Phones for Consumer Cellular

[krishof1]

I’m interested in signing up for Consumer Cellular, but don’t want to be locked into one of the four cell phones that they provide. I called their service line and that person told me that I MUST use a phone provided by Consumer Cellular.

Is this true or just propaganda? Does anyone use Consumer Cellular with a phone that was NOT provided by Consumer Cellular. Are you using your own phone bought from eBay or from some other online service?

[UncleHams]

Originally Posted by krishof1

I’m interested in signing up for Consumer Cellular, but don’t want to be locked into one of the four cell phones that they provide. I called their service line and that person told me that I MUST use a phone provided by Consumer Cellular.

Is this true or just propaganda? Does anyone use Consumer Cellular with a phone that was NOT provided by Consumer Cellular. Are you using your own phone bought from eBay or from some other online service?

Re: Consumer Cellular

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I wll be happy to advise you as I am a former employee there. First off its not a bad deal if you NEVER go over your minutes. They back date plans so if you call in after you went over, you can change and it will then just be your usage out of your normal plan.

They will require you to at least pay a 35 dollar activation fee, which pasy for their cheepest phone. You can take the sim card our of it and use it in your unlocked phone... They won't tell you that or advice you to do it.


A few things listed are both pros & cons as well as good and bad aspects both related to service, hiring practices and the people you are talking to on the other end of the phone.







A few things though moral wise I have quams about. They do not do back ground checks on their employees. Your FULL social security number is displayed 60% of the time as well as FULL credit card information exp date etc.

If you have a credit score of 550 or less you won't be allowed to have their service and a credit score of 550 to 599 will net you a year of being on Auto pay which you must then provide a debit or credit card that your monthly bill will come out of.

Most of their client base is seniors who care little to use the phone outside of needing to call AAA or report a drunk driver via 911, both free calls.

The owner is pretty generous with the employees and they celebrate almost every ones birth day with a cake etc. Theres min office politics but plenty of gossip from the 40% divorced over weight women who are jelous to see others who are in happy relationships


Anyhow I no longer work there due to a moral issue in which a customer had her friend pay her bill with a cc.

This CC was then added as the auto pay card in which her friend did not authorize. Note her friend was using one of the 3 phones on the acct.

Anyhow her friend called in to have her card removed and also read the full number to me. I was going to do it but I checked with billing AkA the owners wife and she told me to leave it and that although the lady was not authorized to go over the acct, she was still resposible since she was using one of the phones.

This sounded wrong because A) She was never ON the acct as an authorized user B) She was never informed that her friend ( the acct holder) had bad credit and that her one time payment would net her credit card to replace the account holders old declined card.

Anyhow I followed the card holders request even after billing said to leave it. The decision was simple, I put my self in that ladies place.


Anyhow I don't want it to be a full rant, Consumer cellular is a growing family business with failry decent ethics ( aside from my rant) I'm not sore since I just got hired at comcast which pays 16.00 an hour VRS the 11 I was making.

#Lastly a few tips in dealing with consumer cellular. 99% of the reps will take the time to help you.

#ALL and I mean ALL calls are recorded and heald for 30 days/

#They will ALWAYS try to assist you before sending you to a supervisor.

#They pay more for their cell phones than they sell them to you for.. After all they make their money on service, not cell phones.

#If you threaten to cancel service over a disputed overage ammount, they will almost always try to rerate the plan, if not ask for a supervisor.

#If you ever have a porting issue, ask to speak to the only lady in porting, she knows EVERYTHING!!!

# They do not carry any wireless services other than Txt msging and regular cell service. This means no internet.

# Consumer cellular is a reseller of Cingular. This means they have an account with cingular and resell plans.

#Every rep has access to email. Although email CAN be screened by the network admin, its never screened.

# Reps are told to when taking payments verify only the last 4 digits of the Credit card number, although the whole thing is visable, they won't tell you that so you have a false sense of security.

( THIS, combined with the fact they do NO credit checks OR background checks may leave a sour taste in your mouth. ) I can prove they don't They also have hired people with out checking the work references..

