Consumer Cellular

Dear Revdex.com,
Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondI’m sorryif Ms*** received any misinformation or there was confusion regarding her request to unlockthe iPhoneIn order to unlock an iPhone it has to be active on our service for at
least daysAfter 180days, the phone can be unlocked as long as it is paid for in full and the account balance is zero (nothingpast due and the final invoice has been paid on a cancelled account)
There is currently an invoice of $that will be due 12/1/for the billing cycle that ran from10/10/through the cancellation date of 11/7/This account was closed before the iPhone had beenactivated for days, however once the final invoice is paid we will go ahead and unlock the phone.The payment would be collected automatically with the credit card on file on 12/1, however if Ms.*** would like to pay the invoice sooner she can certainly do that to unlock the phone nowOncewe have processed the carrier unlock, the customer does have to connect the phone to iTunes tocomplete the unlock processI will monitor the account for payment and have the unlock processed atthat time
Sincerely,
JESSICA H***CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALISTT F 503.675.8989Corporate.Resolution@ConsumerCellular.comwww.ConsumerCellular.com

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
To put my problem in a better perspective, I wrote five letters (January 8, 21, 29, February 8and 11th) to Consumer Cellular in a period of one month, to both their CEO and their ConsumerDepartmentOn December 19th I received their Doro phone which they had suggested that IpurchaseThe phone came without the Sim card installedAt the time I did not even knowwhat a Sim card was nor did they inform me that the phone would be delivered to me withoutthis cardI called them and they assured me that they would explain in detail how I shouldinstall it.I was unable to do it, in fact the card broke in half while I attempted to follow their instructions.I made it known that I wanted another phone sent to me with the Sim card installedI wasnever able to use the Doro phoneFor a time I had no access to any cellular phoneDespitethis they refused to send me another phone, and my old Motorola phone did not have anynumbers since they had transferred my numbers to the unusable new phoneThis all occurredat the worse time- the cold weather, the snow and while my brother was hospitalized almostlosing his life while I had no phone to call him.I am years old and suffer from an autoimmune illness and have a heart condition.explained to them that my hand is not flexible and that I was not able to insert the Sim card, inresponse, they had a collection individual call to leave a message.My brother was hospitalized on December 17th and from that hospital went to *** ***hospital, where he remained until he was ambulanced to the rehab place which he left onFebruary In essence, he was away from home close to two months.It is well known that Consumer Cellular's sales volume was mediocre prior to their associationwith AARPThey have benefited and made millions from seniors who through advertisementsin AARP's brochures and other materials were suggested/directed to Consumer's phones
Neither the CEO nor their staff responded to my January 8, 21, 29, February and 11th letters.When I called, their employees just told me to go to TargetsThis is alii had to hearI was todrive in cold, icy weather, which I never do, when I was under unsurmountable stressAlii hadtime for was to take the railroad to visit my brotherNeither Jason, Justin, Dana, Samantha aswell as the other Consumer staff that I spoke with made any attempt to assist meTo give youan example, I waited minutes to speak with Samantha, and Samantha did not seem to haveany record of my conversation with DanaI then waited another minutes for her to getemails from her counterparts regarding my past contacts with Consumer CellularIn effect, theconversation ended as I mentioned above, that I was not getting a phone with a sim cardinstalled.I expended $plus, to mail their Doro phone back, or at almost the price that I was chargedfor their useless phoneFurthermore, I was still being billed for getting email messages which Inever had or asked to have on my old Motorola phone, which I had long instructed them tocancelI compare the Consumer staff that I spoke with, to car salesmen.I started taking Xarelto for my heart condition as a result of their treatment during a difficultperiodIn view of the above, I feel that you should make this public
***Please see attached***Sincerely,*** ***

I am unable to locate a customer with the information providedI will need the cell phone number or account number that was with Consumer Cellular

