Consumer Cellular

BEWARE!!!!! I switched to Consumer Cellular December 28th, 2018. In the time I have been with them, I had to change phones 3X. Once was my fault so I am not including it in any of this review. Each time I had to change phones, it took me 4-5 hours to reconstruct my contacts, my calendar, my photos, and my text messages. I am a volunteer for the VA, VFW, USO, and I also transport seniors to appointments and shopping. My last exchange was completed on May 28th, and that phone had a fatal failure 48 days later!!! I not only had to BUY another phone, I lost all my data, too. That phone should have carried a longer warranty than it did. I HAVE SAVED NOTHING ON THIS PROGRAM, AS IT HAS COST ME OUT-OF-POCKET over $100 PLUS my time to reconstruct my data. The phones fail through no fault of mine. This last phone they couldn't figure out WHY it failed, but I HAD TO REPLACE IT AT MY COST!!! There were no external scratches or marks on the outer casing, absolutely NO WATER marks or moisture detected inside the battery compartment, and both of the plastic coverings on the outside & inside viewer windows were in pristine condition. The Customer Service at the head office REFUSED to warranty this phone, even knowing the perfect condition it was in, and the fact it was only 48 days old!!! CONSUMERS BEWARE,

Beware! You may live in a “Moderate” service area!!! 1) MANY dropped calls; 2) Sound cuts out A LOT during calls that DO go through; 3) Loooong calling delays. (Enter phone # and wait 60 seconds for dialing to begin.) CC had all the info they needed to prevent these problems - but instead...their protocol was to provide crappy service and offer to correct problems only AFTER I called to complain about AWFUL service. Customer Support checked my address - said it was a “Moderate” service area for their T-Mobile network...said I’d have to switch over to their AT&T network to get better service. Offered to mail me the new Sim card I’d need (3-5 days)...said my other option was to buy card at and get $10 Cons Cellular credit with purchase. Offered to walk me thru re-activation process if needed. ? Why no protocol to match customer address with the network required for decent service??? Message to CC: Correcting frustrating problems that you could have prevented is NOT good customer service - no matter how cheerful and kind your staff are in the process!

I been customer for long time. I liked it at first and all was okay. But when my cell phone was stolen I got a replacement and the phone wasn't that good for it being new as they claim it was. I felt I was sent a used one especially since the alarm didn't work at all. I will be switching to a better company, I don't like the phone I was sent and want something better.

I have been a customer for almost a year now, but I have finally decided to switch carriers. It is true there customer service is good, very polite and try to help you the best they can, but I found there phone service its marginal at best. Always dropping calls, not having any service even in large cities were there shouldn't be a problem. There were lots of time I would completely lose service, and would have to call in from my land line to get service restored. Bought two new phones when I signed up, one for me and one for my wife, had nothing but trouble with the wifes phone, finally after months of frustration I canceled her phone and went to another carrier. Its true there price for service is very good, but if you don't have service How Good Is It? I wish it would have worked out better but I need a service I can count on.

I chose consumer cellular for the reason it’s discounted with AARP & sound like a good bargain. HOWEVER, there were quite a few issues that I have with this phone service. My bill was initially supposed to be about $20-30 based on my unlimited minutes and 2GB of data. BUT when I received my bill I was alerted of an additional $20 charged to my account for an “auto upgrade” I did not authorize regarding my data. Now when I called to see why would the automatically charge me without my consent, their response was “well other companies do the same.” Well no other companies don’t, not the ones I’ve dealt with anyway... usually with other companies they ALERT you when you hit the total Gigs included in your plan then give you the option to up your data for a simple fee. Well when I stated that I was no longer happy with the service and would like to discontinue my service, I asked that they unlock my phone. Well they told me I would have to have their service for 180 days before they can unlock a phone I paid for in full before I even started my service with them... hmm, confusing because at the end of the, their suppose to be a “no contract” type of company but have all these strings attached... I’m Baffled 😕 just another way to get over on people

Signing up was easy. Customer service on the phone is always polite. However, I spent a lot of time on the phone with the tech people trying to move my iPad mini service. We completely wiped it, and then did a restore from my backups. It STILL did not work and I was left to rest a lot of things on it. I now have a WiFi only iPad that I paid the extra money to have it cellular capable. I also paid THREE months of $15 charges ($45 total) while attempting to get it to work. It never managed to download a single byte. I’d give up and move back to AT&T but I can no longer get the unlimited plan I was on. Very disappointing.

