Upset About Cricket Fees!

by Anonymous
(New Port Richey)

I’m so upset about Cricket fees that I’m now being charged. When I saw it show up on my bill, I called Cricket and they told me it’s a $1 Administrative Fee. They describe it as a fee to cover the costs of paying for roaming, completing calls, and various other network related costs.


I get that they need to be profitable and cover costs, but I just despise these add-on types of fees. Isn’t that the whole point of the price plan itself? They should simply price their plans to include all of these fees. Certainly the costs they describe aren’t new. I expect that a lot of wireless carriers, prepaid providers in particular, prefer to add these fees on after the fact, as it enables them to market a lower price point.

Although I have a great credit, and hence are fully capable of getting a postpaid plan, I always preferred prepaid because the plans have always been simple and straightforward with no surprises. I don’t like seeing extra fees added on. I just want to have a flat rate monthly price, pay that, and be done with it. Don’t charge me this fee and that fee, and even charge me to pay by monthly bill. Yes, Cricket will charge you a fee for the courtesy of paying your bill! And to add to the confusion, they’ll charge you different amounts in different channels, and nothing in others.

So to avoid payment fees, I pay by credit card, but now I’ve got this admin fee to deal with. I have a friend, also using Cricket, who gets charged a $2.50 regulatory recovery and admin fee. I don’t understand which customers get charged which fees, but from what I understand, it has something to do with what plan you’re on.

The irony of all of this is that
Cricket touts that they keep things simple compared to other carriers, and postpaid in particular. You call this simple; hah! I suppose it’s easier for them to change fees than to redo a bunch of marketing materials and packaging to reflect an entire price plan change when their costs change. I understand that, however, that fact doesn’t make it any less irritating from a customer experience perspective.

I also don’t like how Cricket has bills. While they don’t mail me a physical bill, they talk about paying your bill, and you can actually accrue charges that are added to your next bill. But I thought I was on prepaid? I can’t help but wonder if Cricket is having some sort of identity crisis. They say they’re prepaid, and there’s no contract (which is true), however, their plans and billing look, feel, and work much like postpaid. I’m starting to prefer how other prepaid carriers work. You pay for a month of service. If you don’t pay for the next month by the time it starts, your service is blocked. Once you pay again, you get service again. And aside from sales tax you pay when making a payment, there aren’t any other fees added on. Plain and simple; I like that!

Although there is no contract, once you’ve got a phone and plan, and are cruising along, it’s hard to just pickup and go to another carrier when they add a dollar here and there. But rest assured, once I’m in need of a new phone, I’ll be shopping around for other prepaid companies that keep things simple. I’m really upset about Cricket fees, and the general complexity of dealing with them. The true telling sign will be how they can answer my questions when I visit their store. If employees get confused, how do they think customers will feel…?

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Apr 29, 2021
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Wow! NEW
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

Well that's concerning! Was there any information they provided to explain how that can happen? Or perhaps it was a misunderstanding in general?

Charging customers without consent is a serious problem that wireless providers are very diligent regarding avoiding this problem. So I'm super curious how that could have happened. Was there some small print when you signed up that resulted in you unknowingly agreeing to it? Not that that's OK, but interested in understanding how this went down!

Please let us know what you learn!

Apr 29, 2021
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Cricket is DEFRAUDING their customers. Attorney Generals, take note! NEW
by: Philip Eisenhower

Cricket added a monthly reoccurring $11 insurance plan to my plan without my consent and then charged me $4 to remove it when I noticed the scam.
The US Attorney General's Office need to do their job and stop cricket from stealing from poor uneducated people.

Dec 30, 2020
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Cricket NEW
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

Wow, that sounds super frustrating! It didn't used to be like that, so I assume something has changed since AT&T took over. I mean if you're in the store and have issues, why are the directing you to call for support; it makes no sense!

Yes, most of these prepaid plans are for 30 days at a time; if you don't pay, your service stops until you reload, then you get 30 days from that point. I'm not sure why that would be an issue as you get 30 days when you pay for it. So long as you pay on time, you get continued service.

Also, if you pay automatically with a credit card, you'll avoid any in-store service fees. You definitely have to do your research regarding which channels charge reload fees. Dealers aren't supposed to, but many do. That's not really a Cricket thing, but partners behaving badly.

Ultra Mobile is another provider that seems to be keeping things simple and inexpensive that people may want to check out now that Cricket is more of a corporate brand under AT&T.

Dec 30, 2020
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cricket round and round NEW
by: Anonymous

I'm so disappointed in myself for returning to Cricket. There is no such thing as a "Cricket Store". You can buy a phone in the store and if that phone quits working before you walk out, you will be told to call Cricket. If course when you call cricket, they can't help you because you bought it at the store! And please don't make the mistake of trying to speak with a supervisor or anyone who might be able to help you. Just know that (a) The amount you agree to pay monthly with no hidden fees does not include the fee you have to pay to pay your bill. (b) Its not actually a "monthly" prepaid service. It is a30 day plan. (c) what started out seeking simple and straight forward, is anything but.

Dec 03, 2015
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I Agree! NEW
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

Thank you for sharing your experience. I believe what they're doing is prorating the days you missed, and asking for that payment.

There are generally two types of prepaid providers. One type basically gives you a month of service for each payment. If you miss your payment date, your new month simply starts on the day you pay. This is the logical and ideal approach for customers, but results in lost revenue for carriers.

The other type is one that behaves more like postpaid, where they expect continuous payments, so if you miss your monthly payment, and don't pay for a week thereafter, you still need to back pay for the week you missed. This is absolutely lame of course.

Legacy Cricket basically had a postpaid platform that required customers to have continuous payment like the 2nd option I described. After a certain period of time elapsed (ex. 2 weeks), they wouldn't make you back pay though.

If they kept this "feature" in the new platform under AT&T, it's probably because they either didn't understand what they were doing b/c their new management had no experience running a prepaid business, or they consciously decided that they wanted to ensure they capture that revenue. It's probably a bit of both!

Dec 03, 2015
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Fees NEW
by: Jannie

I have Prepaid service with cricket. My bill was due on Nov. 27,I didn't pay , therefore, service was suspended. On Dec 1, 2015 I paid my $50.00, my phone was turned back on, then on December 3, 2015, my phone was cut back off. I called cricket customer service and was told that i owe $11.00 because I paid my bill late. Really, on a prepaid service, if anything the bill gets cheaper.Today I will be paying the $11.00 only because I've already paid the $50.00, however, once this month is used up i will be switching providers. I DO NOT recommend this company, rip off.

May 15, 2013
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Got A Credit
by: Anonymous

So I called Cricket to complain about the monthly fee, and got a $15 credit without too much difficulty. A friend of mine pushed harder and threatened to cancel service, and got a credit for a free month of service ($50)! So that pretty much covers the fee issue for basically as long as we would likely be customers anyway. Still frustrating and a hassle, but the credit helped.

May 03, 2013
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Cricket...No Fees Added....Deceptive
by: Anonymous

I just got off the phone with Cricket after being billed an administration fee of $2.00. I've only been with them 5 months, and they are starting to add in fees when they claimed they wouldn't be doing that. When discussing their plans I questioned this exact thing, and they said that my plan would stay $35.00 every month with no other fees. I would think that's deceptive practices that they're doing.

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