Consumer Cellular
Is This Your Business?5.5
Overall Score
Sally Welliver Bullhead City, AZ
We ordered a new IPhone 7 from Consumer Cellular and of course it took 5 days to arrive. We had to pay $67 up front to order the phone, we are going to make monthly payments. Well to our surprise we open the package on Saturday and there is no phone in the box!!!! My husband called their customer service immediately to report it and of course they did not know what could be done. So first thing Monday morning he called again. Well another surprise there is no documentation of his call on Saturday! This women says she took the information and has to refer it to another department. She said it will take 2-3 days to decide what to do! What do you mean “what to do”? We did not receive the phone what’s to decide? My husband is 75 and I am 66 why would we lie about this!!!! We are both so upset. If this doesn’t get resolved in 2-3 days we will be contacting the Better Business Bureau and contacting an attorney for a consultation on how to proceed. We have been with AT&T for 20 plus years. My husband switched to CC to save some money. What a mistake. I am still with AT&T because I use too much data. I had to replace my phone about a month ago because my screen cracked. I had a new phone sent by way of Fedex and I had the new phone the next afternoon. Now that is great service. Plus they gave us 10 days to return the old phone and gave us all the necessary materials and instructions on how to return the old phone at no charge to us. They even included the tape for the box! Now that is great customer service.
We are now late Wednesday afternoon and it gets worse! We cannot get a response from Consumer Cellular and my husband calls everyday. The customer service reps he speaks to basically saying he is lying in so many words. This is unbelievable and not sure where we need to go from here. I sent them an email yesterday and they have as yet to respond. I am going to report them to the Better Business Bureau. This is very disturbing that an AARP recommended company is aloud to treat seniors this way. We have very little to live on as we are both on Social Security. We actually find it very disturbing.
Oh my gosh you are not going to believe this!
Today is Monday 9/16/2019
After I posted my second review late Wednesday afternoon we get another email from Consumer Cellular stating they shipped another package out and we should receive it within 3-5 days. Ok now we are excited.
Then on Friday the 13th we received an email from Consumer Cellular with the tracking number that was shown on the Wednesday email stating the post office returned the package because it was not picked up within 15 days!!! The package was just sent out 2 days prior how can it be 15 days?
So I went into the USPS website under the new tracking number and it shows the package was returned because the Addressee shown on the package did not match the address shown on the package! I don’t know about you readers but Consumer Cellular deserves a minus 10!!!! I am so disgusted and WILL NOT refer anyone to them. This is out of control and absolutely unacceptable. If we ever do get this phone it should be free!
My husband decided to go to the post office with all our documentation. Unbelievable, the package was there! It had not been returned after all. However, whoever at Consumer Cellular did put my Husbands name on the mailing label but they showed the mailing address as the post offices address!!!! Who the heck does this. Everyone needs to be fired or at least written up that handled these transactions right down to the Customer Service Reps that took the phone calls. I will definitely be staying with AT&T my husband can have Consumer Cellular. What a joke. I plan to post this everywhere I can!
6 years ago
Upset in Michigan Jackson, MI
I have NEVER been treated so badly by ANY company in my life until now.
If you call and cancel your service with them because you have no service where you live, the operator you speak with does NOT cancel your service-they keep on billing you each month. No matter how many times you call and explain the date you called to cancel-they argue with you. Now we have been turned over for collections and collections states that it is CONSUMER CELLULAR's policy that you cancel your service in writing! No where in the box that the phone came in from Target does it state this. Stay away from them !!!!!
6 years ago
LW Bennington, VT
I wanted new phone expedited in 2 business days so paid extra $10. Ordered on a Tues. CSR for CC said would receive by Thursday. I called CC spoke to a supervisor to reimburse $10 because CSR was misinformed and didn't pass on the information to the consumer about $10 guaranteed two day arrival from date shipped. They are in Arizona I'm on East Coast. After 1pm their time they don't ship and guarantee 2 day shipping. They would not reimburse the $10. This is the second time in six months from February 2019 to August 2019 I've had bad customer service from CC rep who took my order told me they treat their employees and their customers like family. Well, family will screw you every time. I should have read between the lines. I suggest not purchasing a CC phone. Target has the same phones CC sell.
6 years ago
Gregory Rayner Covington, GA
I am being billed for attempting to convert to Consumer Cellular. I ordered a sim card kit to convert my wife’s cell phone. The card did not arrive, so I requested another card. We attempted to activate her Samsung S4 on your service on or around August 14th. I spent over 3 hours on the phone between your company and Verizon to activate the service.
Your customer service setup an appointment for my at the Target store in Conyers for August 17th. The service person at Target was on the phone with one of your technical people and after jumping through hoops was told “That the phone was incompatible with your network”.
I was told I needed to by a new phone. I purchased on new phone the afternoon of August 17th. I ported my number away from Consumer Cellular.
My question is how or why am I being billed for service to a phone that your company says is incompatible with your network.
6 years ago
John Ferchak Quakertown, PA
The low prices offered at the website are very misleading and incorrect. I am still arguing with Consumer Cellular over billing. I tried the $25 Plan, which is the 250 min and 2GB, with additional AARP benefits: a 5% AARP discount, and "Our extended 100% risk-free guarantee: If you’re not completely satisfied for any reason, simply cancel within the first 45 days and pay nothing. It’s absolutely hassle-free". So I expected an initial bill for $23.75 plus state taxes (8.875% in NY) which I calculated at $2.11. I tried to cancel after 40 days, only to be told that the special AARP deal only applied to use of 500MB (I used 548MB), with charges after that, and am now being billed an additional fee of about $20, on top of the first month fee of $34.74 because of all the extra surcharges tacked on (with "Government Taxes & Fees" listed at $5.08) for a total of $43.06. None of these additional charges and fees are explained, nor any warning given about 500MB maximum usage. I calculated that the real price for my 40-day trial, based on what was advertised, should be $25.86, which is what I paid them. I will not pay more.
