UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

Sorry…only one topic tonight (and when you read it, you’ll see why.)

Quick-hitters:

- Amy got lucky. She actually posted a blog entry on day 1 of this year’s IMBC.

She’s not going to last :P.

- My UPS guy’s a comedian. He swung by around 7PM tonight to drop off a package. When I opened the door, he handed me a small, Tyvek-bagged package from Buy.com. He then started snickering, and told me “Don’t take this the wrong way, but…you have a small package.”

(groan…)

One of these days, I’m going to have to tell him that he’s paid to deliver my packages, not to crack jokes :P.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,760. I got a couple hundred bucks last week, and very quickly added a couple hundred back to the running total.

- So at around 8:30PM tonight, I got a call from my 11-year-old cousin, and I knew exactly what the call was about.

(Background: Over the weekend, my aunt asked me for recommendations on new cell phone service. I immediately mentioned SERO—500 minutes, 7pm nights, free wireless web, etc., for $30—and explained that while SERO was a great value, you get what you pay for. Anyone who has ever dealt with Sprint CS knows exactly what I’m talking about.)

He explained to me that the phone did not work. Assuming this was nothing more than an ambiguity, I asked my cousin to power on the phone. He did so, and then asked me what the phone number on the new account was. I asked him to read a ten digit number off the box of the phone—a Palm Centro—and he started “8-1-8…”

Now I made sure to request a 626 number, and the two contact numbers I left when signing up for the SERO line were also 626 numbers, so why the hell did Sprint give her an 818 number???

Back to the phone itself…eventually it dawned upon me that not only did we have to turn on the device itself, but we also had to turn on the phone capabilities in order to make calls. I had my cousin hit the phone button on the Centro, and was already patting myself on the back, when my cousin told me that he got a message along the lines of “your account is not authorized to make this phone call.”

-bang- -bang- -bang-

I asked for my aunt’s PIN, and called Sprint Customer Service to see if they could figure out what was going on. I got an Indian guy with a heavy accent, and I knew I was in for a headache or three. I first pointed out that I was not calling about the line of service from which I was making this call—I was using my Sprint phone—and I wanted to know why my aunt’s phone was not working. The rep, clearly mistaken, kept asking about what I would need to do to add a second line of service! Three times I explained that I was not looking to add a line of service, and three times he replied, “I know sir…” followed by “If you want to add a new line of service…”

-bang- -bang- -bang-

Once I straightened him out, he then explained that it appeared that the line was not activated. I quickly mentioned that every SERO line I’ve opened or helped someone open came activated, but he insisted that it was not. Sure enough, a quick Google search pointed out that sometimes Sprint doesn’t activate the line of service before shipping. Ok…my fault.

I then asked him about the issue of the phone number. The rep explained that Sprint uses the phone numbers that a customer provides as a guideline, but they really try to give users a number that gives them the best quality of service.

For your information, the number of reference that I gave Sprint is located in La Puente, CA. The number that they gave us is located in Van Nuys, CA. As you can see here, Sprint did a great job giving my aunt a number as close to local as possible, wouldn’t you say? Thirty-six miles…not exactly “close,” I’d say.

I screamed, “How is a totally different area code ‘close’???” The rep explained again that the number they issued was as close to local as they could have provided. Seriously, Sprint? I’m surprised they didn’t give my aunt a 909 #, or a 714 #.

Several other times throughout the conversation, the rep kept giving me blatantly conflicting information (”Yes, you can.” “No, you can’t.”). Not to mention, the rep often used words like “probably” and “possibly.” I don’t want to hear that I can possibly avoid paying the ETF if I cancelled the contract right away! I would like to know if I could definitely avoid said fees! At times during the conversation, it sounded like the rep was sarcastically talking about my “aunt,” almost as if she didn’t exist. That was really apparent at the beginning of the call, when he kept talking about adding (raise your fingers and do the quote-sign in the air here) “my aunt” to my existing line.

After about fifteen minutes of frustration, I bluntly asked “How does your 30 day trial work?” He explained that I could cancel the line of service at any time within the first 30 days, and the ETF would be waived, and I would only be responsible for a fraction of the monthly costs. I then asked, “If the line has not yet been active, will I have to pay anything?”

“Of course not, sir! Why would you have to pay for anything if the line isn’t active?”

(Something tells me that a Sprint rep is going to “accidentally” activate the service before I attempt to cancel. Also, this was the time where I started getting a steady dose of conflicting information.)

Near the end of our conversation, the rep tried to transfer me to the Activation hotline. I kept asking other questions, including what I could do about the phone number mishap. The rep explained that I could “try” to change the number. Thanks!

When everything was said and done, he asked me again if I wanted to be transferred to the Activation hotline. I asked him for the direct number, as I planned on doing a three-way call with my aunt so that she could provide the rep with all the information they need to activate the phone (ESN, e.g.). He eventually gave me the number, and then offered to transfer me again.

(sigh…)

When I set up the conference call with the Activation hotline, I found out that they were closed. Gee, rep, couldn’t you have told me this earlier??? Worse yet, as I was going through the automated menu, they asked me for my aunt’s PIN, which I punched in.

“Sorry. The information you have provided does not match our records.”

(At this point, would you have blamed me if I threw my laptop across the room?)

I told my aunt that I would contact the Activation hotline tomorrow, and she seemed to take it well. Personally, I wouldn’t have blamed her if she disowned me right on the spot :P.

Obviously, abusing the Ung-hex has karmic consequences :P.

EDIT: I’m fully aware of the Sprint/Consumerist Hotline, and that will be my next avenue, if I don’t cancel the line of service outright.

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