Wanted to make a complaint about cricket. They state in there ads and any other advertisements they are a pay as you go phone with no contracts. When you make a payment you pay for the month ahead. If you dont pay after that they shut it off. But yet they still charge you. I didnt pay my bill for almost 2 months I wasnt or couldnt use the phone and yet they were still charging me the monthly fee I had a 120 dollar bill. Which is not right when there a pay as you go plan and I wasnt using the phone. I was told unless I cancel the account they keep charging and that goes against everything they say and even tell you when you first sign up.
They tell you if you cant pay or dont want the phone anymore just stop paying. What they also dont tell you that if you cancel the account and then try to start a new one later they charge you whatever the balance was on your old account. That sounds more to me like a contract account and definately not pay as you go. Something else I wanted to bring up is I thought all cell phones even if the account is canceled or past due are stii required to allow you to call 911. My girlfriend who was pregnant who was home alone attempted to call 911 a couple of weeks ago because of going into pre term labor and she needed an ambulance to the hospital. When she does she finds out that it doesnt work and thats something that could have harmed her or the baby. Luckily she was able to drive to my work so that I could take her to the hospital.
Im hoping this explains my problem with this company and that some action can be taken against them. If more information is needed or clarification please contact me.
Paul of Chartley, MA May 27, 2009
In early May 2009, my Citi credit card was comprised. On or about May 5, 2009, Cricket.comm posted a charge to my account in the amount of 282.24. I did not make this charge, I did not authorize this charge, and no other person in my family made this charge. Citi noticed a change in my spending pattern and contacted me. I was asked specifically about the charge to Cricket. I denied making said charge.
Since that time Cricket has issued credit in the amount of 263.74 and has not provided credit in the full amount deducted. Cricket, without justification, has failed and neglected to refund 18.50.
John of Chicago, IL May 31, 2009
Well Here is the situation that I noticed. I am a cricket dealer. I noticed the fact is anytime a customer calls in customer care, customer care end up changing the account. And the company that they are using for customer care is in india. So have half the time, they don't know what your talking about. One little mistake you do they will charge you for it. Even cricket dealers don't make any money from cricket. Dealers end up losing money everytime they sell cricket phones. They will charge you whatever they want to make extra money from you. I suggest go to boost mobile its ONLY 50 no tax or anything they will not charge you for changing anything on your account
Keisha of Spring, TX May 28, 2009
I changed my paper bill to paperless text message, and my rate plan was changed without my approval. I was told by customer service that my original plan could not be changed back because the original plan that i had no longer existed. I was also told that if I wanted those features that came with my original plan i would have to pay extra. How is this legal?
Also, I cancelled by Cricket broadband service and a week later a 40.00 charge showed on my credit card. They bill a month in advance and told me that it was an "oversight" but my service had been cancelled. How is it that my service was cancelled but my credit card was still being chraged. How can you make chrages in advance on an account that no longer exist?
I was put on hold for an hour. After waiting an hour, I hung up and called back. I tried to for 5 hours to get to an actual person and keep getting the message that all customer service agents were busy. How busy are you at 11:00 pm at night? I also called first thing in the morning for 2 hours straight and kept getting the same message.
Janalva of Wichita, KS April 16, 2009
04/16/2009 Thursday, April 16, 2009 03:31:35 PM I made changes to lower my account bill because 243.17 seems crazy to me. So the cricket representitive tells me what to pay. 181.52 So I did on March 26th early by the way was not due until April 12th My services were shut off on the April13th mabye 12th unsure about that,did not try use it til 13th April The billing computer or whatever does that messed up. I was told. So I called customer service who told me to pay a different amount, so I did.
Then I later get disconnected. I email cricket for help, they say go to local office. I do, then I am told that they will not refund my money or give me services and that this is there policy! Because they are no refunds on prepaid services. So I just unknowingly gave them 181.52 wow how nice of me . And I had their broadband and 3 cell phones they just shut of. I was using the net for printing my homeschool papers. Anyway apparantly the computer did not understand a payment I had made and put it on something else. Isn't that not my fault? Give me my money or give me some services but why charge me recconect fees for their errors.