Not only that, but the first SIM card permitted only limited phone use, and so I had almost no useful phone service for the first week (and many visits to TARGET) until the SIM was replaced. They have no email communication, only phone service, which requires waiting in line. Consumer Cellular is Consumer Scam. Stay away.
6 years ago
Pamela Parker-Antibus Queen Creek, AZ
I have had Consumer Cellular for two years because I had a 3 year contract with them. I bought my phone through them. The phone was new and no problem there. The service is terrible though. I've been a lot of places I couldn't text or make calls. I would not recommend this to anyone. Texting is the worst. I never can send a text at home only on rare occasions. The data is an issue for me also. That can get expensive. When my contract is up I will go back to Cricket. I got much better service with them.
6 years ago
Kimberly Hurlock, MD
The iPhone 6 S that was sent by Consumer Cellular stopped charging after six days. Then, before returning it, I needed to wipe the cell phone clean of my settings and personal information. Unfortunately, that was not possible because the phone would not charge and, therefore, would not turn on. Then, after over four hours on the telephone with Consumer Cellular, I was told by a supervisor to send the telephone back, including my Apple ID, Apple password and pin for my cell phone. I did that immediately, including a detailed letter explaining the problems associated with the cell phone. Then, twelve days later, the same cell phone was sent back to me, asking me to wipe the settings clean. I then spent three hours on the telephone, explaining to two customer service representatives and a very uncaring, borderline disrespectful, irritated and impatient supervisor, named Garrett, from Phoenix. I patiently, over the three hours explained that I could not wipe settings clean on a cell phone that would not turn on. I also explained that this was my very first cell phone and that I was not computer or technologically savvy. Garrett told me that I had to find a way anyway, stating, "It doesn't matter. It is YOUR responsibility, Kimberly (although I don't know when we made it to a first name basis). You will have to figure it out." Then he said I could go to an Apple store, but the nearest Apple store is in Annapolis or Washington, D. C., over an hour and a half from my home. He said it doesn't matter. I had "to figure it out" and, then when I asked if he had any links for more information or could email me instructions on where to go for help, he said, "that's not my realm." Wow, I was flabbergasted! Amazing. I am 54 years old and have been a middle school and high school teacher for 31 years. Never have I met someone - seriously, anywhere - with such a bad attitude. By the way, there also wasn't an "I'm sorry" for the original phone failing or the multiple hours on the phone with Consumer Cellular or the bad original instructions given to me by the supervisor, who said just to include the Apple password, etc. or that there wasn't even a label to send the original phone back for the second time. Garrett told me that I would have to pay the $14.20 to send it back the second time and that the settings better be cleared or Consumer Cellular would charge me $200 for the phone that does not work and also take us to court for not returning it in a timely manner, even though we returned it well before the deadline and they even sent it back to me well before the deadline. Now I am trying to get a postage paid label with another supervisor, but their link for a postage paid label does not work. The representative said that she would call me back before 3 p.m. today (and mind you I have already been on the telephone with Garrett and three other representatives for over three hours today) and now it is 3:20 and there is no call. This is by far the WORST, MOST ABHORRENT customer service situation that I have ever encountered.
6 years ago
nancy z. Utica, MI
worst phones ever
if you get the flip phone and drive more than 10 miles away you will only be able to make emergency calls
sims card is from t mobile have to go to target and get at and t sims card for the phone to work
if you call customer service they will reset the phone which doesn't work and tell you phone cant be used in a park!!!!!
with smart phone any call longer than 5 minutes will drop
waited thru tapes at dte twice and got a person on the line both calls dropped
talked to a friend in a nearby city call dropped
called to cancel an order call dropped when I got a person had to listen to tapes again to get thru
everything voice mail etc then has to be reset
same problem sims card from t mobile to at and t
6 years ago
Helaine K Soldotna, AK
Predatory billing and bill creep. Sluggish tech support. Remember, they are a reseller, not a true cellular company. I was a customer for a year and a half. I do not recommend.
Watch your billing carefully, folks!
When switching to Consumer cellular, be careful as well. I was billed for several Gb of data that I did not and could not use. The phones we had were not properly configured when service was set up; we had no data and could access no websites, but the phones used 5 GB somehow, even though we are mostly on Wifi. Consumer Cellular said "too bad" and billed us for extra data, even after tech support confirmed that multiple phone settings were incorrect. They blamed AT&T. I blame the yahoo that set up my account. Either way, I paid.
With Consumer Cellular, if you go over your data (even if you cannot use apps or access websites because they didn't set you up right from the beginning) they bump you up to the next tier, and you have to take time to drop it back down by phone or online to get your low price again. Often, because of how the billing cycles work, they won't let you drop your data down; you get locked into paying for far more than you want to. When you get fed up and cancel service to join a cheaper unlimited plan from a real cellular company, they will bill your card -even if you specifically request that they remove it from your account and not bill it again, Ever- because they send an email after the call that says they're billing you anyway (no matter what you say).
6 years ago
Rob Wilmington, DE
I just signed on with this outfit on (7-26-19) in order to save money over ATT. So far I'm not very happy with what I'm seeing/not seeing with their service. I had Google Map for about an hour but no traffic overlay,(traffic overlay is very important in the area where I reside), now the map app wont even function. I do not have the ability to access the phones browser either, aside from the fact that I received a txt from CC claiming to have all of this browser and internet capabilities installed. Nothing like that is working so far. This has all become apparent within less than 24 hrs of having my device activated with them. Based on what I've read on this web page so far I'm not looking forward to their tech support. Yes, I'm saving some money over ATT but the trade offs may not be worth it. As of today(7-27-19) I'm going to start shopping for another alternative. I THINK I MADE A BIG MISTAKE HERE. I'm not even gonna wait 30 days before I decide to dump CC. So far I would tell anyone thinking about switching to this outfit CAVEAT EMPTOR!!! Luckily I only have $10 tied up in a sim card so far and am not brave enough to dump much more of my $$ down their hole.
