Claure says carrier customers ‘expect to be disappointed in one way or another’

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure has been on a “listening tour” for a few weeks, which most recently took him to San Francisco where customers gave Sprint numerical grades Claure described on LinkedIn as not great.

“Something I like to ask during these stops is for the people to rank the relationship they have with their wireless carrier from 1 to 10,” Claure wrote. “Sometimes I call it the love-hate game. A 10 means they love their carrier and would recommend it to other people. A 5 means they don’t really care that much. Anything below a 5 basically means they straight up dislike the carrier. They are likely to leave, and they won’t be shy about telling their friends to stay away, too.

“When I asked the San Francisco group, I got 6’s, 7’s and 8’s, one 9 and quite a few 5’s. Those grades aren’t that good. I was curious to learn more about why the customers felt that way.”

Claure opted to ask Erin, who graded Sprint with a 7.

“Erin didn’t have a problem with Sprint service. Her calls never drop. She likes ouriPhone Forever plan that allows her to upgrade whenever a new iPhone is released. So why a 7 and not a 9 or 10? She had a disappointing experience at one of our stores. When she came in to upgrade her mom’s phone, they kept her waiting more than an hour. And then they told her that her mom wasn’t eligible for an upgrade. That would have ticked me off if I had been treated that way, and it helped me understand why Erin wasn’t the greatest fan of Sprint.”