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!
As expected, Verizon has announced today that its customers (and would-be customers) are welcome to sign up for month-to-month plans with no contract -- and thus, no early-termination fee -- involved, mimicking a move by AT&T earlier in the year. 
