Cricket Wireless Authorized Retailer

Reviews

• CA

  Christine Altman

  Apr 6, 2022
  1.0
  A family member purchased a replacement phone from this store and Gennessey sold him an insurance plan that he thought he would be paying for in exchange for $10 off case and screen protector. She did not tell him his phone insurance was an additional monthly fee on my account. It also isn’t reflected in receipt except as a $.37 tax charge. He thought it was similar to the type of insurance at Best Buy—a one time fee. Regardless, it is illegal for her to add charges to an account without the account holder’s authorization, which she did not have. I am the account holder, as stated on the receipt and I was not there. This practice is called cramming. My credit card that is billed for this account happens to have a fraud alert placed on it, so the fraudulent insurance charge was denied. In response, all five lines on the account were deactivated by 3AM the following day for lack of payment. My regular monthly payment had actually cleared the day before. I went into the store with the family member and Gennessey told me there was an $11/dollar balance on the account and a $15 reactivation fee. Totally perplexed, I asked what the $11 was for since I knew that the bill had been paid and could show her the confirmation. She said she did not know. I said I wouldn’t pay the reactivation fee. She said I had no choice. I asked who I needed to talk to, and she called the corporate customer service line and handed me the phone. Here, I find that the additional fee is the insurance on the new phone. It’s 1/3 of the cost of monthly service for that line. I ask to have it removed, and Edmund the national rep removed it right away. He said that the store representative should waive the reactivation fee. I told Gennessey he said that, and she refused. Edmund asked me to ask for her manager. She called someone on her cell phone and walked into the back room. She came back out and told me it was a “problem with the system” but refused to let me talk to her manager. I asked Edmund to file a complaint regarding the activation fee. Why should I have to pay for the company’s mistake? While I was on the phone, my family member went to pay the reactivation fee to alleviate the building tension and frustration. Not only did she charge him the $15 dollars, she charged him the insurance fee as well. When Edmund came back on the line he asked if I’d pay the $15 dollar fee to reactivate the account. I said it had been paid. He asked me to confirm how much had been paid, and when I told him $26 per the family member, he said, “but I removed the insurance charge!” He was then speechless, because Gennessey had basically used my family member’s money to credit my account, which had already been credited. She seemed hell bent on exacerbating the situation. Cricket seems a decent company, or at least they have great rates. Gennessey feigned ignorance of her illegal action and sadistically stoked her customer’s confusion and frustration. She could absolutely have waived the reactivation fee, and made good on the issue she created, but instead held our five lines hostage and extorted me. I’m so sick of being nickeled and dimed. I filed a complaint with the FCC. I hope they amend their business practices and save some other customers the time and headache.

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