This week, we’re featuring a tip for all phones:
Have a question about your cell phone service and need an answer right away?
No problem!
Here’s How:
Just dial 6-1-1 from any Consumer Cellular phone to speak to a customer service representative.
It’s free and you won’t be charged valuable cell phone minutes!
Check back next week for our latest iPhone tip.
Thanks much for the 611 tip. I had just finished filling out a call survey about a recent problem and you guys aced every question in the survey. The young lady I had talked to was highly professional & a pleasure to talk too. Love your company and service. It would be highly appreciated if you would offer a discount for AMAC members, as I would not join AARP if it were free, or under any circumstances for that matter. Many thanks, John
why not AARP would like to know for my understanding and what is AMAC ?
respectfully
they are horrible. I have been waiting for an hour too and had the same issue before COVID which they are now trying to blame the wait times on. Additionally they are offering fraudulent unlimited data plans I have one and they just shut off my internet because of extreme usu age! How can I be over on date if its an unlimited plan. I will be reporting this to every agency I can as the customer service rep was horrible after waiting in hold for an hour!
Thank you for taking the time to post, Heidi. I apologize for the frustration. I know it’s undesirable to have a service shut down unexpectantly. As a security feature for our customers, if a large amount of data is used in a short period of time, we suspended the service to make sure the customer has not misplaced their device. We do our best to make sure our customers are protected.
Our customer service team is happy to help with your account if you give us a call at 888-345-5509 or chat with us here.
Well, this would be a great feature if anyone would answer the phone. I have been calling 611 and 1-888-345-5509 for three (3) days now and have been unable to get through to a single soul. I either get “All circuits are busy, please try your call later.” or “All representatives are busy assisting other customers. Please hold, calls will be answered in the order recieved.” I’m willing to hold, but the system disconnects the line after exactly ten (10) seconds. I understand that there are busy days and busy times during average days, but I have been trying steady for three solid days!! You apparently need to hire additional Customer Service agents because you’re not delivering any service to this customer!
Thank you for the feedback, Lance. I’m sorry you’ve had that experience. We have increased our hiring and are in the midst of training our new team members, so we are taking active steps to remedy this. Thank you for letting us know- we appreciate it!
It’s a year from when you said that, and I’ve been on hold for half an hour already, and it’s a monday, and the same thing happened last friday when I called, and never got an answer then either, both days I was told all representatives are busy.
We apologize for the wait time, Matt. We have been experiencing higher than usual call volume, and we are currently training many new hires so that we can reduce hold times. Your patience is truly appreciated in the meantime, and I have passed your feedback on to our management team regarding your experience. If you have a customer service question, please dial 611 from your phone or call 800-686-4460. We look forward to speaking with you and getting any issues resolved. Thank you again for the feedback and for taking the time to post.
I also have been trying to reach your customer service dept. was told the hold time was 15 min I was on hold for 30 min and finally decided to hang up. I have decided that it may be best if I close my account and go to T-mobile, yes I will pay more but at least when I need help I can walk into one of their stores and get the help I need. Calling 611 from your cell phone doesn’t work if you are having issues with your phone and it will not even turn on.
We apologize for the hold time, Dorothy. I took a look at your account, and I see that Kyle, your account advisor, was able to provide some next steps to see if we can resolve this issue with your Moto G EXT. If the solutions Kyle provided don’t fix the problem, we’re happy to troubleshoot further over the phone at 888-345-5509. Thank you for your patience, and we sincerely hope that Consumer Cellular continues to be a good fit for your needs. We appreciate you taking the time to post, and for the feedback!
Diddo Lance!!!
We appreciate your feedback, Daryl, and would like to thank you for your patience. I reviewed your account, and I see that we were able to assist you with setting up your phone. If we can help you with anything else or answer any questions you may have about your phone or your plan, we will be happy to answer them at 888-345-5509. Thank you for taking the time to post today, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
I also get put on hold then cut off after 40min or more customer service only works if the customer can talk to someone to fix the problem
We apologize for the wait you experienced, Larry. Thank you for your patience as we are working to hire and train additional representatives so that we can assist our customers quickly. I was able to take a look at your account, and I see that our account advisors have been able to speak with you over the past few days and work to resolve the issues you’ve been experiencing. If we can be of any further help at this time, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us, and for reaching out to us.
I’m just starting up with Consumer Cellular (waiting to receive my SIM card). I’m very much looking forward to the transition to Consumer Cellular– everything looks good.
I want to echo John’s comment: I also will not join AARP under any circumstances. Like John, I am a member of AMAC and would welcome an AMAC discount. And I know many others just like us– an AMAC discount might tip the balance for some folks and gain additional customers for Consumer Cellular.
Sure would like to see a chat feature added to the website.
Thank you for the feedback, Diane. We’re always looking for ways to communicate with our customers. I’ll be happy to pass this on to our management team. Thanks again!
Amen, Lance! Based on Consumer Cellular’s website I went to Sears yesterday intending to buy a phone and become a customer, only to be informed that Consumer Cellular was no longer offering two of the three smart phones through Sears. So I came home and called to find out the status only to be put on hold and then disconnected. I thought I wanted to become a customer – but…
Thank you for the comment, Janet. Depending on the location, some Sears stores may have different inventory than others, so we apologize for the inconvenience. We offer a wide variety of our phones through our website, or for purchase over the phone. You can view them at ConsumerCellular.com/shopping/choose/device, or you can give us a call at (888) 345-5509. Thank you again!
I agree…. a live chat feature would be much appreciated!
I spoke to a delightful service rep named Joseph about manually getting my phone configured for data, and he was to send me a text msg with the info on how to do that since I don’t have a land line and he would have needed me on a different phone to walk me through the manual set up. I did not receive a text unfortunately. And I really don’t want to spend another 1/2 hour on hold waiting for another customer service rep. It’s been pretty frustrating having your reps tell me that something would happen, and then not getting the info promised! If there were a live chat feature, perhaps they could do the walk through on the data set up without me having to be on another phone.
Thank you for the feedback, Beryl. I’ve forwarded your information to our customer service team, and they will be contacting you. I apologize for the inconvenience. I’ll also be sure to forward your comments about the chat feature to our management team. Thank you again!
