I purchased a $60 cell phone from consumer cellular with the understanding I could cancel my service within 30 days & owe nothng,plus they would refund the $60 when I returned the phone.
I tried to cancel my service & return the phone for a refund,but they wouldn't honor your money back guarantee! Instead,they billed me & expect me to pay them for the time I used their phone.
I tryed consumer cellular phone service for about 3 weeks and could not get a signal, so i cancelled the service, i payed the bill for a month service $21.00 , i never used the service, i paid so they wouldn't turn me into collection agency, ever since then they have charged me $5.00 a month for over due bill its now up to $ 25.00 dollars and they are turning me into collection agency, i think this is unfair since i never used the service, i will not reconmend them to any one. i'm 80 years old i feel like i've been taken advantage of and treated unfair.
I bought a plan the 14th, they sent the equipent and I tried getting it set up the 18th. In the letter they send they claim they will take care of the transfer and I am NOT to cancel with the other provider so I figure they will be taking care of this. The 18 it gets set up and I can make calls but I can not receive calls. I did not know that until someone is banging on my door because I havent answered the phone all weekend, it did not ring. so I call consumer cellular and I am now told I have to call the other provider, , that is NOT what it says in the letter I got from consumer cellular.
So one guy I talk to keeps asking for a pin number for the other provider but he will not accept the nember I give him which is why I end up calling the pther provider. I got it transferred. Now it is transferred over and I can receive calls and make calls. The new billing cycle starts the 22nd and since I got it taken care of by the 21st I should be good except here it is the 29th and I got another bill from the other provider because this wasn't taken care of the way the letter states and because I have to deal with a guy who will not accept my pin number, and maybe because I didn't allow for this type of slowness when I signed up but now I have to call the other provider and get it straightened out because these people can not do what the letters says, or they can not explain the process, highly unprofessional people, from the owners allow misleading information such as this, scammers, all the way down to the people they hire to do their dirty work. This is the most inconveniebt company, nothing like the commercials on tv. When a persons money is more important than the person, there is a problem
I purchased a Huawei smart phone from Consumer Cellular about a year ago and found out I could not update the software on this phone as it had become obsolete and was being discontinued! I called Consumer Cellular Customer Support and they would NOT stand by their Huawei phone they sold me. They told me I would have to buy another phone for $60! How am I supposed to know if this one will be obsolete as well???
I have since went with another, HONEST company for my phone which is warrantied against this problem and Consumer Cellular you have lost a customer for good and I plan on spreading the word about your lack of Customer Support for your customers! I would add " Consumers, stay away from Consumer Cellular for your phone needs"!! Thank you
Phone was purchased from a Consumer Cellular vendor in a Target location for an individual whose location and job do not have access to internet except for the mobile hotspot. First off, speed is throttled back at 35gig and you must purchase additional to get to 55gigs. Should you have the misfortune of exceeding 55gig, according to a CC rep, there is no more. However, in fairness, another rep did say there is additional service past the 55gig threshold but it is so slow as to be non-existent.
Now for the kicker. Service with CC was cancelled as we went to T-mobile. But, the phone could not be ported over. Locked. HUH?? Went back to the CC vendor at Target. No help there either. So we bought another phone, put in the T-mobile sim card and all good there. Called CC to inquire. Rep stated that CC automatically locks the phone until you have 6 months of ACTIVE service with them. Or you could pay a $100 dollar unlocking fee. Rep also said this is stated in the terms and conditions which arrived about a week after the purchase and account set up. Terms and conditions are on a small foldout about 2 feet long and covered with mice type. However, Target did take back the locked phone and refunded the purchase. Beware Consumer Cellular!!
I had two phones with consumer cellular, an iPhone 4S, and iPhone 5S, and before my trip, it looked like they would be able to give me T-Mobile SIMs to allow me to use the phones overseas. Risk-Free Guarantee was only applied once, but did not apply on the follow up time, where I was overcharged $50 for services never rendered.
I requested to speak to a manager, but was told they could not refund my money. Risk-Free guarantee? I spent over 4 hours on the phone trying to resolve the issue, instead of enjoying my vacation. They actually had the wrong information about my 4S when I set it up, and did not realize it until I was abroad.
When I tried getting the information corrected, the charged me for using data which I never used on the service. At this point I am very dissatisfied with Consumer Celluar. Risk free guarantee is written on all the paperwork I get with them, and is mentioned when I am hold.
Some guarantee. If I am unable to use data, if I am unable to even use half of my phone service, I should only be charged for half of the phone service.
I purchased the Alcatel flip phone and basic service one month ago because it was promoted by AARP. I wear hearing aids, and found out none of the pre-programed ring tones are audible, so I can't hear the phone ring. The customer service rep informed me that the phone is unable to be programmed with any other ring tones; she also said that other hard-of-hearing customers have had the same complaint.
I decided to donate the phone to a shelter and called Consumer Cellular to obtain an unlock code. The code they gave me does not work, there is no way to re-set the code and Consumer Cellular basically told me to just throw the phone away or give it to another subscriber because they won't take it back and have no repair resources.
This investment was not a huge amount of money, but it could have been put to much better use purchasing much-needed prescription medicine instead of being wasted on misleading information and a useless phone. AARP needs to do a better job at vetting their vendors and Consumer Cellular needs to do a better job at providing honest and genuine service to clients.
