Cricket cell phones - billing problems - trouble with customer service

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on June 14, 2002:

From: Email User

RE: Cricket cell phones - billing problems - trouble with customer service

I am, or use to be a valued cricket customer. So I thought anyway. I have had 2 cell phone connected fron cricket. We needed these cell phone for home phones as well, I am a stay at home mom, and we could not afford @ cell phones and a home phone as well. I recently had my cellphone service "suspended" due to non payment. I did pay this bill and I have a moneyorder syubb for proof.

However when I Tried to call Customer Service to fix this problem, or find out what needed to be done so that my 42.06 was posted to my account, I was told, by a machine, that I was not allowed to speak with a "live" oporator because my service was suspended. I tried every phone number I could think of to speak with someone, with no luck. So, I fibbed. I pressed option one for connecting a new phone, and low a behold, a "live" person ready and willing to take my money.

I told this "live" person that I wanted to speaak with someone in billing, explained that I was not able to get a hold of a "live" person. Three people later , still no luck. I then became a little aggitated.I refused to hang up until I spoke with someone "in charge". Finally I was connected to Jason, batch # 0270. 10 minutes alter a little arguing and he still tells me I can not speak with a "live" person about my bill. Now if my phone was on, then absolutley.

He made the mistake of telling me that sometimes my payment will get to home base(Dallas) but it can take up to 10 days to post it. Well, I DONT THINK SO. While my money is laying on someones desk, I have no phone, two kids, and hopefully aa angel watching over me, because I obviouly can not call for help should I need to .Still he continues to sya I cant speak with a"live" person. I then ask for the regional office number, and guess what?

Of, course, the customer service reps, dont have that number,how convient. Then I ask for the corporate number, adn guess what? Again, they dont have that either. The best he could do was an E-mail address, I went to that and type my concern, adn a message pop up," we will respond up to 3-5 buss. days after recieving this postage."

So here I am, trying to find answers and where my money is, sitting at home with no phone and worndering why I am not the valued customer that they claimed I was. When my phone was on. I was also wondering where are all the "happy" CSR that were suppose to help me with any concerns?

A wise tip, you can get a cheaper phone service through alot of people, with GREAT customer service appreciation. Just look on the Net. Please take My advice,

DONT USE CRICKET!!!

Mondea Joy

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Hey, a great way to combat shoddy communication services is to file a complaint with the FCC. I did it against cricket and I sincerely hope anyone having a tough time with them will file a complaint as well.

Although I am still fighting them on my issues regarding roaming , among other things such as their

billing practices, I strongly urge anyone with any true issues to do the same. Good Luck !!

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I JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH 1-866-384-4425 CRICKET CS. (HA-HA-HA) LAST MONTH, DUE TO DOUBLE AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS, MY BILL WAS OVERPAID. I CALLED AND WAS PROMISED A REFUND. 30 DAYS LATER STILL NO REFUND. I HAD TO CALL SEVERAL TIMES TO 1-800-CRICKET BUT WITH NO SUCCESS. TODAY, OVER A MONTH LATER, I WAS TOLD I NEEDED TO CANCEL MY SERVICE TO GET A REFUND. TALK ABOUT BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE. I AM 70 YEARS OLD AND FIND THIS COMPANY WORSE THAN ANY OTHER I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH AND ALL OF MY INTERNET FRIENDS WILL BE TOLD MY STORY. NO CRICKET FOR ME THANK YOU.

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I agree with all that has been posted on this web-site regarding Cricket customer service. IT IS A NIGHTMARE! AVOID CRICKET - It is better to pay more money - than fool around with this Mickey Mouse company. I sent two e-mails over the last four days. They won't even respond to me when I threaten to cancel my phone service. I have paid on-time with automatic bill pay for the last 4 years. Due to a change in credit card because of some fraud that occured to me - I contacted Cricket and gave them my updated cr.card info---of course, they don't process it --- and consequently shut my phone down. Now, I can't get a hold of anybody. It's prett crazy. I am done with these losers and plan on upgrading to a real cell phone service. A cell phone that actually gets reception outside of Portand, Oregon. What a waste of time and energy!

saturday 11:00am - nov.21, 2009

Assistance requested: My credit card info had been updated - but failed to be processed by your personel. I have attempted to correct this- impossible customer service. Frustrated. I wish to cancel my service completely.

