DISCLAIMER: The "Sprint Really Sucks" website is in no way, form, or fashion affiliated with Sprint or Sprint Nextel. You can find them here. This website is a non-commercial, personal 1st amendment freedom of speech protest and gripe website (as upheld by the 6th circuit US court) of Allen Harkleroad. This website contains the opinions, feelings and thoughts of Allen Harkleroad. By visiting this website you are bound to this websites terms of service agreement. Sprint, Sprint.biz and Sprint Nextel are registered trademarks or copyright of Sprint.    Sprint Nextel NYSE Stock ticker: S

SPRINT REALLY DOES SUCK

Sprint's Samsung Instinct (iFlop) Phone SUCKS

Skip down to my personal story

July 3, 2008 - Just a FYI to the folks at Sprint. I am drafting a letter that will be sent to all 50 state Attorney Generals outlining how you are screwing over business customers, how you terminate employees for helping customers, also your "policies" of dealing with customers (like not mentioning the customers insurance or downplaying it so you can tack on more services), etc. Lot's of good information will be sent to all Attorney General's offices. I figure the odds of one or more of them opening an investigation into Sprint's activities to be pretty good.

Hey CBS, NBC and all other news media. I have a lot of good stuff on how Spring is screwing over customers (and employees that actually try to help customers). Very juicy stuff indeed. I get several emails every day from screwed Sprint customers and screwed over employees. Talk about a great topic for 60 Minutes, 48 Hours and other primetime national news shows. Whomever told this story would win the hearts of probably every consumer in America that has ever been screwed over by a cell phone company, not to mention those that have been or are currently being screwed over by Sprint.

July 2, 2008 - Getting more and more email. I will post a lot of it in the next couple of days, first I want to revamp this site to make it easier to find and read everything (putting it in a content management system). Sprint still hasn't realized that one individual and the Internet can have a profound effect on a company, maybe one day they will put two and two together, before it is too late. One thing is for certain I will continue until Sprint refunds what I overpaid them from 2004 through 2008, even if it takes YEARS...

June 30, 2008 - I have two new items I received via email this morning. One from a disgruntled Sprint customer who got screwed by you know who (SPRINT) and a very interesting email from an Ex-Sprint supervisor. I will be posting these when time permits. I also have several items I received yesterday but am waiting on the senders to reply to some questions. Check back soon for more of Sprint's dirty business activities that I will posting.

June 28, 2008 - Sprint's policy it to not mention a customers phone insurance or play it off as useless and encourage new phone or new line of service. Read an Ex-Sprint Employee's story.

June 28, 2008 - Ex Sprint Nextel Sales Representative says Sprint is Corrupt and Gets Rid of People Who Actually Help Customers. Read Marty's continuing story here.

Quote: "15 years in this industry and my ability to help accounts was commendable, they thought I had gone too far in my efforts to help them and I had cost them far too much money in doing so. They really felt that I could not continue to work with Sprint under their guidelines which would include looking over errors on bills, or refusing to ask for credits when I knew they were due the customer."

June 27, 2008 - Sprint Customer Says Sprint Customer Service Sucks and Gives a Tip on How to Avoid Sprint ETF's, read it here.

PS: Sprint your Samsung Instinct phone sucks. You say they flew off the shelves, I bet 95% of those went to current customers and very few new customers.

Hey Sprint what's your next (not so) brilliant business strategy? Chapter 11 Bankruptcy maybe? You think what I have been posting to date is irritating? Wait till you see what I have queued up. I am going to spread it out over the next couple of months. It is going to be *very* interesting, especially seeing the US Department of Justice sniffing around several times today, they my have some harsh questions for you Sprint (Board of Directors) when I am done.

June 23, 2008 - Sprint sure knows how to put itself out of it's own misery. I just got an email from a smaller Sprint affiliate that says she was just terminated by Sprint. Supposedly she didn't meet a quote of 50 activations per month. Come on Sprint, I bet you can effectively eliminate 99.9% of your business if you keep going. Read Nancy's email

June 23, 2008 - You won't see Google's Android Phone on the Sprint Nextel network (Wall Street Journal). My guess the real story is that Sprint is *broke* and up to it's eyeballs in massive debt and doesn't have enough money or potential customers to interest Google. "But that launch is taking up so much of Google's attention and resources that Sprint Nextel Corp., which had hoped to launch an Android phone this year" - Wall Street Journal (subscription required). I think that Sprint being BROKE is the story behind the story, just my two cents worth.

