miasma
03-26-2005, 03:32 PM
After reading through a whole slew of messages on this board, I finally decided to see what kinda deal I could get by going through retention. I've been a customer with sprint for over 3 years or so, in good standing, with a pretty simple $40 plan for about 400minutes a month with nights and weekends @ 8PM. I've been off contract for about 6 months or so.
Here's what went down.
I called *2 and after hearing the options from the automated system I said "Representative" and was quickly transfered to a representative.
Representative 1 ("Daisy"):
Daisy was a southern gal who didn't seem to be too knowledgeable about things at Sprint and the plans, etc. She certainly wasn't too familiar with getting deals for loyal customers, which I sort of prompted her with. My main mantra was "I'm off contract, I'd like to get a new deal, but nothing looks all that great, is there any sort of special deals for loyal customers?". She tried to sell me on the standard plans and even tried to sell me he Area-wide plan ($45 for 1000 minutes). She was utterly confused about how Area-wide actually worked and I had to instruct her on what the roaming was. She put me on hold for a bit and came back to tell me she was wrong and I was right. She then proceeded to explain the plan incorrectly. I decided to give up and told her "I'd think about it some more and thanked her".
I decided to call back and have my luck again. *2 + "Representative"
Representative 2 ("Darryl"):
Darryl wasn't much help either. I entered in to him with "Was considering canceling and was wondering if there were any special deals for loyal customers such as myself". He ended up telling me about the standard plans that are available and then went on to tell me that I also qualify for free SprintPCS to SprintPCS with a new 2 year agreement (which is standard now, so ask for it). He explained the plans well, and went in search of looking up the codes on my acct but couldn't find them. I thanked him but told him I'd think about it and call back.
So, no luck so far, so I was getting a bit discouraged. But, I figured, lets try one more time. So *2 again, but this time say "Cancel Service". They transfer me to a representative and it sounds like I got transfered to the same place as if I said "Representative"
Representative 3 ("Steve"):
Steve friggen rocked. I told him right off the bat I was thinking I wanted to cancel.
"Oh no!" Steve said and asked me if I really wanted to do so.
"I'm really considering it."
I then proceeded to tell him that all the other carriers offer these great packages and I had spoken to other service reps here in hopes I could find a good package, but that they just gave me the standard deals and that I wanted to keep my nights & weekends at 8pm, the standard deals move it to 9pm.
"Oh well *I* can't give you any better deals, but I may be able to transfer you to someone who can. And I think that's the way we're heading"
"Yeah, I think so, so how do I go about doing that?"
"So you're saying you'd like to cancel, riggggght?"
And he led me thru the protocol.
"Yes, I think I would."
"And is there a particular reason you'd like to cancel? Saaaay, competition?"
"Why yes Steve, there's just such gosh darn competition out there!"
"Well, let me transfer you to a Gold Customer Service Representative and see what she can do for you"
A minute later "Sherryl" came on the phone and hooked me up in no time. She asked what I was looking for and looked at my current plan and immediately said if I wanted to stay in the same price range that she could give me 750 anytime minutes, nights & weekends @ 8pm, and free SprintPCS to SprintPCS calling all for $40, the same price I was paying now. We were both in good spriits and were laughing and had a good time on the phone, same thing with Steve. She also answered all the questions I had about getting a new phone and put a note in my account for when I go grab a new phone in a few weeks.
I hung up, and my plan was immediately upgraded, all good.
Before: 400 minutes, Unlim N&W @ 8pm : $40
After: 750 minutes, Unlim N&W @ 8pm, SprintPCS to SprintPCS : $40.
I'm a happy camper. I'm getting at least 250 more minutes from a standard plan, plus my N&W are an hour earlier, plus SprintPCS to PCS will fall into that. I essentially doubled the amount of minutes I had for no cost.
(I realize from certain retention plan offers, etc that this is a pretty standard one, but it looks like I also could've gotten more. I don't really need all that much, and I was pretty happy with this deal. I feel taken care of and my loyalty rewarded)
So, hopefully people in the same position who aren't that interested in these huge multi-phone deals etc and want a simple nice retention plan can use this as a reference as how to get it.
