Why you can't cancel your Sprint Order

So the second most popular question of the day seems to be "can i cancel my order/pre-order?" (The #1 most popular question is of course related, and answered with what is known, here)

In short, the answer is 'No'. But it's likely NOT for the reasons you may think. There are several different linked systems that handle your order behind the scenes, automating everything about it - placement, billing, fulfillment, tracking, etc... and despite years and years of minor modifications, they're basically all held together with duct tape when it comes to integration and one system knowing what the other is doing. I don't say this to make it sound bad - it does work. If you've ever worked in a corporation this large, or a similar industry, you'll understand exactly what I mean. But there are limitations. Over the years policies have been created to work around these short-comings, and brings us to the #2 topic of the day.

The primary limitation is that once an order status changes from 'Not Submitted' to any other status, from that point forward if the order is cancelled in FDT(Our Fulfillment Desktop), the order is removed from the billing system, however it would still ship out in about 90% of cases. For that reason, a policy has been in place for many years that states NO ORDER CAN BE CANCELLED unless it's in that preliminary 'Not Submitted' status. In fact, that's one of the main reasons that  most general care agents have read-only access to FDT.

So what do you do if you want to cancel your pre-order? You must refuse shipment of the device once it actually ships, as with any other order. Now this isn't ideal because devices are delivered without a signature required in most areas (it's the carrier's discretion) - so if it's delivered when you're not present, you would then have to follow the normal return process by shipping the box back.

So, the multi-million dollar question becomes - will there be an exception made for this? My opinion: NO. Unless the launch is delayed more than a few weeks - and I think we are all confident it will be resolved much more quickly. My humble opinion is to hang tight, and this will work out within a few days most likely. In the long-term, if for some reason it couldn't be resolved, then I'm certain we could task the back office offline teams to create a manual process for processing these, but I don't anticipate the need for it, personally.

There was actually a communication sent out late yesterday, reminding agents of this process, specifying the HTC EVO 4G LTE, and reminding care groups of the policy, to prevent any order-related cancellation issues:

• Because this is a pre-order, the window of opportunity to cancel has expired.


• Requests to Cancel Pre-Orders in Fulfillment Hold for the HTC EVO 4G LTE can no longer be accepted.


• Instruct customers on refusing shipment (no accessories included) or follow return processes.

 

**UPDATE** 4PM - In fact, there will be no cancellations of pre-orders allowed. more details coming up in a new post within the hour!

**UPDATE** 11AM

Due to the anticipated length of time for this specific issue, cancellations will now be allowed, since there is no chance that the item would still ship out and you not be billed for it (as is the usual case). But you can't do it via general care, use the instructions below:

If you would like to select an alternate product or cancel your backordered item, please call 866-789-8292 between 8:00 a.m. EST to 11:00 p.m. EST Monday to Friday or 9:00 a.m. EST to 9:00 p.m. EST on Saturdays and Sundays.Please note that cancellation requests may not always process successfully due to the speed of warehouse processing.If you cancelled your backordered item but still received a shipment, please refuse the shipment or call us to process a return within 14 days of receipt.