Consumer Cellular
reviews and complaints

The company I'm complaining about is Consumer Cellular, account #[protected] in the name of Nancy Crichton, 2720 Kyle N, GoldenValley, MN 55422; email: [protected]@me.com; cell: [protected].

On 9/16/2020 I ordered an iPhone 11 Pro 64GB, IMEI: [protected] at a price of $900.00, from my cell carrier, Consumer Cellular. This iPhone 11 Pro was a ‘used' phone having been returned to Consumer Cellular for some reason by another customer. I don't know what their reason was for return. On the "Thank you for your Order" form I received with Consumer Cellular there is one paragraph which is titled "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!" It states their goal is to make sure ". . . . You're always 100% satisfied. If for any reason you're not happy with our service or your device, please contact us immediately so we can help." Well, I am not even 50% satisfied at this point because they refused to accept the returned phones.

I received my iPhone 11 Pro in a USPS box and the phone was inside another Consumer Cellular box, not secure just inside and very little packing in the USPS box. I charged up the phone and opened it to get an idea of how it worked. I did not like it as it was very different from my iPhone 6 x and called to request labels to return the phone. They emailed me labels to return my phone and I securely packed it up, took it to UPS as instructed and returned the phone.

A few days later I got an email stating that they would not accept the phone for return because I had ‘scratched the screen'; I dispute this vehemently as I did not even use the phone except for a few minutes to try it out. They sent the phone back and when I opened the box to check it I could see nothing on the screen until I took it over to the window and at a certain angle I could see a slight shadow ‘Under the glass' but nothing on top of the glass and I could not feel any ‘deep scratch' as they put it with my fingers. I had Apple review the phone and ATT who sell Apple phones and they could not confirm deep scratches anywhere.

Consumer Cellular has refused to remove he charges on my account and I am not paying them, I don't want the phone, it is too complex for me and I just want it returned to them; my account expunged for the cost of my order $915.00 which includes a screen protector Qmadix which was $15 and the phone was $900.

We ordered two new phones from Consumer Cellular on their extended pay program. One was an iPhone XR and the other was a previously returned iPhone 11 Pro. We activated the XR and I was setting it up for my husband and showed him how it worked; we both decided it was too complex and we would stick with our iPhone 6's. I cleared his out and reset it according to CC instructions so it was clean. I called for return labels, they emailed me two labels. I had to call again for instructions on the iPhone 11 Pro as CC had, with MY ASKING, activated the phone. I was transferred numerous times, cut off several times and in total spent about 4 hours on the phone trying to get this mess straightened out, asking why they activated my phone without my asking for that to be done. Again I was transferred/cut off about 3-4 times and finally I was sent to some type of senior tech advisor and he took care of the whole problem in 5-10 minutes and said to go ahead and send the phones back.

I repackaged them in the same boxes they were sent to us in through USPS. I included copies of my order material. I added some extra packing material to the iPhon 11 Pro as there was not much in the original box and it just slid around. I returned them on 10-9-2020 and today called to make sure they were received because I keep getting emails telling me that had to be returned by the 18th of October. The CR person checked and found they were returned and their "Return Department" found scratches in the screen on both phones; they said they took pictures of them. I asked for the ‘pictures' to be sent to me as email attachments and was told she did not have authority to do that; she checked with some ‘higher up' person who stated that the pictures were the property of CC and they could not be sent. They stated they were returning the phones and I could see what the scratches were at that time.

When we returned the two phones in separate boxes to CC there were no scratches anywhere on the phones front or back. I suppose they could have been damaged in shipping although I highly doubt that. My suspicion is that this is a scam to get people to pay for something that was legitimately returned because I have no way of proving who or what causes anything to happen to these phones once I placed them in the hands of the UPS agent to be returned via the USPS labels that had been provided by CC.

They are returning the phones to me, which I don't want; they said I would have to pay for them, which I will not; if I continually deduct that amount from my bills, they would cut off my account. I am going to contact our attorney with the full information and have him handle it; we are senior citizens with health issues, we have a diabetic pet that we are dealing with and I can't handle one more ‘issue'. This claim by Consumer Cellular is bogus and nothing more than a method to extract money from unsuspecting seniors. I, nor my husband, did not put a scratch of any type on either phone, period.

NANCY CRICHTON

I signed up for consumer cellular on line and purchased a phone, after I did they said the credit did not go thru, and I was told I would get a refund which I havent, I have called 3 times trying to get some infromation, and keep getting the same old song and dance from each person, they are crooks and should be put out of business, look at other reviews, 80 percent has given them one star, todays date is oct 10th and this happened 3 weeks ago and im still waiting on my refund

Switched from AT&T. Had to buy new flip phone from Consumer Cellular. New flip phone's input screen would repeatedly freeze and had to reset by removing battery. Switching additional Samsung Galaxy phone took a month and now can not send or receive messages with pictures. If you are using online chat to try resolve problem and it hits 8PM EST they just say goodbye without problem resolved. Their advertisement of being number one in customer service does not match my experience.

