A GOOD wireless purchasing experience.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Today we switched cell providers, and it honestly could not have gone better.

We wanted to find a new provider because the service around our home with Cingular is spotty. So, based on prices and recommendation from Motorboatcrusier, we were looking at Sprint. We shopped online, found the plan and phones we wanted and were ready to go, but to transfer our phone numbers, we apparantly had to either call or go into a store. Can't do it online.

I hate doing this kind of thing over the phone, so we made a trip to our local store. Now, 2 years ago, we went through hell trying to renew our overage and upgrade our phones. Conflicting information combined with crappy customer service policies mean having to cheat the system (not my doing, they gave me wrong info, and therefore they had to honor what they told me) to get a decent deal. So I was prepared for the worst.

Miraculously, this was painless. Perhaps because we came prepared. We had printed out the exact details of the plan, phones, and options we had selected online, along with the prices. So we walked in and showed the sales rep what we had picked out. They didn't carry the phone we wanted. Damn. But, a manager immediately took a look at it and said, "Well, okay, we can give you this upgraded phone for less instead." Hmmm, that might be good, but part of the reason we liked this phone was that it was compatible with the accessories (namely car charger) of our old phone. No problem, we'll take 50% off the car chargers.

Wow. Well, we saw that the plan we wanted was $10 more per month than quoted on the web (or, rather, they didn't have the plan we wanted listed as one of their options in-store). No problem, they gave us the plan we had selected.

This happened 3 or 4 times. We just said, "We can get it on the web for X", and, with absolutely no argument, they said, "Okay, you can have it for X". Down to waiving the activation fee. Everything was explained in detail to us and given in writing. And we walked out with 2, free, camera phones ready to go. I knew we had done well when the sales clerk went to ring up the final sale and had to have a manager come over to ener his authorization code to allow the discounts we were getting. And within an hour, our old service was automatically canceled, and the new service working.

So, for customer service alone, I highly recommend Sprint if you're looking. I never expected such a painless, friendly process from a cell company. Good for Sprint. But I do also know that part of the reason it was so painless was that we went in there educated. We knew exacly what we wanted, and exactly what we should be paying for it. The best favor you can do yourself if you're going the in-store route and know as much as you can beforehand and bring it in writing. They want those in-store sales and WILL work with you to get it.