Cricket Wireless
Reviews and Complaints

I started with Cricket Wireless during a $50 modem rebate promotion. I followed the rebate to the letter, made copies and mailed it the following day. I even took it to the US Post Office so they would cancel the stamp with that day's date.

After four months I finally heard that my rebate submission was in non-compliance because it was postmarked well over a month after the final date it could be submitted.

This was just one of many problems I have had with Cricket, including: inability to set up my online account because I have a Mac and they don't support text messaging to the modem in the Mac software; continued billing of an insurance charge I have repeatedly asked to be removed; and absolutely terrible service, even though I can get all four bars. Without warning the modem will become unresponsive, sometimes disconnect, sometimes cycle endlessly.

What troubles me about the modem is that it will frequently start a simultaneous, full-bandwidth upload/download. I have a monitor showing which applications (or the system) are requesting data, and when this happens it is nothing on my system doing it. It's almost virus-like, yet I have a Mac, so clearly the modem is doing this on its own, and what is being transferred, I have no idea.

Well, thought I'd post this for all the unsatisfied Cricket customers out there. I have three accounts with Cricket, two cell phones for me and my husband and a broadband internet account.

For the last two months, I got my bill in the mail for one cell phone and the broadband account. However, my second cell phone bill not not come in the mail for two months in a row. The first month, I thought it might have been my mistake (as I get the three bills and don't save my paper copy after I pay) and paid the reactivation fee. When it happened the second month (2 months in a row) I told customer service it has to be their error because it's the second month in a row and I paid attention.

I told them I wanted the late fees removed from my account for the 2 months or I was not paying. Store rep wouldn't do it. On the phone the first rep told me hw wouldn't do it. So I told him the least he could do would be to refund the $1.25 per bill that I pay extra for my apper bill. He eagerly agreed to get me off the phone.

I told him to transfer me to a supervisor immediately. When he came on I said, there is no way Cricket would let someone remove part of a bill if there was no cause. By telling me he would remove my paper bill fee that is acknowledgement that the bills probably never made it to my address. He said that he would not remove the late fees because I must have been told at any point during my relationship with Cricket when my bill was due (I had called several times regarding a crappy phone the wouldn't be replaced though under warrenty or returned within the first week). I told him, actually no, in fact, your employee who was just speaking to me didn't state when my bill was due and as I request all phone calls to be recorded you can check. He called me a liar. Then he said if I called the first month this happened they would have credited me as a one-time courtesy. I asked to speak to his supervisor. None was available.

I read the Terms & Conditions of the agreement, which says that you have 60 days to dispute any charge, which means he could have refunded me the second month. I wrote to Cricket stating I wanted my paper bills fee removed for 2 months, my late fees removed for 2 months, and two months of free service (which should come out to about only 3 months of free service) or I would chargeback on all my accounts, which would be over $500 for the past 120 days (maximum allowed by your credit card).

Some guy named Tom wrote me a letter giving me a complaint number. I called customer service. Apparently this rep was only allowed to remove $5 from my bill. I told her this was unsatisfactory. I got my bill in the mail (finally!) and it said I owed like $80 to keep my $35 plan on for one more month. I called about it and this time the rep said oh, that is a mistake, they reduced to about $42 (my normal bill after taxes and such), which means I did finally get the 2 months of late fees removed.

SO good news for anyone else out there in the same predicament. Just do what I did above.

However, true to my letter, I am still charging back on all accounts because they did not give me my 2 months free service for the hassel or remove the paper bill fee for two months. And had I not called, they would have probably let me pay that $80. Besides, it'll probably still show up on next months bill. Plus, he phone I use sucks and though brand new, it doesn't charge. They wouldn't return it because I used it for 31 minutes (it's a 30 min max). So far, they replaced my charger and my battery and it still doesn't stay on for more than a few hours when it's not in the charger. Plus, while it's in the charger it gets really hot. They're unconcerned. I have yet to get my rebates for my broadband or a second cell phone (cuz 1st one doesn't work). And the broadband disconnects for no reason. Tech support - they're typically nice, but are totally unhelpful. 'Is it plugged in?' 'Do you use your phone to make phone calls?'

Anyway, should I pay another $150 this month when they can't do a simple task such as give me free service for a little while when they obviously messed up? Honestly, I would probably stay with them if they did that. Or should I get my $150 for the last 4 months back? I'll take the $600, thank you.

Oh, and I hope the guy who called me a liar gets fired.