It would be nice to have chat added. I’m trying to get mobile data working on my phone. I don’t have another phone. It would be very difficult to talk on my phone with CC while configuring it! Chat would be perfect.
Thank you for the feedback, Eric! We’re always looking for ways to better serve our customers, so I’ve passed your request for a chat option on to our management team. Some of our best innovations come from customers like yourself, so thank you for taking the time to reach out to us!
Off the topic but my moms phone is off and her last bill was paid on the first so it’s still like almost ten days from the first why is the phone off? That’s not thirty days of service
Hi Clara, thanks for reaching out. Since Consumer Cellular is a post-paid service, invoices are due after the service is used and the monthly billing period does not restart on the same day the payment is made. Please have the account holder give us a call at 888-345-5509 and we can review the account status with her. Thank you for your question and have a great day.
These are old comments but apparently things have not changed. I was just on hold for 29 minutes, when the initial message was 5 to 10 minutes. I guess you still need more customer service reps. Fairly new customer and very unhappy with response time.
i have a problem getting a hold of anyone too. I am getting billed for all this data usage and I have not checked internet or emails in weeks, in fact I rarely even use this phone .
Thank you for commenting, Janese. I’ve forwarded your issue to our Customer Service team. They will be contacting you by phone or email shortly. We appreciate your patience, and we look forward to resolving this issue for you. Thank you for reaching out to us!
I guess Ashley is the only employee they have and she’s been working for all these years…she’s on here instead of answering phones.
Thank you for posting, David. I’m always happy to answer your questions here as best I can. If you need assistance with an account issue, our account advisors are ready to help you at 888-345-5509. We apologize for any wait you’ve experienced, and we look forward to assisting you. Thanks again for taking the time to comment today!
Apparently this long hold time dates back to 2014. It’s been difficult to get my phone set up and the only way I can get help without waiting an hour or more is to drive to one of your stores. I would also be interested in buying a phone but apparently you only have deals for people with trade ins. I had verizon before and never had these problems. Their rates are higher but may have to switch back to get service. I must say when I do talk to someone they are very pleasant and helpful, just not enough of them. You must do something about your phones. I probably will buy an unlocked phone as you have no deals unless there is a trade in and I can’t talk to anyone on the phone.
Hi Cindy, thank you for your post. We don’t actually take any trade-ins for phones, the prices listed on the website are for everyone. We have the cost for a brand new phone, and then we also have our Certified Risk Free Return option which is welcome to everyone as well. There is also our EasyPay option for the account as well. We definitely understand how frustrating those hold times are for our customers, we’re currently in the process of hiring and training more agents to assist with this and we appreciate the patience from our customers while we get them trained to best assist you on the phone. In the meantime, we do also have our chat platform which would connect you with one of our agents as well. You can access it on our website here.
I just moved three phones to Consumer Cellular and bought new Moto G 2nd Generation phone. All upgraded to Lolipop within a couple of days of being activated. One of the three uses lots of network data (vs. wifi) at 6am, 12am, 6pm and 12pm). The amount of data is near 100MB at each of the times and it is killing our joint data plan. The other two phone use the data network also at the same intervals but the transfer is usually a couple of hundred kbytes – like a handshake took place but no transfer. Can anyone there tell me what this is and how to stop it on the phone with large usage? Thanks
Thank you for asking, Ted. It sounds as if your phones are performing app updates, which can use background data. Depending on the apps installed on each of the phones, the data usage may be minimal or may use the amounts you are seeing. The best way to minimize this is to adjust your data settings. You can go to Settings, then select Data Usage. Tap the three dots at the top right of the screen and select Auto-Sync data. From there, you can adjust the settings as needed to ensure you won’t use data unintentionally. Another option is to turn Data off until you need to use it, and use Wi-Fi exclusively. This is a common question, so thank you for posting it! We hope you have a great day!
Keep getting an error message on phone calls that says “not part of network”. I am in an area where this has not happened previously.
Thank you for reaching out to us, Everette! I was able to take a look at your account and see that Miguel, our customer service representative, was able to assist you and that your phone is up and running! Please let us know if there is anything else we can assist you with at this time. We appreciate you taking the time to comment, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
Does Consumer Cellular have, or recommend, any add-on that will give me a better, stronger signal than I have currently have? I am on the very fringe of the service area.
Thank you for posting, Sam. At this time, we don’t currently offer any add-on devices that you can use to increase your reception. We do recommend turning your phone off then on again a few times a week, as this will allow your phone to reconnect with the towers to get the best signal wherever you are. We can also take a look at your coverage and troubleshoot it on our end, just give us a call at 888-345-5509. We’re happy to work with you so that you can have a better experience. We appreciate you taking the time to reach out to us today!
We recently switched 3 phones to Consumer Celluar. I am extremely disappointed that we are being billed for tremendous amounts of data which your service reps say is due to updates by others and not your fault. These data dumps only occur at 6 or 12 and we did not have them with our prior carrier( same phone, same usage, etc.). Only answer from service rep is to switch to wi- if only at these times. Dumb answer! It never happened with prior provider. Will switch providers unless this can be resolved without constant switching by U.S.
We apologize for any frustration, Ronald. Data used by your phones is reported to us in batches, so the times that are shown on your invoice don’t necessarily correlate to time that it was used. It is likely that your phone is performing updates of any apps that are installed on the phone. You can disable these automatic updates, so that your phones won’t use data in this manner. I was able to take a look at your account, and I see that you’re using an iPhone. To adjust your data settings, open your Settings app, then scroll down and select iTunes & App Store. In the Automatic Downloads section, make sure the slider for “Updates” is in the off position. This way, your phone will not automatically update apps in the background, using your data. You can also ensure that Wi-Fi is always on, which will reduce the amount of data you use.
We’re happy to walk through this with you over the phone if that is more convenient. Just give us a call at 888-345-5509, and we’ll assist you. Thank you for taking the time to post, and we appreciate you reaching out to us today!
Tried to drop the insurance on both of our phones. Can I do it thru our account service or do I have to dial customer service???
