Phones Programs/Partners - Does anyone have info saved about 40k mileage deal from Sept?

I'm going to sue Sprint because they didn't follow through on their offer to give me 40k miles for switching long distance service in Sept. I printed out each screen as I signed up for the promo...did anyone print or save a copy of the offer that they could fax/mail to me? I would be GREATLY appreciative!

I'll let you know how it turns out in a couple of months!

I have it.

Email me.

I never got miles either. When I wrote multiple letters to them, they replied that I would not get any miles since I was a customer in May 2000!!!! I said that there was no mention of a cutoff date for prior customers and they said tough.... So I took a $90 check from ATT to switch back to them (they were my provider before switching to Sprint). Wouldn't you know it... Sprint called about a month ago wanting me to switch to them!!! I let the rep have it.... Like she cared....
Good luck in your suit...

I filled out a form for the same problem
at the FCC and Sprint gave me 20K soon afterwards. It might be worth trying.
The URL is http://www.fcc.gov/cib/ccformpage.html

Thank you all for your thoughts. Thanks also, as I have a copy coming in the mail from the second poster on this thread.
I did try the whole FCC thing, but the response came last week in the mail and was a joke. It refused to do anything, so I'm "following up." Suit is filed as of this afternoon.

>It refused to do anything, so I'm "following up." Suit is filed as of this afternoon.

Out of curiosity, where did you sue Sprint? Did you get an attorney? Just the mechanics of what you are doing and the costs involved, along with your progress, will be interesting to see.

Now I was wondering if anyone got the first 10k miles yet. I received another 5k miles today with a December transaction date and another 5k miles back in September. Based on the 40k promotion rules, I should be getting three additional 10k miles three different times (with the final one at the end of 18 months from beginning of promotion)...

The weird thing is I received another 5k miles on August 14 but I believe that one was for the previous 20k promotion which I enrolled in on July 31st. When I called to get into the 40k promo I was told I can do it. I have called again in October and another csr (name and ext. noted) assured of the same thing. Last month I received a post card to do a survey for Sprint which implied that I was in fact enrolled in the 40k promo...

In other words, I am supposed to be getting another 10k end of April, if not your lawsuit info may come in handy http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks

George

Suit is in small claims court. I am an attorney but I don't play one on TV. Costs so far: $26
Trial set for end of Feb.
Will follow up afterward.

I know this is asking for free legal service but I am an Attorney from Australia (not now practicing) and would love to have a run down of the simple steps to commence such a suit and to be able to serve Sprint/MCI. Could you also point us to a sample pleading commencing the action on the internet.

For $26 and some of my time drafting the pleadings it would be worth the satisfaction.

Perhaps we could develop some standard form documentation and a brief "how to guide". This may be irresponsible given that courts have other things to handle with their time but surely industry practice in this area would improve if the number of law suits increased.

[This message has been edited by aussieinsf (edited 01-06-2002).]

Just checking back in with everyone to update the outcome of the story:

Small Claims court was scheduled for tomorrow. Sprint called me just a few minutes ago and said they were having a hard time getting someone to the court for the court date. The legal analyst that called said "are you interested in seeing if we can work this out without having to go to court?" I said that would be good. She then offered me 2/3 of the claim I'd made with the court, which came to approximately $950. With court filing costs added, they're sending me a check for $986 for the whole thing. Not much considering the work it took, but at least I feel somewhat repaid and vindicated, and I'll have a nice check to use on actually going somewhere to earn more miles! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

She's supposed to be faxing me the settlement agreement in just a couple of minutes.

I love it! It absolutely infuriates me that the phone companies promise mileage and certainly count on not delivering a good percentage of these offers. Most people just give up. Good for you. Perhaps you could post a quick primer for those of us who are not attorneys but would like to pursue these issues in small claims court as well.

I can't speak to any state other than California, but to file a small claims action in California, go to the Small Claims division of the court in your local county, and fill out a 1 page form. You must know the exact legal name of the company you're suing, and you must know the agent for service of process to which the complaint should be mailed. You can get that from the Secretary of State's web page. You will fill these details out on the form--should take less than 5 minutes. Also a quick 1 or 2 liner briefly stating why the party owes you money.

