Cricket cell phone service free texting ripoff ("bait and switch") Tucson, Arizona

It appears as of Sept. 2012 that Cricket may be engaged in a "bait and switch" scam in which their $35 per month "unlimited voice and text" plan is not what it is advertised to be.  Their newest customers who bring their devices (phones) from another provider are being sold this plan telling them that their phones will work just fine on the Cricket network.  They then soon discover that any text message containing the character "@" in the "FROM" of the sender info will not be delivered to the customer's cell phone.  In place of the text message, Cricket generates their own message to the customer to the effect:  "Multi-Media messages are being sent to your device, and your device does not support (multi-media) messages.  Please visit your Cricket store to upgrade your device and your service plan."

So, if someone "hacks" their way into one of your accounts (bank, credit card etc.) and makes changes to your account for nefarious purposes, the account provider will often either email or send a text message to the customer alerting them that "changes have been made to your account.  If you did not request changes to your account, please contact us directly and immediately to verify the change(s)."   The customer will never see such a message because Cricket is stopping them in their tracks.  This could end up costing the customer dearly, and/or their identity stolen.

If the Cricket customer visits a Cricket store to resolve this texting issue, Cricket steadfastly refuses to resolve the issue, telling the customer they must "upgrade" to a new phone and upgrade their service level.  This nearly doubles the $35 cost of the service (plus the cost of a new phone).  It is classic "bait and switch".   Cricket will try to convince the  customer it is happening because the (purely "text") messages are longer than 150 characters, when in fact they are only a few characters.  If the customer asks for a refund of any amount paid Cricket, the customer is out of luck unless they put the initial Cricket charges on their credit card, then the charge(s) must be contested with the credit card provider.

This has been reported to the F.T.C.   The F.TC. asks that anyone who has experienced this scam report it to the F.T.C. at 877-382-4357.  The F.T.C. will take no action unless a sufficient number of complaints are received by them.  Such is the only way government agencies will investigate.