Consumer Cellular prides itself on supposedly being the best in customer service but out of the 6 or so times I’ve called, the customer service was terrible. The representatives either had a rude tone or an attitude or sounded extremely disinterested, all the while I remained cordial. The wait times to speak to a rep are ridiculously long. Besides that, I recently purchased a new phone and was going to pay it with easy pay. 2 months into payments and $200 later they cancel service on me. I asked and the rep said my credit wasn’t authorized... whatever that means? She couldn’t elaborate at all like she didn’t know the subject matter of her own job. I’m here trying to get my service back but “there’s nothing I can do”. So I have to return my phone and I will be reimbursed but this is just ridiculous. I would not recommend this service to anyone even friends or family members who only want talk service.

I had mostly good service from them as far as cellular service is concerned. It is very weak where I live. The in person customer service lacks.in cathederal city. Have a hard time setting up a new phone and saving the old info, pics, etc. Sometimes they cannot! and you lose it all.

I have been with Consumer Cellular for approximately 6 years and was content with the service for the price until I needed customer support! This month my husband & I were experiencing some financial issues and my cell phone bill was late, so I called and spoke with Customer Service to discuss payment. Initially I requested an extension until the next week, however our funds were not available and I immediately called Customer Service back to explain & request an extension with my paying 1/2 the bill this week and the balance next week on my pay days. The agreement was confirmed and I received an email from Consumer Cellular to that effect, which stated no collection process would start until after the payment date, 02/26/19. As agreed I made the first 1/2 of the payment on 02/15/19. On 02/16/19 my service was disconnected and when I called Customer Service I was told that since I had made the first payment arrangement my second confirmed payment arrangement was not going to be honored! Why was I not told this when I called Customer Service the second time and why was that second arrangement confirmed! My husband and I are now without a phone until next Friday! I upheld my part of the arrangement by paying the first half of the payment, but Consumer Cellular didn't honor theirs! Having a confirmation in writing meant nothing and my being a long time Customer without prior issues meant nothing! This is not good Customer Service and I would not recommend Consumer Cellular to anyone based on this experience! Bonnie G. Johnson

The price is good, and Customer Service is excellent. Problems I have had are my own fault, except for signal strength at my home location, which is too weak for the wireless landline system.

Fantastic service and cost. Their billing is easy online or by mail. They even emailed that we were getting more gigs for the same price. There is nothing that needs improvement at this time. Very happy with everything!

Consumer Cellular never lets you incur penalties by upgrading you to the next level if you go over the level you have. Also, you're never bothered with marketing emails. I haven't found any area in which they can improve.

These people are a nightmare. Customer service people are very polite - if you don't mind being called "dear" or "sweetheart" - but they are for the most part incompetent and today the guy flat out lied to me. I have been trying to port my land line to a cell phone for over a week. They use a company called Syniverse to accomplish this. By law this middleman company cannot talk to consumers, only phone service providers. After 2 hours on the phone with Consumer cellular they told me to deal with this Syniverse company myself and gave me the number because my landline provider had given them bad information. Consumer cellular said my landline company used Syniverse, not them - simply not true. So then they said I needed a pin number - again not true as pin numbers do not pertain to landlines. Then they said it was going to take 7 to 10 business days to get the port completed - not true as it should take no more the 24 hours tops. Bottom line - they apparently submitted my address incorrectly and instead of admitting their mistake they created an entirely fabricated story and left me hanging. It would have been so easy for Consumer cellular to just say they had corrected the problem and resubmitted the request. Never again.

