Dear Sprint –
I have been your customer for almost two decades and lately you are really putting the screws to me. I’ve tried talking to you, but it just doesn’t seem to work. I know you’ve been taking some heat in the media over the past few years and that your brand isn’t what it once was. But that hasn’t caused me to stray.
Sure, Sprint, I’ve looked enviously at AT&T phones that weren’t available from you at the time, like the iPhone and now the Samsung Note. I’ve even taken pains to work around the fact that you have no overseas data plans by purchasing and inserting a different SIM card when I travel overseas. You were my first mobile carrier and I felt some attachment to you until you recently decided to change my plan without telling me (directly). When I looked at my statement and found out you’d limited my hotspot data I was miffed. But when I contacted your service rep and he first tried to tell me that I’d only signed up for that service in November, and not 18 months ago, I should have known something was wrong. When your service rep further insisted that there was nothing he could do and that I was notified of the change to the hotspot data on the second page of my October 2011 statement, I was starting to get really irritated. I don’t get a statement from you Sprint. At least not a hard copy one. You have no problem texting me or emailing me about “special offers” but when it comes to changing up a part of my plan that I actually depend on, you pull this slick move? Really? I’ve been a customer since the 1990s. Don’t I deserve a little bit more than that? Oh – by the way I’m a premium customer; I buy a lot of handsets from you and many of them are at full price. And I have a pretty significant plan that includes a lot of extras. Seriously? Do you think there are no other options out there? May I remind you that I still have a legacy all you can eat data plan with AT&T? OK – that’s a little bit of a hollow threat… but still.
Maybe you just don’t care anymore…That’s sad. I’d hate to think it’s going to be over between us. But maybe I just need to make that call myself. I know you’ll never leave me – you’ll just keep on taking whatever you can out of this relationship. Ugh. Time to reflect.
Your long-time customer, for now.
RJ Bardsley
I feel your pain, RJ. I’m having similar issues with Comcast. I pay over $90 per month for basic cable and Internet and the Internet only works when it wants to, which is maybe 50% of the time. Maybe it’s time we both broke up with our unfaithful technology provider boyfriends and meet someone new – solidarity!