It appears Sprint applies the 14 days quite strictly. Most companies will allow a return any time during the 15th day, while some will allow it until 14 days after the time stamp on the receipt (e.g. if you bought the phone on 10/14 at 12:00 you have until 11:59 on the 28th). However, the clock should have started on the 14th, not the 10th. The phone was sold as a pre-order with a delivery date of the 14th. It was explicit on Apple's website and in their public announcement that the phone was being released on the 14th, not the 10th. It wasn't as if you could walk into a store on the 10th and buy one. There was no way that you could have had the phone and used Sprint's service until the 14th.
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Sprint Effectively Has a 9 Day Return Policy
- Thread starter itzcoolz
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If Sprint had your Return Policy date effective the 10th, which you didn't know, that would have your 14th day end on the 24th. The 27th would be 3 days late, so I can see why they refused. But again, I understand you were misinformed. Sorry they wouldn't budge. Can you recap at to why you want to return your 4S?
Did you pay by CC? What day did they charge you? I would think the cc peeps might have something to say about the return if it was counting before you were charged.
If course, if you got charged early that won't be much help.
If course, if you got charged early that won't be much help.
i didn't have major issues with the 4S. I currently have an iPhone 4 on AT&T, and there were 3 primary reasons i activated the line with Sprint:
1) the hospital where i work has some dead spots in AT&T's coverage, which is quite inconvenient. I partially got the plan to see if Sprint's service suffered from the same dead spots.
2) i relocated to san diego about 9 years ago, but have kept my area code from my hometown. i figured it's a good time to switch to a new number with the san diego area code.
3) i wanted to see if the iPhone 4S was worth upgrading to now, vs waiting for the iPhone 5.
Sprint's service was great in the hospital, which is a nice perk. However, the data speeds have been noticeably slower than AT&T, and I didn't think the 4S was worth buying off-cycle, and I was just planning on waiting for the iPhone 5.
I didn't really have huge issues with Sprint, until I tried dealing with customer service.
my card got charged on 10/8, the day that i first placed the order.
Thanks for the suggestion, though.
You're counting wrong.
Suppose they had a 1-day return policy. Would it expire the instant you walked out the door? No, it would expire 24 hours later. The day you make the purchase is Day 0, the next day is Day 1.
I have to work on Monday and Tuesday. I have to work two days in a row.
or better..
You are required to do one day of community service. I doubt you are going to show up on Monday and count that as day 0, and then show up again on Tuesday and count that as day 1.
or..you rent a u-haul for one day only. You'd have to return by the end of that day. You would not be entitled to the u-haul the following day claiming the prior day was day 0.
I could go on and on....
or better..
You are required to do one day of community service. I doubt you are going to show up on Monday and count that as day 0, and then show up again on Tuesday and count that as day 1.
or..you rent a u-haul for one day only. You'd have to return by the end of that day. You would not be entitled to the u-haul the following day claiming the prior day was day 0.
I could go on and on....
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i know you can, and so could we. (for example, shipping by UPS 2 Day is not the equivalent as overnight shipping, or renting a rental car is for a 24 hour period) The point is that it's not clearly defined in their return policy, so the 14 day window ought to accommodate both definitions, imho
Ok, so you work at a job where it's not uncommon for emergencies to happen and for you to get out of work much later than expected and, knowing this, you still waited until (what you thought was) the 2nd to last day to do anything... knowing full well that something could easily happen to keep you from doing it.
Or... instead of assuming they would accommodate both definitions, you could have called them on the day you received it to find out for certain what your real options were.
Generally speaking, if a company's policy is not clearly defined, it's safe to assume that they mean it however would work in their best interest, not the customers.
my card got charged on 10/8, the day that i first placed the order.
Actually, that was an excellent suggestion above. If your cc got charged on 10/8, you have 60 days from the "statement" date to dispute that charge. Does that make sense? In essence, you have more than 60 days to file a claim, because your waiting for that bill to post on your next statement. You came to this forum to get help, if it were me, I'd give this a try.
How this works is your cc company credits you the amount you paid for the iPhone instantly. They then, dispute the charges with Sprints banking management. Sprint has so many days (which I forget) to argue the claim, if they don't respond, your cc company gets a reimbursement from their bank. And if they do respond, then that's where you need to have all your proof ready to be sent over to your cc company. They will mediate for you. You just have to supply as much documentation to support your claim. Try this, your cc company will have all the purchaser's rights and by-laws to help support you. And it won't take any of your time at the hospital. Please keep us posted. I'm really curious how this ends up.
