I've been slammed by Sprint

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 12:35:29 -0800, "Quick"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Well, not exactly... and I think I've thwarted them.
>
>I have a VZW familyshare under my name with 2
>secondary lines. I have what is basically a dysfunctional
>family which I won't go into and is not germane to the
>issue.

Find me a normal, "functional" family and I'll pay your next year's
worth of VZW service for you.;-)

>18 yr. old Daughter's line gets cut off (ESN swap does
>that pretty effectively). Sprint calls (some lady that later
>says she is a supervisor at a local Sprint store) and asks
>for my social security number. I'm in the middle of something
>pretty intense and there are kids running around yelling
>and what not and I end up giving her my SS (what an
>idiot. I am smarter than that.). She did say something
>about needing it to port my daughter's number to Sprint.
>I'm thinking "great! she is going to pay for her own service".

Aww, Quick, say it isn't so!!! I'm not going to bust your chops over
the SSN issue, you've already done that. But as for your daughter,
did she need your SSN just to do the porting, or was she trying to set
up an account under your name or with you as co-signer? This seems
odd, but I've not gone down the porting path (and don't intend to).
If she wanted a Sprint phone, she could have just signed up on her
own. At age 18, I wouldn't expect her to have an adequate credit
history established, hence the question.

I feel your pain. My son turned 18 this past Sunday and my daughter
turns 15 in April. Another kid and I think I'll stick Mr. Beretta in
my mouth.

---

› See More: I've been slammed by Sprint

As viewed from alt.cellular.verizon, Quick wrote:

>The same Sprint rep called me this morning saying "I
>really need to get in touch with your daughter because
>she is running around with a Sprint phone without a
>number on it."

Tough luck. Sprint was stupid enough to give her a phone
and now they're whining about it.

--
Jafo

"Jafo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> As viewed from alt.cellular.verizon, Quick wrote:
>
> >The same Sprint rep called me this morning saying "I
> >really need to get in touch with your daughter because
> >she is running around with a Sprint phone without a
> >number on it."
>
> Tough luck. Sprint was stupid enough to give her a phone
> and now they're whining about it.
>
> --
> Jafo

The OP said she was 18, and they had a SSN to run a credit check. A port
request was initiated ... As far as SPCS knew, they thought they had a new
customer ...

Bob

> The OP said she was 18, and they had a SSN to run a credit check. A port
> request was initiated ... As far as SPCS knew, they thought they had a new
> customer ...

They do have a new customer - they just don't have one with the number they
thought they assigned. If they wanted the sale so bad that they called her
father for his SS# to avoid charging the daughter a deposit (which she may
not have had the money to pay), then it's their loss. (Wonder if they have
him as a co-owner or responsible party? That can get real hairy for her and
sprint if she doesn't pay the bill.) If they just needed it to port the
number, then they'll just need to assign a sprint number to it - she'll
eventually come in to the store when it doesn't start working.

The trick that kids use is to be cute for the 1st 5-6 years or so and
you get attached.....by the time they turn into little ****s they're
too big to eat.

JohnF


On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 23:24:44 GMT, "Karl Farbmann"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>>
>> I have a VZW familyshare under my name with 2
>> secondary lines. I have what is basically a dysfunctional
>> family
>
>Defined as any family with more than one member-
>
>You have my sympathy,
>
>The Father of a 15yearold drama queen
>

As viewed from alt.cellular.verizon, Bob Smith wrote:

>"Jafo" wrote...
>>Quick wrote:
>>>The same Sprint rep called me this morning saying "I
>>>really need to get in touch with your daughter because
>>>she is running around with a Sprint phone without a
>>>number on it."

>> Tough luck. Sprint was stupid enough to give her a phone
>> and now they're whining about it.

>The OP said she was 18, and they had a SSN to run a credit
>check. A port request was initiated ... As far as SPCS knew,
>they thought they had a new customer ...

Yeah. A new customer with somebody else's SS.

--
Jafo

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 08:34:38 -0800, Jafo wrote:

> As viewed from alt.cellular.verizon, Bob Smith wrote:
>
>
>>> Tough luck. Sprint was stupid enough to give her a phone
>>> and now they're whining about it.
>
>>The OP said she was 18, and they had a SSN to run a credit
>>check. A port request was initiated ... As far as SPCS knew,
>>they thought they had a new customer ...
>
> Yeah. A new customer with somebody else's SS.

