The result was a big pain in the neck for the first few months being transfered over and over until you reach a knowledgable tech. Finally someone at Sprint got smart and placed a note on my file so that the tier1 reps could handle the reversal with no problem.

WELL, that was until this month when they said this would be the last and final reversal. I moved up the chain to their supervisor and finally a 30 minute wait (and a hour and a half phone call) to the supervisor’s supervisor and I was told the past reversals were done as a “courtesy” and they would no longer honor the reversals. They claim any and all call forwards no matter if they are forwarded out of the Sprint voicemail or Enhanced Business Features will now be charged at the .20/minute charge for just “handling” the forward.

Good luck, Sprint, you can only beat a dog for so long before he bites back- or in this case, gets a better phone carrier who sees the customer as the means of “generating” income through customer service- not by squeezing every nickle out of them while you can…

Not that it’s much consolation, but the upcoming Palm Pre is supposed to support Visual Voicemail a la iPhone. This isn’t exactly confirmed yet – just rumors – but even Visual Voicemail does little to make up for the unforgivable $.20/minute charge for wanting to use a premium voicemail service outside of Sprint.

As a Sprint customer with an expiring contract, I’m furious with them over this. Not even the lure of the Palm Pre can entice me to stay with them if they don’t fix what amounts to an archaic accounting gimmick.

http://livepetitions.us/freecallforwardingonsprint

after disabling my regular voicemail, my reps did their best to convince me that i needed to set these features up myself using *73 and *74, but these lead to “the number or code you dialed is incorrect.”

here are the the sprint web pages that refer to:

call forward/no answer
http://www.sprint.com/business/products/products/landlineCallForwardNoAnswer_tabA.html

call forward busy
http://www.sprint.com/business/products/products/landlineCallForwardBusy_tabA.html

enhanced call forwarding
http://www.sprint.com/business/products/products/landlineEnhancedCallForwarding_tabA.html

As I have said before, half of the Reps know what they are talking about and the other half doesn’t. You guys are getting the other half. There are plenty of folks enjoying Callwave and the others and “NOT” getting charged twenty cents.

Michael, as for “the last line in their Call-fowarding statement”, no, it has always been there. When Callwave became aware of the Sprint problem, they pointed to that statement and instructed on their site how to ask, and what to say on the Sprint subject.

I am sorry if there was some confusion regarding the call forwarding feature and the charges that are associated with forwarding calls to numbers other than your PCS voicemail box.

Unfortunately, Sprint does not offer a discount for the use of call forwarding to numbers other than the voicemail box. Any calls forwarded to any other number are charged .20 per minute.

I have reviewed the account and can find no indication that it was presented to you that this would be a free service. However, I have credited the 12.00 that was charged for the service as a one time courtesy. Going forward though any calls forwarded to numbers beside the voicemail number will be charged the .20 per minute fee, and those charges considered as valid.

If you would like me to deactivate this feature for you and reset it to be forwarding to your voicemail box, please reply back to this message and we will get it done for you asap.

Thank you again for contacting Sprint. We appreciate your business.

Ultimately he claims that, as far as he can tell from what he has found. Call forwarding (even for busy, no answer, no reach) is always $.20 per min. But that, if I was on a business plan, he could set up the busy call forwarding for free but not if I’m on a personal plan.

I refer him to the site linked above but he says that the section which states: “Calls forwarded to voicemail or mobile messaging are not charged the standard $0.20 per minute rate” refers to Sprint voicemail and not the voicemail of another service. He also claims to not find anything on “Enhanced call forwarding.”

The strangest point in the conversation is when he points me to Simulsays (an equivalent service to callwave, which charges per call) and says ‘well it says theyve found a way to activate through a back door in the sprint system’ (which is verbatim from the simulsays website). I asked him if that “back door’ wasn’t refering to free no answer, no reach and busy call forwarding and he said he didnt think so.

What’s the deal here? Is my mistake just not asking for his supervisor? He claimed to be very certain that busy, no answer, no reach all fall under the umbrella of Call forwarding and charge $.20 per minute. Any thoughts?

This post is the best for all Sprint customers going over to GrandCentral or CallWave, by far.

Really simple strategies for Sprint customers:
1) Call *2 or 1800-SPRINT1
2) You’ll hit a L1 CSR, tell them you have a technical matter and need to speak with someone in that department. (Maybe there is a separate number here?)
3) Inform the technical CSR you speak with that you want a service called “Enhanced Call Forwarding” and NOT traditional *72 call forwarding. While they might need a minute to check their computer, documentation or a supervisor, it will come up.
4) Give them the number. I called at 9PM EST and this took ten minutes, 7 of which were on hold.

One thing, as I am sure anyone reading this type of information would already know, call prepared and informed; you make their life and yours much easier and can usually get what you need pretty quickly. Unfortunately, this was never the case with Whorizon with the seven years I was with them before Sprint; I find the same with Comcast.

GrandCentral is _amazing_.

Thanks!

when they set it up my voicemail went on busy and all callers got a “caller isn’t available message..”

R