blog.josephhall.com

It was time to switch. Initially, I was only planning on replacing my phone, which was a Motorola V-180. It was a good phone, and it served me well for a couple of years, but it was getting a little worn out and the battery life was a joke. Since a new battery would cost nearly as much (if not more) than most of the new phones that I could pick up in exchange for a blood-signed contract, I figured maybe it was time to upgrade.

My old provider was T-Mobile. They were okay, but I was convinced that there had to be a cheaper provider out there. Some quick research told me that I was wrong, and that every mobile provider on the planet is still charging rates that rival fuel prices, in terms of overcharging customers who's loyalty is based stricly on necessity. Everyone at Guru Labs (except for Lamont) has a Treo for their phone, and Sprint for their provider. Ever since this style of phone came out, I've wanted one. Since I've been a fan of Palm OS from Day 1, and I would never consider owning a phone that ran Windows, the Treo 755p seemed to be a good choice. A little pricier than I was originally expecting to spend, but hopefully worth it. Sprint was my first mobile provider, and while I did remember horrible customer service, I so rarely have to deal with them that I thought it would be a non-issue.

Online deals are usually better than in-store, so I hit sprint.com and started the process. As I was selecting my phone, a friendly-looking chat window appeared and a very friendly support rep walked me through everything. She was even so kind as to give me a $50 off coupon at checkout. Obviously, one of my biggest concerns was keeping my old phone number (which actually came from Nextel in the first place), as well as keeping my old phone functional until the new one arrived. The rep assured me that the best course of action was to wait until the phone arrived, and then take it to a Sprint store and have them switch it for me. She informed me that my phone would arrive in 2 to 4 business days, unless I selected the overnight option. Much to my satisfaction, overnight shipping was the only option, and it was free.

After I checked out, I noted with dismay that I had never been asked for my shipping address, and that my billing address had automatically been used instead. I have been using my dad's address as my billing address, in the hopes that my own address would be more temporary than it has been. He lives close to an hour from we do, but since I pay all my bills online, this is rarely an issue. I pointed out to the rep that I needed to use a different supping address (preferably my work address, since I know somebody will always be there to sign for packages), and she gave me a phone number to call and have them fix it. I called the number immediately, and discovered that it was a disconnected number. The rep apologized and gave me another number, which did seem to belong to Sprint. I thanked her for her time, and we both signed off.

Up until this point, I was pretty happy. Despite the initial invalid phone number, Sprint's customer service had far exceeded my expectations. Little did I know that I was in the calm before the storm.

After 10 minutes of hold time, I reached another rep who informed me that they could not change that address, and they gave me another phone number. This time, I was on hold for less than a minute, before being given yet another phone number. The cycle continued until the fourth phone rep that I talked to informed me that she would be happy to change the shipping address. She put me on hold for close to 15 minutes before returning to inform me that the system would not let her change the address just yet, because the order was so new. She assurred me that she would try later, before the package was given to the shipper. Since I like to cover my bets, I called later that day to make sure that this had been done. After an eternity on old, another rep told me that the change had not been made, and then they made the change for me (or so they said) and informed me that I would be good to go.

All of this happened on Tuesday. The actual order was placed around 8am, and with overnight shipping I expected my phone to arrive by Wednesday. On Thursday morning, I called to get a tracking number find out why it had not yet arrived. I'm not going to pretend to be nice here. The woman who answered the phone was a witch with a capital 'B'. Her tone of voice made a dominatrix seem friendly, and she informed me in no uncertain terms that:

a) All new phones are shipped to billing addresses. Period.
b) This was for my, and the company's security and safety.
c) My phone had not yet been given to the shipper, and so there was no tracking number.

She suggested that I call back the next day and ask for a tracking number them. I opted to call back 2 hours later and hope for somebody just a little friendlier. The woman who answered my call sounded like she had marbles in her mouth, and was only slightly friendlier. Her tone informed me that she would be more than willing to give me the information that I needed, at which point we would end the call regardless of my happiness. She informed me of the following:

d) Overnight shipping only applies to the shipper, and not to Sprint.
e) The delay was in getting my phone from the Nextel warehouse to the Sprint warehouse.
f) That process had taken 2 days, but my phone was in fact in the Sprint warehouse as of that morning.

I'm a pretty patient guy, but I had had it. I asked for a manager. After no less than 15 minutes on hold (which I can only guess is a tactic to dissuade irate customers), another woman came on the line. She actually sounded like the same woman, but with half as many marbles in her mouth. She confirmed all of the above information, adding that:

g) Now that the phone was in the Sprint warehouse, it would take 1 to 5 business days for my phone to be given to the shipper.
h) I was welcome to continue calling until they had a tracking number.
i) When I called in and a tracking number was available, they would email it to me.
j) There was no other way for me to obtain the tracking number.

I expressed that this was beyond ridiculous, that I had been severly misinformed by a variety of people, that I had been poorly treated by the last two individuals that I had spoken to, that I expected a tracking number to be emailed to me that afternoon, and my phone to arrive promptly the following day. By my math, I was looking at up to 7 business days until my phone could be shipped to me overnight.

