The Customer Service Whammy

A ringing bell can be a death knell.

9:01 Today Read the billing and payment notice from Sprint

Click on the payment link to get to the log in screen.

Discover that the service you cancelled in January is trying to bill your credit card on an autopayment schedule.

Find a phone number to call carefully hidden behind the phrase “Call to order.”

9:03 Dial the number.

Descend into recorded message hell. Provide your smart phone number. Wait as recorded messages trying to convince you to use the app or buy anew phone and on & on interspersed with an electronic guitar playing “on hold” music.

9:13 Today “This call will be recorded…”precedes a self-introduction by a young lady who asks you:

• Your phone number

• Your name

• Your pin number

Explain that you cancelled the account on January 19 and that you are surprised that you are being billed again and there is no way you can supply the pin number.

She asks you for the street you grew up on. You respond with the full name of the street (two words). You hear her keystrokes. She questions your answer and tries keying it in again. It doesn’t work. You suggest trying just the first word.

And she’s into your file.

In her English-as-a-second language tones she tells you that the current charges are for a tablet.

You respond, “There has never been a tablet on this account!”

On further examination she notes that the charge is for a non-smart phone and tells you the number.

You’re stunned. The number is for your mother’s cell phone, the one you cancelled a year ago when she died. You tell her how overwhelming the death of a parent can be and that no you don’t have any information on when the service was cancelled that you assumed it had been done when you requested it and that their records will show no usage of that phone for a year.

She puts you on hold.

9:21 Today “Thank you for holding sir. I can’t find a record of the cancellation of that number. I will submit a request to cancel it to our back office for you. That is only part of the charges however…”

She advises that the billing amount includes charges for the “magic box” which was supposed to solve reception problems in my new home. It didn’t work.

The magic box is what started this whole cancellation problem. I moved at the end of the year. The reception for the carrier I’d been with since I spoke at a regional sales meeting around 1993 just wasn’t cutting it. I called them and asked what might be done. The magic box was their answer.

I received it, installed it in my home office and still had two bars at best. I tried it near every window. No go. Then I called the company to learn how to return it. The directions clearly said to take it to the nearest Sprint store. I drove to the one close by where I live to be told that I needed to take it to a “corporate store.”

They told me the closest one, about 10 miles away I drove over there and tried to work through their digital “next in line system” which did not include any way for me to advise what I was there for. Finally, I simply walked up to the counter and asked to see the manager who, ten minutes later told me that I would have to return the device using the prepaid label. I told her that I had come here at the direction of corporate and I was not about to waste further time. She grudgingly accepted the device and I left.

January 19 I immediately walked into the Verizon Store nearby, cancelled my Sprint service and replaced it with Verizon. The young man who assisted me told me that most of his new customers were coming in because of lousy service from Sprint. He was knowledgeable, friendly and steered me to the right phone. (Great reception in my home office and across the country as I travel to speak)

9:25 Today Of course I’ll hold while you connect me with the back office that can deal with all this. Thank you.

The call dropped. There was an attempt to reconnect but it was from a number I didn’t recognize so I didn’t accept it.

9:30 Today I figured out what had happened and tried to understand the recorded voicemail. English as as a second language is not a good thing for customer service people on the phone.

9:31 Today Dialed the reconnect number.

Déjà vu all over again. Another journey through the abyss of recorded message hell.

9:43 The young lady that answered introduced herself and asked the same questions apologizing profusely that the call had been dropped.

I explained that I was trying to stop automated billing for services that had been cancelled and for a magic box that didn’t work and had been returned.

She asked the spelling on the security question and brought up my file.

After a short conversation she said she was submitting my claim to the back office for handling and needed the last four digits of Mom’s social security number.

I searched through the paper items on hand and then resorted to computer files. I found a death certificate that had the number. I didn’t really need to look at that this morning.

9:53 Today With that she advised that the claim had been submitted to the back office.

She went on to say that even though my previous contact had claimed to submit the magic box matter to the appropriate Back Office there was no record of it and I would have to contact them. (This is the same organization that says in recorded messages that your payment will be posted in 15 minutes!)

She had no answer as to why I had been told it was handled but tried to convince me that she understood my frustration. I explained once again that I understood she had no way to approve cancellation which is a simple reflection of the low level of trust in employees that Sprint has for their employees and customers.

9:58 Today Dialed the number I was told would let me deal direct with the Magic box back office.

This time I recited the recorded greeting in unison and tapped in a I on the keypad.

I heard the twangy guitar on hold music interspersed with more sales gibberish for the umpteenth time.

10:06 Today Yet another young lady. Once again, a strange lilt to the words. Once again, the same questions. Once again spelling the security answer. Once again, the story of the magic box. Once again, the flat statement that I would not pay for it as a matter of principle.

10:16 Today "I’m sorry sir. I’m submitting this claim to the back office. They will contact you within 3 to 5 business days to tell you their decision." Once again I advised that my bank would be informed to cancel this charge and that if litigation were needed I would be happy to pay my lawyer to sue Sprint even though his hourly fee and mine far exceed the cost of the unit in question.

The moral to the story:

Sprint customer service could be better. But it will require a cultural change in the company. Right now it is being run without trust in employees or customers. That, in today’s world is a death knell. As a poet once said: “Never ask for whom the bell tolls…it tolls for thee.”

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for Trust-based Brand development, Positioning and business development for independent professionals on and off-line.

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com
DIY Training: www.ingomu.com