I spoke to a representative on thursday october 1st. The rep said that they have 5g phones in stock. I got lied to. This isn't the first time that consumer cellular has done this. First time was equaling over $2,000... I am so upset with them right now I could cry. I say if you want something done, make sure you do your home work and not rely on someone else to do it for you.

We received message from CC that it would be necessary to upgrade our phones because 3G service would soon be replaced. We purchased phone from CC and the instructions claim simple activation. NOT TRUE. Was told activation would take 2 to 24 hrs. After 24 hrs. and still no service I called them again from my other phone. As we were talking, she said she found the problem and then the phone I was using was deactivated. Have 2 phones and neither of them working. So had to go online and do the chat thing. This representative was very helpful and after about 45 minutes our service was restored. The next day we noticed that our original phone, the one not replaced, could send texts but no longer receive them. The solution given resulted in our losing our contacts on the phone and pictures. This all happened because we purchased a replacement phone. Do not believe their simple activation claim!

I recently purchased a phone a little over a month ago from Consumer Cellular (CC) because the phone I had would not get service in my apt (located in a historic building). Changed to AT&T sim card and still no service. Knowing Verizon worked in my apt and phone # was transferable, went to Verizon. They added Verizon sim card & requested phone # transferred. Still needed physical phone 'unblocked' because of special circumstances. Talked with Customer Service (CS) rep (very nice) and rec'd confirmation of unlocking v/m msg over 48 hrs ago but still not unlocked, i.e. no phone service. The phone identifies as Verizon but no calls/messages or voicemails can be sent or received.

Went to Target (where phone was purchased) and they again called CC CS.
Talked for 1/2 hr (?) to "Angela" trying to get her to re-send req to unlock. She kept reading verbatim the 'notes' from my call 2 days previous, kept calling "Mrs." even after I corrected her and said it was "Ms." Would not budge on what I was asking, kept reading verbatim notes saying it was unlocked, was upset when I interrupted her (had already been read the notes more than once and didn't need to hear them again). Said that I am probably get some 'weird' messages regarding this and to ignore them. I reiterated that I have gotten NO messages or anything because the phone service is not available because the phone is locked by CC.

Offered NO solution and when I asked to speak to a supervisor was told 'they' were at lunch! Really, it was nearly 4pm Michigan time and NO! supervisor could talk with me. She then said it was their policy to have the supervisor return the call: I DON'T HAVE A WORKING PHONE! so there isn't any number I can give. She was abrasive, combative and downright rude at times. I ended the call by just hanging up. Got NO Customer Service from Consumer Cellular. Unbelievable!

All I was asking is that she resubmit the request and that maybe whatever needs to be done could be because her "NOTES" say it's unlocked (giving me phone service through Verizon) and I'm telling her the phone is NOT, I repeat NOT UNLOCKED. It's the end of day three of this adventure and I am so frustrated with Consumer Cellular that I would NEVER recommend that provider to anyone.

I do understand that my situation is kind of unique since I haven't had the phone the minimum time before I should be able to use it with a different carrier, but I'm stuck with no phone service.

Consumer Cellular markets people like me - seniors - but the person I spoke with today was not what I would EVER expect from a customer service rep.

I'd call, but: I HAVE NO WORKING PHONE!

I attempted to get support via chat snd voice 8x in the last week without success. We were hit with s storm that devastated the state. We have been without power and communications for a week. The cell us our only lifeline snd I needed to use the hotspot feature again. Every time i need this feature, I'm forced to call CC and can never get through. I am so upset snd frustrated I am going to look for an alternate solution. CC support us NO help, website help stinks. Maybe if CC spent more $ on support for customers snd less on TV ads, things might improve. For me, I'm too upset to give you one more chance. You're not there when needed.

You activated my new phone before it was shipped.

Now my phone now, here does not work.

Who in the hell done this ?

I'm in the middle of a hurricane right now.

I have so much trouble with consumer cellular. Advertising does not do what it says. It is suppose to help the senior citizens, but it does not. I brought two ZTE Avid 559 phones, sent one back because it had external problems and would not work. Your employee told me to send it back and I did. they would not refund my money because they broke it and said I did

Consumer Cellular has refused to give me a refund. I beleive I orginally got the phone last June. I have had to have 3 rep[lacements since. Every Doro phone has locked up and nothing would keep it working. There was a warrenty put on each phone but now consumer cellular says they can not give me a refund because they only honor the ist phone warrenty. I tried to work with them. We went through all the proceedure to get the phones working so my reward is time has past and they now won't refund because the warrenty is past.

