Complaint Review: Cricket Cell and Broadband

My complaint with Cricket is not with cell usage, as that has been working satisfactorily.  It is the wifi broadband, the complete lack of customer service, and their billing practices, which border fraud.

I paid for and received a modem promptly.  I set it up, it worked great for ONE day, and over the next two days, progressively got worse until it would take an hour to download a 2-minute youtube video.  I stopped using the modem and immediately decided not to pay for this service again.  It's not a contract, I'm allowed to do that.  There are lots of internet warnings from previous Cricket wifi customers, but I didn't review them til too late.

I am moving to Japan within 3-6 months and I couldn't renew a 2-year contract with AT&T, my previous carrier.  In retrospect, I should have stayed with them but they were almost as bad and I left.   

My bill should have been thus:  $35 for cell, and $55 for broadband.  On the day the bill was due, I paid $35 and they suspended my account the next day.  After I realized this, I went on mycricket.com and my bill was now $127.  So, the cell portion was paid for, but since I had not paid for broadband, as they "bundled" it when I didn't request this, they suspended everything.  Where the extra $37 comes  from, I couldn't tell you.

Now, with a creditable company, you simply dial up customer service and they fix the issue.  Not so fast!

There is no customer service.  Not telephonically, anyway.  They want you in person, in one of their stores so they can brow-beat you into submission. 

I realize that Cricket is about as low as you can get as far as cell carriers.  But all I wanted was wifi.  They got me by beating AT&T's monthly price for GoPhone.  If I'd known they were as bad as this, I would've stayed with my previous carrier.  The only reason I considered them is they've been great with my daughter's phone.  And there it is.  They're just good enough for kids, not adults.  STAY AWAY!!