SprintPCS can suck my ass!! (warning: VERY LONG)

The BBQ Pit
21

Ohhh, sheeeeit.

I kid you not, I was just trying to get onboard with Sprint right now. Suddenly the hamster kicked into high gear and I found this thread.

At the risk of inserting additional rational discussion, what the fuck am I supposed to do now?

I need a very dependable phone service for use here in Washington, DC and also on the road. I need included long distance, and I can’t be having dropouts and other bullshit. And it’s gotta be affordable, 'cause I’m unemployed.

Dudes and dudettes, if anyone is using a service and a phone that doesn’t suck, please let me know as soon as possible. I’d start an IMHO thread about it, but, well, I don’t have the time I’d need to search, compose, copy, paste, time out, retry, etc.

If possible, I would like whatever service I get to be noticeably more dependable than this server. No offense intended toward the lovely and talented demi-gods which make this board the place to get good information fast.

22

Sofa King, I’ve used my Sprint phone here in the DC area with very few problems for over a year now. I’ve also used it in Chicago, Atlanta (OK, only the airport, but still), NYC, Miami, Colorado, all up and down the I-95 corridor, and even Puerto Rico, with absolutely no problems.

You will get occasional dropouts or dead spots with any cell service, simply because it’s almost impossible to get a tower in every single place you might need one, but IME they’ve been fairly small and easy to get out of. The absolute worst place for cell reception, ironically enough, is Dulles Airport, where EVERYONE has problems. For some reason, they haven’t put repeaters in the damn airport, which aggravates me to no end.

My plan right now includes 500 daytime (“anytime”) minutes and 4500 night/weekend for $50/mo, and prior to that I had 350/2150 for $40, and all minutes include long distance. So the actual phone service is quite good, and since I’ve never needed to call customer service, which seems to be the biggest complaint here, I’ve been perfectly satisfied.

I have the Kyocera/Qualcomm TP-1100, and I love it. The only complaint I have about my phone is that it is single rather than dual-band, which rendered it unusable on the Outer Banks, which apparently has only analog service.

I’d advocate doing like I did and buying the phone separately from the service, since it seems to make things considerably easier. Best Buy has a good selection, as do other electronics retailers, I’m sure. The online activation was easy as pie, and I have the bill charged to my credit card every month, so I don’t even have to mess with that.

23

When I switched phones from the Sangsung to the Kyocera, the quality of my calls improved dramatically. I had far fewer dropped calls. I have had service of some sort pretty much anywhere.

However, Sprint’s customer service is absolute shit. Half of the customer service reps I dealt with were incompetent and I have had to speak with the supervisors on several occassions. When I switched from a month to month plan to a year long plan, the customer service rep screwed up and somehow the change did not go through. It took me several months to get them to make the change and they finally go it right some time in July. They credited my account and gave me a better minutes plan than I would have had when I signed up, however this meant that I was stuck with them unitl recently. I still have them however, I am looking to switch to another company.

24

Indeed Sprint sucks. I have absolutely no reception in my apartment. My girlfriend who also has sprint can’t use her phone from her apartment either, it is constantly roaming, and practically has to stick the phone up her arse in order to get reception. It’s fucking insane. If you find yourself paying for roaming, then definitely call customer service or go to a sprint store, they will test your phone, and if your phone fails this shitty test, you won’t have to pay for roaming. My girlfriend almost freaked when she saw that they had charged her $300 for roaming calls. She then had her phone tested, no doubt the phone failed the test, and she is now $300 richer.

Sprint does suck, but there are loop holes, and you can reason with them if you are fortunate enough to talk to a customer service representative that doesn’t have the intelligence of a brick.

25

My nightmare started two years ago. When I moved, I called to get a new number. Instead, my phone was disconnected. I called and called but the incompetent, rude, lying customer service reps couldn’t fix it. They assured me that I would not be charged for the days and weeks my phone wasn’t working. (Of course I was.) Finally, I sent them a letter saying that I considered my service cancelled. They continued to charge me every month, and even put bogus charges like disconnect and reconnect fees on the same day. My letters continued to be ignored, and then they turned it over to a collection agency, which also ignored my letters and phone calls. Now my credit is ruined.

They really should have a class action filed against them. And the FTC and FCC should go after them. Everyone, start by filing a complaint with the FTC and the FCC. They probably won’t do anything but it’s a start.

It’s amazing how many complaints have been made against them and yet they’re still getting away with it. Type “Sprint Sucks” into Google and you get 16,400 hits.

26

A couple years ago I had a Sprint PCS phone. On one occasion I took a trip to Baltimore, and I was planning to meet my friend in the airport. The gate was changed when I arrived, so I tried to call her on her cell phone.

Big surprise, there’s no Sprint service inside BWI. I walked up and down the concourse looking for a signal, but to no avail. I even made an expensive credit card call from a pay phone, but I couldn’t get through to her because her phone was also Sprint PCS. We met up eventually, no thanks to the phones.

A week later I was in the airport again for my flight home. She dropped me off at the airport, but my flight was cancelled. There was a long line at the podium, so Northwest Airlines brought out the cart of “reservation phones”. I looked at the cart and thought, Where does it plug into the wall?

As they opened the cover, my fears were realized - it was a cart full of goddamn Sprint PCS phones! I dialed again and again, and the longest conversation I had with NWA Reservations was “Hi, my flight was cancelled. #224 to Minneapolis. Yes, my name is-- hello? Hello?”

Only minutes after the cart was unveiled, it was abandoned. No one was able to get through, and we all went back into the line, cursing Sprint.

Ever since I switched to Verizon my life has been easier. The America’s Choice plan has no fees for roaming or long distance (just like Sprint), and I can send and receive text messages and emails.

The only thing I miss is using AOL Instant Messenger from my phone. I can use Yahoo Messenger, but none of my friends use it… and I can send messages through AIM, but I can’t receive alerts when I get a new message.