You can sue for up to $5000 max generally, and the clerk of the court will mail the complaint, via certified mail (for a $6 fee) to the company.

After that, just wait for your date for the trial to come up, and either settle if you can, or go tell the judge what's up. Beginning to end should take about 1-2 months.

Also, you can generally get help from Small Claims advisory clinics free of charge. Ask the court clerk for the number for your county. In addition, you can often find books by Nolo Press (or other similar publishers) telling you everything you could want to know about small claims court. These books are generally available on the web (nolo.com) or in a bookstore, or for review in the reference section of your local law library.

Have fun!

Congrats, great news, good for you!

I thought that you had to bring suit in the home county of the business. Something about the defendant had the right to a trial in their county of residence. Is this not the case?

Thanks

Not necessarily. If a company is licenced to do business in an area, they have representation there, and you can sue them there. To a certain extent, it comes down to the convenience of the two parties.

I am curious though, you said you settled for $950, so your requested damages were around $1400 or $1500. Where did you come up with this amount? Seems kind of high for 40K miles, so was there something else involved?

I based the value on what I'd have had to pay miles4sale.com for 40,000 miles. It's actually quite expensive to just go out and buy the miles.
Also, the value of frequent flier miles is really quite flexible, depending on how they're used. I could have chosen to value them at the cost of an upgrade from the least expensive upgradeable coach ticket to europe, to a business class seat. Valueing them that way probably would have brought me to a much higher value....somewhere around $3500!
Had we ended up going to court, it would have been up to the judge to decide what they were valued at. This is part of the reason that I settled before going to court...I didn't want to deal with the mess of determining value. $.02/each? $.008/each based on valuemags? $.09/each for an upgrade?
It would have cost a lot more to have Sprint send someone to court to defend it than just to pay me 2/3 of what I was asking.

Aflyer, I'm in the same boat as you. I did save a "screenshot" of the pages from the Sprint website when I signed up in September. Interestingly, nowhere on those three official sign-up pages did it refer specifically to the 40,000 mile promo, even though it does ask for your NW Worldperks number. Sprint turned around and used this to show that I hadn't signed up for anything (at all) when I faxed them a copy of the the sign up pages a few weeks ago. These folks are slimy, sleazy B***ards! Fortunately my husband is an attorney and I will be filing a claim in small claims court here in Massachusetts. Any supporting documents that you have that you'd be willing to fax would be most appreciated.

Yes, I had the same sign up pages, with no mention of the offer. I did get the printout of the page offering the miles though, from the kind poster in post #2 of this thread. I still have it, and can fax it if necessary. However, I would SERIOUSLY doubt that Sprint would actually show up to a small claims trial.

This thread evidences the importance of keeping documentation until points are awarded.

I'm glad aflyer was compensated. For those who don't have the time or skill to sue, send documentation to one of
Sprint's execs. (http://144.226.116.29/PR/CDA/PR_CDA_Executive_Profiles/1,1572,,00.html)

Hey, aflyer, I tried emailing you but it came back as non-deliverable. I wanted to know who you sued in small claims court. I can't find Sprint on the CA Sec of State website, but I did find Worldcom. Is that who I should use? I am going to follow your lead as they owe me 20,000 plus miles.

Also, do you think I can sue for the time and energy this ordeal has taken me? I have spent HOURS AND HOURS and many letters and phone calls trying to get them to fufill their agreement.

Thanks....any advice would be great!!

Can someone please remind me of the payout schedule for this 40k offer. It was something like
A miles after B months, then
C miles after D months, etc.
Thanks.

I'm pretty sure it was 10K after 4, 8, 12 and 18 months for a total ot 40K.

From the Sprint literature:

"Sprint will deposit 5,000 Bonus Miles in your WorldPerks account within 8 weeks after your 1st and 4th invoices, and 10,000 Bonus Miles within 8 weeks after your 8th, 12th, and 18th invoices -- for a total of 40,000 Bonus Miles."

For what it's worth: I've collected 30,000 of these miles so far, and the miles have arrived like clockwork, even after Sprint ended its partnership with Northwest. Also for what it's worth, Sprint has pretty much publicly admitted that this was a dumb expensive promotion that is unlikely to be repeated.