Cricket Wireless

I’ve never had great experience with Cricket; their online interface is terrible (you can’t update your payment method, for example; calling in means you might be farmed out to customer service reps from any part of the world). Recently, because of a network disbandment (GSM to GSR, or ABC to NBC — I don’t know), customers in my shoes were forced to upgrade our phones to comply with their new standards. That’s okay, technology and all, nothing stays the same. The store in Tualatin reminds me of being tricked into a Kirby Vacuum job interview, where naïve kids are lured into a «sales» job, only to be pitched on door-​to-​door vacuum sales and its glorious lifestyle. The room is bare and lifeless, not to mention hot and without a fan. The guy who helped me was alright, but customer service/​human interaction didn’t appear to be his strong suit. I chose a phone in a minute, literally the first one he offers, because I don’t care that much and am kind of lazy. My paperwork appears to reflect a higher monthly commitment, but he assured me that it would work itself out (after an auto pay credit was applied). Sounds good. I’m messing with the phone and drinking hard cider, soon realizing it won’t connect to internet. This results in a 20-​minute troubleshooting phone call. I hate troubleshooting, especially with anything electronic. It’s painstaking and, as you’ve learned, I’m lazy. I will say, I got somebody on the phone quickly and she was good at her job. However, she didn’t understand what the problem was and some of her troubleshooting didn’t translate to my phone (menus she had me look for didn’t exist). She was about to give up and asked me to go back to the store, which is when I, uh, found my unhappy place. Magically, after she had me restart my phone to accept some updates she texted, it worked.
Then, THEN! After looking at my bill online, I connected with their online help center to ask about my bill, not understanding the pricing (it said $ 57, minus a $ 5 auto-​pay credit, resulting in $ 52; the final price should be, and has been, $ 45). Turns out phone insurance was added on to the phone, which wasn’t discussed, nor permitted, by me. I went over the paperwork again, too, and it’s not reflected anywhere. I fully believe it was put on, intentionally, without my knowledge, hoping that it would be overlooked. Cricket offers good price points for people who can’t afford AT&T, Verizon, etc., but I also believe there are a number of people easily taken advantage of, where this practice might be effective. I don’t know for sure, of course, but it seems pretty fishy.
The phone service, phone, etc., are adequate — definitely on par with the price point. However, if there’s ever a need to communicate/​deal with Cricket, that’s when I truly hate the company, as every facet of their structure is sloppy and frustrating. Give me a string and two cans ’cause I’m going old school! — Fin

This is the FIRST TIME I am writing a negative review on Unilocal!
I strongly recommend you avoid CRICKET WIRELSS in Tualatin. The other Cricket stores may be much better. I only dealt with Cricket in Tualatin.
I encountered incompetence, dishonesty and rudeness — quite a trifecta huh?
My wife and I started Cricket service and I purchased a Samsung Galaxay S3 for $ 400 plus a plastic case and holster for $ 20. You would think they would at least try and be professional and accomodating. No way! They had problems activating my new Galaxy. I had to return to the store five times plus I must have spent five hours waiting around the store. They said they would «compensate me» for my time but course they never did.
Then a few days after my purchase I tried to return the plastic case and holster and they said «We don’t take any returns». Can you imagine that? Mind you, there are no signs anywhere in the store that warn customers of this. In this day and age, when almost any business will gladly refund your money, Cricket in Tualatin wouldn’t refund my money just 3 or 4 days after the initial purchase. The merchandise was still brand new and unused… not a blemish on it.
When I asked if there was any advantage if my wife and I were on one plan instead of two separate plans, I was told «No». Then I found out there was an advantage to combining our plans: we’d save $ 10 per month.
I dealt with a woman named Jennifer. She had a bad attitude, gave me misinformation and was rude. It seems like all of the employees at this store are hispanic. No problem there. I just returned from living in Panama for seven years and have no problems with hispanics. The employees all spoke fluent English but whenever they spoke to each other about the problem activating my phone, they spoke only in Spanish. It seemed like they did not want me to know what they were talking about. It also felt rude. Again, they all spoke excellent English as well.
All and all my experience in this store left me feeling sick. It costs me hours of my time needlessly and I could not believe they wouldn’t return my $ 20 for an unused item, after I spent more than $ 400 there and signed up for service for 2 phones. Unbelievable!