The manager reiterated each of her points to me, seemingly trying very hard not to tell me that the phone would be shipped when they felt like it, and then I would only get my tracking number by calling in for it myself. She informed me that they were aware that the information on the website was misleading, and that they had already sent a request to have it updated. She even offered me a $25 credit to my first phone bill. Finally, in a tone of finality that told me that she expected that to be the last word she told me, "and sir, I do apologize."

If anyone in customer service land is out there taking notes, there is a lesson here: I don't care whether or not it is yours or the company's fault, never, ever apologize to the customer. It reaffirms that you screwed up, and gives them an opening. This advice comes from 5 1/2 years of personal experience working the phones, and a few more months managing a small call center.

I replied to the supervisor, "well, it's nice and all for you to apologize, but that doesn't exactly fix my situation, does it?" I reiterated that I had been severely misled and mistreated, and that I wanted the situation resolved Now (TM). Up until this point, I had not raised my voice to a single person, nor had I used harsh language. But that did not lessen the firm stance that I had decided to take, and she knew it.

Those of you in customer land, take note: sometimes there really is nothing that the rep can do. Sometimes there is. Never, ever swear at a customer service rep or lose your cool. If you do, you will have lost control of the call, and the battle. Be firm, and as polite and professional as possible, if it's too much to be friendly.

By this point, the manager knew that she had lost control of the call. Simply apologizing wasn't getting me off the phone. I wasn't being abusive, so she couldn't just hang up on me. She suddenly realized that she could be on the phone with me for a very long time, and I could hear that realization enter her voice. She reiterated the same facts, probalby hoping that it would suddenly work when it had previously failed. If she had been able to offer something else, she would have done so at this point. She had nothing else to offer me. I thanked her for her time and let her go.

I don't know if it was luck or if she did something after I got off the phone, but my order arrived the next afternoon. I drove out to my dad's house to pick it up, went and picked up my daughter for my in-laws, and headed straight for the Sprint store next to my house to get my phone activated. Little did I know that the ordeal was not over.

At the Sprint store, I discovered that I had been further misled. When a person orders their phone online and need their number transfered, they need only to enter their number in the order form and their previous phone will work until the new one arrives and is activated. The woman at the store asked her coworkers for guidance, and spent a lot of time on the phone telling people that she was a Sprint employee, and that she was trying to fix an account. For my part, I sat and played with my daughter, who's 4-month-old's smile seemed to lift the spirits of everyone in the store. Finally, the woman told me that my phone should be active within 4 hours, and she gave me a toll-free number to call if it was not.

I waited until about the 5 hour mark, and then tried to call the number. My new phone was not yet activated, but the old one still was, so I used it. This began another series of reps telling me that I had called the wrong number, and/or putting me on hold. While I was on hold, my new phone suddenly turned itself on, finally displaying the word "Sprint" in the corner of the screen. I discovered that I could dial *6, which I couldn't before, and not waste any more billable minutes on hold for customer service. I also discovered that the stylus that should have come with my phone was missing.

By this point it was late, so I decided to finish the battle in the morning. I needed service on my car too (and what better time than Saturday morning?), so I figured I'd call while I was at the shop. The woman I spoke to informed me that she needed to assign a valid Sprint number to my account before she could switch it over to my old number. She also informed me that I had a Nextel account, even though I had bought the phone from sprint.com, and that she could only activate half of my services. She transferred me to Nextel, promising to stay on the line until their rep had answered, so that she could explain the situation to them. I was beginning to see hope, until my hold time reached about 15 minutes and my phone battery died.

It was only 9am, so I headed home and plugged the phone into the charger. At 10am I unplugged it and headed back to the Sprint store. I explained the situation to them, hoping to convey that I was not leaving until my phone was fixed. My old phone had finally stopped working, so I was pretyt much stuck. While the rep was on hold, I asked if he had seen an extra stylus hanging around, because I thought that the woman who had helped me before might have forgotten to put it back into the phone. He found it in a drawer and replaced it for me. I overheard him talking to somebody else about some strange phone number on my account that they knew didn't belong to me, that they had to remove.

Finally, he told me that my phone should be active in a few minutes, if it wasn't already. I had him try to call it every couple of minutes until it did actually ring, and I was able to answer and hear him. I then made an outbound call successfully, thanked him for his time, and headed home to plug the phone back into the charger. The battle was finally over.

Some of you may be wondering why I didn't give up long before Saturday. Sprint has shown themselves to be almost completely incompetent in nearly every area of customer service. Back when I was with Nextel the first time, the customer service was excellent. It would seem that they have been poisoned by Sprint, and have reached an all-time low.

There are two reasons. First of all, I don't like giving up. Sometimes it's the only option, and sometimes it's not an option. But more importantly, I have seen nothing that makes me believe that any other mobile provider will be any better. My time with T-Mobile has shown them to become increasingly bad at customer service, and I hear complaints from AT&T customers all the time. When I lived in New Hampshire, my residential service was provided by Verizon, and it made Qwest look like a heavenly choir. I find it difficult to believe that their wireless service would be any better.

Mobile communication service has become a necessary evil. I firmly believe that the manner in which we are treated is faciliated by a near-monopoly of evil/incompetant corporations. If they all treat us poorly, then they can get away with it because there is nobody else to turn to. I suspect this is what also drives cable and oil companies. I'm stuck with Sprint now, and there's nothing to make me proud of it, except for a nice phone.