Sprint to sell off assets due to subscriber defections?
Filed under: Sprint
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
roach @ May 13th 2008 11:55AM
SERO....
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
soydeedo @ May 13th 2008 11:58AM
They can't really afford to lose more customers either, so I'm not sure it's going to affect SERO. Low prices and in some cases coverage are about all that keep people around these days. But yeah, who knows.
soydeedo @ May 13th 2008 11:55AM
While the US doesn't really need the layoffs right now, it really is a bit silly when in certain parts of Houston and its surrounding areas [Pearland comes to mind first] there are 2-3 Sprint stores within 2 miles of each other. I'm sure it's just as bad elsewhere and it's just not necessary.
I say shut them down and put those savings into keeping all of your CS on the same page so your satisfaction ratings don't continue to float in the toilet. People are sick of getting the runaround and having to say 'cancel' to get anything accomplished.
youngcalihottie @ May 13th 2008 6:59PM
in long beach, ca there is a shopping area called the Long Beach Towne Center
it literally has 2 Sprint stores in the same parking lot
you can be in one Sprint store and look outside to the other end of the parking lot and see the other Sprint store
i always thought that was rediculous
Bradley @ May 13th 2008 12:55PM
That article is somewhat misleading. Most of the 4,000 people who were fired are already gone. The people who are remaining from that 4,000 are only those that are working in a retail store that is scheduled to be closed. Most people's last day out of that 4,000 was back in March. This article seems to just be regurgitating a lot of info that has been public for months now. The closing of 125 stores is nothing new. As usual, Bloomberg writes another misleading story about Sprint.
Disclosure: I am a Sprint employee.
badqat @ May 13th 2008 3:15PM
At least until you get your pink slip, eh?
PeterB @ May 13th 2008 1:09PM
SERO is done for, there is no way they can afford to give away the farm like they have been. Expect a change in the way they give it out. I doubt they will be kicking existing customers off the plan, but you can be sure its going to get really hard to get a SERO plan in the near future.
youngcalihottie @ May 13th 2008 6:59PM
it has been for a few months now
they have cleaned up the employee email list
and employees get a notification when you use their email
if they click that they didnt allow it, you receive your phone with a retail price plan
Holly @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:47PM
As for SERO, you are correct, there is no more. However, my contract expired on July 24th at midnight, I called the retention line directly on July 25th, mid afternoon and was given a plan very similar to the "Everything Plan" for $40.00/mo.(Sprint limited my text messaging to 1000 a month, which I don't text message anyway, so that was a moot point. They also limited my non mobile to mobile minutes to 1000 minutes a month up from 550 minutes from being on the contract. Before my contract ran out, I was getting cell phone service ONLY, 550 non mobile to mobile for $60.00/mo. Retention does work, especially if you have been with Sprint for a while and been an on time paying customer.
The one con: I can't find a phone with TV, radio, text, etc that I like. Hopefully the new HTC Diamond due out September 2, 2008 will fill the bill?
xB Owner @ May 13th 2008 2:42PM
There are only two types of people I know that still use Sprint. Those that are able to wrangle themselves a SERO plan, and those suckered into the Sprint network because of the lure of Nextel for their business. And even those people seem to be considering other options.
For Sprint to survive, the first thing they need to do is invest in new cell towers and/or leases on other carriers' towers. Next, they seriously need to weed out the leeches taking advantage of SERO. They aren't making any real money off of them anyway. Then they need to dump Nextel. After that, offer all services at a rate of 10%-15% discount when compared to AT&T and Verizon. I really think if they could pull all that off, they would see a huge rebound in their contract and sales numbers. (Yeah, I know it is really easy to type and not so easy to do.)
There is really one reason, and one reason only why people are defecting from Sprint. Crappy coverage. If they don't resolve this issue first, nothing else they do will be able to salvage the company.