Actually no they just used his SSN for the porting request. I don't care
how busy or stressful things are at the moment someone calls for your SSN
just the fact they called for it should set off alarm bells in your head
that something is wrong/you should pay attention. Esp if you have not
initiated business with them at all. He did admit it was his mistake tho
but it is a very bad one to make.

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 15:45:20 +0000, cricket wrote:

>> The OP said she was 18, and they had a SSN to run a credit check. A port
>> request was initiated ... As far as SPCS knew, they thought they had a new
>> customer ...
>
> They do have a new customer - they just don't have one with the number they
> thought they assigned. If they wanted the sale so bad that they called her
> father for his SS# to avoid charging the daughter a deposit (which she may
> not have had the money to pay), then it's their loss. (Wonder if they have
> him as a co-owner or responsible party? That can get real hairy for her and
> sprint if she doesn't pay the bill.) If they just needed it to port the
> number, then they'll just need to assign a sprint number to it - she'll
> eventually come in to the store when it doesn't start working.

Maybe I missed a post but they just called the for the SSN to use in
porting. He didn't say they did it for credit because the only way they
could have stopped her from paying the credit was if he was signing up.
Given the fact that he said the call came from a sprintpcs store,
specifically the manager, I would bet she was in the store at the time
signing up and his SSN was all she didn't know for the porting request.

I wouldn't doubt that the reason sprintpcs kept putting the port request
through was because her phone did stop working and she called *2 to find
out why. If one thing sprintpcs is bad at it is keeping their reps
informed of each other's actions.

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 16:03:09 +0000, JohnF wrote:

> The trick that kids use is to be cute for the 1st 5-6 years or so and
> you get attached.....by the time they turn into little ****s they're
> too big to eat.
>
> JohnF
>
>

That sounds like a challenge.

Central wrote:
>
> I wouldn't doubt that the reason sprintpcs kept putting the port
> request through was because her phone did stop working and she called
> *2 to find out why.

Does that mean her phone was working or activated at the time she bought
it? How can/does that work, if the number hadn't been ported from the
old carrier yet?

I've never have had to port a number yet, but have always assumed I'd
have to use the old phone until the port was complete.


--
Mike

Steve Sobol wrote:
> Quick wrote:
>
>> So the Sunday part is rather complicated. But after
>> I explicitly told Sprint "Do NOT port my number" I figure
>> the subsequent attempts are akin to slamming.
>
> That is weird. They couldn't port the number I requested
> to have ported because I hadn't given them the password
> for my Verizon account -- didn't realize I had to -- and
> they did NOT try again.

The VZW rep said they used to require *everything* to match
when processing a port request... Then they got too many
complaints from people whose port didn't go through because
they had changed address, etc. So apparently they've relaxed
the verification. It seems that now the carrier who will end up
with the number need only submit a port request with the SS#
on the VZW account that the number is being ported from.

-Quick

The Ghost of General Lee wrote:
> But as for your daughter, did she need your SSN just to
> do the porting, or was she trying to set up an account
> under your name or with you as co-signer? This seems
> odd, but I've not gone down the porting path (and don't
> intend to). If she wanted a Sprint phone, she could have
> just signed up on her own. At age 18, I wouldn't expect
> her to have an adequate credit history established, hence
> the question.

It was just to port the number. Subsequent conversation
upon her return from Grandma's:

"Did you block the request to move my number from VZW?"
"Yes, it would cost me $175. If you want to pay that I'll do it".
"Why? they're just moving the number."
"Because VZW will charge a $175 ETF."
"But I paid Sprint $125 to move the number. $50 for the phone
and $125 to move the number."

Ok... she is absolutely clueless so episodes like this could be
a learning experience (but probably not).

I don't know how Sprint does it but my guess is that she paid
$50 for the phone and $125 deposit (maybe includes first
month?). She doesn't have any credit other than a savings
account and her own credit card for maybe a year and a
part time job at the sandwich place.