Tuesday 11:30pm - Nov. 24,2009

I have had zero response in the last 4 days. I am very unhappy with Cricket. I wish to cancel my phone service. I also plan on cancelling my wife's phone service as well. I will be sure to spread the word how Cricket is to be avoided. reply.

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I need a rep for central NY to call me regarding a stoe for Cricket in Auburn NY. There is a mojor proublem and I would like to resolve the proublem befor I go to the better busness an small claims court..3155152103 as soon as possable.he stole my phone!

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Yes!!!! I ordered a Cricket phone, paid for it and it has not shipped!!!!!!!!! They have my money, no one can give an answer. They have morans working for them who are rude. DONT USE CRICKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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I have had cricket for almost 8 months and i pay each month ontime we addeda phone to our service but when my hubby got laid off we had to cut corners and well had to stopt he phone i paid ina dvance the payment for the phone beofre it was the due the one phone we had with it was up to date the customer service said they credit money back to our phone that we ahd on well month wnet by and well make long story short we called them and checked everyday to see if credit was to phone we had on.. and nope it wasnt it ws there we paid 95.00 but well it stillwanted our money for feb i told them that you need to credit phone i paid for broadband seprately no prob well noone would give us any answers and we are now without a phone thanks to them no real email to to talk to them weven through there own internet noone replies...so well yep looking into another services as they suck big time i hate cricket too

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This is becoming Standard Operational Procedue for several of these providers. I couldn't get anything but a busy signal at Cricket the other day. I am about to try to retrieve a "promised discount from Cricket for my wifes 5 month old phone. I know this is going to be a "t r i p". I am anticipating all kinds of resistance and thinking about a future course of action to make these companies start to "tow the line" - actually live up to their claims. We all need to unite by e-mail on a forum; plan to communicate and unite on several types of boycotts to cut off our service; (imagine 20,000 Cricket customers shutting down all at once),Also we all bombard the Better Business Bureau all at once to get them to "ring Crickets Bell".

Unify with BAD Publicity Demonstrations filmed for You Tube and make a law suit pool. I'm way ahead of myself at this moment but I will follow up. Hey Folks - - Do you want DEMOCRACY in this country? If yes this is the model to take for action. Legislators are no better either if you don't keep after them. Regards, Sign me Advanced Atavist.

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I cannot even BEGIN to tell you my many horror stories with Cricket's customer service. I was so angry one day over the THIRD fee they were charging me for something ridiculous, and arguing with a "customer service" representative, and I said to him, "Would you rather charge me the 15 dollars and lose me as a customer, or waive it and keep me as a bill payer for another year?" and HE said, "It doesn't matter to us if you leave or not." He was the manager on duty that day.

Another day, I went to a Cricket dealer for service, and even the guy who owned the store wouldn't call the customer service line---he had his secretary do it. He said they make him too mad and it's not worth his blood pressure!

I really enjoyed my unlimited text messaging and the nice low monthly payment, but I'd do without a cell phone rather than go back to them again.

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Cust Serv in United States for Cricket: 866.384.4425. Enjoy

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I`ve been on hold for 30 minutes I had a question about my bill and no one is picking up to help me out I could have got you another customer but due to your lack of service he changed his mind and i`m about to do the same with my plan so wright me back asap

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Hello, today is July 14, 2008. I purchased service June 9, 2008, and my found out my cell phone I had didnt work due to the speaker not working. After, activating service with cricket on June 9, 2008 I went back the very next day to get a new phone to work with my account. The agents refused to assist in getting a new phone, so that I could place phone calls, and recommended that I cancel my service. So, I cancelled my phone service on June 10, 2008 within 24 hours of starting service, and the local branch was kind enough to process a refund, and explained that I would recieve a check in the mail 30 days later. Today again July 14, 2008 I still have not received anything, so I called cricket, and found out my claim for a refund was denied, and the rep explained that it was because the service plan was unlimited. Not only are they rejecting to refund anything.. but I also was willing to eat an activation fee even though it was still within the first 24 hours. I will never in my entire life get service through cricket again. If anyone at Cricket wants to help out with any of the above problems I would very much appreciate, but seriously doubt that anything positive will become of this posting.