6 years ago
Jimmy
I bought my Mom and Dad the Doro 750 flip phones. It was easy to start their service. Six weeks later the outer screen on my Dad's phone started showing only a white screen with some black marks on it. He had used the phone less than ten minutes since we bought it. I called Consumer Cellular and they immediately told me that my Dad had damaged the phone. There wasn't a nick on the phone and he had not dropped it. They don't back up their products and I am looking for a new carrier.
6 years ago
TL Pfafftown, NC
Consumer Cellular is not to be trusted; they let someone open an account in my name. They wouldn't give me any details except to say the number was "never used" and demanded I pay $60 plus for a month of unused service. They said the details I was asking for was in the “paper invoice” which I never received because they didn’t have my correct mailing address. I don’t know what address they had, all they would say when I told them my address was “well you’re close but that’s not right”; for goodness sakes, I know where I live and have liked for 25 years!! I also tried explaining I’ve had Verizon for over 15 years and when comparing Consumer Cellular plan to my Verizon I have more and pay $5.00 a month less so again why would I open an account! And, I have no idea what phone I was suppose to have their number on... again they wouldn’t tell me. PS...Consumer Cellular at first removed the charges then recharged me and added a late fee. The bill is now several months past due and over $72.00. This company my “have your back” just watch for the knife their holding. Still fighting them, just hope they don’t harm my credit rating in the meantime.
6 years ago
Sunshynsmith1968 Cocoa Beach, FL
Consumer Cellular has a practice of checking your credit AFTER you've given them your debit card/ bank information. This is a practice that I do not approve of. When asked for the last four of my social security number and birthdate information I check to see why and it said for contact reasons but never said that they were going to check my credit. I did not give permission for that and their reason for taking my information is a lie and false advertising! If there is no contract, why is this company checking credit anyway? I understand that some people are not approved and I accept that IF the company truthfully reveals to interested consumers IN ADVANCE, that they are going to check credit scores. However taking bank information before giving a decision is an unfair practice. Now my information is in a database out there somewhere where it can be manipulated and hacked with a company that I've decided not to use as a service and my credit score has been affected without my permission! This needs to change!
6 years ago
B Pawlak Long Valley, NJ
Customer service tremendous. Call quality better than Tmobile. The problem? - atrocious data speeds, upload speed almost non existent. If your looking to just make calls, go for it, but if you need your phone to search online, open apps, send emails, for work (Im on the road, county buildings where wifi not available), forget about it. Sad but true, i couldnt even get Consumer Cellular app to open...
6 years ago
Carla Decatur, GA
I just dumped Consumer Cellular after being their customer for only 7 months.
I previously used Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile so I have a pretty good frame of reference.
Consumer Cellular is hands down the WORST cellular service provider.
They do not have any real infrastructure to deal with the most basic customer service.
They don't know what the term "customer care" means and they don't care.
There's no way to escalate an issue; they don't want you to be able to reach escalated customer service and/or corporate escalation contacts in their company.
The promise that you can sign up at Target is also ridiculous based on my experiences with Consumer Cellular at Target.
No one at Target is trained on anything having to do with Consumer Cellular.
The fact that J.D. Power gives them such a high rating leads me to question their judgement.
Their advertising promoting J.D. Power recognition is an echo chamber of incompetence.
You can also Google other customer complaints - they are plentiful.
6 years ago
William Buxton
I had been a good consumer Cellular customer for year-and-a-half. In May of 2019, I had a problem with my phone running very slow. It wasn't until I opened up and read the billing cycle notes, did I found out the consumer cellular had slowed my data rate down, because I went over my 20 gigs. Not only did they charge me $20 extra, but they continued to keep my service at the slower data rate. Since the phone was unusable at that point for the services that I needed, I switched back to my previous provider mid-month. Now consumer Cellular insist did I pay for the full month of June plus the $20 overage fee 410 days of service that I won't receive, and data service that I never received, once they slowed it down. It amounts to $84 on top of having paid my final bill with them! interesting lie enough, the very rude young girl that helped me on the phone, told me that she wasn't even a consumer cellular customer, even though she work for their company!
6 years ago
Heather Santa Clara, UT
I would give it 0 stars if possible. They had some of the worst cust service ever. My son left for 2 yrs to be a missionary. I canceled his phone on my acct but did not take out his sim card or turn off the phone. The service didn't get turned off (even though I confirmed it with them twice after the initial requests (once while paying the next bill & once when I called for help with a feature) because apps must've used data & there were incoming texts (out of my control) they said it was used & that I hadn't requested a disconnect. They could supposedly see record of every call except for the one where I originally asked for a disconnect. I asked them to listen to the recordings from the other 2 calls then and that would prove it. I asked them to see that no calls were made, no texts were sent, I had no way to prove that he wasn't using the phone except that he's not here and I can prove his whereabouts. They opened a billing dispute but I never heard back. I told them to make sure that his phone was at least turned off now so I would stop being billed for it in the future at least because I am a widow with a small child and
a very tight budget and cant afford to pay that extra amount. Then they turned off the wrong phone-mine! When they turned it back on after yet another phone call, my phone would not work properly. The supervisor was rude & disputed any of this even happened. No credit was ever offered or applied. My phone didn't have MMS or data after being turned back on & he said it was my fault or my phone's fault & there was nothing else he could do. After 7-8 hrs on the phone w/consumer cellular in 3 days, I had to figure out how to troubleshoot it on my own. tried the sim in another phone and had the same problems which proved it was a service problem not my phone. I called back and had it resolved for about an hour, paid my bill & had the same problem again. When I told the supervisor about the disappointment in the billing & service, he told me I was welcome to leave. Where a couple of the phone agents were polite, the bulk of them treated me like I was lying and trying to scam them over $30 or so and refused to help with the billing at all. I couldn't even be transferred to a billing agent. And then they weren't even able to fix the problems they caused, couldn't admit that it was due to their error when they turned off the wrong phone. And tried to make me buy an expensive new phone from them (I was already using an unlocked Samsung note 9 which had worked perfectly before the disconnect in error.) When pointing out the horrible service, they told me if I didn't like it than I could leave. I did. I paid my bill and then ported my phone to MetroPCS. Even that was a headache because consumer cellular wouldn't release the number for a port without additional phone calls and insistence including speaking with the customer (me) directly. It was a horrible experience! (& I've never gone out of my way to leave a bad review anywhere before...)