I got sucked into trusting Consumer Cellular through the AAPR literature! In the first month, they charged me double..without my permission or knowledge. It went from $35 to $65/ mo, accoring to thier claims,I was over on my data usage. So ok, I paid the 65, and said ok, now back to 35. They refused even though my data useage is very low due to wifi in my home. They are holding my telephone and my number hostage until I pay $111 !!
I knew there was a problem when they started charging me day 1, before I received my sim card in the mail. I had no service, but they charged the time against me anyway...J E R K S!!
This is major bull crap! Stay far, far away! Net10 online has $20/mo unlimited text/talk with 1 MB. Only online deal, not in stores!
I tried to port my number to Verizon to join my relatives in a better deal. Consumer Cellular had said I could quit anytime but then said I had to have 180 days with them even though I bought my phone outright from them. Never once did they say this to me when I bought my phone. So I have to stay with them for 180 days instead of being able to quit at anytime.
I did not know that if I bought I phone from them I was locked into 180 days. This was never explained and I bought the phone outright. I have made my monthly payments and called them to see if I quit did I need to do it on a certain day and they said no that they would just pro-rate the bill.
My story begins when my wife and I, were thinking about switching cell phone company to save a little money. After a couple few months, I finally called to ask questions, about using my old phone on there service. I was going to switch my old phone to there service and my wife would get a new phone later.
The representive I talked to said, they would send me a sim card to use in my old phone and it should work. Well I never got a chance to try the sim card in my phone, because the very next day my mother in-law had a medical emergency and was admitted to the hospital. For the next four weeks she was in and out of the hospital three times. With my mother in-law being ill and our work shedules, I just put it off for a little while, I didn't think it would matter.
Finally after more than month later, we have the time and money. My wife and I decide to shop for a new phone for her.
The closest store to us that sells consumer cellular phones is only two miles away, but they only had limited options to pick from. So we decide to drive to next nearest location, which is about some thirty plus miles one way. With our work shedules, we decide to put that off for another week.
We finally find her a phone at a Target store, about thirty plus miles away. The very next day I start to try to activate the phone over the internet. After trying and being unsucessful, I call the customer service number. So now we got my wife a new phone, and I got a sim card for my old phone. Were both so happy, were ready to go and switch to consumer cellular.
I finally get to talk to someone and tell them our story. After explaining to them in detail that we are finally ready to switch, I have a current bill of $2.90 OK no problem. I already recieved that bill in the mail and didn't think anything about it, I just figured it was some kind of oversight or something since I never officially switched over and definitely never used there services.
After talking for a few minutes, I became increasingly more and more upset. I began to realize that they were serious about that $2.90 and now I don't get a free month's service because I already used it. Never even activated the new phone, by this time I was so upset I had to put my wife on the phone to talk to them. We decided there's no way were going with such a fraudulent company.
Thank goodness Target took the new phone back with no questions asked.
Oh it gets better, the next month I get a bill for service I never used. Now they are continuing to collect on the service(s), I never had or used. Are they INSANE?
The moral of the story think and be careful before you switch. We are staying with Verizon for now and never switching to Consumer Cellular EVER! If there business pratices are to charge/bill people for services that they never provided, then I would steer clear of that company/business.
How could I owe a bill if I never officially switched from verizon to consumer cellular? Because there's no way I could have switched, if I never inserted there sim card in my old phone.
How can they bill someone for services, if that person never used there services? Because there's no way I could have used there services, if I never inserted there sim card in my old phone.
How can they bill/invoice for products and/or services that were never recieved or used?
If this isn't fraud, than I don't know what is. If this legal, than I'm in the wrong business. I'm going to start a new business, where I bill/invoice for products and/or services that were never recieved or used.....Sounds GREAT to me.
I will be contacting the FTC and my state attorney general's office, and if need be creating a blog, videos, website etc... They will never see a dime from me....
Thank You for reading my story, stay tuned I'm sure there will be more to come.
I ordered a simple card and it wouldn't work in my phone. I called said company to cancel and was told it would be. 5 years later it's still on my credit report.
I paid my last bill to Consumer Cellular on 2/16/2018. This was supposed to cover charges up to 2/25/2018. I got a new provider on 2/27/2018. They billed me $53.85 for two days of service and said that I had to pay till the end of the next billing period from 3/2 to 3/22/2018. I only used $9.30 of phone coverage for those two days and they charged me for the next month, March, when I'd cancelled with them and had another company for cell phone coverage on 2/27.
When I first joined Consumer Cellular, I noticed I had no cell reception at home. I called, asnd was told that the tower they used couldn't reach my house. I called after I cancelled their service and was told they had two towers they could use, one that did in fact reach my house. That two agents told me two different things is bad customer service.
I refused to pay my last bill, as they had publicized a no-questions-asked guarantee policy. I was told that during the time of their service, I had used the cell phone every day, and therefore they would offer me nothing. Well sure, I made calls when I went away from home every day. That did not change the fact that at home I never could use their services, and never did. They went after me with a hard core collection agency for refusing to pay my last bill, and 'offered' to remove accumulated late payment charges if I paid it right away.
I bought a Motorola Moto G4 from Consume Cellular and it kept freezing up. They replaced it once but the second one does the same thing. It has gotten worse over time to where it is unusable. I googled this and found out that ALL Moto G4's have this problem and the fix is to send it in to Motorola for a chip replacement. That means you hve no cell phone for a long peroid.
