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Sprint Not Honoring 14 Day Return Policy?

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The 27th was the 14th day so i am confused. Did you just miscount the days? If so, in the future I suggest. Ever waiting until the last moment to start trying to return something like that.
 
Since I assume you're in the financial position to do so, I'd take them to court. In most common law jurisdictions consumers are protected by sales of goods and consumer protection legislation...most jurisdictions even have statutory periods for returns that companies have to follow. Also, courts usually try to protect consumers as much as they can and will often resort to doctrines like unconscionability or unfair bargaining positions to get fair results when legislation won't allow them to.

I'd say your chances would be pretty good since you actually tried to return the phone within 14 days, but were unable to...partly because of the actions of Sprint's own employees/representatives.

For most people, going to court wouldn't be an option because of the expensive legal fees which they'd have to pay if they lost, but since you're a physician and presumably making a decent salary, why not take a shot and try to stick it to them?
 
She tried to return the phone on the 28th which was the start of the 15th day.

She intended to return the phone on the 27th but was too busy working.

marksman said:
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The 27th was the 14th day so i am confused. Did you just miscount the days? If so, in the future I suggest. Ever waiting until the last moment to start trying to return something like that.
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Ignoring the mis-comunication, it does seem you could of been outside the return period by trying to return it after 14 days on the 28th. The reps probably could just see you were no longer eligible for returns as stated by there system and then quoting the first date they saw. IIRC, Sprint does consider the first day of service as day number 1 of 14. I agree it is tricky..

itzcoolz said:
the Sprint Service coverage in San Diego (where I am) is fairly good. It was equivalent to my coverage with AT&T, although Sprint had better service in one particular part of my work. I felt that the data speeds were slightly slower, and in the end, I didn't want to leave my unlimited data plan with AT&T.

I had nothing particularly against Sprint until i actually tried to return the phone. Now, I will have no mercy in directing people away from their direction as my customer service experience in them was easily the worst i've ever had in my life. My last day off of work before today was 10/17 (80 hour work weeks as a medical resident), and I literally spent 6 hours (and 2 separate trips to the Sprint store) of my first day off in nearly 2 weeks arguing with Sprint, and in the end, i'm still stuck with a $350 early termination fee.
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marksman said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

The 27th was the 14th day so i am confused. Did you just miscount the days? If so, in the future I suggest. Ever waiting until the last moment to start trying to return something like that.
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i might just be naive (or spoiled by great Apple customer service), but I genuinely believed the 28th to the be the 14th day day. Just as if I gave you a book right now and said "you have one day to read it and give it back to me," I would not expect you to return it to me today. Likewise, when I read the Sprint return policy, it literally just says "If you aren't 100% satisfied with your product you can bring it back to your original place of purchase within 14 days of activation." There is no special wording to indicate that the first day is defined as the remaining hours of the day that you activated the phone.

I was attempting to return the phone within 14 days (a day defined as a 24 hour period), so i feel that I was within the 14 day return policy. I might see why it's not formally Sprint's policy, but i believe that my interpretation is a reasonable one, and that they should cut me some slack after being given clear misinformation several times.
 
I had a similar experience but luckily was able to rush to a return center right after work. I had thought I was doing it a day before the deadline (on the 27th, with the deadline being the 28th) but was told I had to return it right away.

I similarly was pissed off when they first said I have to pay ETF because it's past the 14 days, as my phone was activated on the 9th. They started charging me monthly fees from the 9th as well. I had to argue that EVERYONE knows the 14th is the release date. It took the customer service guy awhile to "check with someone" before telling me that I had to go to a physical store right away to return the phone.

** People staying with sprint may want to call to get those days off their bill. Probably not much money, but it's the principle of it.
 
marksman said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

The 27th was the 14th day so i am confused. Did you just miscount the days? If so, in the future I suggest. Ever waiting until the last moment to start trying to return something like that.
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how is the 27 the 14th day?? days are measured in 24 hour blocks. didn't the OP say they activated the phone in the evening on the 14? 14 days from the evening of the 14th would be the evening of the 28th.

how is this confusing to everyone but me?

EDIT: I purchased my iPhone from the apple store on 10/25. My receipt says I have until 11/24 to return it. It actually gives the return date on the receipt itself. Helpful, right? Everyone should do this then there wouldn't be all this confusion. That's 30 days for me, not 29.
 
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Rustysaurus, thanks for pointing that out about the Apple receipt, because that supports my case even further. October has 31 days. According to Sprint's interpretation, then 11/24 is the 31st day if purchased on 10/24, but Apple lists 11/24 as the 30th day.