Jamar Johnson @ May 13th 2008 8:30PM
This proves that people talk and don't do research, go to a Sprint Store and pull up their coverage, go to AT&T and T-Mobile and Verizon and do the same, Sprint coverage map is better above average. I have had Verizon and T-Mobile when they were Voicestream, Sprint is loosing people because of customer service, and billing. I left and came back and once I got charges for stuff that I didn't even have, I had the Samsung A900 (The Blade) and the phone only holds like 25 songs, well everytime I previewed a song, they charged me for it. It took hours before they got the charges off and figured out the problem when it could have took them minuets to figure it out. I say may the best company win, but when you say they have crappy service just shows you don'y jack, and independant company in Las Vegas did a research on At&T, Verizon, and Sprint, and Sprint came out on top. Here is Phoenix where I live channel 12 news (NBC) did a similar research with all four companies and guest who came out on top?
elgee02 @ May 14th 2008 12:38AM
Jamar that is total BS right there. I can't tell you the massive # of Sprint ports I did to VZW when I lived in the Phx area (and it was a hell of a lot more than the VZW ports to Sprint)... Sprint coverage there blows, I know. In the Phx area only VZW and Alltel have great coverage and to their credit AT&T's has improved quite a bit lately.
Jon @ May 13th 2008 2:50PM
"I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."
Seth A @ May 13th 2008 10:34PM
Maybe somebody should say that. Worked out well last time. :-P
ddsindy @ May 13th 2008 3:13PM
People aren't leaving Sprint because of their crappy coverage. They are leaving because of their terrible customer service and billing departments. Sprint's coverage is better than AT&T's, or T-Mobile's.
All you have to do is look at their coverage maps and see that unless you're in a big city, or on an interstate, the odds of you having GSM coverage are pretty slim.
In 6 months, I have had no problems with Sprint's Network. It is the customer service, and billing, that is aggravating to no end.
youngcalihottie @ May 13th 2008 6:59PM
although i dont agree they have better coverage than gsm, i will agree that the reason i left sprint twice was because of billing and customer service. i tried them last year and about 6 years ago. both times i left within my 30 days. both times i was not signed up on the price plan i had selected. and both times i couldnt get my internet to work. i couldnt believe that 6 years later i had the exact same freakin problems. the only thing that changed was 6 years ago they tried billing me $4 every time i pressed 0 to talk to an operator, whereas now i get someone in CS in a foreign country when i press 0.
LyE @ May 13th 2008 3:19PM
They're leaving because of lousy service that you can't reach when they nickel & dime you to death on your bill! Sprint figures that if a customer has to wait 35 minutes to talk to a CSR who will only fill out a trouble ticket to be sent to Finance for "research", you'll just cave in and pay it.
They're killing Nextel which had a tremendously loyal subscriber base. Yes, the iDEN network was getting old but Motorola did have plans to upgrade it. That's when Sprint bought them and they started retiring the Nextel brand.
Until recently! Notice how the Nextel 'Chirp' has been appearing in ads? Seems they decided to try to revive it and go after the Large Business and Gvt. sectors again.
Nicole @ May 13th 2008 4:35PM
I hate to burst your bubble but has no one read this article? It is talking about the same layoffs that started when Hesse came to the show in February. The fact that this is now linked to on Engadget is going to strike more fear into employees hearts and make people think Sprint is worse off than it is.
The truth of the matter is that even though Sprint's last quarter's numbers were bad they were still an improvement and Hesse has been doing well. With the AGGRESSIVE handset lineup planed before year end and price plan changes that are due to drop June 1st Sprint is positioning itself for turn around.
THERE ARE STILL NO NEW LAYOFFS AT THIS TIME!
badqat @ May 13th 2008 4:53PM
Nothing "AGGRESSIVE" about Sprint's upcoming handsets, other than in being so far behind the curve of every other provider out there save the tiny, rural outlets.
And nothing "AGGRESSIVE" about Sprint, except their churn rate and their horrible customer service.
Here's a note to all the Sprint employees posting "positive" messages... rather than spending your time telling us how great things are at Sprint, what with your "excellent leadership" (snicker), your "massive handset" selection (snicker), and your industry-leading (meaning right at the bottom of the barrel) "customer service" (ROTFL), why aren't you doing things AT WORK ON THE JOB to make them better?
RC @ May 13th 2008 4:56PM
Then or now, they're still layoffs.
Sprint's dragged their own name through the mud, and now they're in quicksand. Only a matter of time until they are defunct.
youngcalihottie @ May 13th 2008 7:00PM
no, here is what they need to do:
1) FORGET 4G. for now. they cant even get their 2g/3g profitable. there is no need for them to invest in tomorrows technology if they are on their way out the door today. companies that talk about 4g, with the exception of sprint, are the ones who are making money. sprint should just work their 3g for all its worth and worry about 4g once they are making money. hell, tmobile is barely getting 3g up in a couple cities, and theyre still making money. ya, i think mediaflo and video share and all the cool new things i can do with my att phone are cool, but it all comes down to price. there is a reason its called the "bottom line." and that leads me to my next one...