Also from Yahoo News - "Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA expects to deliver an Android-powered phone in the fourth period, but Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) will not be able to, a person familiar with the matter said, according to the Journal." - Yahoo News (Cause Sprint Nextel is BROKE, BROKE, BROKE)

I wouldn't doubt it a bit if Google pulls it's investment of the Sprint Nextel/ Clearwire WIMAX deal as well and looks at the LTE network that Sprint's competitors are building out.

Are you a current or former Sprint employee? Are you an affiliate of Sprint? Has Sprint threatened you with termination, pulling your contract or other abusive means to keep you quiet? You can take Sprint's "power" away by going public with your story. That's the only way to Stop Sprint from monopolizing or abusing business and consumers. I will be more than willing to publish your story (contact me here) and I can assure you there are many news media organizations that will be happy to publish your story. Stop Sprint's bad behavior by getting it in front of the public eye. It's the only way to curb the abuse, let's tell the world.

June 19, 2008 - Hey Sprint, with the sort of mail I am getting maybe I should turn this site into "Sprint Whistleblower Central"...

June 18, 2008 - This just in. Seems Sprint forces their affiliates to get rid of folks that find (Sprint) billing errors and (evidently he actually helped a Sprint customer) advises the customer of them. I know there is some dirty accounting going on at Sprint, but this just takes the cake. Shame on you Sprint. Read Marty's letter(s) here. You know what else I see? I see Marty filing a Wrongful Termination lawsuit against his employer {COMPANY NAME REDACTED} and implicating Sprint in it, that's what I see.

It appears to me that Sprint is trying to "bury" (aka hide) some accounting irregularities if you ask me. I wonder if the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would be interested in some of this? I know a *lot* of state public service commissioners would...

June 18, 2008 - $129.99 for the Sprint (Samsung Instinct) - "stink" phone would be more apt) iCrap phone, give me a break. Sounds like Sprint is running scared of the Apple 3G iPhone. Which by the way is still going to drink Sprint's milkshake at any price.

I also figured our what PCS stands for in "Sprint PCS". It stands for "Poor Customer Service". Congratulations Sprint you named that division quite apporpriately.

June 16, 2008 - Sprint Accountants are dumber than a bag of hammers. I got something from Sprint in the mail today. For a moment I thought it was a bill (God help their souls if I ever do get any sort of bill from Sprint). Turns out it was a credit.. Get this for $161.43 (quite a bit shy of what they overcharged me). You gotta be kidding me Sprint. I guess it is time for me to come out of the bullpen and onto the mound and start throwing you some serious pitches at Sprint. I promise you it will be three strikes and you are out.

June 16, 2008 - It would be so easy for Altel, Verizon, AT&T, etc. to put the final nail in Sprint's coffin by simply undercutting Sprint's pricing, giving discounts for porting numbers away from Sprint. You guys don't even need to worry about Sprint's PTT (push to talk) that feature is oh so old and dead. I had PTT with Georgia Power back before the cell phone companies introduced it and it only took about a month to realize it was a PITA in regards to productivity and privacy. Push-to-talk is LAME. So how about it guys? Start discounting below Sprint's crappy plans and put Sprint out of business once and for all.

June 12, 2008 Sprint Doesn't Charge US Government Early Termination Fees (Consumerist.com)
"Why do consumers put up with these fees, but the government won't? Perhaps Sprint thought that if they started charging the government ETFs, someone would get wise and question the fees, and anti-ETF legislation would be enacted."

June 11, 2008 Nortel pulls investment from Sprint's WIMAX.
Sounds like Nortel doesn't want to be on a sinking ship to me. Now it makes sense that I keep seeing all of those Google Corporate IP addresses (which also leads me to believe something else that I am not making public *yet* (can you say Android phone and/or buy out?) on this site as they are investing in WIMAX too. Maybe Google will get smart and jump ship as well. (could WIMAX end up like the HD DVD format?)

