Schizy

{ 08/26/2010 }

Kissy-kissy amicable attitude when signing up. Problem? A 180 degree change in attitude. You morph from being a desirable customer-to-be to persona non grata “go stuff yourself” attitude. Unyielding, unreasonable attitude on ANY phone problems even if the problem is immediately apparent upon receipt of the phone(s). Their favorite solution to any phone problem: “That’s YOUR phone to keep now. We will not accept a return. You must now BUY another phone”. Charge card issuer and the State Attorney General’s office did cause reversal of their ridiculously unfair attitude. They ultimately, begrudgingly, honored their 30 day return policy.
.
Remember also: There are NO ‘free’ (weekend, mobile-to-mobile) minutes. Calling your companion ‘family plan’ phone consumes double minutes.
.
As a previous contributor alluded, they DO check credit records. They checked mine. My file discloses an inquiry from Consumer Cellular!

GrandmaNtxs

{ 08/22/2010 }

1.I have been a Consumer Cellular customer for almost a year now. I visited their website to possibly change my plan. I clicked around just to get an idea of the costs of changing my plan. I was not asked to submit changes to my plan nor was there an email confirmation to let me know my plan had been changed. I was charged for the upgrade. I called and was told I had changed it. I felt, from the conversation, the charge would be waived. Not so. They didn't have any problem letting me know by email that I had the outstanding balance from the change. They use email to their convenience.
2. The next statement I got, there were charges for text messages. I don't text message with my phone due to the fact I don't have that as part of my plan. I called customer service and was told EVEN IF DON'T open text messages I am charged for them. The rep. said it was likely "JUNK TEXT MESSAGES". I have never heard of such. I guess I'll continue to use CC as my service but I'm not as pleased as when I first signed up.

Riley

{ 07/25/2010 }

I am 50+ and only wanted a cell phone for important calls and emergencies. After researching other providers I found C.C. the best deal for me. I've been with them a few months now with no problems. Here are their pro and cons.
Pros:
1. Free phone (Motorola W259)
2. Phone arrived 2 days after I placed the order.
3. No waiting on hold for Cust. Service
4. Customer Service was knowledgeable, respectful and courteous.
5. No heavy accents.
6. Monthly billing.
7. Price: $20/month for 250 minutes.
8. If I get close to my alloted minutes they send a text message so I can upgrade plan.
9. Can upgrade/downgrade plan as often as I need with no charge or penalty.
10. AT&t's Network. The only network of the major carriers that works in my area.
11. 5% discount for A.A.R.P. members.
Cons:
1. No night and weekend minutes.
2. Selection of phones is limited.
3. Extras like text messaging and web access cost extra.
4. From what I've read the Motorola EM330 is an inferior phone and easily broken.
5. They do a credit check.
6. Activation fee is a little steep-$35.00
Over all, I am very satisfied with their service.

eugene

{ 07/19/2010 }

I have been a CC customer for about a year and have no complaints. I have called them three times in that time and have received curteous and knowlegable service. MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHEN I CALL CC I TALK TO A PERSON IN THE UNITED STATES WHO CAN SPEAK ENGLISH. ENOUGH SAID.

Darthvagrant

{ 07/13/2010 }

I initiated cellular service with Consumer Cellular. On 7-9-2010 I received two Motorola EM330 cell phones. On 7-12 one phone locked up. Upon advice, I removed the battery to reboot the phone. When doing so, the battery door latch became disengaged from the phone body. I then advised Consumer Cellular of this event. I was IMMEDIATELY told :’now you’ll have to buy a new phone’. That’s a direct quote. Phone less than four days old? “The Buy a new phone” statement made at least 8 times as I worked my way up the staff levels of customer support. I was ultimately able to reinstall the battery cover latch button, and decided I had made a grave mistake of choosing Consumer Cellular, and elected to return everything per the terms of their ‘45 day return policy’.
.
Unbelievably, I was then told in no uncertain, terse terms: ‘We won’t accept the one phone back. We don’t accept broken phones for return. You can keep that phone, it’s yours now’.
.
The phone WAS NOT ‘BROKEN’ ! I had never described the phone as ‘broken’, only that the battery cover latch had become disengaged. I had already managed to successfully reinstall the latch release button.
.
Their oratory during the sales pitch was filled with accolades of self-praise as to what a great service they provided, how they were the “no argument” cellular provider. ‘We’re different’.
.
Different they ARE! I have never witnessed such a Jekyll / Hyde transformation of any entity in my life. The mood went from ‘kissy-kissy’ (for lack of better term) to outright acerbic, rude, and irresponsible dialogue in the transition from sale to service issue.
.
Actually the Motorola EM330 was a poor choice, being cheaply made and overly fragile. Doubly so when dealing with a cell provider with the post sale policies of Consumer Cellular.

Blake

{ 06/29/2010 }

This review is here probably because they offer a prepaid and a bill statement monthly option, or so it is for me. I've had my service for about 2 years now. No complaints at all.

I like that you can select online at their website, what plan you would like and in the event of going over, you can easily upgrade to the next tier without penalty. I have a basic home phone with no long distance and I appreciate the service and mobility they provide with no committed contracts.

