Sprint Dumps Needy Customers - Gismodo - READ THIS - Interesting Customer Service Model

Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote in
news:slrnf8rk4e.r41.sjsobol@amethyst.justthe.net:

> On 2007-07-06, Scott <how.do@you.do> wrote:
>
>>
>> I think you'll find that Sprint is taking an "enough is enough"
>> approach to this. Having done some billing system analysis lately
>> for a couple of companies, number of contacts per month showed some
>> interesting data. In some instances, customers were calling in
>> hundreds of times a month for any variety of reasons.
>
>
> Well, that is completely excessive. That's an average of at least 3-4
> times a day, EVERY day if you figure only 100 calls per month. I'd
> fire those customers too.
>
>
>> The bottom line was that companies are now looking at
>> the profitability of individual customers and choosing not to do
>> business with those that they consistently lose money on- while the
>> number of customers might take a small hit, profitability and margin
>> both show positive growth.
>
>
> Well, I guess the question is how often you have to call for them to
> fire you.


If they are smart, they are taking a top-down approach- starting with the
worst offenders and working their way down. I doubt that anything
approaching what the normal person would call the beginning of "excessive"
will ever come into play, especially if they are looking for months of
abuse as opposed to a single spike in call volume. They already admit
publicly to having a customer service issue that they are working on, so
they should expect to have soem issues coming in that take time to fix.

>
> Framing it the way you framed it... well, the policy makes a lot more
> sense to me now.
>
>
>

>
> Well, I guess the question is how often you have to call for them to fire
> you.
>
> Framing it the way you framed it... well, the policy makes a lot more
> sense
> to me now.
>
Don't see a massive "firing of Sprint" customers, so I guess there's your
answer. BTW, I'm also sure you can add your carrier of choice be it VZW or
at&t to this. And as someone said previous this is a win/win, you get out
of the contract w/o ETF and can port your number over, as well as a clean
credit slate from Sprint. I don't agree with a previous poster that almost
a month to change is not enough time. It can done in and hour or so, maybe
less by going to any other major carrier. It can even be done online.

>> So was I a "problem customer" because I had to keep calling
>> and pushing? Would I be dropped, even though I was 1000% right from
>> the first?
>>
>> DGI
>>
>>
>
> You'll find that they are looking for an ongoing pattern, not something
> tied to a single issue- many months in a row of resource-hogging, not a
> single prolonged instance.

He's still a customer of Sprint? Well I guess there's the answer?

If you think Sprints the only company to do this, or the only industry to do
this, you're quite wrong. Do I think Sprint, Vzw, at&t and Tmobile are out
for anything but their own good, yep. But I also don't think they have any
hidden agenda.

On 2007-07-06, Michael Paris <mparis27@comcast.net> wrote:

> credit slate from Sprint. I don't agree with a previous poster that almost
> a month to change is not enough time. It can done in and hour or so, maybe
> less by going to any other major carrier. It can even be done online.

I was that poster. I don't typically have tons of time to go cell phone
shopping. It doesn't take long - I just have a ton of stuff to do.

"Michael Paris" <mparis27@comcast.net> wrote in
news:_oqdnU4cUsSvrBPbnZ2dnUVZ_uOmnZ2d@comcast.com:

>>> So was I a "problem customer" because I had to keep calling
>>> and pushing? Would I be dropped, even though I was 1000% right from
>>> the first?
>>>
>>> DGI
>>>
>>>
>>
>> You'll find that they are looking for an ongoing pattern, not
>> something tied to a single issue- many months in a row of
>> resource-hogging, not a single prolonged instance.
>
> He's still a customer of Sprint? Well I guess there's the answer?

I believe you'll find that this will be an ongoing project for Sprint- not
getting a letter this week or next week does not mean that you are immune
from such action down the road.

>
> If you think Sprints the only company to do this, or the only industry
> to do this, you're quite wrong. Do I think Sprint, Vzw, at&t and
> Tmobile are out for anything but their own good, yep. But I also
> don't think they have any hidden agenda.
>
>

Of course they are out for their own good- they are publicly traded
companies (or divisions of one) whose sole reason for existence is to make
money. Anyone thinking that they need to focus on their customers' needs
out of some sense of charitable empathy has it all wrong.

"Steve Sobol" wrote:
>
> I was that poster. I don't typically have tons of time to go cell phone
> shopping. It doesn't take long - I just have a ton of stuff to do.

Well if you were one of the recipients of this letter you would now have a
lot of extra time on your hands. Calling Sprint thrice a day can be a
time-consuming and draining experience. <g>


--
Mike

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 08:06:02 -0400, "Michael Paris"
<mparis27@comcast.net> wrote:

>And as someone said previous this is a win/win, you get out
>of the contract w/o ETF and can port your number over, as well as a clean
>credit slate from Sprint.

The way I read it, they not only waive the ETF, they also zero out
your bill. Watch for people to take advantage of that. <g>

--
Paul Miner

Paul Miner <pminer@elrancho.invalid> wrote in
news:d8ss83hrkc86ud6qd7c88u91hm4kpkk460@4ax.com:

> On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 08:06:02 -0400, "Michael Paris"
> <mparis27@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>And as someone said previous this is a win/win, you get out
>>of the contract w/o ETF and can port your number over, as well as a
>>clean credit slate from Sprint.
>
> The way I read it, they not only waive the ETF, they also zero out
> your bill. Watch for people to take advantage of that. <g>
>

Just talked to a couple of contacts at Sprint- it sounds like it was a one
time thing and not an ongoing program. Less than 2000 customers recieved
the letters and there are no plans to send more.

>From Gizmodo
>
>Did you ever have a boyfriend/girlfriend who seem really cool until they start
>calling all the time, forcing you to dump them even though they were super
>hot?
>No? Well Sprint has, except they call these crazy boyfriends/girlfriends their
>customers. In a "Dear John" letter for the record books, Sprint dumped their
>most high-maintenance customers.
>
>http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/ouch/spri...ers-275374.php

Coverage of this has grown signifcantly....

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5604

Smiling Wickedly, answered:
> From Gizmodo
>
> Did you ever have a boyfriend/girlfriend who seem really cool until they start
> calling all the time, forcing you to dump them even though they were super hot?
> No? Well Sprint has, except they call these crazy boyfriends/girlfriends their
> customers. In a "Dear John" letter for the record books, Sprint dumped their
> most high-maintenance customers.
>
> http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/ouch/spri...ers-275374.php

HEY, it's the invisible man. YES I DEFINITELY have done this. It's
calling Dumping the "dead weight". In Her case, it was "Dump the psyco
Bitch from Hell"

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