Consumer Cellular

I was a long term customer of Consumer Cellular. Years and years of calling for help by those "pleasant" customer service representatives for things as simple as paying my bill to issues with phones bought through the company. They sell used phones as new and the long, long, long hold times when attempting to resolve an issue with a phone take frustration to a whole new level. They have a way of telling you more of what they can't do than what they actually can. Please, please, please do not be fooled by the new advertisements on tv. As a senior citizen, I am appalled at the lengths they are using to try to restore their reputation. I'm also very disgusted with the fact that the JD Power award has been given to them year after year. I called JD Power and they tell me that there are more positive reviews than negative... LOL have they read them? All of them? I suspect that most of the positive reviews are paid reviews. I also believe in honesty, integrity and transparency. None of which this company holds precious. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Caveat Emptor!

I was totally taken advantage of. You need to watch them like a hawk to avoid being taken advantage of. At all cost DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER for monthly payment.
I'm very disappointed in you CC. I'm going back to Verizon.

I got this phone for my now dead uncle who died suddenly and I contacted this scamming company and was shock that I have to pay for 3 months more service even though I stop my service this has never happened with the major carriers but these scam airtst are I have sent a complaint to the justice department to start a investigation

It was fine for a couple of months. Then my phone wouldn't make or take calls. No data, so no directions while driving, no music or texts. Same with my husbands phone. After many calls to CC (many hours on the phone) and trying many things, they told me I could pick either phone calls and text or data and picture texts but not both. This went on for 2 1/2 months. After more calls they got most of it worked out but still couldn't make calls sometimes and my husbands phone would only send or receive texts on wifi. So 7 months now and I had my bank charge back 2 months. They got back one month from the bank by showing that we could make some calls and text some. Then they turned off our service for the month that our bank gave us and said if we wanted it turned back on that we had to pay that month back plus a $5 late fee. I called them to try and work this out because why should I pay for the full service when only getting about 1/3 of the service? They said that since we got "some" service that they could not give us any money back. So much for their top notch customer service and great prices. Going to Mint Mobile!

Consumer cellular never tells you about the $15.00 talking fee. They only tell the so call cheap plans. And lock you into paying there phones for 2years. DONT BUY FROM THEM

Voice to text or email. Extremely Bad. Takes forever and misspells Most of the time. If you use your phone for Facebook, texting or emailing. Choose another Carrier. You get what you paid for.

They promised us the world they promised us the Moon they told us everything was good we were going to get a new phone two lines and all was good we were just waiting on the phones to be shipped after 2 days they sent an email and called us and told us that they had decided to cancel our activation for no reason at all after we spent money signed a contract with them and bought a case that we didn't need offline for $100. We still haven't got our money back from them that they got from us which is around $600. I personally think they should reimburse me for $100 case that I had bought after they told me everything was good and we had signed contracts. They renewed on their own contract for no reason. Don't be crazy or stupid enough to mess around with these people all you're going to get is a bunch of lies stay away stay away stay away stay away.btw I don't think this is legal and I intend on talking to an attorney about decrement conduct and them cancelling a signed contract for no reason.

Consumer cellur is a scam. Poor customer service, when you can get it. Automated sytem won;t take youe code, so no customer service. Not acessable to seniors who are not tech savay or can't put in a code. They wn't send. Final invoice. After repeat;y telling them that sign in. Says call. I cmceled service still auto billing me. I called my bank and deputed the charge. Very poor company a ripoff. Rude reps. Stairway!

