Sprint Premier “Just Because” 2010

Dear Sprint,

Recently you asked members of the BuzzAboutWireless Member Panel what ideas we had for Sprint Premier “Just Because” Perks for 2010. While there are a lot of great responses and ideas, I had a few of my own I wanted to share publicly, and get feedback on for myself.

Below are the things Id like to see with Sprint. Please enjoy the list, as I had a lot of fun writing it all out in detail for you.

In my personal experience, and opinion most of what is in the Sprint Premier program is bogus, or not applicable to a majority of users. This is great, if you want to generate disloyalty. But to make current customers stay, and stay happy, you have to change a few things. Giving away everything left and right is nice, but in reality, sometimes we dont want everything, we just want what matters. Sometimes what matters is options and choices. Sometimes this doesnt apply to everyone, and to those it does, it shows how rewarding being a Sprint customer can be.

These things Sprint needs cancel/change that are currently in Sprint Premier:

Monthly Perks – I have yet to see a “monthly” perk offered to me, since month three. It was a ringtone, which was not good for my RIM device. I felt cheated, alienated, and like just because I spent more on a BlackBerry, I was worth less to Sprint.

Offer something nice like a $5.00 monthly credit for a month. 10 Overage Credits the next month. 1/2 Price Add-A-Line promotion the next.

Make these month perks something fun, exciting, and ever changing. Get people to want to get in on them, and use them.

Tony Award/Nascar/NFL promos - While there might be some rednecks (yes I said it), that may LOVE Nascar and NFL, and some overly dramatic college professors (like the one I used to have) who will kill their grandmother for tickets to a Tony Awards show, majority of users are not going to care if they win something they arent likely to be interested in any way.

Get rid of these, or offer these promotions to people who want it. Keep all customers opt-out unless they opt-in. Offer other customers something tailored to them. A Free Month of Music Downloads. Free Month of Movies OnDemand. Tickets to a local concert/sporting/musical show.

One Year Anniversary Perk – Its 25 Bonus Minutes or a Ringtone. Well since ringers dont apply to RIM or Windows Mobile devices, why do accounts with these devices get to choose between the two? It should be automatic for the minutes. The minutes should also be 25 Bonus Minutes for the duration of the contract (basically for the second 12 months of service), and renew each month, not disappear as you use them. After the 12 months is over, the minutes are gone.

Early Upgrade – $150 off is nice, but its the same price as a new customer. Usually there is an added $18 upgrade fee as well. If there is a special price on a phone, say $49.99 *only for new customers, existing customers $149.99 with upgrade credit*, why would I want to even stay, especially if I can go to another carrier and get something offered on Sprint for less cost with new contract.

Upgrade credit should be something to keep me. See below of what would keep me.

With New 2 Year Agreement (after 22 months of service) $100 off NEW CUSTOMER PRICE, With New 1 Year Agreement (after 22 months of service) $50 off NEW CUSTOMER PRICE, Early Upgrade Price $100/$150 Off FULL RETAIL PRICE (after 12/18 months of service, NO ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS/EXTENSION OF CONTRACT) Since most phones are over $300 at Sprint, getting $150 is a lot, but the phone price is still MORE then new customer, and the existing customer gets a new phone, doesnt extend a contract, and is more likely to stay. I did this with T-Mobile, and stayed an extra 3.5 years!

Early upgrades for additional lines in share plans should be offered HALF the price listed above, while primary should receive the full benefit.

25% off Discount – This is AWESOME so KEEP THIS. I never use it, but its nice to know I have it. It needs to be computerized however, and automatic. I lost my coupon card, and dont feel like carrying a piece of paper with me when I go to a store. Lets integrate this with the register when they ask your phone number for the transaction, it will discount it automatically.

First To Know – As a premier customer I EXPECT to be the first to know of new services, products, and devices, rate plan changes, new coverage areas before other customers. Sprint promotes this to current Premier members, however I found that I usually find out AFTER its been released, or in a very LATE mailer.. Im premier? I dont feel like it.

Why not release information 2 weeks to a month prior specific to Premier Customers, and offer them to get new plans or services at a discount for being an early adopter? Like a beta test, trial and error.

Device PreOrders – Premier customers should have the ability to pre-order a device. Enough said on that!

Things Sprint needs to consider doing for Premier customers :

Billing Device Purchase – Premier customers also should have the ability to have new upgraded devices added to bills in full, or offer Premier 2 Year customers “Pay As You Go” option for monthly payment on phone. Phone can not be returned if customer decides after 30 days they do not like phone If phone is returned, they are not able to use “Pay As You Go” again for 1 Year. If exchanged, same current policy applies. Customer will pay remaining phone price balance instead of “ETF” if phone price balance exceeds the Prorate ETF at time of termination.

No Deposits/Activation/Upgrade Fees – Premier Customers who want to change from Individual to Share plans should have a deposit (if required) waived for their second and so on so forth lines of service, after remaining a customer for 1 Year. Activation on added lines of service should not be charged activation fees. Upgrades to existing service lines should be waived “upgrade” fees.