6 years ago
KATHLEEN
I ORDERED A FLIP PHONE ADVERTISED IN AARP NEWSLETTER. THE FIRST PHONE DIED AFTER 1 CALL! I HAD TO TRAVEL TO TARGET SO THEY COULD TELL THEM IT WAS DEAD! THE REPLACEMENT NEVER WORKED AND THE 3RD FINALLY WORKED AFTER 3 DAYS. NOW THEY WANT TO CHARGE FOR 92 MINUTES WHEN I MADE 1 CALL FOR 1 MIN BEFORE IT DIED.NOT IMPRESSED WITH THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE....
6 years ago
melody Ghaffari Bethesda, MD
if I could give this company negative stars I would. I am 55 years old and was with this company for two years and watched them raise their prices every year and they also charge too much for limited data. No service in foreign countries and charge for roaming and they kill you with sales tax and fees that gets added to seemingly cheaper rates and before you know it you are paying more to them than other companies that charge flat rate with no added fees for much better service that includes cheaper prices for phones and have unlimited data and coverage in foreign countries. This company scams you every chance they get . When i finally left them on June 1st they overcharged me for all ridiculous phones charges and bumped me up for a higher fee on the day i left their service!!! their customer service is incompetent. I asked their rep on the phone and he said my balance was 76 but when later i looked after i switched over they increased it to 107. when i called to get an explanation for this sudden increase since it was quoted to me at a lower price on the day of switch over The second rep on the phone says: you must have confused our rep. I told him to be ashamed of himself for not taking responsibility for giving out wrong info and that I'm lucky to leave them since now I'm getting much better service at a lower rate for much more. They advertise that they provide a good service for senior citizens at a lower price but beware: you can get a much better rate for unlimited data on Tmobile without any of those extra phone fees they tag on. They are truly disgusting company. Tmobile covers roaming charges and foreign countries and gives you unlimited everything to 55 and older for a flat fee of $70 for two lines and you can save the same numbers when you switch. . You don't have to worry to remember to turn off your data and you don't have to worry about roaming charges and fees and you don't have to worry about getting different sim cards when you are traveling. You even can use your phone on cruises . They also provide promos every tuesday. I got a new iPhone XR for just 150 vs 750 on Consumer cellular. Don't wait! Dump Consumer cellular !
6 years ago
Dan Oroville, WA
The cellular service was ok. It was what I was looking for in a cell phone. When I moved to a location that did not support Consumer Cellular Service. I had to go with a bigger name service that supported roaming and foreign cellular towers. I had a three way call with Consumer Cellular, the new cellular company and myself. We transferred all information and I thought I was done. Consumer Cellular continued to charge my credit card for a service I wasn’t using. I contacted them and they told me that I was still using their network. I explained that I had changed to another service and I had canceled my contract with Consumer over a month ago. After a few months and many calls I still have not received the refund that they have said they were going to send and they were still charging me. I finally did convince them that I wasn’t using their service anymore and at least I’m not being billed anymore. As for the refund I doubt I’ll ever see that. What upsets me the most is that they wanted me to pay because it was all my fault that I didn’t follow up with them to cancel my service when I had canceled it when we switched to the new service. Now I know how they make there money by scamming it out of you at the end. My recommendation is to have a way when you do cancel the service, block them from receiving any more funds from your account.
6 years ago
MV Hamden, CT
What a nightmare! For 5 dollars more, I got unlimited calls with Verizon. and double the internet time. The software is complete junk. I got stuck in an airport late at night no Wifi and no phone support (not open) - stuck on the road with no Wifi and no GPS. I had to factory reset the phone 4 times to get it to function which looses all data on the phone. The alarm failed to go off, call forwarding failed to disengage, no text to europe twice, can't change your password without phoning in (long waits) Target did refund my money after 4 PHONES that malfunctioned. I ended up filing complaints with the FCC, and DCP in Ct . They target the elderly and if you sit home and use just the phone, fine, but if you need features or are traveling you endanger yourself by falsely relying on phone functions and becoming stranded.
6 years ago
Lucy Werner Sun City Center, FL
Advertising is all that media, The customer service is horrible, rude and disoriented people. I switched my work cell phone line in April 28, 2019. Still today 5/24/2019 I don't have the service activated. I received the sims card 7 days later, the sims card was not compatible with the phone, then they send me another sims card for the wrong line, when I inserted on the phone, inactivate both lines, I have no service at all. Still I am waiting for the right card. They customer support is careless as well clueless. I request to speak to a supervisor and was worth, she was arrogant and rude, so I am not quite sure I stay with them too long. Ah I also had to pay for the months charges.
6 years ago
Jeff Morris Brentwood, CA
I don't understand why AARP supports Consumer Cellular and J.D. Power gives it high ratings for customer service. In my experience, customer service reps' friendliness and willingness to help is exceeded by their lack of knowledge and ability to provide assistance. The ZTE Mobile Hotspot I bought from Consumer Cellular to connect to the Internet failed within a week. They sent me a new one, and that failed, too. I also went through 3 SIM cards. The ZTE Mobile Hotspot guide states that there is a 12-month warranty, but when I called Consumer Cellular, a rep and a supervisor told me that my claim was outside their 45-day risk-free trial period and refused to honor the warranty. So I'm stuck with a worthless electronic device.
