Comments on: Sprint “Dropped Call Credit” Ninjas Get Axed http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/spring-dropped-call-credit-ninjas-get-axed.html personal finance blog with anecdotes, advice and commentary. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:06:39 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: RootAnn http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/spring-dropped-call-credit-ninjas-get-axed.html/comment-page-1#comment-130958 RootAnn Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:57:54 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/spring-dropped-call-credit-ninjas-get-axed.html#comment-130958 Sprint always sent me message to try to get me to switch my college phone service (long distance) to theirs. The trick was that everyone in the dorms had long distance through the university's service and no outside provider. (It was actually a pretty good deal at the time.) Sprint would send a check from $25 to $100 to get you to switch. You could endorse the check and deposit it and that would let Sprint know to switch your service. Then, they would find out they couldn't switch the service and send you a 'sorry' note. But you still got to keep the money. I admit to cashing in on this a time or two. I know some people who made $500 a year (nothing to sneeze at in college!) on this scheme. Sprint never did catch on while I was in college, to my knowledge. Sprint always sent me message to try to get me to switch my college phone service (long distance) to theirs. The trick was that everyone in the dorms had long distance through the university’s service and no outside provider. (It was actually a pretty good deal at the time.) Sprint would send a check from $25 to $100 to get you to switch. You could endorse the check and deposit it and that would let Sprint know to switch your service. Then, they would find out they couldn’t switch the service and send you a ’sorry’ note. But you still got to keep the money.

I admit to cashing in on this a time or two. I know some people who made $500 a year (nothing to sneeze at in college!) on this scheme. Sprint never did catch on while I was in college, to my knowledge.

]]> By: fivecentnickel.com http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/spring-dropped-call-credit-ninjas-get-axed.html/comment-page-1#comment-130574 fivecentnickel.com Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:30:58 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/spring-dropped-call-credit-ninjas-get-axed.html#comment-130574 It's not entirely accurate to say that they were axing dropped call ninjas. They axed people that had been been calling in upwards of 90 times in 6 months (or 25 in a month, depending on who you listen to). Moreover, these people had gotten so many credits that of various sorts (not just dropped calls) that they hadn't paid a bill in years. You can get your full slate of dropped call credits in just four calls (5 per call, 20 total for the month) and it only works out to $10/month -- people abusing just this aren't the ones they went after. Where I live, I get a lot of dropped calls (esp on my route to work) and it would be even more if I didn't intentionally avoid making calls in certain spots. I often forget to call in and get credit, but when I do it's for multiple calls at once. Nonetheless, I'm still a profitable customer for them, so I never worried about it. It’s not entirely accurate to say that they were axing dropped call ninjas. They axed people that had been been calling in upwards of 90 times in 6 months (or 25 in a month, depending on who you listen to). Moreover, these people had gotten so many credits that of various sorts (not just dropped calls) that they hadn’t paid a bill in years. You can get your full slate of dropped call credits in just four calls (5 per call, 20 total for the month) and it only works out to $10/month — people abusing just this aren’t the ones they went after.

Where I live, I get a lot of dropped calls (esp on my route to work) and it would be even more if I didn’t intentionally avoid making calls in certain spots. I often forget to call in and get credit, but when I do it’s for multiple calls at once. Nonetheless, I’m still a profitable customer for them, so I never worried about it.

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