Thank you for asking, Mike. We can take care of that over the phone for you. Just give us a call at 888-345-5509, and we’ll remove the insurance from your devices. Thank you for posting today!
Crystal, one of your reps told me the error message page on your web site, which stated: Sorry, an error occurred while processing your request., was a result of a problem with my computer. She acknowledged that she did not know anything about computers and she said there was no reason for her to report the problem to anyone in your IT department. That struck me as being unresponsive and ignorant. She did agree to email me a pdf file of the invoice. I hope you fix the problem since I always print my monthly invoices.
We certainly apologize for the inconvenience, Rob. Thank you for letting us know. Our development team will take a look at that site feature to be sure it is fully functional. We’re always happy to send you an invoice if you are unable to access the site or use our app, and if there is anything else we can assist you with at this time, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 888-345-5509. Once again, we do apologize, and we appreciate you taking the time to comment today.
How do I retrieve deleted messages from my flip envoy?
Thank you for asking, Joan. Unfortunately, once you have deleted a text message from your Envoy, there is not a way to retrieve it. Thank you for posting!
I have tried ti reach a service rep. for two days and each time have been on hold for over 30 min.!! Whenever I turn on the wifi I get a message ‘Google Talk authentication failed’. Then I keep getting this notification every few minutes unless I shut off the wifi.
We apologize for any inconvenience, Irene. I was able to take a look at your account, and I’m glad to see that Pam, our customer account advisor, was able to help you with this issue. Thank you for giving us a call, and if we can assist you with anything else at this time, please call us at 888-345-5509. Thank you for taking the time to post today, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
I am having the same problem reaching customer service as others here. I have tried 611 and the 888-345-5509 number and have been put on hold for 20 to 30 min and then cut off or finally just hung up in frustration. I can’t send a text from anywhere other than my home , and can’t use the data at all. I have tried calling for help but can’t reach anyone. I just bought a new Iphone 5s but can’t use it for anything more than calling.
We’re sorry to hear that, Harry! I’ve reached out to our elite customer service team, and they will be contacting you directly in just a little bit. We appreciate your patience, and we look forward to getting this issue resolved for you.
I need some help, I’m disabled, need my phone for emergency and local med. calls. My now local phone company’s rates have doubled to out of my reach, fixed income. Can I get a Consumer Cellualr cell phone with a low rate and keep my phone number? I’ve had it for over 20 years, so do my medical persons, where do I go?
We’re happy to help you with that, Pat! In most cases, you can keep your phone number when you transfer to our service. With our plans, you can choose the amount of minutes, texts and data that works best for your needs. Best of all, our plans start at just $10 a month. You can take a look at our plans here, and you can also find our phones at your local Target or Sears store. We’re happy to help you complete the entire process over the phone at 888-345-5509 as well. Just let us know which option works best for you. Thank you for posting, and we hope to see you as a customer soon!
You need to hire more Customer Svc Reps AND you need a live Chat…your reps are great WHEN i can get thru but today i am constantly getting the message that there is a 15 minute+ wait. Also, if there is such a long wait, WHY do you make us go thru the voice response of telling you what option we want, and giving you the last 4 of our social security number? You already know the danged system is overloaded, so just be nice and honest and tell us UP FRONT that there is a long wait, then let us decide if we want to wait, or use the call back feature, or hang up? This is getting old very fast…you might be ranked high by Consumer Reports, etc. but you are not exactly ranking very high in common-sense additions to your customer service system…these are NOT hard changes to make..high more staff, and make your call monitoring system a little more logical and PLEASE STOP MAKING US HAVE TO GIVE INFORMATION FIRST AND T*H*E*N BE TOLD THAT THE WAIT IS REALLY REALLY LONG. You are beginning to remind me of ATT and Verizon, and that is NOT a good thing.
We apologize for the wait, PM. Please know that we are continuing to hire more account advisors, and we are working hard to train them so that we can minimize our hold times. I’ve passed your feedback regarding our system and live chat functionality on to our management team, so thank you for sharing your ideas. I was able to take a look at your account, and I see that we were able to assist you this morning and get your new phone ordered. If we can assist you with anything else at this time, please let us know. Thank you again for taking the time to comment, and we appreciate your patience!
Ashley, thanks for quick response…i wish your Customer Service phone lines responded as quickly. One more thing…i called on 12/15 and here is what happened BEFORE your CSR was able to assist me. I tried the “let us call you back feature” since the recording told me the hold time was 10-15 minutes (again, I had to give you all the information I mentioned above ) . I waited 30+ minutes before I was called back…I timed it because i sat in a parking lot thinking i’d only have to wait 15 minutes for the call back. If you are going to do these call backs, and if you tell people the hold time is 10-15 minutes, then at least do a “robo call” to tell people that, OOOOPS, our 15 minute hold time turned to 30 minutes during the time you decided to try our “convenient” call back feature. Then, to add insult to injury, when i mentioned the 30 minute wait for the call back, your CSR told me it’s better to call at 8AM (Eastern Time) since your call center is located on the West Coast and it’s 5AM there and therefore is less busy. OK…..folks…that is NOT the thing to tell someone who has been sitting waiting for a call for 15 (wait, wait, it turned into 30) minutes……i had been trying for a couple of days…i work..i do NOT have all day to play telephone lotto, hoping to hit the time when i might get a human. i am trying to port over a phone number from another carrier and have probably missed the best time to do so because of these delays and will now have to pay an additional month’s fees to the old carrier because it took so long to get thru. I only had a certain “window” when I could do this and save some $$ and it got missed. Again, sorry for the rant. According to your TV commercials, everyone loves you…why not add some truth to those commercials by addressing these wait times? And stop telling people who call that they should call at another time…i call when I can. Again, I like you. But, sorry, right now i don’t really love you. I know you are trying hard..at least Consumer Cellular responds to user comments, which I truly do admire and respect.
We’re very sorry, Patricia. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We apologize for the inconvenience, and I’ve passed your feedback on to our customer service team. After looking at your account, I’m glad to see that we were able to get your new Moto G LTE on the way to you. Thank you for your patience, and we look forward to making it up to you in the future with a better service experience. We appreciate you taking the time to comment!