All of my family phones were shutdown due to an unpaid account balance. We couldn't call each other, couldn't connect to Consumer Cellular to shout "Are you kidding me!" I had no recourse but to pay the bill before I could call out. I tried to reach them cia their Contact us page but I'm on the east coast and they only supply Customer Service during office hours which didn't start until 10 AM on the east coast. Unacceptable! Oh, the kicker, my balance due was $0.01. Who is in charge?

Love the price compared to Verizon got my wife a new phone already had one for myself no many reception issues only problem is when we walk into a Wal-Mart there roofs have s built in bearer so it tends to block single. This is not just with CC we had this similar problem even with Verizon. All in All good company

Purchased phone for mother to try. Reception was great, until a week or so after porting her phone # over for a permanent move. Then she only got reception outside. Apparantly they lost contract on AT&T tower nearby. We tried the TMobile side, and it was worse. Went back to AT&T side. Each time we did this, she went without phone usage for 24 to 62 hours. I decided to switch her to AT&T Prepaid, since AT&T towers worked. I was told since we had s many issues, they would make every effort to assist with a smooth move, once we select new carrier. Right! They disconnected line before importing was cimplete. Then didn't release the lock code for phone. Was told i had to pay balance off before releasing unlock code. Not a past due balance, because it was on auto pay. She had minimal if any usage, due to not being able to use in home. So i pay it. Get code. And it doesn't work. Was told, it was because we did not have service with them for minimum months. Mom had veen without phone for a week at this point. Each time i called, it was being "escalated" and/or i was "accidentally" disconnected on hold while waiting for a "supervisor". I work for a call center; have worked in training department and now quality assurance...and had to educate and coach one agent on their job performance as customer service. I finally broke down and bought a new phone. The headach and hassle was just too much. The plans are good value, and not all agents were useless. But do not misinform customers. Then leave them hanging and paying for service they can't really use. We are who support you...our $!

same phone as sprint and a 5 g data limit which is more then i used with sprint and i pay 70% less then sprint and i use it for maps as I travel all over the USA so to me the best deal in the USA

Good cell phone coverage. This is basically T-mobile and AT&T budget cell phone service but uses the same cell phone towers. I cut my cell phone bill In half by switching to CC

Without a doubt, this is the best cell phone service provider available. Reasonable, flexible, plans, no contracts, outstanding, English speaking, customer service. None better.

Prompt and knowledgeable service. Lower prices than other cell services. If you ever go over your minutes they automatically increased your minutes to the next tier and you can switch back 're following month.

Been a customer for a while now and have always paid my bill on time. This month I received a text from Consumer Cellular stating that my payment was overdue and I was in danger of service suspension. I ALSO received an email stating that my service was "scheduled to be suspended soon". I received both communications on 9/18. My payment was due on 9/17. That seems like pretty harsh treatment for a first time offender who was a whopping ONE DAY DELINQUENT. In spite of the fact that their service is reasonably priced and I have only had a few coverage issues I am seriously considering shopping for another service provider. And for the record I paid the freaking bill this morning (9/19).

We had many Cellular contracts during our lifetime. Consumer cellular advertised 50gb unlimited but never mentioned that it was split between the 2 lines. At 38gb use for both they left message that internet was cut off! Throttling cuts off the page loadings after 3 minutes as "timed out" So not throttled, cut off. They said that we have to pay separately for each line, so no deal as advertised. They act nice while they are cheating you to act like it's good customer service. Smile and laugh as they rob you BAIT AND SWITCH ! So we got 2 lines. Same cost as our last cell contract. Went over 50gb on one line as a test and BAM!Cut off internet completely. No unlimited, Throttling is 1 page per 7 minutes unless it shows timed out. Their secret to giving horrible service is to act very sweet while doing it. They can't pull their wool over this wise sheep's eyes. Other 3 cell companies with caps slowed down a tiny bit but was a true unlimited plan. Consumer cellular are scammers and bait and switch while smiling and acting as caring. Can't do anything because there's no contract. They just deny further service for you. Then scam the next sheep.

