On February 19, 2009, I called Sprint Wireless to cancel my wireless phone. However, they offered me a better plan, one that I decided to accept.

However, the plan they offered was a lie! It appears that they entered NOTHING in their system about the new plan. When I called back on May 17, 2009 to ask them what happened, they claimed that the first call had never occurred, and I had never been offered that plan. They appeared to hold to that claim, even after I played them the recording of the first call!

From the calls, it appears that they know that their own customer service lies to their customers. Thus, they don't want us to record them, even though they clearly tell us when we call them that THEY are recording US!

But, if Sprint's "Customer Service" is going to lie (and clearly has lied), what defense do we have but to record our calls with them? Note that, in some states, it is not legal to record a phone call without the permission of both parties. Arizona is not one of those states. Of course, each of these phone calls contains specific notice (from Sprint) that they are being recorded, which you can hear for yourself at the beginning of the calls, so all parties to the call are aware that they are being recorded. However, I am not an attorney, and am not giving any advice regarding making recordings such as this, especially from states that require consent from all parties.

So, for your listening pleasure:

• The February 19, 2009 call, with the phone and account numbers and PIN obscured - the good part starts at about 12:52 into the call.
• The February 19, 2009 call, with silent parts and holds removed (and thus much shorter!) - the good part starts at 4:24
• The May 17, 2009 call, with the phone number and PIN obscured - the good part starts at 22:37
• The May 17, 2009 call, with silence removed (and thus much shorter!) - the good part starts at 7:50

The other lie is at the end of the May 17 call, when the "escalation manager" tells me that the only additional bill I will receive is for minutes used. I used NO minutes, yet they charged me the entire monthly bill (again!). I called to complain, but when I told them that I was recording the call, they terminated the call. Hmmm... there is really only one reason I can think of why Sprint would not want its customers to record their calls. Can you think of any other reason?

In my opinion, since Sprint lies, they should be REQUIRED to record all calls, so that when a customer calls to tell them that they lied, the recording could be used to determine whether they did or not.

I have filed a complaint with the FCC and the Arizona Corporation Commission. We will see what happens now.

SprintScam.Net is brought to you by James M. Nachbar, MD, a plastic surgeon in Scottsdale, Arizona. His website is www.plastic.org