I have been on hold twice for half an hour. First was Saturday afternoon, now 330 on Wednesday. Seriously. I need to turn my daughter’s phone back on and this is awful.
We’re so sorry for the inconvenience, Bonnie. Thank you for being so patient, and please know that we are hiring and training more account advisors so that we can reduce our hold times. I passed your feedback on to our management team, so thank you for letting us know. I took a look at your account, and I’m so glad to see that Deidra was able to help get your daughter’s phone turned on. If we can assist you with anything else, please give us a call at 888-345-5509. We appreciate you taking the time to post, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
Ashley, it looks like you have been hiring and training for a couple of years now. Are you paying enough to keep people? I am still on my 30 day free trial and have questions. I called today and the recording said 15 minutes — high volume — same as always. I held for 52 minutes before giving up. You must hire more and keep them. Tip: It’s always going to be high volume.
Hello John. Please accept my sincerest apologies for the long hold-times you experienced over the weekend. I was able to locate your account and it looks like you spoke with one of our representatives (Sara) recently. If you need any additional assistance, please let us know and we’ll be more than happy to help. Thank you.
This 6-1-1 would have been nice to know about before I began my journey to upgrade (forced by deletion of support for GSM flip phones) to iPhone 6S’s for both my wife & self. So far I have been in total limbo for more than 24 hours attempting to get these phones ordered.
It is bordering on whether I wish to continue with CC or go to my local provider, Chariton Valley Cellular.
We certainly apologize for the wait, Ken. Thank you for being so patient while we got this resolved. I took a look at your account, and I see that we were able to help you order your new iPhones and take care of this for you. If we can assist you with anything else at this time, please don’t hesitate to call us. We will be happy to help! Thank you for taking the time to post, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
I’ve been on hold for over an hour this evening. I just hung up. Your company used to be the best for customer service. An hour? That’s awful. My issue? I de-activated my daughter’s phone. I asked for a new sim to be sent so I could reactivate WHEN I get her a phone. The rep said.. no problem, you won’t be charged until you activate the phone.. Well.. I’m getting charged now. I emailed the problem and what you need to do to resolve it. I hope that will handle it.
Thank you for commenting, James. We apologize for the hold times, and for the inconvenience as well. Our customer service team will be responding to your email, and will work with you to get this issue resolved. We appreciate you taking the time to comment, and we look forward to helping you.
Ashley, I have tried multiple times this weekend and today, Monday, to call your CS since my voicemail is not working–asks the caller for the 10 digit number, then tells them it’s not available. It was working until a week or two ago. Today, I tried holding, and gave up after 15 minutes. I sent an email on Saturday and got no response at all, and sent another one Sunday and got the automated response that I would be contacted with in FIVE days! 5 days? Really? Your service was impeccable when I signed on last June, and this is appalling. HELP! As others have said, live chat would/might help.
We apologize for the wait, Patricia. Thank you for being so patient. I took a look at your account, and verified that your voicemail feature is active. Please turn your phone off, then back on again. This should allow your phone to reconnect to the tower and should resolve the issue. If for some reason the problem continues, we’re happy to help you troubleshoot over the phone. Our team will also respond to via email to follow up. Thank you for reaching out to us today, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
Thank you, Ashley. It didn’t work, so, to hopefully not have to sit on hold for 20-30 minutes, I’ll try calling when you open tomorrow morning. Everything else on the phone works fine and this has until recently. If you are interested, feel free to call my number and listen to the recorded error message. I don’t have a landline, so I hope customer service can work with me on my cell.
Thank you for being so patient, Patricia. A member from our expert customer service team will call you directly to get this taken care of. Thank you!
I will have the phone on from 7:00 am-8:00pm CDT. If they are not able to do so today, I will try to call at 5:00 AM PDT tomorrow morning. Thank you!
Update: Rhonda spent about an hour with me this morning, trying virtually everything to reset my visual voicemail and even tried just the regular voicemail, and nothing worked. We left it when I was able to get the voice set up menu and if that didn’t work, I will call back tomorrow at 5:00 PDT. It isn’t working as there is never an option to save all the things I have put in (message/time-date). Kyle C. Did email me yesterday, and I let him know that his reset yesterday didn’t work. I have powered down and up about 15-20 times in the last 18 hours! The last option is to reset the phone itself tomorrow unless anybody else has a suggestion (Please!).
Thank you for the information, Patricia. I took a look at your account this morning, and I’m so glad to see that Kyle was able to get this completely resolved for you! Thank you for being so patient, and please let us know if we can help you with anything else at this time. We hope you have a great day!
I am a new customer, since the middle of June. Every time I have called I have gotten a message that you are experiencing ‘higher than normal call volume’ and I am on hold anywhere from 15-45 or more minutes. Seriously, just because your main customer base is older people (I’m 54) doesn’t mean we have nothing better to do than wait on hold. I switched to CC because Consumer Reports said you had the highest customer service ratings, but that is so hard to believe with such long wait times. Also, it always says I can use the callback system, but out of all of the times I have attempted to use it, it’s only worked once. Every other time it just keeps me on hold. And I don’t want to hang up and start over. (I also encourage you to give discounts to AMAC customers.) Please don’t respond by saying that after looking at my account, that someone was able to resolve my issue. That’s not the point. The point is truly that your wait times are out of line and you really should do something to get them to a reasonable amount of time.
We do appreciate the feedback, Janet. Thank you for your patience, and we sincerely apologize for the wait times you have experienced. Our team is growing, and we are adding new account advisors so that this issue can be resolved as quickly as possible. I’ve also passed your comments on to our management team, so thank you for telling us about your experience. Hearing from our customers helps us create a better experience, so we really do appreciate you taking the time to post. We hope you have a great day!
