Sprint PCS Doesn't *Really* Want To Keep My Business

> Between my mistaken assumptions about SPCS' business model, a lack of
> salesmanship during one store visit, and lack of research on my part,
> I nearly became an ex-SPCS customer. Thanks to the education
> so-patiently given me here, Isaiah's last suggestion, SPCS' customer
> service people and a *terrific* store manager, I'm staying.

You might want to consider sending an email via the SPRINT website, telling
of your GOOD experience and naming NAMES if possible...GOOD people need to
be retained!!!

Go to "Contact Us" at the bottom of the page, after you logon on...

>
> During this: I found out that not only have SPCS' long-distance rates
> to Europe become more sane, they're actually *lower* than our
> land-line Sprint long-distance rates! So now my wife and I are
> crunching the numbers with an eye toward going to a combined plan on
> SPCS and dumping one of the land-lines.

A) Did they explain the '50 free minutes LD on home phone' ? plan or are you
already on that?

B) Please detail the 'rates to Europe became more sane'. Is that
with/without a $4/mo fee? Do you have some sample rates???

Thanks!!!

---

› See More: Sprint PCS Doesn't *Really* Want To Keep My Business

Jim Seymour <[email protected]> wrote:

> I'd like to thank everybody that participated in this thread for
> their contribution. I sincerely appreciated the information and
> advice. I especially appreciated the non-inflammatory way in which
> it was presented. One of the more civilized newsgroups in which
> I've participated.

Heh. Guess we fooled you. (Actually, it only gets heated in here
when we encounter the one or two trolls that love to spread misinformation.)

For domestic long distance, you may want to consider the $15 Sprint
unlimited long distance plan which I'm pretty sure is only being sold to
SPCS customers. (If you spend more than $15 per month in domestic LD, that
is.) But I'd check with Sprint to be sure that you can use that plan with
whatever international plan you are getting.

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

In article <[email protected]>,
"John R. Copeland" <[email protected]> writes:
[snip]
> Thanks for that feedback to the newsgroup, Jim.

Credit where credit's due .

> During a portion of this thread, I worried you were closing your mind,
> and in danger of becoming another anti-Sprint voice.
> I'm glad I was wrong about that.

Unlikely I would've become an anti-SPCS voice, so to say. As I said
to someone else posting here: "It didn't work for you? Speak your
piece and move on." Life's too short. At most I would've become a
"no longer an SPCS supporter." I wasn't really *angry* with SPCS.
More disappointed. As it turns out, happily: There was no cause to
be disappointed, either. Quite the opposite, in fact.

(Lemme tell ya: My mild, temporary disappointment with SPCS wasn't
even in the same universe as my utter dislike for the likes of SBC,
Verizon, Qwest and BellSouth. And to nearly the same degree, some
times, AT&T.)

> Your help in keeping some "civilization" in this group will be welcome.

Dunno how much I'll participate here. I'm one of those that, when he
has "issues" or questions, shows up, then goes away. Too many other
newsgroups and mailing lists. But who knows: Maybe I'll camp out
here for a bit .

--
Jim Seymour | PGP Public Key available at:
WARNING: The "From:" address | http://www.uk.pgp.net/pgpnet/pks-commands.html
is a spam trap. DON'T USE IT! |
Use: [email protected] | http://jimsun.LinxNet.com

In article <[email protected]>,
"Joe Gill" <joegill@[email protected]> writes:
[snip]
>
> You might want to consider sending an email via the SPRINT website, telling
> of your GOOD experience and naming NAMES if possible...GOOD people need to
> be retained!!!
>
> Go to "Contact Us" at the bottom of the page, after you logon on...

Perhaps I'll do that. Unfortunately, I don't have all the names.
(I tend to write them down on scrap-paper for the duration of the
call, so I can remember their names *during* the call, and later
discard or lose them.)

>
>>
>> During this: I found out that not only have SPCS' long-distance rates
>> to Europe become more sane, they're actually *lower* than our
>> land-line Sprint long-distance rates! So now my wife and I are
>> crunching the numbers with an eye toward going to a combined plan on
>> SPCS and dumping one of the land-lines.
>
> A) Did they explain the '50 free minutes LD on home phone' ? plan or are you
> already on that?

I believe we are. I'll have to ask the family CFO. (My wife.)

>
> B) Please detail the 'rates to Europe became more sane'. Is that
> with/without a $4/mo fee? Do you have some sample rates???

I don't know if this applies to all of Europe, but to where we call:
$4/mo. for the plan, 8 cents/min. for calls to land-lines there, 34
cent (I think it was) surcharge for calls to wireless destinations.
(As you many know: Caller pays for wireless in [most of?] Europe.)
I don't recall if that's a straight 34-cent per-call or 34 cents per
minute. Since we don't call anybody there on their wireless phones,
I didn't pay close attention to that item.