Pick 3/Pick 5 – Automatically offered after 1 Year service to Premier Customers on Everything Data Individual and Share (Pick 3/Pick 5 per line) plans. ED 450 – Pick 3, and ED 900 – Pick 5.

Premier Customer Service – I know what Account Relations (retention) can do, and I know what powers Executive and Regulatory Services have. This is the kind of customer service I expect as a premier customer. Can we get a dedicated line to call that doesnt use minutes, or something?

Things Sprint should do for everyone :

Bank Minutes/Add Bucket – Adding Minutes per bucket $5.00 per 100 minutes, $15.00 per 500 and $25 per 1000 Anytime (can be applied retroactively in lieu of overage). – OR OFFER BELOW

Bank Minutes from your plan for ONE month, allow minutes banked up to rate plan amount to roll over each month. If you have 300 minutes left of a 450 minute plan at the end of the month then those 300 roll over for the next month to be used AFTER the plan minutes are used. Next month end if you save 400 of the 450, then you have 400 minutes, but no longer have the 300 from the month before. Unlike AT&T which banks up to 12 rolling months, this is only banking 1 month, urging people to use them or lose them, but giving slight buffer.

Monthly Rate Plans – Offer the same Everything Messaging/Everything Data plans, on a month to month basis to those who have an existing Sprint device, or want to purchase one at full retail.

Offer them a service discount credit of $5.00-$10.00 per month if they sign a 1 year agreement with the same existing device.

Rate plan price must be paid for 2 full months of service, plus any prorate charges in advance before service can begin. If canceled before service used for second month, no credit will be given. If service upgraded to 1 year agreement with existing device, credit for remaining months will be applied and the discount credit will also apply.

And lastly… Ive said it before and again… TRAIN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS, GIVE THEM AUTHORIZATION TO MAKE CHANGES, CREDITS, ADJUSTMENTS. Train them to stop taking customers for granted, and to stop giving “No” “I can’t” “We don’t” ” We can’t”, and as my manager says to me at work.. “THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS ONLY SOLUTIONS”

Make Sprint Solutions happen!

Radio Show Tonight 6PM Pacific

Hey Everyone,

 It has been quite some time since I did a radio show, but tonight is the night for love…Wireless love that is!

 

Wanna know what is all the buzz about Sprint making a comeback?

What is Any Mobile, Anytime?

T-Mobile now has a faster 3G network then AT&T?

WiMAX 4G goes Global?

Whats the hottest Google Android phone on the market?

What is the difference between LTE and WiMAX?

LISTEN TONIGHT AT 6PM PACIFIC AND FIND OUT!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/progressingcalifornia/2009/09/21/A-Revolution-In-Wireless

SprintTV Most (un)Watched for MJ Memorial

Today was a big day in the history of the world and television.

Michael Jackson, the proclaimed “King of Pop” was given a worldwide broadcast memorial service this morning following his unexpected, shocking, and emotional death in late June.

It has already been stated as one of the biggest and most watched events to ever take place… surpassing the Apollo Moon Landing, Elvis Presley’s funeral, the news of John Lennon’s death, the space shuttle Challenger disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of communism, and possibly even the funeral of Lady Diana; Princess of Wales. There still is only one event that Michael Jackson may or may not have overshadowed in television history, and that is the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, which were watched around the world as well.

SprintTV had set up a dedicated channel LIVE and UNCUT from Staples Center in Los Angeles, California for the memorial. Many people who were away from TV’s turned to cnn.com for the live stream of the service, and their mobile phones while on the go… Unfortunately, for many of us who use Sprint (like myself) we found ourselves loving Sprint one moment and hating them the next when the stream went from broadcasting to continually stalling and finally cutting off to never regain a connection.

Living in the digital age as we do, I would expect the occasional sputter of the network and channel, but I would also expect that one of the most watched events in history to also be broadcast, or to not have taken place on a mobile phone at all.

Sprint has been contacted about this issue, and while no official statement or credits have gone out to customers who attempted to watch (like me), some Sprint reps have contacted me personally to apologize for the mishap with the events that lead to the interruption of the memorial on our phones. This does not relieve them of responsibility to fix the problem, but it is a start that they are aware of the problem, and hopefully they will fix their network enough in those areas where it went down in the anticipation of another major event that might need to be broadcast.

I am also very disappointed Sprint has deleted CNN from their LIVE TV broadcast on SprintTV, and left users with FOX NEWS and ABC NEWS as the only news outlets, neither of which cater to my political views.

Please contact Sprint and ask them to fix their network and offer the channels we want and need for news, and current events.

Welcome to Sprint Scoop!

Welcome to Sprint Scoop!

This blog is dedicated to those who have had fantastic and horrible customer service with Sprint-Nextel.

I wanted a healthy place to expose some of the lies they have told me, inconveniences they put me through, but also a place that I could praise them for the good they have done in my account. While the good and bad might be disporportionate, its totally up to Sprint how they do business, and ultimately up to their policies and practices that will reflect how many GOOD or how many BAD entries are on this site. I just report what Ive seen and experienced, and will report faithfully.

Visitors are encouraged to submit their own experiences for review and posting as well. Hopefully this will get Sprint to listen more to their customers and stop treating us like we arent valued.

Keep visiting and bookmark this page!