CRICKET CELLULAR - LEAP WIRELESS NON-EXISTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE, WEBSITE SLUGGISH OR DOWN ripoff SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA

I know that sounds like a silly question, but valid nonetheless. If you went to Cricket's website today, it has been running all day, and has been quite fast. The correct website is:

http://www.mycricket.com

If you went to any other site, it is NOT Cricket Communications' website, and might be a phishing site. Furthermore, Cricket's phone number IS posted on the website. If you look at the bottom of the page on the website, you'll see a link to "Support". That takes you to a FAQ section. Below, the FIRST question is "How do I contact Cricket Customer Service?". Clicking on that will give you the number, which is 1-800-CRICKET. The only other site that has Cricket Communications information is:

http://www.leapwireless.com

That is the company that owns Cricket Communications. Yes, it is a California-based company. However, their customer service call centers are NOT all located in California. They are located in the southwest and the midwest US, which have recently had some VERY harsh weather. This would explain the message that you received on the automated system regarding "poor weather conditions". This does NOT mean that Cricket NEVER answers their phones. It only means that some of their main call center locations were affected by "poor weather conditions", and that they may have increased hold times due to not having enough agents to handle the call volume (again, due to the weather). Just because a company is headquartered in a city does NOT mean that is the ONLY place they have a call center. Verizon is based in NY, but one of their call centers is in Overland Park, KS.

You've made a LOT of claims as if Cricket is some poor, off-brand wireless company. MANY websites go down from time to time. Also, it could be a problem with your own ISP and not Cricket's website. Go visit the site again, and it should be working. If you're still getting the same error, then it's your ISP or your own computer. I have been able to access the site just fine all day. Also, a tip for you....most companies do their website maintenance between 12am - 7am on Sunday mornings. That may be why you got the timeout messages.

Tell me WHEN you actually went on the site and WHAT site you actually went to. Also, MANY companies use automated systems these days. If you call 1-800-CRICKET, choose OPTION 1, then OPTION 4, then OPTION 1, and you'll be able to listen to information about Cricket's rate plans, features and services. If you want to get to a representative, just go through OPTION 1, then OPTION 1 again to go through like you're activating a new Cricket phone, and you'll be transferred to a representative (just enter jibberish info for what it asks for).

A tip for you: next time, please don't post in ALL CAPS. It's very annoying, hard to read, and can be considered SHOUTING. I would recommend searching Google for the word "netiquette" which will give you some tips about online/Internet etiquette....

IN THIS DAY AND AGE OF AUTOMATED EVERYTHING, IT'S REFRESHING TO GET TRUE, SINCERE CUSTOMER SERVICE. WELL, FORGET ABOUT THAT IF YOU'RE CONSIDERING CRICKET CELLULAR. ONE MIGHT THINK THAT A PERSON EXPLORING A NEW CELL PHONE SERVICE MIGHT JUST GET A LITTLE ATTENTION OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT WHEN THEY CALLED THE COMPANY THEY WERE EXPLORING ... BUT YOU CAN FORGET THAT SILLY NOTION, TOO.

I'M LOOKING FOR REASONABLE CELLULAR SERVICE FOR MY DAUGHTER WHO LIVES IN CARLSBAD, CA. I HAD HEARD SOMEONE MENTION CRICKET CELLULAR AND I GOOGLED TO FIND THEIR WEBSITE. THE HOMEPAGE WAS SUPER-SLUGGISH TO LOAD, AND WHEN IT FINALLY DID LOAD, I ATTEMPTED TO SEE IF THE ZIPCODE 92008 WAS WITHIN CRICKET'S COVERAGE AREA. I ENTERED THAT ZIPCODE INTO THE PROPER FIELD AND CLICKED TO PROCEED. A PAGE NEVER OPENED. I TRIED REPEATEDLY, AND THE WHO DARN SITE WAS CREEPING ... AND PAGES WERE TIMING-OUT, AND I WAS GETTING NOWHERE.

