Sprint bill "WOW"

[gduke2010]

I just paid my Sprint billand wow. The bill has been going up for the past three months. And this one was way out off. I have never gone over my data usage until the last three months. I haven't use my phone anymore The last three months. My usage is always been the about the same.

I feel they're screwing me and my contract goes for almost another year. Would love to get out of my contract and go back to Verizon. A girlfriend of mine told me about a deal that sprint had with iPhone 7's. She got one so I wait for it. I regretted that decision ever since.

Wonder how I could get out of this contract and go back to Verizon add a minimal out of pocket cost ,

[gduke2010]

It's really hard to get a hold of them on the phone. Would really like to speak to some consumer protection agency and make a complaint

[john70t]

You know what also begins with an "S"?
SCAM!

The exact same thing happened to us years ago.
Mother insisted I have a cell phone and so step-father got a Sprint family plan.
Three phones for $90/month with something like 1800 minutes.
None of us used it much except for emergency.
Parents had hard lines for business and I had no friends.
Then the bill went from $90 to $350. Month after month.
Step-father was a competent attorney, but even he was unable to reach anyone live there.
Sprint kept calling me even though I was not the account holder and wasn't authorized.
But they knew that already.
They never called the primary number and wouldn't respond to him. Dodgy.

Their bills showed equal usage which was incorrect. I almost never used mine. 25-50 minutes tops.

Their other chart, on the very same bill mind you, showed my phone somehow used many thousands of minutes and thus the plan overage charges.
(How could two electronic charts say two opposite things?)

So essentially Sprint was legally claiming:
1). their own brand-new phone hardware was not hanging up,
2). and was defective,
3). but they were charging us anyway.
Oh and they wouldn't replace their supposedly 'defective' phone.

[John Rogers]

I never try to talk to the Sprint or ATT or others on the phone but go to the store I dealt with in the beginning. With cell phones there are several scams going around, the biggest is using your number to contact long distance or to foreign countries and if there is a person asking if that is you, there is a recording of you saying "yes". They get that by calling and asking if that is you and you of course say "yes" and it is recorded.

In the San Diego area it is with 619 area code calls that are spoofed from who knows where. In the past several years I have watched my phone both cell and land line charges closely and they have not changed. I was leery of the Sprint "cut your bill 50%" deal but so far it has been a good deal for me.

If it were me I would go over the bill with a magnifying glass to see what has gone up?

[john70t]

Originally Posted by john rogers

there is a recording of you saying "yes". They get that by calling and asking if that is you and you of course say "yes" and it is recorded.

Crap! That just happened to me during a tired 20hr drive.

Some nice Indian lady from my X Bank called and said "Is this John X of X address?"
I said "Yes".
She said "There is a problem with your account, I just need you to verify the last four of your social security".
I said "I don't give that out to strangers on the phone. I will talk to my local branch."
She wouldn't give any other info without "verifying me".

How screwed am I?

[RKDinOKC]

Never answer questions with a "yes" on the phone. Always confirm by repeating the answer back. Example: Q: Is this John X of X address? Ans: "This is John X of X address."

Also refuse to give my complete Social over the Phone period. There is no reason anyone should need my complete social. If a bank or some companies I already have accounts with truly need Social verification they only need the last 4 digits. BUT. THEY NEVER INITIATE THE CALL! If they have a problem with my account they send a letter. If they are dunning me for a bill, they could care less who I am, they just want the money, lol.

[legion]

You can switch to Ting, keep your phone, still use the Sprint network, and probably save a ton. Go to ting.com and put in your numbers and see how it works out. Might even be worth breaking your contract early and paying the penalties.

[GH85Carrera]

I have been a customer of AT&T for many long years. So far in all those years they only screwed up the bill once. I opened it up and saw a $800 bill and about had a heart attack. Somehow somewhere they decided all my plan minutes were gone and charged every call at some stupid rate like 50 cents per minutes. It took two years to get the issue resolved. It was astonishing how many people work there and can't grasp simple arithmetic. After 12 months I spent about an hour on the support line add finally got to talk to an intelligent human. She fixed the issue in 30 seconds.

At least I could talk to a human every time I have called.

I hear the horror stories from people with Sprint, or Comcast and I am amazed and happy I don't have to deal with that.

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by john70t

Crap! That just happened to me during a tired 20hr drive.

