On June 29th, Sprint sent out letters to 1,200 of their customers that made frequent phone calls to their customer service center complaining about their poor service. The letter read as follows:

“Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information. While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs. Therefore, after careful consideration, the decision has been made to terminate your wireless service agreement effective July 30, 2007.”

I have been a Sprint customer since December 14, 2005 – and truthfully – I am praying that I am one of the customers that they decide to drop.

Since the day I signed up with Sprint, they have given me nothing but problems, harassment, anger – and as we like to say in Italian – Ojeda. There are some months where I have had to call them over a dozen times. Over the last year-and-a-half, they have disrupted my service, told me I owed them money that I did not – and even locked me into yet another brand-new two-year contract each and every time I make even a miniscule change to my plan. In fact, I jokingly call Sprint, “My Girlfriend” – because there is no one else that I talk to on a more frequent basis.

Let me give you a little example of what I am talking about. One day, my phone was disconnected because, according to them, I did not pay my full bill. So I called them and spoke to a customer service representative. After explaining my problem and asking them why my phone was shut off because I did, in fact, pay my bill – I was disconnected from the person I was speaking to. This happened three more times before I finally got someone to hear my plea. Upon hearing my dilemma, this person told me that I owed an additional two hundred and fifty dollars for what they called, “extra minutes.” When I signed up for Sprint, they told me that I was in their, “Fair And Flexible Plan,” which meant that I would be charged an additional five dollars for every fifty minutes I used over my plan. As it turns out – and unbeknownst to me – they cancelled their, “Fair And Flexible Plan” – and “forgot” to tell me. So as I was knowingly using extra minutes thinking I was on this plan – I was actually being charged forty-five cents per extra minute.

Furious, I demanded that the extra fees be wiped off my account because I was given no prior warning about this change to my plan. After speaking to a supervisor, they finally decided to drop the charges – but then told me that they had to restart my two-year contract because I made a change to my plan. So because they decided to eliminate the “Fair And Flexible Plan,” I had to restart my two-year contract. Does this make any sense to anyone?

Furthermore, I can’t tell you how confusing their billing procedures are. For example, as of right now, July 11, 2007 – I owe Sprint $90.43. My “Spending Limit” – whatever that means – is $125. But I have somehow used $19.29 of my spending limit and am now $105.71 away from the maximum of my limit. So let’s recap. I owe them $90.43, I have somehow used $19.29 of my limit, but yet, if you add the two numbers together, that comes to $109.72, not $105.71…

…what?

I am so sick and tired of the way Sprint treats me that as I am writing this column – I am actually on hold with Sprint begging them to send me one of those letters – because I will be damned if I am going to pay them a $200 early termination fee for wanting to leave a company that treats me like a red-headed stepchild. Incredibly, I spoke to a supervisor named Jeffrey, who told me that they will not send me one of these letters because, “Whatever department makes that decision has already chosen which customers have already been selected for the letter and I don’t know the name of that department and what criteria they choose to select someone. So whoever makes that decision, I don’t know.”

Very interestingly, Jeffrey called me back after we hung up and gave me the number of Nanci Schwartz, Sprint’s Public Relations Manager. After I called her and told her my story at approximately 2:30pm – Nanci said that she would refer me to Sprint’s Communications Manager, Rich Pesce, who told me that, “The termination letter that we talked about and you mention in your column went to a very small (2/1000th of 1 percent) number of customers.” Sprint claims that they will work with me to help me have a better experience with my service with the company – but we’ll see.

Again, so let’s recap. I have been a customer since December 14, 2005, and I have been treated like crap for the last year-and-a-half – but although I have complained vigorously – I have not complained enough to be considered “annoying” enough – so I have to stay their customer until February, 2009.

If I could explain how I feel about the way Sprint has treated me, I would, ironically, use one of my favorite lines on The Sopranos when Tony Soprano described what happens when you become a “Made Man”…

…“Once you get in this family, there’s no gettin’ out.”