Why the American Economy is Going to Hell...

My experience today is one of the reasons why the economy in the country is going to hell. Customer service is absolutely pathetic in most places, or should I say lack there of. All that these companies think about is the bottom line, the profit, not the consistent revenue.
Today I went to Sprint in Encino, Ca. to see if the many problems with my Samsung Instinct could be repaired. I have been there several times with some of the same problems and they would do something to the phone and then out the door I would go. The problems are never repaired. Well now many of the problems are merely worst. Today they are actually going to order me another phone, but the problem with that is that they are going to replace my phone with a refurbished phone. I know, I know, all refurbished products are not products that have been repaired, but some are, and there is no way to differentiate. I bought a new phone less than a year ago and under the manufacturers warranty I want my replacement to be new. I don't see that as being unreasonable. After going through the store management, I called customer service from the store and even talked to someone in their retention department name Patrick, and boy was he rude. The last thing he said to me was the worst.
I was expressing my feeling on my being a customer of 8 years and I have had a problem in the past with phones and the phones that had to be replaced, and they were replaced with new phones, or the upgrade.
I made the mistake of calling him sweetheart, and he told me that his name was Patrick and he would appreciate it if I called him that. At that moment I told him that the conversation was over and hung up the phone. I was foaming at that mouth.

To calm myself down I went down the street to my favorite sushi restaurant on Van Nuys and Ventura Blvd, ate their wonderful sushi and drank a glass of plum wine, and talked to the guy that made my food.
A few years ago, I would have called him a few things other than sweetheart or Patrick, but I am little bit more reserved now.

Once I arrived home I thought that I would call Sprint again because maybe Patrick was having a bad day. Well I talked to two more people that only gave me the option of getting the refurbished phone or paying for the upgraded version, well that is no option in my eyes. So I declined and told them that I would make new arrangements for my daughter and would call back by the end of the week to cancel my service. There response was, " thank you for calling Sprint".

Yes they are willing to lose a loyal customer of 8 years and thousands of dollars in revenue over a phone that cost them a couple of hundred dollars. It is their call but the buck stops here.

I don't want to deal with any company that does not value me as a customer, especially a loyal customer, when there are not many loyal anything around these days. They can forget their early cancellation fees, because I will read that contract and I will blast their A*# all over the web, but they will not get it another dime from me.


I am getting to the point where I would much rather deal with the mom and pop businesses of yesteryear. Yes, it may be more expensive, but if you can get good customer service it will add years to your life. The hassle is ridiculous. Everything is automated, and I am sick of that as well.
I am learning the value of the small businessman, and from now on I will seek out the locally owned businesses and give my money to them, because these corporate monsters only care about lining their own pockets, and I am tired of them lining it with my own money. I have many choices and I am going to utilize them.

We need to stop these companies from charging top dollar for products that costs them pennies and telling us that we are getting the best deal. This maybe my new mission, to locate small businesses and talk about them on my site and any where else I can give them a boost.

You know I have taken to buying a great deal of things on line because I really abhor going in stores and being greeted, or not, by bad attitudes, win/lose policies, and unappreciative corporate structures. Yes I am still mad.

I will continue to write more on what I come across on a daily basis and I will write the company's name, location, and even the employees name if applicable. I really don't care. They all need to be called out. I am going start a calling.