I asked to return the G4 and pay the difference for a better phone but Consumer Cellular said they would only replace it with the same model. However, I can feel free to buy a different phone at FULL PRICE. I asked for a refund and they gave me a firm NO. Then I asked, "What do I do with this broken phone you sold me?" And their response, "It's your phone. Do what you want."
Purchased Samsung Galaxy S8 smart phone from Consumer Cellular online. Had these problems: 1) missing manual pages, 2) data from old Samsung will not transfer to new phone. Tried to solve numerous problems myself using their online guides, FAQs, tutorials. Also Samsung guides, Youtube, Google articles, etc. Finally I called Consumer Cellular for help--after all they sold me the phone, and promised help by phone. Loooong waits, no real help, after trying their advice unsuccessfully, had to get in the wait line again. As a result, I have to enter data from old phone manually, and no way to retrieve photos, so they are lost, unless I lug around my old phone. Be wary: their customer service is promised, but not delivered. It's a shame, Consumer Cellular had a lot going for it.
Okay, so my sister really likes AARP because of their discounts at restaurants. I suppose there are others who enjoy discounts at retail outlets and hotel/motel chains as well. A word of warning, however. Their Consumer Cellular Program Is Terrible. I subscribed to this service for several years and everything was okay…until I had a technical issue with my phone. At that point, I discovered that their service was pitiful and unprofessional.
About six months ago, after living for years with a cheap phone, I decided to upgrade. For $125.00, I purchased a new Samsung Galaxy J-3 through their website. I also signed up for the Square Trade guarantee so that, if the phone was damaged, I could get a replacement. Around two weeks after receiving the phone I dropped it on concrete. The screen shattered and the phone was rendered inoperable.
I panicked and immediately sent the phone back to Consumer Cellular along with a note explaining what had happened.
I waited a few days and contacted them via email to see if they had received the parcel. I received a communication stating that it had not been received. I checked the USPS website and it confirmed that the package had been delivered. After some time they contacted me and said that they found it but would have to send it back to me because I needed to send it to Square Trade. My Bad.
Got the phone back and contacted Square Trade. They sent me a replacement unit and said that I needed to send the broken phone back in X number of days or I would be charged for it. No problem there. I sent it back immediately.
At first, the replacement phone seemed to work okay but I noticed that I was having difficulty dialing out from my house. I would call my daughter and could clearly hear her saying “Hello.” I would say “Hi, Cori. This is your Pappy,” Her response was: “Hello…Hello.” I would repeat my greeting and, once again, she could not hear me and hung up. I repeated the process with the same results. She finally recognized my new phone number and called me back. I answered and we could both hear each other.
Turns out that people could call and would hear me but, if I dialed out from my home, no one could hear me at all. I thought maybe this was a temporary issue with the cell tower connectivity. I went up the street to the fire station and dialed out. Most of the time this worked. I figured the signal might be stronger there. Every day I would trudge up to the fire station to conduct my business. By now I was actively involved in an email correspondence with Consumer Cellular to try and figure out a solution.
Weeks passed and still no resolution. Finally, one Consumer Cellular rep told me that I should go to Sears and speak with one of their employees. “Ask to borrow their phone so we can help you troubleshoot your phone”, she said. Are they even aware that Sears is on the skids? I went there and saw they had one sales lady trying to sell stoves, dishwashers, washers and dryers, microwaves, TV sets, and…oh, yes…Consumer Cellular phones. Waited around and finally gave up when I saw how beleaguered she was. Sears has since closed down this location.
She also suggested I try Target. Not much better than Sears.
Spent 4 hours at the cricket wireless store trying to switch my number from consumer cellular to cricket. Had to return next day and spent three more hours before we finally got them to give it up. I am told consumer cellular (AT&T) purposely do than to try to reduce the number of lost customers they report. Most people give up and take a new number rather than put up with the hassle. Because it took me the extra day to get my number they charged me $2.87 more. When you multiply this charge by the thousands of people who quit them each year, you are talking about massive fraud. Most cellular companies also charge you for your last month even though you pay in advance! How long are these frauds going to be allowed to exist!
I saw a Consumer Cellular advertisement on TV stating service starts at $9.99 mth, and I could use my existing phone, a Samsung Galaxy S5. I payed the online fees, and a week laer receive the package for my conversion from Verizon to Consumer Cellular. Because I am a novice, I needed to go to my local Targert store (8 miles away) to have the Consumer Cellular rep stationed at the store to install the SIMM card that was sent. They did, but the service from Consumer Cellular would only access email and not the internet. I called Consumer Cellur support and was told that they sent the wrong SIMM card, and would send the correct pair. I took the new SIMM card back to the Consumer Cellular rep at Target for SIMM installation, but the service would not access the internet. I called tech support again, and this time was told by the Consumer Cellular technician that onsumer Cellular does NOT have a connetion agreement with Verizon, so no SIMM ccard in their inventory would work on ANY Verizion phone. (Nowhere on their internet order webpage does it state that, and as a matter of fact, on their TV commercials it specifically states "....you can use your own phone." NOT TRUE. )
After going around and around with the company, I informed them that I would not paybecause it could not provide internet access, so they sent an unauthorized payment request to AMEX, and got paid! (I am challenging this now thru AMEX.)
NOTE: If you have your own Verizon phone, no matter what they tell you, or the internet states, they can not provide internet service when you use it.
This company is working a SCAM when it states that you can use your won phone and does not state that you cant convert a Verizon phone to their service!
