When a friend recommended I switch my cell phone service from PrimeCo to Sprint, I looked into it. I gave my PrimeCo account to my son and bought a Sprint phone at Best Buy less than 48 hours before I left on 30 days of active military duty with the Navy Reserve. They told me to take the phone home and call the Sprint 1-800 number to start service.

I guess I should have realized I was dealing with the world's worst customer service rep when she kept trying to give me a phone number that was long distance from Orlando. Once I got her to change that, she asked me for a $125 deposit. When I asked her why, she said she didn't know and couldn't find out since it was a weekend. I explained my credit was fine, and I'd had a PrimeCo phone for two years, but she was very nasty and said she didn't care and didn't have time to discuss it, did I want the account or not?

That gave me pause. But as I said, I was leaving in less than 48 hours and I needed a phone. So I gave her my credit card number for the deposit and was assured I would get it back with interest in exactly 12 months. Those were the two things we decided upon: a phone number and a minute plan (350).

Everything was fine for the first two weeks. The Sprint phone DID seem to be a little clearer than PrimeCo. The only problem was that the voice mail symbol stayed on, and I kept checking my voice mail only to find none. I called Sprint and they said not to worry, just to swap the phone for a new one when I returned to Orlando. A few days later, I checked on my account and was told I was fine, not even halfway to my 350 minutes.

Three weeks after I opened the account, I tried to make a call and was directly routed to a Sprint rep, who told me I was over my $125 "balance limit" and had to go pay more of a deposit. I was completely floored. Aside from not understanding what "balance limit" he was talking about, I wanted to know how I could possibly be over $125 when just a few days before I hadn't even been halfway to my 350 minute ($35) usage! The rep was not understanding or sympathetic, just said I had no phone until I either gave him authorization to charge more money to my credit card or went to a Sprint store (hard to do when you're at sea on a Navy ship) and paid more.

This began a four-hour attempt to find a Sprint rep at the 1-800 number capable of thinking and reasoning. Finally, one gave me a $50 credit and an apology for the misunderstanding. He explained that apparently the voice mail problem had used up $125 worth of minutes (although he couldn't explain HOW) in just a few days, and since I was only a few days away from a new billing month, the $50 would tide me over.

The phone worked fine for two days, then I was automatically routed to a Sprint rep again and told I was out of money. $50 worth in two days! I'd made three phone calls! Once again, I spent several hours trying to find a rep who could think, and finally I was routed to a supervisor who told me my account was unbelievably screwed up, my phone was probably defective, and he recommended closing the account, swapping phones at Best Buy when I could, and then re-opening an account at a Sprint store rather than by phone. He assured me there would be no penalties of any kind, and in fact I would be owed a refund because I had already paid for the next month of service. I returned my phone to Best Buy for a full refund and went back to PrimeCo.

That was in July 2000. Since then I have received four bills from Sprint demanding a pay the $191 I owe for service during the period my account was terminated!!! I answered the bills with certified mail explaining why I don't owe the money - I received the return receipts showing they received the letters - yet I never received an answer. For the past month I have been harassed for OSI Collection Services for this Sprint bill.

Last week I saw a local TV station interview a Sprint rep for the $3400 they claim a woman owes them when she has proven over and over again that she doesn't owe the money. The Sprint rep says they will sue her and take her to court. I guess I better be ready for my summons as well.

GET AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY WHILE YOU CAN! OR YOU'LL BE NEXT!



Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 140