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
No where on their website does it show that the phone is sold locked
No where is it stated that you may not have the phone unlocked until six months after signing upTherefore, you can not in fact cancel the service without in fact getting a SEVERE penalty since the phones purchased at a cost of over are unuseable on any successive service
To not clearly state that the phones are sold as locked is deceptive when on the same web page as the phone is offered it states Try us risk-free with our day guarantee
4.Although they "do not state that our phones are unlocked, they never state that they are locked which is something that is critical to inform the consumer
The statement that "The unlocking of a phone is a separate item from a contact" without question is never communicated in any way by consumer cellular
Early termination fees by other companies are clearly statedConsumer Cellular obviously does not communicate in ANY way that the phones are locked
Unlocked Apple Iphiones of the same model at the same price are available from numerous companies including Apple and Amazon among others
The statement " We have company policies as well as agreements with Apple that we will not unlock phones before a certain amount of time" is never stated in on their web site or other communications available to the consumer
Clearly the unreasonableness and refusal to unlock the phone serves as a penalty forcing me to stay with Consumer Celllar or to lose my investment in the phones by switching carriers
Reception is a problem but more so is the ability to communicate with their customer service operation which literally can be holding on the telephone for service up to an hour or more for each contactI can docuent the inordinate hold times
I wish to resolve the issue amicably, but clearly it would appear that the company wishes to penalize meI have offered to pay six months service ir order to leave their "no risk" service but this offer has been refused
Sincerely,*** ***

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: Regardless of the cause, the error is still occurring, and the same potential for people being overcharged, as explained in my original complaint, still exists. It was four days into the billing cycle. I did not receive any notice whatsoever from Consumer Cellular that this was a "bill run" problem and/or that my account-usage details would be adjusted. I have no way of knowing if it would, in fact, have been adjusted had I not called to complain. I would like to see this problem corrected so that accounts are not automatically updated during the billing cycle, or any other time, when they shouldn't be. At the very least, it is the responsibility of Consurmer Cellular to make consumers aware of this problem, the need to monitor their accounts during the "bill run" or any other time this "glitch" occurs, and to let Consumer Cellular know if their accounts are in error
Sincerely,
*** ***

Dear Revdex.com, Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondWe spoke to Ms*** by phone on 12/when she called in to customer service and we called her on 12/in response to an email she sent to customer serviceAfter receiving
notice of this complaint we called Ms*** again today to ensure the issues have been properly addressed. We are sincerely sorry Ms*** experienced long hold times when she has recently calledAll of our customer service phone numbers lead to the same phone system and call queues which are answered by a skilled representative in the order in which they are receivedDuring the times our callback system is enabled, a caller retains their place in queue and receives a callback from an agent without having to remain on the lineDepending on staffing and call volume, our callback system is not enabled at all times. Consumer Cellular is growing rapidly and we’re training new representatives as quickly and thoroughly as we canDuring periods of high call volume, if a customer is unable to wait we can also be reached for non-urgent issues by email at [email protected] the event of an issue that needs immediate attention, holding for a customer service agent will receive the quickest response. Regarding the battery issue Ms*** has experienced with her phone, it sounds like the issue has been addressed and the phone is now working properlyThe phone Ms*** currently has was purchased about years ago, so we recommend replacing the phone if the battery issues continueFor future needs, customer service can be reached at or any of our toll free phone numbers. Sincerely, JESSICA H*** CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALIST * *** * *** [email protected] www.ConsumerCellular.com

Revdex.com Complaint ID *** * *** (Customer # ***)Dear Revdex.com,Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondOn9/2/Ms***’s data plan was automatically upgraded from 500MB to the 1.5GB plan due to herusage levelsThe billing
cycle in which this data was used ended on 9/11/and the new cycle began on9/12/The second notification of automatic upgrade was on 9/15/and occurred during the “billrun” period on the customer’s accountThis is the period of time in which the final usage from theprevious bill cycle is reported and the customer’s invoice generatesAt the time of the bill run, thecustomer had already lowered her data plan back down to the 500MB plan since her bill cycle hadended, however our system automatically upgraded the data plan to correct plan so it could process theinvoice for the previous cycleWe understand why this would be confusing and are working to build inadditional logic to make this bill run process run more smoothly.Thanks for letting us know about this situation; we also appreciate that we can go back to review the callwith the agent so they can better explain this to customers going forwardPlease let us know if we canassist you further.Sincerely,JESSICA H***CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALISTT F [email protected]

