Sprint to 1,000 customers: You're fired

Sprint Nextel is hanging up on 1,000 of its cell-phone subscribers because, the company said, they complained too much.

Sprint Nextel (S, news, msgs), which ranked at the top of MSN Money's Customer Service Hall of Shame in April, apparently didn't appreciate when people called their customer-service lines to voice complaints, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. So the company told those unhappy customers to hit the road.

"The number of inquiries you have made to us . . . has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs," Sprint said in its letter.

The letter, dated June 29 and reproduced on the Web site gizmodo.com, tells customers: "We understand that having to switch to another wireless carrier may be an inconvenience. . . . So, a credit has been applied to your account to bring your current balance to zero." Sprint also said it would waive its early termination fee.

But those dumped customers don’t have much time to act. Sprint said it would terminate their contracts, giving those customers until the end of July to find new wireless carriers.

After Sprint was told that it ranked at the bottom of MSN Money’s customer service rankings, a spokeswoman said that "there are definitely areas within customer service where we need to improve" and that "our CEO and others all have said we're committed to doing that."