6 years ago
Todd Sturgis, SD
nice people but.... I have been trying to make this work in my city and have had little success. A Consumer Cellular rep said T-Mobile would provide much better coverage in my area and when I found out it was much worse, I have been put on hold unable to reactivate my AT&T sim card because they want to call me first to confirm???? Originally stated it would be active within 24 hours. Had to call back and now I'm told about them wanting to talk to me first to confirm within I'm told 48 hours..... Stupid policy is really making it hard to get back to my only fair coverage of AT&T.
6 years ago
Knowledgable Consumer Hightstown, NJ
Terrible!! If I could give it a zero stars I would.
There is so much small print items it is to the point of misleading. Customer service is no help whatsoever, seems to take pleasure in saying no, we can't, and twisting or manipulating words to disguise unauthorized increase in cost of plans as a 'benefit'. Additionally, many important features commonly available on traditional services even prepaid, such as hotspot, are NOT available unless you buy a Consumer Cellular phone.
The data usage shown on the phone is very difference then the data usage that Consumer Cellular alleges to have been used and their effort to improperly so-called upgrade data service, falsely asserting it is to avoid overage fees. In fact, Consumer Cellular does not have any overage fees thus there are no overage fees to avoid. This advertisement is false and misleading with the intent to defraud the consumer.
Additionally, consumer cellular ignored the credit check initially successfully run for Easy Pay, and attempted to unlawfully run a second credit check upon my return to complete activation of service.
No one and customer service voluntarily supplies or offers relevant service information or account information unless asked, and then attempts to not answer or skirt around an actual answer in an attempt to avoid supplying affirmative relative service information.
After 1 month of their so-called free service promotion period, I have no desire to use such a disreputable service.
Aarp is clearly getting kickbacks as they only mimic and support only CC NOT the customer.
CC targets seniors who do not understand what their rights are and vulnerable to predatory companies which is exactly what consumer cellular is-a predatory company.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from Consumer Cellular and encourage your elderly loved ones or even not so elderly, to stay away from Consumer Cellular it's not worth the rip off and deceit that is this predatory company.
6 years ago
Mary Whitehall, NY
This company is a rip off, i would not recommend this company to anyone. I was with consumer cellular for 10 yrs never had a problem, til a week ago when i switched to spectrum amd cheaper, i paid my bill of 34.00 for the month of april, on april 12th is when i went to spectrum for cell services. Within a few days I get a bill from consumer stating i have to pay 28.00 more for the of april, of course i called consumer and ask why i got a bill of 28.00 for april when i paid this month of 34.00, they couldn't give me a reason. Told them. I am not paying another amount for April when i already paid my monthly bill. They have done this to few other's i know, I'm very happy with spectrum cellular have great plans and cheaper. For anyone looking into consumer cellular think again they will rip u off.
6 years ago
Karen Philadelphia, PA
They suck. I changed my due date for payment. The representative on the phone did not mention that they would prorate 4 days and add it to my bill. I found this out by going on line and noticed the new due date with the substantially larger amount that was due on the new date. I figured I would be ok with paying the new higher amount on the new due date as reflected on the web. However, they took money out on the 6th of March which made other items in my bank account to bounce and took my bank account to a deep negative balance. Then on the 10th (the new date) they attempted to take an amount again. There was no money there due to the negative balance so they shut the account off. When I spoke with them about it initially they could not explain why that happened. Like a good con man they got better with explaining away their transgression. "Mame if you have the copy of the bill for the new due date maybe we can help you." This is the third time burned by them. They are never wrong, fraudulent, and I hope they go out of business. Horrible customer service I believe because the large part of their client base are senior citizens and they figure they can get over."
6 years ago
Rick Thomas Carmichael, CA
Service is OK, not great. A lot cheaper than Verizon. Their billing, on the other hand, is a little draconian. If money gets a little tight and you can't make a payment right on time, they'll shut you off, even if you WERE current. I've been shut off for owing as little as $35. I also can't get downloads via text.
6 years ago
Anonymous Topeka, KS
HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE! I was trying to move a number from Straight Talk. The agent at Consumer Cellular did not do his end correctly. My Straight Talk time ended; therefore, I would have to pay another month of Straight Talk to get the phone number pulled to Consumer Cellular. There was a promo for a free month, which I LOST due to their errors. By the time my phone was set up, the promo was over. I was sent 1 SIM card that they did not even know had been sent according to their records so I had to wait for another. I spent OVER FIVE HOURS trying to talk to a live person who it ended up could not fix anything unless I paid another month with Straight Talk first. If I did not pay the additional month with Straight Talk I would lose that phone number. NIGHTMARE ON CONSUMER CELLULAR STREET. They do not have great customer service. They do not make things easy. FALSE ADVERTISING on television.
6 years ago
Diane A Denton, TX
Called In December to switch from Sprint to CC. Was told I had to pay $150 for 3 phones. I didn't have it then. Called back in February, and they advised I could only get 2 phones on payment plan? So I've called 3 times this weekend to get the 2 phones. Every time I call it's a different answer. Need credit check, which in December they didn't need? Was initially told $100, to send. Now it's $174 because you have to pay taxes on total cost of phones. Very deceptive and misleading. Their customer service reps need consistent training. One time I called, I got a new agent who kept putting me on hold? I was going to switch because they are cheaper, but at what cost? Reading these other statements, especially from children who's parents have died, really is disgraceful. I think for now, I will stay with Sprint.