Case closed. Sprint's interpretation of "14 days" is not standard in industry, and is not explicitly described in their return policy. This is ludicrous.
 
You clearly expressed your wishes to return the phone in good faith prior to the expiration of the 14-day return window that they interpret so narrowly.

I really wouldn't stop with this if I were you. If it gets enough attention they will have to let you return it.

I would never even consider Sprint after hearing this story.
 
siurpeeman said:
check your receipt. I bought my 4s a week ago, and the return date printed is November 22nd. it's weird that your iPhone return date wouldn't be 30 days if it was purchased at an apple store.
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Must be different in the UK, I've just checked my receipt, I purchased an iPhone 4S on the 27 Oct, the return date quoted is the 10th Nov.
 
canucksfan88 said:
sell it on craiglists/ebay? you could get way more for it anyways
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here is the tricky thing. if it turns out that they are going to charge you the full EFT no matter what, then it is not in your best interest to return the phone, even if they let you.

i debated this myself when i was returning mine. it occurred to me that if i returned the phone for 399 but then got hit with the 350 EFT, then i am out $350. if i sell the phone on craigslist or ebay, maybe i'm only out $100?

tough call i know.

OP: i contacted my person and gave him your number. hopefully he'll be working today and get in touch.
 
Days are made up of 24 hour blocks. A new day starts at midnight.

If I went to school for four hours on Thursday, and then went to school again on Friday for another 2 hours, you would say that I went to school two days in a row. Not one.


Apple is stating a 30 day return policy while actually giving customers 31 days.



rustyosaurus said:
how is the 27 the 14th day?? days are measured in 24 hour blocks. didn't the OP say they activated the phone in the evening on the 14? 14 days from the evening of the 14th would be the evening of the 28th.

how is this confusing to everyone but me?

EDIT: I purchased my iPhone from the apple store on 10/25. My receipt says I have until 11/24 to return it. It actually gives the return date on the receipt itself. Helpful, right? Everyone should do this then there wouldn't be all this confusion. That's 30 days for me, not 29.
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At the end of the days its not worth staying with Sprint, even if having to pay the ETF (especially since the OP is a doctor). Pay the ETF, chalk it up to a lesson learned, and next time either read the fine print, try it out for 5 days, or better yet avoid Sprint altogether. As far as life lessons is concerned this one is pretty cheap.
 
agreed..the $350.00 is not worth the energy of someone in OPs position.

ZBoater said:
At the end of the days its not worth staying with Sprint, even if having to pay the ETF (especially since the OP is a doctor). Pay the ETF, chalk it up to a lesson learned, and next time either read the fine print, try it out for 5 days, or better yet avoid Sprint altogether. As far as life lessons is concerned this one is pretty cheap.
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ZBoater said:
At the end of the days its not worth staying with Sprint, even if having to pay the ETF (especially since the OP is a doctor). Pay the ETF, chalk it up to a lesson learned, and next time either read the fine print, try it out for 5 days, or better yet avoid Sprint altogether. As far as life lessons is concerned this one is pretty cheap.
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this may be true. he probably doesn't have the time or energy to mess with this. but it's wrong and may be fraudulent. and it makes me mad.

btw - their 'fine print' is very vague and misleading as it states that you have 14 days to try out the phone from the date of activation.
 
Just an update: my story was featured on consumerist.com, so hopefully something gets resolved.


A part of me feels bad for escalating the story so much, but in the end, this is the trade off that Sprint chose. (poor customer service reputation vs my $350)
 
If the policy is 14 days, then you have 14 days. This notion from some that you shouldn't have waited that long is garbage.

Their policy isn't "14 days, but you better bring it back sooner just to be safe." It's 14 DAYS. You have to closing on the 14th day to return it. I would certainly escalate this to Sprint's higher management.
 
Wow this thread is just like my situation but with a parking ticket.

I remember getting a parking ticket next to a college a few years ago. I had a week to pay for it. I got it on a Monday. So I thought I had until the next Monday to pay for it.

It was then when I was "late" on paying the ticket, that the parking ticket was due Sunday!

Edit- the Monday I got the ticket counted as day 1.
 
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I returned my 4S phone to a Sprint store last week and they tried to deny me. "You ordered on the 8th, so it's already been 14 days. Sorry." C'mon! It took 10 minutes of convincing the rep to even check the computer to see what it said. Of course, it said I was in the clear and he took it back without saying another word. :p
 
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