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I'm sorry to see so many people losing their jobs.

Jan 18, 08 - 12:07 pm Comment from: Darkness

MDN-- shouldn't that be "iPhone, bitch!"

I hate to see folks losing jobs, too, but if it is the mediocre customer service people, maybe they themselves are part of the problem.
When did customer service (almost across the board) get so bad?

Jan 18, 08 - 12:21 pm Comment from: January 24, 1984

Put over four hours into tracking down a $650 credit earlier this week (from Bank of America). Spanned the globe talking to every continent, enduring "barrier" accents, and hostile handoffs.

When you encounter excellent customer service these days, you really know it.

I don't feel sorry for Sprint. Their poor service is renowned.

Are you paying attention? CUSTOMER SERVICE!

In the fast paced, instant gratification, no-loyalty, I'm outta here world, this could happen to you.

In spite of all the glitz and marketing skill, there is no substitute for excellence in customer care.

It could happen to you and your self-absorbed, arrogant attitude is your Achilles Heel my friend.

I have a sprint phone and haven't had any problems, well other than customer service.. but the plan / cost / reception is great... But there are way too many sprint stores in the chicago area.. on north ave theres one about every mile.... too many...

MW: between... sprint is stuck between a rock and an iphone...

Sprint has missed out on two cycles of the hottest selling phones in America, back to back. First the Razr and now the iPhone.

I remember Verizon got their version of the Razr a year after the Cingular (AT&T;) model came out when it was still hot, then it went to Sprint a year AFTER that just as people stopped caring. In the meantime they were forced to sell Razr knockoffs that never quite did it, namely from Samsung.

Now they've got an iPhone knockoff from Samsung coming later this year.

Customer service got so bad when companies decided that it was low priority, so they made it low pay. Two things you do not get from low paid employees:

1. Enthusiasm for their jobs.

2. Knowledge of their products and services.

The old saying that you get what you pay for applies to companies too. Companies are paying for lousy customer service reps, and that's what they're getting.

Jan 18, 08 - 12:51 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

Those 4,000 will be rehired soon. Remember that Sprint offers Windows Mobile based phones and I would guess more are on the way. Should turn things right around.

If you have a Windows machine at home it would be fantastic to have a Windows Mobile phone to compliment your beautiful computer. Consumers are well aware of this and therefore Microsoft's massive installed base should help Sprint. They just need to get more of those killer Windows Mobile phones.

Your potential. Our passion.™

Long lines at the Genius Bar. Long hold times with Apple Care.

Very same scene at the Sprint store and at their so-called 'customer service' call center.

Apple is especially valnerable with the trends lately to follow the Dell model of speeding up assembly lines, grabbing parts from the cheapest sources around the world, and rushing shipments to keep up with growing demand. Solution: get it right first, then ship it. Absolutely no substitute has ever been found for true quality. Apple used to have it and now it's different.

Sprint was also about 2 years late to market with Bluetooth. They made a big bet that people would pay $2.50 to listen to songs on their phones.

Jan 18, 08 - 01:01 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

This is Apple's greatest fear right now.

It's the same as an I-Phone, but cheaper. Game over, Cupertino.

Your potential. Our passion.™

Jan 18, 08 - 01:03 pm Comment from: madgunde

1 job for every 1,000 iPhones sold. Hmmm...

Jan 18, 08 - 01:22 pm Comment from: MoCanuck

True story. Dropped phone off for repair the other day. Told agent, if you can replace part for $35, do it, if it is $55, do it, then call me. "No problem." They say. Next day, no call. I call up. '"t's the $55." They say. Do it, then, I tell them, irritated it hasn't already been done as I instructed. "Need payment." Here's my credit card #, I say. "No, you need to come in." Why? "Don't take credit card payments over the phone." Are you kidding me? OK, bill my account. "Your name isn't the contact name". (Well, I work for a real estate company and the name was for an old employee no longer employed there. So I ask how to fix it. "Call Sprint." Well who am I talking to in the first place? Actually get a store manager who tells me the same thing. I say forget it, my contract is up in February anyway.

Brutal.

Jan 18, 08 - 01:30 pm Comment from: Olmecmystic

@Andy in AK: You nailed it. I've done customer service work myself and it has now fallen to the lowest common denominator employee to do.

