I have not had cellular reception for almost two weeks now. I contacted Sprint's online customer service representatives, who on several occasions have told me that I have a cell phone tower outage in my area, and that usually, these outages take up to seven days to resolve. Since I don't have cellular reception, I cannot receive any codes that Sprint's website sends me when I want to create a new PIN number. I am adamant on changing services, and to keep my phone number, I have to provide my Sprint account number and PIN. The new servicer would cost half as much and I believe they would provide me with consistent coverage.
The issue here is that I've forgotten my PIN, and I don't have my complete account number. I can't get this information texted to my phone because of course, the phone doesn't work. I went back and forth with the customer service team, and admittedly, I lost my temper when they continued to ask me why I was leaving Sprint. Each representative told me that I would be provided with my account number and PIN, but they would never give me this information, even after I answered my security questions. I felt as if they were purposely stonewalling me and asking me questions about why I was leaving Sprint repeatedly simply to aggravate me.
Indeed, I was aggravated. I proceeded to type very anger-fueled comments in the chat. A lot of these comments had to do with how I was upset that the chat responses seemed to show that the representatives were not proficient in English. I ranted about how many Americans need work, and how my experience with Sprint's customer service only demonstrates just a few of the problems with outsourcing. I communicated these things after being transferred to the fourth agent out of the seven I spoke to that day. I picked up my laptop and slammed it on the table, and my husband asked me to take a "time out."
Before I sign up with a new servicer, I will have to go to the Sprint store to cancel my phone plan. I wanted to bypass this and handle it all online so I could get the information my new servicer needed so that I could still use my phone number. My concern is that the in-store representative will aggressively ask me why I don't want to pay Sprint anymore, and suggest that I am responsible for this outage in my cellular reception.
I don't think this would have been a problem just several years ago, but I find myself in situations where a cellphone is absolutely required to complete my obligations for school, work, and therapy. I am currently making calls through Google Hangouts, and I am communicating with people by e-mail instead of text. That is better than nothing. However, it is still so aggravating that I could not get two simple pieces of information, either because the customer services representatives at Sprint thought withholding my account number and PIN would convince me to stay with Sprint, or because they simply find joy in aggravating people.
Hopefully, I can successfully cancel my Sprint plan today, sign up with that new servicer, and not have to worry about this right now. Compared to some other things I'm dealing with, my dissatisfaction with their customer service seems trivial, and probably is.