I THEN GOOGLED FOR 10 MINUTES TRYING TO FIND A "CUSTOMER SERVICE" PHONE NUMBER FOR CRICKET. I FOUND IT ON THIS WEBSITE, BUT WHEN I CALLED IT, I GOT A RECORDED MESSAGE BY SOME YOUNG MAN SAYING, "THANK YOU FOR CALLING CRICKET COMMUNICATIONS, DUE TO POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS YOUR CALL MAY BE DELAYED ... PLEASE VISIT US ONLINE ..." I THOUGHT THESE FOLKS (CRICKET) WERE SAN DIEGO BASED. I'M WONDERING .... WHAT POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS???? DID SOME POOR CRICKET EMPLOYEE HAVE TO SNOWSHOE SEVERAL MILES TO WHERE THE CARRIER PIGEONS ARE KEPT???

I STAYED ON THE LINE AND LISTENED TO THE MENU OPTIONS. THE MOST SUITABLE OPTION STATED, "iF YOU'RE CALLING TO ACTIVATE A PHONE OR FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CRICKET SERVICES, PRESS 1". WELL, I PRESSED ONE, AND NO MORE OPTIONS CAME UP THAT WOULD ALLOW ME TO ASK ANY QUESTION OF A REPRESENTATIVE (OPERATOR, WHATEVER) THAT MIGHT BE HELPFUL TO ME .... AND THE DARN WEBSITE IS PRETTY MUCH WORTHLESS AT THIS MOMENT. I WENT BACK TO TRY THE WEBSITE, AND IT WON'T EVEN OPEN ... THE PAGE TIMES OUT BEFORE THE HOMEPAGE APPEARS. THAT SAN DIEGO WEATHER MUST BE DREADFUL.

I MUST SAY THAT TO ME, THIS ISN'T VERY REASSURING. I HAVE DOMAIN HOSTING WITH A COMPANY THAT DOES NOT HAVE A TOLL-FREE NUMBER ... BUT THEY ARE THERE EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU CALL THEM, AT ANY TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT. I'VE YET TO GET A MESSAGE THAT SAYS, "DUE TO POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS ...". I HAVE A CURRENT CELL PHONE PROVIDER AND I CAN CALL THEM AT ANY TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT ... AND GET A PERSON ANSWERING MY CALL.

A COMPANY THAT MAKES YOU "SEARCH" TO FIND THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION ... A COMPANY THAT RUNS YOU IN CIRCLES, RATHER THAN PROVIDING YOU WITH AN EASILY ACCESSIBLE LINK TO LIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE .... IS A COMPOANY THAT WILL NOT GET MY BUSINESS. IF IT'S THIS DIFFICULT TO GET A FEW SIMPLE QUESTIONS ANSWERED AT THIS STAGE, THEN I DON'T REALLY WANT TO IMAGINE WHAT IT MIGHT BE LIKE TO BE ONE OF THEIR CUSTOMERS AND THEN TRY TO CONTACT THEM WITH A CONCERN OR PROBLEM. LOW RATES REALLY DO MATTER, BUT SOMETIMES LOW RATES DON'T MEAN SO MUCH WHEN REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE IS COMPROMISED.

MY SUGGESTIONS (CHALLENGE?) TO CRICKET COMMUNICATIONS - LEAP WIRELESS: PUBLISH YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE NUMBER ... THE ONE WHERE A CUSTOMER OR POTENTIAL CUSTOMER CAN CALL AND ACTUALLY SPEAK WITH SOMEONE. SECONDLY, IF YOUR WEBSITE IS DOWN, AT LEAST BE ON TOP OF IT AND HAVE A FLAG PAGE APPEAR .... OR SOMETHING. ALSO, FIX YOUR MENU OPTIONS, THEY'RE AMBIGUOUS ... AND WHEN YOUR CRUMMY PHONE SERVICE REFERS POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS TO YOUR CRUMMY WEBSITE, THEN WHAT DO YOU HAVE. YOU'VE GOT NOTHING BUT BAD PUBLICITY .... AND YOU'VE WASTED A GOOD AMOUNT OF MY TIME.

CAVEAT EMPTOR (LET THE BUYER BEWARE)