Sprint . . .

Ahhh, good ol' Sprint. I tried to make a payment on my account today. After the hour I spent on the phone last month, I though I'd gotten it all taken care of. I tried to use the same debit card that they managed to get working last month, the same one I've successfully used every month for the last year and a half, until they switched their system 2 months ago. It could not "authenticate my card number" or whatever. I was cranky, but it's not 10:00 at night, so I was in a better humor. Bring it on Sprint, I've got all day!

I called customer service. I used the *2 feature, so it should not take the time off my minutes, which is a plus. My entire experience with Sprint seems to be summed up in my hold experience today. "All of our representatives are busy now, according to call volume, your expected wait time is less than 3 minutes. . . enter a minute of catchy music . . . according to call volume, your expected wait time is less than 5 minutes . . . enter another minute of catchy music . . . according to call volume, your expected wait time is 10 to 15 minutes . . . enter yet another minute of the catchy music . . . according to call volume, your expected wait time is 15 to 20 minutes . . . enter catchy music followed promptly by the male voice- thank you for choosing Sprint, can I get the phone number associated with the account please?" By this point, I was humorously waiting for the next time to be given. I mean, c'mon, what would be next? 30 minutes? 3 hours??

Well, the man was nice, but unable to help me. Surprise, right? The problem is with Sprint and their new mother system, not with the peon phone people. I was able to laugh as the guy made the payment but was unable to figure out the problem with the card. Poor guy, he tried. I told him that I'd spent more than an hour talking to 6 people last month, that he shouldn't feel too bad. He looked back and made an audible UFF sound when he was looking at the notes. I told him how unhappy I was with Sprint, but that I knew it wasn't his fault, and that I didn't want to be crabby to him on New Year's. I filled him in on the hold comedy and the whole "Thanks for choosing Sprint, is there anything else I can do for you?" irritation. Again I wished him a Happy New Year, told him I'd deal with it again next month and said good-bye. He chuckled in defeat, expressed (what I'm sure is required) that he didn't want me to leave Sprint, thanked me for not being crabby, and said "Thanks for choosing Sprint, huh-huh, is there anything else I can do? huh-huh." It was humorous, I was only crabby for a short time, and after all, only 6 more months of Sprint service . . . I think I can handle this 6 more times! It's a countdown!

Again, Happy New Year!