Paul William Berg

I just got off the phone with Sprint :)

I bought my cell phone about 3 years ago through Nextel. Nextel was good to me and I had great service with them. Then they got bought by Sprint. Back in September, the company I had my phone account under was closing down, so I changed the name on the account to my own personal account. The contract for the original equipment purchase had been fulfilled completely for over a year, I was asking for nothing new, but they did charge me a new account setup fee, which was understandable (if not a rip off... How much does it really cost to set me up an account people?) So then, last month I decide I'm going to consolidate plans with my girlfriend because it's a lot cheaper if we are on the same plan, and things move very smoothly over to Qwest. I called Sprint the next day and they informed me the account was closed and there would be no further billing.

So today I get a "bill" which says I have $160 credit. Cool beans, so I call them to ask when they send me a check. The girl puts me on hold and comes back a few minutes later to inform me that they won't. They have decided that I was under contract until September 2006, so they are going to send me another bill for the $100 or so I now owe them after they take my credit.

"When did I sign a contract?" I ask. Apparently, in their mind they are able to put anyone they like under contract... a kind of "1 party agreement" contract I guess, because I never signed anything, or even verbally agreed to such contract nonsense, nor did I take advantage of any new equipment purchase compensation plans they use. So, calmly I ask her who their representative in King County, Washington is that represents them in small claims court and how do I contact them to talk about this. I kind of giggle inside at the notion. Who does a large corperation send to small claims court? She gets very flustered at this.

"We don't have a legal department." she says. Yeah, right, Sprint Communications has no legal department. Anyway, She says she is tranfering me to escalation and the phone goes dead. Disconnected.

So, I print up the King County Courthouse small claims filing forms, read the brief directions and call them back. I explain to the man that answers that I have a credit on the closed account, that I neither signed nor agreed to any written or verbal contract outside that of payment for services rendered, and that the other person had told me there was outstanding balances for braching contract and I would like to know exactly how much they were claiming because I needed it for paperwork, and who accepts servicing of small claims court paperwork for Sprint in the king county area since I would need to make sure they get the paperwork in advance of the trial.

He was very helpful. The fee was waived. I get my credit back in full.

Damn... I really wanted to sue a major telcom in small claims, mainly out of curiosity of who they would send, since legal representation isn't allowed, and the company is out of state. That would have been fun. Oh well, maybe next time.