This evening I walked into a local Sprint store, ready to purchase an expensive phone and sign myself up for two years of $50+ phone bills. Fortunately for me, I arrived just in time to see an existing Sprint customer get some of the most exceedingly poor customer service imaginable. His phone had stopped working for some unknown reason, and he was trying to find out his options.

“So, can I get a replacement?”

“We could give you the same model as your current phone for $58.”

“But it’s still under warranty.”

“Manufacturer warranty. You’d have to send that into Samsung and wait and see if it’s a product defect. That would take at least two weeks.”

“Two weeks!?”

“Or you could buy the same model for $58.”

“You don’t handle the warranties?”

“The manufacturer takes care of that.”

“What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

“I don’t know. You could buy a new phone.”

“Do you have loaners?”

“No, we don’t do that.”

“So there’s nothing else you’ll do.”

“You didn’t purchase the equipment protection, so there’s nothing else we can do.”

“What would’ve equipment protection covered?”

“Manufacturer defects, cracked screens.”

“Manufacturer defects? Then what’s the warranty for?”

“You wouldn’t have to send your phone in.”

“So if the screen was smashed, you’d replace that?”

“Not if you smashed it.”

“If the screen was broken, you’d replace that?”

“As long as it wasn’t intentional.”

“So what can I do now?”

“You can buy the replacement for $58, or send it to Samsung.”

Frustrated, the customer spent a few moments conferring with his girlfriend. “I guess I’ll have to buy the replacement.”

“That’ll be $58. Credit card?”

“Yes.”

The rep took the card and walked over to his computer. “OK, we should get the replacement in two to three business days.”

A shocked and exasperated look came across the customer’s face. “You mean you don’t have one here!?”

“Replacements have to be shipped in. Those are the rules they gave us.”

“How am I supposed to know when it’s in?”

“We’ll leave you a voicemail.”

“But I don’t have a phone!”

“Then you should just wait three business days to make sure it’s here when you come back.”

“Three business days.”

“So come back on Wednesday.”

“What? Today’s Wednesday.”

“I mean Monday.”

“I don’t believe this.”

“I’ll need your old phone.”

The customer handed over the phone. The rep opened it up and handed the battery back to him.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“You’ll need that when we get your phone in.”

“$58 and I don’t get a new battery?”

“It’s better than the $280 to get the phone new.”

It was at that point I decided to walk out. Sprint’s prices are so much lower than the competition I still may go with them, but it’s clear that cost advantage comes with a pretty ugly downside, one I’m not sure I want to deal with. The entire point of buying a convergent device is to make one’s life easier–the Treo should do a reasonable job of replacing my phone, digital planner, and the mp3 player I use for audiobooks–but if the purchase means dealing with crap like I saw this evening, I’m not sure it would be worth it.