I'm still waiting for my 4S from Sprint. When I do get it, I will inquire about this 14day return policy and see if they can give me some document in my contract where it states 14 days from the day the phone is received and not ordered. I'll be picking up my 4S directly from Sprint, but I'm sure somewhere in the contract this is mentioned. I will scan and post for you. Or I will PM you on this forum. By the way, have you read your contract. It should be in there in fine print under Return/Exchange Policy.
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I'm not trying to challenge you. But in your scenario given the 1-day scenario, then yes, I agree you would have the next day to return an item, unless it was stated that you had until the end of the day to think about it. But this is never the case in any return policy I've seen or experienced.
But at Best Buy or at Fry's Electronics, for example, they have a 14-day and 15-day return policy. The day you purchase is counted as Day One, unfortunately this is their policy. I've been in this situation before presenting my arguments relating 14 days in respect to military time (24h).
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Nope... As you can see from what others have said and Sprint's own 10/10-10/23 example day 1 is day 1.
And yes if someone had a 1 day return policy you would have to return it the same day. That is why those are pretty rare and someone might offer a 24 hour return policy.
As someone else noted above, the day you start is not counted as day zero in the way dates are commonly counted for pretty much anything. Anyone who did that would be an exception to standard methods.
Without explicit wording like "3 days from the date of purchase or 14 days from the date of purchase", a 14 day refund would include the day it was purchased or in this case activated.
I mentioned this to the OP in his original thread that a good lesson would be not to wait until the last day to handle such things. By his own admission he waited to the last possible point even by his own calculations.
Whether the OP tried to return the phone on day 14 or day 15 is not really the point here. The point is that Sprint started counting the 14 day return period 4 days before the phone was delivered. So even if the OP returned the phone on the 27th Sprint would have still rejected it.
I did not walk but RAN from sprint when they took over Nextel. They abused the Nextel people so that they would leave the Nextel bands so Sprint could sell it to the government. In the mean time the government decided it did not want the Nextel frequencies and opted for a most expensive communication route.
Sprint lost me forever after that.
Sprint lost me forever after that.
I would probably still be apt to dispute the charge also. Even though you might not get the answer you want, Sprint might feel the pressure to clarify their return policy and specify dates on the paperwork.
The sticking point you have 14 days to try the service when they start counting 4 days before you get it is nuts!
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It matters because even if they started counting when he thought they should have he would have been too late. So the date they use is irrelevant. He did not return it in time regardless of the 10th or 14th date being used.
If your mortgage is due on the first you pay it on the second and they say you paid it on the 5th what difference does it make?
I would certainly be in support of him raising a fuss if he did return it in the return window.
crispyking said:
It matters because even if they started counting when he thought they should have he would have been too late. So the date they use is irrelevant. He did not return it in time regardless of the 10th or 14th date being used.
If your mortgage is due on the first you pay it on the second and they say you paid it on the 5th what difference does it make?
I would certainly be in support of him raising a fuss if he did return it in the return window.
I think the principle is important, though. Sprint started counting the return window 4 days before they actually delivered the phone.
Anyway, the inconsistency in measuring "14 days" is something that should be clarified. That is the kind of thing that laws and regulations around advertising can and should address. For example, Apple advertises a "14 day return period" for most of its products (30 days for iPhones bought off contract). Its definition conforms to the OP's. For example, I purchased a case for my iPhone 4S on the 22nd. According to the receipt, I had until today (14 days after the 22nd) to return it. Similarly, my iPhone 4S was purchased on October 19th, and I have until November 18th to return it. Using Sprint's definition, I'd have had until yesterday to return the case, and the 17th to return the phone.
This is the core issue in that there are both sides to the argument whether there's a day 0 or day 1. No one is "right" but seems Sprint believes in not having a day 0.
The onus was on you to check to prevent the exact situation that you're in right now. While I see your side, I also think your missing the return window by 1 day is completely your responsibility since you had 13 days where a 3 minute phone call would have cleared up said confusion.
I agree, both parties have a level of fault. Sprint misled the start date of their 14 day return policy. The purchaser waited one day after the return window. There's three dates floating around. The day Sprint sent out the iphone, the day the iPhone was delivered, and the day the purchaser activated the phone. The political correct date would be the day it was delivered. Even with that date, it was still outside the 14-day window by 1 day.
I would still contact the cc co. and see what they say. The worst thing that could happen is the credit issued would have to be paid back. The sad of the matter is no company, including Sprint, will take any excuse that you were at work trying to take care of ICU patients, unless the patients was one of their own - REAL WORLD.
I would still contact the cc co. and see what they say. The worst thing that could happen is the credit issued would have to be paid back. The sad of the matter is no company, including Sprint, will take any excuse that you were at work trying to take care of ICU patients, unless the patients was one of their own - REAL WORLD.