I had been with Consumer Cellular for many years with no problems. I have noticed of recent that the American customer service reps, except for a few excellent ones, are increasingly rude, and have know-it-all attitudes without having much knowledge of the problems presented, so there goes that J.D. Power award. The main problem though is absolutely disgusting beyond disgusting. After having trouble with an existing phone I bought other new ones, 3 more to be exact, and EACH had problems from the very beginning, so I sent them back, and each time this cost me extra money to do that. I had also upgraded, and finally I had one that cost $199 that I sent back, but it was returned to me because they said it was damaged. Indeed it was, but I had the phone for only a few days, and I never damaged it---THEY DID. They actually put some nasty scratches on it deliberately so that they could extract $199 from me, my word against theirs. I did a consumer complaint, and very soon a rep called me up and gave me a professionally coached firm rebuttal blaming it all on me. Why they would want to do this in the first place for just $199 I do not understand but it is beyond dishonest and dirty. When I persisted, they finally sent the damaged phone back to me, to keep, but would never take any ounce of responsibility, continuing to blame me, and the consumer complaint was dropped. So much for any follow-up, and that left me with many hours of work for nothing except a damaged phone. This is one of the dirtier things ever done to me by a company, and I will never forget it, and have moved on for a while now. Just remember—they did it to me, so that means that they are capable of doing it to you as well.

Terrible customer service. They are heavy handed and aggressive despite appearances. They neglected to remove my wife’s line from the bill despite the fact that I reported her death. They refused to let me change the account name because they said it require a change in financial responsibility despite the fact that I had been financially responsible for the bill since it’s inception. Consequently, every time I called customer service, I had to go through multiple ways to access my account since I wasn’t the primary account holder. When I finally decided to cancel my account with them, they wasted my time explaining things I hadn’t asked about, arguing with me and making the process unnecessarily complicated. When I tried to transfer my number to the new company, they kept the transfer pending for hours and hours giving me no other choice than to change my number since they already canceled my service. When I received my final bill, it was more money than it had ever been. I called about this only to find that they had completely removed me from the account due to my cancellation so I had no access at all. Explanations to everything were vague and only satisfied their needs. I finally was able to speak to a supervisor who gave access to the account and then actually acknowledged the death of my wife and said I would be refunded what I had paid for her line beginning on the day of her death. Billing then let me know that I would only get 3 months returned to me, as a courtesy, with no acknowledgment of the discrepancy. The bill that the billing department sent still said that I owed the full amount. No one could help me with this because I was no longer on the account and their restrictive policies denied me a document that showed the lower amount I was told I could pay. All of the conversations I had with them were pointless. Their tone was pleasant and friendly but the content was always self-serving. They kept telling me they were trying to help me but clearly all they were doing was helping themselves. They are many other phone carriers. Avoid this one completely.

I was just reading this to help decide if I will make the switch and thankfully I know better because you need to update the information as it is wrong. I don't know how much of this is wrong but I know for a fact that cc has unlimited data plans.

I bought a new phone from them thinking that I would be treated better. The phone cost me more than advertised and they could not get it to receive service for two days and too many hours. When my brother and I approached the 50mb cap, we got messages that we were overusing and our data got cut off. They act sweet and apologetic so that they are received as 'good service.' They denied that the service was slow. We could not load a page in minutes. Could not look at a bank account which kept timing out. They said that they could give us the service back if we each bought our own plan at 50mb. So now we pay twice the price. Their customer service is horrible because they put on a "nice" show when there's a problem. "Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. Let me fix it for you, okay?" And they can cut your month to month service just like that because you don't have a contract. Best to get service with a company who owns the towers to avoid Consumer Cellular- like tight reigns on service. We are paying the same amount as our former contract and wish we hadn't switched. They never threatened to slow service or throttle data to zero.