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I'm a Cricket customer, and I'm totally fed up. It's impossible to get ahold of a human being when you call their "customer service" line, 1-800-CRICKET. (If anyone knows how, please tell me, but I've tried pushing every button they have as an option. You cannot return to the previous menu, so if their few choices aren't what you need, they disconnect with you after you try two things. They do not offer an option to speak w/ a representative, which is what's really making me angry.) This time I'm calling because they disconnected my phone when I was 1 day late paying (my fault), and I paid it right away online, it came out of my account, and it's now 6 days later and STILL not reconnected, even though the Web site and phone recording says it should reactivate a half-hour after your payment. I've been a bit late before, and after I paid, it reactivated it in a half-hour. This time, no phone service for 6 days now, and I can't get ahold of anyone to resolve the issue. I also have tried emailing their customer service, but obviously they probably don't even check those.

My sister also has Cricket (we don't like contract commitments, plus I enjoy the unlimited minutes and texts w/out the possibility of going over minutes or incurring extra costs from roaming), and she once had a problem and got hold of someone...who hardly spoke English and was obviously an outsourced call-center person, and who was very rude and didn't resolve the issue.

I have nothing against not speaking English, or against people who don't speak English: I DO have something against a company with mostly English-speaking customers that hires someone who speaks hardly any English as CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES.

Hello! Shoulda had a V-8!

Maybe I should just commit. Settle down. I am almost 30; I guess it's about time to grow up.

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I understand your problems. After almost three years of service, I tried to disconnect in January and the person also seemed to "pretend" they couldn't hear.

On February 11, I spoke with Laura who transferred me to lead agent Etham to disconnect. My service WAS disconnected that day (I tested it) but learned later that it was reactivated because people were getting my voice mail when they called the number. My credit card continued to be billed.

When I visited the store where I purchased service yesterday, they couldn'g get into my "pending" account and said they, too, had problems when communicating with Cricket's overseas operators. I tried calling the 800 number again and after Maxima transferred me to the disconnection department, I was on hold for 38 minutes.

I called again this morning and the operator insisted upon trying to act like "today" is the day I want to disconnect. After being transferred to the disconnection department, I waited 31 minutes before I reached "Joseph." He again tried to act as if this was the day of my disconnection, not February 11. I told him I was turning on my tape recorder and had just pulled up a complaint form from the Federal Communications Commission. His response changed dramatically. Supposedly my account will be disconnected today, and I will receive a refund for the credit card amounts.

I still will file the form with the FCC. I recommend that everyone take the time to do this.

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Absolutley, Cricket Customer Service is the worst in the cell phone industry and they don't care.

I will never use Cricket again even if they were the last cell phone company around.

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I have also had nothing but crap with this "company". I got my 1st cricket phone 2 months ago. 2 weeks later it stopped charging, so I took it back to the dealer and they were "nice" enough to charge me $10 shipping and handling for a new phone. Eventhough this phone was under warranty and was obviously crap, I paid it and got a new one. A week and a half later that phone stopped charging. So yet again, I went back paid another $10 and got a new phone. Well this phone charged, but unfortunatly didn't get service anywhere. (Even in their store) So when I would go to call someone I would be flooded with missed calls and voicemails from the day before. I yet again took it back and paid $10 more for a new phone. So phone #4 now does not have voicemail and when people call me it says its an invalid number, eventhough it is the same number I have always had. I wouldn't wish this company on my worst enemy. And I think the reason that you couldn't get ahold of a "live" person is because their employees all have cricket phones!! Don't worry this company will be bankrupt in no time

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Same issue, but when I was trying to cancel my service. I asked the first person that I got on customer service that I wanted to cancel my service and then he pretended that he couldn't hear what I was saying then hang up, I have been trying for two days after this call to get ahold of someone in customer service with no luck. Seems like as soon as I enter my phone number they refuse to answer my call... and yes I was able to get quickly contact a live person in the new contracts 800 number. Cricket was fine as long as it was working, the firt problem I had it has been a nightmare, the phone replacement plan is a joke, then send me a tiny Kyocera toy phone that didn't work in replacement for my Motorola which I bought for more than $200 dlls