Dear Revdex.com,Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondMr.*** spoke with one of our agents recently and his first invoice has been waivedHis account iscurrently at a zero balance.In regards to sending a new SIM, I will have one of my lead
technicians reach out to Mr*** to assistwith either getting the current one active, or ordering a new one.Sincerely,TINA G***CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALISTT F 503.675.8989Corporate.Resolution@ConsumerCellular.comwww.ConsumerCellular.com

Dear Revdex.com, Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondFor us to waive the $late fee, the customer must drop the credit dispute with their banking institutionMr. *** was advised of this in NovemberWe never received
notification from the bank that the dispute was dropped. Although Mr*** is responsible for the amount owed, as a courtesy I have cleared the remaining balance from the account and the customer is now at a zero balance. Sincerely, TINA G*** CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALIST T F 503.675.8989 [email protected] www.ConsumerCellular.com

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and even though I am not 100% satisfied, I am closing the complaintSincerely, *** ***

Revdex.com *** *** ***Dear Revdex.com,Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondThankyou for providing the IMEI of the phoneThe unlock code is ***.Please note that we cannot guarantee that one of our phones will work on any network other thanConsumer Cellular’s.Sincerely,TINA G***CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALISTT F

ar Revdex.com, Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respond. In order to unlock an iPhone sold by Consumer Cellular, we require the phone to be paid for in full, the account it was purchased on to be in good standing with no past due balance,
and the phone to have been used on our service for at least daysWe would also need to confirm with the original purchaser that the phone is being unlocked with their permissionWith the information provided, I can’t tell if any of those requirements are met by the phone that Mr. *** has purchased. I am sorry that Mr*** has been inconvenienced, if he would like to provide the iPhone’s IMEI number I can do some additional research and see what options we can provideI hope that Mr*** will also consider this from a different perspective and understand that we have these processes in place to protect our customers and the equipment that our customers purchase from usUnfortunately, it is not uncommon for a high dollar value phone to be sold fraudulently and we then receive requests to unlock phones that were lost, stolen or sold without permissionBecause of these reasons, we do not typically unlock phones for someone who did not purchase the phone from usIf this phone can be unlocked, we will work with Mr. *** and our customer to do so

Revdex.com:I am satisfied with the humane response finally reached between Consumer Celular and me (a customer) It is difficult to write guidelines for all possibilities and to fit the trouble shooting process into what seems the best solution, albeit the expectation is for the phone to malfunction within hours as specified to validate and apply the warranty An intermittent problem cannot be expected to reoccur within the hours as given to the customer to call back I will trust Consumer Cellular management to modify their current inflexible guidelines on requiring a problem to reoccur within the hour window of opportunity to call back.
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
Sincerely,
*** ***

Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondThe phone number ending *** was added 2/17/and cancelled on request on 2/21/The area code line ending *** was added on 3/14/cancelled on 3/14/when the correct mobile number
was added to the account in its placeBoth of these lines were billed on one invoice, number #***. The charges for these two lines were $additional line fee ***, $additional line fee for ***, plus a number of percentage based taxesThere is also a $surcharge for each line for the operational compliance feeThe operational compliance fee is a flat surcharge per active line of service regardless of any other factors on the account. We responded to an email from Ms*** on 3/31/and the following credits were applied: $+ taxes, totaling $2.21, and $+ taxes, totaling $The total charges credited on 3/31/were $for the additional line fees plus taxesThe operational compliance fee is not credited by default because typically it is a valid charge if the additional line was active for any portion of the monthOnce Ms*** brought this oversight to our attention, the account was escalated to the billing department to have the additional credit appliedThis was completed on 4/3/The final adjusted balance on this invoice is $which is due 3/5/

