I've heard such great things about Verizon's coverage and thought what better place to ask than their existing customers. I would appreciate your input please...
After being with Sprint for MANY years, I am sick and tired of the false promises and being lied to about the great service coming. I've been waiting for this new and improved coverage (or any coverage) for the past 10+ years. Currently, my adult children, their spouses, and my husband share a plan. That is a total of 6 lines, 5 of which are smart phones. My husband is the only one who has good coverage with his flip phone. We pay an average of $395.00 a month for these lines. My eldest daughter has had to go outside in 20 below zero weather just to attempt to place a call. Sprint agreed their service was iffy in her neighborhood, but if she could place one call it showed she had some coverage...even if it was bad coverage. She lives less than a mile from me. Apparently, my service is supposed to be stellar. That must be why we had to install a landline in order to place and receive calls. My younger daughter and her husband have okay service, but live in another town. They still struggle with dropped calls daily.
I've talked with Sprint until I am blue in the face and have been told there is no problem with dropped calls on my line (for example), according to their records. I asked if that included the four calls I made to them in the past 30 minutes, all of which were dropped. No response. They said if I make calls near their tower it would be better coverage. I guess I am supposed to drive a mile to the local tower to make calls? I did attempt to call them once and after two disconnects...got the message through to them I was sitting beneath their tower! They didn't believe me so I took a photo and sent it to them. They didn't respond.
During my last call to them...a good point was brought up by one of their "customer service" reps. (and I use that term lightly). She asked if service is such a problem, why we continue to get new phones and extend the contracts. I stated at times it was the only option because whichever one that purchased a phone was because theirs was inoperable. Sprint's warranty doesn't cover most things. I was told they could simply go online and purchase a phone elsewhere (at five times the price?). I also stated the last two upgrades were done (the same day) because we were told the two year contract requirement is ending very soon as everything is switching to their no contract Friends and Family plan. The rep. immediately said that is not true, we'd still have to finish our contracts. I explained that is NOT what we were told, gave her the name and phone number of the person at the corporate store who shared this information with us, and pleaded with her to contact them...not her problem, she said. It is not their fault if an employee gives customers incorrect information. Of course this conversation took place beyond the 14 day return limit. I tried to return my phone on the 15th day once and was denied. The store was closing in 5 minutes when I got there the night before and I was told to stop back the next day. I had used the phone for 2 days prior to knowing I was not an iPhone fan and was further delayed because my father in law was dying. I was needed at his bedside. It dawned on me it was the 14th day so I made a point to leave the hospital early to get to a Sprint store. When I returned the following morning...I was told it is too late.
ETF's: I checked into the cost of paying off the early term fees. For all the lines it was around $1,000.00. We were all desperate enough to consider it until we were told we'd have to return our phones to Sprint. I asked if those are the phones we purchased from Sprint. Yes, but being we got them at a discounted rate...they belong to Sprint, not us. I said some are refurbished phones so were never new to us to begin with. She said all were refurbished phones, not just some and it didn’t make any difference.
So…what do you think? Thank you for reading my novella and I would appreciate any advise you can give.
