[cheezit]

I have a question concerning Sprints billing and/or collection practices. My account was about 2 or 3 weeks past due (about 2 weeks into the second month). Instead of someone from Sprint getting a hold of me, the primary account holder, they sent a text message to my son, who has the secondary number on my account with a message to call some 800 number. He did and was told that to avoid interruption of service, the total of the bill, $180.66 (two full months worth) needed to be paid in full. He tried to call me, but because I can't get phone calls at work, I turn my phone off while working. He felt he had no other choice but to pay the bill, so he borrowed money from a friend of his and got the bill paid.

I'm a little more than curious why Sprint felt it necessary to call the secondary number on my account and threaten disconnection rather than trying to call ME, the PRIMARY account holder. I am fairly certain that they didn't call me, because there was no message left on my phone.

Any ideas?

[blahman]

Are you sure the message is actually from Sprint and not someone phishing?

[reemusk]

pay your bill!

[ZiggyZ]

Nonetheless, since the money was paid, was it paid to a store? or over the phone with someone? I would make sure that it was paid to sprint 1st.

Also, Sprint can call any of the numbers on your account that you do business with them. Another words any of the subscriptions at least.

[endless4105]

the only way to avoid this is to pay on time.

also, with your phone being off, they may have tried to contact your line and you dont even know it. Sprint does not know that you son has the other phone. Your name is attatched to all the numbers on the account and when you are past due, its not uncommon for Sprint to try and contact you in a number of different ways.

[ZiggyZ]

In general if someone is calling you, and your handset is turned off, There is NO WAY for you to find out if someone called you unless they left a Voicemail or paged you or sent you a text message. So if they tried to call you and your phone was off and they didn't leave a message then you won't know.

One thing I can recommend you to do, is to call Customer service and have them change the authorized user/Caller ID info for your sons line to his name. That doesn't change the financial responsability at all, it just basically tells sprint that you have authorized your son to use that handset/line. It also will display on your itemized bill his name and number, and will also display his name for people he calls that have Caller ID with Name service. I like it because I have 10 lines of service so it makes it a little bit easier when I get my bill as well.

[NASCAR14FAN]

Originally Posted by channel125

In general if someone is calling you, and your handset is turned off, There is NO WAY for you to find out if someone called you unless they left a Voicemail or paged you or sent you a text message. So if they tried to call you and your phone was off and they didn't leave a message then you won't know.

One thing I can recommend you to do, is to call Customer service and have them change the authorized user/Caller ID info for your sons line to his name. That doesn't change the financial responsability at all, it just basically tells sprint that you have authorized your son to use that handset/line. It also will display on your itemized bill his name and number, and will also display his name for people he calls that have Caller ID with Name service. I like it because I have 10 lines of service so it makes it a little bit easier when I get my bill as well.

Good point!

[Jumpcut]

I hate to be harsh here, but rather than ranting on a public forum about Sprint embarassing you with your son, you can set a good example for him by simply paying your bills on time. He sounds like a good kid who already knows how important it is to pay one's bills. I hope his dad gets the message.

[supernet33]

Originally Posted by Jumpcut

I hate to be harsh here, but rather than ranting on a public forum about Sprint embarassing you with your son, you can set a good example for him by simply paying your bills on time. He sounds like a good kid who already knows how important it is to pay one's bills. I hope his dad gets the message.

Ditto ! I could of not said it better my self

[ZiggyZ]

Originally Posted by Jumpcut

I hate to be harsh here, but rather than ranting on a public forum about Sprint embarassing you with your son, you can set a good example for him by simply paying your bills on time. He sounds like a good kid who already knows how important it is to pay one's bills. I hope his dad gets the message.

But this forum is also not about putting people down. For all we know he was probably late on paying his bill because he didn't get his bill or something happened that he couldn;t get it paid ontime. maybe this was the 1st time he's ever been late. We don't know this. But this is my opinion. I'm not yelling at anyone inparticular, so please don't take this the wrong way. Thanks.

[cheezit]

Originally Posted by Jumpcut

I hate to be harsh here, but rather than ranting on a public forum about Sprint embarassing you with your son, you can set a good example for him by simply paying your bills on time. He sounds like a good kid who already knows how important it is to pay one's bills. I hope his dad gets the message.

You know, it's posts like this that make me wonder why I ever even bothered to sign up to post at this forum.

The last thing I need or want is some smartass telling me what I "should have" done.

And for your information, Sprint didn't "embarrass" me with my son. Stupid me, I thought my opening post was fairly plain. I guess not.

The fact of the matter is, it really doesn't make any difference to me if my phone was turned off or not. The POINT is, MY number is the PRIMARY number in the account and there WAS NO MESSAGE, either voice or text, from Sprint left on my phone, so they didn't even TRY to contact me first.

And for the record, yes, Sprints website now says that the amount I owe is "none", so I know it has been paid.

[jes]

By any chance, did you happen to call Sprint and ask them why they sent a text to a sub number? Seems to me they would know the answer to that better than those here.

I realize some of the posts may have bothered you, but when you post a topic like this, you've got to be willing to hear both sides of the coin without getting offended.

[StarmanDX]

Here's a better idea. Don't rant to the Internet about it and pay your bills. We already told you that they probably called you and didn't leave a message. Therefore, they may have tried to contact you and you'd have no idea because you turn your phone off. The alternative to contacting your sub-line would've been Sprint turning off your service which would've resulted in another pointless rant post about "how dare they turn off my service I'm only a month and a half late."

Some people just can't be pleased.

[Ronkh]

Since the op was a rant on the practices of Sprint, and he/she doesn't like the responses they have gotten...........

Thread closed