If your customers are calling customer service too often, it may be a sign that you suck. And if you terminate those customers who complain too often, it’s an absolute confirmation that you suck. Sprint will regret this decision.
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9 comments - A Day In Our Lives At TechCrunch
2 comments
If you’re so dissatisfied that you call 40-50 times a month, then it should be a relief to be let out of the contract.
Sometimes the customers suck. I’m not defending Sprint, but anyone calling to bitch 40 times in a month needs change. Maybe getting terminated is what they need.
Sprint is not a winner to begin with but this move is one of the best things I have ever seen them do. Actually one of the best things I have seen any firm do.
You can fire employees and you certainly should be able to terminate customers. However, they should have given them more than a single day notice. Kudos to sprint.
It was a bold decision and if anything they earn my respect.
I’m not a Sprint fan. I moved from Sprint to Verizon. However, I think this is a good move by Sprint. They’ll take a lot of flak for it, but think about it. If someone is calling 40 times a month, then they are calling for just plain SILLY reasons.
http://consumerist.com/consumer/exclusives/sprint-customers-terminated-for-complaining-too-much-were-scamming-sprint-for-free-service-277026.php
Sprint announced Monday it was canceling the accounts of around 1,000 people who called customer service too much. At first blush, it might sound like a pretty jerk thing to do, have bad service and then punish people who complain, but we spoke with one of our most reliable Sprint insiders, who had a different side to the story: the terminated customers were scamming Sprint, calling in again and again, just to get free service credits.
I think its a great move. In every business there are customers that are not worth the cost of dealing with. In my business we fire clients all the time so we can focus on the ones that drive the most value. Ones that nickel and dime you out of all your margin are not worth the trouble.
Um…
“A Sprint representative said the average customer calls customer service less than once a month… ”
I’d HOPE so! I’ve called T-Mobile 3 or 4 times. In 7 YEARS. Sprint’s problem isn’t the people who call 40 times a month it’s the fact that they can’t say that the typical customer calls less than once per year.
I do have to agree with the commenters though – this is a good move by Sprint. think about it – you’re so dissatisfied that you continue to call more than once per day… not for a week, but for months… and you yet you refuse to move on. Any normal customer would have simply switched if things were that bad. People who don’t aren’t interested in solving their issue, there’s something else going on there.
I got duped into extending my contract for a year in exchange for a now ancient crapcan Samsung smartphone. The customer service is horrible, but it has gotten better since the merger.
Wait a second, is this a loophole to getting out of my contract without penalty?
I don’t feel bad for those people at all. They were the sort of jerkbags who made customer service reps surly and suicidal, and held up the lines trying to scam free service, while I’m waiting on hold trying to get my freaking number ported.
Judging by how long my girlfriend and I were on the phone last week, when we both switched to Sprint – a combined total for 9 or 10 hours on hold – I really, really, hope I never have to deal with their customer service folks again. I never called Cingular’s helpline, in 3 years of service, so I hope Sprint goes the same way.
The deal was pretty nice, so I’m willing to give them a shot. A Motorola Q for $100, unlimited data and tons of minutes for $30/month.
Sprint is by far, the worst cell phone company in the history of the telecom industry. The bait and switch strategies they practice are so routine that they are listed in their sales literative. As everyone knows, cellular phone service is all about the service.
Sprint represents everything wrong with American business and their executives are corrupt. The sprint CEO has a team of executive assistants for customers who have managed to bypass customer service reps as a means to minimize legal action. I called the sprint CEO at home in order to have my contract recinded. If you need his number let me know – its not published.