A great plan to improve Sprint

I have been “lurking” on this forum for a long time; I just recently began to post about my trials and tribulations with Sprint. In the last few months, starting in April of 2012 I have made FOURTEEN documented trips to the two local Sprint Corporate stores. I have made TWENTY TWO documented calls to customer service, know let me explain what I mean by documented, when I go to the store I always make an online appointment, when I arrive a take a picture of my name on TV screens waiting list, I take notes of my arrival time, my wait time, the names and job titles of the associates I speak with and the time I leave along with how the interactions went.
When I call Customer Service from my office, I put my office phone on speaker and I have my administrative assistant take copious notes, basically she does a complete transcript of the conversation and notes not only what was said but people’s names, times of conversations as well as lengths of time I spend on hold and the number of times my calls are “dropped”, which is very unusual considering I am calling from a land line.
As I have stated in this forum before I have been the director of Customer Service for the company I work for since 1985. I have seen HUGE technological advances in the way WE handle calls and deal with customers in the last twenty seven years. If I were to rate Sprints Customer Service on a geological scale I would say they are currently operating at a 1991-92 level. Their commitment to their customers is at most times laughable. Allow me to explain how I come to that conclusion.
During each of my trips to the local Sprint stores I always observe the atmosphere of the store, to be fair I do this in most “single cell” retail establishments (industry term for a retail store that for lack of a better term, are in one room under 1500 square feet”), I seldom see many customers that are enjoying their experience in the stores, I see people complaining about their equipment, I see people complaining about coverage and in general the atmosphere is pretty bleak, to be fair I do occasionally see an excited teenager getting a new Iphone® but for the most part I see people who just look like they have had enough.
I’m just a nameless, faceless person on a forum; I know that Sprint could care less how I feel, having said that, I have a marketing plan for Sprint that they can ONLY benefit from. Offer the following to each and every Sprint customer:
“ If you are unhappy with Sprint we will offer a one week window during the month of October to allow you to return any subsidized equipment, at your own cost, to us and you will be released from you contract with no ETF.” The following conditions apply
• You must return all subsidized equipment; you relinquish all rights to this equipment upon return.
• You must pay your current bill in full as well any passed due charges on your account.
• You must have been a customer in good standing for one full year.
I can hear it now, “how can Sprint ONLY benefit from this?” Simple, if they truly are the best and they truly do offer great coverage and great customer service, then only a small percentage of their customers will take them up on this offer. “But wait what if a large percentage of their customers leave?” Well, here’s the beauty of that, if that happens, they shoot a black and white commercial of Dan Hesse walking in the snow in an urban setting, Dan looks at the camera and says “America we asked you how we were doing and you told us we had some work to do. Thank you for speaking out. We are going to make things better, we are completely revamping our entire customer service department, we are going to invest in our infrastructure, we are going to demand better equipment from our vendors, we will earn your business back America” pan out as Dan sits down on a park bench, light snow still falling, Dan looks at the camera and says “America, we received (insert number of returned phones here) phones during our week long program. We are going to donate those phones to (insert name of liberal charity here) for free distribution to those who cannot afford phones” insert black and white footage of ubiquitous Salvation army bell ringer then pan back to Dan, “We here at Sprint are listening and we will improve and we will offer the best service in the industry” fade to black.
But wait what if only a small percentage of customers leave? Same commercial, just change it around to say that they offered it and only a few people took them up on the offer, they still donate the equipment, they still pledge to improve BUT, now they challenge every other carrier to offer the same program AND Sprint agrees to wave the activation fee for customers porting over new lines and offers an “trade in” credit on the “new” customers’ existing equipment, which you guessed it will be donated to the great unwashed masses.
There you go Sprint, and the idea is free, think of what you’re paying your marketing department now, and you get this no lose proposition for free from some nameless, faceless guy on a.

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Sprint, and other large companies, need someone like you to work for them and help them out. You've come up with a great idea, and I hope someone will take your advice someday.

If people can leave without an Early Termination Fee, more people will be happy with Sprint, knowing if they have a problem there is a way out.

If you or someone you know is looking to get out of a contract without an early termination fee, click here.