Where should we be leaving feedback for suggestions to Consumer Cellular? I am pleased with consumer cellular and so glad you added so much more data options as we almost switched providers when you had less data. I have one other major wish that I’d like your CEO and team to please consider. Would you please offer texting in Canada, Mexico and many other countries for a low monthly fee. I spend 4 weeks in Canada every year and it’s a major challenge not having cell service and especially texting. Many non contract providers offer a text option for out of country. Please, please add it. I may have to switch providers because of no texting options abroad and I really don’t want to leave consumer cellular….but my daughter travels a lot and it impacts her travel in negative ways not to have texting. Thanks for listening.
We always appreciate suggestions like this, Margaret. Our blog is a great avenue for you to give feedback, or you can email us at [email protected] anytime with more ideas. I’ve passed your idea on to our management team for review, so thank you for taking the time to reach out to us. In the meantime, we recommend that your daughter try using an app like Google Hangouts or iMessage, which will allow her to send text messages when connected to Wi-Fi. That may help you all stay connected when she is traveling. Thank you again for commenting, and we appreciate having you as a Consumer Cellular customer!
I need to unlock my SIM card I’m switching phones and need the code
Thank you for posting, Johnny. We can help you with that over the phone at 888-345-5509. Just give us a call at your convenience, and we can get that taken care of. We appreciate you posting!
i called yesterday cc said 1/2hr wait it was 1hour and a 1/2 today cc said 1/2 hr wait its now 1hour and a half no call your service is getting very poor I also used 611 not any better
We do apologize for the wait you experienced, Rich. I reviewed your account, and I see that we called you back and left a message. We’re happy to assist you at your convenience, so please give us a call when you have a chance. Thank you for reaching out to us, and we hope you have a great day!
I can’t believe JD Power gave Consumer Cellular an award for customer service. My experience today has been “Customer NO Service”. Trying to get to talk to a customer representative is worse than trying to call Kaiser!! And that’s really, really, bad for you Consumer Cellular when Kaiser does a better/faster job of answering calls than you do! The up front message says the typical wait time is five to ten minutes. After being on hold for half an hour, i hung up. That “service ” is disrespectful to your customers. Considering how many comments you have received about this issue, I doubt that you are doing any hiring and training of more customer service representatives. You need to up your game. If you have that much call volume that customers are put on hold for over half an hour, there is something really, really wrong with your business procedures. What’s the point of being a customer if one cannot get any help?! Like one of the other customers, I’m considering switching to another provider even if I do pay more money just as long as I can get fast customer service when I want and need it! You should be ashamed of yourselves. And JD Power should be ashamed to give you the award that it did–it is totally undeserved!
We appreciate your honest feedback, Linda. Thank you for your patience, and we sincerely apologize for the wait times you have experienced. Our team is growing, and we are adding new account advisors so that any wait times can be reduced as quickly as possible. I’ve also passed your comments on to our management team. Hearing from our customers helps us create a better experience, so we really do appreciate you taking the time to post. We hope you have a great day!
how do you delete name and no from phone book i have tried everything
Thank you for commenting, Dorothy. I reviewed your account, and I see that you’re using our Doro 626. If you would like to delete a contact from your phone book, start by finding the contact you would like to delete. Tap the top left soft key to select Options, then use the arrows to move down the list to Delete. Press the top left soft key to select OK, then press it again to select Yes when the screen prompts you to Delete. If you run into any issues, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509 and we will be happy to assist you. We appreciate you taking the time to post, and we hope you enjoy your new phone!
I just held for 20 minutes. Finally “Sydney” came on. Got info so I could talk with her for my Dad. Then she hung up. Service is as bad as ATT.
We’re sorry to hear that you had a negative experience with our customer service team, Sharon. Please send us an email at [email protected] with the date and time of your call and we will be happy to investigate. If we can answer any questions you may have about your father’s service or our plans, we can assist you at 888-345-5509 at your convenience. Thank you for reaching out to us, and we hope you have a great day!
I want to thank the team at Consumer Cellular for promptly correcting a problem with an order I had placed. The issue was resolved on the same day of the order, saving us both a lot of time and inconvenience.
Thanks CC!
You’re very welcome, Bob! We’re glad to hear that the issue was resolved quickly. Thank you for posting!
Your robot that answers your phone is a disgrace. It is almost impossible to get past her. Now to make matters even worse, you force me to listen to the NEWS if I want to stay on hold. There is no way around being abused by having to listen to the news! What is wrong with easy music. What ever happened to the call back option. Right now I would have to give your customer service a zero.
We appreciate your feedback, Steven, and I’m happy to pass it on to our management team. Our call back option is still available, and I’m sorry to hear that you had a poor experience with our phone system. Thank you for your patience while waiting for assistance, and please know that we are actively hiring and training more account advisors so that we can help you quickly. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today.
I’m still waiting for a call back. I’m ready to switch to another carrier even if I have to pay more. I simply want to know how to get a date and time recorded when people leave messages. As it is now, I have no idea when a message was left. I watched your voice mail set up video and it didn’t help with my question. I called before 8 am and it’s now 8:19. You don’t have to apologize…that’s meaningless. And you have been hiring and training for over two years now if all your replies on this site are read. Problem is getting worse and worse.
We apologize for the wait you’ve experienced, Trudy. Our team is continually growing, and we are hiring more people to assist our customers. I reviewed your account, and I’m glad to see that you were able to speak with James, our customer account advisor and get the help you needed. Thank you for your patience today, and for your feedback.
I have been trying to reach your office for 5 hours. I even left a request for a call back, but have not yet heard back.I even called back 3 times & was put on hold for a total of 45 minutes each time. I still don’t have a resolution to my problem. I have a very urgent problem with my payment method & need to get it resolved because I have a payment due. PLEASE, PLEASE call me back ASAP
We apologize for the wait you experienced, Theresa. Thank you for your patience, and I’m so glad to see that Timothy, your account advisor, was able to assist you further. If we can answer any questions or help you with an account change, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. Thank you for taking the time to post, and we hope you have a great day!
I tried to call the customer service for few days and even tried to write a email, but either of them worked. Terrible customer service!
