Digitalstrange: ...and low on ammo

I am an ammunition specialist, and I am getting a kick out of your reply.

/seriously

Digitalstrange: And is the current system much different?

Yeah, a bit.

Though I do want to change the whole system, from the top down. It seems to be completely and totally corrupt.

No, I don't have an ideal system planned. Yet. When I do, I'll start advocating it.

I like how people are talking about these soldiers in Iraq "protecting" us. What are they protecting us from? An Iraqi civil war? Because I feel really threatended by all those shiites trying to kill the sunnis. Remember, WE attacked THEM. They never even threatened us.

Hey, at least our gas prices went down because we're now in control of Iraq!

I gotta get back to work now...

ImJustaTroll
I was going on leave once and called an airline to book a flight....I asked for the Miltary rate...it seemed very high so I called back and just asked for a regular ticket. It was a hundred bucks less! I asked her then what the Military discount rate was and she quoted the higher price...I asked how the hell that could be and she just said..."I don't know sir but those are the prices." Needless to say I called another airline.

All the dude had to do was call up before he left. Almost certinly the issue is that Sprint won't let his MOM cancel his service, and Sprint's not going to consider it "obvious" that he will want to forever hive up his telephone # and cancel service instead of suspending his service.

I'm sure she was told that Sprint would be happy to let him cancel as long as HE requests it. It's not like she can't write him and tell him to contact Sprint to cancel. If he can even use the phone for just 20 minutes one time he could certinly solve the issue even now. I'm not sure about sprint, but most cell-phone companies have policies for indefinate suspension of service without charge with proof of military deployment. When he got served with his deployment orders, it was his responsibility to contact his cell-phone company to make arrangements.

This whole thing is a problem because he still relies on "mommy" to deal with his basic stuff, like his bills. Nothing to see here, time to GBTW.


/Doesn't work for sprint
//does work as a supervisor for their competition though

JohnBigBootay: Why don't you RTFA? The multiple calls were by his mother, not him. He's in his twenties. Time to stop being a momma's boy and take care of his own obligations.

Have you ever heard of Power of Attorney? When a soldier is deployed, he assigns an individual, usually, as a PoA to handle his affairs until he returns. Every civilian soldier does this. JAG comes during the mobilization processes, visits the soldier, drafts a will, PoA, life insurance, etc. If a soldier isn't married, then it would makes sense to have a parent or sibling handle his affairs. It isn't like he can call Sprint from Iraq to take care of the matter. So someone has to do it for him.

Now, when my husband was deployed, I had difficulty w/ a lender for his students loans. They didn't want to honors the PoA that was drafted to give me power to handle my husband's affairs. A lot of places can be dicks and break the law by not honoring the PoA.

Now, cell phones are a tricky issue. Sprint, I have dealt with personally. Some providers will let a soldier out of the contract, others won't. Personally, I think it boils down to how much of an ass the customer service rep is on the other end of the phone. Lord knows, if you have to deal with Sprint's automated system, it is amazing that this soldier's mom even found a live person to talk to in the first place.

Anyway, you really need to get a little bit more educated and know all the factors involved before opening your mouth.

Chaghatai: All the dude had to do was call up before he left. Almost certinly the issue is that Sprint won't let his MOM cancel his service, and Sprint's not going to consider it "obvious" that he will want to forever hive up his telephone # and cancel service instead of suspending his service.

And if you had only 24 hours notice to grab your shiat and run like my husband did during his first deployment to Middle East/Iraq, you may not have time to call. And IF the mother had power of attorney over her son's affairs, then Sprint has to recognize it and honor it.

Gawd, Fark is full of farking ignorant morons these days.

Having taken lots of calls like this, I'll say that he's almost certainly just another asshat who DID NOT set up his mom or anyone else as POA before he left.....Any responsible soldier does this, but far, far from every one does. And a 20 minute phone call fits within 24 hours rather comfortably

//nothing to see here, dude's lazy or forgetful

Regarding Starship Troopers.

The aspect of the novel which has perhaps been criticized more than any other is that in order to gain voting privileges one must complete a term of federal service. Many have misconstrued this to mean that only military veterans are granted the franchise, but this is clearly not the case. Federal service, as specifically spelled out in several different sections of the book, includes many jobs which in today's society would be termed civil service.

From Here

P.S. If she was having difficulty with Sprint in handling his account or cancelling it, she should have contacted the rear detachment for her son's armory. An NCO there would a) put her in contact with a JAG representative to discuss the soldier's rights b) possibly put her incontact with a State Family Readiness Officer that could assist her further -- usually they have many decent reps to help speak on bahalf of families. Then again, if they had a sucky NCO in the rear who sits with his thumb up his ass or an FRG system in that state that totally sucks, then the mother would be left to her own devices.