Here are some of the thousands of complaints logged against your company. I was a customer when you first went into Arkansas and realized that you were new and there would be problems. After all these years you have gotten worst! You need to FIRE those lazy and stupid people who answers the phones and give information. I know cheap labor can be found in India and the Philippines but they are so rude and unprofessional. Also fire those desk sales reps because as you can see they cause the biggest problems with giving the wrong service contracts to make more commissions or just plain dont give a damn about customer service. There are a lot of qualified customer service people now without jobs and would love to have one and will do a great job for you. The people you have now dont appreciate having a job with your company because if they did they would do it at least 65% of what you hired them for!I know you are the Fat cats and the bottom line is $$$$$..but send a message to the scrubs that you will no longer accept sub standard work performance and have them get off their lazy ### and do what you are paying them to do and stop running your company into the pits. Sooner or later the poor blacks, whites and Mexicans will be targeted buy other professional ran companies like verizon, sprint, and t-moble and you will be wondering what happened...THOSE LAZY RUDE grunt workers drove your customers away!Hello Human resource PERSON! Crack down on them and tell them to treat customers with some respect and actually provide some helpful SERVICE..Mr Hutcheson get off the golf course and make a surprise call to your customer service and tell them that they gave you the wrong plan and ask for the correct plan and a refund on your previous payment..or that they over billed you...or you are not getting good service and see what WE as customers have to go through. I bet you dont use Cricket wireless..lol Who is you cell phone carrier?

Complaints
Cricket Wireless Complaints
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what ever you do please be leary of cricket wireless really bad buisness practices. no contract dont believe it. they are very decietful. the only way you can get a hold of custamer service you have to act like you dont have a social security number or driver licence if they think you are an illeagal alien wanting new phone service you get a rapid response.. if not you get a robot responce.and god forbid you if your phone payment is one day late they will charge for the whole month.only if you want to cancel. i think everybody should get together and file a class action lawsuit againts cricket wireless.also you might think about telling your local news and national news like good morning america or the nightly news.good luck

Be advised that cricket broadband wireless blocks outbound smtp (Simple mail transfer protocol) traffic.

For non-techies, that means you will not be able to send outbound pop3 email from your outlook or outlook express.

This is common among cheap hotels that fear their free internet service will be used by spammers.

You must use browser-based email, or you must be running ms exchange server.

To me this is not real internet access, but a real bate-n-switch

On thursday the 11 th of june my partner brought an internet card to cricket wireless on 2401 keisel ave to have it activated the store said that they had activated it, when we got home the internet was not working so I took the broadband card to another location to see if it had been activated, the clerk stated that it had been activated to a phone on an old account of someone else not related to this at all, so on sat june 13th I brought it back to the original stort that said they had activated it the clerk imediatly beame upset with my partner and I and stated that we would not get out money back, I insisted that I get a refund, the clerk denied it, I told her that I was going to file a complaint against her thats when she got upset even more and started calling us names, we exited the store at that time.

The first problem was i could not get the rebate forms i lost $80 dollors on that one the next thing my 3 phones would not work at times it happened again i called and called to no satisfaction finlly they were working i paid my bill a month and a half early and bought a wireless broadband got home it did not work i kept calling to fix the problem i got a letter 2 days latter tellingme my service was going to be turned off and that my money will not be refunded they called cops on me filed a police report for calling them to much and filed a no traspass against me

As submitted to cricket,
Please note right up front…i am not happy in this correspondence. I certainly don’t want to hold any one person responsible for my anger but it’s there.
I started my services with you in january, against a great many peoples’ advice. I figured I have pretty good luck with my accounts and shouldn’t face difficulties with you. However, i’m very disturbed that without notice to me or others; you have chosen to increase an already ridiculous fee by over 100%. The paper billing fee is pathetic.
It may not seem like much, but it is. Mainly because billing is something that everyone l has to do to get paid for services. The fact that you have now made it more expensive for the poor is just disgusting.
It could be the only means of communication because they lost their home, the land line, the job (Need the phone to look for the & ldquo;new” job) & hellip;no computer? Too bad! You are charging for everything you do to get your money. Billing, payments in person, payments over the phone, payments at your own satellite boxes, etc…. But, you say… if we mail it in it’ll only cost us the postage…but cricket” doesn’t want to mail us the bill. If we want physical proof of what we owe or that we paid, we have to pay somebody to use their computer and their printer, or allow you to rob us with your snarkey charges for the statement you used to do for free, so we can keep getting the cheapest wireless service out there. You should be ashamed. It’s petty…cheap…and false advertising. If people really know what you charge for your & ldquo;service” (That used to be a nice word) they’d realize the company isn’t really customer oriented at all. Just greedy and picking your pocket in a sneaky way.
You’re wondering why I would go to so much trouble to complain about $.70 cents.In the grand scheme of things it’s a fortune to me.
Thanks for & ldquo;caring”?