We’re very sorry to hear about your experience, Laura. Please know that we are hiring and training new employees so that we can assist our customers quickly. I reviewed your account, and I see that Ariel, one of our Account Advisors, was able to assist you with your device. If we can help you with anything else at this time, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. Thank you for your patience, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
Several years ago, I cancelled all my Verizon accounts for poor customer service and moved to CC. I even paid penalties because their service was that bad. At that time, you could get a CC person within a few minutes. Tonight, I’ve been on hold for 45 minutes to activate a newly purchased phone. I know – someone reading this will tell me to do it online. I can’t. I have four devices and CC shipped a phone set up to replace the wrong device. I’m afraid that if I go through their online activation, the wrong phone will be replaced. The service person told me I had to purchase another phone. I said “no way, please let me talk to you manager.” I spoke to a supervisor last night and she said it could be fixed through the SIM and didn’t need to be replaced. However, I needed talk to a person so that they didn’t disconnect the wrong phone.
I will keep trying , calling back at oh-dark-30 until I get tired of it and cancel my four lines with CC. Cut off my nose to spite my face? Yeah, but it feels good.
We apologize for the wait you’ve experienced, Ron, and we appreciate your patience. I reviewed your account, and I see that Jennie, one of our advisors, was able to help you activate your phone and switch the SIM cards. If we can help you with anything else at this time, we’re happy to do so. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us, and we appreciate you being a customer!
i am planning to get iphone 8. what shall i do with my iphone 6s? do you have trade-in program?
Thanks for reaching out to us, Ruben! The iPhone 8 is an amazing smartphone, and you’re sure to enjoy all it has to offer. We don’t have a trade-in program for your old iPhone, but you could resell it or pass it down to a friend or family member. Just be sure to remove all of your personal information before doing so, and perform a full reset. We’re happy to answer any iPhone questions you may have at 888-345-5509. We appreciate you posting, and we hope you have a lovely day!
This thread has been going on for over three years now. It is now November 2017 and I’ve been on hold for over 30 minutes for my “15 minute wait” and finally hung up. Looks like the new people “in training” three years ago never got around to actually working. You’d think in all that time things would have gotten better. Funny that you’re much faster to get ahold of when first signing up for service!
We do apologize for the wait you experienced when you called us, Mitch. Please know that we are working to reduce the time spent on hold, and we very much appreciate your patience. I’ve passed your feedback on to our management team for review. Thanks for reaching out to us, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
I just wanted to let you know my experience with your service center.
I called and sent up a call back and they called me back within a half hour. Gale was the person I talked to and he was very patient and helpful. He helped me set up my voice mail and answered all my questions. Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! We’re so glad that Gale was able to assist you, and that you were able to get all of your questions answered. We’ll be happy to recognize Gale for a job well done. We appreciate you posting!
I am fed up with the bad service I het at Consumer Cellular. You cannot talk to customer service anymore. Even Tracfone was not this bad, and that is saying something. It seems the only way I can end service is to stop paying my bill.
We apologize for the wait you experienced, Jeff. Thank you for your patience as we are hiring and training more account advisors to assist our customers quickly. I was able to review your account, and I see that Victor was able to help you. If we can be of any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. Thank you for your feedback, and we appreciate you being a customer!
My services is about to be turned off and I can’t get an answer. I wish there was an auto pay selection. Just want you to know this is the third call today. The wait is totally ridiculous.
We apologize for the wait you experienced, Bernard. I reviewed your account, and I see that the issue has been resolved. We do offer an Auto Pay option, so you won’t need to worry about sending in a payment. If you’re interested, we’re happy to help you set this up at 888-345-5509. Thank you for posting, and we hope you have a great day!
I keep seeing the same number for customer service pop up in all the replies, yet have not been able to actually speak with anyone. What’s up?
Thanks for posting, Lisa. The best number to call if you have a question is 888-345-5509. We’re sorry to hear that you haven’t been able to speak with anyone, and we appreciate your patience. Thank you again for taking the time to comment, and we look forward to speaking with you!
I agree with many of the more recent callers. You need to add cs representatives. I have tried to reach cs on several occasions over the past six months and have waited more than 30 minutes on every occasion and left a call back on two other situations and had call backs in more than two to four hours. Been on hold today for more than 20 minutes at this point and all I need is to order a replacement SIM card. This should be an option somehow on the website, or at least take care of customers with simple needs. I like the company pricing, but the service is almost non existent any more.
We apologize for the wait you experienced, CJ, and we appreciate your patience. I was able to take a look at your account and I see that you are switching to a new phone. If you still have your existing SIM card, it can easily be used in your new phone in most cases. If we can be of any further help at this time, please don’t hesitate to call us again at 888-345-5509 or send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, and we hope you have a great day!
Was told hold time would be approx 15 minutes. I’ve been on hold for 1 hour and 15 minutes so far…..and still waiting. And I get to listen to the same crappy repetitive bits of news. Definitely cancelling my service.
We apologize for the wait you experienced, Joe, and appreciate your feedback. We do offer a callback feature that allows you to hold your place in line and receive a call back at a later time, which may be more convenient in the future. If we can be of service to you, please call us at 888-345-5509. We appreciate your patience, and we look forward to assisting you!
My husband got his mom a new phone from Consumer Cellular but was unable to get it activated. He stayed on the phone for an hour, 3 times, and no one would pickup, although the message said 15 minutes would be the limit. Then, he went to Target to get it activated and they said they don’t do activate. This is the worst customer service I’ve ever seen. My husband returned the phone today.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Angela, and we do apologize for any inconvenience. When activating a new phone, you can do so via My Account online or over the phone at 888-345-5509. Many Target stores can activate a device purchased there, so we are sorry to hear that this wasn’t the case in your experience. If we can be of any further assistance, we are happy to help you at 888-345-5509. Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback, and we hope to speak with you soon.
I have been attempting to contact your customer service department for over an hour to pay my bill and reinstate service. I am expecting a call within an hour that I cannot afford to miss and I CANNOT REACH YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE LINE AT ALL!!!! When I first signed up for Consumer Cellular in 2013, I was unfailingly able to reach an English-speaking, courteous, helpful employee every time I called with no wait whatsoever. I am not sure what has happened in the meantime, but the response is now so terrible that I am seriously considering discontinuing my service with this carrier. It is a great disappointment to realize that what was once a great feature of your business is now a thing of the past. You should be ashamed of yourselves and you should also ANSWER THE PHONE when an established customer is trying to reach you.
