So my Sprint saga isn’t over…

July 5: Sprint’s website says our contract expired last October. Sprint’s e-mail customer service confirms that they have noted this in our account, even though Sprint phone people have several different answers.

Later that week, we switch to Cingular and the Sprint account gets canceled.

July 18: I call Sprint to make sure that we weren’t charged a fee. First attempt, got hung up on before I even spoke to a live person.

Called back, this person said that we weren’t charged the fee, and we paid off the remaining balance on the account. This should be the last we ever pay to Sprint.

Today, July 30: A bill for $166.33 arrives from Sprint.

10:30PM: I call Sprint. The computer claims the Sprint phone number I entered is invalid, but eventually lets me talk to a person in the customer support dept. That person eventually agrees that there’s a problem, and transferrs me to the “refunds department.” I get a recording saying that Sprint Financial Services closed at 9PM.

10:40PM: I call back, and manage to convince the automated system to let me talk to someone in the billing department. This person also agrees that I shouldn’t have been charged the fee, and adds a “high-priority note” to the account noting this, but is powerless to actually remove the charge from my bill. He — surprise — transferrs me to a different department.

But actually, he just transferred me to a new computerized menu. This one features a male voice, so we know it is Different somehow. It also completely refuses to accept my Sprint number, but it says that it will just have to let me talk to an operator. 5 seconds later, it hung up on me. No operator.

One would think that a telephone company would be able to correctly route more than 25% of calls to customer service.

I am so glad we switched away from this company.