I recently purchased cricket wireless for my home internet, being only 40.00 a month it beats the other companies, well that’s what I thought, until I realized i’ve been duped and lied to by both the contracted seller and cricket. I purchased the wireless card with the unequivocal understanding that I would by no means be charged a 25.00 activation fee. I was told this by the vender bob as well as by a cricket rep named trahan at the cricket store off mississippi and i225. Well here it is my first bill and not only am I being charged the 25.00 activation fee but I am not getting my first month of service free. What the heck people? To top it all off I spoke to bob and now it turns out that I have had my wireless card for 10 days and that is beyond the time I had to return the item. Since when is this? Has it not always been 30 days? I have called and called and talked to over 5 people and 3 managers at cricket and no one is willing to negotiate. They tolled me that if I was not happy to pay the fees and disconnect service. Witch I should mention that I have had shotty and unreliable service from day one, the device does not work on cloudy days, it will not function when it is windy nor will it get a signal being indoors. I would be stuck with a 125.00 piece of plastic! Beware, do not get cricket, they are skilled scam artists!

Been getting calls to react. Srvc. Am existing customer! Been calling them for a month. Getting automated calls 10-12 times a day. Supervisors are rude and nasty. Can't tell me why they can't stop calls. Rude idiot tonight told me to call my landline carrier and have calls blocked. Have talked to 7 supervisors now. All assured me calls would stop. They haven't. Said they removed my number from account info yet still get 10-12 calls a day. Tired of this. Filing complaints wherever I can. Had enough!

I been calling all over the place trying to get my $50. Rebate. They give me one number after another. Yet, no help still. I did everything I was suposed to do. Where is my rebate? There isnt even anywhere to go about this online.

I switched to cricket about four months ago. I started out on the basic plan and was told it would have call waiting and voice mail. The man behind the counter had prison tats and the worst attitude i've ever seen. He got very huffy when I asked why he needed my social security #. Afterall, they claim no credit checks, it's all prepaid, and we are supposed to be protective of that info. I gave it... I left. I soon realized I had no voice mail or call waiting. Since there is not a local listing for customer service, I waited until I went in the next month to pay to let them know. They told me I was on the wrong plan and had me go up $10 a month and add web. I did. I left and it never showed up. I kept going in just to be told I had it and everything was fixed. It still didn't show up. After paying for this service for three months to no avail, I threw quite a tantrum. They gave me the number to the store in oklahoma city and urged me to 'just drive up there because they never answer'. It's 30 flippin" minutes away! So I kept calling... And calling. Finally went back into the store today. The woman pressed a few buttons on my phone and viola! It works. I payed my bill and inquired about getting a refund of roughly $30 for the months i've paid for this service but they couldn't get it to work. They gave me a customer service number - *611 - it would've been helpful all this time I was calling the okc store. Or... Maybe not. They're solution, (After 4 representatives, two supervisors, and an hour of my time) ? They offered me $5 credit!? The worst by far customer service I have ever encountered. How these idiots stay afloat is beyond me. I hope their business swiftly crumbles and they all have to go back to taco bell and beg for their jobs back. What really sucks is that the phone doesn't hold a call half the time. It would be great for someone that never needs their cell phone. God forbid i'm ever stranded and have to rely on it. After today, i'm headed back to net10. It may be prepaid and minute tracked, but it was worth every flippin' dime a minute. Atleast I knew it would work.

This should be illegal! Where are the fbi agents? This service can get on tv and advertise to everyone durint the biggest recession that our country has ever seen. I think this company is the worst, especially because they used a free month and low cost to everyone when they know people were desperate to cut cost during this time.. Cricket has over charged me, every month i'm getting billed earlier and earlier on each statement, it took 3 weeks to receive my phone, they activated it before I even got it in my possession and I have never seen a free month yet!. When you call customer service they are no help! Some woman who gave me an alias name and said she cold not give out there corporate info. Know you know if you cant know where corporate is, somethings wrong! Please be aware.. I think some law enforcement should really be involved here.

