I called and requested a new ring tone but was told I have to add text messaging to my bill in order to get it. I am 78 years old and do not text. Why not just charge me the initial charge and not have to go through all of this? I am really disappointed in this company now.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
My first bill had calls on it that I did not make, but the bill says I received. I was billed for text messaging when I specifically did not sign up for nor use. I had to call about that. My phone dialed a friend while we were sitting at a dinner table and my phone was lying on the table next to my plate and closed (I have a flip phone). My friend's phone rang and the call was from me? I called Consumer Cellular and they ranted about how this could happen and not address what I was telling them.
Look, folks, the phone was "closed" and in front of me. It's not in my purse nor is it a "butt call". I don't think this company is ready to do business. I cancelled my phone service. Then they wanted to "save me some money by upgrading my account." What a sham. Folks, I'm a senior and still have my mental faculties. I believe I was billed for calls made automatically by the company and they are scamming millions of folks like me. They provide no help service over the weekend, yet I have to pay for calls I did not make. Something is drastically wrong with this company's philosophy.
On 7/12/2011, my boyfriend paid my consumer cellular phone bill with his credit card for $38.51. A one time only thing. On 9/06/2011, they charged his card again with $40.40. This was unauthorized. He did not ok this at all and cost him a lot of money in fee's because it overdrew his Account with out him knowing. So on 9/12/2011, I closed the account and payed off what I owed them and that was it. Well on 2/2/2012, I got a bill from collection that said I owed 60 something dollars to consumer cellular. Because 120 days ago I owed them $17.23. I never got any mail or anything stating this. When I closed my account, I was told that was all I owed and I have a witness that was on the phone with me at the time. I tried to call consumer cellular and they would not talk with me on 3 different times. I would pay the $17.23 they say I owe.
I called with questions regarding my bill. The questions were handled satisfactorily, but my other question about the display on my phone prompted the CSR to instruct me to call Motorola at 800-331-6456 regarding my 5 month old phone. She said that the phone is still under warranty and that Motorola would be responsible for replacement.
I called Motorola and got some guy with a very thick accent. I think the call center (a.k.a "help desk") was in India. In any case, he told me that I'd have to send the phone in for repair. My question to him was what am I supposed to do about having a telephone if I send my only phone to you for repair? He said something that I couldn't understand (seriously thick accent) and gave me the option of receiving an instructional email or sending my phone in now. I opted for the e-mail.
Consumer Cellular sold me (and lots of others, apparently) a huge load of lies. They sent me this throw-away, cheaply manufactured piece of ** that has something in the LED that obliterates the time and date display and which fades on day-to-day calls.
When I noticed that my current bill was $62.00, I emailed Consumer Cellular that I wished to pay $50.00 and the balance would be sent on September 1st 2011. That same afternoon, I did not have service at about 1:00pm. As soon as I was near a computer, I noticed an email stating that my service was reinstated and when I viewed my bank statement on August 31st 2011, there was a debit of the phone balance which brought my available checking balance to $0.00.
As a senior, I was shocked to see this and immediately emailed them of my anger, which there has been no response as of this writing. I would complain to Consumer Affairs, followed by reducing my minutes to the $15.00 plan (100 minutes) and remind Consumer Cellular of their action of betrayal.
On 26 January 2011, I purchased a cell phone to be used for my trip to VA and FL from this company. I ordered the $25.00 plan with a certain number of minutes. When I received my 1st billing statement for March 2011, I noticed that my bill was $37.53. Since I signed up for an automatic payments to my card, the payment had already been made. I called to ask why it was so much more than I signed up for. I was told that I was being charged for texting, which is $10.00. I replied that I never ordered texting as I don''t know how to text. Since I have multiple sclerosis, which limits the mobility in my right hand, I physically can't text even if I wanted to. She said she would credit my account and make necessary changes. I thought everything was straightened out as I did receive the $10.00 credit.
However, I was surprised to see the texting charge option is still there. Then, I called to inquire at the continuing overcharges in spite of my call last March. They said that they could only credit the last 2 mos.and that they had no way of knowing I had a physical handicap. The point was, I said, "I never ordered the texting option!" That's where we stand and now, I will ask the credit card company to enter into the dispute process! In my view, I should not have to pay for any service I never ordered!
I tried to sign up with Consumer Cellular, but found out that they require a $50.00 non refundable charge to start the service, which I could not afford. However, in their advertisements, the $50.00 non-refundable charge was not mentioned.
I initiated cellular service with Consumer Cellular. On 7-9-2010, I received two Motorola EM330 cell phones. On 7-12-2010, one phone locked up. Upon advice, I removed the battery to reboot the phone. When doing so, the battery door latch became disengaged from the phone body. I then advised Consumer Cellular of this event. I was immediately told, "Now you'll have to buy a new phone." That's a direct quote. The phone was less than four days old. The "Buy a new phone" statement made at least 8 times as I worked my way up the staff levels of customer support. I was ultimately able to reinstall the battery cover latch button and decided I had made a grave mistake of choosing Consumer Cellular and elected to return everything per the terms of their "45 day return policy".
