TL;DR: Sprint in-store sales associate tricked me into replacing a contract I had already signed (that was supposed to cover my buyout from my previous Verizon contract) with a much more expensive bundle plan. My auto-pay kept failing to work, and soon, my phone service got disabled. I tried to sign into my online account to investigate, and found out that my Sprint account simply didn't exist anymore. Now I'm in debt collection for BOTH Sprint and Verizon, and I can't access my account to resolve the case with Sprint.
On March 4th, I ordered an iPhone 7 on Sprint's online store with a new plan. I was formerly a Verizon customer, and Sprint made a contract buyout offer along with trade-in for my old phone as part of their promotion. I was happy with the deal I got, and scheduled to pick up my phone at the Palo Alto store the next day.
The next day, I went to the store at the scheduled time. The store rep, Kevin, had trouble finding my order, even though I had the order confirmation e-mail detailing my new plan, device I was supposed to pick up, the trade-in and buyout detail, all of it.
He then went into the back and brought out my new phone, and proceeded to make me sign a whole bunch of things. He also told me I would be getting a new tablet, to which I responded, “But I don't need a tablet". He assured that I won't be paying a penny for it, that it was part of the promotion. I confirmed, at least three times, that I won't be paying anything for this. He smiled nicely and said "Yes, take it, it's completely free. In fact, I'll also add in a free screen protector and a phone case for you, go pick out the one you like!" You can imagine how excited and lucky I felt to score a whole bunch of free stuff. He then made me sign the contract—and I said "Wait, but I already signed everything online, why am I going through this again?" He said it was a pick-up procedure. Then I noticed that the amount on the receipt for the monthly plan for was WAY higher than the plan I had selected. He said "Oh it's just the initial payment; you'll go back to paying for the original plan from the next month. You'll also be getting your trade-in credit starting with the next billing cycle." Then he asked me to swipe a credit card. But I had already paid for the whole thing online! Why am I paying for this again? I even had the receipt with me in my inbox. He said something I didn't fully understand, but basically assured me that I had nothing to worry about. I left the store with a new phone decked with gears and a new tablet, all happy.
Later that night, I received an e-mail from Sprint saying that my pickup order had been cancelled since 24 hours has passed and the product hadn’t been picked up. I was confused but thought it was a glitch on their system. That was a mistake. In the mean time, that e-mail reminded me that I should setup my online account on Sprint's website and see what’s going on with the whole Verizon contract buyback thing. But their website was down for renovation! It went on for the next 4 days or so. I was slightly worried about the buyout but at least I had the auto-pay going on, so I decided not to get frustrated and forget about it for the time being.
A week or so later, my account still not setup, I resorted to their Live Chat to ask about the buyout deal. I gave them my order number, they had trouble locating the device I turned in that’s associated with my account, and the rep told me “I’m going to reach out to my superior and have her contact you as soon as possible!” No one reached out to me, via phone or e-mail, ever. It’s still unsolved.
Then a month later, I was charged for a late fee because turns out, my auto-pay had... disappeared. Weird, but I paid for the fee and setup auto-pay again. The month after that, the auto-pay had disappeared again, and I paid for a higher amount again. The next month, it happened again. I realized something was wrong. The amount I was paying for, even with the penalty fee, was absurdly high for what I thought I should've been paying. I should've acted on it right away, but caught up with life, I let a month or two pass, before finally visiting a store in Mountain View.
When I sat down with the store rep in the MV location and started going through my account information with him, he told me that the initial order I made online had been cancelled because I didn’t pick it up. Wait, what? What’s this phone I have now then? He told me “Well it looks like the person at the Palo Alto store set you up with a new device and a plan…” And I wasn’t aware that I was signing a whole new contract? With a bundle pricing that I wasn’t told about? And my contract buyout detail disappeared with it? The person told me “Yea, you should probably go back to the Palo Alto location and either talk to the guy that did this to you or their manager.”