Consumer Cellular is a very scamy company. They never issue refunds - they will scam you for every penny. The sales people are so "lovely" but they will take your credit card and leave you on hold forever. I spent an hour on the phone with them about something that takes 10 seconds.
Consumer Cellular Phones are Antiques. Their prices for data and talk etc. for the lowest amounts of each sounds cheap but by the time they add all their taxes and fees its over $30. 00 for 3G service. Metro PCS has 4G Unlimited Everything $30.00.
I went on vacation overseas where they have no service and I talked to 1 of their manabers to have my service turned off while I was on vacation so I would not be charged he said he would. All other cellular companies have where you can shut off your phone while on vacation. I came home from vacation and received a bill from this company. UI was told the manager who promised to shut off my phone while I was on vacation was new and didn't have the authority to do it. I said how was I to tell he was new. To make the story short this company refuses to budge and sent a $103.00 bill to a collection agency and it is on my credit report
AARP gets a kickback from this company for their reccomendation. AARP is out for the money and no longer cares about seniors and companies they reccomend ripping them off
I wrote complaint in 1st area. 2 many different stories from customer service. People were helpful at 1st, then it just deteriorated, took money from account when told them not 2 , told them mother died, who was paying most of Bill. They took it out anyway; causing me 2 file dispute w/ my bank. Charged me 4 data when I asked to shut off data on their end numerous times.
Consumer Cellular advertises as no contract which is true, but changes your minutes when they are about to go over, and these idiots will screw you.Even though they say you can switch back they will not prorate it but charge you the full amount even if you use the other plan for one day.
I was paying 65.00 dollars a month two phone lines,1300 minutes, unlimited texting and internet,which to me seemed fair.This started in December 2015 on 12-2-15, I made a payment of 65.00 dollars which according to them they bill one month behind so that was actuall for November.I made another payment of 65.00 on 12-29-15,again this according to them was for December 2015.
January,the problem begins On 1-12-15 I was about to run out of minutes and Consumer Cellular, sent me a text saying I could change the plan from 1300 minutes to 3500 minutes for 10.00 extra or 75.00,but could cancel at anytime and continue paying the 65.00 the person who had the other line with me passed on 1-11-15 so I called on 1-12-15 to remove the other line and put me back on my original 1300 minute plan.
"Oh yes, we can do that for you your payment will be 50.00 dollars a month" so the end of January arrives and these thieves tell me I owe 75.00 even though a line was removed and the 3500 minute plan was used 1 day.I called and asked for a supervisor the woman's name was Pam,totally useless.They would not prorate the bill even though it was used one day.I was so pissed I went with a different carrier. Here's the kicker after I paid their 75.00 bill.This outstanding supervisor says "OH YOU WILL STILL OWE US 50.00 FOR JANUARY"That was my boiling point. I'm going to pay you for the whole month of January, after I canceled and went to another carrier.
I am posting this on every site similiar to this one so they can see what shady practices this company uses finally I'd like to say-
I had a trail period with consumer Cellular thanks to AARP of which was from 8/17/2011 to 9/02/2011. This was a risk free trail period through them. 45 units of usage or 45 days whichever comes first. When i received this phone, i could never use it due to a very poor signal strength in our area. Most of the time, i was on a landline phone talking to there customer service in trying to get this phone to work. All of the minutes that came with this phone were used up by there customer service in trying to get a stronger signal for this phone. Finally sent it back to them and canceled the account well within the needed time period. NEVER HAVE HEARD ANYTHING FROM THEM SINCE THEN. 09/02/2011. NOW, ON ALL THREE OF MY CREDIT REPORTS - THEY SAY I OWE THEM 109.00 OF WHICH SHOWED UP ON MY 2015 REPORTS. Never have they had any contact with me since the phone was sent back and the account cancled. ACCOUNT WAS TURNED OVER TO A "PROFESSIONAL CREDIT SERVICES" FOR COLLECTION LOCATED IN EUGENE, OR. This was done in 2012. This so called credit service company also has NEVER CONTACTED ME IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM ABOUT THIS MATTER. I had to contact them in order to find out as to what this was all about. ALL I WAS TOLD FROM THEM, THAT THEY WOULD CHECK INTO IT AND CONTACT ME BACK. AS OF THE POSTING OF THIS REPORT, I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING FROM THEM AT ALL. THIS IS THE WORST CREDIT REPORTING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM BOTH COMPANIES THAT I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. NO PROOF OF WHAT THE ALLEGED 109.00 CHARGE IS FOR EXCEPT THAT I AM BEING TOLD BY THEM - I WENT OVER 45 UNITS OF THERE USAGE. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY AS THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU.
I viewed my most recent bill on Comsumer Cellular's website a week ago. Instead of it being around $39, it was $46.00.
I found out that I was charged $1.50 4 times for calls I supposedly made to 411 on the same date in October 2015. I did not make these calls. I have never used my cell phone to get information from 411.
I sent an email to customer service, and 5 days later, I got a phone call from them. They also sent an email because I was not available to take their phone call.
They swear up and down that the calls are legitimate, and I owe $6.00 for the calls. Stay away from this company. I am taking my business elsewhere, and from what I have read, people are encountering problems with Consumer Cellular with regard to porting phone numbers from them to a different carrier.
Consumer Cellular, Inc. Reviews
I purchased a $60 cell phone from consumer cellular with the understanding I could cancel my service within 30 days & owe nothng,plus they would refund the $60 when I returned the phone.
