Probably you’ll get enough context from the e-mail below, but some background: My employer offers a nice employee discount that I in theory should have been getting for almost a year, but that I didn’t push for until last October, when I got a new phone and re-upped my plan. Getting the discount has been such a lesson in awful customer service that I’m about ready to ditch more than a decade of customership.

Dear Andrea –

Whomever answered at the number below wasn’t happy to assist — she had no idea why I’d even called — and made sure I knew the situation was of my own doing. Apparently, my providing verification of my employment in October was not good enough, because I was supposedly sent an e-mail (that I never received, though your future verification e-mails and all billing e-mails come through just fine, as did the one below) asking for verification. Not that it would have mattered: I *did* get such an e-mail in January, when I just happened to ask about my discount when applying for a new plan. When I clicked the link in that one, it gave a “page not found” error. I called in and was told to simply reply to the e-mail with an acknowledgement, which I did.

That, too, was eaten by your system, because the rep who “helped” (and I use the term loosely) today couldn’t find it either. I was also given the great news during today’s call that because although I had properly provided verification at the store as requested but never replied to the hypothetical e-mail (and why was I even getting said hypothetical e-mail in October, when I verified my employment at the store?), and although I followed your own rep’s instructions in January and assumed she knew what she was talking about, I have now lost FOUR MONTHS of my employee discount.

I’ve been a Sprint customer for more than a decade. You’ve done well by me in the past, and I’ve proudly touted you as my carrier of choice — until now. Today’s call put the blame on me for not replying to an e-mail I never received, with absolutely zero attempt to acknowledge that I might actually have been telling the truth about it. (Surely the other steps, which were at least in part documented in your system, might point to a breakdown in the process on Sprint’s end?) I’m going to send this e-mail, and I’m going to take deep breaths, and I’m going to go home and play with my son. I’m going to sleep on it, and I’m going to decide whether to sever more than a decade together, because I’ve been not just utterly disregarded but indirectly told I somehow failed when I followed your instructions at every step.

Good night,

Andy Grieser