Then guess what happens. As I was about to agree and get up from my seat, I spot Kevin—yes, the same Kevin from the Palo Alto location! I called him over, he sat down with me, went through my account, and realized what was going on. He told me “Yea you’ll have to go back to the Palo Alto location and talk to the manager there.” And I was like, “You’re the one that did this!” That same convo repeated for the next 15 minutes. Beyond exhausted from frustration, I caved in. I asked him to give me a written note of this situation so I don’t have to spend another 30 minutes back at the PA location trying to explain what happened all over again. He goes “I can’t do that.” I asked why he couldn’t, and he said “I’m not allowed to do that.” That conversation went on for another 15 minutes. He finally said, “I’ll make a note of this on the system, so whoever looks at your account from any other branch will be able to see it.” Suspicious, I asked to glance at this “note” he was making to make sure he was writing down the right stuff. Or anything at all. He goes, “I can’t allow you to do that.” Let me point out that, meanwhile, the first rep I was talking to, a big muscle guy with a thick accent, has been standing behind Kevin this whole time, with his arms crossed, giving me what felt like a death glare, legitimately scaring me. Since I was convinced that there wasn’t going to be any “note” and I worried that they were going to deny that this whole conversation ever took place, I turned to him and asked for his name. He goes, “You don’t need my name.” I told him I just wanted to be able to explain what happened in this store at the other branch. He’s silent. I turned to Kevin, and asked for his name. He refuses to give me his last name. When I asked again, he mumbles something I cannot understand. I asked for his business card, he reluctantly hands me one, and I leave the store, still in shock by what just happened.
I went on a trip abroad the following month, and came back and went online to deal with this again. Then I realized that my account was now completely disappeared. They don’t have my e-mail on their system. They don’t have any account associated with my phone number. I tried talking to someone on Live Chat, and they asked me for my PIN and the answer to the security question, which, I actually don’t remember setting, and none of the combinations that I could ever think of (like any average person, I only use 1 PIN combination…) worked. They told me to go into the store.
So I went into another store this time, in San Jose, with my original receipt, the cancellation e-mail, the contract I ended up signing at the store, and the receipt for it. The rep that was helping me, Stephen, was the nicest guy ever. Having lost all faith in Sprint’s customer service, talking to Stephen was like a gift from God. He was able to verify that, based on all the documents I brought in, my account did match my phone number and that my device had been switched from the one I originally ordered, with a bundle contract. He also told me that there wasn't any "note" made on my account by Kevin. Go figure. And what's more, if I decided to pay for the device, contract, the penalties and be done with it, I'd have to pay over $11,000. $11,000!!!!!! Let me remind you that this doesn't count the amount that went into debt collection from the Verizon contract that never got paid for.
Stephen tried to help, but with the account gone, there wasn’t anything he can do. So he told me to call customer service with the store phone. I talked to someone on the phone, she told me there wasn't anything she could do with the account gone, Stephen hopped in and verified my information, and she said she could send me the PIN and security question detail to the e-mail associated with my account. Hooray! Except, the e-mail never came. It was closing hour for the store so I come home, and the e-mail still didn’t come. The next day, I went back to the live chat and explained this whole situation AGAIN, and asked to send another e-mail. That e-mail never came either. I called customer service, went through it all again, that e-mail never came. I go back to the live chat, and this time got connected to a senior customer service representative. I explained everything again, he couldn't figure out why I’m not receiving the e-mail. He went away to do some digging and came back to tell me that my account was now being handled by a debt collection and all account detail removed, without me ever getting notified of this. He told me that his hands were tied and in order to access my account, I should go to a store branch with my ID.….. Yea that worked before.
So, here I am. Duped into a bundle plan I never knew I was signing up for, with one tablet I never needed (which, by the way, I gave to my mom, who gave it to her friend), one phone that hasn’t worked in the past 4-5 months, my Sprint account in debt collection, my Verizon contract in debt collection.
What now?
Submitted October 19, 2017 at 06:24PM by susiemielekim http://ift.tt/2gREuwH