2) GET NEW PRICE PLANS. supposedly theyre coming in june. they dont need to be SERO status of cheap. but at least cheaper than tmobile. why do you think tmobile has anyone with their crappy coverage and 2g? price. they keep most stuff slightly less than att and vzw. the 99 plan is awesome. but many people (like myself) need a family plan more than an unlimited one. or maybe match verizon and att on family plan price, but include unlimited qchat, text, and web. i would definitely consider that.
3) BRING CS BACK TO THE US. the other reason people switch to tmo is their customer service. att and vzw have shitty cs. but at least u talk to someone in the US. not that americans have anything against foreigners. but the people that sprint has outsourced to are difficult to understand, never really seem to understand your problem, and dont really seem to care. you never get resolution either. US companies need to wake up and realize people are leaving them because of this. are they seriously this blind?
4) DROP iDEN. as soon as qchat is in, iden should be out. offer free new qchat handsets to iden customers if they will sign a new contract. get people migrated over and get iden out of the picture. it was the sloppiest merger ever (read: tech that never really did ever merge). [as for boost, come out with a $50 qchat prepaid boost phone. give existing customers $25 off. give people over the arpu bar (~$60+) a free qchat phone. throw a qchat boost hip hop party. celebrate that iden is gone.]
5) LOWER PHONE PRICES. sprint phone selection is shit. and the prices are even shittier. someone needs to let this company know that 2 year old phones are not still worth their original asking price. i cant believe the katana dlx, upstage, and muziq are all still $150 before MIR. are you kidding me!? those phones should be $50 before MIR. or just charge $50 and drop the MIR. you cannot add new subs if you ask crazy prices for old phones. for FREE with no MIR i can get a lg trax from att. so why would i get the old muziq for 99-150? shit u can get a nokia n75 for 99 with no MIR. so why would i pay 99-150 for a katana dlx? 99-150 for a centro? no thats okay i'll get a moto q global for 50 with no MIR. ya some of those are refurbs, but to some people price is what matters most. maybe sprint should start offering refurbs on their site? and tell me they are kidding with the scp3200 as their only free phone. the others have like a dozen free phones. $70 for the m300 before MIR? r u kidding me? that phone should be free with no MIR. ok i made my point a long time ago. lol. if it wasnt bad enough that the phone selection sucked, its worse when you look at how much they want for their phones. in the studies i have seen, amount due at sign up was the biggest factor in determining a carrier. it doesnt matter how amazingly super your price plans are if people cant get afford to sign their name on the dotted line.
soydeedo @ May 14th 2008 5:11PM
Every time I have to deal with Sprint CS it's someone based in the US. I think I got someone in Canada once, but that could have been for something else. It's not that there are communication issues, it's that customers never get the same answer twice so we get surprised by billing changes after we though we had something confirmed.
I think the phone prices [and selection] are another reason for not attracting new customers and yes the rebates are really stupid since the general public despises them. Not to mention they're for $100 or so...
I have to disagree on the advice to drop 4G though. Sprint has had the edge in data transfer rates for awhile now and I'm sure that is a great selling point to many. It'd be foolish to give up one of their few advantages over the competition.
I won't say much about iDEN or pricing since I'm fine with their pricing for the most part and I don't know much about iDEN to begin with.
Seth A @ May 13th 2008 10:40PM
It kinda sucks to see this happen to Sprint, as I live in Kansas and it is and always has been a big part of the Kansas economy and such. I would love for it to survive, but, they do have some issues right now. I don't see why they don't just stick with what they have. They currently have a very decent fast network comparable to Verizon and much better than AT&T's. Go with that, make people switch, say you will pay early termination fees, whatever, just get people on Sprint, period. Once you get them, keep them. And for gods sake, get a good phone, just... pay LG to make you an amazing phone that everybody wants, and make it exclusive. I am not a business guy obviously, but how about that 2.x Million you shell out every year for that brand new arena in KC. I mean seriously.