First Sprint
I used the store locator at the Sprint website to select a nearby store that said it did repairs. I traipsed off to Damen and Irving Park just a quick drive down the street. I walked in an empty store. After a few minutes, a young man emerged from the back of the store and asked if there was something I needed. I said yes, produced my dead cell phone, and said I needed some help getting it running again.
Attitude
He looked at me impatiently, took the phone tried to power it up. Of course it wouldn’t since it was dead. Then he opened the back and removed the battery. I know now that he was checking the moisture indicator on the battery. Is shows no moisture, by the way, as we’ll show in a later chapter.
The “Fix”
I thought he might try another battery just to see if the battery had failed but he didn’t. He asked me if I had insurance (and that sounds a lot like most doctors I know.) I asked him to check and it turns out I declined the insurance on the phone but took the insurance on the tablet. With no insurance he said he’d look at the phone for $75. I protested that the phone was under warranty and he replied that the warranty was between me and Samsung; Sprint was not a part of that agreement.
Technically, I know that he’s correct. So this was my first big lesson: They will do anything they can to wiggle out of helping you even if you are a long-standing customer. It’s a strange business model and probably explains why Sprint has such a hard time hanging on to customers.
I had brought my old flip-phone with me, charged and ready. I asked him to activate it which he did since I believe even as a franchise you have to perform those kinds of requests at no charge.
I picked up my dead phone and my now functional flip-phone and left the store, partially deflowered (for the umpteenth time) by the first corporate cock of the day.