Unbelievably, I was then told in no uncertain terse terms: "We won't accept the one phone back. We don't accept broken phones for return. You can keep that phone, it's yours now." The phone was not broken! I had never described the phone as "broken," only that the battery cover latch had become disengaged. I had already managed to successfully reinstall the latch release button. Their oratory during the sales pitch was filled with accolades of self-praise as to what great service they provided, how they were the "no argument" cellular provider.
"We're different." Different they are! I have never witnessed such a Jekyll / Hyde transformation of any entity in my life. The mood went from kissy-kissy (for lack of better term) to outright acerbic, rude, and irresponsible dialogue in the transition from sale to service issue. Actually the Motorola EM330 was a poor choice, being cheaply made and overly fragile. Doubly so when dealing with a cell provider with the post sale policies of Consumer Cellular. Future consequences unknown. I am preparing myself for a delay in my owed credit and/or the very real chance it will not be complete or non-existent. They seemed determined to make the point that only one phone will be accepted.
Amongst other things, the supervisor hung up on me as I was requesting termination of service and she immediately shut off my phone. I live in the country alone, have health issues, and had only cell service--no hard line phone. It was my intent to request termination four days later, after having the opportunity to find a better provider. This was on a Friday afternoon. My reasons for wanting to leave Consumer Cellular are a whole another issue. Their customer support was worthless. My advice is to stay clear of Consumer Cellular. On the plus side, you're not under contract when you get fed up with their nonsense.
I would like to know if there is some kind of fraud going on with the online website of Consumer Cellular. When I pulled up, the website had an alert about some fraud going on. I pay my bill online and now I am concerned.
After purchasing a new phone for my wife on mothers day we called and cancelled our service with Consumer Cellular for her old phone. we got the answering service because Consumer Cellular does not provide 24x7 customer support. we asked them to pass on the message that Mrs. Kinder wished to cancel her customer service. They assured me it would be handled.
In early June we received a bill from Consumer Cellular that did not indicate the service had been cancelled. Mrs. Kinder called to ensure they had done what they had promised. The support representative pleasantly told her that the reason for the bill was that the bill in arrears and that it would be her final bill. We paid the bill and thought nothing more of it. In July we received another bill. We contacted the company by email through their web site to ensure in writing that the service had been stopped. We never received a response. In August we received yet another bill. It indicated the service had been turned off in June and we still owed another month of service ($11.89) plus a late fee (a ridiculous $10.00!)
We called the support line during their open hours and talked to a representative. This one was not helpful. He indicated that our service was not turned off until 6/23. So we still owe for the month of June even though we cancelled the service in May. When we requested to speak to a supervisor he rudely refused. We then wrote a letter to the company describing the experience and requesting our account be correct. It was ignored. Instead of attempting further wrangling we contacted the BBB. A very nice moderator, Elizabeth Hasychak, contacted the company on our behalf and began moderation with a Mr. Greg Pryor at Consumer Cellular.
At this point we had received additional notices indicating some $40 dollars in late fees had been accrued even though the account had been in dispute. Mr. Pryor was not helpful in the least. It was obvious from his responses he had not closely read the information we sent to him and he had no intention of even trying to address the issue instead he tried to throw the excuse back on specifically who called to cancel the account: (I show the account number 12205007 was canceled in June of 2000 by a call from Ms. kinder. Only the named person on the account can cancel the account. If Michael Kinder did call to cancel the service we would have explained to him that only Ms. Kinder could call and cancel the account since he was not listed anywhere on the account. It appears that Ms. Kinder did call and we canceled the account as she requested in June 2000. We can not cancel a communication account with out the person who's name appears on the account request to cancel the service. Cutting off an individual's communications with out their direct consent could expose us to costly litigation. At no time were we informed that Mrs. Kinder had to call to cancel the service. Since the initial message was left with an answering service the minimum they should have done was call back. They did not. When Mrs. Kinder called to follow up on the account the representative didnt indicate any problem with the account being closed in May.
Mr. Pryors final comment after multiple attempts to explain this was: (The amount of the invoice is correct. We have waived several late charges on your a past due invoice. I will not be able to make any further adjustment to your invoice. Never mind that, while the account was in dispute they had no right to accrue any late fees. Never mind that the invoice was not correct because Consumer Cellular had been called in may and screwed up by not replying to their customer. We finally gave up, sent them a final note and paid the $11.89 figuring they had cost themselves a great deal more in the arbitration process and we had better things to do with out time. A month later they sent us another invoice for $21.89 tacking on a $10.00 late fee for a bill that had been paid. This company has no concept of service. We have documented this story to warn other potential customers away from this sorry excuse for a company.