I love getting this sort of email...

My next order of business is to start giving BAD PRESS to all of Sprint's partners and affiliates until my issue with Sprint is resolved to my satisfaction. (I see many of them sniffing around this website. Time to start naming names and dishing some dirt: Intel, Motorola, Samsung, Cisco, Acatel-Lucent, Clearwire to name a few.) You guys should choose better partners than Sprint. (now it's guilt by association).

Look's Sprints "partners" are already sweating the most recent post (as of 7:30 AM EST)

Are you all ready for the BAD PR machine to get rolling?

June 9, 2008 Sprint, Social Networks and a Bad Reputation (new Sprint article)

June 8, 2008 - Hey folks at Sprint being that today is Sunday I have a bible verse for you (goes with the one in my open letter). Proverbs 29:1 A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy.

June 5, 2008 - My surprise for Sprint Nextel is nearly ready, probably put it up over the weekend. Also Sprint your new "iPhone killer" isn't going to fix your problems. It will probably go down in telecom history as the iFlop, iSuck or iFail...

You know what they say... A happy customer will tell a couple of people about your business, an angry customer will tell millions and millions and millions about how you screwed them over. Get the picture? The last arrogant and stubborn company I dealt with took three years of this sort of thing to get them to do the right thing. I am in for the long-haul, you can bet on that Mr. Hesse and friends.

My personal theory of Sprint Nextel's bad business decisions

1) Sprint is trying to tank it's stock, run off customers and bleed like a stuck pig to look attractive as a buyout target for Nextel or both Sprint and Nextel.

or

2) Trying to cover-up accounting irregularities by losing a lot of money to cover their tracks. (can you say SEC investigation?)

or

3) Sprint management is actually dumber than a bag of hammers.

June 4, 2008 Sprint phone bill goes from astronomical to merely big, but woman still won't pay. 

"The numbers practically jumped off the page: "Amount Due: $89,335.00. Due Date: Today. "When I got that, I was just totally spazzing," Harrien said after contacting What's Your Problem?. "I mean, come on now. I'm just sick of Sprint screwing up my bill. It's just been a total nightmare." (Chicago Tribune)

June 3, 2008 - Sprint Sucks on the Saturday Night Monkey Podcast (May 24th, 2008) download and go to 34:20 to hear the beginning about how Sprint Sucks, some good stuff about this website too. (Click here to stream or download the MP3 Podcast). Thanks guys! (from rockmymonkey.com)

June 3, 2008 (Consumerist.com)
Anger: Sprints' New Data Card Download Caps Producing Apoplexy In Customers
"These customer service people at Sprint are worthless, moronic, time suckers. I have never spend so much time trying to get bad customer service from a company."

June 2, 2008 - Something *scandalous* coming this week, bet on that!

May 22, 2008 - An open letter to Dan Hesse, Sprint Board of Directors, et al.
(this is probably what you are looking for if you are coming from a news story)

Comments from Sprint Really Sucks visitors

May 28, 2008 - Fitch Report: Operating Challenges and Credit Deterioration at Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel's credit ratings have fallen three notches, with the last downgrade on Feb. 28, 2008 placing the ratings below investment grade at 'BB+' (sic Junk status). The company expects no material improvement in the negative operating trends at least through the first half of 2008 with expectations for subscriber losses in the range of approximately two million postpaid subscribers for the first two quarters. Despite expectations for Sprint Nextel to improve its customer experience, Fitch believes the company will face continued difficulties in regaining market share and increasing its mix of prime subscribers, given the high industry penetration rates, the low postpaid churn rates of its national competitors, the slowing economy, and its competitive position. Read the full report at Business wire

Vote for Sprint as the Worst Company in America at Consumerist.com (posted 5/27/2008)

Filing Complaints Against Sprint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Does Work
(Consumerist May 28, 2008)

(My personal opinion mind you) Sprint SCREWS our friends and family serving overseas in the Military -- Yes Sprint I believe Sprint is Screwing over US soldiers fighting overseas protecting our freedom. Who's next? NASCAR fans (probably screwing them already)? What are you going to do give them all heavily discounted SERO plans to shut them up?