Thank you for posting, Teresa, and please accept our apology for the wait you experienced today. I’ve reviewed your account, and I see that Tiana, our account advisor, was able to assist you. Please know that we are training new account advisors to assist our customers quickly. If we can be of any further help to you at this time, please don’t hesitate to call us again at 888-345-5509. We appreciate your feedback, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
We have been Consumer Cellular customers for more than five years and Consumer Cellular will not take my call either. I was on hold for 48 minutes yesterday before I had to leave work. Same observation as Teresa – this didn’t use to be this way, something with the company has taken a drastic turn for the worse.
We apologize for the wait, Martin, and appreciate your patience while we deal with some increased call volume due to the recent holidays. I was able to take a look at your account, and I see that Grant, our account advisor, was able to assist you. If we can be of any further help at this time, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. Thank you for your feedback, and we hope you have a lovely day!
No one ever answers when you call-asking over and over for part of your social security number-just not comfortable with this
We apologize for the wait you experienced, John. I was able to take a look at your account, and I see that we were able to assist you over the phone and answer your questions. If you are concerned about providing your personal information, we’re happy to talk with you about your options at 888-345-5509. Please don’t hesitate to call us if we can assist you in any way. Thank you for taking the time to post, and we hope you have a great day!
Thank you Melissa! You handled my call efficiently and I was very appreciative when I was able to reach a live rep! It did take me a few days to get in touch with a rep but well worth the wait!
I am an extremely patient person and was so happy to get my new iphone up and running! You helped me with my first iphone se..
I wish you the best and i understand customer service all too well….
no fun to have customers who are not happy with long waiting times…
Plus i was calling over the weekend…during the eves cst…
Thank you so much for posting today, Sheila! We will be happy to recognize Melissa for a job well done, and we are glad to hear that we were able to help you. Congratulations on your new iPhone, and we’re always happy to assist you with any questions that come up along the way. Have a lovely day!
I’ve been on hold for 32 minutes and counting. This is ridiculous. I got an email that I needed to call, I’m just trying to order a new phone!
Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today, Jenni. We very much appreciate your patience, and we apologize for the wait you experienced. If we can be of any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. We appreciate you taking the time to post, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
It looks as if things have improved. I just called customer service and spoke with a delightful young lady who was very helpful. I wish I could remember her name so she could get a raise.
We’re so glad to hear that you had a great experience over the phone, Marie. I took a look at your account, and it looks like Terriana was the advisor who assisted you. I’ll be sure to reach out to her supervisor so that she can be recognized for a job well done!
Why won’t my cell phone let me send pictures through text messages it won’t let me send pictures to Messenger but not to a text why is that
Thanks for posting, Bob. It sounds like the messaging settings on your phone may need to be updated so that you can send multimedia messages. We’re happy to help you with that over the phone at 888-345-5509 at your convenience. We appreciate you taking the time to reach out to us, and we look forward to assisting you!
Please send me a download link for the Firmware/ROM file(s). I need to do a “dload” flash from an SDcard. The bootloader is already unlocked. This is a USA Consumer Cellular phone and I believe I need the B147 version of the firmware. Other/newer versions of the ROM are not compatible and will not load.
Huawei Ascend Mate2 – MT2-L03
Thank you for posting, Smith. Unfortunately, software updates are provided by the manufacturer, and we aren’t able to provide those on our end. We appreciate you reaching out to us, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. Thanks again!
Hello,
I am a new customer. I just got off the phone with a very nice representative name Natalie.
Natalie was very helpful, answered all my questions, she was very patient and kind.
I love my phone and the services Consumer Cellular offers! It’s very affordable and fit my needs.
Thank you so much and I appreciate your assistance today!
Thank you so much for sharing your story, Shirley, and we’re so glad to hear that Natalie was able to help you. We will be sure to make sure she is recognized for a job well done. We hope you have a lovely day!
I have just attempted to call all your numbers that I can find, including 611, and get the message “The number you are attempting to call can not be placed from this line. Please call 611….” HELP!
We appreciate you commenting, Paul. We hope you’ll accept our apology for any inconvenience caused by disruption of our service this morning. Due to network errors, some of our customers were unable to make and receive calls. We’re pleased to say that the issues that caused this outage have now been resolved. As a result of the problems, our contact centers and web sites have been overwhelmed with people trying to reach us, which has impacted many people’s ability to get through. Please take a moment to power cycle your phone, which should resolve any lingering issues. We appreciate your patience, and we thank you for your time.
My husband is having trouble making and receiving calls whenever he tries to call consumer service it tells him the account does not have enough balance to complete this call and that is not true we have unlimited service; because I can make and receive calls on my phone. I have been trying to call consumer cellular at 1-888-345-5509 and cannot get through. Can someone tell me what is wrong here; because I am ready to go back to AT&T for our phone service.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by disruption of our service this morning. Due to network errors, some of our customers were unable to make and receive calls. We’re pleased to say that the issues that caused this outage have now been resolved. To confirm that your device is working properly, please turn it off, then back on again. As a result of the problems, our contact centers and web site have been overwhelmed with people trying to reach us. This extra volume has impacted many people’s ability to get through. We appreciate your patience, and we wish you the very best.
CC’s customer service used to be one of the few reasons to switch carriers. In the last year or two the company seems to NO LONGER care about answering support calls or even responding to chat requests in at timely manner. For 3 days now it’s been 10min + even at low call times during the week/day. Now even Chat says to call the 800# and that’s a 10-20min wait if you don’t get disconnected in the process. WAKE UP Consumer Cellular as I’m anxious to fill out my Consumer Reports survey like thousands of others and DING YOU for your lack of investment in what used to make you a great company!!!!
Thank you for your feedback, Keith. I apologize for the frustration caused by the recent wait times. We are actively hiring and training new team members to address these wait times for our customers via chat and over the phone. We appreciate your patience as we get them fully trained so that they can provide the best service possible. If there is anything further that you need assistance with, please let us know.