That applies here in the U.S. and to wherever in the world corporate America decides to farm the work out to. The key is not paying good money for intelligent, motivated people to directly interact with customers that have questions and problems, the key is paying them crap and expecting excellence.

Not only do you get what you pay for, you get what you deserve.

Peace.
Olmecmystic

Jan 18, 08 - 01:31 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ Zune Tang®
"This is Apple's greatest fear right now."

What, my zip code?

Jan 18, 08 - 01:42 pm Comment from: Jubei

As Steve Jobs said, the iPhone is not staying stagnant. With the current one out there, almost anything can be done via software as long as the internal hardware can support to programming. Just as they have demonstrated at MacWorld, you simply cannot do these things on the BB, TREO, NOKIA devices natively. If you can wedge these functions there it would be such a bad hack it would render them unstable. Just the iPod functionality for movies alone is a killer addition, and the UI for the changes looks perfectly matched globally. I can't wait for what the developers out there are going to bring for us this year for the iPhone/Touch. One doesn't have to be a fanboy to realize the kind of technology Apple has bestowed upon us with the iPhone/Touch device.

Jan 18, 08 - 01:57 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

@ ChrissyOne

Yes, your zip code. And the Touch by HTC™.

Actually it's the weekend and Sprint's 'Action/SubmitRegionAction' script is making me feel a little frisky. I love it when they talk dirty. Grrrrrr.

And MACs suck.

Your potential. Our passion.™

Jan 18, 08 - 02:01 pm Comment from: Ampar

'This is Apple's greatest fear right now." "What, my zip code?"

And for good reason.
This guy is still pretty creepy and probably armed to the teeth.

Jan 18, 08 - 02:14 pm Comment from: iSteve

I've had no issues with my Sprint phones or customer service over the last four years but the iPhone is calling my name. I too will be leaving Spring for AT&T;.

Jan 18, 08 - 03:08 pm Comment from: Ampar

". . . but the iPhone is calling my name."

That's weird. My iPhone just whispered "iSteve" for no apparent reason.

Jan 18, 08 - 03:22 pm Comment from: neomonkey

Touch by HTC? That is so funny. Another POS knockoff aimed at Windows losers, just like the Zune. If it weren't for Apple, the PC world wouldn't have had any new products in the last 10 years.

Jan 18, 08 - 04:37 pm Comment from: loki

I just left Sprint this month! I have been with them for almost 7 years but the iPhone was too much to pass up!
I'd always had good customer service and good coverage for the duration of my time with them.
The lady cancelling my account told me "you should've called Sprint first, we have some phones very similar to the iPhone." To which I replied, "I appreciate you doing your job and giving me your little sales pitch, but don't let anyone tell you that there is any phone comparable to the iPhone, it's just not true."

I too feel for all these displaced employees, very sad. Think of the poor NexTel employees, they were with a good company before going to Sprint.

I was with Sprint for my first 4 years of cell phone use. They sucked and only got worse. The sound quality was awful. Tons of dead spots around St Louis. Horrible rotton completely indifferent customer service. Then, they upgraded THEIR hardware that made my phone obsolete and they wanted ME to PAY for a new phone. hahahahahahahahahahaha

I laughed all the way to the T-mobile store. GSM rocks!

Good bye Sprint! I hate you!

Jan 18, 08 - 05:00 pm Comment from: Ampar

Power Down?

Jan 18, 08 - 05:11 pm Comment from: DresdenSparrow

Mac's suck eh?

Zune Tang queeffs.

Jan 18, 08 - 05:53 pm Comment from: MumboJumbo

They are fu*king morons. I was a three year Sprint customer. My phone was beginning to fritz, so I went in to buy a new one. They told me that i would have to sign a new two year contract if I bought a new phone. I said goodbye, walked over to Alltel (where I have another account) and got a new phone. Sprint, like all the rest, suck with their oppressive contracts and, for the most part, locked phones.

Jan 18, 08 - 06:05 pm Comment from: mm

I've had Sprint for number of years now. Luckily I didn't have to deal with customer service. I think all the cell phone companies are about the same--they all suck. I think it comes down to the individual's experience with a certain company. My wife used to have Cingular and had a bad experience, now she hates them and will never go back (to AT&T;). Unlucky for me :-(

Apple is the one changing the game in the cell phone business. And to think all those hot shot execs said the iPhone would never be a success. F them. Bunch of losers.