Click the image to read the story how Sprint screwed a man protecting our country overseas.

(to the folks at Sprint), Don't you outsource your call center operations to Alorica and Teleperformance? See what happens when you outsource (delegate) one of the most important aspects (in my opinion) of your operations to an outside company. If they are your customers *you* should be handling them, not some pay-for call center hacks. They have no vested interest in keeping your customers happy, all they are paid to do is handle incoming calls, they could care less if you retain customers or not, they get paid regardless. Keep it up and there won't be any Sprint customers (you know, the folks that pay your salaries, bills and make your stock worth something).

If what Sprint is doing to customers, especially our US Military personnel doesn't make you mad you are as un-American as they are. Do something, share this with everyone you  know and ask them to share it as well.

The best thing you can do as a consumer is share this website with your friends, family, co-workers and business associates. Everyone who uses Sprint or is thinking of using Sprint should read the contents of this website so they can be an informed consumer. REMEMBER: an educated consumer is a dangerous consumer, so spread the word via email, blogs, comments on news items, help get the word out! By doing nothing you are in fact helping companies such as Sprint to get away with screwing it's customers. It only takes a couple of seconds to email or share this site with everyone you know. YOU CAN HELP!
You can even email Sprint's Board of Directors and tell them what you think.

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know if a company (including cell phone companies) changes what they charge you (since you singed the agreement with them) for minutes, text messaging, voice mail, etc. you can (escape) terminate your contract WITHOUT early termination fees (ETF)? It's called material adverse changes to your contract and voids the agreement you signed. So if you want out of a (cancel) mobile phone agreement you can do so without paying ETF fees, *IF* the company changed what they charged you for services since you signed the contract. Don't let them tell you otherwise, if they try to pull a song and dance on you (be firm and do not take no for an answer) if they continue to refuse politely tell them you are hanging up and taking measures, then hang up and get busy.Report it to the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org), the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov) and the Federal Communications Commission (www.fcc.gov) and also contact your state's Public Service Commission, they can handle it on a state level. Also be sure to go to www.consumerist.com or email tips@consumerist.com, they might just run your story about the company refusing to release you from your contract (under material adverse conditions).

If you do happen to call and cancel your cell phone contract because of material adverse changes be sure to tell them where you read this. ;-)

"Mar 10, 2007 ... Sprint says a customer will be released from a contract if a price change has a “material adverse effect” (aka price of service goes up) on the customer. ..." New York Times

Don't believe me? Just read through these Google search results from consumerist.com. You see, an educated consumer is a dangerous consumer.

You should tell everyone you know about the above, this is something good for every consumer to know.

Sprint Nextel screwed me to the tune of around $56,000.00

The purpose of this website is to bring light to the fact that Sprint often gouges customers, especially corporate and business customers. How do I know? Because I recently discovered that Sprint had been gouging me to the tune of $1445.25 dollars a month for three (3) years and four (4) months. Gouging me that is until I found out about it and pulled the plug on my Sprint T1 circuits. Who am I? I am Allen Harkleroad of Statesboro Georgia and I work for a small technology company in Statesboro.

We were quite unaware that Sprint was overcharging our company for quite a while. You see, we are very trusting people and wouldn't even consider that a company such as Sprint would do such an underhanded thing like take advantage of our small company and stick it to us as much as they did. Well you know what they say: If you do wrong it will one day catch up with you and you guessed it, Karma caught up with Sprint and you know what they say about Karma...

I even recorded a telephone conversation between myself and Ronald W. Schober (Sprint Sales) lying to me about how much the local loop charges were. He states that Sprint pays my local phone company right at $1998.00 dollars a month for the loop charge. I contacted my phone company and was advised that the local loop charge is a tariff item and is only around $500.00 or so dollars a month. That leaves a difference of $1900.00 or so per month (I was paying $2411.00 a month). As you will see below I have evidence to the effect that Ron Schober and Lyssa Schlosser (Sprint sales) deliberately mislead me about the true and correct costs.