I tried to cancel my service & return the phone for a refund,but they wouldn't honor your money back guarantee! Instead,they billed me & expect me to pay them for the time I used their phone.
Trying to force me to keep phone that doesn't work and doing everything they can to not refund my money I need some assistance asap please
I tryed consumer cellular phone service for about 3 weeks and could not get a signal, so i cancelled the service, i payed the bill for a month service $21.00 , i never used the service, i paid so they wouldn't turn me into collection agency, ever since then they have charged me $5.00 a month for over due bill its now up to $ 25.00 dollars and they are turning me into collection agency, i think this is unfair since i never used the service, i will not reconmend them to any one. i'm 80 years old i feel like i've been taken advantage of and treated unfair.
I bought a plan the 14th, they sent the equipent and I tried getting it set up the 18th. In the letter they send they claim they will take care of the transfer and I am NOT to cancel with the other provider so I figure they will be taking care of this. The 18 it gets set up and I can make calls but I can not receive calls. I did not know that until someone is banging on my door because I havent answered the phone all weekend, it did not ring. so I call consumer cellular and I am now told I have to call the other provider, , that is NOT what it says in the letter I got from consumer cellular.
So one guy I talk to keeps asking for a pin number for the other provider but he will not accept the nember I give him which is why I end up calling the pther provider. I got it transferred. Now it is transferred over and I can receive calls and make calls. The new billing cycle starts the 22nd and since I got it taken care of by the 21st I should be good except here it is the 29th and I got another bill from the other provider because this wasn't taken care of the way the letter states and because I have to deal with a guy who will not accept my pin number, and maybe because I didn't allow for this type of slowness when I signed up but now I have to call the other provider and get it straightened out because these people can not do what the letters says, or they can not explain the process, highly unprofessional people, from the owners allow misleading information such as this, scammers, all the way down to the people they hire to do their dirty work. This is the most inconveniebt company, nothing like the commercials on tv. When a persons money is more important than the person, there is a problem
I purchased a Huawei smart phone from Consumer Cellular about a year ago and found out I could not update the software on this phone as it had become obsolete and was being discontinued! I called Consumer Cellular Customer Support and they would NOT stand by their Huawei phone they sold me. They told me I would have to buy another phone for $60! How am I supposed to know if this one will be obsolete as well???
I have since went with another, HONEST company for my phone which is warrantied against this problem and Consumer Cellular you have lost a customer for good and I plan on spreading the word about your lack of Customer Support for your customers! I would add " Consumers, stay away from Consumer Cellular for your phone needs"!! Thank you
Phone was purchased from a Consumer Cellular vendor in a Target location for an individual whose location and job do not have access to internet except for the mobile hotspot. First off, speed is throttled back at 35gig and you must purchase additional to get to 55gigs. Should you have the misfortune of exceeding 55gig, according to a CC rep, there is no more. However, in fairness, another rep did say there is additional service past the 55gig threshold but it is so slow as to be non-existent.
Now for the kicker. Service with CC was cancelled as we went to T-mobile. But, the phone could not be ported over. Locked. HUH?? Went back to the CC vendor at Target. No help there either. So we bought another phone, put in the T-mobile sim card and all good there. Called CC to inquire. Rep stated that CC automatically locks the phone until you have 6 months of ACTIVE service with them. Or you could pay a $100 dollar unlocking fee. Rep also said this is stated in the terms and conditions which arrived about a week after the purchase and account set up. Terms and conditions are on a small foldout about 2 feet long and covered with mice type. However, Target did take back the locked phone and refunded the purchase. Beware Consumer Cellular!!
They wont stand behind their warranties and make/keep false reports..........pure liars
I had two phones with consumer cellular, an iPhone 4S, and iPhone 5S, and before my trip, it looked like they would be able to give me T-Mobile SIMs to allow me to use the phones overseas. Risk-Free Guarantee was only applied once, but did not apply on the follow up time, where I was overcharged $50 for services never rendered.
I requested to speak to a manager, but was told they could not refund my money. Risk-Free guarantee? I spent over 4 hours on the phone trying to resolve the issue, instead of enjoying my vacation. They actually had the wrong information about my 4S when I set it up, and did not realize it until I was abroad.
When I tried getting the information corrected, the charged me for using data which I never used on the service. At this point I am very dissatisfied with Consumer Celluar. Risk free guarantee is written on all the paperwork I get with them, and is mentioned when I am hold.
Some guarantee. If I am unable to use data, if I am unable to even use half of my phone service, I should only be charged for half of the phone service.
I purchased the Alcatel flip phone and basic service one month ago because it was promoted by AARP. I wear hearing aids, and found out none of the pre-programed ring tones are audible, so I can't hear the phone ring. The customer service rep informed me that the phone is unable to be programmed with any other ring tones; she also said that other hard-of-hearing customers have had the same complaint.
I decided to donate the phone to a shelter and called Consumer Cellular to obtain an unlock code. The code they gave me does not work, there is no way to re-set the code and Consumer Cellular basically told me to just throw the phone away or give it to another subscriber because they won't take it back and have no repair resources.
This investment was not a huge amount of money, but it could have been put to much better use purchasing much-needed prescription medicine instead of being wasted on misleading information and a useless phone. AARP needs to do a better job at vetting their vendors and Consumer Cellular needs to do a better job at providing honest and genuine service to clients.
