Although I am in Charlotte, North Carolina, this is not isolated to this city or state.

I had contacted Cricket via their 800-CRICKET number and after finally getting a human being, I proceeded to supply a new card number for bill payment since my old card expired. Unfortunately, I was dealing with someone outside of the United States. THIS IS A HORRIBLE WAY TO DO BUSINESS AND A TRAGIC WAY TO TREAT CUSTOMERS. The individual apparently failed to do everything necessary and the result was my son's phone account was suspended for non-payment.

I tried calling the 800-CRICKET number but the only option I was given was to make a payment including a $10 restoration charge. I could NOT get to a live person. I tried calling the store but all I got was a voice mail machine. THIS IS THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EXPERIENCED FROM ANY CELL PROVIDER AND MOST OF THE REST OF THE BUSINESS WORLD.

I finally got the number for the corporate office in San Diego, California: (858) 882-6000. I was connected with someone in the "Escelation Department" and the fellow took care of things right away. But what a load of garbage to have to go that far to resolve a problem. And remember that most of us work for a living and our employers are NOT paying us to solve problems like this during work, whereas Cricket IS paying the inept employees that are responsible for things like this.

There is no real and immediate way to resolve issues like this and make the company do what is proper, so the best thing I (and hopefully YOU) can do is take my business elsewhere, AND write letters (REAL letters on paper that will lay on someone's desk) to the company itself, FCC, Consumer Affairs, etc. and help either force the company to do better or put them out of business due to lack of revenue.

Everyone thinks the technical revolution, especially the internet, is such a darn good thing for America. Really? "Don't bother me with your voice- just send an email and IF I'm interested, I might take a look at it." This kind of attitude is not what our parents taught us. They were RIGHT, and this world is going down the toilet faster than we realize. Be an exemplary employee or business and treat people with courtesy, dignity, respect, and HONOR YOUR COMMITMENTS.

The following email was first sent to Smith Micro since it was under Support for the program that launches the Cricket Wireless service at 9:30 p.m. Friday Oct 30, 2009. They provided me with an email address to Cricket Wireless Support on the following Monday which I immediately forwarded the message to. There has been no response, so I thought I would send you an email with the body of the text that was sent to both parties. By the way, we've already lost two of the seven clients I have recommended the service to. My step son says that he called Cricket Support earlier today and was informed that the bandwidth was throttled and will be this way for the next several days because of "excessive downloading". I don't put any stock in this statement as this has never been a problem before; Cricket Wireless is advertised as unlimited broadband, & the two clients I lost today to a local Internet provider used the Cricket Wireless service for less than a month. Please see below:

For the last two hours my Cricket Wireless modem has been running download speeds between 100-110 Kbps. Ping & upload speeds are typical (ping between 280-330, upload speed is 90-120 Kbps). Do you have a server down? Weather is clear here. Download speeds generally range from 400-700 Kbps.

Generally, these speed reductions are only seen in this area from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. I'm assuming a server reboot or other maintenance is being done at this time as this always happens regardless of the time of year.

I reside in Atoka, Tn., approximately 25 miles north of Memphis.

Operating System: Windows XP Home

Windows OS Version: Windows XP Home Service Pack 3

System scanned for viruses and other malware. System is clean. Last Windows update run Thursday 10-29-09. Antivirus updated at this time.

Additional system used to test modem is a Dell server running Windows 2000 Pro. Windows updates and antivirus updated same day as the above system. This system also clean. Same problem.

Problem detected with Session Information window provided by QuickLink Mobile software, verified by www.whatismyip.com/speedtest/index.asp.

It is now 75 hours later and I am running a new application, http://www.speedtest.net; it also reports poor results. I am a local tech in the area & have gotten calls from three clients so far wanting to know why their Internet service is running slow. Current results as of Tuesday, Nov 3rd at 1:00 a.m.:

Ping: 543 ms. Should be between 280-330 ms typical.

Maximum download speed: 130 Kbps. Should be between 400-700 Kbps.

Maximum upload speed: 100 Kbps (normal).

I informed my clients that I would contact them as soon as I received an answer from you. Are you upgrading your servers? Satellite hit with gamma radiation bursts? Is this the new normal my clients can expect? They & I are not happy. All these users use both desktops & laptops. I myself have two desktops & one laptop. Please respond as soon as possible so I can contact my clients and let them know when service can be expected to return to normal. This is a service I highly recommend because of the price & past reliability.

I have tested the service again as to the ping, download speed, and upload speed as of 12:40 a.m. today, Wednesday, Nov 4, 2009. A response from you would be appreciated in this matter. If this email has been sent to the wrong department, please forward to the correct department at your earliest convenience. Thank you.

