The fee seems to be a way for Cricket to charge current users more for phones than it charges new users without actually having two different prices. Cricket sells its phones at subsidized prices, including some used phones that are available for 99¢ online.
Cricket recently switched customers to a new proxy that delivered lower pings and more reliable picture messaging. The switchover is occurring over several months (some customers still haven't been switched). Howard Forums users discovered that swapping your service to a new "white" SIM caused an instant switch to the new proxy. The white SIMs cost $10 from Cricket so it became popular to buy a 99¢ phone just for the SIM. I wonder if that gave Cricket the idea to start charging the inline upgrade fee?
It's not clear when and how the upgrade fee will be collected. I suspect that the fee will be charged when the phone is ordered online rather than when the user calls Cricket to switch their service to the new phone. Otherwise customers could avoid the fee by moving their active SIM from the old phone to the new one.
A sharp eyed Howard Forums member discovered the upcoming change in a new footnote on Cricket's Charges & Fees page.
Wtf wrong with cricket getting greedy
ReplyDeleteBad decision. When my Cricket phone starts to go south, I will port out.
DeleteI guess Cricket has too many customers and wants to lose some by "feeing"them away.
DeleteI do kind of wonder. Especially with the fees specific to the storefronts, which seem designed to punish customers from ever darkening their doors.
Delete"The fee applies when you purchase a phone from Cricket to replace your current Cricket phone. The fee does not apply if you switch to a Cricket phone purchased from a retailer like Target, Walmart or BestBuy."
ReplyDeleteWhat about if you switch from one BYOD to another BYOD?
There's no fee when switching to a new BYOD. Other than $10 for a SIM if you need a different size.
DeleteAll you have to do is take out the Sim from your photos to get to the new one there's no fee involved with that I don't get it
ReplyDeleteWay to go Cricket, punish your loyal customers. Give them incentive to leave they getter a better offer from a competitor.
ReplyDeleteDon't blame Cricket, it's a few less than thankful customers that caused this.
DeleteCricket is starting to Nickle and Dime people now.
ReplyDeleteMy next phone will be an unlocked Motorola. If cricket adds any more fees or starts reducing speeds, I can use that phone on another carrier.
ReplyDeleteI hsve an unlocked Moto E working on Cricket. It works fine but the phone is missing the latest ATT LTE band 33? . Unfortunately no VoLTE or WIFI capability on this phone as Cricket/ATT reserved this feature for their branded phones (except newer Iphones) so far.
DeleteYou will be stupid to pay $25 upgrade fee to buy those junky phones.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they are sick if existing customers hoarding phones for resale at their expense .
ReplyDeleteToo many people scamming the system ruined it for us. They would order many cheap phones just to sell them.
ReplyDeleteMore false accusations. There's nothing wrong with buying something and selling it to someone else, and to call this legal, moral, and enterprising activity "scamming" is a lie.
DeleteUnless you have evidence that these people took money for the phones when they resold them but never delivered the product, there is no evidence of any scam.
Scam (Scammer) Definition:
Deletenoun
1.
a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle.
verb (used with object), scammed, scamming.
2.
to cheat or defraud with a scam.
----------------------
Yet, you didn't describe any fraud or anything like it. Hmmmm...
Someone always has an excuse and it's never them cheating the system--hilarious!
DeleteCome back when you find evidence of cheating. So far, no one has mentioned any.
DeleteLet alone behavior which must be "excused'.
No one except Cricket really knows why the $25 fee is being assessed however if I were Cricket and I thought I was offering a good deal on a cheap phone as goodwill to my customers then I had a sad few that thought it was OK to buy up all those phones and resell for a higher price as profit then I think at that point I would have to come up with a solution to slow down that greed. My guess is the above observation is probably spot on! NO PROOF just an intelligent observation.
DeleteLet's hear from the goody two shoes that use every cent they deserve. Why did Cricket start charging $25. Not heard a good explanation from you thus far...perhaps you don't have one?
DeleteHe's probably the same person that blames customers signing up for offered services for FreedomPop's demise, instead of blaming FreedomPop for failing to come up with a profitable business model.
DeleteBecause, I guess, customers are evil for singing up for services or buying phones.
FreedomPop is dead?
Delete- posted from my FreedomPop phone.
FreedomPop is dead?
Delete- posted from my FreedomPop phone.
Well, anti-consumer troll keeps saying that customers killed FreedomPop. Over and over. I guess I was a fool to think that troll was even correct on anything!
DeleteAs for me, I had FreedomPop. I recalled the warnings that it was shutting down (including from them) and I followed the panic and ported to Ting. I never looked back, tbh...