Helped my 92 year old neighbor get a phone with consumer cellular. Considering CS is geared towards elderly, they are not very elderly friendly. Requirement just to place order, she required an EMAIL address. My neighbor had never owned a computer, nor ever had an email. Tried signing her up for a free yahoo and google email address, however, those required a cellular number to sign up for as well, to send a verification code to for the email, need the cell phone to get the email, need the email to get the cell phone.... Waited 2 weeks for the order to arrive. They require signature for the phone package. Since my neighbor was a little too slow to get to the door, mail carrier didn't wait around long enough for her to get to the door. Thus, took another WEEK to actually get the package with the phone (So now 3 weeks in). Finally got it. Went over to set it up for her (Tuesday August 1st). Low and behold, they are using E SIM now, and REQUIRE WIFI to set up the phone. So off we go over to my house to try and set it up. So now phone is active, works. Great! The NEXT DAY she has some heart issues and ends up in the hospital. This sweetheart of a woman unfortunately passed away Monday August 7th, so 6 days after getting the phone. So now we are a month since ordering, and less than 1 week of activation. As I am helping the family settle the estate and take care of things, and since I helped setup the phone/account, I am trying to cancel service. Consumer Cellular will not honor the 30 day trial, SINCE IT IS 30 DAYS FROM DATE OF ORDER, NOT 30 DAYS FROM DATE OF ACTIVATION! So less than 1 week of activation, but 1 day past a month of ordering, no cancelation and no refund, nothing. So that is almost $700 the family is out on a device & service that is not usable. Nothing about this company is Elderly Friendly, it is 100% setup to trip elderly and the family into blowing a good amount of money. Save your time & money for your elderly loved ones, just go to Wal-Mart, get a prepaid phone off the shelf and call it a day!

We joined Consumer Cellular because we were told they used the T-Mobile and AT&T network. AT&T does not work in our area. This was the sole reason we signed up. Once we received our iPhones, and service was turned on, we were told they no longer used T-Mobile, but we had 45 days to cancel. That was the first mark against them. We canceled within the 45 days and returned our phones. A couple of weeks later, one phone was returned with a note that said there were scratches to the display and that we had to pay for the phone. There were a couple of minor scratches, and we offered to take it to the Apple store to have the screen replaced for $300, but they refused. They gave us a couple of ridiculous options of buying the phone and reselling to someone who want's consumer cellular, or to buy the phone and apply to get it unlocked, but it may or may not be accepted. This has been the absolute worst experience with a company I have ever encountered in my 48 years of life. I feel like they refused to meet me half way and has now basically given me the choice of paying $1,300 for a phone I will not be able to use, or to just not pay and go to collections. Guess this is what happens to your customer service when you're bought out by a private equity firm. Lesson learned.

New phone order handled horribly. Customer service has gone downhill dramatically in the last few years. I just purchased a new phone thru them. I told the rep I wanted to order a new charger because the one I currently have might not fit. What she sent me was a cord--nothing more. No way to plug the cord into the wall. I had to make one phone call to find out I didn't have what I needed, and I had to order it myself through Amazon. Then I read instructions that tell me to insert a sim card, but no sim card was included. I have to call again to find out there is NO physical sim card, it has an e-sim, but nobody sent me the link to the QR code to activate that. So then they have to send that out. I call again to complain about how this was handled, and I get a rude SOB on the phone who talks down to me and tells me it's written on the box that there is no charger AS BIG AS LIFE. Guess what, you moron? I don't need to read it when I open the box, I NEED TO KNOW IN ADVANCE THAT I HAVE TO ORDER IT. Finally, I call to register a complaint about all of this mess, and I get a supervisor who insists that the person who set up my order told me what I needed to know. Excuse me, NO, SHE DID NOT. She never told me that she was sending ONLY a cord, and not the piece it's inserted into it that plugs into the wall in order to actually charge your phone. The supervisor also spoke down to me, as if I was supposed to automatically understand what her employees were saying even tho I have no idea what their verbiage means. She then made it even worse by telling me she can send me a different phone that has what I need. Umm, hey, dum dum, I have been telling you all along that I already ordered the charging pieces from Amazon, NOW THAT I KNOW I NEED THEM. If you idiots had told me that to begin with, I could have placed the order immediately as soon as my phone was ordered. I told her that all she accomplished was upsetting me more, and now I'm going to call around and get pricing from other carriers. GOODBYE!!!