That being said, as former FRG chair for my husband's unit, we ran into all types of crap where companies wouldn't want to cancel contracts, or fail to recognize that the soldier was on active duty. Lots of calls from families. If the FRG chair in your unit knows their shiat, much of this stuff can be a non-issue. If the family member acting on behalf of the soldier gets too much grief or no cooperation, they can usually talk to the military and the regional or state FRG to handle the matter. There's a lot of asshole puckering when you mention JAG to a company that isn't cooperating. They know the rules, they are hoping that as a family member you will be too dumb, frustrated or upset to know difference. That's what they are counting on.

/enjoyed FRG....
//high stress and no pay, though...

ColonelNorth: The aspect of the novel which has perhaps been criticized more than any other is that in order to gain voting privileges one must complete a term of federal service.


Well, I just didn't like the whole sophmoric gung-ho military rah-rah-ing and glorification. This was actually well-satirized in the movie.

its possible this guy could die and you farkers are worried about his cell phone bill

the masses know no respect

Chaghatai: If he can even use the phone for just 20 minutes one time he could certinly solve the issue even now.

Ah, there's the glitch. IF. Phones aren't always readily available. If you are out on mission for weeks at a time, you might not be near a phone for that whole time.

Second, anyone who has ever called Sprint or any other phone company to resolve an issue knows that it takes longer than 20 minutes. You are lucky if some of these soldiers get 5 to 10 minutes to call home.

Depending on where you are, there might be long lines for the phones (2 hours or more). Then there are also communication blackout periods as well where phones aren't available (can be anywhere from 24 to 48 hours). You act like this guy can just pick up a phone and call any time.

You sir, sound like most of the assclowns who have no concept of what these guys have to deal with or even have a shred of intellect to even grasp process of mobilization and all that is involved for the soldier and their families. Sometimes they can't call. That is what a POA is for.

My hubby's response to all this: "If I have to call farking Sprint from Iraq to resolve an issue that should be handled by my wife or mom or whoever I have given POA to, then I'll be calling JAG and have them deal with it. End of story."

Oh, and he said you needed to spend a couple of months inside the sandbox to get some perspective.

I cancelled my Sprint (Nextel) service at the end of my contract in September.

Assholes were still billing me every month through March. Called their call center a total of TWENTY-SIX TIMES to resolve the issue. Everytime I thought it was fixed, another bill would arrive.

Finally I took a new approach: I had my wife call Sprint's home office passing herself off as a consumer reporter for a local TV station, basicaly explaining the situation and asking if they had any comment before she 'ran the story tonight.' Got a call from one of their VP's within a matter of hours. Issue resolved.

I'd totally be on his side but everyone is always saying that the rules are the rules.

So since he signed a contract oh well!

/Maybe my real point is that there is no reason you should need to sign a contract for a cell phone that forces you to use their service for a certain time.
//I could see them asking for the difference in money for the cell phone (assuming you got one of those phone-deals) but they shouldn't be allowed to punish you as if they were an extention of the legal system.

May have been posted before:

The Sailor's and Soldiers Relief Act allows involuntarily deployed servicemen to cancel virtually any lease or contract. This includes apartment leases, auto leases, and cell phone contracts. Also, they do not have to pay interest on loan payments until they return.

The more you know...

I cancelled Sprint early with no penalty when the military sent me to Texas (no reception at new duty station-they were very understanding)...surely they'd let this guy cancel.

Didn't read through this, but is this really that unusual? I live in Norfolk, and I can tell ya, military memembers get screwed constantly by cell phone companies here.

To add on what Hannahman said.

If the person who is covered by the Soldiers and Sailor's Relief Act (which has been renamed the the Service Members Civil Relief Act, or something like that)and that person gets into a situation where he can not pay the bill because they are in say a warzone then the company has to either end the contract or suspend payments.

Verizon ended my contract before I went overseas but they really wanted me to suspend it so they could keep my business.

muninsfire [TotalFark]

Digitalstrange: And is the current system much different?

Yeah, a bit.

Though I do want to change the whole system, from the top down.

Security!

Taste!

No, Im meant could you escort the anarchist from the building?

/the man tried to say you don't matter
//Thats my Wife's job!
//I hear you brother.

h3kb4y2k

I cancelled Sprint early with no penalty when the military sent me to Texas (no reception at new duty station-they were very understanding)...surely they'd let this guy cancel.

as some others have already noted this guy got the wrong inflexible asshole on the line from Customer Service and now Sprint is suffering from the bad PR. This guy will be taken care of.

Digitalstrange: Security!