I can also prove they have in the past hired convicted felons who were convicted of Felony Theft

The have though started doing ____ testing.





In conclusion its not a bad company. I advice you use a credit card if you make online payments. Credit cards are easier to deal with when you have fraud than for someone having dirrect access to your bank account$


Thank you, any questions? Feel free to post them here.

[oregontech]

Anyone reading this blog site, PLEASE take anything said by UncleHams with a HUGE grain of salt. I am a current employee and know very well the SEVERAL inappropriate things done and said by "UncleHams" while an employee - both to customers and coworkers. Upon being fired (for MANY more reasons than he admits on his blog), he had copied down info to contact AT LEAST one of our customers. On calling her, he identified himself as a Consumer Cellular rep, repeatedly insulted her and cursed at her, and told her not to call anymore with her STUPID questions. Unfortunately for him, she had caller i.d., we did a reverse lookup & found out it was him. UncleHams is ABSOLUTELY lying on several points. Only the last 4 digits of a person's SS# are asked for on any credit check - and this is an Equifax Credit Bureau requirement, not ours. Also, the company DOES background checks. The line about hiring convicted felons convicted of felony theft is a bold faced lie. I do know an employee that was caught stealing from the company & fired immediately. As said before, UncleHams was fired for SEVERAL reasons & given MANY warnings before being let go. He said ANYTHING that came to mind with no thought to whether it was appropriate or not (mentioned sticking his cat in the fridge for a couple minutes when it was in heat). He also passed on info to customers that was often incorrect, all because he never asked questions of those of us who had been there longer & knew the answers. He just made stuff up as he went along & left us to clean up after him. Given this, and how he handled himself after he was fired with the harrassment of a client, I would disregard basically anything he posts.

[UncleHams]

Originally Posted by krishof1

I’m interested in signing up for Consumer Cellular, but don’t want to be locked into one of the four cell phones that they provide. I called their service line and that person told me that I MUST use a phone provided by Consumer Cellular.

Is this true or just propaganda? Does anyone use Consumer Cellular with a phone that was NOT provided by Consumer Cellular. Are you using your own phone bought from eBay or from some other online service?

Its best to just move on to another company. This one is not what you are looking for.

[oregontech]

Originally Posted by UncleHams

Its best to just move on to another company. This one is not what you are looking for.

As I stated elsewhere, ignore UncleHams. Simply a disgruntled past employee. You can try using a Cingular phone, they occasionally work. Consumer Cellular just can't guarantee it will or troubleshoot cell if you go that route.

[Fire14]

You 2 are not helping the OP by these back and forth comments, if you can't post anything constructive, then don't post it.

[UncleHams]

Originally Posted by Fire14

You 2 are not helping the OP by these back and forth comments, if you can't post anything constructive, then don't post it.

I aggree. While I may be a past employee I did go in depth about consumer cell. Because they are a smaller company they have not had alot of consumer reports one way or the other.


I would suggest to search this forum and perhaps a consumer reports site with regards to his possible service at consumer cellular.

[luckyace120]

I signed on with Consumer Cellular about 2wks ago. For the interest of anyone reading this, I went for the free phone Nokia 1112. It's a candy bar style, with no camera or color screen. I spent several hours researching the 4 phones that Consumer Cellular offers and the 1112 just seemed to be the way to go. So far the phone performs amazingly well and has an amazingly long standby life. Of course some hate the idea of a bare bones phones. I know this sounds really strange but I use cell phones only to make and receive calls. With Consumer Cellular (cingular network) I now get service where I didn't have any signal before with Sprint, or Verizon.

As for customer service attention, I have found the help when I have called to be prompt and very competent. The reps are knowledgeable, and patient. Rates are quite reasonable I think, and the fact that there is no required contract is a real plus. Other companies will not allow you out of a contract if you already have service, move to a different location and cannot get a signal.

Overall, I would rate Consumer a good deal.

[LouieBee]

I have been a customer of Consumer Cellular for several months and have nothing but the highest praise for their company, service, and support. Everyone I've dealt with has been fantastic in every aspect. In addition, not having to commit to a long term service agreement is a huge plus.