I’m not sure how the heck we ended up with Sprint. As I tried to think back, I really couldn’t remember what drove the decision early on, nevertheless, around 5 years ago my wife became a Sprint subscriber, so when I started my own company this past summer I went ahead and added a line and became a Sprint customer as well.

All I can say is wow, what a mistake that was.

About 2 months ago I had the unfortunate experience of dropping my iPhone into a toilet. Just like my hopes for a productive day that day, the phone drowned and I was out of luck.

I called Sprint to find out what my options were and given I was so new and that my wife had upgraded her phone just several months ago, the only option I had was to pay the full toll for a new phone. Since I was stuck in a 2 year contract I really didn’t have much choice.

Let’s just say I was mad. I was inches away from paying the $400 termination fee and just starting over. It was sheer complacency that kept me at Sprint as I know it wasn’t customer service because they are terrible at that. Plus if I moved my service over I would want to move my wife and older daughter who are both with Sprint. It was just too much hassle and as far as I was concerned long term contracts were just part of the headache for cell phone users.
 

CES 2014 Creates Big Waves For Cell Phone Business

 
Fast forward to CES 2014 which took place just last week in Las Vegas. The show is always exciting because we all get to see the coolest gadgets and gizmos that will be coming out in the new year.

This year there was another big announcement that is shifting the nature of the cell phone business. T-Mobile and AT&T both announced a deal where they would buy customers out of their long term contracts (up to $350) and allow them to come over to their service with no long term contract. T-Mobile is calling it their “Uncarrier Plan.” Well played.

As soon as I saw the article about this on Mashable I fired it over to my wife and asked her to check it out. She called, got the skinny and more or less with a few minor hiccups the promotion was what they said it was.

The only real inconvenience is you have to turn in your phone and wait for the rebate in the form of a debit card. Not all that big of a deal.
 

Giving Sprint A Shot At Keeping A Customer

 
Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but after my wife told me the deal I basically came back to her and said, “Sounds like a great deal, however changing phones always takes me a week so why don’t we see if Sprint will work with us in order to keep our business?”

I mean, given that we spend over $200.00 a month and have for half a decade, why wouldn’t they want to keep our business if we give them the first rights?

To some extent I know that going back to Sprint with a “Do this and we will stay” approach was perhaps aggressive, but I can say with 100% integrity that I genuinely wanted to give them the chance. To some extent I almost feel bad for them. This is a company that lost 423,000 subscribers in the 3rd quarter of last year alone. Sadly, the trend isn’t getting better for them.

Survey said 78% of customers would leave their carrier if someone paid their early termination fees, but why let them walk so easy?

Begging the question: Wouldn’t they want to keep a client if they had the chance?

After calling Sprint Corporate my wife was quickly told that Sprint had no interest in working with us, however they were quick to give her the termination fees per line. I began to wonder if their customer service team was getting good at looking those up?

The next day we headed over to the T-Mobile store, which was jam packed with customers looking to switch over. On the other side of the mall the Sprint store was a desolate wasteland. No shoppers and barely an employee in sight.

Perhaps complacent, but impatient nonetheless, I decided I would go back next week to T-Mobile and officially make the change. My time with Sprint is almost up and I have to say for the most part it was long overdue. However, as I walk away I can truly say that I tried, perhaps more than I should have, to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I have no idea what the future for Sprint looks like. What I can tell you is that this company for as long as I have been a customer has never understood customer service. Their rapidly declining subscriber numbers validate what their service most clearly highlights; Sprint is a business case for how to fail at customer service and retention.

The good news is Sprint still has a strong brand identity and a more than adequate service, so they still have the chance to turn it around and for the sake of the company and the tens of thousands of people who serve it, I just hope they figure it out before it is too late and there is nothing left to fix.