Called three times about my moms phone not working right, will not keep a charge and does not talk to her anymore. We purchased this phone in March, contacted consumer cellular end of May about the problem. Went through hard reset, factory reset, you name it with a representative which told me that if I continued to have problems to call back and they would send me another. This conversation took about an hour. Called today and after 1.5 hours I was told by a supervisor that a return call would come at 6pm, it is now 6:30 and still no call. My mom is 81, hard of hearing, and legally blind and cannot do what they ask by herself. All we want is a new phone as told by the representative!

One day international direct dialing to UK (England) works. Other times not many calls to 'customers service' same questions different answers, dropped call & no constant resolution.. Ask for tech support / supervisor... Never available.. This has been going on for over a year different answers each time I call without permanent resolution.. So much for aarp recommending this company.. Bottom line.. Incompetent customer service.. Get your act together.

People cant hear me sometimes and I cant hear them. All calls break up bad. I got a return call yesterday, the person couldn't hear me and I couldn't hear her. She finally hung up and didn't call back, now a day later I am waiting for a call I scheduled and no call.
If this is not resolved today. I will drop your service and go else where.
I can not conduct business this way!

I had not used my phone at all since my billing cycle had ended. 7 days later I see 4 minutes of usage. I call and am told they have no control over when the towers bill for my usage. these minutes came from the last day of my last cycle. the person said nothing we can do about it. I asked for a supervisor. they called back in a few hours. they said they could flag my complaint and if by chance i went over by 4 minutes they would adjust it. another week goes by I have made a few calls totalling 11 minutes with their rounding up methods but my usage says 50 minutes. I call again this time they would not be courteous enough to tell me what date these calls were made on. They did inform me i could see them on the website. I again asked for a supervisor. this time I am told that i had made the calls and am being charged accordingly. even told the calls i do not answer go against my minutes because they take tower time. I have since found that to be false. so no reasonable resolution with this 2nd supervisor and two falsehoods. I investigate online and 39 minutes come from the last 2 days of my last billing cycle. those minutes would not have made me go over my limit then and are already paid for because they were from the last billing cycle. The last phone call i made the Person suggested I look back through all my invoices to see if they have ever charged me for minutes from a different billing cycle. Not once since May of last year so why are they now claiming minutes from a old billing cycle and refusing to correct it?

I have now tried to contact Consumer Cellular for three days, each day several times. So far I have not been able to get a hold of anyone. Usually during the week, they give you an option to schedule a call back - if you do not answer them immediately, they leave a voicemail to call them back. When you try - you get the same run around.
During the two years of being a customer, I was without service many times. I only have a cell phone, since I am old and do not have a decent income. I had to try to contact them by chat to get service restored each time. Finally, I got tired and left and went to a different company. Now I got a bill that I do not understand - I think it is too high, so I have questions. Therefor the reason for my trying to talk to someone.
I am out of patience, I am frustrated and will not pay a bill that I believe to be wrong.
My personal info is as follows:
Morrigan A Black
[protected]@outlook.com
[protected]

I can be contacted by phone, text or email. I hope you can give this matter your attention, and let me know what I can do. I am not trying to get out of paying the final bill - but it is sort of crazy to try to contact a firm to give them money, and it should not be this difficult. You would think, they have more than ONE phone number and not many employees to answer, especially on week ends or later in the day.

M.A. Black

I am new with Consumer Cellular less than 90 days. My first 2 telephone bills contained text messages that I did not send. I called twice and each time was told that they would pass the information on to the appropriate department and that I would receive a call. To date I have not received the return call.
In addition, legitimate text messages that I send and/or receive are not timely.
Since I received the phone with the Sim card already in it, no one else has had physical access to my phone.
Recently I've used more plan minutes because of the present issues with the text messages. Consequently, a plan upgrade became necessary.
Please respond to: [protected]@gmail.com
Thank you.

We have reached out on multiple occasions to Consumer Cellular Service Supervisors, have sent 2 letters to John Marick, the CEO of Consumer Cellular, and Greg Pryor, the COO of Consumer Cellular to resolve a very serious matter amicably regarding two defective phones that presented my 72 year old husband to be without a working cell phone.

On February 2019, my husband and I purchased a Doro phone at Best Buy through the Consumer Cellular offer. A week after we purchased the phone, we noticed the keys were sticking and adding additional numbers. This was frustrating and annoying, but we dealt with it.

In September 2019, the keys were still sticking adding additional numbers, and we began to experience additional problems with the Doro phone - we were not able to access voicemail, and the outside display screen became a tie die of black and white and no longer displaying the caller's phone number.