I received a phone call from the Escalation Dept. on Friday, Nov. 6th, 2009. I was not able to take the call at the time and a message was left by Xxxx X. Xxxxx requesting I return his call on Saturday, Nov. 7th. He informed me that he normally doesn't work on Saturdays but would be in the office at 8:00 a.m. the next morning my time to take the call. When I attempted to contact him, all I could reach was the answering machine. I left a brief message that included a call back number and a request to contact me at his earliest convenience. It is now Monday Nov. 9th at 8:05 a.m. my time and I have once again attempted to contact Mr. Smith at the phone number given. Mr. Smith no longer occupies the office or the phone number has been rerouted to another office occupied by a gentleman who is only identified as Xxx. I shall wait on this phone call until 12:30 p.m. today to see if a return call might be forthcoming.

No phone call was returned in what I expect to be a reasonable time. All I can conclude at this point is that their customer service is lacking or they do not wish for me or my clients to participate in their services anymore. I cannot recommend this service as truthful as far s their advertised claims any longer.

I am forwarding a copy of the final message to Cricket Wireless, the email address listed for Xxxx X. Xxxxx, and the Better Business Bureau in Denver, Co. No further contact will be required. Our cell phone has been switched from Cricket to Cellular South. We will also be switching our broadband Internet connection to the local company that provides this service. I would like to say we did appreciate the service you have provided the past two years and are sorry we have to part company.

Cricket does not give you what they advertise. There service is a joke, you an't even get any bars while your in the cricket store. The only reason I went with a cricket phone is because they supposedly offered a plan that included off network roaming, which worked out great because I was planning my family vacation to Florida. Well as soon as I left Nashville my phone wouldn't even tell me what time it was, so I spent about 500 miles totally without service or any option to roam. So now I'm stuck with no way to call anyone if we had car trouble and had to spend my whole vacation not communicating with family and friends. I was so upset that I had been duped by their roaming plan that I had paid for that was supposed to include 30 minutes a month of off network roaming that I went to walmart and dropped $100 for a motorola razr on the straight talk plan. That includes 1000 min 1000 txt and 30 MB of data, and the bonus is signed up for auto bill pay I get double everything. Or you can get an unlimited plan for $45 a month, and the beauty is that it is on the verizon towers which means I get full bars in my basement or wherever I'm at in the USA. To add fuel to the fire I have sold my cricket phone on craigslist and they won't let the guy activate the phone because I have a balance of $113 dollars, which is untrue because I called "customer service" in India no doubt to cancel and they said everything was fine. So if I called to cancel service before my next bill hit how come I owe $113? I thought I didn't have a contract??? So cricket will not activate the phone for one of their loyal customers because they want to screw me as much as they can. It was funny becuase I asked the guy who bought the phone to show me how many bars his cricket phone had while standing in the cricket store, he had none, my straight talk phone had 5. For $30 a month you will have a phone that works anywhere in your house and the USA with no tricky billing practices, I had been with sprint for 10 years and was pretty happy with there service, although i is no match for what I get now it was costing me and my wife about $300 a month, now we pay $64 a month for 2 phones and couldn't be happier.
If there is ever a class action lawsuit against cricket wireless or leap wireless than please put my name at the top of the list because cricket has done nothing nut lie to me.
It all started when I ordered a phone from their website and when I called and tried to activate it they couldn't do it. When I asked why they said that the cricket website and the actual cricket where not affiliated, what a crock. They sure took my money from a website that wasn't affiliated with them but wouldn't activate my phone for 2 weeks after I had received it. To anyone who has or wants cricket service please be aware that they have no concept of customer service. At sprint all calls would be fielded by people in the USA, if you called after hours you could expect to talk to people in India. At cricket all calls go to India no matter what time of day it is. And when I called to cancel my service they hung up on me 4 times when I explained what I was trying to do, it wasn't til the 5th call that I got someone to do what I wanted which was to disconnect my service with them. But that wasn't enough they have since billed me for 2 more months. Caveat Emptor Folks!!

My credit card info was stolen and someone obtained two cricket phones with my info. Cricket cannot give me the call records for the phones without me coming in to a store in person. Please don't give this company your business. Go to their website and I dare you to find the "contact us" link without much digging. One of their customer service operators hung up on me. I would not recommend this service to my worst enemy.

Ive been with Cricket Wireless for about a year now, and I never had a problem until now. My monthly bill has always been $60.00 Just last month July 2009, I paid over $100!!! The phone that I have is $100, with no camera, no bluetooth, no data backup, no ringtones...nothing!!! Im tired of being over charged for stuff I dont have. Ive talked to people in the corporate offices and over the phone and have gotten nothing but attitude saying what I am going to pay or what I need to pay or have to pay. Now for September my bill started at $60.00, then to $72.00 and now its $97.74 Im not paying for services I dont have, dont use and are not offered!!! Im more than willing to go to another phone company if they cant get their crap together!!! Im more than unsatisfied I also want a (DETAILED) copy of my phonebill for the months of April 2009-Aug.2009