6 years ago
Consumer Cellular is HORRIBLE Bell, CA
ZERO STARS! Buyer beware! I switched to Consumer Cellular and paid in full for an iPhone XR 3 months ago. Connectivity has been awful unless it's connected to WiFI, I discovered this while traveling. Phone calls in the Bay Area were dropped at least 75% of the time. Customer service has been HORRIBLE After my 12th call, and third message for a supervisor to call me and help, it was discovered I was given the wrong SIM card. This poorly trained customer service rep sent me a new SIM card in hopes of my reception improving. Per this rep, Consumer Cellular should have given me a SIM card that works with the At&T towers, instead they gave me one that works with the T-Mobile towers. T-Mobile is not readily available where I live or in the Bay Area. The new SIM card took 7 days to arrive, and again it was the wrong card. This time (14th call) the phone was totally dead. They had disconnected old card, and new card was not compatible. At this point, because I had ZERO cell service, I asked to have correct SIM card overnighted, they refused, quoting, once again, policy and procedure that was worthless in helping fix their mistake.
I am now without cell service until new SIM card arrives, and based on past experience, we don't even know if this SIM card with work. I asked if I could cancel service and switch my 3 month old iPhone to another carrier such as AT&T or Verizon. The supervisor at Consumer Cellular told me I had to own the iPhone with them for 180 days before switching carriers. Keep in mind, I paid for this iPhone in FULL, it's MY PHONE, but I am not allowed to switch carriers? I am left paying for service that does not work at all, and have to wait another 3 more months before I can leave Consumer Cellular
If you value your time, need working cell reception, and competent customer service, you will choose to take your business elsewhere.
6 years ago
Totally Bummed Anderson, IN
Well, I saw all the advertisements, and thought I would call and see what the deal was. After waiting for more than 5 minutes, I finally got a Customer Service Rep on the line. She was very amenable and fairly knowledgeable, and I ALMOST got signed up for their service. The clincher was when they asked for the last 4 of my SSN and then tried to run a Hard Credit inquiry against my credit. It didn't work She asks me for my full SSN....and hesitantly I gave it to her. She comes back and says that they can not verify my credit status, so I will have to give them my credit card and they will auto bill me. Now, I know what my credit score is (over 800) and there is no reason for them to require me to be on auto billing, so I asked to speak with a supervisor. She politely says that they can not over ride the system, and it will do me no good. So I hurriedly check my score to see of something had happened, and surprise, same old great score. Now I get to the manager. He rehashes the same thing that the lady had stated, but I insist that there is something wrong with a system that requires someone with a credit rating of over 800 to be on auto billing. I ask if that is actually a requirement, and he states it is not, that it is solely based on credit references. So I am back to why then is this happening? The supervisor then tries to put in the information in case there was something entered in error, only this time he actually asks me for my credit card information as well. Still didn't go through. It turns out that since I have "locked" my credit accounts on all three of the Credit Bureaus, and they validate against Equinox, they can't validate the credit status because they are not just running an inquiry, they are trying to do something else (what, exactly, I don't know, but the way they were running it was not a credit search, more like a opening of a line of credit, which was locked). The supervisor says, "ah, that is it. You need to lift your lock on your credit." Which I say no way. Bottom line, this whole episode left a bad taste in my mouth and I did not get their service. If this was the example of the kind of service I was going to receive, I wanted no part of it. I can't believe that I am going to say this, but I am running back to AT&T. AT&T may not have the best prices, but they at least know what the heck they are doing.
6 years ago
Anita Privett Austin, TX
Only two bars of service in my home. (I live in Austin, TX). GPS service is unreliable. You cannot count on the phone to find and display the place you want to go. Also, away from WIFI and need a definition? The phone may offer to find the information later and send you a notification when it is ready. Customer Service always has something to suggest but it doesn't help unreliability. of cell data connections.
6 years ago
Bob S West Columbia, SC
This carrier sold me their flip phone that couldn't send or receive images in a text & their tech dept said there's nothing they could do about it so I was getting ripped off paying for service they wouldn't deliver & stuck with a useless $50 phone so I quit using them. Now they're pestering me constantly for a $15 unpaid balance with collection agency threats that I twice told them I refuse to pay for crappy service but they're just too retarded to get it & won't sit down & shut up so they've got me annoyed enough now to punch back at these arrogant morons. These retards must have already spent more trying to collect this bill than it's worth. There's many other carriers way cheaper than these clowns, I wouldn't recommend these guys to anyone!
6 years ago
Dale Gruenke Sheboygan Falls, WI
Our phones and Hotspot device were purchased from US Cellular. Their phones and devices will not work on AT&T or T-mobile's network and vice versa. When we tried to switch to Consumer Cellular, none of our phones or devices worked. Their customer support staff told me to get in my car and drive close to an AT&T tower 5 miles away so the phone would work. It wasn't until we talked to US Cellular to have our numbers ported back to US Cellular that our US Cellular rep told us their equipment doesn't work with AT&T or T-Mobile, nor will AT&T or T-Mobile equipment work with US Cellular service. You would think when you contact Consumer Cellular to switch and you want to bring your own phones and devices, they would ask what service you are using to determine if you will have to purchase new phones /devices in order for their service to work. Nobody explained this when we called Consumer Cellular to switch, and neither of the two different customer support people told us about this. Extremely disappointed that Consumer Cellular would not be up front with this. It would have saved us a day of frustration trying to switch service only to find it won't work with our phones. We will stick with US Cellular as they are much better educated and offer full disclosure of the options you have with them.
6 years ago
Rebecca Schweer St. Petersburg, FL
My ATT Galaxy 8+ was stolen August 2018 and I had a year on my contract. My husband bought a S9+ from Consumer Cellular. To keep my number, I had to stay with ATT. The S9+is defective. I've done 2 master resets with Samsung, taken it to Target for Consumer Cellular employee to "fix" it and a 3rd reset that took over an hour with another employee on the phone. 6 months and it STILL stalls, shuts down, over heats and looses battery life. The refuse to do anything unless I do another master reset! I have lost contacts, photos, passwords and apps, even after backing up to cloud. This piece of garbage is unacceptable!
