Sprint - I.C. Systems ripoff & harrasment Youngstown Ohio

Lets see, it must have been Christmas of 2004 that Sprint called us to send us our free phone. We receieved it, elected to have the extended warranty, and chose the fair and flexible plan. No extra fees for long distance, no roaming, 25 cents a minute, and if your bill gets close to your credit limit, they turn it off until you pay it. Great no worries about a $2000 surprise phone bill.

The bill was supposed to be $40 a month plus tax and fees of course. We were quite surprised to see a $75 bill the first month. We called. They charged us roaming AND long distance. They removed the charges. Unfortunately, we went through that every month for 4 or 5 months. Overcharge, call, remove, and right back over again.

We went to our local sprint store. They checked their computer, asked for our phone, fixed the settings, and problem fixed. Fine. Then they started raising their monthly rates. It went from $40, to $45, then $50, all the way up to $60. So as soon as we got the bill, they shut off the phone (Our "credit limit" was $100). The billing cycle was for 25 days, so by the time I got paid, they had charged the second set of fees. Finally, we decided enough was enough. The rates were $20 more a month then we agreed to, which was too expensive. We were in a 2 year contract because of the free phone, but we figured it was cheaper to just break the contract ($200 charge)versus paying them $720 (or more if the rates hiked again) for another year of service.

So we called and asked to discontinue service. They said no. Its a 2 year contract and you can't just end it. After spending half an hour griping to customer service to no avail, we decided to just not pay the bill. So they turned off the phone. Here's the funny part: they turn it off, but keep charging the monthly fee! We kept getting higher and higher bills, and refusing to pay it, because if we paid it, they would turn the phone back on!

After probably 6 months of that, I.C. Systems started calling. Now, I don't know how they pick these people, but they must have tests to find the rudest, nastiest people in the world. They would call 4 times a day, ranting and raving about how dare we not pay our bills, and saying we do so have the money to hand them $2000 through check by phone. They would call us names, yell, say every nasty belittling thing they could, and even started leaving it on the voice mail when we stopped answering! I don't know how those people can even look at themselves in the mirror.

Here's how we stopped them: called the phone company, changed our number, which is now private, unlisted, caller-id blocked, with no forwarding # from the last one. Thats the only way to get rid of them. By the way, they never even sent us a collection letter from IC Systems. My boyfriend yelled at them every single call to send a letter, and he'd start making payments. They claimed they sent letters. So we actually had to laugh when we finally got a bill in the mail from them, two days after we changed the phone #. To Hell with Sprint and their lying ways.

Elizabeth
Boardman, Ohio
U.S.A.