I recently purchased a new phone and a plan from Consumer Cellular. I will admit that I appreciated being able to talk to an American and was not subjected to excessive phone robots before being connected to an actual person. My problem was that it took literally all day to activate my new phone and transfer the SIM because the first rep I spoke with, and who walked me through the process, omitted the last step, telling me everything was finished and my phone was ready to use. After she disconnected the call, I found my new phone didnt work, my old phone no longer had service, and I used my laptop to use the chat feature, where the chat rep helped me with the last step - the previous rep didn't tell me I had to scan the square on my welcome letter to start the SIM transfer. Voila! After an afternoon of this, finally my new phone works. I can't help it, I'm so tired of customer service reps who don't care; the rep I spoke to the first time seemed tired and was not listening to me, and omitting the last step was possibly just human error. What's good about this company is that they don't keep you on hold, it's based entirely in the US (and who hasn't struggled to understand the Asian accents of most customer care reps?). The prices and plans are excellent as well.

I wasn't happy with consumer Cellular but I think I was lured by their ads. I switched to another carrier and now save $30 per month for same service.

My mom has had Consumer Cellular service for a while now I believe. This problem seems to be a new one, but the issue NEVER gets resolved, which is the ultimate problem in the first place. My mom is 70, and just wants a plain, simple telephone with absolutely no frills, internet, etc. She simply just wants a phone to call and receive calls from and keeps reading articles in the AARP magazines about Consumer Cellular. The first issue that arose was from her phone not being able to go through and reach me. That problem just got resolved and now the opposite issue is happening, where when I use my cell phone to call my mom, it goes straight to; "I'm sorry, but the person you have called has a voicemail that has not been set up yet". Goodbye. Then hangs up. My mom has tried reaching customer service to help resolve these matters. She's spoken to many reps and finally just got the first issue resolved recently. Now, this is happening. I called and spoke to a woman on 1/17/24 and she tried a few things to resolve this matter for us, but still said that this issue is not on their end or my mom's phone. She also suggested that my mom purchase the "Verve Snap" phone, but all they have left are a few refurbished ones selling for $49.99. I asked my husband who works in telecommunications, and he said that there is someone that should be able to help us through CC's service. It is NOT on our end, when I am able to call everyone but my mom. This is so frustrating, especially for some of the older generations of individuals that just want "simple". That particular rep told me that the "VERVE SNAP" is actually being discontinued as well. I don't understand why no one can help us resolve this matter! I might as well convince my mom to try a different service that WILL help her and myself in the future.

Consumer cellular is a awful company they take advantage of the elderly and family who pays their cell phone bills. They were willing to let me or " qualify" me for ez pay for a $700 galaxy phone got myself but not to buy my mom a new cell after I had been thru 3 flip phones with her. Poor quality. The new flip was going to be $80. They refused to let me bundle and use ez pay for my moms new phone also claims I had to pay for a cheap flip out right. I don't get it. Spoke with super sharoya who I made clear I was cancelling service and auto pay. I even call my bank to remove them. They used a different name of consumer cell to remove my last bill for my 80 ye old mother with Alzheimer's. Now pro rating another $8 for service and the phone wasn't even working it literally blew up. I'm not paying for service when the phone was broken. Give me a break. I just spoke with them now to demand to be off auto pay. They want their $8 for a bill that doesn't come out till sept 10. They have lost their minds. I will guarantee no one being me or family or anyone I know will ever use consumer cellular. Ur a rip off claiming to help the elderly. Only that have money

I have just spent 8 hours trying to resolve a problem. It is still unresolved. Everyone at Consumer cellular is a supervisor. None of them can solve a simple problem. I just want to make an international call. That is beyond their capability. The most frequent answer I get from them is" I'm sorry, I don't make international calls". But you're my provider, don't you have someone in your organization who does?. Try calling the number and see what you get. We are not able to call out. Then give me an email address so I can send you my problem in writing? Were sorry, we don't have any email addresses. Then put me through to executive escalations. Were sorry we don't have a number for that & there is a protocol we have to follow, you first have to go through a senior supervisor. Well put one on the phone, were sorry, they have to call you back, can I schedule that call for you. How about 4:00 pm today? Sorry, they will be going home about that time. You can write us a letter. So in the 21st century, the high tech communications company want you to write a letter. They are obviously the cream of the crap. But be late on your payment and see how fast they react.

