Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Todd Inch Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Sprint Wars (Was: Sprint Puts it in Writing: On Your Bill!) Message-ID: <12457@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 21 Sep 90 21:11:06 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Global Tech International Inc. Lines: 72 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 668, Message 7 of 9 In article <12176@accuvax.nwu.edu> eli@pws.bull.com (Steve Elias) writes: >C'mon, folks. Enough whining about Sprint "putting it in writing". I don't think so. I wish I HAD it in writing before I did switch to Sprint, it might have saved a lot of time and some money. Both on their TV ads and on the phone to both myself and my wife, their sales staff promised that I would save money switching to Sprint. LIE!!! I found out about their lie when AT&T "slammed" me after my wife called for information. I was infuriated that I had been slammed and demanded GTE change me back and refund the difference I would have saved if I had been on Sprint, as was my desire. The nice service rep at GTE called back and told me I would have paid $8.50 MORE if I had Sprint for the (typical, for me) calls on my bill. She called each carrier and got their costs for those calls and compared them for me. That worked out to about 10% of that bill. Yes, all my LD calls are normally intRA-state, inter-LATA (206 to 509) but Sprint never EVER mentioned intER-state call savings, or intRA-state exceptions, or "average calling patterns" or anything like that. >10 cents per minute anywhere in US. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is a continuation of the BIG LIE. It means "anywhere except within your own state." But, who would ever dial long distance inside their own state? (sarcastic smiley here) And you want to talk about Customer Service? Took six calls, with LOTS of auto-attendant menus and "on-hold" time to get Sprint to credit me for the difference between them and AT&T and the $12 dial-1 LD changeover fee. While I'm ranting, let's talk about those 100% digital calls. Yes, CALLS is what they've told me, not NETWORK. Lie #2, especially if you're in the west half of the United States. How many miles of analog lines does your call travel through to get to their digital network? I don't know, maybe it does help if you're calling cross-country, but I just can't get past the notion of your quality is only as good as the weakest link. Is this as opposed to a satellite-based network? Maybe that is the weakest link for the other guys. Well, I haven't thrown out the 800-service literature from Sprint yet, and I did give the lady an hour of my time to discuss the company's LD plans, so I'm not totally predjudice about Sprint, they just don't help me at home and I don't like sales jer ... uh, people, lying to me. Can anyone comment on the modem-connection quality via Sprint from/to the Seattle area? Sounds controversional in central CA, anyway. I also don't like being slammed, but that did show me true costs, and they (AT&T) paid for the changeover themselves. I also give them a little leeway since my wife did said she was interested, but didn't explicitly ask for or authorize the switchover. Interesting note here, GTE swears the LD carrier cannot authorize a changeover (maybe local policy?), that the subscriber has to call it in himself, but obviously it can happen here. Todd Inch, System Manager, Global Technology, Mukilteo WA (206) 742-9111 UUCP: {smart-host}!gtisqr!toddi ARPA: gtisqr!toddi@beaver.cs.washington.edu