6 years ago
Uche Ehiogu Cameron, NC
This fraudulent company does hard credit inquiries into prospective customer's credit without their consent. They ran a hard credit inquiry even though I did not request any credit from them. So it was done without my knowing it. I found out when I checked my credit. I called and asked them why they will do this and they could not offer any good reason. To make it worse my phone service have not been operative for the last two days since I bought their service. Their technical support are absolutely mediocre, and of no help to me. I still do not have phone service. I will be switching back to my old service provider. YOU ALL HAVE NOW BEEN WARNED. DO NOT BUY INTO CONSUMER CELLULAR SERVICE!!!!
I wish I had read these other reviews.
6 years ago
Chauncey Kowalsky Vista, CA
We have been with Consumer Cellular going on 6 years. I to this date have NO clue of a bill EVER being less than $30 for EACH phone! Now lets talk "service". I phoned to buy a new phone due to the fact the phone I purchased from Consumer Cellular is a complete piece of cheap crap! Now, in the past 5 years we have had a few problems with our "supposed service" and I got so fed up with C.C. my husband handled it. I went to buy a NEW bigger badder phone and the first guy I spoke to declared I was NOT on my husbands plan! And there was NO telling this KNOW IT ALL anything, in fact , this idiot was so self- righteous, he did NOT even look at our account, had he, he would have seen the MISTAKE done by yet another guy there AT CONSUMER CELLULAR ! All he had to do was take a LOOK! But instead, this well trained brain dead fool, insisted he was NOT even going to speak to me any further! SERIOUSLY! ??? SO HE HUNG UP! THAT'S RIGHT AMERICA, this ignorant little fool hung up ON ME! So, I tried to calm my hot head down and I dialed Consumer Cellular AGAIN! This time I got a complete duplicate of the first idiot I spoke to, this time it was a female! Now I am REALLY PISSED off, this stupid company has more than 1 moron answering phones! Long story short, my husband, (we have been married over 35 years and EVERYTHING we own, have is in BOTH our names!) Well my other half got angry when I told him of what went down with C.C. and all I wanted to do was get a new phone! He called C.C. and guess who answered? The same bimbo nasty self-serving ditz I spoke to earlier whom dismissed my even being a proper customer! My husband read her the riot act and it was well deserved and she actually brought up the account, something she would NOT do when I asked her to! Let me finish this with at NO time was ANY apology entered buy consumer cellualar! Not to this date, and I want to close out our account and do business with a more professional company that actually knows what they are doing! We are going to get rid of this company and move on hopefully this week to a company that appreciates their customers!~ One last thing, our phone bill has NEVER been that $10 C.C. is constantly showing! That makes them LIARS ALSO! DO NOT stay or hire this company, they have NO clue what they are doing! And customer service! It does NOT happen with this company and all their ads on tv are just out and out lies! The 1 star is more than this nasty company deserves!
6 years ago
Debra L Jacksonville, FL
This concept is great however, watch for the fees and taxes which push the final cost up. Also, if anyone wants the flip phone and will be texting stay away. The keys have three letters on each so texting is hard. I did not know this when the phone was purchased.
6 years ago
Christy Johnson Weiser, ID
I tried this company because of their guarantee the first month free. Not only could I not get service I kept getting calls dropped when I could finally get one to go through. Do not use this company. I tried to settle this with them numerous times and they still turned me over to a credit collection agency. I had to go days without service after I tried to switch to them because they sent me the wrong sim card. The correct sim card arrived, and I STILL couldn't get service that was worth anything. They are not number one in customer service, although they make that false claim. I would not recommend this company to my dog. Their representative even told me I still had service with them after I had my number switched back to AT&T months before. I tried to explain to her I WAS NOT with their company and hadn't been for months. She said then she woud shut off my phone. I laughed and told her to go ahead. Of course it didn't work because my service was with AT&T again and had been for months! Very unprofessional of her, not to mention just rude. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, YOU WILL REGRET IT.
6 years ago
Jerome Santa Fe, NM
I have two cell phones through Consumer Cellular. When I call someone on my phone the caller id states “Cell Phone NM” which is fine with me. My wife’s phone has the name of someone (for security reasons I won’t reveal it here.). In any case when she calls someone it shows the obscure name, no one knows she is calling them, so either they don’t answer, block the number, or other reasons. It has caused problems, which could be serious. Consumer Cellular won’t listen. I called them. Stayed on the phone forever, with some idiot that didn’t belong there. He said that it would take 3 weeks to change the caller id number. That was about 6 weeks ago. No change yet. I give Consumer Cellular no stars (if I could). Looking for some other carrier.
6 years ago
Nadia Sukhova Glen Allen, VA
I needed a pre-paid phone for my mom for 3 days, went to Best Buy and got Consumer Cellular phone which was listed under pre paid phones. when I was following steps for activation, they asked me for my last four of social "to make sure no one else can access my account" ,5 minutes later I had a HARD INQUIRY on my credit. Who would've thought they will pull your credit on pre paid phone??? So I called them immediately, where they said "oh no we are not pre paid phones, we are post paid and that best buy should've never had their phones listed as pre paid". I was calling back and forth between Consumer Cellular and Best Buy with no luck!
6 years ago
Lydia Barker Castle Rock, CO
Fabulous prices. ALMOST all the service I got from AT&T at half the price. CC does not support AT&T wifi calling. Well worth the cut rate price as long as your cell tower doesn't go down! One huge negative: Unless you need the simplest of customer support, their support reps are brain dead. No help at all.
6 years ago
Kim Osprey, FL
There customer service is terrible. Staff is poorly trained. It is extremely difficult to get proper assistance with resolving problems & complaints, even with a supervisor. If you want it escalated you are given the run a round, even by the corporate office. Corporate won't provide you with a viable working number to call, but rather a line with no voice mail that no one answers. Many of the supervisors will give you the polite bureaucratic run a round by repeating themselves over and over and putting it back on you. This company should be ashamed of how poorly it treats it's customer's, including the CEO, who I emailed twice. An FCC complaint was filed and they blew them off too. Horrific company to deal with!!!