I had several phones on consumer cellular, and I have to say that within the first year I removed 3 lines and held 1 line as an emergency backup. In the one year I had the backup phone it rarely had service. We canceled the line paid off the amount owed and then 3 months later received a bill for $23.30. When I called consumers cellular, they acknowledged that in the 9 months I had no charges on my phone --because the service coverage is horrible in my area. Consumer Cellular is also the worst company if you need to make overseas calls to family it is difficult and practically non existent. Buyers beware, yes, it is relatively inexpensive, but their service is by far the worst service you can possibly have -- this is the perfect example of you get what you pay for. Pay a little more and then you can be sure to get the service you need, especially when an emergency arises.
Finally, when I asked Consumer Cellular to credit to $23.30, they refused -- to just give you a firsthand example of what their customer service is like. Buyer BEWARE before switching to Consumer Cellular

The low prices offered at the website for cellular services 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.

They don't give a s,,, about you.they don't care,they won't communicate with you unless you want to give them more money.so I would not recommend them to anyone.plus the service sucks

Since 3G was phasing out, I got new phone. Didn't need latest, greatest phone. Got Samsang 23 at reasonable price. Customer Service helped w set up. Love the low monthly price!

My father was a customer of your service I called 911 5 times while he lay dieing in my mother's arms your service blocked the call every time and when I did get a hold of them, and they started to give me the directions to save his life your service blocked the call again and dropped the call I can't help but feel my father would still be alive if I could have just done what needed to be done but I know I can't change that but you can you guys have to fix this it's wrong especially considering your service is for seniors I think that it is mandatory a senior should be able to get a hold of 911 you need to change this you can't imagine the pain and suffering that my family are going through right now I don't want anybody else to go through that because of a stupid phone

With the recent 5G upgrades to our national cell towers I recently lost cell service at the worst possible time. My sister had just died and I'm in Memphis, TN where the brutal killing of Tyre Nichols occurred. I contacted Consumer Cellular from another phone and they worked with me Endlessly and Patiently (given my emotional state) to get my Cell Service restored. Turns out I needed to upgrade my phone and once I did that, these same Awesome Representatives restored my service in minutes and even Credited my account for the time without service. I can tell you, I am not a fan of the way the gov't rolled out the 5G, but I can tell you that CONSUMER CELLULAR was Definitely up to the task! To ALL the Wonderful Associates with CONSUMER CELLULAR, You were present when I needed you the most and you Truly Delivered The Best Customer Service EVER. Please Don't Ever Change!

Every phone call I made only stayed connected for one or two minutes. Worst possible decision besides ATT you can make!
HORRIBLE CHOICE

Was with another company paying $39.71 for unlimited talk and text only. Now with Consumer, I am paying $22.31 for unlimited talk and text PLUS 1 GB of data. Helpful staff.

So me and my mother decided to order from this website so we created an account and we put an iPhone 11 we got a plan and it was 58 due today we were excited because it was so cheap after we were done with that we thought we were done they emailed her saying call them to verify it's her it took them 1 hour to to put an agent on the call and they told us to verify we gave them everything they needed and then they said call back later to do something in the account so the phone can ship so we did after that we called back and they didn't even put an agent on at all. So we had to get callback request and they didn't call back until two days later. After everything was done they told us my mom's credit score was too bad to get it after they took us that far even took the money off her card they said that just now? I do not recommend this company they are a scam and they waste your time till they come up with a problem to not get you service also my mom never had any impact on her credit because we check every month so this is a warning don't order from here!

DO NOT sign with Consumer Cellular! They are the ONLY company who charges customers for NOT using "AutoPay"! Plus they will automatically make changes to your plan WITHOUT your consent! Additionally, the don't care to listen to or follow the customer's requests. They are hard-nosed and say that they WILL NOT make any changes to how they treat their customers. I've filed complaints with the FCC and even still they do NOTHING! TAKE YOUR BUSINESS SOMWHERE ELSE!