Get Marty: Woman Tries To Cut Phone Bill In Half, Ends Up With $4,000 Bill
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Have you seen the TV commercial where Sprint offers to cut rate plans in half?
Kathleen Forte of Perryopolis certainly did.
She decided to take Sprint up on that offer, but instead of cutting her bill in half, she ended up with a four-month battle over a nearly $4,000 phone bill.
In January, Forte signed up for the Sprint Half-Off Plan for her family's five cell phones.
But when she got home, she couldn't get a cell phone signal on any of the phones.
When she explained the problem to Sprint, the company promised to cancel her contract and take care of any charges.
But a few weeks later when she got a bill, she called to complain.
Forte says, "They said they would take care of it. They said it crossed in the mail and disregard the bill. Then, I got a second bill and I got a third bill. Then, I got a notice my service was going to be terminated and that I was going to be turned over to a collection agency."
It was that final notice that caused Forte to decide to get KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin involved.
Once Marty reached out to Sprint, it took the company only a few hours to take care of Forte's four-month problem.
A Sprint representative removed all charges from Forte's account, apologized and told her the company's credit department was working to make sure there would be no negative impact on her credit history because of the problem.
A company spokesman told Marty that "Sprint is committed to providing a superior experience to each of our customers but there is always ways to improve. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet expectations in this instance, but are glad we could eventually resolve the issue to her satisfaction."
Sprint also offered these tips for customers to consider before they buy any products or services from them:
- Visit Sprint.com to see our device lineup, the cost for each phone, and which offer best fits their budget.
- Visit Sprint.com/coverage and enter a ZIP code to see what coverage is like in that area.
- At the time of purchase, ask a sales associate for the ReadyNow experience, where the rep will demonstrate all of the phone's features and how to set up email, load apps, etc.
- Keep handy the phone number to Customer Care (844-665-6327) or use self-service tools at www.sprint.com to solve most issues, such as paying your bill or account usage.
- Remember that Sprint has a 14-day guarantee to return a device.
If you'd like Marty to help you solve your problem, email him at GetMarty@kdka.com.
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