Consumer Cellular sent my daughter a new SIM card for her Iphone XR. (She had been using the phone on Consumer Cellular's network for the last 2 years.) (She needed a new SIM card because Consumer Cellular was switching networks from T-Moblie to ATT.) After she put in this new SIM card, her phone stopped working. Consumer Cellular told my daughter that she had to call Apple or T-Moblle to unlock her phone to work with her new ATT SIM card. Apple said they could not unlock it, only T-Mobile could. T-Mobile said that they would not unlock the phone (this was after they told us they would but it would take 3 days) because my daughter never had service with T-Mobile.) My daughter was without a phone for 4 days. (Between Consumer Cellular, T-Mobile and Apple - we had spent 5 plus hours on the phone.) I called Consumer Cellular (which I had been a customer of for 15 years) and told them to replace my daughter's phone which they refused to do. They told me to give them 3 more days to try and unlock it. I refused to wait three more days.

If I were to rate Consumer Cellular's products and services, I'd give them a minus 10. The phone they sent me wouldn't work. They sent me a new SIM card and by the time I got it I had owned the phone for 5 weeks, or 1 week past the 30 day return policy; all the while I was paying them for a service I could not use. Giving them the benefit of a doubt, I asked them to send me a SIM card that would allow me to use my current phone number and I am still waiting for it. That was over 4 months ago. Now they are telling me that I owe them $97.00 and some odd cents. And for what? A lousy product I have used less than 5 times and non-existent customer and tech support. I paid for over 3 months of service I never used and got tired of waiting for them to keep their end of the bargain before I quit paying the monthly charges. I have lost count of how many times I have tried to contact them via my other cell phone and through their website to resolve this problem, but since they have ignored my every attempt, they can suck it if they think I will pay them another cent!

AVOID IT !! After a week , I still have no service . Before I transferred , I provided the " IME " phone id to see whether it was compatible with their system ; they assured me it was ! A few days later , they tell me it is not ! Their solution , buy a new phone from them ; in no uncertain term , I told them where to go ! Switching back to my old carrier became even more difficult as the " transfer pin " provided expired in less than a day and one has to spend hours waiting to get a rep on the line so that they can provide a new pin . The reason I switched is because of the endless hours wasted trying to understand and explain to my old carrier , whom I had been with for 24 years , and whose call center was in the Phillipines , and you could hardly understand them . As the saying goes , better stay with the known than the unknown

Consumer Cellular continually said I was going over my gigabytes every month, so they constantly did an auto upgrade in spite of the fact that my online account showed that I had not gone over my gigabytes. When I switched to another company, I called Consumer Cellular to discuss my final bill. Again they had upgraded me on my final bill - saying I had gone over my gigabytes even though I had 10 days left on my monthly bill, and my on line account was showing I had gigabytes left. And they charged me $5 for opting out of auto pay which I had not done (they had charged the balance on my final bill to my credit card). I explained to the billing department that my current company was showing I was far below my gigabytes which were in fact fewer than my CC plan, and I had not changed the amount I used my phone on my new plan. The representative said "Just because you say that, doesn't make it true." In other words, he called me a LIAR. I hung up on him. In my opinion, this company is dishonest. Watch them. They will steal from you every chance they get.

