I am writing this to bring light to something I haven't seen being discussed and that I haven't received any resopution for.
My issue is with Sprints "Flex Lease". The options for the Flex lease that I agreed to and as listed in my contracts are:
- All options are for after you pay 18mo payments*
1. Pay remaining "purchase amount" once 18mo is up which typically is the amount of 6 more payments in one lump sum to "own" the device.
2. Pay the purchase amount after the 18mo is up but pay it by making 6 more monthly payments to own device.
3. Trade in the device and get another one (i.e. upgrade.)
4. Trade in device and cancel the line.
5. Do nothing and continue to pay a "lease charge" which is basically a full monthly device payment (no credits or promotional prices you might have paid for the 18mo) of which none of this goes towards purchasing/owning the phone.
Once my leases were up on two of my lines, I went to select the 6 monthly payments to ownthe device as my contract stipulates. However, I noticed this was no longer an option. Instead, they have a 9 monthly payments option. I was confused so I downloaded my signed contracts (thanks for storing them for me) from my account and of course I was right, it says 6mo is an option yet not available to me.
I went in chat and asked them to switch it to 6mo option but of course they tried and said they can only do 9mo option.
Now I understand they changed all of the amounts so in the end 9 payments totals the same as what my contract says for 6 payments which totals the purchase amount but that isn't my issue.
Now they might get unsuspecting users to stay with them an additional 3mo if they are planning to leave not realizing their contracts were for 6mo. I understand you can pay a little more each month towards the device and still pay it off in 6mo (customer service tried pulling both of these on me after hours and multiple days trying to explain my issue with it) but that is not my point.
My issue is that my contracts clearly state my options to choose at the end of my lease but tmo/spr decided they would change that agreement and remove that option by making it 9mo instead of 6. To me, that is a breach of contract. We agreed to the options and signed an agreement and yet those options are no longer available. On the same note, I guarantee if a customer tried to change the agreement for any reason they would tell the customer to "look at your contract" or "you agreed to it in your contract" yet when I try calling them out for changing our agreement and tell them to "look at the contract" they (customer service reps) agree that it is 6mo but still proceed to tell me the options that currently exist and do nothing about it.
I have 2 devices I pay upwards of 50+ dollars a month for going on 7mo now to "rent" the phones and have raised these concerns multiple times during the past 7mo to no avail. I have asked for them to refund those "rent" payments and scratch it off as I own the devices due to their breach of contract but instead of them looking into it or escalating it they try to offer me to trade them in and upgrade? That is pretty much an insult at this point. I have even threatened legal action and yet they still dont care.
Lately they either leave the chat (similar to hanging up on someone) or provide me with random numbers guaranteeing they will help me which ends up being just a regular customer service number or to some random department who tells me they have no idea why they gave me the number as they don't even remotely handle those situations who then direct me back to where I started.
Has anyone else had this problem? I suggest you all go through any agreements you have and ensure they havent tried to pull a fast one on you and change your agreements without your knowledge or consent.