We telephoned the Consumer Cellular customer service in August 2019 and described the issues we were having. They walked us through a series of trouble shooting with no luck. We were told that Consumer Cellular no longer dealt with Best Buy and we would need to wait two weeks for a Consumer Cellular rep to call us back regarding our one-year warranty.

We waited two weeks and with no follow up from a Consumer Cellular rep, we telephoned back and for the second time a supervisor walked us through a series of trouble shooting with no luck. Phil, a Consumer Cellular supervisor stated he would submit a warranty replacement and we would receive our phone in one week.

A few days later we received a voicemail from a Consumer Cellular rep that stated they needed to trouble shoot again for the third time before submitting the warranty. Brian, a Consumer Cellular supervisor finally agreed to ship us out a new phone. When we asked why the phone had not been shipped as promised by Phil, we were told Phil didn't process the claim correctly.

When we received the new phone on September 30, 2019 within hours none of the keys would work and my husband was not able to call out or receive calls. We telephoned customer service who walked us through trouble shooting steps and the phone started to work again by taking the battery out. When we asked for a replacement due to the phone being defective within hours after receiving it, the phone rep informed us that we would not have any additional problems and they could not replace the defective phone.

The very next day, the keys on the phone were not working again and my husband was without a phone as he couldn't receive calls or call out.
When I returned home from work, we were both so upset, we immediately telephoned Consumer Cellular and they walked us through a series of trouble shooting steps again and stated we'd have to call back in two weeks.
We started the process all over again of trouble shooting on multiple calls, being promised a phone was being shipped out, only to call back and be told a second time the Supervisor had not processed the claim correctly and they would need to trouble shoot again.

Since receiving the 2nd defective Doro phone on September 30, 2019, my husband has to take the battery out multiple times a day for the phone to work.

We had hope writing to the CEO and COO would have reviewed this matter and resolved the issue quickly, but we have not heard from the corporate headquarters.

It's pretty obvious that the phone warranty and Consumer Cellular's Customer Service guarantee are not being honored by their company's actions and procedures which put senior citizens in danger without a phone. We also found alarming that multiple Consumer Cellular Supervisor's were very aware of issues with the Doro phone and stated that on the phone call.

Consumer Cellular's process that requires repeated trouble shooting multiple times over multiple days leaving a senior citizen without a working phone is very unsafe, unprincipled, and dishonorable.

The only way Consumer Cellular would honor the phone warranty was for Consumer Cellular to ship us out a new (defective) phone, make us wait weeks through a trouble shooting processes, and then fraudulently claim the original phone had internal damage and charge us $50.00 for a 2nd defective phone that they will not allow us to ship back to them for a refund.

We took pictures of our original Doro phone that had no signs of damage externally and even the white tab to detect water damage was in perfect shape.

Consumer Cellular's monthly charge is the most economical within our limited budget. However, we are so very upset with the way we have been treated by Consumer Cellular.

We wanted to resolve this matter with them amicable if possible. Obviously, every senior citizen needs a reliable working phone for emergency reasons. We are between a rock and a hard place, we're stuck with a 2nd defective phone, and Consumer Cellular will not work with us.

Today I received an error message while trying to send a text message. When I called customer service, I was informed that someone deactivated my SIM card. I wanted to know hoe because I didn't speak to anyone about this and I wasn't given an explanation. I was instructed to use a paper clip to get it out. It popped out along with the door to hold it in. I was asked to read the numbers off the SIM card. I explained that I wasn't comfortable doing that that's what technicians are for. After reading the numbers, that's when I found out about the SIM card being deactivated. I placed the SIM card back in the phone. I was told that I could go to target to purchase another SIM card for $10 and then have that credited on my next bill. When I got to target, the representative said the SIM card was supposed to had been placed in the bracket. I wasn't aware of that. The phone I ordered in August already had a SIM card in it and when I joined this company, the target representative installed it. I called customer service to see what could be done and I was given the warranty number. When I called them, they said I had to pay the $50 copay first. I called consumer cellular back again to see if would pay for it and the answer was no. I'm not satisfied with this at all. I understand that I put the SIM card in wrong, but I wouldn't have had to take it out if it wasn't deactivated. Would someone please call me on [protected] because my number ending in 1556 isn't working. This is a terrible start for someone who just joined this company 2 months ago. I don't have a personal cell phone and I don't know how long it will be before mine is fixed.

My folks just moved into an assisted living beginning of july. My husband and I have consumer cellular and we are very happy with it. I got my folks the doro 7050 phones which I am learning are inferior phones to say the least. I have had nothing but issues. I just want my 84 year old parents to have a phone that they do not have to take the back off to get it to work. How many times do we have to update the phone. I have probably placed 20 or so calls on their behalf to have this phone issue resolved. They refuse to let me trade for the other flip phone. Way to take great care of your customers consumer cellular.