--
Jim Seymour | PGP Public Key available at:
WARNING: The "From:" address | http://www.uk.pgp.net/pgpnet/pks-commands.html
is a spam trap. DON'T USE IT! |
Use: [email protected] | http://jimsun.LinxNet.com

In article <[email protected]>,
Steven J Sobol <[email protected]> writes:
[snip]
>
> Heh. Guess we fooled you. (Actually, it only gets heated in here
> when we encounter the one or two trolls that love to spread misinformation.)

If you Google this newsgroup, you'll find I've been here before--just
not often or for long.

>
> For domestic long distance, you may want to consider the $15 Sprint
> unlimited long distance plan which I'm pretty sure is only being sold to
> SPCS customers. (If you spend more than $15 per month in domestic LD, that
> is.) But I'd check with Sprint to be sure that you can use that plan with
> whatever international plan you are getting.

I'd be surprised if my wife has missed a single bet on whatever deals
Sprint offers. This woman walks out of grocery stores with *them*
having paid *her* to shop there . I'll mention it. Thanks. Still,
we might save money by going all SPCS for our voice needs.

We have to crunch the numbers to see how much of the land-line bill
is LD to Europe, determine how many anytime minutes we'd need (due to
the time difference, weekday calls would be nearly all anytime
minutes - and there's the local calls), etc.

My usage is inconsequential. I use, on-average, 200 minutes a month.
Having a higher-end plan would make no difference. I'm just not much
a phone user. I don't use the land-line much, either.

--
Jim Seymour | PGP Public Key available at:
WARNING: The "From:" address | http://www.uk.pgp.net/pgpnet/pks-commands.html
is a spam trap. DON'T USE IT! |
Use: [email protected] | http://jimsun.LinxNet.com

Jerome Zelinske wrote:
> It seemed to read that the kyocera was of lousy reputation and was
> dying and was the one to be donated. Not that you should, but you might
> be nice and do, buy a new phone to donate to charity. Whereas, donating
> something that barely works and has no salvage value to charity is not
> very charitable.
>

I would donate the phone and let the charity decide, barring something
that was completely ruined (run over, perhaps. I'd imagine the charity
gets a large number of these Kyocera phones. They put out perhaps a
dozen variants on this phone, across a number of carriers. I think
Verizon is still putting it out as a free phone for contracts and
selling it for FREEUP. Even if the phone doesn't work, they might also
have another phone with no battery or battery door. Worst case is that
they could send it to a "we buy phones!" type recycler or put the phones
in a landfill themselves.
-mike

"John R. Copeland" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> During a portion of this thread, I worried you [Jim] were closing your mind,
> and in danger of becoming another anti-Sprint voice.
> I'm glad I was wrong about that.

I resist the implication, which is that those of us who badmouth
Sprint necessarily have closed minds.

I'm as willing as anyone to judge Sprint on the basis of what they can
do, without prejudice. I gave them their shot. They showed me what
they could do. From time to time I tell people on this newsgroup
about the experience. If I warn people away from Sprint PCS at every
opportunity, it's nothing they didn't earn.


Don Doumakes
Email: doumakes at loganet dot net
http://www.loganet.net/~doumakes/sprint.html

"Don Doumakes" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "John R. Copeland" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > During a portion of this thread, I worried you [Jim] were closing your
mind,
> > and in danger of becoming another anti-Sprint voice.
> > I'm glad I was wrong about that.
>
> I resist the implication, which is that those of us who badmouth
> Sprint necessarily have closed minds.
>
> I'm as willing as anyone to judge Sprint on the basis of what they can
> do, without prejudice. I gave them their shot. They showed me what
> they could do. From time to time I tell people on this newsgroup
> about the experience. If I warn people away from Sprint PCS at every
> opportunity, it's nothing they didn't earn.

There is nothing wrong with complaining. If there are problems, and no
complaining, then the problems aren't fixed. In saying that, SPCS made a
determined effort to improved their customer service when the new CEO took
over in 2003, and by the majority of posts here, the changes were for the
positive.

All the information on your site shows your history with SPCS in 2001, way
before the changes were initiated ... Those points might have been
applicable then, but they certainly aren't now.

Bob

Don Doumakes <[email protected]> wrote:

> I resist the implication, which is that those of us who badmouth
> Sprint necessarily have closed minds.

I readily acknowledge that there are a lot of people out there who have had
major problems with Sprint. Certain people on this group (not you, certain
other people) like to twist the truth, and when we complain about that they
claim we're closed-minded. But the fact is that you can't generalize either
way about any carrier.

> I'm as willing as anyone to judge Sprint on the basis of what they can
> do, without prejudice. I gave them their shot. They showed me what
> they could do. From time to time I tell people on this newsgroup
> about the experience. If I warn people away from Sprint PCS at every
> opportunity, it's nothing they didn't earn.

You, at least, are credible as an SPCS critic. I have never known you to
make up any stories to support your opinion, as some others have.