Consumer Cellular are thieves. They lie about the service. When I was looking for my best option for hot spot I had spoken with 3-4 people on different days. ( which I did on purpose to see if they had different stories) I was told data was unlimited and hot spot. Unlimited means unlimited exactly how it sounds. That was never the case with then. LIARS. Then my phone showed it was compatible. Send me a sim card and nope it doesn't work. Nothing but trouble. So I have to buy a phone from them ( how convenient) I get the phone. It's the exact phone. ( which I'm sure was refurbished and not brand new like they said) nothing but problems with the phone. Freezing. Taking a half hour or more to turn on when I would start or restart it. Take money out of my account after I distinctly told them no. I paid my bill on time and early every month. Each agent rambles and talks BS . Do not trust this company AT ALL. The only reason they got a 1 star is because there's no option for a 0

If I could give this company 0 stars I would. Let me stress that to try and save a few dollars it is simply not worth it no matter what Ted Danson says on Consumer Cellular TV ads. We have never had a problem with a mobile carrier and normally stay with a carrier for many years. After seeing how AARP endorses Consumer Cellular and the fact that we could save a little money I decided to switch service to Consumer Cellular. I initially purchased an Android phone from them and set up the service online. I have used Apple phones for many years, so I was unhappy with the Android and called and was planning on canceling my service. So, when I called the rep (I have his name) he said if I would stay with Consumer Cellular, he would give me $100.00 credit to be credited to my bill at $10.00 a month for the next 10 months (I never received that monthly credit even though a “supervisor” was going to check into this). So, I bought a new iPhone 14+ and when I received the iPhone a USPS bag with the label attached was included. I sent the Android back and everything went just fine. Even though I only used the iPhone 14+ for a week or so I decided I would prefer the iPhone 14 Pro Max as I used to have a 13 Pro Max with another mobile carrier. So, I called and the Consumer Cellular rep said that would be great and I paid the difference. I received the iPhone Pro Max and the USPS bag with the label attached was included to send the 14+ back which I did. Not long after I received an email from Consumer Cellular saying to remember to send the phone back or I would be charged. Over the course of the next few weeks, I called and talked with several reps at Consumer Cellular giving each one a tracking number (I have the USPS receipt) showing the iPhone 14+ had been delivered to the address that was provided on the shipping label from Consumer Cellular (a Fort Worth address). Each rep I talked with checked the tracking number showing the phone had been received and said everything was fine and that not to worry I was “good to go”. Then later I saw my AE bill, which had an “insufficient return charge” from Consumer Cellular of $996.47. I talked with another Consumer Cellular rep and she said the charge would be credited back as it shows the phone was received in Ft. Worth. After several more attempts to get this taken care of, I finally called AE and gave them all the info. AE filed a dispute to suspend the charge. Then Consumer Cellular rejected the dispute and billed my AE again. I contacted AE and they extended the dispute as I had all the info AE needed. During this time, I was on the phone with several Consumer Cellular reps and finally one of the reps (I have his name) said that they must have included the wrong shipping label and the phone was sent to Asurion. I did not even know who Asurion was at that time. He explained it was a mobile phone insurance repair company. He said he talked with a supervisor and she said I would need to contact Asurion and get the phone back and then mail it to them. I said this was not my mistake and why should I have to deal with it-he agreed. I asked him for the number and he said he did not have it; I would need to look it up. I checked the internet and found the company. I called with the tracking number and of course, they had no record of this. Then a couple of weeks ago I saw on my AE bill a charge for a small amount from a company I did not make. AE suspected a suspicious charge and mailed me a new card. I went online and input my new card number with Consumer Cellular so they would have my new number for my account. Then today I was notified that my cell service for my wife and I would be canceled. Consumer Cellular tried to bill my old card for the $996.47 “insufficient charge” and it was rejected. Today I literally spent several hours on the phone with several Consumer Cellular reps to try and get this straightened out. What happens is first you talk to a rep, then they must get a “supervisor” who hopefully gets you to “billing”. Then the billing rep must get to another supervisor. Now the latest is, the billing department says they must send an email to “accounting” (they can’t call them they said). And after a billing supervisor disconnected or hung up on me, they finally have reinstated my service and then show a “payment arrangement confirmation” for the $900 + so in the meantime they can try to find the phone I mailed back and investigate. I bet this phone was either lost or stolen. The bottom line is, I sent the iPhone phone back in the USPS bag with the attached label that Consumer Cellular provided and it was shown as received and delivered. I paid for my new iPhone 14 Pro Max and I should not be billed for the $900.00+ for a phone I mailed back that was received at the address Consumer Cellular provided. Either USPS made a mistake or someone at Consumer Cellular affixed the wrong label. I would think for an expensive phone that Consumer Cellular would have it insured. Regardless, I did everything correctly and it has been a nightmare dealing with them. Everyone is polite on the phone, but I just get “lip service” as no one can make a decision, and then they forward me to someone else or tell me it will be handled. I have spent probably 10-12 hours between Consumer Cellular and AE trying to get this issue resolved and so far to no avail. My wife and I are retired, have perfect credit, and never have had any billing issues until now. I have spent way too much time on this issue and it is beyond frustrating.

