Just stupid

It’s amazing how inept we, as a society, have become at customer service. We are deluged with it on all sides, whether it’s our Congressman not bothering to call us back or Sprint making blatantly stupid support and marketing decisions, as I experienced today when I wanted to upgrade my phone:

[Me:] Hi, I’d like to upgrade to a new bluetooth phone, something like the Razor.

[Sprint]: We don’t have the Razor, but this Samsung model is very similar, let me get one out…

We spend a few minutes fiddling with the phone… it’s not bad, but not as nice as a Razor.

[Me]: Well, OK, good enough, what kind of deal can you offer me?

[Sprint]: Your contract doesn’t expire until August 1st, which is next Tuesday. So, the best I can do is $399.

[Me]: Um, that’s list price. What if I commit to a two year contract?

[Sprint]: You can come back on Tuesday, then we can give it to you for $99.

[Me]: Well, I came in today — surely you can get a supervisor to approve this today, it’s only a couple of days to August 1st.

[Sprint]: Sorry, it’s in the system. We can’t do anything until the 1st.

[Me:] Seriously…?

As I walk out of the store, I notice the Verizon T*Mobile shop across the street with a pretty Razor in the window. Fifteen minutes later I had a new Razor and bluetooth headset. I’ll be back at the Sprint store on the 1st — to close my account. Seriously.