Dear Dan

August 3, 2009

Daniel R. Hesse
Chief Executive Officer
Sprint Nextel Corp.
6200 Sprint Parkway
Overland Park, KS 66251

Dear Dan:

As you know, along with its quarterly earnings report Sprint recently announced that in the same period a quarter of a million customers left your company for greener pastures. When you report an equally dismal number of subscriber line cancellations in the next reporting period, I want you to know that ten of those lines will be mine.


I visited your Store on Route 59 in Aurora, Illinois today. I was having trouble with my Blackberry device that I recently purchased and the customer service representative I spoke with advised me to visit a store to have the device replaced as I was well within the thirty day exchange and return period.


I have visited the Aurora store before, and I’ve come to expect very little in the way of service from the people who work there. The store is usually crowded and the staff ranges from incompetent to downright hostile. Today, I was assisted by a man named Chad who was rude and unhelpful and treated me as if I was a waste of his time since I wasn’t making a purchase. I noticed the store manager was standing behind Chad listening to our conversation. I didn’t explicitly ask for her help, hoping she’d take the cue and step-in but, alas, she didn’t. Ironically, Chad is the one who sold me the ten lines originally, although he didn’t remember me… I remember Chad being much more enthusiastic then.


I bought my first Sprint phone when I was twenty years old. I recently turned thirty. I stayed with you when you charged three dollars to speak with customer service on the phone. I didn’t leave when you billed me incorrectly month after month, for years. I was patient when I spent more time sorting out issues with my Sprint account than I did using my Sprint phone. No More.


You know what they say about camels’ backs and straw. Julie and Chad from your Aurora store just handed me my last piece of straw.

Sincerely,

Me