Complaint Review: Sprint PCS - Kansas City Missouri

In 1997 I began service with Sprint PCS. In 2002 I received a call from a third party collections agency that I owed Sprint PCS $673 from an unpaid bill in 2001. I continued uninterrupted service under my original service contract until October 2004, last month.

The collections company continued to harass me but refused to ever send any documentation of my debt. I wrote several letters to Sprint PCS and was assured by Sprint PCS that the issue was resolved. In a phone call Sprint PCS apologized for their error.

In September of this year my service was temporarily interrupted after a call from Sprint PCS collections. The only bill I received was for appx$160 and was due October19. I contacted Customer Service and my service was restored immediately.

Please not that the Sprint collections agent used personal information including my Sprint PIN code and my Social Security number to imply that they would use illegal means to draw the money directly from my credit card or ATM/checking account if I did not comply. I explained my account history and they confirmed their possession of records dating back to my service and account collections issues dating back to 2001. They also confirmed that no record of the original bill, or any detail of the service that may have resulted in a bill could be produced. When I asked for something in writing to document any debt, or even that I was speaking with Sprint PCS, they refused and even laughed at my request. I asked to be escalated and was passed to another collections agent whoa simply harassed me more than the first. They repeatedly told me they had instructions to collect the $673 or terminate my service, which they did.

Calls to Customer Service and visits to the Sprint Store have been futile. On two occasions, after working for over an hour to get to a management representative that would listen to me, I have been promised documentation of this debt, or action to clear the problem, neither party has provided any response. There is no one at Sprint willing to help me. This is consistent with the customer service policy of most wireless carriers. They are essentially unregulated by State PUC or Federal FCC, and they do not care about customers. Carriers are on record stating that lost customers will just go to other carriers that will treat them just as badly. We have all come to expect this.

On October 10 my service was permanently interrupted. I ported my numbers to another carrier and have sent letters registered/return receipt to Sprint's billing department. Delivery on these letters has been refused twice.

Sprint PCS is in breach of their service contract since October 10. I was a faithful customer through some very difficult service issues here in Los Angeles when Sprint PCS was still leasing spectrum from third parties. I am also a 25 year professional telecommunications consulting engineer and work with numerous private and public enterprises worldwide. I have high regard for the manner in which Sprint PCS has built and managed their wireless service network. It is a high quality service delivery vehicle superior to competitors like Cingular or AT&T. Unfortunately I will have to factor how this experience impacted me and my family from now on.

I have already written to the credit reporting agencies in anticipation of Sprint PCS's attempt to place black marks on my pristine credit report. I will continue to spend time placing this report on one website per day until I run out of new places. I owe no-one, have perfect credit, run my own business and have been insulted for the last time by Sprint PCS. It's too bad that business practices of the collections group can bring down the reputation of such a firm.

Gary

Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Sprint

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.