I got sucked into trusting Consumer Cellular through the AAPR literature! In the first month, they charged me double..without my permission or knowledge. It went from $35 to $65/ mo, accoring to thier claims,I was over on my data usage. So ok, I paid the 65, and said ok, now back to 35. They refused even though my data useage is very low due to wifi in my home. They are holding my telephone and my number hostage until I pay $111 !!
I knew there was a problem when they started charging me day 1, before I received my sim card in the mail. I had no service, but they charged the time against me anyway...J E R K S!!
This is major bull crap! Stay far, far away! Net10 online has $20/mo unlimited text/talk with 1 MB. Only online deal, not in stores!
I tried to port my number to Verizon to join my relatives in a better deal. Consumer Cellular had said I could quit anytime but then said I had to have 180 days with them even though I bought my phone outright from them. Never once did they say this to me when I bought my phone. So I have to stay with them for 180 days instead of being able to quit at anytime.
I did not know that if I bought I phone from them I was locked into 180 days. This was never explained and I bought the phone outright. I have made my monthly payments and called them to see if I quit did I need to do it on a certain day and they said no that they would just pro-rate the bill.
My story begins when my wife and I, were thinking about switching cell phone company to save a little money. After a couple few months, I finally called to ask questions, about using my old phone on there service. I was going to switch my old phone to there service and my wife would get a new phone later.
The representive I talked to said, they would send me a sim card to use in my old phone and it should work. Well I never got a chance to try the sim card in my phone, because the very next day my mother in-law had a medical emergency and was admitted to the hospital. For the next four weeks she was in and out of the hospital three times. With my mother in-law being ill and our work shedules, I just put it off for a little while, I didn't think it would matter.
Finally after more than month later, we have the time and money. My wife and I decide to shop for a new phone for her.
The closest store to us that sells consumer cellular phones is only two miles away, but they only had limited options to pick from. So we decide to drive to next nearest location, which is about some thirty plus miles one way. With our work shedules, we decide to put that off for another week.
We finally find her a phone at a Target store, about thirty plus miles away. The very next day I start to try to activate the phone over the internet. After trying and being unsucessful, I call the customer service number. So now we got my wife a new phone, and I got a sim card for my old phone. Were both so happy, were ready to go and switch to consumer cellular.
I finally get to talk to someone and tell them our story. After explaining to them in detail that we are finally ready to switch, I have a current bill of $2.90 OK no problem. I already recieved that bill in the mail and didn't think anything about it, I just figured it was some kind of oversight or something since I never officially switched over and definitely never used there services.
After talking for a few minutes, I became increasingly more and more upset. I began to realize that they were serious about that $2.90 and now I don't get a free month's service because I already used it. Never even activated the new phone, by this time I was so upset I had to put my wife on the phone to talk to them. We decided there's no way were going with such a fraudulent company.
Thank goodness Target took the new phone back with no questions asked.
Oh it gets better, the next month I get a bill for service I never used. Now they are continuing to collect on the service(s), I never had or used. Are they INSANE?
The moral of the story think and be careful before you switch. We are staying with Verizon for now and never switching to Consumer Cellular EVER! If there business pratices are to charge/bill people for services that they never provided, then I would steer clear of that company/business.
How could I owe a bill if I never officially switched from verizon to consumer cellular? Because there's no way I could have switched, if I never inserted there sim card in my old phone.
How can they bill someone for services, if that person never used there services? Because there's no way I could have used there services, if I never inserted there sim card in my old phone.
How can they bill/invoice for products and/or services that were never recieved or used?
If this isn't fraud, than I don't know what is. If this legal, than I'm in the wrong business. I'm going to start a new business, where I bill/invoice for products and/or services that were never recieved or used.....Sounds GREAT to me.
I will be contacting the FTC and my state attorney general's office, and if need be creating a blog, videos, website etc... They will never see a dime from me....
Thank You for reading my story, stay tuned I'm sure there will be more to come.
I ordered a simple card and it wouldn't work in my phone. I called said company to cancel and was told it would be. 5 years later it's still on my credit report.
I paid my last bill to Consumer Cellular on 2/16/2018. This was supposed to cover charges up to 2/25/2018. I got a new provider on 2/27/2018. They billed me $53.85 for two days of service and said that I had to pay till the end of the next billing period from 3/2 to 3/22/2018. I only used $9.30 of phone coverage for those two days and they charged me for the next month, March, when I'd cancelled with them and had another company for cell phone coverage on 2/27.
When I first joined Consumer Cellular, I noticed I had no cell reception at home. I called, asnd was told that the tower they used couldn't reach my house. I called after I cancelled their service and was told they had two towers they could use, one that did in fact reach my house. That two agents told me two different things is bad customer service.
I refused to pay my last bill, as they had publicized a no-questions-asked guarantee policy. I was told that during the time of their service, I had used the cell phone every day, and therefore they would offer me nothing. Well sure, I made calls when I went away from home every day. That did not change the fact that at home I never could use their services, and never did. They went after me with a hard core collection agency for refusing to pay my last bill, and 'offered' to remove accumulated late payment charges if I paid it right away.
I bought a Motorola Moto G4 from Consume Cellular and it kept freezing up. They replaced it once but the second one does the same thing. It has gotten worse over time to where it is unusable. I googled this and found out that ALL Moto G4's have this problem and the fix is to send it in to Motorola for a chip replacement. That means you hve no cell phone for a long peroid.