Shady business practices!
I was initially told the bill for the monthly service plan was going to be $45 a month :). Ok the first bill was $52, I wrote it off to normal fees: (. Now 6 months into service and the bill is up to $57 and I decide to look into the account detail (Yeah I know I know). I don’t know how but I was signed up for ringback tones, now they say I signed up for them 5 months ago and I have been paying for them ever since, well. I ask myself; could I have set up ring tones? Lol no! Idgaf about ring tones. But since I was lazy about not looking at my bill its my fault, no! I didn’t set it up! Well who did? Idk! But you might think since ring tones weren’t used since it was set up they might decide to credit me? No! In fact now they want to charge me & everyone else $1.55 to have the courtesy of sending me a paper bill and finding these wierd charges, hmm. Isn’t that part of the service? One would think! Pg&e doesn’t charge for sending me a bill, neither does the city for my water, etc.. Etc… it is part of the service! In any case I canceled the ring back tones as will I soon cancel the service.
Oh yeah they also tried to stiff me on the rebate for the phone saying that I didn’t meet the time deadline, lol, I am glad I bought stamps when I mailed the form and followed the directions to a tee, & took photo copies. It sure helped when I had to fight for my refund.

What a waste of money, cant watch youtube due to the buffering. Its all about the money to these people. I was better off with comcast and they are a rip-off too.

They don't tell you that when you change a plan, you get charge 15 dollars for everytime you do it. I change the plan on 2 of my plans and got charge 30 dollars without anyone ever telling me this! Be aware, this is fraud.

Hey you there - you, considering cricket because you're sick of comcast's b. s. and hate at&t?

Stop! beg comcast for mercy, brown-nose at&t, send your grandma's cookies to your current provider and don't you dare switch!

Painfully slow, no customer service, you will not see your modem rebate, you won't be able to watch any streaming videos or load basic emails.

So far, I can no longer use the following websites (they will not load) : yahoo mail, gmail, youtube, myspace, and any picture-heavy site.

And you know what?

I get no signal on my cricket phone downtown. down town chicago. seriously. wtmfh?

Okay, for some reason, at least once in a year there are charges like $100 or $130 or whats over on our phone bill. During november 2008, a paper came in the mail saying that we owe $130; it's $100 dollars for something and $30 service charge. We had no idea what it is, the next couple of days we received a text message saying something like, "you're being charged $30"; both of our phones stopped working. So we went and paid that $30 at the cricket store. We asked what was the additional $100 for, all she could say was, "i don't know. " well, there was no reasonable explanation, she could've atleast called the real cricket company and take her time to ask for us. But since she was being such a stuckup! So anyways, we paid that $30. She told us we owe $100, well, a month later the bill came and it was still $130. We went back and complained to her that we already paid the freakin' $30, why are we still being charged the same?! And again, all she said was, "i don't know. " so whatever, we paid it to her, and we thought this would stop. But nope! Read what happened next.

The same day, we ask her to take off the extra $5 roaming minute off both of our phone. I don't know what she did, but she took off the credit card's automatic payment. Soon, our bill came up to over $160.

Okay, I don't know what's wrong with cricket, but their customer service is so bad. We did not ask her to take off our automatic credit card payment but she did, and I guess she wasn't being honest. And I don't why cricket will sometimes charge you so much... No explanation, no reasons too.

Also, when you call to complain to the company it don't even work. You can even call it right now 1-800-cricket all it suggest is just, "go visit your local cricket wireless store"

I went into a cricket wireless store about 3 weeks ago and bought their $40 dollar a month broadband wireless internet and the sales guy told me to put the purchase amount as a debit on my bank credit card. When I got home I already had the service before so I loaded the disk and installed the software... No internet. So I called 1-800-cricket and I got lie after lie about hitting #2 to get broadband. Actually #2 was an option for old customers to reactivate their service. After a 2 hour straight back and forth run a round I got a rep whi I tolsd what happened and she promised to give me the number and guess what number she gave me. A 800 number to a deaf line. But here is the worst part. My bank wells fargo put a dispute for the $70 charge and they said since it was a debit and not a credit it fell under debit rules for banking. So they denied the first claim because I apparently didnt go back to follow up with the store (Hell I was pissed after 2 hours of ying yang). So I went back to the store and the ghetto hispanic guy who stole my money said go to another store. I was like hell, no. So I called wells fargo and told them I tried to get my money back from the store and they took another claim (To their specifications for filing) and they denied me with a letter saying there was nothing wrong with the purchase. Excuse me! But what part of did not get service, money was stolen did you not get? Cricket trains their employees to take a debit instead of a credit so they can steal your money and they know banks like wells fargo will side with them. Thats why he insisted on the debit. Cricket wireless stole my $70 and wells fargo let them do it. So I refused to pay wf some loans I owe them so they can see what it feels like to be a victim of theft... Haha!