I’m just overall disappointed in Gary Forsee and the company that he has left Dan Hesse. I'm not any more pleased with Hesse either. I know that the bureaucracy in large companies get so overwhelming for some people that they forget about the individual customers and start seeing us as numbers and that’s fine because it’s a numbers game, but when its more beneficial for me as an existing customer to cancel my plan and start a new one as a new customer to get a better deal, I have just completely lost faith in a company I thought had my best interest in mind, and that is disappointing.
I have put up with sprints lack of customer care for almost 5 years. Today is my birthday and I thought, seeing as how my $150.00 “rebate/upgrade” had finally taken effect (22 months and several refurbished phones later), that I would treat myself to an upgrade; to something hopefully a little less awful. I have a semi-functioning Treo 650 made by Palm. Fine. It’s an awful phone. They probably keep the broken ones in the same warehouse where they sent the Lost Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones. I also have had confirmation from several Sprint employees that it is one of the worst phones they have sold, yet if I use my phone insurance, which I have paid $7.00 a month for the last 5 years to get any of , its policy to take a phone they know is bad, slap a band-aid on it, take one from the warehouse they “fixed” and swap mine out for it? And that’s policy? Here’s a policy; sell me a better phone.
All the 650’s I’ve had all have the same problems so I know it’s the same with all of them. Dropping calls, falling apart, low service and inferior software coupled by ineffective wireless software updates are all frequent problems. Is it really worth it to keep taking them back and pawning them off on people who just want to stay with Sprint and make phone calls? I would also note that Sprint store employees need to be properly briefed on their obligations and accountability, because every store representative that I spoke to assured me that I would be receiving a new phone, not just a refurbished phone, with my insurance policy, and that is defiantly not the case. They send customers out of the store making claims that the customer service reps cannot comply with.
Getting back to the “rebate” issue. It’s just not true. Why tell me that I am getting $150.00 off anything when in actuality I am just getting barely enough to break even with the deal I would get as a new costumer? The fact is that I spent $450.00 on a phone that today is maybe worth $16.00 in parts and a $50 buy back, and I can’t use any of that towards a new phone.
I allotted time today to deal with my phone issue, which:
A. I shouldn’t have to allot time to “deal with my phone issue.”
B. I went to two different Sprint stores, less than a mile away from each other and had to go to one of the stores twice to pick up the phone that I was reluctantly giving in to purchasing because I was sick of the hassle and told they didn’t have in stock, only to find out that the store I was just at had over a dozen of the phones and it would have taken me a fourth trip just to get the phone I didn’t really even want.
C. I called customer service, got into my car and drove to the store faster than someone was able to pick up the phone and help me (about 25 minutes plus time to warm up my car).
I endure all of these trials because I have been with Sprint for awhile and there was a time when I thought the service I was getting from Sprint was better than other places. I have never heard as many complaints from any of my friends or colleagues about any other services; namely AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon. I feel that it is very unproductive and rude to yell at customer service representatives because what they are allowed to do is just enough to sell you a new phone, and I don’t know if it is Sprint policy to train employees to pass off accountability by telling customers to call in to Sprint’s customer service. Either way there is nothing more pointless/helpless than going into a Sprint store to get customer service.
All I want is to receive a decent product. I paid good money to have a good phone and that has not happened since I purchased my Treo 650. The problem is now I’m stuck in a loop of getting and returning old phones to and from Sprint.

DAN HESSE NEXTEL CEO

DEAR DAN

I HAVE BEEN A CUSTOMER WITH NEXTEL FROM THE BEGINING AND HAVE ALWAYS PREFRED YOU GUYS OVER THE OTHER ONES.

HERE IS A NEW IDEA YOU MAY WANT TO THINK ABOUT. I WAS INJURY WORKING WITH WITH LA COUNTY AND HAVE CRUSHED DISK AND HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE MY LUMBAR SPINE REPAIRED. WHEN YOU ARE COUNTING CHANGE TO SEE IF YOU HAVE ENOUGHT TO BUY MILK. IT'S NOT RIGHT BUT IT IS LEGAL TO TO SEND A PHONE BILL I HAVE BEEN WITH FROM NENTEL FROM THE BEGINING NO INCOME IS NO INCOME.
SENGING A BILL AND GHARGING EXTRA IS NOT A GOOD IDEA THESE ARE HARD TIMES FOR EVERY BODY NEXTEL SHOULD SAY IT HAS A HEART AND WILL WORK WITH YOU. GREED IS GREED AND YOUR CUSTOMERS DON"T FORGET. THESE ARE CHANGING TIMES. THE SMALLEST CHANGES HELP AND YOUR CUSTOMERS DON'T FORGET THANKS FOR YOUR TIME