August 21, 2007
Mr. Gary D. Forsee, Chief Executive Officer
Sprint Nextel Corporation
2001 Edmund Halley Drive
Reston, Virginia 20191
Dear Mr. Forsee,
This is chapter 2 (chapter 1, the letter of six days ago, is attached as reference). When you last heard from me, I had just found out that the VRU number given to me to solve the problem with the wrong city and state taxes on my bill has no human interaction possibility. I dialed the main customer service number and after another 30 minutes on hold, I got a customer service rep who informed me that I should call the taxing authority to correct my bill. When I reminded him that Sprint sends the bills and not the State of Texas tax department, he said he could fix the problem after all. I hung up – and an hour later, my phone went dead. I stopped into a Sprint independent dealer. Donna, the manager, spent 2 hours and 15 minutes with me and with Sprint Customer Service only to find out that a) the previous rep had changed my CSA and inadvertently released my phone number and b) the phone number I have had for 10 years was gone – but perhaps recoverable within 24 hours. They would check on it and call me back.
Long story short – your rep never called back. Donna did, to find out what had happened and when I told her, she tried to find out what happened – but could not. Later that night, I called Sprint Dealer Service (Donna gave me the number) and got a rep (after 20 minutes on hold) that the computers were down but that he would call me back. 6 hours later, no call.
Then, I called Verizon because a friend told me he had tried to call my number and got a Verizon message saying the phone was out of service. So I called Verizon customer service. I got a customer service rep in under 2 minutes, who found my phone number and told me it should be “simple” to port it back. I tried the Sprint customer service line again -- after 45 minutes on hold, I got another customer service rep who told me she could fix the problem….spent more time on hold, gave her my home phone number, she called me back and put me on hold…and the phone line disconnected. She never called me back.
So at this point, one last chance, I again called Sprint Dealer Support. For the first time in what is now probably 15+ calls, I got through immediately (it was 10 pm) and a delightful customer service rep appeared to demonstrate both poise and competence – told me my problem was fixable, found my number at Verizon, could not get through to the department that “reserves” numbers so she sent them an email and told me she would come in early the next day and call me to help me reclaim my phone number. When I recounted the horror story of my experience, she apologized profusely, indicated she was not at all surprised (“I work here; I know what we do to customers”). Only one problem, she never called back.
I again called Donna, and she took it from there. If not for Donna (who deserves to be sainted by Sprint), I would be an ex-customer. I can only imagine the hours she has put in on my behalf with no return for her business. Donna worked this for another few days…and so did I. I know she spent hours on hold with Dealer Support and I spent hours with Customer Service and Dealer Support. Finally, at 10 pm on the 20th of August, I got a Sprint Dealer Service rep to actually call Verizon and call me back. The first Sprint rep to actually call me back. The news, of course, was all bad – my phone number was irretrievably lost -- Verizon could not see it (this is, by the way contrary to what the Verizon rep told me two days earlier) and Sprint could not port it. Gone. Done. Over. I finally quit and accepted the fact that I had lost my 10 year old phone number. I used Plaxo last night to inform all 400 plus folks for whom I have email addresses. I have spent another $105 on new business cards. I have changed all my stationery. I am done.
By my rough count buying a phone from Sprint, losing my phone number, getting a new phone number, receiving an accurate bill (still not sure I have succeeded on the bill part) has taken close to 20 phone calls, at least 3 trips to Sprint stores, and now, close to 20 hours of phone/store time – and that’s just my time. In all of that, there has been virtually no accountability – no customer service rep will give you their full name, there is no way to call a customer service rep back (though I did get a few login IDs from people who never called me back) nor is there anyway to make them accountable for what they promised and did not do or for what they did wrong. Moreover, the answers vary from customer service rep to customer service rep. Sometimes the number was there but could not be ported, sometimes it was not there, sometimes it was Verizon’s fault, sometimes it was Sprint’s fault. In every case, no one could fix a problem that was caused by Sprint.
As it is, I could never recommend Sprint to another small business or individual based on my experience. I would however, send them to Donna, in a heartbeat. Donna was, and continues to be the only bright spot I have found with Sprint. She spent all this time with me for no revenue, only to help. She is a keeper and you all should recognize her, take care of her, and make sure she feels loved because it is a sure bet she is saving customers for you guys. If Sprint has some amazingly fancy trip or prize for the person who does the most for Sprint – you need to give that to her. Maybe give her two.
No customer should ever have to go through what your people have put me through. Your customer service has no accountability, no track-back, and must be severely over capacity. Why else would each call to customer service take a minimum of 20 minutes on hold when your competitors seem to answer the phone pretty quickly? Why else would there be such a consistent record of your customer service reps doing the wrong thing, failing to deliver or respond, and/or accusing customers of bad behavior. Your sales people care only about making the sale, not about doing the right thing for the customer. Finally, your billing is incomprehensible and you allow incompetents to play with the system.
In my career, I have written and published on the topic of customer service and satisfaction (I was a consultant), directed efforts to improve customer service and delivery, and been an executive officer of a company employing more than 5,000 customer service representatives. If I were to charge you my current billing rate (much reduced from my prior consulting days) for the hours of wait time and wasted time on the phone with Sprint, and time spent fixing everything that had to change when I lost my phone number, the bill would total well over $6,000.
Never, I repeat, never have I even heard of, let alone experienced a horror show like the one Sprint has produced just for me. The moment my contract is up, I will run cheerfully into any one of your competitors stores to sign up for their service.
Finally, I encourage you to call your own customer service line – call 888-211-4727 or dial *2 on your cell phone – now do it 10 or 15 more times. Ask them to do something slightly different and get back to you. Then you will understand the problem. Now, for goodness sake and the sake of the rest of us, do something to fix what is so obviously completely broken.
Sincerely,
Result: As of 9/10, I have received a phone call (and follow up) from a Sprint Corporate Customer Service Rep who has taken charge of past and future issues. I have asked her to have a letter sent to me from an executive officer of Sprint acknowledging my letters and that is "in process". On the wonderful side, I have heard directly from 2 members of Sprint's Board of Directors. Both indicated they were chagrined and distressed and that the issues would make it to Senior Management and the Board. Having said that, enough has already transpired since letter #2 to warrant letter #3. Stay tuned.
