Sprint Will Come to Your Home or Office to Set Up Your Next Phone

Sprint is launching a new program that will send a worker out to deliver and set up new phones to customers eligible for an upgrade.

A worker will set up a time, bring by the new device and help transfer existing photos and contacts, all at no additional charge.

Sprint

The Direct 2 U program is kicking off Monday in Kansas City, Mo., but the company will add 10 cities by the end of August, 30 more by the end of September, and will be nationwide by the end of the year.

“It transforms a pain point into a ‘wow’ moment,” said Rod Millar, who heads the new delivery program and Sprint’s device-leasing effort.

The program has gone from idea to reality in just a few months. Millar said that CEO Marcelo Claure thought up the program, with a team in Kansas City rapidly creating and pilot-testing the service.

Sprint is working with an unnamed partner, but said that all of the workers will be Sprint-trained and will use Sprint-labeled vehicles for the service calls.

Some customers will prefer to go to the stores, Millar said, but Direct 2 U should appeal in particular to working parents and others who want some help with their new phone, but are too busy to go into a store.

“This is not for everybody,” he said.

Although it adds some costs for Sprint, Millar said there are costs with any channel, whether it is paying people to work in a store or dealing with the higher number of returns that come from orders placed on the Web.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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