Gus Janeway

{ 06/27/2010 }

For a communications company, their absolute worst skill is...communication. It takes a lot of mistakes and shoddy service to get me angry, but consumer cellular has managed to truly piss me off. It is now three months since I canceled my service, packed the phone and sent it back to them, yet they are still sending me "account delinquent" notices despite repeated, polite attempts to remind them of the situation.
I thought this would be a simple, low-cost, short-term solution for us, but when the phone arrived it did not pick up a signal at out house. This is a common problem for AT&T cell users in our area, so when i called Consumer Cellular they said that they did, in fact, use the AT&T cell towers. The person I spoke with was friendly and said it would be fine if I just sent it back, and that he would cancel the service right away, so I thought all was well. Then came the relentless notices, unabated by my replies explaining the situation. I have no idea how much longer this will last, but I am truly fed up with having to deal with this company.

Happy Missourian

{ 06/05/2010 }

Initial receipt of phone fast, transfer of number immediate, voice quality excellent, phones cheap, no contract. Added line competitively priced. "Extra mile" customer service - 2nd phone mailed to daughter at vacation location.
Service reps answer phone almost immediately, speak native American English, and try to be as helpful as possible. Only downside for heavy users is charges to both phones for mobile-to-mobile(no free mobile-to-mobile), and use of AT&T towers and backbone - AT&T has a knack for screwing up its network, as noted extensively in current (June 2010) tech press and blogs. Overall, very satisfactory service, competitively priced, with customer service that shames AT&T into bottom place.

Joel B.

{ 05/25/2010 }

Sign-up was a breeze! The phone arrived in 3 days, and activation was almost immediate. Had a little problem getting voicemail setup and the web access working, so I called the toll-free number and the agent immediately identified the problem and fixed it - had something to do with transferring my old number from Sprint.

This is an excellent service for "occasional" voice, text and web users. If you're a heavy user, you're better served with an unlimited service carrier.

Rev

{ 05/14/2010 }

Just because BBB rating is high doesn't mean that Consumer Cellular is doing their job or offering the greatest service. Reps are not knowledgeable; their response to the fact that one of their phone offerings called "Doro" which was not free may I add, automatically ate up my minutes due to its design was "Looks like you need to sign up for a plan w/more minutes." I was flabbergasted--their service is not cheap as it is. They do nothing for folks 50+ like they claim they do. Texting should be unlimited for the amount of money paid & it is not--there's packages for texting charges & there's no over-head for any cellullar company for this. Another huge problem w/CC is there is no in-coming call log. I lost many calls due to this issue. When I asked the rep whether it was the phone itself or the service she couldn't give me an answer. They are soaking 50+ individuals. I was told there were no credit checks for securing service w/CC. Just because CC is a member of BBB doesn't mean anything when these types of issues are going on with this service. There are less expensive deals out there. Right now I have a "Doro" phone that is in excellent condition however, it is of no use to me as no matter where I secure it with the case on mind you, it will activate & eat up my minutes due to the flat design. Thirty days is not enough time to make an a decision as to whether a phone/service is working for an individual. What good is no contract with all these problems?

angrey costomer

{ 05/03/2010 }

i got a pree paid phone card added it to my phone yesterday befor my time was up,today they turn my phone off i have been tring to get ahold of a coster service rep. since 8a.m. today, one lady answrerd after two and a half hours she hangs up on me and i have not been able to reach anyone since i have been wating on the phone for hours i thank they should treat thire costomers with more respect i give onley one stat becouse that was as low as it would go im verry disappointed in the service i have recived to day

They were the best

{ 03/19/2010 }

I resently called CC customer service to discuss my account and I was told by the rep that I am not an authorized user. I explained, well I tried too, but she told me she could not give me any information and I needed permission from the account holder. Again I told her that I was and had been using and discussing this account since we opened it in March 2008. There are two numbers on this account. If she would checked further she would have seen I was on the account as well as my wife. But I guess that was too much work for her to do.
I get an email back from them stating that my wife had called, as I requested, and I was added as an authorized user. How could I have been an unauthorized user for the past two (2) years? I take exception to being labeled as such. Customer service has gone down hill and I'm thinking of changing service.

Al

{ 03/17/2010 }

I have my mom on Consumer Cellular. I don't have any complaints with them. But I think I'll change her service. I've tried a few others, and I can get just as good for a cheaper price where she lives (south of St Louis about 50 miles). I could put her on T-Mobile prepaid and give her more access while spending less.

Country Girl

{ 02/04/2010 }

I have been with Consumer Cellular for 4 months and have had very good service. One time I saw that my minutes were high so I called and increased my minutes for that month. I didn't get any penalty for going over and the rep on the phone was very helpful and pleasant to work with.

Jim

{ 01/24/2010 }

I was all set to sign up. But the sales rep (at their toll-free number) couldn't tell me anything (and I do mean "anything") about their phones. All I wanted to know is what type of GSM phone I would get -- quad band, tri band, etc. This is pretty important. So I'll just find a different service. The lackadaisical attitude of thier sales rep fit with negative comments I've seen on other blogs. Too bad.

Happy

{ 10/29/2009 }

Consumer Cellular has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Contrast that with some of the other networks.

Relax Friends

{ 10/21/2009 }

Some of the other providers on this list are not prepaid either. Really, this review list is for no-contract plans. But yes, Consumer Cellular does conduct credit checks.

anonymous

{ 10/17/2009 }

Why is this review even here? Consumer Cellular is not a prepaid company, and they do require a credit check.