Sprint Hangs Up on High-Maintenance Customers

[Severen13]

Sprint Nextel Corp. is breaking up with about 1,000 subscribers the company finds to be too high-maintenance, according to news reports.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288635,00.html


Heh Heh.

[XCashier]

Good for Sprint!

The disconnected customers called customer service an average of 25 times a month, a rate 40 times higher than average customers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

You just know these folks are going to pitch a hissy fit over why Sprint would 86 such "good customers".

[Caveat Emptor]

Why can't MY employer do that!?!?

[iradney]

Why can't ALL companies do that? Could you imagine? SCs would rapidly die out, as they realise that throwing temper tantrums (that would make 2 year olds look at them funny) will no longer get them anywhere...
ah bliss....

[kerrisan]

That is fantastic! And they're being so polite about it. "If we're not meeting your needs, then we suggest finding a company who can." There's really no way to argue with that one.

Still, I expect we'll see a PFB letter or two about this one.

[Banrion]

Still, I expect we'll see a PFB letter or two about this one.

There is one already that has been in the top 25 for a week or so now.

[kerrisan]

There is one already that has been in the top 25 for a week or so now.

Really? Wow, I'm getting rusty!

[Phone Jockey]

Sprint Cuts 1,000+ Customers For Excessive Complaining

http://www.news4jax.com/news/13650557/detail.html

<snip>

MOD EDIT: Moved to proper section and merged with original posting of article.
Original edit by Protege.

[draggar]

Verizon has been doing that for years, to many more customers, at the store level.

Sales reps I knew from there told me that if they had a problematic customer, they would tell them "Apparently, this company cannot make you happy. We'll terminate your service at the end of this billing cycle and waive your early temination fee".

I guess Sprint just decided that kissing their asses to no end wasn't enough for them.

[Rubystars]

I'm hoping other companies will follow Sprint's lead.

[Polenicus]

This is a concept that's arisen in recent years, call 'Firing your customers'

The idea is (And we had been saying this for YEARS before) was that some customers just aren't, and never will be profitable, and that in fact these 'crummy customers' were a serious drain on resources, strain on employees, and a negative asset to the company as a whole.

... Well, DUH.

So the concept was that if a customer was proving to be... well, sucky on a long term and habitual basis, it was acceptable, and even preferrable for the company to refuse to do further business with them.

It's just taken a long time for this to filter down the management ranks, and seep through the 'Customer is always right, customer must be made happy, 1 unhappy customer is 100 friends and family members they tell to stay away' mentality that's become so cancerous in corporate society.

[FinderW]

Wow...this is amazing news. Good for them having the guts to do such a ballsy thing.

As for the customers....



Finder

[greensinestro]

I've read the mixed opinions about this, and I have to side with Sprint why they are doing this. Many are saying that Sprint doesn't want to handle the complainers, which to me is just not true. Having worked with the public for close to 20 years now, I have seen my share of frequent people that call in month after month, griping about the same issues over and over, requesting credit over and over, plus other ridiculous things whenever someone is not making them happy. I am a true believer that customers have the right to get good customer service whenever they buy a product, or whether they're calling to question their bills. But, when you get the same people each month who make outlandish requests, like six months of service because their bill confused the hell out of them, or a year of free internet because they had a bad nightmare while they slept.....that's where companies should draw the line like this.

I worked for Bellsouth for 13 years and dealt with my share of that kind of stuff. Sometimes it got to where you knew each customer and what they wanted. The accounts have notes on them, which helped with problematic customers. One guy we dealt with would call every month and get a 30 day credit for his excessive complaining, and this would actually pay his entire bill for the month. My feeling at the time was "Why are we looking at this scumbag as a customer? The company is not making any money off of him."

I've seen many opinions on this from what look like SC's themselves, stating Sprint is only doing this for people that complain too much. I didn't see anything said by those people about Sprint dropping customers for excessive credits, outlandish requests, and downright ugliness. Other companies, I hear, may follow this great example. A customer is not really a customer if they're ripping off companies all the time, and they're not a customer if all they do is gripe about everything.

[greensinestro]

Verizon has been doing that for years, to many more customers, at the store level.

Sales reps I knew from there told me that if they had a problematic customer, they would tell them "Apparently, this company cannot make you happy. We'll terminate your service at the end of this billing cycle and waive your early temination fee".

I guess Sprint just decided that kissing their asses to no end wasn't enough for them.

But you know what? That could be a bad example to follow there. Most customers know they are stuck in a contract and cannot get out. So, if they make themselves obviously difficult and bitchy, they can get out without a penalty. Somehow this does not seem like a great idea unless the company itself puts the cusotmer through a few hoops before deciding to drop them.

[draggar]

The idea is (And we had been saying this for YEARS before) was that some customers just aren't, and never will be profitable, and that in fact these 'crummy customers' were a serious drain on resources, strain on employees, and a negative asset to the company as a whole..

You mean the accounts I see daily, where their average monthly bill is less than $5 (not for a line, the entire bill) and get a free upgraded phone every few months aren't profittable? (/sarcasm)

But you know what? That could be a bad example to follow there. Most customers know they are stuck in a contract and cannot get out. So, if they make themselves obviously difficult and bitchy, they can get out without a penalty. Somehow this does not seem like a great idea unless the company itself puts the cusotmer through a few hoops before deciding to drop them.

A lot of people wouldn't put themselves though that much trouble and stress just to get out of a contract (but yes, some would) but also they only did it to people they saw several times a week for several months in a row, plus people complaining about stupid things.

I dropped a call last night, I need a free months worth of service. I can't access (enter some back-woods website). I need tis feature now but the phone that I bought doesn't have it, you need to give me a new one for free. I see these, too. People buy a new laptop, so their old PCMCIA card won't work with it, they actually argue with us that we need to GIVE them a free express PCI or USB card. Um, it's not our fault you bought a new laptop.