I really hate to resort to a blog post to complain about a company’s business practices, but I feel like I have honestly tried everything I can to privately resolve this issue between myself and the companies involved.
I am now writing a blog post about this in hopes that it accomplishes a couple things:
1) I hope that someone googling “problems with Sprint Galaxy II” will find this and know they are not alone and benefit somewhat from the hours I have spent dealing with Sprint’s customer service, and
2) That Sprint will reconsider it’s current business practices and really start providing the good service I felt I received from them several years ago back when I signed my first contract with them.
Here is my story. It is very long even though it does not contain the hours and hours of conversations between Sprint and I, but I have included all the important details in hopes that it covers everything you might have experienced as well:
I signed a 2 year contract with Sprint in April of 2012 and paid $100 for a Samsung Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch. I had researched the phones in my price range and chose the Galaxy II because of it’s processor speed, large screen, sound quality, etc.
I was very satisfied with my phone for almost a year! It was very durable and it worked very well. The only issue I had was that after a few months, I started getting a battery message about high voltage and my phone would get extremely hot and the battery would drain quickly. When I called Sprint, they said they had never heard of this.
I decided to google it and I found others had the same issue and the problem was thought to be that the charging port got dust in it and it needed to be cleaned out.
This issue happened sporadically and while it was extremely annoying when it happened, I dealt with it.
Sometime in that first year, I noticed a very slight crack in the screen. I am not sure how it happened. I was sad that I had a crack in my screen but assumed responsibility, even though I kept my phone in a protective case. The phone still worked very well despite the crack and even the touch screen worked very accurately.
Then in April of 2013, a year after I had purchased my Samsung Galaxy II and many months after I noticed the screen crack, I started having issues with the battery life and the power button. The menu that comes up when you hold the power button in (the device options including: Power off, data network mode, airplane mode and restart) starting popping on and off without me even hitting the power button, and the phone would sporadically turn itself off, even with a fully charged battery.
I took the phone to a Sprint service center. Sprint said that my battery needed replaced and because I have insurance they replaced it. They would not look at it at all though because of the crack in the screen.
I was sure that my power button issues and battery life issues were not a result of any physical damage done to the phone, but Sprint was very strict about their policy of not being allowed to look at a phone with physical damage. I would need to make a claim with Assurion and pay a $100 deductible. I was very upset because I knew the issues were not related to the cracked screen and also, the deductible had been increased from $50 to $100 since my last contract!
(I was later told by a Sprint Customer Service rep that the reason they cannot look at a phone with physical damage is because Sprint has a contract with Assurion that says any crack over an inch long must be reported to Assurion and the $100 deductible must be paid.)
I took the new battery but that new battery quickly drained as well. When I took the phone back into the store a week later, they looked at the battery and said it was a bad battery and they gave me yet another new battery. Guess what? Yes, that too drained and I was still having the phantom power button issues, phone turning itself off, and overheating.
I finally gave in after much conversation with Sprint via phone and online chat, and made a claim with Assurion and paid my $100 deductible.
I received my new Galaxy II the next day.
The new phone had the same issues. My new replacement Galaxy II was overheating and the battery was draining quickly. I also noticed that I did not have any service at my house.
I called Sprint. Sprint explained that they were doing work on the towers to improve service and that is the reason I was experiencing no bars! They said that since I just received the phone 2 weeks ago, I was still within the 30 day warranty period with Assurion and that I needed to call them and have the phone replaced.
(Please note: after hours spent on the phone and on the online chat with Sprint Customer Representatives, I continued to be very patient and kind. I was even told by many reps that they greatly appreciated how I was handling the frustrating situation and they all said they would have lost it by that point. I believe in treating the call center reps kindly as they are only following protocol and I believe in most cases they are trying to help to the best of their ability. With that being said, I had a mostly positive experience with Sprint Customer Service reps both on the phone and online. The way they tried to help was very satisfactory. My complaint is the policy that Sprint itself has with dealing with problems as I will go on to relate.)
I called Assurion. I got a very rude representative. I explained that Sprint had already approved a warranty exchange. He was very condescending in the way he spoke to me, even though he had all the notes in front of him of what I had already stated and explained to Sprint and was demanding that I call from another phone so that he can run tests on it. I could not call from another phone since I do not have another phone, and Sprint already said, the phone is an issue and approved the replacement. He refused to help me. I finally asked him to speak to his manager. The manager agreed to skip the diagnostic test as a “courtesy” and agreed to send me a new phone, a new battery and a new charger.