Listen to the Sprint Sales Representative lying to me about the loop charges. Windows Audio (WMA format) 1.8mb

I even used Sprints own tariff calculator (see XLS file below) and found the true price I should be paying to be less than $900.00 per month. Yes, I used Sprints *own* online wholesale pricing tool to discover that my company was being taken advantage of by Sprint. Pretty bad when a sales representative lies to you and then you use their own companies pricing tool to find the truth.

The Whole Story

I signed  a two (2) year agreement with Sprint in April 2002 for 2 T1 circuits (3mbit)  for $2411.00 per month. At the time no other telecom offered high speed dedicated access in Statesboro Georgia. At the time the phone company was just beginning to roll our DSL services and did not offer business class dedicated access to the Internet.

Upon the expiration of my agreement with Sprint (May 2004) I called my Sprint sales representative Lyssa Schlosser and she advised me told that the cost of access actually went up, and if I signed a new contract I would have to pay more than if I stayed with a month-to-month. Between 2004 and 2007 Lyssa Schlosser gave me that same more expensive song and dance on more than one occasion. In late 2007 the new Sprint sales representative Ron Schober told me the same thing. Unknown to them I had been checking prices for 3mbit service in Statesboro and when I received quotes form several customers that were about a one third of what Sprint was charging me, I decided to do something about it. Namely to switch providers and encourage Sprint to refund the monies they overcharged me.

With Bandwidth prices dropping left and right how could someone have the audacity to claim otherwise? Evidently Sprint sales employees and no morals or souls for that matter.

In march (2008) I called Ron Schober and confronted him about the local loop charges that Sprint paid my local phone company and he told me that they paid the local phone company $1,998.00 dollars a month and that Sprint only profited about $500.00 per month on the service they provided me. Evidently Mr. Schober has his numbers crossed as I confirmed with the local phone company that the local lop tariff charge that Sprint pays them is right at $500.00 per month.

I dislike liars, and I call them out when they lie to me. I have never, ever in all my born days ever told a client or customer a lie to make a dollar. Because of that I have no problem sleeping at night. I have integrity, ethics and morals, seems that at least two Sprint sales representatives have neither of those. If given a chance they would probably sell babies to the devil.

Perhaps the lack of integrity, ethics and morals is why Sprint is losing customers, that their stock is about to be rated junk, that they are having to sell assets, lay-off employees and close stores.

Ron Schober LIED to a Sprint customer to make a quick buck. It stands to reason that if he lied to me then all Sprint sales representatives will lie too anyone that they think will believe them. One can only assume you will be lied to as well.

I did get quotes from several other companies to compare pricing with. Here is what I received: AT&T 680.00 per month for 3mbit service, and I got several quotes from three providers via Shop for T1 and the most expensive was about 1600.00 a month. These prices are still a far cry from the $2411.00 I am get screwed out of by Sprint. Oh and Sprint I now have a 3mbit connection that costs 1/3 of what I was paying you for the same bandwidth. For what I was paying you I could have a 12mbit connection running (4 times the bandwidth).

Listen to the Sales Representative lying to me about loop charges. Windows Audio (WMA format) 1.8mb

Sprint how many phone customers have you lost recently? Ummm, wasn't it like 1.2 million customers and counting? I wonder how many of your dedicated access clients are bailing on you as well? I hope they are leaving in droves. I gave you a chance back in late March to do the right thing, to bad you can't go back in time and fix the problem, before it got to the point that it has now. I promise you this is just the tip of the iceberg....

Evidently reputation and reputation management are the first things to go when you lose billions (Sprint Nextel). Seems there are quite a few "sprint sucks.com" and "sprint sucks" websites out there (try Google'ing that). It must be true that Sprint has gone to the dogs. Sprint is hemorrhaging cash and there isn't a big enough fix to stop it. Next stop the corporate deadpool. Heck it might even be something along the lines of Enron, you never know....

 Hey Sprint You Know What They Say About Karma, Right? Well Karma Just Got Ya!

