Sprint Nextel reported deeper-than-expected subscriber losses on Friday and said it would cut about 4,000 jobs, sending its shares down 19 percent to their lowest level in more than five years. The No. 3 U.S. mobile phone service has been losing ground to bigger rivals such as AT&T Inc amid network and customer service problems that drove away high-value post-paid customers who pay monthly bills.
On Friday, the company reported net losses of 683,000 post-paid subscribers, far worse than analyst forecasts that ranged from a loss of 350,000 to 500,000 subscribers. "They're trying to keep ahead of a business ... that seems to be springing new leaks faster than they can plug them," said Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett.
The subscriber losses likely represented a combination of U.S. economic weakness and Sprint's own competitive problems within the industry, Moffett said. Sprint predicted further pressures on its ability to attract subscribers and turn a profit in 2008, saying it would cut nearly 7 percent of its work force and close about 8 percent of its stores to improve its performance.
The company plans to shutter 125 stores and eliminate more than 4,000 sales outlets within other retailers. Sprint has about 20,000 total distribution points, including some 1,400 of its own retail stores. Sprint expects the measures to trim labor costs by an annual rate of $700 million to $800 million by the end of 2008. It will record a first-quarter charge for severance costs.
News source: Reuters
As for the service, I agree. Their service is awful. Hell, my mom and my girlfriend's dad have both been setup by them as well, giving them some sort of $500+ fee, and charging you MORE fees to get them to FIX the problem they created!
On top of that, the tech support take notes about your problem, but when you get ahold of someone higher up in the chain, they have no clue what's going on so you have to re-explain to them the issue.
Bah, I've gone into a rant now...
i have a sweet ass plan, good phone, great service.
sprint sero > *
just pray you never have to talk to their customer service.
AOL = internet learning center
Sprint = cell phones starting ground
+ they have the Blackberry Pearl 2 WHOO!
- Service is great, coverage is on-par with Verizon, and with unlimited roaming, its even better
- Customer service sucks, everyone knows that, and that's the main downfall and biggest problem
In the 8+ years I've been with them, I've only had a couple of big issues that I needed fixed, and the truth is, if I had a similar network issue on Verizon or AT&T, I can promise you that they would have been clueless too. I've never had billing issues, only a couple service problems.
SERO can't be beat, and I wouldn't give it up for anything. I'm willing to pay a little less and have worse customer service than paying over twice as much and having a little better customer service. Cell phone providers constantly rank last on customer service reviews, not just Sprint.
If they could turn around their customer service and change their image, then they *could* be up there with VZW and AT&T in terms of customers. They have the network.
I mean - "allo..dis is FRED...an friendly support person....how may we make your experience more friendly? Allah be praised"...isnt getting my support
Last edited by atari800 on 19 Jan 2008 - 05:21
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