@Speed Daemon: I can't say I'm a huge fan of your apparent blame-the-victim mentality, but it is my duty to defend myself against some of your personal accusations.
It's a real shame when I see so much effort wasted on a screed against one company when they apparently have never heard of the concept of the franchise. Practically every store that carries the name of a big retail chain is actually owned by individuals or smaller companies that are separate entities from the chain that they purchased a franchise in. It's like when people blame the President for stuff that Congress does. Somewhere our educational system has failed us because people are supposed to know stuff like this. When I went to school, this was taught in the classroom.
I know what franchises are, sir. And I consider myself educated enough to know that the chain of accountability allows for repercussions and resolutions passed down from corporate (like your McDonald's case). This was an open letter to an individual sprint store as I explicitly noted in the title, and a publication of my experiences and attempts to deal with a situation I considered unfair (bringing it to cooperate attention is one such way). It's like me saying "You are proof that somewhere our education system has failed us because in my classroom I was taught to read the title, among other aspects of reading comprehension." Or "looks like the wonderful classroom of your youth has failed to impart a semblance of common sense to its student body." They're misguided and fallacious statements that don't need to be said. I don't know about your classroom, but I was raised with teachings like "you don't have to live with injustice" and "if you're mistreated, tell someone." You know, Barney kind of things. Call me idealistic, but so it stands, and I don't deserve to be insulted about it. It is my opinion that nobody deserves to be insulted for their opinions or ideals -- but that they reserve the right to follow up regarding undue insult.
At an even more basic level I'd have thought that it's self-evident to most everyone that each of us are different. We're not robots, we're people, and different people act differently. It's human nature. Who doesn't know that?
Who indeed! Beep beep, whirrr. (Seriously?)
I have long since lost count of the unacceptable retail experiences I've had, mainly because I don't think it's productive to carry a chip on my shoulder. One event that I do remember was with a McDonald's franchisee. I could have gotten all worked up and done something rash like boycotting McDonald's. Does anyone think that I would have been the winner if I had done that? By denying myself a product that I want from time to time, while nobody notices?
What's the point of this anecdote? I never threatened to leave Sprint. I don't plan to. On the contrary, I care enough to stay and try to rectify this issue. I've also never been so slighted and antagonized by any sort of business in my whole life. Ever, period. So what exactly is the point you're trying to make? Oh wait, it's coming:
As it happened, I had the presence of mind to record the incident on my phone, and sent the video to McDonald's headquarters. I didn't ask for anything, and I didn't get anything, but the franchisee lost their McDonald's franchise due to complaints including mine. When the new franchisee took over, I had no more problems and everybody got what they deserved.
Good. This is similar to the outcome I'd be happy with in my case. Your inclusion of this story implies that it is intended as some sort of lesson (perhaps in a similar vein to the "classroom lessons" of yours you're so condescendingly proud of having taken) with which to chastise me for doing differently. Not so. Not so at all.
I think it's common sense to remove personal files and property before returning an item to a store, so I must say that the OP bears the bulk of responsibility for that misunderstanding. If you're grown up enough to have a cellphone, and to install accessories into it, you should be grown up enough to take care of the same. And you should be mature enough to accept your own failure to back up your data. Seriously now!
Personal insults to maturity aside ("Jee, I thought you'd be grown up enough to refrain from rashly insulting people you apparently don't even understand -- or, coincidentally, realize that even pre-teens are getting cell phones these days"), let me clarify. The SD card was removed by myself and set aside close to me on the rep's table so that I could test the phone with it (I had some test cases on there -- black pictures, white screens, color tests), which I then did as planned to show the multiple problems. Never would I have imagined a manager coming out to bully me away from the desk while he or his worker snatched my phone (SD card inside) with the excuse that it would be "shown to the techs" behind my back. No, I usually have these things under guard. The situation was unprecedented in many respects.
Nevertheless if the manager took personal property and refused to return it after it was made clear whose property it was, that's something that the owner has every right to seek a remedy for. That's what the police are for. Now in this case I don't see any place in a long and rather bombastic post where the owner of SD card made any effort to say "by the way, that's mine", which could have prevented a lot of drama and disharmony. I bring soft drinks into stores that sell the same ones all the time, and have never had a problem at the checkout counter because I always remember to say "I brought this in, so please don't ring it up." Well almost. The one time I forgot, the cashier promptly took it off my bill after I asked nicely.
It was clear whose property it was, but thanks for allowing me the benefit of the doubt. Or, you know, common sense. The rep was assigned to me, my card was personally removed and was then placed into my new, activated phone after the completed return of the old phone (yes, of course I told them the card was mine -- above and beyond the obvious knowledge that none of these phones came with memory cards).... All this, only to then be bullied by a manager who snatched away my phone (with my card) for "inspection" in the back and wouldn't return it (and the card inside it) unless I sternly requested it. There is no way the "bulk of the responsibility" is on my shoulders. This was hardly a misunderstanding -- it was extremely antagonistic behavior on their part.
Let's go over it again. My phone was seized (with my memory card) under false pretenses, was withheld from me, my data destroyed, while I was told to leave without the activated phone. I was NOT ALLOWED in the back room where they were tinkering with it. They were NOT just inspecting it as they claimed -- they were destroying my data and trying to keep the phone. And they would have unless I worked up the courage to demand it back. I will not be labeled responsible for this, because I am certain I am not to blame in this regard. There's nothing I could have done differently (had I pocketed the card, I would have been unable to easily and decisively display the defects in an obvious way, for instance). Thanks for understanding.
When it comes to Sprint stores, I have favorites. I live in Wisconsin, but I prefer to shop at a Sprint store in Illinois near my mother's home. When I lived in Illinois I preferred this store to another Sprint store that was closer to my home. I can't say I had any bad experiences at the other stores; I just think the staff at my preferred store are better equipped to meet my specific needs which are beyond the scope of the average cellphone buyer. I don't think the other Sprint stores are sub-par; I think my preferred store, which is in an affluent neighborhood, gets more customers like me. So I pick and choose. No problem.
That's nice. In your experience, no store was bad, but a particular store in a completely different state that you happened to visit was better than others. I love your concluding line "So I pick and choose. No problem." It's rife with ludicrous implications that do not apply to me. Especially considering, you know, I did go to a different store and got a good phone on the first try, like I posted in my follow-up reply.