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

Don Doumakes answered:

> "John R. Copeland" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>>During a portion of this thread, I worried you [Jim] were closing your mind,
>>and in danger of becoming another anti-Sprint voice.
>>I'm glad I was wrong about that.
>
>
> I resist the implication, which is that those of us who badmouth
> Sprint necessarily have closed minds.
>
> I'm as willing as anyone to judge Sprint on the basis of what they can
> do, without prejudice. I gave them their shot. They showed me what
> they could do. From time to time I tell people on this newsgroup
> about the experience. If I warn people away from Sprint PCS at every
> opportunity, it's nothing they didn't earn.
>
>
> Don Doumakes
> Email: doumakes at loganet dot net
> http://www.loganet.net/~doumakes/sprint.html

Yeah, but NO ONE made you Mr. Service announcement. Or Mr. Public
concious. If I want to see whining, I'll go to one of the other sprint
sucks sites or the like.

I come here as will guess as do a LOT of other people, to find out about
upcoming phones, technology (concerning sprint) and or to find a
particular prl update etc..

NOT to hear people whine repeatedly about something that happened to
them *on soapbox*. You'll just be considere another Philly/Robert M.
and be plonked. What good does that do?

Michael Arends <[email protected]> wrote:

> NOT to hear people whine repeatedly about something that happened to
> them *on soapbox*. You'll just be considere another Philly/Robert M.
> and be plonked. What good does that do?

Whoa there, bud!

a) the only time I've ever seen Don post with another email address is
years ago, in another newsgroup, and I'm pretty sure the reason he switched
is legitimate (probably because he switched ISPs)

b) yes, he occasionally does post about his bad experiences. Ain't nothin'
wrong with that. This isn't alt.cellular.sprintpcs.cheerleaders, and no one
in here (you and I included) wears pom poms. I don't agree that what he's
posting is a problem, and he has every right to let us know what his feelings
are. I'd call it repeated whining if he was on here every day doing the kind
of stuff Phillipe did. OTOH, you can killfile Don if you really object to
what he's saying; he doesn't morph. (Unlike other people we both know.)

People do come to this newsgroup to complain, and they aren't all trolls,
either. I'd even wager that the majority of people who complain on this
newsgroup aren't trolls.

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

Jim Seymour wrote:

[Nokia 3585i]
> Thanks for the suggestion, Isaiah.
>
> Actually, with the retention offer SPCS made, considerably less than
> that. I searched the newsgroup on this phone, and it looked good.
> Form-factor and feature-set are comparable to my Kyocera 2255. (Tho
> no tip calculator .) People at the store say it has a good
> "history" there.
>
> I wonder why the sales person at the store didn't suggest that phone
> in the first place?

Generally because the demand out there there days is for phones that
have cameras and speakerphones and push-to-talk and web access in them,
and so the 3585 doesn't get a lot of attention.

>>2. Why not get the phone insurance? A replacement phone would have cost
>>you a $35 deductible, and you wouldn't be in this conundrum.

> It all adds up, Isaiah. First it's another few bucks for this
> feature, then only a few more for this other option, then a couple
> more for this... "After all: It's only $4/mo."

I guess if you want to call it a feature, then it would be feature
creep. But I've always viewed the concept behind insurance as being
that one can pay a little bit over time, and when the covered item
breaks, one doesn't have to pay a lot of money that they are unwilling
or unable to pay. Insurance on my house and car aren't really
"features," just things that prevent me from having to be very annoyed
and paying lots and lots of money to replace if the house or car are
lost/stolen/destroyed. Yes, if those things never happen then I could
angrily view all that money in insurance premiums as wasted, but I'd
sooner take the chance of wasting small amounts of money over time, than
wasting a hefty amount all at once.



> . All evidence seems to be that, even at their listed "full"
> price, US wireless providers are *still* subsidizing phones to
> the tune of up to a couple-hundred-per, depending on the
> model. (Thus the so-called "subsidy lock"s.)

Yup. The US culture is used to getting deals and incentives, and
all-you-can-eat packages, so the carriers must partially eat the cost of
the equipment to attract customers. Not so in Europe and other regions,
where a mobile-to-mobile call can actually cost more than a
landline-to-landline or landline-to-mobile call (here mobile-to-mobile
can be free). Likewise, they are accustomed to paying full price for an
unlocked handset.

Not that I'm critical of the US model. Clearly come companies have
managed to make it work and turn a profit, so I'm quite happy with my
subsidies and all-you-can-eat bucket plans.


> . Sprint PCS' average per-customer cost is about $33/mo.


About right. So, the $35/month plan pretty much is breakeven for
Sprint, though they hope that even at the base plan, you will add vision
and other features to make things profitable for them.

Michael Arends <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Yeah, but NO ONE made you Mr. Service announcement. Or Mr. Public
> concious. If I want to see whining, I'll go to one of the other sprint
> sucks sites or the like.

One of the hazards of going out in public is that we are forced to
deal with people who disagree with us. And I don't mean just coming
up with different answers, but asking different questions and applying
different priorities. This is also one of main benefits of going out
in public.

Decide whether you want to be among people who disagree with you, and
plonk or don't plonk accordingly.

Don Doumakes
Email: doumakes at loganet dot net