This is the first I've heard that FP still exists. And I believe you: you posted it not just once. but twice!
My bad. I confused RingPlus with FP!
DeleteFP lives, RingPlus is dead.
There's a bug in Blogger that causes random comments to be duplicated. I delete them when it happens, which is at least once a day, on the average.
DeleteAnyone still with Cricket deserves to get chirped.
ReplyDeleteThey've been going to shit ever since the beginning of this year, and anyone with any sense has already ported out to GoPhone, Mintsim or even Verizon/Total Wireless (if they're feeling adventurous).
It'll only get worse from here, so get out before they start holding your number hostage and charging a port-out fee.
After all, we've already seen what happened when RingPlus started screwing over their current subscribers.
Once they start losing many customers they will eliminate it. They want to see how hard they can shove you before you complain. Imagine how bad things would get if we only had three national carriers. "I have fallen and I can't get up."
DeleteDoesn't matter to them because the customers they lose are the customers milking the system. Those are the customers they want to lose!
DeleteThere is no evidence of anyone milking the system. You are making accusations with no basis or evidence.
DeletePeople will find way to get around the system such get phone and sim from 3rd party amazon for 99c to activate etc..... everyone must remember Cricket is just like any another cooperate company, their obligations is make profit to share holder. Where can you go since all carrier is cooperation, the best way to keep cheap plan is competition, more carrier better for customer.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately when you are poor and have bad credit you need to put up with the company stipulations or find a better job that allows you to get all you want but pay a premium for it. Good luck to all.
ReplyDeletePrepaid carriers aren't inherently bad, nor is "milk 'em all" postpaid a good value.
DeleteLike all things, it depends who you choose to do business with...at least until the entire industry goes to shit, at which point it really won't matter.
Companies are in the business of making money and protecting their profits, they are not out there looking for your best interest. They know people in prepaid have limited options because of income or credit worthiness so they will impose whatever rules help them make the most profit with the least loss. On the other hand consumers are looking for the best deal and have buying power, however some are not in a position to be choosy since their financial or other circumstances prohibit them from doing so.
Delete"Companies are in the business of making money and protecting their profits, they are not out there looking for your best interest."
DeleteNor are companies in the business of giving handouts to irresponsible people. Hence the stiff late fees for those too lazy to pay their bills on time.
"Nor are companies in the business of giving handouts to irresponsible people. Hence the stiff late fees for those too lazy to pay their bills on time"
DeleteNobody is saying they don't have the right to do so. Again, they are protecting their profits. That's what it boils down to, simple fact.
The scam was ordering a phone every few weeks, solely to resell them over and over. This fee will discourage that. Not criminal per se but unethical and immoral. But it seems your morals baseline is low. Nevertheless we all lose because of the greed of some.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't meet the definition of scam at all. Again, try a dictionary for once. You can't just go around flinging words entirely without regard to meaning.
DeleteJust because you might not like something, something that there is absolutely nothing wrong with by the way, doesn't mean that it is a scam.
And also, there was no greed involved. Nothing wrong at all. You really do have no idea what you are talking about.
I'm glad we have enterprising individuals like those you have described, they did nothing wrong, and they didn't spoil anything.
In America, if you buy something, you own it and can resell it for whatever someone is willing to pay. That's business 101. There's nothing illegal, unethical or immoral about buying subsidized phones from Cricket and reselling them at a profit. There's also nothing illegal, unethical or immoral about Cricket adding fees to discourage the practice.
DeleteExactly Dennis. Unless someone is misrepresenting these resold phones, or keeping the money and never delivering a product, there is absolutely nothing like a scam going on.
DeleteI would suppose that the person who made the false accusation of "scam" in the first place is probably extremely upset at every single transaction that goes on on eBay. Or in Amazon.com or in any brick-and-mortar storefront for that matter.
Because all that's happening is people buying something, representing it properly, and selling it for a profit.
It's interesting what you can find out if you actually use a dictionary, and learn something about economics.
Call it what you want but greed by a few is likely why a fee is being imposed and it's not only happening at Cricket. The sad part is that this behavior is being applauded by some of the likes above.
DeleteSounds like the same thing that was happening at RingPlus with the data hogs. RP didn't impose fees until it was too late, hopefully cricket is doing it before there is too much damage.
DeleteYet like with the scammers, there were no data hogs or abusers.
DeleteYou need to get another hobby besides bashing those who dare to make use of services or goods they paid/enrolled for/etc. And you need a dictionary, tbh.
"Call it what you want but greed by a few is likely why a fee is being imposed and it's not only happening at Cricket. The sad part is that this behavior is being applauded by some of the likes above."
