Learning from the Master

On the 4th of July, we went boating w/ my parents and my brother Aaron and his wife Shanda were in town. We had a great day, but while putting the boat in the water, Alex dropped his phone and it fell in a puddle. As he points out - his phone the ONLY puddle of water outside of the ocean. Lucky us.

Anyway, on saturday, Shanda called Sprint to "see what they could do for us". A replacement phone would cost $300 and we didn't have insurance. She explained that we can't purchase a new phone, we have been Sprint customers for over 4 years, and we pay our bill on time each month on auto payment. They representative added insurance to the phone, then told us to go to a corporate repair center and if they couldn't fix it that they would give us a new phone.

That was a bunch of baloney. We went to the store and the manager said that the rep was off her rocker - that everyone knows that a water damaged phone has to be dealt with only through the insurance - and he has no ability to give replacement phones. He says to make a claim to our newly acquired insurance policy.

We do that and the rep there notices right away that we purchased insurance on the phone the same day as the claim. We have to fill out an affadavit and fax it to them. We do. They call Alex and say that they have access to all of our Sprint records and they see that the insurance was bought after we damaged the phone and that Sprint essentially just instructed us to break the law.

So. Just now, I called Sprint. I am SO proud of myself. I thought long and hard about how Shanda acted on the phone. She didn't get angry, but she did state firmly when she was treated poorly. She rewarded help whenever it was given. she was polite. So I called. I explained to the rep the above situation. She said that water damage had to be handled through insurance. I said, "Yes, I recognize that, however at issue now is that a Sprint representative has made a series of major errors. I need to know how Sprint is going to compensate me for that." She put me on hold - her supervisor's offer: 100 bonus minutes. I say - "You aren't offering me anything, I currently use 300 minutes less per month than I purchase - You've offered me nothing of value. I want a replacement phone at the price that you are currently offering on your website of $29.99 for new customers. Or I will cancel my contract right now, and you'll just have to send my fee for breaking contract to collections."

She sends me Account Services - where they send the desperate-almost-ready-to-cancel customers. The new lady says, How can I keep your business, I understand you have a problem with a phone." I say, "No actually, I have a problem with sprint customer service over a phone". I explain the whole situation.....she is overnight expressing us a FREE replacement phone!

I can't believe it. I am NOTORIOUS for losing my cool, my temper, and all sense of self-respect in situations like this. But watching Shanda taught me SO much about how to handle those situations! Amazing.

This blog is dedicated to my sister-in-law Shanda.