Some nice Indian lady from my X Bank called and said "Is this John X of X address?"
I said "Yes".
She said "There is a problem with your account, I just need you to verify the last four of your social security".
I said "I don't give that out to strangers on the phone. I will talk to my local branch."
She wouldn't give any other info without "verifying me".

How screwed am I?

I answer that with 'how can I help you?'

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by RKDinOKC

Never answer questions with a "yes" on the phone. Always confirm by repeating the answer back. Example: Q: Is this John X of X address? Ans: "This is John X of X address."

Also refuse to give my complete Social over the Phone period. There is no reason anyone should need my complete social. If a bank or some companies I already have accounts with truly need Social verification they only need the last 4 digits. BUT. THEY NEVER INITIATE THE CALL! If they have a problem with my account they send a letter. If they are dunning me for a bill, they could care less who I am, they just want the money, lol.

Look, if they are calling YOU then you don't need to give ANY info to them. NONE. if my bank or insurance co or whomever is going to be so impersonal as to hire someone from a third world country rather than an employee at a local branch that I know to call me then I have no problem being so impersonal as to not respond.

[ossiblue]

Don't know if this applies or works for any of you, but I've found it a good deal.

I used to have the cheapest Sprint, then Verizon plans available because I used my phone only for emergencies when away from home. Since retirement, we've begun to travel and I wanted a smart phone that I could access the internet, make calls, text, etc. My daughter gave me one of her old Apple phones which are restricted to AT&T networks. I got the phone unlocked, and bought a month to month subscription through Cricket, which is the cheap-o level of AT&T. Costs me $35/month for 3 gigs of data at high speed, unlimited at reduced speed, unlimited talk & text. Plenty for me. No contracts and all taxes and fees included.

Downside is limited/poor customer service, some limits on remote AT&T coverages, and no support from AT&T directly.

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by john70t

Crap! That just happened to me during a tired 20hr drive.

Some nice Indian lady from my X Bank called and said "Is this John X of X address?"
I said "Yes".
She said "There is a problem with your account, I just need you to verify the last four of your social security".
I said "I don't give that out to strangers on the phone. I will talk to my local branch."
She wouldn't give any other info without "verifying me".

How screwed am I?

I'd suspect you're okay, but you need to be vigilant. If it was a scam, they already have a lot of your personal information as they knew your bank, your name and address. Getting your SS# was the important task in this type of scam, not getting you to say, "yes."

You did the right thing, of course, and contacting your bank directly is important. The fact she wouldn't give you any more information is suspicious, IMO. I would think a legitimate caller would have encouraged you to contact your bank directly and show understanding of your concerns.

BTW, I, for one, would like to know the response from your bank as to whether or not it was a legitimate call.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by john70t

Crap! That just happened to me during a tired 20hr drive.

Some nice Indian lady from my X Bank called and said "Is this John X of X address?"
I said "Yes".
She said "There is a problem with your account, I just need you to verify the last four of your social security".
I said "I don't give that out to strangers on the phone. I will talk to my local branch."
She wouldn't give any other info without "verifying me".

How screwed am I?

Never ever say "yes" on the phone with people who call you. Some of the SCAM artists are now recording the call, splicing your "yes" into a recorded agreement.

I respond with "This is James, how can I help you?"

[john70t]

I have a very unique phone number..
Got a robo-solicitation phone call the other day from my own number but one digit off.
That was odd.

[pwd72s]

I reply with: "Who are you?" But only after hearing of the"yes scam".

No smart phone, no contract here. Do have a trac phone, call it my $8.33 per month plan. $100 worth of minutes easily lasts the year...and they carry them over. Only used when we're out and about for phone calls. Wouldn't have bought it except there are no longer pay phones. Most of the time it sits on a shelf turned off.

[HardDrive]

Pretty happy with AT&T. No unexplained weirdness on our bills.

[SweetWaterSurprise]

I have Verizon and they aren't the cheapest, but the bill is ALWAYS the same. $80, unlimited, done.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Never ever say "yes" on the phone with people who call you. Some of the SCAM artists are now recording the call, splicing your "yes" into a recorded agreement.

I respond with "This is James, how can I help you?"

I have heard that and I wonder just what they can really do with a recorded yes.

That sounds like the old virus warning emails I used to get. Don't open an email with "A Gift for you or the virus will erase your credit cards and make your dog pregnant and make your car rust"

OK, they splice my yes into any question they want. So what, they don't have my billing information. They can send me all the bills they want and they will go right with the other junk mail, into the recycle bin after they are torn up.

What can they really do with some recorded reply?