Just off the phone with Charlie the CC rep. I have a poor reception problem as I live in a Steel framed structure. He is sending me a new SIM card that will work off wifi while I’m home. I waited 3 mins before he answered. This is Great service. Thanks
That’s great to hear, Ed! Thank you for sharing your experience!
Recently converted to Consumer Cellular in Colorado. The process is less than impressive. I read that I could go to Best Buy and Target for support. Found out that Best Buy is not actively supporting CC in Colorado and only the Super Targets support CC..
Feb 8th, I went to the closest Super Target and the cashier in the Electronics Department was also taking care of other Target customers, selling TV’s and vacuum cleaners while working on my two phones and was overwhelmed with several distractions and work load.
Over the next few days we found out that my phones were not properly programed and we could not receive photos in our test. Everything came up as “No Subject” and could not be opened and read.
Feb 16th I worked for over an hour with two different tech’s at the CC Call Center. They said that the original Target store did not set the APN’s. After changing APN settings still had problems.
An appointment was made for me to go to a different Super Target store on Monday Feb 18th. Went to the Target at the appointment time and a younger cashier did not know about the appointment, also said he didn’t have much experience but he would try and find out was the problem.
He verified that I properly set the APN’s on Saturday. While unlocking video games for other shoppers, he said that the APN’s were Okay but a VPN was not correct. Since then, since then we do not seem to be having problems.
I think the process is very weak. If we have any other problems we are going back to our original carrier, just to get better support.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Calvin. We’re sorry to hear that the transition to our service was not a smooth one, and if we can assist you with any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call us at 888-345-5509. We appreciate your feedback, and we hope you have a wonderful day!
Just recently switched to Consumer Cellular. I have been locked out of my voice mail. Thing is I don’t remember setting it up. How do I re-establish my voice mail?
Hi David, you can change your voicemail password through our automated system at 888-373-1777, or by speaking with an agent at 888-548-6490.
Been trying to call and see what i can do about my stolen flip phone ,but keep having to wait unnecessary periods of time. Can we please speed up this wait time
Hi Dorothy, thanks for your post! I’m sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve had with reaching our agents. Currently, the hold times are a little bit longer than expected due to the holiday. If you are having trouble reaching us at 888-345-5509 I would also recommend chatting with us here.
how do I remove a contact from my cell phone?
Hi Sydney, thanks for your question. It can largely depend on the phone you’re using, but the general steps would including going into your address book > Selecting the contact you want to delete > Select options > Select delete. If you have any trouble though, feel free to give us a call at 800-686-4460 or chat with us here for more assistance.
I have cc f[p phone and can’t shut the airplan mode off so I can make calls ,What can I do ,Thank You
Hi Dale, our customer service team is happy to help you get Airplane Mode turned off if you give us a call at 888-345-5509 or chat with us here.
I just recently set up my account with felix. Between yesterday and today, I have tried four or five times to get someone to answer a couple questions. After giving the requested personal info, I get the message saying that call volumes are very high and hold time is 30 minutes. I have tried both waiting on hld for more than 30 minutes with no one ever taking my call. I tried scheduling a call back time for later today. I was told the earliest I could get a call back was feb 27 (two days from now). In reading prior posts, looks like this is a pattern for customer service. I want to cancel my account. How do I get my chip that was just shipped back to you?
Hi Katherine, those hold times are definitely frustrating and we appreciate your continued patience with us as we diligently work to hire, and train, more agents to assist with those hold times. I do see that you were able to speak with someone regarding your account though and everything has been closed down. If you receive the SIM card, you can go ahead and recycle it.
30 minute hold times that go to 55 minutes.
call backs in 2 or 3 days
whats going on?
Hi Carol, thanks for reaching out. I understand how frustrating those hold times are and it’s certainly not our intention for them to be that long. We are currently in the process of hiring more representatives to assist with this. We appreciate your patience while we work to get them trained and ready to assist you on the phone. If assistance is still needed and you have any trouble reaching a phone agent, you do also have the option to chat with us on our website here as well.
it is September 2020 and I’m having the same problem. I have tried every number I could find including 611 and can’t get a human on any of them. I’m ready to throw this thing through a window and get my land line back
Hi Carol, I understand that the wait times can be frustrating and we’re doing all that we can to limit the time spent on hold for our customers. I see that you were able to speak with an agent to get assistance with your phone. If you need further assistance, you can give us a call at 888-345-5509 or chat with us here.
Am happy for the application process
I was considering moving my service to Consumer Cellular but it seem like too many problems with the service, so I am getting a negative vibe from the complaints
That’s not what we want to hear, Iris. Any time we receive a complaint, we do all that we can to get it resolved. If you have any concerns, we’d be happy to address them. You can reach our customer service team over the phone at 888-345-5509 or via chat here.
Between traditional subscription plans on the big three carriers, prepaid services, and companies reselling those three networks, you can find hundreds of options for family plans, but the two-line rates of Consumer Cellular come out on top at just $55 for two lines with 5 GB each. Not only is that a better price than other companies charge, but this reseller of AT T and T-Mobile (it assigns you the network it thinks suits your location better, but you can override that if you want) also consistently earns some of the best customer-review scores in the business. You must call Consumer Cellular to get a four-line plan, though, because the website allows only up to three lines.
Been trying for days to get a customer service person to help with my daughter’s phone. I’ve been on hold an hour or more each time, and eventually need to hang up due to other commitments . She’s a special needs adult looking for work, and this is really holding things up – I think a potential employer was looking for her but can’t reach her – and she probably lost that job opportunity. It seems Consumer Cellular took our money, but is not offering basic service – kind of fraudulent. They used to be so good.
That’s definitely frustrating, Dee. I recommend having her follow the steps here: https://bit.ly/3vf90Yd, and check for a software update in the Settings of her phone. If it’s still not working, then we have live chat here.
Other than smoke signals there is no other way to communicate with Consumer Cellular . Nobody will ever answer the phone.
Hi Richard, I apologize for the frustration with the recent wait times. Since the decommissioning of 3G service, we have experienced a high volume of contacts across all channels of support, but our customer service team is still here taking calls and answering live chats. We appreciate your patience during this time.