I received the replacement (my third Samsung Galaxy II in less than a month.) I put the phone in a protective case and placed a new screen protector on it immediately after I took it out of the box and before I used it. I started to use the phone and the menu bar kept popping on and off. It was annoying but I ignored it at first. It was sporadic and didn’t happen all the time. I wondered if maybe the screen protector was doing it, even though the screen protector was specified for Sprint Samsung Galaxy II phones only. After a few days, the menu popping up (as if I was tapping the menu button repeatedly, even though I wasn’t) was getting really annoying. I decided to reset the phone. That didn’t resolve the issue. I finally removed the screen protector, assuming that had to be the problem. The menu bar still kept popping up. My schedule was extremely busy that week and honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was to spend more time on the phone with Sprint and Assurion again!
I finally called Sprint. I had two main issues with this third phone. I was still not getting any data, even in a downtown area. I was not getting any service bars at home and even away from home, I was dropping calls, and finally the menu glitch which severely interfered with any touchscreen actions. After I spent several hours on the phone with Sprint techs it was finally explained to me that there is a known issue with Sprint and Samsung Galaxy II phones since the latest Samsung update. After looking at my record, the tech told me that all the issues I had going back to the first phone were all known and documented issues. He advised me not to replace my current phone with another Galaxy II.
I wanted to know my options with Sprint. They were:
1) Exchange my current Galaxy II for another Galaxy II and see what happens (but again he strongly advised me not to because this would not resolve the issues I was having.)
2) Exchange my Galaxy II with an HTC Evo or an HTC Evo Shift
3) Participate in the new Sprint One Up plan where I can upgrade my phone with no money down but I would still be paying for the new phone monthly.
4) Do an early upgrade and renew my 2 year contract.
My complaint is that none of these options seem either reasonable or fair.
Why?
1) For starters, I purchased my Samsung II with a 2 year contract. Had my phone continued to work the way it did before the update, I would have been very happy with the Samsung Galaxy II for the length of my contract.
(2) Had Sprint told me, before I replaced my first phone with Assurion for $100, that there were known issues with the Galaxy II and agreed that it was not because of the crack, I would NOT have paid $100 to get another Galaxy II!
(3) Before I purchased the Samsung Galaxy II, I had done research on phones, including the HTC Evo, and decided that the Samsung Galaxy II was a better phone, and therefore, I spent the extra money to have the Samsung Galaxy II… NOT THE EVO… the EVO is NOT a comparable exchange! I feel that if there are phone problems within my contract period that are out of my control and not my fault, good business practice would be to replace the phone with a truly equal device, not a phone of lesser quality (eg… smaller screen, slower processor, camera quality, etc)! If they cannot replace the phone with a truly equal phone, they should replace it with a slightly better phone!
(4) One up program? What? Why should I have to pay to get another phone within my contract when my phone issues are not my fault and not fixable??
(5) And finally early upgrade with a contract renewal? That’s laughable! I am stuck with this contract until April of 2014 unless I want to pay a hefty fee. Sprint must be crazy if they think that after all of the time I have spent trying to get a fair resolution, not to mention the fact that they are behind in data technology and I can’t get service at home anymore, that I would even consider renewing my contract with them!!!!
I spent much time on the phone yesterday with Sprint customer service. I was transferred several times and finally to a very wonderful representative who seemed as desperate as me to get a fair resolution. She asked me what I wanted. I said if they truly could not get me into anything other than an HTC Evo, that I would accept the HTC Evo but that I also wanted my Assurian $100 deductible refunded. She agreed that this was a fair request but still thought I should get a better phone, not one of lesser value, so she put in the request to management for the refund along with a Galaxy III. I waited all day for a response. She was so wonderful that she called me a couple times during the day to reassure me they had not forgotten me but to update me on what was going on.
Finally, late last evening, I got a call saying that they were willing to give me a $50 refund and the HTC Evo.
I was so tired I said, “I am not really happy with that, but if it’s all you can do, I’ll take what I can.”
Today, I decided to tweet about it. I have been on Twitter with Samsung and Sprint for the last couple of hours and realized that it was really a waste of time. Neither one was very helpful. Samsung denies that there are any known issues even thought I sent them this link from Sprints Customer forum: http://community.sprint.com/baw/message/572289
My next step is to post this article in hopes that it causes Sprint to take some action and also to send this as a formal complaint to Sprint.
Sprint, I have read your replies to the numerous customer complaints on Twitter @sprintcare. You are behind in the market when it comes to service and data. While you have exceptional customer service representatives, it doesn’t really matter if your policies regarding how you handle phone issues are unfair. You are going to lose a lot more customers and you only have yourself to blame. It’s ashame. I used to sing your praises to all my friends. It seems that though you once had a bad reputation, you made positive changes, but sadly, you have sunk back into your old ways. I will not be renewing my contract and I will be telling anyone who listens about my awful experience with you so they don’t have to experience what I did and waste countless hours trying to get a resolution that will never happen.
Have you had similiar issues with Sprint and the Samsung Galaxy II? It doesn’t seem fair that customers who are stuck in a contract should have to settle for unacceptable options. Make your voice heard in the comments below!
Oh, for the love of all things.... 