It’s generally accepted in the business world that getting rid of bad/resource-intensive customers is a smart move. Sure, from the consumer standpoint it seems like we’re just being bullied, but we have the right to change companies if we’re not satisfied with our current one, so why can’t a business do the same?
Say that Sprint is making $40/month off a customer that is occupying a customer service rep for 1-2 hours per month. For argument’s sake, say that said rep makes $10/hour. That’s $10-20 per month lost on that customer’s bill. That’s 25-50% of their revenue! Of course they’re going to fire that customer! If they can replace the customer with one that checks their account balance online, making no calls to the customer service center, Sprint has increased their revenue from that customer slot drastically.
One customer quoted in the article says that she only called because of billing mistakes. If this is the case then I agree that Sprint is a crappy company and deserves to fade away as they are. If not, this is perfectly acceptable practice.
Next time you sign a service contract, ask if you can insert your own cancellation fee clause at the end.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Mark@CreditCards // Jul 7, 2007 at 2:52 am
It makes sense to get rid of unprofitable customers, but not if you have them locked in a contract. If sprint wants to let people out of their contracts, power to them.
2 kevin // Jul 8, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I am mixed on this, I have worked in the cell phone industry on the technical end and understand that some customers are a total waste of time.
But how much of this is self inflicted? For every customer I had that was a pain or too lazy to read an instruction manual I would at least ten more that were calling because someone in the store screwed something up or they never had their problem taken care of from the last time they called in.
3 Cade@BusinessOpportunity // Jul 9, 2007 at 12:39 am
I have to say that this is silly. I understand the mentality, but if they are in a contract then you are breaching it. Sprint I am sure is making sure there are no legal loopholes.
4 Comfy - Educational toys // Jul 9, 2007 at 10:31 am
of course companies can choose there clients, but it is not good for business to discard a client because he will talk badly about them and they will get a bad rep
5 Adam // Jul 9, 2007 at 10:35 am
Obviously there are trade offs either way. Some bad PR is unavoidable and still worthwhile.
6 MisterSteve // Jul 10, 2007 at 11:59 pm
I could start a new blog about how often Sprint, Verizon and, more recently, T-Mobile has simply flat out lied to me to get a sale. The reps in the stores must be commission based, or something. Blaming the customers for your God awful service is a cop out. If McDonald’s can put a HOT Coffee warning on cups to keep retards from scalding themselves, then Sprint can take the time to produce easy to understand contracts, instructions and manuals. My two cents.
BTW, if there was a HOT COFFEE label on the cup, would the lady in the lawsuit NOT have spilled her coffee? I mean, I’m assuming the spilled coffee was accidental. It’s not as if I look at a soda and say, ”Well, it’s not boiling hot coffee, so I will pour this into my lap.” Beverages go in your head, not your crotch.
7 Concerned Sprint Customer // Jul 11, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Well the way I look at it now that they have fired these customer, maybe customer’s like me that need to speak to someone won’t have to wait as long now to speak to someone.
THANK YOU SPRINT
8 Elizabeth Jackson // Aug 16, 2007 at 5:26 pm
haha, good point MisterSteve! That is funny…
But I do also think it really just comes down to the individual situation. Obviously some problems are caused by mistakes of the employees, while others are caused by the pure stupidity of a customer. Some customers can be more trouble than they are worth.
9 Derek // Sep 8, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I cant believe that a cell phone company would actuall do this…
I am under a sprint contract and I do not want to stay with sprint any longer,
I think I should start complaning to them.
10 Basement Ideas // Feb 3, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I had a bad experience with Sprint so I fired them before they could fire me!
11 L Pedigree // Feb 26, 2008 at 7:43 pm
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