7 On Your Side's Michael Finney helps Sprint customer get refund for unused lines

Thursday, September 7, 2017
7 On Your Side's Michael Finney helped a Concord man who thought he was getting a Black Friday deal, get out of a costly plan and get a full refund.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- One of the biggest shopping days of the year turned into a long ordeal for a Concord man. For him, Black Friday may have a different meaning from here on out.

Gerry Ginochio uses one of the many phones he acquired on black Friday.

He went into a Sprint store to get new phones for himself and his girlfriend.

The Concord man ended up with agreements for five phones along with a number of accessories.

"I asked them numerous times, is it free? Are you sure?," said Gonochio.

Gonochio initially wanted two phones but ended up adding a third for his son and a fourth and fifth when he said the store told him it would be free.

He asked numerous questions. "I'm not going to have to pay an activation fee. I'm not going to have a pay a monthly fee. No No No," said Gonochio.

He says everything was fine until he got his bill. The extra phones were free, but monthly charges and activation fees were added to each line.

Gonochio tried to return the additional phones but was told it was too late.

"They tell me it was out of the return, 30-day return (limit)," said Gonochio.

That upset Gonochio because he says the clock started when he made the purchase, even though he didn't receive the phone he purchased for himself until four days earlier.

Sprint told him they would get back to him. Nearly two months passed so he decided to contact 7 On Your Side.

We reached out to Sprint. Gonochio heard from the company the next day.

Sprint told us "In an effort to foster goodwill for his tenure as a Sprint customer, we cancelled his unused lines. He was satisfied with the outcome."

Gonochio received a credit worth more than $1,200.

"They took everything back, and they credit me everything back," said Gonochio.

This was settled back in May, but Gonochio chose to wait to tell his story to make sure no more problems showed up on his bill.