And To Top It Off

Sprint sold me 3mbit service, I expected 3mbit (1.5 megabit per T1/DS1 circuit) or at least very close to that speed. From 2002 to April 2008 I never saw better than 2.5mbit. I fell for their horse hockey about network overhead. Network overhead doesn't take 500kb of bandwidth. My new Non Sprint 3mbit circuit actually exceeds the 3mbit bandwidth by a large margin. My point is What Sprint sells you isn't what you are paying for. You need to ride them hard and heavy to make sure you actually get what you are paying them for.

I just wish I had followed through on complaining about us receiving less than the amount of bandwidth were paying for on our two DS1 (T1) circuits (two bonded T1's are also called a DS3).

Sprint Nextel Gouged Me Over $50,000.00! Sprint May Have Screwed You Too

Now if you were in my shoes and found out a company had ripped you off to the tune of around $56,000.00 what would you do? i bet you would be very pissed off and bring attention to this miscarriage of justice, wouldn't you....

He claimed the cost was "off the chart" in March. Sprint sales reps are a pack of liars, trying to boost their contract commissions.

Sprint doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong with screwing a customer hard and long, such as they have with me and my company. We are a small technology company with thin profit margins and we struggle at times to cover all of our costs. Do you think Sprint cares that they are literally taking food out of our families mouths. Do you think the Sprint sales representatives care about you or me? No they don't all they want are the commissions they receive form selling contracts.

This really has opened our eyes to many companies shady business practices. I have had to go toe to toe with several companies worth billions (companies worth a LOT more than Sprint ever dreamed of being worth) in the last year and half because of things similar to what Sprint pulled on me. I have prevailed on all accounts and I have even written a book on the subject of dealing with stubborn companies and arrogant corporate directors. I will leave you to Google it or search Amazon for that one. Sprint will *refund* what they overcharged me, either voluntarily or I will *take* it through legal means. Sprint owes me and I will not stop or rest until this matter is rectified by Sprint.

Rest assured Sprint I am relentless and will not stop until you refund me what you overcharged me. You think this Sprint Really Sucks website is a problem, just wait till you see what is next in the line up. I assure you it will be most unpleasant for you from a Business, Public Relations, Regulatory and Legal standpoint.

Finally a Response from Sprint Nextel - May 19, 2008

Unfortunately the email I received today is yet another (my 3rd to date) boiler plate "Dear Customer" email. This is typical of companies with poor customer service. Hey Sprint, I am a human being, I have a name it's Allen Harkleroad, not "Dear Customer". The email is the same crap I got twice in March 2008 from Sprint. Which as you know by now didn't do a thing by any means. Oh and Mr. Shoecraft you can call me. I sent you email to the effect which according to the read receipt was over an hour ago when you read it. Hey Sprint, the phone ain't ringing...

Tell you what, why don't you figure it all out, then call or email "Dear Customer". Take your time...

Update May 20, 2008 - Mr. Shoemaker called this morning, Then again I talked with two people in his department in March 2008 and got no where, so I am not expecting much to happen, but I will give him and Sprint a chance to fix this issue. In the meantime I will while waiting continue to do what I've been doing...

May 22, 2008 - Still haven't heard a peep out of Mr. Shoecraft (five days and counting). I am beginning to think it was a stall tactic (didn't work did it) or lip service. This weekend I begin to roll out a series of Sprint parody videos to draw more visitors to this site. I find comedy and humor to be a great medium for attracting readers. The videos will touch on several things (like that new phone that Sprint is releasing in June).

I have a question for you Sprint. Why do I see T-Mobile corporate IP addresses on this site nearly as much as I see the sprint corporate  144.xxx.xx.x IP addresses? (I also see a lot of Embarq IP's as well).

Due Diligence Should Fall Sprint Nextel not the Customer

It appears that several news outlets and blogs have picked up the story, So far gigaom has the best perspective and comments over all.

quote from commenter on gigaom

"What are these commentors all Sprint employees or something? So it’s OK for Sprint to stretch the truth, lie, and charge you too much for something because you expect people to do “due diligence” to figure out Sprint is ripping them off?
 
