Spring plunked my magic twanger, too.
I attempted to use the military deployment clause to end my contract with Sprint. They made it as difficult as humanly possible for me to submit the paperwork to the proper people. Apparently you have to fax it to an out of state location; you can't do it in store or over the phone. Days before I deployed, I got fed up and found the corporate office fax number, faxed the required paperwork and a letter that stated I will never again use, nor will I ever recommend, Sprint to another person in good faith and the reasons why. Haven't heard back from them after that.
I had Sprint from 1998 to 2004. I started out with a two year contract and had my soriginal phone, a Sony Z-1000. My wife got hers in 2001 and I added her to my bill for the additional $10.00/month and that commitment expired in 2003.
When her phone died in late 2004 (two years after the contract expired) I wentto purchase a replacement. I had no problem renewing for another two years but their rep out-and-out lied to me about purchasing a replacement phone for my wife.
My wife wanted a particular phone that had a list price of $280 or so. The rep said that if we renewed the contract we could get it for $50 or so. We said go for it and they shipped the phone.
When I went to activate it, they told me this was for a new number. I said this was supposed to be used on an existing one. This rep said no problem and activated it to my wife's existing number. So far, so good.
About two weeks later I got my Sprint bill and found they banged me for $280for that phone. When I called their customer service, I was basically told tough s**t, that's the way it works. They don't offer replacement phones when renewilg a contract. They didn't care that their rep told me something different. They also acknowledged that since we're still using the existing number, we didn't have a contract with them, either, and could return the phone for credit.
That night, Cingular/ATT had two new customers and in spite of what I've read, I've had zero problems with them, either with reception or billing.
I was, however, able to return the phone to them by prepaid registered mail using materials supplied by their local store. They would up owing us a few dollars which I made damn sure they paid me. (it pays to be anal with my personal bookkeeping)
About two weeks later I got some strange message on my home answering machine from Sprint customer service apologizing profusly for the mixup and asked how they could get us back as a customer. I didn't bother responding.
This was just about four years ago. After the first two years were up, Cingular lets us renew our contracts when they are up and get phones for the same prices they charge for new activations. We're due to upgrade our phones later this year but, to be honest, we like our Motorola razr V3's and just may ride it without a contract. It's nice to know that we can avail ourselves of the replacement/upgrade at any time, though.
...that's something Sprint ought to think about. That would have resolved my problem before it even started.