Also they did take off the services I requested but not the prices/amounts. So bill still high , but wait they charged me 15 dollars for each change that did occur on two lines. so theirs an extra 30 dollars. Fine but they need to remove the incorrect charges but did not. So they told me I need to pay 106.00 to turn it back on for past due amounts i paid 181.52 So the total would be 287.52 wow thats not cheaper. Before I leave he says to me you need to pay your bill on time? It's like it was for effect for the other customers that where there. wow it shocked me I just left Am I the only one this has happened to?
no telephone or internet service lost out on 181.52 paid for nothing.
Arlene And Rodney Baker of Tulsa, OK April 16, 2009
My husband and I have had our cell phones for almost 2 years w/ this cell phone company. In the phone is a feature that you can hide your caller id, and this feature was not working. My husband called Cricket to find out how to get this feature to work. They told him no problem...8 calls later, they finally got the feature to work. During this whole time, I could hear him asking. now I don't want my plan changed, and will this cost me extra, each time he was assured NO. Today I went to pay our bills. Low and behold, they have an extra charge on there of 4.50. Not knowing where this charge came from, we had to drive all the way to this store. (they couldn't tell us on phone). upon arriving at store, I explained situation to person at desk, and was informed it looks like the operator made a mistake, she changed your plan.
Well, when we asked to change it back, we're told well there is no way to do that. You have to just pay the extra per month to have the same service you had. Apparently the plan he did have he was grandfathered into, and since they made this mistake you can no longer get this plan so pay more or have no voice mail. I was floored. If they are charging us more for their error how much money are they making for errors?
There's alot of Cricket customers out there that are really getting screwed. With the economy the way it is, I'm sure glad they found a way to make a few extra millions a year by stealing from people. I think this is totally wrong. I was told there is no way to get that plan back. Since the operator changed it. thats all we can do. She was never supposed to change anything, she was supposed to fix something. she screwed up and we pay?
The economic consequence is that Cricket is probably making millions of dollars off their mistakes, while charging me an extra 50 a year to use their service cause of their mistakes. It should be against the law. I would like to take a legal action and find out how many other people this happened to. We have never been late w/ a payment, nor have I ever called for any reason other than this and they're holding me to their mistake. I'm shocked, livid and just plain confused. please tell me what I can do so they can't do this anymore.
Keshia of Papillion, NE April 7, 2009
When my boyfriend and I went to get him a new cell phone we went with cricket because we had both had them in the past. I am currently with US Cellular. After getting the phone we have tried to text message each other on numerous ocassions and nothing gets through, at the samepoint other people we know including other family members of mine have tried to text him as well from us cellular, and he has tried texting them, still nothing gets through. We have contacted cricket several times with this issue considering we have other friends with cricket and myself and them can text each other without a problem.
With the considering that we cannot communicate through the text messaging we pay for through cricket and they keep telling us there is nothing wrong, I feel at this point that it has been truly detrimental to our earnings. And at this point just want them to figure the problem out so we can communicate effectively while we are both working and cannot physically speak on the phone.
Donald of Bridgeville, PA April 5, 2009
I went to pay my cellphone bill on line using my checking account when I hit sumit the web site showed information does not match currently accepted formats even though the site had acheck paying section I called the customer service # on the web site and every time Iasked to speak to a representive the automative line would hang up on me
iwas forced to go to a cricket store where they charged a 3.00 service charge I know Its not much money but multiply it by the thousands of other customers there charging and you can see why they do this also when I told the manager about it she refused to help
Veronica of Memphis, TN March 31, 2009
imostly pay my cell bill on line. I was having tech problems with my phone,not receiving text, screen going blank, therefore I purschased a new phone. I still encountered the same problem called cricket they assured me the problem was fixed. I was paying my bill a day late, due to I was not receiving text messages. Back in November 2008 I paid my bill it showed no payment. Paid my bill in December 2008 and Cricket held the payment til Jan 2009 this is when it posted on receipt in system.