This is a reason why I am no longer a Sprint customer and lots of other people have moved on to other companies leaving Sprint with some pretty bad churn issues: if you have to do “due diligence” on a major firm like Sprint to catch lies, mistatements, misrepresentations, etc. then they shouldn’t be in business which is the direction they’ve been headed in for some time now. Honest companies keep customers. So if Sprint isn’t honest, it’s the customers fault for not doing “due diligence”. Now Sprint must pay the piper since they aren’t honest and too many people have figured it out."

My Perspective

I like to use an electric company analogy. When I pay my electric bill I don’t have to worry about it as I am paying the current rate, and so is every customer that uses the same electric company. We don’t discover down the road that we are paying more per kilowatt than our neighbors. What the problem is they (SPRINT) has gotten away with it for so long that it has become standard operating procedure to stick it the customer and leave it up the to the customer to catch them. Perhaps there needs to be even further regulation of the industry to ensure that gouging doesn’t happen.

The reason why the electric company (local cable, local phone companies, etc.) doesn't charge one customer and another customer something different is because all the customers are local (regional, etc.) and can talk to each other and compare notes if you will. Dedicated access companies such as Sprint has customers that are spread out and I am guessing that Sprint is taking advantage of the fact that these customers aren’t close enough to discuss services, therefore their is less scrutiny of it’s pricing. Well I aim to keep the cat out of the bag and perhaps help other current and potential customers from getting the bad end of the stick like I did with Sprint.

The point is if my monthly (all utilities are month-to-month billing) electricity rate goes up or down, my bill automatically reflects the increase or decrease. I don't have to worry about being taken advantage of by the utilitiy companies. I may not like the price I pay each month, however it is very clear what I am paying and how much the monthly rate is. The FCC should force dedicated access providers to do the same thing and perhaps if enough attention is drawn to the issue they will regulate it. I am sure Sprint Nextel and other access providers don't like that idea. Too bad, as policing yourselves hasn't worked.

Due diligence shouldn’t fall on the customer, but on the company itself. Sprints sales reps lied to me 4 or 5 times about the cost when I asked about it, and actually told me the price would go up if I signed another agreement (thank God I didn’t ever sign another and went month to month). Agreed, I should have followed up on this a lot earlier, the fact of the matter I didn’t, however that doesn’t give Sprint the right to screw me long and hard.

This kind of thing is exactly why telecommunications companies are regulated by the US Government. It is a shame that the FCC doesn't regulate them even further to ensure that customers aren't being gouged. I guess I need to start writing more letters to folks on capital hill to get get attention to the fact that in the dedicated access business all customers aren't being treated equally, and their naiveté is often preyed upon.

Have You Been Screwed By Sprint Nextel?

Here are the email addresses of Sprint's CEO and Board of Directors. Feel free to contact them and tell them what you think of them gouging me or ripping you off.

Sprint Board of Directors - Executive email addresses

Daniel.R.Hesse@sprint.com - Dan Hesse - President and CEO (Yes Dan@Sprint.com on the Sucky Sprint TV Commercials)
Robert.H.Brust@sprint.com - Robert Brust - Chief Financial Officer
Keith.Cowan@sprint.com - Keith Cowan - President, Strategic Planning and Corporate Initiatives
Paget.L.Alves@sprint.com - Paget Alves - President of Sales and Distribution
John.A.Garcia@sprint.com - John Garcia - Acting Chief Marketing Officer
Chris.A.Hill@sprint.com - Chris Hill - Vice President, Corporate Governance and Ethics, Corporate Secretary
Len.Kennedy@sprint.com Len Kennedy - General Counsel
Bob.johnson@sprint.com - Bob Johnson - Chief Service Officer
Richard.T.C.LeFave@sprint.com - Richard LaFave - Chief Information Officer
Sandra.J.Price@sprint.com - Sandra Price - Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Kathryn.Walker@sprint.com - Kathryn Walker - Chief Network Officers
barry.west@sprint.com - Barry West - Chief Technology Officer
bill.white@sprint.com - Bill White - Senior Vice President of Corporate COmmunications

Barry West why do refuse to read complaint emails?

Oh and to the folks visiting this site, that email address in the Sprint TV commercials (dan@sprint.com) is  an auto-responder. No one is reading email sent to that address. It is a marketing trick to make people think that Dan actually cares about Sprint customers. A very lame trick if I do say so myself.