I asked to return the G4 and pay the difference for a better phone but Consumer Cellular said they would only replace it with the same model. However, I can feel free to buy a different phone at FULL PRICE. I asked for a refund and they gave me a firm NO. Then I asked, "What do I do with this broken phone you sold me?" And their response, "It's your phone. Do what you want."
Purchased Samsung Galaxy S8 smart phone from Consumer Cellular online. Had these problems: 1) missing manual pages, 2) data from old Samsung will not transfer to new phone. Tried to solve numerous problems myself using their online guides, FAQs, tutorials. Also Samsung guides, Youtube, Google articles, etc. Finally I called Consumer Cellular for help--after all they sold me the phone, and promised help by phone. Loooong waits, no real help, after trying their advice unsuccessfully, had to get in the wait line again. As a result, I have to enter data from old phone manually, and no way to retrieve photos, so they are lost, unless I lug around my old phone. Be wary: their customer service is promised, but not delivered. It's a shame, Consumer Cellular had a lot going for it.
Okay, so my sister really likes AARP because of their discounts at restaurants. I suppose there are others who enjoy discounts at retail outlets and hotel/motel chains as well. A word of warning, however. Their Consumer Cellular Program Is Terrible. I subscribed to this service for several years and everything was okay…until I had a technical issue with my phone. At that point, I discovered that their service was pitiful and unprofessional.
About six months ago, after living for years with a cheap phone, I decided to upgrade. For $125.00, I purchased a new Samsung Galaxy J-3 through their website. I also signed up for the Square Trade guarantee so that, if the phone was damaged, I could get a replacement. Around two weeks after receiving the phone I dropped it on concrete. The screen shattered and the phone was rendered inoperable.
I panicked and immediately sent the phone back to Consumer Cellular along with a note explaining what had happened.
I waited a few days and contacted them via email to see if they had received the parcel. I received a communication stating that it had not been received. I checked the USPS website and it confirmed that the package had been delivered. After some time they contacted me and said that they found it but would have to send it back to me because I needed to send it to Square Trade. My Bad.
Got the phone back and contacted Square Trade. They sent me a replacement unit and said that I needed to send the broken phone back in X number of days or I would be charged for it. No problem there. I sent it back immediately.
At first, the replacement phone seemed to work okay but I noticed that I was having difficulty dialing out from my house. I would call my daughter and could clearly hear her saying “Hello.” I would say “Hi, Cori. This is your Pappy,” Her response was: “Hello…Hello.” I would repeat my greeting and, once again, she could not hear me and hung up. I repeated the process with the same results. She finally recognized my new phone number and called me back. I answered and we could both hear each other.
Turns out that people could call and would hear me but, if I dialed out from my home, no one could hear me at all. I thought maybe this was a temporary issue with the cell tower connectivity. I went up the street to the fire station and dialed out. Most of the time this worked. I figured the signal might be stronger there. Every day I would trudge up to the fire station to conduct my business. By now I was actively involved in an email correspondence with Consumer Cellular to try and figure out a solution.
Weeks passed and still no resolution. Finally, one Consumer Cellular rep told me that I should go to Sears and speak with one of their employees. “Ask to borrow their phone so we can help you troubleshoot your phone”, she said. Are they even aware that Sears is on the skids? I went there and saw they had one sales lady trying to sell stoves, dishwashers, washers and dryers, microwaves, TV sets, and…oh, yes…Consumer Cellular phones. Waited around and finally gave up when I saw how beleaguered she was. Sears has since closed down this location.
She also suggested I try Target. Not much better than Sears.
Spent 4 hours at the cricket wireless store trying to switch my number from consumer cellular to cricket. Had to return next day and spent three more hours before we finally got them to give it up. I am told consumer cellular (AT&T) purposely do than to try to reduce the number of lost customers they report. Most people give up and take a new number rather than put up with the hassle. Because it took me the extra day to get my number they charged me $2.87 more. When you multiply this charge by the thousands of people who quit them each year, you are talking about massive fraud. Most cellular companies also charge you for your last month even though you pay in advance! How long are these frauds going to be allowed to exist!
I saw a Consumer Cellular advertisement on TV stating service starts at $9.99 mth, and I could use my existing phone, a Samsung Galaxy S5. I payed the online fees, and a week laer receive the package for my conversion from Verizon to Consumer Cellular. Because I am a novice, I needed to go to my local Targert store (8 miles away) to have the Consumer Cellular rep stationed at the store to install the SIMM card that was sent. They did, but the service from Consumer Cellular would only access email and not the internet. I called Consumer Cellur support and was told that they sent the wrong SIMM card, and would send the correct pair. I took the new SIMM card back to the Consumer Cellular rep at Target for SIMM installation, but the service would not access the internet. I called tech support again, and this time was told by the Consumer Cellular technician that onsumer Cellular does NOT have a connetion agreement with Verizon, so no SIMM ccard in their inventory would work on ANY Verizion phone. (Nowhere on their internet order webpage does it state that, and as a matter of fact, on their TV commercials it specifically states "....you can use your own phone." NOT TRUE. )
After going around and around with the company, I informed them that I would not paybecause it could not provide internet access, so they sent an unauthorized payment request to AMEX, and got paid! (I am challenging this now thru AMEX.)
NOTE: If you have your own Verizon phone, no matter what they tell you, or the internet states, they can not provide internet service when you use it.