DeleteYet, there was no greed. Of course, people making wise use of something they paid for IS to be applauded.
You are really coming across as a sort of anti-consumer psycho.
Greed simply doesn't happen in the business model you decry. If someone buys one of these Cricket phones and sells it on eBay for too much money (i.e. being greedy), no-one will buy it. They have to lower the price to something fair. Greed gone!
DeleteBasically, there is no way for greed to happen using the marketing models involved with the purchase and resale of these phones.
"In America, if you buy something, you own it and can resell it for whatever someone is willing to pay."
DeleteUnless the seller of a product or service forbids resale via the terms of use, or even has a government-backed monopoly (i.e. intellectual property), in which case you can still be sued into bankruptcy regardless of whether or not you win.
These "terms of use" are only a recommendation if you have paid in full for the object. If the company wants to control how I use it, they should give me all my money back
Delete...because they want to act like they still own it.
Supreme Court: You Bought It, You Own It, You Can Resell It
DeleteExactly. Dennis. If Apple, say, wants to control what I do with iPhone 7, they are perfectly free to pay for this privilege by returning the $650 I paid for them for the phone.
Delete@Pre-paid Jar Jar--Apple does control aspects of what you can do with your iPhone. They don't, for example, allow MMS to work on prepaid carriers like H2O.
DeleteWho is scamming who? Companies are always looking to get profits and customers are always looking for loopholes to take advantage. I guess the match is even here.
ReplyDeleteYes, and Dennis nail it right on the head.
DeleteThe guy who whined about "scammers" must think anyone who doesn't give him stuff for free is a dishonest swindler.
Not surprising, Cricket hasn't made any money with people getting aggressive with referrals. I myself haven't paid for service in 2 years. It was good while it lasted, off to Sprint for 1-year free.
ReplyDeleteGood bye Cricket...
ReplyDeleteGood luck with Sprint. You'll come crawling back.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather carry a deck of playing cards in my pocket than go to free (actually, a few bucks a month) Sprint.
DeleteIt's cheaper, it takes up about the same weight as a phone, and due to the nature of the Sprint network, it is only a little less useful than a Sprint phone.
A plus with a deck of cards is no frustration of expecting to find a signal and there isn't one at all (a big problem with Sprint)
On top of that, I can play games without worrying about it being charged.
How do you play cards in the dark?
ReplyDeleteThe money you are supposed to save on upgrade via getting promotional price is what we are looking at. I think then we can no longer call it an upgrade. Go Metro.... They never charge activation fee in store or out. They charge a $15 upgrade fee and boost charges $25 activation fee in store but not online. No upgrade fee with them as of yet. You can also buy cricket or boost phones at major retail and just swap sim or with boost swap that phone with online process. You can also purchase At&t phone and use cricket sim.
ReplyDeleteForget the upgrade fee, the bigger issue with Cricket is four unlimited lines for $160 at 3mb speed. While spring has 5 unlimited lines for $100.
ReplyDeleteSprint 1 year free deal is much better anyway, you can always come back, but free is free. You're crazy not to switch right now. Between Cricket (referrals), RingPlus, and now Sprint I haven't paid for wireless service in 3 years. Keep the deals coming, Cricket can rot for all I care.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but this deal isn't free. You have to pay taxes and fees each month.
DeleteBut good for you for being a wise consumer and signing up for these services. Though someone might call you a thief or scammer... And that someone would be a liar.
It's a double-edged sword. Either stay with the big carriers and pay fees for practically everything, or go with MVNO's but pay out of pocket for everything with no fees.
ReplyDeleteWhy not switching to Metro or Boost and get a new phone for free or very reduced price better
ReplyDeleteYou're really making it hard for me to buy and resell on ebay and make some money.
ReplyDeleteAT&T PREPAID/GoPhone devices liberal unlocking policy has gone by the wayside since the beginning of the month of July. 6 Months and then you can put in for an unlock.
DeleteCricket Device Upgrade Policy now in effect.
ReplyDeleteDevice Upgrade Requirements -
To upgrade to a new phone, you must have an existing line of service with Cricket and a monthly rate plan that costs $30/mo or more. The upgrade phone must be new and purchased from a Cricket store or online at www.cricketwireless.com. You can upgrade your phone only once every 90 days. A $25 device upgrade fee applies to phone upgrades in Cricket stores and online.
I'll just go back to ATT Prepaid.
ReplyDeleteJust go buy an AT&T Samsung or LG Gophone from Dollar general or Walmart..put your sim card in and your good to go. The SPAN setting will be pushed to your new phone..and by the way DG has the Samsung Galaxy Express 3 for 49.99. enjoy
ReplyDelete