Sprint Nextel Complaint - Sprint Wifi No Contract Ripoff - WiFi wireless service

WiFi wireless service - Complaint

Review by DarkMagic on 2009-04-27

Looking over the other complaints about Sprint and their contracts, I no longer feel alone.

Here's what went down with me, and I stress that I am both a timely bill payer and I'm not some crank who's too stupid to read a contract.

I recently purchased a Sony Vaio laptop. It came with a built-in Sprint WiFi service that I could "TRY OUT" for 30 days if I wanted to. First time Sprint user, but I'd heard good things and wanted to try it. I did exactly that, using the laptop to sign up. It was very simple and easy to do. In fact, I even got a Verizon WiFi USB dongle to compare the two services on a business trip. I really liked the Sprint service (which becomes very ironic given how I was treated).

Then I had an issue with Sony that required that I return my laptop under warranty and the replacement (which comes in 2 weeks) could no longer have Sprint WiFi built in (I'm beginning to understand why). Plus, I didn't want a USB dongle if I'm paying for a built-in Wifi.

So, the tryout period ended exactly 5 days ago. I was sent NO CONTRACT. I was sent NO BILLS. I was sent NO EMAILS. I was NOT CALLED whatsoever by anyone, until 2 days ago on Saturday, when I received a collection notice for past due fees of 2 months !! This morning, in my office, a waiting message on my phone was dunning me again from the "collections" department. I was stunned. Never in all my years of service with AT&T and Verizon was I ever smacked around for being late with a bill so fast and so hard. And remember, I'm 5 days late after a so-called tryout period.

So long story short, I searched high and low for a way to contact Sprint customer service (interesting when you don't have a Sprint phone), called them up and explained the situation NICELY. After all, these guys in customer service get all kinds of idiots calling up and playing stupid. So I was extremely respectful. Well, not only was I reprimanded for not paying my bills (which I resent), but I was informed that now I also owed a $200 cancellation charge. WOW !! is all I can say !!

After some discussion, nothing moved, I was switched over to the payment department, handed over my Amex number and... $335 later (!!!!) I was finished with Sprint... forever....

The last time I was manhandled like this to enrich a corporation's coffers, was in the bad old days of the tech boom years (late 1990's) when soon to be bankrupt ISP companies desperately dunned you for bills that were days old because they were about to go bust and desperately needed cash.

I can't help feeling that this is exactly what is going on with Sprint. I could be wrong of course, but this was a very bad way to keep a customer THAT ACTUALLY LIKED THEIR SERVICE. Like I said to the guy on the phone (nicely), why would I ever want to try Sprint again after this kind of treatment??

Adios Sprint!!