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***Many times deception is not worth the aggravation of pursuing any furtherI will keep this phone and pay the amount requested, but I will never refer them to anyoneCase closed
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com *** *** ***Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondOn7/18/we did credit *** *** $towards her data usageThe data usage is valid, as are thecharges, and no further credit is due to the
customer.Sincerely,TINA G***CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALISTT *** F 503.675.8989Corporate.Resolution@ConsumerCellular.comwww.ConsumerCellular.com

Dear Revdex.com,
Thank you for forwarding this responseI spoke to Mr*** today to verify some information andobtain the last four digits of his social security numberI am working with our billing manager to reachout to EquifaxWe will follow up with Mr*** directly once we receive a response from Equifax.If Mr*** did not already follow the specific dispute process outlined in my last response, we kindlyrequest that he do so as this may assist with a resolutionEquifax’s process typically resolves this type ofissue, however, if that is the process he followed where he was referred back to us please disregard thisrequestThank you for contacting Consumer Cellular
Sincerely,JESSICA H***CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALISTT F 503.675.8989Corporate.Resolution@ConsumerCellular.comwww.ConsumerCellular.com

Dear Revdex.com, Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondWe contacted Mr*** and verified that the issue sounds like a defective deviceWe have set up a warranty replacement for his phoneThe replacement phone shipped today and should arrive in
three to five business daysThe replacement will come with a prepaid mailer to send back the defective device and original charger; this needs to be received within daysAs long as the returned device does not show any signs of physical damage or water damage, this will be an even exchange under warrantyIf the device is damaged, that would void the warranty and the phone would be returned to the customer and the account would be billed for the replacementIf we can be of further assistance please let us know

Dear Revdex.com, Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondA Doro SmartEasy phone was purchased on 6/13/for $plus tax, a total of $On 5/23/17, we were contacted by *** *** who reported that the phone was warm and
wasn’t turning onThe agent recommended troubleshooting and gave recommendations for chargingOn 5/25/we spoke to *** who indicated the battery was lasting to hours starting at 92% chargeIt was explained that is within limits for a smartphone and at that time the phone was working, so the call ended. The issue was reported again, so a warranty replacement was set up on 5/We shipped the customer a replacement at no charge pending return of the original phone in good condition within days. During the call, the supervisor setting up the warranty replacement advised Mr*** that if there is any sign physical damage including dents, dings, scratches or anything like that the warranty would be rejected and they would be charged for the replacement phoneThe Supervisor also asked if there had been any water damage or extreme heat and Mr*** indicated there was no damage of any kind. In a separate attachment, I’ve included three photos taken in our office when the phone was returned to usThere is a large crack on the lower left of the phone, which indicates the phone has suffered damage of some kind and the warranty is voidThe damaged phone was returned to the customer on 6/6/and the account was billed for the replacementBecause the account was on automatic payments as requested by the customer, the balance due was charged to the card on file on 6/7/Mr. *** contacted us on 6/and we agreed to refund the payment to allow additional time to pay for the phone charge. In order to offset the charge to the account, the customer can return the replacement phone that was sent to them as long as it is still in like-new conditionWhen that phone is received and inspected, we would reverse the charge from the accountAt this time, the customer has two phones and has only paid for oneTo set up a return, please contact us at [email protected] the replacement phone is not returned, $will be billed to the customer’s credit card on file on 7/9/17. Sincerely, JESSICA H*** CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALIST T F 503.675.8989 [email protected] www.ConsumerCellular.com

Revdex.com *** *** ***Dear Revdex.com,Thank you for contacting us regarding this complaint and allowing the opportunity to respondIt is theresponsibility for the customer to check their invoices and alert us to any issues immediately, howeverwe do recognize that the line was not cancelled and
there wasn’t any usageMr*** has beenprovided credits just recently towards the additional line cost in the amount of $I have alsowaived a late fee in the amount of $and in addition will be refunding his most recent payment of$It may take up to weeks to see the $post back to his card.Sincerely,TINA G***CORPORATE EXECUTIVE RESOLUTION SPECIALISTT F [email protected]