I guess it all started with the simple idea of finding a cheaper way to make
my long distance calls. I live in a private dorm and we were pretty much
forced to use Campuslink as our phone company. I hate Campuslink too, but that
is a whole different story. The Sprint Foncard seemed like a good deal at first.
Pay a small initial fee of $0.90 and then you get $0.10 a minute on weeknights and
the weekend. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be. When I got my first bill in
the mail, it turned out that they had overcharged me by $14.99. I found out that
what had happened was that the Texas initial rate was considerably more expensive
than the $0.90 which they originally had quoted me. I talked to a customer service
representative at Sprint by the name of Juan Rivera. To this day, I hold no grudges
against Mr. Rivera as he was probably the most helpful Sprint representative which
I have spoken with. Mr. Rivera informed me of the more expensive Texas rate and
he changed the address in the computer to my Minnesota address so that I would no
longer be billed at the more expensive rate. Unfortunately, there was still the
question of what to do with the $14.99 which they had overcharged me. I asked Juan
what he suggested me doing as far as my billing statement was concerned. He told me
that I should pay the bill in full (adding in the $14.99) and that they would credit
me on my next bill. That is the point at which the situation got ugly. You see, shortly
after the first bill, I found out about another long distance company that charged no
initial fee and still had a cheaper "per minute" rate than the Sprint Foncard. In seeing
this, I called Sprint and told them that I had decided to no longer use thier service
anymore and, therefore, wanted them to issue me a check for the $14.99. To this day,
Sprint still claims that my refund was due to a promotion. They told me that they cannot
issue refunds on promotions, only on overpayments. I've tried for what seems like
hundreds of times to convice them that technically my refund was an overpayment, but
they continue to disagree with me. Since that time I have talked with over 20 different
people, trying to get my money, but to no avail. I have called on over 12 different
occasions (sometimes more than 3 times a day) to try to get my refund check, but I
have encountered nothing but poor customer service, rude operators, and no results.
I have been "transfered" to just about every department in the organization, but each time
the person who I talk to refers me somewhere else. Finally, the last person whom I talked
to on January 21, 1998, promised me a "refund check" in three weeks, no more. I agreed
to this as being an acceptable arrangement, even though my ordeal had already lasted me
for over three months by that point. Sure enough, three weeks later, February 10, 1998,
I called them to inquire on the status of my account. Not only was my check not in the
mail as I was promised, but my account had been closed and my credit balance had vanished.
This is where I turn to you. At this point I realize that conventional means will not
get me my check. In fact, at this point, I don't even care about my check anymore.
My goal, at this point, is to make sure that this will never happen to anyone else again. My
final plee to you, DO NOT use Sprint. Use AT&T, MCI, anything besides Sprint. Thank you for
your time and I hope that you will take my advice seriously.
