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12/05/2008 Archived Entry: "Sprint loses APC wins"

Well the adventures with Sprint/Nextel have basically come to a halt. I can't say it wasn't for lack of trying. My complaints about Sprint on Twitter caught the attention of JGoldsborough. Who escalated up my issue. I want to thank him for his efforts.

So what happened?

Well everyone behaved like the automaton they are. Basically everyone had a very clear set of rules. The rules are if there is liquid damage on the phone even if it is not effecting the phone the phone is damaged beyond repair. Now I have a sticky button on my phone. The liquid damage on my phone isn't impairing my phone and it is not the source of my sticky button. But Sprint rules prevent them from fixing it. And everyone followed the rules. They will all receive excellent employee reviews I am sure. I hope they all get raises. But they will not get my money to contribute to their raises. I will be canceling my services with Sprint.

I learned some things. Sprint corporate barely exists. What do I mean by that? Everyone and almost everything you will deal with is done through either vendors or third party companies. When I was going through my email exchange with Sprint. I received an offer that basically they would cover the first $50 of the repair I would have to cover the balance. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but I figure I will make the good faith effort. Now I am dealing with their ecare group. This is basically a vendor group and is not actually Sprint. So when I brought copies of the email with me to the repair store the manager after make me wait for almost 20 minutes. Said he will not and does not have to honor the deal made with ecare. Well that was another nail in the customer relation aspect of this deal. When I mentioned this to ecare they basically were powerless. So the repair center may be Sprint but the ecare group is not. The insurance group is also a separate group I understand this. You have a car and you carry insurance on it. The insurance is generally not the manufacture of the car. However if you need parts for the car you can usually get them without involving your insurance company.

Now Sprint was more than willing to offer me a phone with a 2 year contract. Which was going to cost me quite a bit even if I went with the same model phone I currently had. More than I originally paid for the ic502 when I got it the first time. Then a Sprint rep called me this morning and was able to get the phone a bit cheaper because of a mail in rebate in addition to the $150 credit but I would have to sign the 2 year contract. I wasn't big on going for another contract. Not when all I wanted was a repaired phone.

I learned I can buy the same phone on ebay unlocked and than use their website and transfer the service for to that phone. I gave this serious consideration. Partly because I thought I was still under contract with Sprint. I called and then found out I was no longer under contract. I talked to the office and we agreed to start shopping around. Basically it means Sprint is going to be dropped. The office will call me and let me know what we find from other carriers. Everyone in Sprint (and their third party vendors)played by the rules. They got stuck within the box and I needed free thinkers not robots. That failure may work well for the lawyers it doesn't work well for me.

Several other Sprint phones that I have influence over will also end up going elsewhere which includes my personal phone that my wife uses and all of my families phones who bought Sprint based on my recommendation and have been following this very closely. Disappointment in Sprint is the current sentiment.

So why should Sprint do anything outside the rules? Why for me I not a client who has 300 phones with them. Because the rules have gotten in their way of doing good customer service. Their business model in this case has no concern for the customer in this regard. My phone works fine except for a sticky key. It is mildly inconvenient but not worth labeling my phone damaged beyond repair. Not having anyway to replace the parts in the phone.

So why does APC win? What the hell do they have to do with this? Well recently I had a 2200 UPS take a dive. The warranty is two years. I spoke with APC based on the records of when the UPS was made I am passed warranty. However when I told them I believe I was still on warranty based on when I purchased it. They asked for a proof of purchase. I did not have one. Now they have every right to decline me and tell me there is nothing they can do. Instead they said look the date is very close and you may have purchased it within the window. So despite not having the proof we will do the RMA. So I will get a new UPS. Now my day job involves lots of UPS devices. For the office I am doing in Atlanta. I just purchased $4,000 worth of UPS equipment based on how I was treated by APC. Since i can't by directly from APC I bought it through ProVantage. But I am letting APC know. APC bent the rules they didn't have to but they did. They won. Sprint played by the rules and they lost. I realize that the Sprint model is probably better for the shareholders but it will be tough to appease the shareholders if your customer base is shrinking.

What usually happens then is some type of review or reorganization where they review their policies and then implement changes. Maybe when they make those changes I will look at returning to Sprint but not at this current time.