Magic
Tulsa,#2UPDATE Employee
Mon, December 06, 2004
Debbie: "(Since Cricket is a PRE-pay service)...if you Dont pay you dont get service." Magic: We already cleared up the Pre-pay subject about Cricket. VERY FEW customers of Cricket still have Pre-pay/pay-in-advance accounts. What I want to address is the last half of that above sentence. If I'm not mistaken, I don't know ANY cell phone service that you can NOT pay for and still have service month and after month. The ONLY time that MIGHT happen is if you are on a service CONTRACT/AGREEMENT. Sometimes other cell phone companies will let you rollover your bill month after month. Why? Because you know about that "early termination fee" if you decide not to pay for your service. That way, if you decide not to pay, they'll charge you that fee IN ADDITION TO what you owe them, and in some contracts, they even include the prorated phone cost for the amount of time that you didn't fulfill in the contract/agreement you made. So really, Cricket is NOT as bad as you may think. Remember, there are NO MORE contracts with Cricket's service. I think I understand what you mean by your statement, but I'm addressing it from a purely literal standpoint, so please don't get offended. As for the check, we can ALWAYS do a payment research for the payment if it hasn't reached your account in 10 days after you sent it off by mail, and if the payment is found, we will gladly waive any late/reinstatement fees associated with the payment.
Magic
Tulsa,#3UPDATE Employee
Sun, December 05, 2004
First of all, I apologize for all the trouble you've had with your service. I would call the rebate service center at 1-888-326-6178 to see what they can do concerning your rebates. We can then take a look at the account and do payment researches to see when payments were received/posted to the account. As for payment options, you have quite a few. I'll expalin the free options up to the "fee" options: 1) FREE - pay through our automated system using a check or major credit/debit card (just follow the prompts given), or on the Cricket website (www.mycricket.com)...posts within 15-30 minutes to your Cricket Account. 2) $3.00 - pay at any Authorized Payment Location. Posts within 30 min. - 1 hour (sometimes up to 24 hrs) to your Cricket account. 3) $5.00 - Pay at a Full Service/Retail Cricket Store (that takes payments) or through a Customer Service Representative at the Customer Service Center (611 from cell phone, or 1800CRICKET or 1866CRICKET). Jack is also correct that Cricket is NOT a pre-paid service anymore. We USED to have pay-in-advance accounts, but we did away with that almost 2 years ago. Only about 5% of our customers still have these types of accounts. All new accounts or accounts activated or reactivated in the last 2 years have become post-pay accoounts. If we were TRUE "pre-paid" wireless, we would make you buy pre-paid cards for service. In essence, we are a month-to-month service, like that of "nationwide" wireless carriers, but with the main feature of landline service: unlimited local calling.
Jack
Phoenix,#4UPDATE Employee
Fri, September 24, 2004
Hello-- Didn't want to split hairs; some of the treatment you have received sounds terrible. But, wanted to clear up a common misconception: Cricket is not a pre-pay/pay-in-advance service. I see a lot of reports on here purporting, "Because Cricket is pre-pay..." this or that, but it's a little more complicated. If you have Activated/Reactivated service, or moved from city to city in the last two years (almost), you pay for your service at the end of the month, after you have used it. If you have maintained your service over two years, you may still pay in advance. Also, I understand problems with billing. There are, however, other options. If the first money order order you sent arrived late, maybe a money order is not the best mode of payment. You could try a payment location, which posts your payment within 24 hours. Another common complaint is the "high" cost of phones, and difficulty with the rebate. While I understand that some customers truly deserve the rebate and have trouble receiving it, many do not read the terms of the rebate closely before submission. Read the terms carefully. There are several things that have to be done to qualify for the rebate, as with any rebate. On the "high" cost of phones as compared to other carriers; Other carriers ordinarily require you to commit 1 - 2 years in exchange for the phone. That's a guarantee that the company can count on 1 - 2 years of revenue, under penalty of an exorbitant termination fee. Cricket does not require you commit for ANY length of time; it would not be in their interest to discount the phone for someone that may cancel the service in two months, or be unable to keep up a monthly payment. All of that said, I hope your troubles are resolved.