In 2022 I contacted Consumer Cellular to let them know I would be out of the country for 5 months. I wished to drop my regular plan to the lowest level for that time period, while still retaining my phone numbers. I was assured by the customer service representative that that would be done. It was not done. When I recontacted them to ask for credit for those 5 months, they said they had no responsibility for this but that as a courtesy they would refund $30 to me. I was impressed by how very unpleasant and impolite Aaron, a customer service representative supervisor, was in our interactions. I am deeply disappointed in what is supposed to be a better cell phone service.

ordered a phone and new service, found an email within minutes i was canceled. no explanation. Called to find out why, they transferred me to a billing specialist (which is code for fraud ). I talked to the rep and he said i was canceled due to security. I asked if they are going to ask me questions to validate i am who i say i am (I know this because i use to manage a fraud department at another carrier that doesn't have service where i spend most of my time). He said know this is all he has. You cant validate with them. No take a pic of your id and yourself and send in. Nothing. I have no idea why they canceled my order and no way to overcome it. Unbelievable, considering i was paying everything in full up front. Hook up with At&t directly if its their towers you use is my recommendation.

I have had CC since 2010. I noticed the last year or so, their overall quality went down substantially. I recently purchased a new phone because we were forced to upgrade to 5G. My latest problem with this company is usage. I inconvenience myself to completely shut the phone down, so as not to waste minutes. I am 5-days into the new cycle and already received an intimidating usage warning. What CC is attempting to do, is raise your rate each and every month. They touted themselves as to say; the customer has "unlimited minutes"; what happened to that? My next step and I suggest everyone on this page will think about this, is to file a complaint with the FCC and you States Attorney General's Office. The more that people will file, the more something will be done to curver what I call "a racket". BTW - I agree with many that the new customer service is horrible. Last inqury found me almost arguing with a young, arrogant and rude customer service employee who was not accurate at all and did not have a clue on how to answer my request. It is a shame, because CC used to be tops but not anymore!

Consumer Cellular is good service even in remote areas. The only thing is, it's not available everywhere. It depends on how close the nearest tower is.

Consumer cellular's customer service used to be the best of the best before they were bought out by a private equity firm. Their reps used to be highly knowledgeable, courteous, and dedicated to getting it right for the customer. They apparently have a completely new group of customer service personnel who often do not know what they are doing, will never admit when they don't know what they are doing, promise to fix problems and then don't, and generally don't care much about the customer. Sometimes they sound arrogant, sometimes disrespectful. I assume that the new owners got rid of all the old reps and contracted the work out in order to increase company profits. Any time you have a customer service problem they pressure you to go to a more expensive plan.

Wish I could give no star or negative star. Terrible experience with CC that costed us a lot of time and money. Here is what went wrong with us, and this is brief as there is much more. 1. Said my current phone would work when we switched to them-it didn't and I had to buy a new phone. 2. Said CC at Target could help port info cause customer service couldn't. Went to 2 Targets and no one was there to help. 3. Said they had coverage in Canada (we were going to take a trip there) and at the day before we were to enter Canada found out we had to get a special sim card for our phones to work there. NO ONE TOLD US THAT. So, we had to cancel our trip costing thousands of dollars. Wrote to the company execs-crappy response. Most they would do is reimburse me if I sent my phone back. So that would mean more time and money. Very poor company-stay away!!!!