Hit Sprint Nextel Where it Hurts - In the Wallet

To help out in sending information about Sprint and their activities, You can copy the text in the textbox below and paste it into an email and send it to everyone you know.

You really need to take a look at this website concerning Sprint The website address is: http://www.sprint-really-sucks.com/ Forward it to everyone you know.
 
You can select the text in the window and copy it.
(Windows) select the text and click the CTRL key + C
(Macintosh) select the text and use the APPLE key + C
You can also select the text in the box and then right click on the selected text and choose copy, then paste it into a new email and send it to everyone!

If you don't tell others about Sprint then it is ON YOUR conscience. Don't let yourself, business associates, family, friends be taken in by Sprint.

My Next Step

Hey folks at Sprint. I have this really huge network of associates all over the world. I am asking all of my friends all over the US to call or inquire for pricing on dedicated Internet access to see what kind of prices you give them. So you might want to warn your sales staff to cut out any "funny business" as it might get embarrassing for you. Never know when a caller might be one of my people. If we get conflicting pricing a lot of state Public Service Commissions, the FCC and the FTC (you'll find out soon enough about them) will be notified. You just never know who that next caller might be... You never know, calls to Sprint may have begun last week.

A quote you should ponder (Sprint)

"A conspiracy of silence speaks louder than words."
John Lennon

"All press is good press, unless you are Sprint Nextel." - Allen Harkleroad

Just a couple of places I found this site discussed. You can bet wherever Sprint Nextel news or blog posts are published online I will be there adding comments regarding my mistreatment by Sprint Nextel. So far about 96% of the sites that run news related to Sprint have some sort of open comment system...

Seems Kansascity.com (sprintconnection.kansascity.com) [aka The Kansas City Star ] doesn't like free speech too much when it comes to sharing my dissatisfaction with Sprint. Either they are pro-Sprint, or Sprint employees are flagging my comments as spam. I guess KansasCity.com isn't so much about publishing all news (good or bad), but deems it necessary to censor negative comments about Sprint. I guess on KasasCity.com I have no freedom of speech guaranteed to me by the US Constitution. I dare KansasCIty.com to run a story about this site, I bet they won't, and if they do it won't be fair and balanced.

May 22, 2008 - Just a FYI Sprint, just because you haven't heard from me or see as many updates here (don't worry several will come this weekend), I am still out there evangelizing this website. I actually have several employees and contractors searching for Sprint news and blog items and of course posting to point back to this website. May it is true that a drowning man (aka Sprint) doesn't care if another cup of water is poured over his head....

Stay Tuned I Have More Coming Soon! You can bet on that...

May 22, 2008 - An open letter to Dan Hesse, Sprint Board of Directors, et al.

Sprint Nextel Stock Is Now Junk

"Fitch currently rates both Sprint Nextel's issued default and senior unsecured ratings at "BB+, which is considered junk status. Fitch said it considered past deterioration in credit metrics, consumer sentiment and Sprint Nextel's competition when deciding to affirm the rating. Sprint Nextel's first-quarter operating performance met lowered expectations as well, Fitch said in a statement." - CNN Money May 22, 2008 see also Fitch Ratings press release

ATTENTION: Members of the press and any ex-employees of Sprint or Sprint Nextel feel free to use the contact form here to contact me. I am extremely interested in communicating with Sprint ex-employees about Sprint's billing practices. I assure you that I will not reveal  your identity or the source of information.

new Alltel commercial, maybe?

SPRINT PCS NEXTEL & XOHM & CLEARWIRE & BOOST MOBILE SUCKS

DISCLAIMER: The "Sprint Really Sucks" website is in no way, form, or fashion affiliated with Sprint or Sprint Nextel. You can find them here. This website is a non-commercial, personal 1st amendment freedom of speech protest and gripe website (as upheld by the 6th circuit US court) of Allen Harkleroad. This website contains the opinions, feelings and thoughts of Allen Harkleroad. By visiting this website you are bound to this websites terms of service agreement. Sprint, Sprint.biz and Sprint Nextel are registered trademarks or copyright of Sprint.    Sprint Nextel NYSE Stock ticker: S