news@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Network News) (08/04/88)
singer@IBM.com (David Singer) writes in article <501@vector.UUCP>: > >Just for fun, I used 10xxx dialing to place a call via US Sprint on >April 13. It finally showed up on my GTE phone bill today [...] Wow, 3.5 months! I guess Sprint finally bought a CRAY to run their billing software on. Before it seemed like a PDP-11. --- A question follows this short tirade --- I told Sprint take a hike in January of 1987 after double billings, two different bills staggered at two week intervals(!), and some really awful customer "service". That was January of '87. In March of '87 I was still getting double bills for $0.00. It was time to call "customer service" again. I dialed the number, went outside and washed my car. Came back to find myself still on hold-- but I expected that. About 5 more minutes got me in. "Oh yes sir. We'll cancel both accounts immediately! Thank you for calling!" (How did I get two accounts?) May '87. I started getting "recharged" for calls I made in NOVEMBER and DECEMBER of '86. It was time for a letter to the president of the company. He gave me a very nice return letter, signed by him (or a ball-point bearing machine) promising that my problem would be taken care of in a few days, and regardless of the outcome, one of his staff members would contact me in 7 days. SILENCE for months.. The complaints to customer service continued at two week intervals. November '87. My refund arrived. I was amazed. All was quiet. The bills stopped. February '88. An envelope arrived. $0.00, make check payable to US Sprint. My phone call to customer service lasted about a minute or so. March '88. An envelope arrived: "WELCOME TO US SPRINT-- The materials you requested are enclosed." March '88 (two weeks later). Another envelope arrived: "WELCOME TO US SPRINT-- The materials you requested are enclosed." _ April '88. My FON cards arrived for two different accounts. It was fun explaing to them how I've been an MCI customer since '87. All is quiet. For the moment. --- My question: Is Sprint OK? Are they back to normal? Did they hire some witch doctor to give incantations over their computers? I can understand how merging two billing systems (US Telecom & Sprint) can cause problems, but sheesh... -James Hayes Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale CA. hayes@amdcad.amd.com /earth: file system full {ucbvax|sun|decwrl}!amdcad!hayes (Please delete anyone you can) Work: (408) 749-5726 Home: (408) 733-9814
patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) (08/23/88)
I cancelled TWO accounts with US SPRINT in January of 1986,
made more than 25 phone calls trying to clear up the *misunderstanding*
and they're still double billing me *mega sigh* even after
I mailed 100+ pages of netter's complaints saved from misc.consumers
to the Chief Exec at U.S. Sprint *double mega sigh* then spoke
to his Executive Assistant who swore by all that's holy that
I wouldn't be bothered again -- trip trop, trip trop - two months
later the bills started appearing in my mailbox AGAIN!
--
Patt Haring {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!patth
-or- uunet!dasys1!patth
Big Electric Cat Public Access Unix (212) 879-9031 - System Operator
"I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." Jessica: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?