Cricket charged me 15.00 late fee I contacted Cricket they lady waivded the charge stating they did notice a tech problem with my phone I was not receiving text from them.She also notice where I did pay november bill. March bill I went on line and paid my bill like the rep instructed me to and stated she would take care of the 15.00 that will be left. now today I paid my bill 3/30/2009, Cricket text me at about 4:00p.m stating my bill is due march 31, 2009. Which I know an extra 15.00 will be added on by 8:00a.m March 31, 2009 if I had not paid it.
I went to Ace cashing and paid my bill I ended up paying the 15.00 that they rep told me she took care of ,plus 15.00 for late fees on the 15.00. I tried to discuss this problem with several reps. cannot get this problem solved. These jobs I assumed has been outsourced to India or somewhere. They always tell you hold on , then you speak with a floor supervisor no one knows whats going on one gentlemen told me tonight that they had just deactivated my second line as we speak and that should take care of the fees. I explained to him that I never had a second line. then he transferred me. Every rep gave me a lie, but no one wanted to help me solve the problem when I stated that I was told only to pay 47.and some cents. Each rep continued to hang up in my face. By this time I am very upset.
The last person I spoke with was very rude so I got rude with her, Then she term the call in my face. This is rountine thing for Cricket service. One time a friend of mine brought a new phone and thjey gave him someone else active phone number he was actually answering her calls and her phone was turned off due to this error. when we treid to call and explain the problem they would not listen stating we were lying. The number owner called us from us speaking with other people that was calling her number. we told them to tell her to call us at another number we had given them.
At this point the lady and my friend called Cricket on a conference call and got the problem resolved after a whole day of wasted time on the phone. Cricket has a monoply because they do not do a credit check, or people are on a fixed income or whatever other situation. Believe me if people could they would go spend their money somewhere else. Not only that there have been times when I have paid my bill on line and Cricket will charge an extra 1 to 2 dollars for using on-line service. when they states it's free. This is not right and do not give them the right to take advantage of poor people because they can. This feels like being violated.
Veronica of Memphis, TN March 31, 2009
i mostly pay my cell bill on line. I was having tech problems with my phone,not receiving text, screen going blank, therefore I purschased a new phone. I still encountered the same problem called cricket they assured me the problem was fixed. I was paying my bill a day late, due to I was not receiving text messages. Back in November 2008 I paid my bill it showed no payment. Paid my bill in December 2008 and Cricket held the payment til Jan 2009 this is when it posted on receipt in system. Cricket charged me 15.00 late fee
I contacted Cricket they lady waivded the charge stating they did notice a tech problem with my phone I was not receiving text from them. She also notice where I did pay november bill. March bill I went on line and paid my bill like the rep instructed me to and stated she would take care of the 15.00 that will be left. now today I paid my bill 3/30/2009, Cricket text me at about 4:00p.m stating my bill is due march 31, 2009. Which I know an extra 15.00 will be added on by 8:00a.m March 31, 2009 if I had not paid it.
I went to Ace cashing and paid my bill I ended up paying the 15.00 that they rep told me she took care of ,plus 15.00 for late fees on the 15.00. I tried to discuss this problem with several reps. cannot get this problem solved. These jobs I assumed has been outsourced to India or somewhere. They always tell you hold on, then you speak with a floor supervisor no one knows whats going on one gentlemen told me tonight that they had just deactivated my second line as we speak and that should take care of the fees. I explained to him that I never had a second line. then he transferred me. Every rep gave me a lie, but no one wanted to help me solve the problem when I stated that I was told only to pay 47.and some cents. Each rep continued to hang up in my face. By this time I am very upset.
The last person I spoke with was very rude so I got rude with her, Then she term the call in my face. This is rountine thing for Cricket service. Cricket has a monoply because they do not do a credit check, or people are on a fixed income or whatever other situation. Believe me if people could they would go spend their money somewhere else. Not only that there have been times when I have paid my bill on line and Cricket will charge an extra 1 to 2 dollars for using on-line service. when they states it's free. This is not right and do not give them the right to take advantage of poor people because they can. This feels like being violated.
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