Cricket Commnuications a local cell phone provider here in Arizona which offers unlimited local calling for $39.00 a month. I switched from Alltel to Cricket because I was exceeding my minutes every month and wanted a calling plan without the restrictions of minutes. Cricket "WAS" a wonderful replacement. That is until today. Today I officially gave up my Cricket cellphone and any cellphone for that matter.
You see, my cellphone bill was due on the 23rd of December and because I was traveling for my anniversary I was unable to make the payment until the 26th. There happens be a kiosk where payments can be made within a couple miles of my home. I went there and made payment on my phone and because the machine did not accept change, left with with a negative balance of $1.86. I continued to use my cellphone the rest of that day and woke up the next morning to find that my phone had been temporarily disconnected for non-payment. I attempted to contact them through the series of voice mail mazes and was unsuccessful. I decided to go to their retail store with receipt in hand to get it straightened out. After waiting in line for an hour I was finally being helped and told that the reason that my phone had been disconnected was because I had a prior balance of $12.62. That plus an additional $15.00 fee for the current disconnection was going to be required for reconnection. I smiled and handed him the receipt showing that upon making my payment the kiosk showed that I had a negative balance. He proceeded to tell me that the kiosk were managed by a third party vendor and actually didn't display the correct information. I retorted that the problem then was not in fact mine but theirs seeing as how the machine with their name on it. He assured me this wasn't the case and encouraged me to speak with another representative there who could explain to me what I needed to do. The next representative told me I needed to make the $12.62 payment in the kiosk they had located in the store. I told her I wasn't going to pay the additional $2.00 which the kiosk requires in order to make the payment and for that matter the fact that I had to come and stand in line for an hour was enough for them to eat the twelve bucks anyhow. At that point she told me that I not only had to pay the $12.62 but also the $15.00. I immediately told her to cancel my service and provide me with a refund for the payment I had made the day before. She told me that I would not get a refund to which I quickly reminded her that the cellphone service was paid a month in advance and that I better be getting my money back.
Now I have to wait for my refund to come in the mail minus the $12.62 which I refused to pay anyhow. I'll tell you what, I'm not a happy camper and you can bet that corporate office, the Better Business Bureau, and if I'm lucky some investigative news show will be hearing from me.
Now I sit without a cellphone and have decided to refrain from going with any other company. I lived a life without one once and was okay with it then. I should be fine now. I mean I still got my Blackberry right?