6 years ago
Annette Frisa
I don't have any issues.Since signing up with Consumer Cellular, of course my bill went up a little because of the data I was using but it leveled off.
6 years ago
Dave Hobson Gold Canyon, AZ
I agree with all of those who have posted negative comments. I always liked these guys, But not anymore.
When they send you a phone, the vast amount of paperwork includes a card telling you that there are two ways to activate your phone. You can call them and wait on rot, or go online. The kicker is, if you go online, they ask for an activation code. Where do you get the code? After vast research I learned you get the code from the box your phone came in.
Wasn’t there. I called, and after a long time on rot, was told “oh we don’t provide the code for orders shipped. You have to call in”
I asked to talk to a supervisor. That’s not possible they said. Their management is apparently shielded from the public. I was livid. It’s very very poor customer service. The employee did activate my phone. Then, I asked if I could schedule a call back from a supervisor. The rep “put in the request”, and said I should hear back in 24 hours.
Surprise, no call back. I am sure the rep just pretended to arrange the call back, and trashed my request.
I agree with others who have been amazed this company gets customer service accolades, because they are the epitome of customer no service.
Do not buy from this company!!!!!
When I have time. I will write about issues my wife had with them buying me a Christmas gift. Their promises mean nothing. And they truly don’t care.
6 years ago
Anastasia Richmond, VA
I ordered two phones with plans this afternoon. I provided my credit card info and even the last fiur digits of my social security number, which seems odd. The rep told me the order had gone through and I received an e-mail confirmation. Fifteen minutes later, another e-mail told me I must call the billing department to "verify your order". ??
I phoned, was kept waiting 15 minutes, transferred twice, and finally the billing rep told me that to "activate" my order, the company would need photocopies of:
my drivers license,
a utility bill, and
my credit card.
Note, they already had all the credit card info plus the last four digits of my social security number.
In other words,
****THESE PEOPLE ARE NOTHING BUT SCAMMERS, PERIOD. ****
It's one of the slickest scams I've come across, but a scam nevertheless.
6 years ago
Rhea Douville Paradise, CA
Consumer Cellular cut off my service for non-payment after my house burned down in the Camp Fire in Paradise. I did not get a bill, and I also did not get a notice telling me they were going to cut off service. Is it just too much to send a text to the phone I purchased from them? And for the record, I have been a customer of Consumer Cellular for many years and have never missed a payment. In the middle of calling the insurance companies, the utility companies, FEMA, Red Cross, and a whole host of other people on a long list of things to do when your house burns to the ground, I neglected to send Consumer Cellular a check for $28. A payment for a service that didn’t get service in most areas; on a phone that would not hold a charge for longer than two hours. But this phone was a lifeline to me, even though I had to drive to a Wal-Mart parking lot to use it and then drive back to my temporary housing situation to charge it.
When they cut me off, the only call I could make was to their customer service number. I was in the parking lot of a grocery store, and unless I stood in one specific spot, I would lose service, and subsequently my place in a very long line of callers. I was on hold in that spot for such a long time; I was worried about my phone going dead.
Wouldn’t you think that a company who sells phones and phone services would have a way to call people back instead of making them wait? Even the DMV has that service. The DMV!!!
So I finally get through, and the girl tells me my service was cut off for non-payment. As if $28 meant anything to me. So I said okay, let’s just get it paid right now, because I really need the claims adjuster to be able to reach me. Then I told her I wanted to pay the next month so I don’t get cut off again. I wasn’t sure where my mail went, but I was certain it wouldn’t be going to the mailbox in front of my burned out house.
I have since dropped this company as a non-service provider, but just received another bill from them for $23. When I called their customer support line, I was told that the second payment made, on the same day in the grocery store parking lot, was to reinstate service. Now, I’m getting angry. I called again and talked to a supervisor, who said that the second payment was for services because my next statement was only two days away. So the bill is for those days that were not covered by the second payment? The one that I thought would go to the next month? Now I’m confused, and I don’t care about the $23, but it speaks volumes about their touted customer service awards, which you have to listen to ad nauseam when you are on their endless hold.
Comcast and Verizon both provided free services to subscribers and non-subscribers during this devastating time.
Good job Consumer Cellular, be sure and include my $23 in your next profit statement.
6 years ago
Judith Wampole Orick, CA
SENIORS BEWARE!!! I got this phone for my terminally ill husband as he doesn't use phones much. His phone won't work as phone is dead and didn't charge no matter how many times I tried. They are aware that phone doesn't work and still being billed. Called AGAIN just to be told oh well. I cancelled the service but had to pay 29 when I just paid my full bill on November 28th how can I already owe another month plus pro-rated amount of $5.73. They are ripping off seniors. All parties need to notify the Federal Trade Commission and report this company. There are laws that protect all ESPECIALLY seniors. I'm not done with them yet. Also will be filing a claim with the Better Business Bureau for the money they took for services not rendered. Customer service is liars, flakes, uncaring, incompetent a huge waste of time as your issue was not resolved. Even when "SUPERVISOR" gets involved. The supervisor said she's was writing everything in the notes. The idiot this morning said there were no notes in there from any calls except the 12/13th call that I made AGAIN from my Verizon phone which is awesome service and great working phone's. Also if you can't use your phone they will give you credit. CC cheerfully charges whether you can use it or not. You must be proud of yourself for ripping off SENIORS . SHAME ON YOU!!!!!
6 years ago
Shelli Barnes
What I like about them is their low monthly cost compared to my previous carrier and I get unlimited calls and texts Plus the use the same towers as my previous carrier so I get the same service..
6 years ago
