Sprint Drops Soldiers for Excessive Roaming
Last Friday, we reported that Sprint had dumped "problem customers" who the carrier felt called into its customer service lines too often. The letter, dated June 29, was sent to 1,000 customers notifying them that their contracts would be terminated. It read, "The number of inquiries you have made to us ... has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs."
Now, Beta News is reporting that Sprint is also excommunicating people who it feels roam out of network too often. This just happens to include about 200 soldiers. In a post on SprintUsers.com, Shafted_Sprint claims that when he and his unit returned from Iraq and were redeployed at West Point to train cadets, those who were Sprint customers (about 1/3 of the unit) found that they were roaming off-network, despite being told by the carrier that West Point was in an area of "best coverage." And here comes the kick in the pants: At the beginning of this month, Shafted_Sprint and several others received letters from Sprint notifying them that their contracts would be cancelled for the amount of roaming they were doing.
To add insult to injury, West Point is merely a temporary stopover for these guys before they return to their home station where they use Sprint regularly, on the network with no problems. Now they'll be returning home without cell phone providers. What's worse, Shafted_Sprint claims that many of his unit members bought new Sprint phones when they returned, having been away in Iraq and their phones being behind the technological times as it were. According to Shafted_Sprint, some soldiers received their cancellation letters from Sprint the very same day Sprint sold them new phones.
One thing is for certain, a tide of anti-Sprint sentiment is cresting. When we posted the original story last week about "problem customers" being dumped, readers went wild with posts about their own terrible experiences with Sprint. After reading just a few of them, it's no surprise the carrier lost 220,000 customers in the first quarter of 2007. It didn't take Switched users long to come to the conclusion that you can now easily get out of your Sprint contract if you're unhappy, and you don't have to pay a cancellation fee. Simply nag the customer service lines and you'll be dumped in no time!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shame on Sprint said 11:23AM on 7-10-2007
Sprint-SHAME ON YOU! Our soldiers deserve our thanks, gratitude, and understanding. To be dropped for roaming outside your network too much is ridiculous. Not just for our soldiers, but any business person who travels regularly. What a ridiculous decision by Sprint. I hope the consequences to the company are wide and far reaching!
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michael grasso said 10:49AM on 7-10-2007
Sprint, Embarq and the like give the worst customere service and take no responsibilities for services and mistakes that are clearly their own shortcomings. Please read www.dis-embarq.com and feel free to leave your sprint/embarq horror stories there
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Michael said 11:06AM on 7-10-2007
I used to have Nextel and moved to another state,
they said I was now under Sprint, but were same company. In the area I moved to they had no service, but took my payments each month, I could only get calls through sometimes. When contract was up, I now am with a great service(US Cellular)
when with Sprint I was double charged, and like I said poor coverage.Sprint/Nextel always said they were right when I even had it in black and white they were wrong. I DO NOT LIKE THEM AT ALL!
Michael of Art
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grscuba said 11:05AM on 7-10-2007
I was with Nextel from the very beginning when they had us carry the big heavy "brick" When we had coverage problems Nextel gave us extra minutes to our plan to stop us from leaving Nextel. These extra minutes were grandfathered into our plan and I had then for years. 2 years ago they just without notice dropped those promises and my bills went from $99 to $900. They did nothing for me about it and even though it was people like me who helped build their company in the beginning that was not considered. Good bye Nextel and good bye Sprint. I sure will be happy to see you go belly up
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grscuba said 11:09AM on 7-10-2007
Good Bye Sprint
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Michael said 6:13PM on 7-10-2007
I intended to say this also in last post. Shame on Sprint/Nextel or any other outfit that would cut off our troops. That is the most terrible thing for any business to treat the troops badly in wartime or in peace time. Damn them for that.
I am a vet too. Michael of Art
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C Krell said 11:20AM on 7-10-2007
Alltell is rapidly becoming a company that no longer gives quality service to their customers as well. My phone recently broke and I contacted them about getting another one on my insurance only to find out that I did not have the insurance I thought I had been paying for every month. It seems they had put the roadside assistance on my account by mistake and they were so very sorry but they were unable to correct it, I would have to deal directly with the insurance company who of course would not be interested in insuring me now when I needed to use it immediately. I would have to wait at least another 30 days if they chose to give me a policy at all. My son had a phone that the antenna came out of in the first two weeks he signed a new contract with them and they also refused to give him a new phone and as he was added to my account the insurance was not in effect for him either so his reception is very bad. But the company certainly has no problems accepting {demanding] my money every month. Customer service in this country is truly becoming very poor. Companies will promise you the moon to get you to sign up and then you find out they were not worth the paper you signed on but you still have to pay every month.This idea of all the promotions they will offer to new customers but if you are an already existing customer you are not to be given any quality deals is just wrong. If a company is running specials then everyone should be allowed to take advantage of them. Or maybe they should just try offering a decent service at an affordable price to everyone and forget all the hype. Would'nt that be a novel concept.
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Nan said 1:25PM on 7-10-2007
Sprint is THE WORST carrier ever!!! I had a horrible experience with them. They PROMISED they had coverage for my remote area and I signed with them. When I could not get even a weak signal, I cancelled my contract within 24 hours and they not only held my money and wanted to hold me to my contract, they would not refund my money for the phones I purchased. So I stopped payment on the checks and had to write many letters because they turned my account???!!! over to a Collection Agency. What a rip-off. Do I like Sprint....HELL NO!
