “Because management faces significant challenges in improving operations, we do not expect a reversal of these negative operating trends in 2008,” S&P said in a statement. [BusinessWeek]
By 1.18.08
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In the first cost-cutting move by new Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, 4,000 jobs were cut. Its stock subsequently sunk 26% to a new 52-week low of $8.56. Wall Street is overreacting, we have this feeling in our heart of hearts that Hesse can turn things around. [Reuters]
By 1.14.08
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Sprint is laying off several thousand employees, says the Wall Street Journal. Yeah, you know, if there’s one word that always springs to mind when we think of Sprint it’s “overstaffed.” [WSJ]
A Stranger Is Using The Bank Of America Debit Card That Is Sitting In My Desk Drawer
By 1.14.08
The other day reader Dave wrote us because he’d noticed a bunch of strange debits from Sprint on his bank account. Since he uses Sprint, he thought it was a billing error, albeit a serious one, because Sprint had debited $1,717.49 in the past two weeks. Dave hadn’t been able to find anyone at Sprint to help him reverse the charges and wrote to us for advice. Yikes!
