Complaint Review: Cricket Wireless

Cricket Wireless has been advertising for months that customers should come into their stores to receive a free new 4G SIM card which would afford customers a better service.  After many months and a few text messages from Cricket Wireless, I finally decided to get better service, not that I wasn't already completely satisfied with the service and rates I was receiving which I often boasted about.

On my visit to the store to receive my new SIM on January 16, 2015 I also noted that there was a current promotion for a "FREE phone". I was required to purchase a Nokia Lumina 635 for $74.99 and receive a full REBATE after using the phone with my new SIM card for 30 days.  After much assurance from the Cricket representative that I would receive my rebate, I decided to proceed with the purchase, afterall, I thought I had nothing to lose.  The representative at the store prepared all the paperwork for the rebate, placed it in an envelope, advised me that everything placed in the envelop must remain there and that the only thing I was required to do was place a stamp on the envelope and post it.

During the 30 days, I returned to the store a number of times because I realized that my phone was initally not receiving or was able to send text messages to some models of the IPhone.  I assume this affected the newer model phones, since I do not believe there was any missed communication between my husband, who uses an IPhone 3, and I.  My friends and even a representative at the stored realized that there was infact a problem after testing the service on newer IPhones.  I was advised by the representative that efforts would be made by him to resolve this issue on my behalf, however to date, this issue remains unresolved.

I anxiously awaited the date of my rebate so that I could be rid of this problematic phone but after 30 days had passed and the Cricket Wireless Rebate status site had indicated a "Not Compliant" issue for my claim, I returned to the store to find out what the problem was and I was told that the waiting period was 45 days.

On Mon 02 Mar 2015, I received communication from Cricket Wireless that my rebate request was declined, reason: Migrated Account.  I called the rebate center to find out what that meant and they indicated that because I already had a cricket account, I wouldn't be eligible for the rebate as the promotion applied only to persons switching to cricket or obtaining a new account from Cricket.  Did none of the three(3) representatives present at the store who assisted me in various aspects of these transactions know this?  Why did they proceed to prepare a rebate for me knowing fully well that I wasn't entitled?  Until my current plight, I continued to praise the efficient customer service I received....was it too good to be true?  It most certainly was!

After hours of calls to the Cricket Wireless Rebate Center, the Cricket Wireless Customer Service, a visit back to the store (as suggested by the Customer Service Representative) and another call back to the Customer Service Department, I am no closer to receiving a rebate or my money refunded for a phone I will not be able to continue using.  My theory is that Cricket has sub standard phones that they need to be rid of and use so called "promotions" to trap individuals into purchasing them, using their representatives to mislead customers and hoping that persons will breach some aspect of their stringent policy, such as "45 day of usage"  so that they can decline a refund.  

Since my complaints, the Rebate Policy which precluded me receiving a rebate for this particular promotion have been read and played to me a number of times. The rebate toll free number happily advises about the conditions for a rebate.  I wish they had appraised their own representatives of these policies before putting them in a store to influence customer decisions or to make it store policy for prospective customers to read the terms and conditions before purchasing goods and services (REALLY!?)

I want my money back..  I believe their actions were deliberate, misleading and was a strategy to "smartly" pass on the cost of junk merchandise to customers. I will no longer be a Cricket Wireless customers and all my commendation have been replaced by condemnation.  Stay away from Cricket Wireless!