This company is working a SCAM when it states that you can use your won phone and does not state that you cant convert a Verizon phone to their service!
Consumer Cellular is a very scamy company. They never issue refunds - they will scam you for every penny. The sales people are so "lovely" but they will take your credit card and leave you on hold forever. I spent an hour on the phone with them about something that takes 10 seconds.
Consumer Cellular Phones are Antiques. Their prices for data and talk etc. for the lowest amounts of each sounds cheap but by the time they add all their taxes and fees its over $30. 00 for 3G service. Metro PCS has 4G Unlimited Everything $30.00.
I went on vacation overseas where they have no service and I talked to 1 of their manabers to have my service turned off while I was on vacation so I would not be charged he said he would. All other cellular companies have where you can shut off your phone while on vacation. I came home from vacation and received a bill from this company. UI was told the manager who promised to shut off my phone while I was on vacation was new and didn't have the authority to do it. I said how was I to tell he was new. To make the story short this company refuses to budge and sent a $103.00 bill to a collection agency and it is on my credit report
AARP gets a kickback from this company for their reccomendation. AARP is out for the money and no longer cares about seniors and companies they reccomend ripping them off
I wrote complaint in 1st area. 2 many different stories from customer service. People were helpful at 1st, then it just deteriorated, took money from account when told them not 2 , told them mother died, who was paying most of Bill. They took it out anyway; causing me 2 file dispute w/ my bank. Charged me 4 data when I asked to shut off data on their end numerous times.
Consumer Cellular advertises as no contract which is true, but changes your minutes when they are about to go over, and these idiots will screw you.Even though they say you can switch back they will not prorate it but charge you the full amount even if you use the other plan for one day.
I was paying 65.00 dollars a month two phone lines,1300 minutes, unlimited texting and internet,which to me seemed fair.This started in December 2015 on 12-2-15, I made a payment of 65.00 dollars which according to them they bill one month behind so that was actuall for November.I made another payment of 65.00 on 12-29-15,again this according to them was for December 2015.
January,the problem begins On 1-12-15 I was about to run out of minutes and Consumer Cellular, sent me a text saying I could change the plan from 1300 minutes to 3500 minutes for 10.00 extra or 75.00,but could cancel at anytime and continue paying the 65.00 the person who had the other line with me passed on 1-11-15 so I called on 1-12-15 to remove the other line and put me back on my original 1300 minute plan.
"Oh yes, we can do that for you your payment will be 50.00 dollars a month" so the end of January arrives and these thieves tell me I owe 75.00 even though a line was removed and the 3500 minute plan was used 1 day.I called and asked for a supervisor the woman's name was Pam,totally useless.They would not prorate the bill even though it was used one day.I was so pissed I went with a different carrier. Here's the kicker after I paid their 75.00 bill.This outstanding supervisor says "OH YOU WILL STILL OWE US 50.00 FOR JANUARY"That was my boiling point. I'm going to pay you for the whole month of January, after I canceled and went to another carrier.
I am posting this on every site similiar to this one so they can see what shady practices this company uses finally I'd like to say-
I had a trail period with consumer Cellular thanks to AARP of which was from 8/17/2011 to 9/02/2011. This was a risk free trail period through them. 45 units of usage or 45 days whichever comes first. When i received this phone, i could never use it due to a very poor signal strength in our area. Most of the time, i was on a landline phone talking to there customer service in trying to get this phone to work. All of the minutes that came with this phone were used up by there customer service in trying to get a stronger signal for this phone. Finally sent it back to them and canceled the account well within the needed time period. NEVER HAVE HEARD ANYTHING FROM THEM SINCE THEN. 09/02/2011. NOW, ON ALL THREE OF MY CREDIT REPORTS - THEY SAY I OWE THEM 109.00 OF WHICH SHOWED UP ON MY 2015 REPORTS. Never have they had any contact with me since the phone was sent back and the account cancled. ACCOUNT WAS TURNED OVER TO A "PROFESSIONAL CREDIT SERVICES" FOR COLLECTION LOCATED IN EUGENE, OR. This was done in 2012. This so called credit service company also has NEVER CONTACTED ME IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM ABOUT THIS MATTER. I had to contact them in order to find out as to what this was all about. ALL I WAS TOLD FROM THEM, THAT THEY WOULD CHECK INTO IT AND CONTACT ME BACK. AS OF THE POSTING OF THIS REPORT, I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING FROM THEM AT ALL. THIS IS THE WORST CREDIT REPORTING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM BOTH COMPANIES THAT I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. NO PROOF OF WHAT THE ALLEGED 109.00 CHARGE IS FOR EXCEPT THAT I AM BEING TOLD BY THEM - I WENT OVER 45 UNITS OF THERE USAGE. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY AS THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU.
I viewed my most recent bill on Comsumer Cellular's website a week ago. Instead of it being around $39, it was $46.00.
I found out that I was charged $1.50 4 times for calls I supposedly made to 411 on the same date in October 2015. I did not make these calls. I have never used my cell phone to get information from 411.
I sent an email to customer service, and 5 days later, I got a phone call from them. They also sent an email because I was not available to take their phone call.
They swear up and down that the calls are legitimate, and I owe $6.00 for the calls. Stay away from this company. I am taking my business elsewhere, and from what I have read, people are encountering problems with Consumer Cellular with regard to porting phone numbers from them to a different carrier.