Here's what went down.
I called *2 and after hearing the options from the automated system I said "Representative" and was quickly transfered to a representative.
Representative 1 ("Daisy"):
Daisy was a southern gal who didn't seem to be too knowledgeable about things at Sprint and the plans, etc. She certainly wasn't too familiar with getting deals for loyal customers, which I sort of prompted her with. My main mantra was "I'm off contract, I'd like to get a new deal, but nothing looks all that great, is there any sort of special deals for loyal customers?". She tried to sell me on the standard plans and even tried to sell me he Area-wide plan ($45 for 1000 minutes). She was utterly confused about how Area-wide actually worked and I had to instruct her on what the roaming was. She put me on hold for a bit and came back to tell me she was wrong and I was right. She then proceeded to explain the plan incorrectly. I decided to give up and told her "I'd think about it some more and thanked her".
I decided to call back and have my luck again. *2 + "Representative"
Representative 2 ("Darryl"):
Darryl wasn't much help either. I entered in to him with "Was considering canceling and was wondering if there were any special deals for loyal customers such as myself". He ended up telling me about the standard plans that are available and then went on to tell me that I also qualify for free SprintPCS to SprintPCS with a new 2 year agreement (which is standard now, so ask for it). He explained the plans well, and went in search of looking up the codes on my acct but couldn't find them. I thanked him but told him I'd think about it and call back.
So, no luck so far, so I was getting a bit discouraged. But, I figured, lets try one more time. So *2 again, but this time say "Cancel Service". They transfer me to a representative and it sounds like I got transfered to the same place as if I said "Representative"
Representative 3 ("Steve"):
Steve friggen rocked. I told him right off the bat I was thinking I wanted to cancel.
"Oh no!" Steve said and asked me if I really wanted to do so.
"I'm really considering it."
I then proceeded to tell him that all the other carriers offer these great packages and I had spoken to other service reps here in hopes I could find a good package, but that they just gave me the standard deals and that I wanted to keep my nights & weekends at 8pm, the standard deals move it to 9pm.
"Oh well *I* can't give you any better deals, but I may be able to transfer you to someone who can. And I think that's the way we're heading"
"Yeah, I think so, so how do I go about doing that?"
"So you're saying you'd like to cancel, riggggght?"
And he led me thru the protocol.
"Yes, I think I would."
"And is there a particular reason you'd like to cancel? Saaaay, competition?"
"Why yes Steve, there's just such gosh darn competition out there!"
"Well, let me transfer you to a Gold Customer Service Representative and see what she can do for you"
A minute later "Sherryl" came on the phone and hooked me up in no time. She asked what I was looking for and looked at my current plan and immediately said if I wanted to stay in the same price range that she could give me 750 anytime minutes, nights & weekends @ 8pm, and free SprintPCS to SprintPCS calling all for $40, the same price I was paying now. We were both in good spriits and were laughing and had a good time on the phone, same thing with Steve. She also answered all the questions I had about getting a new phone and put a note in my account for when I go grab a new phone in a few weeks.
I hung up, and my plan was immediately upgraded, all good.
Before: 400 minutes, Unlim N&W @ 8pm : $40
After: 750 minutes, Unlim N&W @ 8pm, SprintPCS to SprintPCS : $40.
I'm a happy camper. I'm getting at least 250 more minutes from a standard plan, plus my N&W are an hour earlier, plus SprintPCS to PCS will fall into that. I essentially doubled the amount of minutes I had for no cost.
(I realize from certain retention plan offers, etc that this is a pretty standard one, but it looks like I also could've gotten more. I don't really need all that much, and I was pretty happy with this deal. I feel taken care of and my loyalty rewarded)
So, hopefully people in the same position who aren't that interested in these huge multi-phone deals etc and want a simple nice retention plan can use this as a reference as how to get it.