At the end of last month Sprint Nextel gave the boot to around 1,000 customers. It sent letters to the subscribers on June 29, explaining that company recordsindicated they had made frequent calls for help with questions about billing and other account information. The customers were told there would be no early termination fee, they’d receive nofinal bill, and if they switched to another provider before the end of July, they’d be able to keep their phone numbers. In and of itself, of course, that should hardly be a reason for acompany to terminate a contract and turn customers away. And, of course, customer service and keeping people happy is a big part of what they do, apart from providing phone service. The movehas generated plenty of online criticism, to the point where the company has felt it necessary to issue a defense. “These accounts have been researched very carefully,” said Sprintspokesperson Roni Singleton. “We feel strongly that the decisions we made, we stand by them. These decisions weren’t made lightly.” According to Sprint, the dropped customersaveraged 40-50 calls a month to customer service, and would call several times about the same issue, even after Sprint representatives felt it had been resolved. Both AT&T and Verizon said they would never terminate a customer for calls to customer service lines. But Sprint hasreportedly been trying to upgrade its customer base, focusing on customers who will spend more on services each month, and has introduced a new marketing campaign. It gained 600,000 new customersduring the last quarter, far behind its major competition.
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