Sprint Sprint's "FREE" tablets are not "FREE" Delray Beach, FL Nationwide

 I went to my local Sprint store a couple of months ago to renew my contract which was almost up.  I wanted to lower my bill and also get a new phone for myself.  The woman who handled my request was Brittney Martin.  At the time - my plan was outdated and my husband and I were paying far to much for cell service.  Brittney told me of several options, all of which included 2 "FREE" tablets.  I kept asking her why the tablets were free.  She told me it was part of the new Sprint Framily Plans.  She wrote out numerous plan options.  I kept asking her if there were ANY fees associated with the tablets.  Time and time again she told me there were not.  My new plan included a new Samsung Galaxy S4, which I had insured and two "FREE" tablets.  I signed the electronic contract to renew.

Since the tablets were "FREE", my husband and I gave one away as a gift.  After a while, we realized that there was data capability on both tablets.  We quickly alerted the person we gifted the other tablet to to put the tablet on airplane mode when not in wifi range.  We then noticed that there was a monthly, $30 charge for each tablet on our Sprint bill.  Also, I was without 3G or 4G on my cell phone for a number of weeks.  I went back to the Sprint store and spoke with a salesperson about my phone issue.  He restored my 3G service, but was not able to restore the 4G.  I also told him about the charges on my bill for the 2 tablets that were supposed to be "FREE".  I told him Brittney was my sales person, to which he shook his head.  He told me Brittney and the previous store manager had been transfered to another store and that I needed to see her and she would take off the charges and I would be issued a credit for the previous months.

Yesterday - I went to the other store and met with Brittney.  I told her of my dilema.  She went to my account and told me that the charges for the tablets were for the 2 year service agreements associated with each tablet and insurance for each which I NEVER authorized.  I argued with her that there were supposed to be NO fees associated with the tablets and that I had repeatedly asked her if there were at the time of my renewal and was told no each time.  She then twisted things around by saying the plan that I agreed to was the same rate, even cheaper, because she added other customers to my Framily plan, getting my rate per line down even lower.  Then she said the price for the service agreements for the tablets was "bundled" into the prices she quoted me and the price was still the same, except Sprint does a breakdown of the charges on my monthly bill.  I told her "FREE" was supposed to mean "FREE".  She kept saying the tablets were free.  I had no idea there would be service agreements attached to the tablets.  If I had known that - I would never have taken the tablets. When I initially went in to get my contract renewed, I was clear that I needed the most affordable plan for us.   She just said the tablets were part of the new price packages and there was NO cost associated with them.

After going into "the back" to speak with her manager - she told me the only option they could give me was a "liability transfer", where either I found someone to take over the payments on the service agreements for the tablets or I could bring both tablets back to the store and they could maybe try to find someone to take them over.  How humiliating it would be to have to ask the person I gave one of the tablets to as a GIFT to give it back!

I came home, furious and went on the Sprint chat.  I told this entire story to Richard, the chat supervisor.  He told me there was really nothing they could do.  So I told Richard that I will be leaving Sprint as soon as my contract ends, and that I would share my experience on every social network platform and forum I could find.  My husband and I have been giving our business to Sprint for 10 or so years, paying tens of thousands of dollars, only to be swindled and lied to by a salesperson obviously trying to boost her commission by any means possible and lining Sprint's pockets dishonestly as well.  Someone from Sprint called me to see if there was anything they could do for me.  I told her to take the service agreements off the tablets and make them "FREE", like I was told they were.  She said the only thing she could do was lower the rate to $10 per tablet.  I know you are probably thinking that's a pretty good deal - but I'm still paying on two service agreements that I NEVER knowingly agreed to.  I've signed the electronic contract quite a few times at Sprint - - NEVER thinking I was going to be taken advantage of.