I thought venting about my recent call to Sprint (see Sprint Screws Me) would help ease my anger at their inability to do what the customer asks.

Whoops. I couldn’t be further from the truth.

On Sunday, a very nice customer service agent called me to inform me I was overdue on my payment. As I’ve previously explained, I knew about this and called customer service because I felt they were at fault. I proceeded to recount all of this to Sunday’s customer service agent, we’ll call her “Sun-gent.”

I told Sun-gent I had disputed the charges with another representative earlier in the week, and since I got nowhere with her I would be paying the bill in full and had dropped payment in the mailbox on Saturday. Note that I said, “the bill in full.” I was then asked how much of the bill they could expect. Note that I also said, “dropped… in the mailbox on Saturday.” I was then asked when I would be mailing them payment. I HAVEN’T EVER MISSED A PAYMENT, GIVE ME A BREAK.

Sun-gent then told me that I could pay my bill online. WTF? That’s where this whole thing began, apparently I cannot pay my bill online because my hardware is too high-tech. Here’s a recap from earlier:

“… every time I go online to sign up for a Sprint account I’m told that the activation code will be sent to my phone as a text message. Unfortunately, I don’t have a phone [I have an aircard]“

She told me that she would take care of canceling the scheduled service interruption. Perfect. I thanked her, and she told me that I would not be receiving any more calls regarding this matter.

Fast forward 24 hours. 24 hours EXACTLY. I get another call from Sprint.

I’m asked if I know about the late balance on my account. I tell this customer service agent, we’ll call her “Mon-gent,” that I talked with one of their representatives the prior day and had taken care of the problem. I’m then asked if I would be paying my bill in full. WTF?! Do they not keep records? Sun-gent kept telling me she was making notes to my accounts, was she just mashing her hands on the keyboard while I thought she was typing?! Mon-gent had no idea I had been called the previous day by one of their agents, and didn’t believe me.

No wonder Sprint needs my measly $61 so quickly. They’re doing everything twice. And still getting it wrong!

I’ve often talked about how much I like my Sprint aircard. I really do enjoy the convenience. Embedded in my laptop, EV-DO speeds and faster in some areas and absolute convenience.

I don’t have to pay for access in Starbucks or airports with their stupid pay-WiFi. I can get around restricted FTP access on the work network. And when the (now trashed) D-Link crap router goes out, I can still get online. (On a separate note, changed to a new Linksys router and confirmed it wasn’t a Bright House problem, but between the computers and the series of tubes).

On to the purpose of this post…

I’ve been sick of receiving a paper bill from Sprint for my aircard service, but every time I go online to sign up for a Sprint account I’m told that the activation code will be sent to my phone as a text message. Unfortunately, I don’t have a phone (and the Sony laptops with Sprint cards don’t have software like laptops with Verizon cards, which allow you to send and receive text messages).

So, I gave in and called customer service. I talked with a very nice agent for about 15 minutes while she tried to understand my problem. Finally we both came to agreement that I have an embedded card and not a phone. She told me she was going to put me on hold for a few minutes and come back with an answer. About 3 minutes later she rejoined our conversation to let me know that she could take my information and process the automatic payment request. The catch was that I would have to call back and sign up for automatic withdrawal again when my contract ends in July. No big deal.

This call was in the middle of April; I told her that I had already mailed in my payment due in April, so the automatic payments shouldn’t start until May. She understood and told me she’d set it all up. I gave her my credit card information, and thought it was done.

Not so fast.

I get my bill on Wednesday, and it says I haven’t paid my bill. I owe Sprint 2 months worth of payments. WTF? I’ve never missed a payment on anything in my life, now (because I didn’t check to see if May’s payment had been processed) I’m faced with a late fee and the mark that I’ve missed payments!

I called Sprint. Upset, but level headed and polite. I talked to a different customer service agent and explained the problem. She didn’t understand. At all. I told her that the original call (in April) was to set up an online account, but was told that their system wouldn’t allow them to set up an account for a number that can’t receive text messages. She verified that I called customer service, but had no record of a request for automatic payment registration. I told her that I spent 15 minutes talking to someone who took my credit card information to register for the service. She told me that I could enroll in automatic payments on the website.

WTF? I just spent 5 minutes explaining to her that I CAN’T REGISTER FOR AN ONLINE ACCOUNT BECAUSE SPRINT’S SYSTEM IS SCREWING ME. I was much more polite and did not talk in all caps.

She put me on hold for 5 minutes and talked to her supervisor. Then came back on and told me I could talk to their accounting department to pay my current bill and register for automatic payments. Forget that.

I’ll mail in my paper bill from now on. No matter what. The price of a stamp and a book of checks is well worth avoiding dealing with customer service, late fees and embarrassment.