The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

2. Sprint Hangs Up

The customer isn't always right at Sprint (S Quote).

The Reston, Va., telco surprised some users this month by unilaterally cutting them off. About 1,200 wireless subscribers got letters saying their accounts would be terminated because they called Sprint too often.

"While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability," the cutoff letters read, "the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time had led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs."

Of course, it has been ages since Sprint was able to meet anyone's wireless needs. In the first quarter, Sprint lost 220,000 postpaid wireless users -- adding to the fourth quarter's 306,000-postpaid-user loss. Meanwhile rivals AT&T (T Quote) and Verizon (VZ Quote) each added more than a million net postpaid users in each quarter.

Chasing away subscribers looks like an odd strategy when your best customers have been fleeing in droves. But that's not a subject Sprint is eager to discuss.

"We're changing the conversation about wireless," marketing chief Tim Kelly said late last month in announcing a new marketing push. While competitors "harp on the industry's shortcomings such as dropped calls, minutes and pricing plans," Kelly added, Sprint will embrace "the awesome ways our innovative technology adds real value to the lives of our customers."

The few who remain, that is.

Dumb-o-Meter score: 91. Sprint says improving customer service "is our No. 1 priority," Reuters reports.