Comparing customer service

Just a few months ago Sprint had three lines of service from me. And not at all entirely because I worked there. I kept them after I left, and its important to note my first mobile was several years before I started working there. 210 is the first KC (MO) area MSA exchange, 0455 means I am the 455th sub including test phones. Just a few hours ago, Sprint still had two of my subscriptions. How did they loose them? Why don't they (probably) care about entirely churning a customer with some ELEVEN years of solid history? Okay, the N75 is not their fault. But their bad service, inability and — more importantly — disinclination to fix technical and billing issues, led me to give up this afternoon. I'm not gonna rag on Sprint any more in specifics, except to say additional lies ensued when I went to the store just now (hint: anyone want to buy a 595U with less than 1 hour of use? Seriously, goes on eBay at the end of the bill cycle). Frankly, the experience with AT&T has been very similar. Instead, I wanted to point out the differences I noted when working with the VZW guys.

• They were genuinely happy to see me. When others came in, to pay bills or get service, they were still nice to those people.
• Offered all sorts of other accout help info. Alison has access to the account now, not just me.
• Understood totally that most people do not want to pay much for the phone. Only tried to upsell to the rugged phone, which we got.
• They have a rugged phone! Have to go to iDen to get a Sprint phone that's even splashproof.
• Porting was even easier than with ATT. Almost seamless.
• They offered to bring over the address book info from the 325! Its not even their phone, but the did it, for free, proactively. Claims to do it all the time. Rarely gotten this, with Sprint phones, with lots of pleading.
• While the prices were "after mail in rebate" which made me sad, the mail-in forms are all filled in with everything from the store, and the sales guy hilited the two boxes so we can tell them apart.

All in all, it felt like buying our new TV. A totally normal consumer experience. Satisfying but for the bill. I have postulated that the brand of most US mobile operators is not speed, coverage, or whatever their brand docs and ads say, but "bad customer service." ATT & especially Sprint really bear this out. I haven't been with VZW more than an hour, so its hard to comment, but maybe there's some hope for the sector.