Losing Customers? Fire People!
From CNet: Sprint boots three more execs. (They’re also cutting another 4000 heads.)
“But job cuts won’t necessarily solve the company’s main problem, which is retaining cell phone subscribers. Last week, Sprint said that for the fourth quarter of 2007 it had lost a total of 683,000 post-paying subscribers and 202,000 pre-paying subscribers, ending 2007 with 53.8 million post-paying subscribers and 4.1 million pre-paying customers.”
The head cutting is the by-now-standard kneejerk reaction by a big company in trouble. They also previously fired 1000 pain-in-the-a** customers.
In all the deep thinking, spreadsheet pondering, and PowerPoint Pontifications that the Sprint poobahs are doing re the problems with Nextel, bottom-line results, etc. - I have to wonder…has any small voice piped up and asked - “Hey, why don’t we look at why we’re losing so many customers?” (Oh, there I go again…)
As Seth Godin noted in his post, First Thing, re Sprint firing their customers - the real problem is that many of their customers don’t like them very much.
Hmmm….one of these days somebody is going to come up with an alternative to cellular and all the mobile companies are going to be in a world of hurt. They pretty much all treat their customers like pain-in-the a** walking wallets. Oh, wait a minute…what’s that I hear about Google?
Related Post: Why, Before Sending Out Your Product (You Should Make Sure It’s Good) - on Sprint’s intro of a new phone and the Power Vision network.
Want to browse through all my posts? Go to The Idea Pool. Everything I’ve written since I started blogging.
Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, customer service, Sprint
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January 29th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I’ve been a frustrated Sprint customer for quite some time, but my most recent experience is more disquieting than any previous one.
A couple of days ago, I went to Sprint’s online store to purchase an extended life battery for my Treo 700w. I have about six Treo 600s and six Treo 650s that were returned because of technical failure and replaced. But never without the requisite long waits, hangups and nasty attitude from Sprint “customer service.”
But these experiences must mirror those of many other observers.
HOWEVER, when I started to pay for the battery, the sequence of screens informed me that my former “user name,” or my Sprint phone number, would be changed and I had to create a new user name, new password and new PIN code. After negotiating this ponderous and unnecessary process, I was directed to a verification screen for the PIN code, which posed questions that make clear that Sprint has in its possession the square footage of my house and the year I purchased it. I know this information could be readily available, but WHY would a cell phone company obtain and keep it for such uses?
I’ve asked them, but so far have no satisfactory answers. If anyone would like to join me in posing a series of questions of Sprint, please be my guest. I’m pasting an email below that I sent one of their “executive assistant” representatives yesterday. I am still waiting for ANY answers. This service rep’s name is Barbara McKay. Try it:
Ms. McKay:
As I just told you, as I was undergoing customer-harassment exercise of setting up a “PIN” for my account, the process asked me to provide answers for what were apparently information verification questions. Two of these questions suggested that you already have in your possession the square footage of my house and the year I purchased it since each question gave me five options for response, one of which was, in fact, the correct one in each case. I have never, to my knowledge, provided Sprint with this information, nor is it clear to me what business it is of Sprint’s.
Within 60 minutes, please answer the following questions:
1) How did Sprint get information on the square footage of my house and year of purchase?
Does Sprint have any future plans to establish a viable customer service department? You surely can’t think you have one now.
2) Why did Sprint get this information?
3) What is the business purpose of your obtaining and holding this information?
4) If you obtained this information from another party, please identify that entity by name, corporate address and corporate phone number.
5) When will you stop using this otherwise private information?
6) Can you absolutely assure me that Sprint will never, under any circumstances, share this information with any other entity or person?
7) Is invasion of customers’ privacy a routine part of Sprint’s business model, or have you only recently embraced invasion of privacy as a business tool?
9) Please identify and provide all other personal or business information Sprint currently maintains relating to my account, together with a statement of the business purpose for your maintaining each piece of this information.
10) What is the name, address and phone number of your corporate legal department attorney or outside counsel who handles litigation against Sprint concerning invasion of customer privacy matters?
60 minutes, please.
Thank you.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Ouch! However, I wouldn’t hold my breath for that reply. Ms. McKay may well be one of those 4000 heads, and in any event, employee morale at corporate has to be terrible (She’s probably out drinking her lunch with co-workers.)
Can anybody out there shed some light on Sprint’s obtaining and use of customer info?
January 29th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
“shed some light on…”
Because they can?
Cheers!
- Cynical Steve
January 29th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Here in Ohio that information is not exactly “private” and is very easily accessible for anyone with a computer and internet access. While I don’t know how widespread this is across the country, at least in the multiple county area that I’ve house-hunted in, if I have a name or an address I can easily tell you the square footage of the house and when it was purchased. It’s all available on the county’s property tax site in a convenient search-able database. It doesn’t allow mass exporting of the information that I know of, however, so I’m guessing a third party is probably involved in collecting and selling the info.
Having said that, I have no idea why Sprint would choose to use that information for identity verification purposes. The simplicity of obtaining the information completely voids the purpose of securing your account with it…
January 29th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Well, another example of “just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
These days, of course, there are no real secrets on the Web (I once stumbled upon a lawsuit one of my aunts filed against another relative wayyyy back in the 50s.) However, as a customer, I’d hate to think all my vendors are out there scraping up every scrap of “personal” info about me.
That cave in the Sandia mountains is looking better and better…;-)
February 11th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I am among the millions that have told Sprint good bye due to lack luster customer service. I also hung up after going through the painful process of having to change my pin. However half way through mine Sprint’s web site crashed, therefore none of my info was saved. So I call into the incompetent customer service reps. Who tell me they need my new seven digit pin. I explain what just happened and was told “then there is nothing I can do to help you” I let them know I would help myself and end the 10 years of agony and go to AT&T. Which I did that day. In fact I completed the app and ordered the phones while on eternal hold with Sprint.
On questions they asked of the other post.. that is all public information, check with your local appraisal district.