Jan 18, 08 - 06:30 pm Comment from: LorD1776

FreddyThePig ,

If anybody ever tried to tell me when I can or can't go to the bathroom, I'd piss in their pocket.

unfortunately for Sprint, iPhone was never an option as they are not GSM. I am a Sprint customer, not thrilled, but have not ever heard of a provider people are thrilled with.

Still, i see an iphone in my future when the contract runs out.

Sprint DOES innovate...they're taking the initiative in rolling out the new WiMax service, offering far better WiFi capabilities then are now available...something many were hoping the Macworld announcement would touch on...You guys have to stop with the schadenfreude ver every company' struggling who's not working directly with Apple.

Jan 18, 08 - 09:00 pm Comment from: TheConfuzed1

I defected from Sprint.

Honestly though, iPhone was only part of the reason... Another reason was their unreliable service.

I didn't get too many dropped calls, but there were times when I couldn't be reached, that I should have been able to be.

Once, my wife asked me why I didn't call her back, and I told her that I didn't know she was trying to reach me. I pulled out my phone, and looked at it. It didn't indicate that I had a missed call, or a voice mail. Keep in mind, this is a few hours after she tried calling me. Three hours later, I finally got the voice mail.

I had multiple reasons to switch networks, and the iPhone was only one of them. Of course, however, the iPhone was the primary reason why I chose to switch to AT&T;.

Jan 18, 08 - 09:26 pm Comment from: ken1w

I have to give Verizon Wireless credit for having an exhibitor booth at MacWorld. Sprint apparently had one too, although I must have missed it. Guess who didn't have one... AT&T;.

Nextel Direct Connect is very deeply entrenched with my employer. Heh it'd be easier to unseat their crap PC's.

I hate to say it but Nextel's got us; it's the equivalent of being dependent on Visual Basic and Office.

Are there any nationwide push-to-talk systems that don't marry you to a single service provider?

@ Zune Tang®
"This is Apple's greatest fear right now."

What, my zip code?

You have yer own zip code, Chrissy? Aren't you special!?

Jan 20, 08 - 10:45 am Comment from: MacSmiley

I've been with Sprint since 2000. I had a Samsung 8500 which was built like a compact tank. It lasted for 5 years, but during that time I paid through the nose for overages. So I did not hurry to get a "Vision" phone. Got one 2 years ago, a Sanyo PM-8200 which is in the process of dying.

So I went to my local Sprint store to re-up... I live in SD and Verizon is the only other viable competitor. There is no iPhone here. No AT&T;. No T-Mobile because there is no GSM here.

I tried to get a phone for the advertised prices... after waiting around in the store for over a half hour... only to be told those phones at those prices (Palm Centro for $99, for example) were only for new customers.

Sprint should PAY ME to stay with them at this point.

To those posters stating that all cell companies have the same poor service, I beg to differ. I've tried just about every mobile company out there at one time or another and I can say from personal experience that each had a pretty unique set of pros and cons.

Sprint was the absolute worst. Service was spotty and highly unreliable whenever there was some big event going on (anything from an approaching hurricane to the rush hour drive home was enough to ensure call drop offs.) What made it worse though, was their rude and inept customer service reps and practices. As someone else mentioned here, they would make you jump through hoops just to PAY them, let alone when you needed a problem solved. Insane. At the time I had Sprint I relied on my phone heavily for business use. The combination of missed/dropped calls and infuriating customer service reps made me so mad I smashed the phone against the pavement while trying to talk with them.

On the other hand, I used Verizon until last year and I can't speak highly enough about their voice quality, call reliability, and customer service. The only things I hated about them was how they forced their awful software on every phone and how they forced handset manufacturers to strip out features (bluetooth, etc) that interfered with their greedy business strategies.

I left them to go to AT&T;when the iPhone came out. Love the iPhone, but AT&T;'s voice quality sucks, their network reliability ranges from OK to poor depending on location and time of day, EDGE sucks naturally, and their customer service is about a 5, compared to a 9 for Verizon and a 0 for Sprint. (Note that by customer service I mean on the phone. The reps in AT&T;/Cingular stores are the worst!)

All in all, the iPhone is easily worth putting up with AT&T;'s flaws, but I have to say I miss Verizon's network. Not that I'd ever consider going back if it meant using another phone, though. Verizon blew it when their greed and need for total control led them to decline Apple's iPhone deal.