Sprint customer service experience

I have to give a shout-out for the wonderful customer service experience I recently received from Sprint. I recently returned the telephone I'm using as part of my participation in the Sprint Ambassador Program. I sent the phone back on Saturday, July 1 and expected it to take over a week due to the July 4th holiday. The brand-new phone was sent to me via FedEx on Monday, July 10th.

When I attempted to first use it, I discovered it had not been activated. My first phone was already activated when I received it so I thought this was curious. I called the customer service number that is dedicated to supporting Ambassador Program participants. After some researching, we discovered that my phone number was accidentally cancelled! What was amazing to me is that the customer service rep, Pam, took down my telephone number and called me back to re-activate my phone.

In this age of questionable customer service (i.e., Dell), I was gratified to see a company actually have their reps be an ally of a customer, rather than an antagonist. This is especially gratifying as I am testing this service free and am not a Sprint customer!

I returned my phone!

On Saturday I returned my Samsung A920 phone that I am testing as part of the Sprint Ambassador program. I've lately been having problems with it. When I make or receive a phone call, I cannot hear the other person very well. It almost sounds like they're whispering.

I wrote Sprint and they gave me a telephone number to call. I got through to the representative and made arrangements to return the phone and they are to ship me a replacement phone shortly. I mailed the phone back on Saturday so I'm assuming they received the phone on Wednesday (because of the July 4th holiday). Hopefully I'll receive it before the end of the week.

I like the phone a lot. I like downloading music, checking sports scores, reading news and so forth, but if it cannot fulfill it's main function, then it's useless.

I bought a Samsung Bluetooth headset on eBay so I'm anxious to try it out on the replacement phone.

Baseball and steroids

We've seen this all before. A baseball player stands accused -- and this time admits -- to involvement with steroids and human growth hormone. Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley was arrested by the FBI and is apparently naming names in major league baseball's latest black eye.

It will be interesting to see over the next few days and weeks and player's names get leaked out to the press and what reaction, if any, Bud Selig and the player's union have to this latest controversy. It's apparent to this observer that organized baseball would prefer to sweep this whole steroid issue under the rug. I really do hope Congress introduces legislation to force baseball to clean up its act!

"Freddie" dies

This really hits home for me.

Freddie Garrity, lead singer for the '60s pop group Freddie and the Dreamers , has died at the age of 69.

As a kid growing up in the '60s, I listened to this group a lot on the old WLS and WCFL in Chicago. My very first "45" was "Tell Her No" by The Zombies and my second "45" was "I'm Telling You Now" by Freddie and the Dreamers. My first LP was "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks.

It's tough knowing these artists are passing on.

Baseball thoughts

It's mid-May already and I haven't chimed in yet on the state of baseball in Chicago. I'm sure most of the free world knows the Chicago White Sox won the World Series last year for the first time since 1917. The Chicago Cubs, meanwhile, have not won the World Series since 1908 (at the time it was their second in a row!) and therein lies the problem. The Boston Red Sox [1914] and the White Sox [1917} are two-thirds of the trilogy of futility. The Cubs seem to be holding on to their part of the futility by continuing to play poor baseball.

The White Sox, as of this writing, have the best record in baseball at 25-12 and are one game ahead of the surprising Detroit Tigers. The Cubs are 15-22 and are 8 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals (they are 5 1/2 games ahead of last-place Pittsburgh).

This weekend, the Sox and Cubs play each other in their annual city series. The first three games are at U.S. Cellular Field with the final three games played in late June-early July at Wrigley Field. Most of the Cub fans I know are not even acknowledging the upcoming series. Usually it's a chaotic weekend at the Cornelius household with most of my family favoring the North Side team, but hardly a peep so far!