-Quick
credit card for maybe a year.

Central wrote:
> On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 15:45:20 +0000, cricket wrote:
>
>>> The OP said she was 18, and they had a SSN to run a
>>> credit check. A port request was initiated ... As far
>>> as SPCS knew, they thought they had a new customer ...
>>
>> They do have a new customer - they just don't have one
>> with the number they thought they assigned. If they
>> wanted the sale so bad that they called her father for
>> his SS# to avoid charging the daughter a deposit (which
>> she may not have had the money to pay), then it's their
>> loss. (Wonder if they have him as a co-owner or
>> responsible party? That can get real hairy for her and
>> sprint if she doesn't pay the bill.) If they just needed
>> it to port the number, then they'll just need to assign
>> a sprint number to it - she'll eventually come in to the
>> store when it doesn't start working.
>
> Maybe I missed a post but they just called the for the
> SSN to use in porting. He didn't say they did it for
> credit because the only way they could have stopped her
> from paying the credit was if he was signing up. Given
> the fact that he said the call came from a sprintpcs
> store, specifically the manager, I would bet she was in
> the store at the time signing up and his SSN was all she
> didn't know for the porting request.

Exactly. My SSN is on the VZW account. They needed
that to port the number from that account. I've since
gathered that she paid $50 for the phone and $125
"to move the number". I'm guessing the $125 was
actually a security deposit for lack of credit.

> I wouldn't doubt that the reason sprintpcs kept putting
> the port request through was because her phone did stop
> working and she called *2 to find out why. If one thing
> sprintpcs is bad at it is keeping their reps informed of
> each other's actions.

Not sure about that. First, the Sprint lady claimed she
was a supervisor (no mention of being a manager).
"I would like to speak with a supervisor."
"I am the supervisor".
This was after she identified herself by name and as
being from the Sprint store on the corner of x and y
street. After my callback she did seem to manage
to cancel the initial port request with Sprint's porting
department. I guess it's possible/probable that my
daughter called Sprint's CS from out of town at
Grandma's house to say that she couldn't get incoming
calls on that number. CS may have re-iniated the port
request.

My guess:
Store puts in port request with my SSN.
Store cancels port request with my SSN.
[next day]
CS puts in port request without my SSN.
Porting department goes "heh, we had the SSN
yesterday so we'll just resubmit the request without
the SSN?".
Retry
Retry
Retry

-Quick

Central wrote:
> On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 08:34:38 -0800, Jafo wrote:
>
>> As viewed from alt.cellular.verizon, Bob Smith wrote:
>>
>>
>>>> Tough luck. Sprint was stupid enough to give her a
>>>> phone and now they're whining about it.
>>
>>> The OP said she was 18, and they had a SSN to run a
>>> credit check. A port request was initiated ... As far
>>> as SPCS knew, they thought they had a new customer ...
>>
>> Yeah. A new customer with somebody else's SS.
>
> Actually no they just used his SSN for the porting
> request. I don't care how busy or stressful things are at
> the moment someone calls for your SSN just the fact they
> called for it should set off alarm bells in your head
> that something is wrong/you should pay attention. Esp if
> you have not initiated business with them at all. He did
> admit it was his mistake tho but it is a very bad one to
> make.

Well... *maybe* not that bad. Daughter was at the store.
At least I knew I was giving my SSN to a Sprint store person.
I also identified the phone number from the callerID. I think
the big mistake was not immediately thinking about the
consequences like the ETF. (yea, yea, it was still stupid).

-Quick

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 10:29:59 -0700, Tinman wrote:

> Central wrote:
>>
>> I wouldn't doubt that the reason sprintpcs kept putting the port
>> request through was because her phone did stop working and she called
>> *2 to find out why.
>
> Does that mean her phone was working or activated at the time she bought
> it? How can/does that work, if the number hadn't been ported from the
> old carrier yet?
>
> I've never have had to port a number yet, but have always assumed I'd
> have to use the old phone until the port was complete.

The phone works for calling out and ideally porting only takes a few
hours. Since most phones ask you to do a full charge for first use then by
the time it is fully charged, again in best conditions, the port should
have completed. During this time the phone should still work for calling
out tho.