There’s Barriers, Then There’s Badly Broken
Yesterday I wanted to switch my son’s Sprint/Nextel account over to online pay. I knew the drill. I’ve done it before plenty of times on plenty of websites. I hit pay bill and enterred the data. They requested a BAN passcode. Huh? What’s that?
Under that picture was this disclaimer:
Note: The approval process can take up to 10 business days. If you have a payment due before then, please use another payment method.
I contacted Customer Care online as asked and got this reply 30 minutes later.
Please include the following line in all replies.
Tracking number: NT20060710_0000004882
Thank you for contacting Sprint Together with Nextel online.Every effort will be made to address your questions or concerns within 24 to 48 hours. If you have not heard back from us within 48 hours, please reply to this email and we will advise you as to the current status of your request.
Thank you for contacting Sprint Together with Nextel where our customers come first.
E-Care
Sprint Together with Nextel
Why was I surprised at this? I took my phone to another carrier for similar service issues months ago. Now, I’ll be taking my son’s phone from Sprint/Nextel as soon as his contract is up.
Then they’ll call to ask why I no longer wish to be a customer, as they did before. I don’t feel a need to explain.
Not That, This — Not by Email, by Phone
Nine hours after I wrote that last sentence. I got this email. [emphasis mine.]
Please include the following line in all replies.
Tracking number: NT20060710_0000004882Dear M. E. Strauss,
Thank you for contacting Sprint Together with Nextel Online.
I apologize for any frustration regarding your BAN passcode.
The acronym BAN refers to your Billing Account Number and is not the passcode you are being prompted for.When contacting Customer Care, you are requested to provide your BAN passcode before any private information is given or when changes are requested to be made to your account. The passcode you provide is the same passcode our Web site is requesting, when registering for MyNextel or to make a payment online.
If you have not placed a passcode on your account, or if you are not sure what the passcode is, you will need to call Customer Care to add or change the BAN passcode. Customer Care can be reached by following the interactive voice prompts for Customer Care after dialing 1-800-639-6111.
If you do not remember the existing passcode, you will need to provide account information to change an already existing passcode via Customer Care.
Did you know, with the new Sprint Mobile to Mobile Calling, you can make and receive calls from all other Sprint PCS subscribers and Nextel subscribers without using your Anytime Cellular Minutes? This service is available from anywhere on the Sprint PCS Network or Nextel National Network. For more information, or to have this service added to your account please reply back to this email and we will be happy to assist you.
Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not
hesitate to contact us at: https://nextelonline.nextel.
com/NASApp/care/WCCustomerCareServlet/Thank you for using Sprint Together with Nextel Online.
Nb70587
(name — It’s not his fault.)
E-CARE
Sprint Together with Nextel
My response included this information:
Dear (name),
Please tell your supervisor — That Sprint/NEXTEL has lost a customer based this form letter and the fact that your enterprise cannot fix your own website to serve your customers or even say that your site broken in your first form letter. It took you nine hours to tell me this. If you don’t want me to put in a BAN PASSCODE OR TO EMAIL YOU. THEN DON’T TELL ME TO.
By the way, thank for the long explanation of what to do if I’ve forgotten my existing passcode. But I couldn’t have gotten to this page without it.
I have a blog that will get thousands of readers today. Do stop by to read the story I wrote about this. The URL where you will find it is:
Also, if you can, please send me the email of the corporate VP of Customer Service and the URL of your corporate offices, I would really appreciate that. Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Liz Strauss
They named the department Customer Care, but nothing seems to show that they know what the words mean. The organization doesn’t even seem to care about the people who work in Customer Service or on the Website, at least not from the way things are (not) working.
It seems as if no one cares about anything. Why should I think they would care about me?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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