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HateSprint said 11:56AM on 7-10-2007
YES!!! Sprint has finally gone too far. This will finally make them feel some of the pain that their customers have felt over the years. I go out of my way to advise anyone against subscribing to Sprint, but I guess I needn't bother. They're doing it themselves. I have an old sprint phone that I kick around when I'm down. Makes me feel better. You guys should try it as well.
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ltmac1 said 11:58AM on 7-10-2007
My husband has been in the military for 16 yrs....we have had Cingular (ATT) for 12 of those. We have moved 9 times and have never once had an issue with Cingular. My husband travels CONUS and OCONUS and Cingular for the most part goes with him. My only issue (which they are correcting as we speak) was that the regions were not connected allowing Cingular stores in various parts of the US to pull up our old info when we switched our numbers to our current duty station. We roam frequently...never have we had an issue. The customer service has always helped...no matter how many times we call. We also get a military discount each month on our bill! Can't beat that!
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terri said 12:15PM on 7-10-2007
I guess I am one of the very few that has had a good experoence with Sprint. I have had service with them for almost 3 years now. I called the CS line to resolve an issue, it did take 2 calls but was resolved. Other than that I can't say that they have done me wrong!!
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Don Waltman said 12:23PM on 7-10-2007
Customer Service---Huh what is that?? After a 20 minute wait, I talked to a person who didn't even understand my problem, who was going to transfer me to another person, which of course led me to being disconnected. Why call when nothing happens.
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Melanee Towne said 2:54PM on 7-10-2007
SHAME ON SPRINT!!!!! Cutting off our servicemen and women!!! I urge all Sprint customers to call Sprint to voice your disapproval. I am also forwarding this article to the Detroit News and etroit Free Press.
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Kevin said 12:52PM on 7-10-2007
I have been a Sprint customer for years and I have never had any trouble with my service. I have a friend in the military and Sprint gave he and his wife a lower rate plan for military personnel. I think the media is just looking for anything to blow out of proportion.
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JWF said 1:40PM on 7-10-2007
Response from Sprint Nextel: Sprint Nextel will not discontinue service for active duty military customers because of excessive roaming. As part of a general enforcement of the roaming policies that all customers agree to under our terms and conditions, we have contacted some customers about violation of those policies, due to excessive roaming. We understand that military customers may have unique circumstances regarding roaming, and we will not discontinue service for those customers. Any military customer contacted by us regarding excessive roaming simply needs to contact us to confirm their military status to have the roaming issue waived and to ensure continued service.
Sprint Nextel is proud to be a strong supporter of our employees and customers who serve in the military and particularly honored to have been named by G I Jobs Magazine for the past five years as one of the “Top 25 Most Military-Friendly Employers.” For our military customers Sprint Nextel provides assistance to military personnel who are sent overseas into active duty. Instead of having to disconnect their wireless service due to deployment, military personnel are able to temporarily suspend their account for 24 months and keep their phone number at no charge.
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Christie said 3:12PM on 7-10-2007
I thought Verizon was horible droping my calls so in 2004 I switched to Sprint. Worst mistake I ever made. Now to hear this news and the news about them droping customers who call customer service too much I am horrified. Isnt that what we are paying for each month. Believe me I will be dropping Sprint as soon as possible.
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Sean said 7:35PM on 7-10-2007
I had decent service with Nextel, until sprint. I know we complained about our service and threatened to switch providers...they tried charging us after their reps stated that they don't have any legal obligation to provide service. Isn't that what a contract is? I ended up having to sue them over a different matter and am happier with my current provider.
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Nina said 8:08PM on 7-10-2007
Sprint is an awful company. I have had my phone for two years and every month they have some difficulty and cut off my phone saying i haven't payed my bill when they havent even sent it yet. So, I hope Sprint will get terminated and everyone can switch to a diffrent plan.
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Lisa said 10:39AM on 7-11-2007
yeah they will work with active military when they deploy and they have extended the amount of time they will keep the account suspended. But when my son deployed i had his power of attorney and had to go get his service suspended and it didnt go so well at first. They made me go to one of the stores (LORD HELP ME) and bring all the proper paperwork, which I did, to handle it. They said it was taken care of and not to worry about the account until he came home. Luckily I had a gut feeling and called a few weeks later to check his account and sure enough they didnt suspend it and was charging him. If I hadnt caught this they would have ran his bill up like crazy. Took ANOTHER trip to the store and 2 phone calls to customer service to get it straight and get his account actually credited for the mistake so all in all the situation was a pain in my ass but they did FINALLY realize I wasnt gonna back down until they fixed it so they did and to keep us as customers they gave him a credit on his account for the trouble. times change though. since my son has come home not one person in our family still has Sprint. So we are technically 5 of the over 200,000.
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the rickster said 2:38PM on 7-11-2007
thanks to sprints ineptitude,this info made my decision for me. currently shopping for a pc card and service for wireless internet for my apple macbook pro. was looking seriously at sprint evdo, however, it is now down to verizon or at&t. any other choices or advice out there? oh, by the way, when was the last time you shook the hand and thanked a service man or woman you saw in public? I do every chance i get. they earned it.
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