Taste!

No, Im meant could you escort the anarchist from the building?

*doesn't recognize whatever the reference is*

And I'm far from an anarchist--I recognize that a government is needed.

I also recognize that the current one isn't working, and am trying to figure out a way that would be better.

Ok who do we send thousands of emails to in Sprint to get them to let him out of the contract?

Damn... am I the only one who's never had a problem with Sprint. Of course, I've never had to talk to CS, but that should almost be a positive. I get a good rate and got a nice rebate on a new phone to re-up the contract cuz I had my old phone for 2 years. The PCS Vision internet is a bit dodgy sometimes, but it works. Are the other companies so VASTLY superior?

Fishflinger: who do we send thousands of emails to in Sprint

l­e­igh­h­ornertnirp­scom

Action Replay Nick: So the line of reasoning goes: people in the military should recieve special treatment because they are better than people not in the military.

I love it when you post for me.

Military or not. Sprint/Nextel sucks. I took a new job in downtown DC and had 14 miles of a commute that had no service. They said we dont guarantee service even when the coverage map shows otherwise. $85 a month for nothing...

Dont ever buy from these corrupt asshats...

Oh for farks sake, all you ignorant morons who said "If he enlisted and knew he would be deployed.. "

He's a National Guardsman. You really don't expect to be deployed oversea's in the National Guard. Really.

I had a problem with sprint. I got stationed in Diego Garcia and told them to cancel my contract, paid my last bill and took off. Well after Diego Garcia I went to London so I was gone from the states for 3 years and some change and last summer I applied for a car loan and I couldn't get it till I paid off sprint. Needless to say I was pissed but I paid the 368 bucks cause well I need a car. I'm still battling it but I will never see my money again.

So just don't pay the bill right?

Ive got Sprint. Best carrier ive ever had.

Sure, being in a sandbox sucks, but that's no excuse for not settling one's affairs PRIOR to LEAVING THE FARKING COUNTRY TO GO TO A WAR ZONE. It's great that they pick a dangerous carreer that benifits the whole of society, but that doesn't mean that families have automatic power of atty. to handle all the soldiers affairs.

One may think that something "should" be handled by family stateside, but in the real world, that's not always the case. Contracts etc. are often involved, and in the US legal code, family of deployed soldiers do not have automatic power of atty.

I agree that a power of atty. should be honored....And knowing the industry, I know it will. Which is why I know that the assclown in the article never bothered to get one.

/doesn't think soldiers automatically win all arguments simply for having a job that "no one else could understand"

//that must mean that I hate america, yeah, that's it...

About the Starship Troopers thing:

The requirement for the franchise was not military service per se, but civil service in general. Big difference.

What if he just didn't pay his bill and they shut the service off on THEIR end? They'd send him to collections, he could settle for $50 (if he stood his ground) when he got back and save even MORE money than having to restart his contract or pay the closure fee.

It's not like you won't qualify for a home loan because of a Sprint blip on your credit report.

I should know. Sprint has sprinkled my credit report like a 5 year old running while peeing.

And funny, I still have Sprint service. It's not great, but it IS cheap.

/because they hire illegals
//it's just GOT to be true

I've gotten out of my sprint contract twice for deployments. They never even asked for my orders.

Still pissed with Nextel merging with Sprint.

FarkingHippie: Is there a way to filter out posts on Fark threads so that only yours show up? That would make me happy. =) You're awesome.

Thanks!

Sprint will allow you to place it on a vacation plan, no questions asked.

I have been with Sprint since 1999, and would say it's the best carrier out there.

Maybe one dropped call a month, sometimes none.

hey all, just my .02 cents. as a service member i dont think that what i do is anything special. if you want to know what all i have done just ask (i know that not everyone cares ;) regarding "special favors" and such... getting them is nice. i dont go out of my way to only shop at places that give military discounts. i dont demand them or whine when things dont go my way with them. but they are definatly appreciated. to the other service members in here, good luck in your careers. to those of you unable/willing to serve. you are not less of a person/citizen. just try to understand where we are coming from in that we dont have full control over every aspect (not using that as an excuse) of our lives. we dont always know we are being deployed, or we may not get very long to get things taken care of. (insert your religious head here) bless you

/long time reader, first time poster
//let me know if i rambled
///yay slashies!!!!!

All I had to do to cancel my cell-phone and insurance contracts when I deployed was fax them a copy of my orders. No fees, no trouble (my cell service was Verizon). It falls under the Soldier's and Sailor's Relief Act. Verizon even paid back my $400 deposit 3 months later.

Anyone that pays fo a cell phone is a sucker.

Bottom Line, the contract should be cancelled, he is in Iraq.