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So, I bought this smart phone last week and it arrived last night. Sounded like a great deal to me. $80 one time expense and that's IT. No monthly bill. No Contract. No nothing. So long as I didn't go over 200 minutes, 500 texts, or 500MB of data, it was supposed to be 100% Free.

Having never had a cell phone, I was almost excited about it. (Almost because there's still a part of me that dislikes them). So I immediately plugged it in and went to FreedomPop's web site to activate it. They want an email address, the id of the phone, and a credit card. Ok, I thought, they need the credit card in case I do go over and get charged. I'm willing. So I fill all of that out and agree to the $0.99 activation fee. I hit next and go to a page where I must choose my phone number. OK, get through that. Next page tells me to enter some symbols and numbers into the phone as though I was dialing and I do that... and after a couple of minutes the phone is activated. I hit next and it takes me to my "home page" where it shows minutes, text and data usage so far. I'm finished. Great.

I make a phone call to ensure it works. Works, though quality is not great. Sounds like phones did back in the 60's. Ok, for free I can live with that. So then I decide to go back to my home page and see how fast it updated usage. GREAT. It was immediate. It showed 2 minutes of usage. So far so good.

Then the nightmare. I notice there are some listing under "My services" and decide I'd better look. There are two "services" listed there that cost $4.99 and $9.99 a month. WTF? $15 a month is NOT free. So I look closer. These two 'services" have X marks in a box next to them.

NEVER did I select them. NEVER did an option even come up to select them. Yet there they were. Ok, I thought, I'll just unselect them. So I uncheck them, hit SAVE, and a box pops up asking for my password. Password? What password. Nowhere in the activation process did it ask me for a password. So I figured maybe this is where I would set one. So I typed in a password I hoped I would remember. A box popped up saying the password did not match their records. WTF??? Their records??? I NEVER WAS ASKED NOR ASSIGNED A PASSWORD. So I just decided to try my email address. Nope.

So now I'm signed up for a service that's not going to be free and is instead going to cost $15 a month and i can't get rid of the services. So then I try and just cancel the account.

You know where this is going right? PASSWORD. I now have an account that I can't change away from the $15 a month AND I can't cancel. By now I'm enraged. I'm ready to throw the fucking phone against the wall and am begging for just 5 minutes in a room with the assholes that thought of this shit.

That is no way to do business. That shit SHOULD be illegal. But not in today's world.

After stewing for awhile I went back to my home page to see if i could figure out a way to contact them. I couldn't find one. Now I'm past enraged. That's intentional. But in my attempts to find a way to contact them I run across a screen that asks me to log in. OKAY. I try. Password no good. But, underneath is a "forgot your password" link.
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FINALLY. I hit that, put in my email address, and get a password reset link. I put in a new password. And it takes me to the login page. I try and login using the password I just assigned. No good. WTF???

So I click on the forgot password link AGAIN. maybe in my haste and enraged state of mind I made a mistake. So I assign a new password, this time carefully hitting one letter at a time. Twice (it asks to veryify). Ok. It takes me to the login screen.

AGAIN, PASSWORD NO GOOD.

I'm read to kill now. I go to the website of the credit card I had used at FreedomPop and reported it lost. They're not getting a dime more from me. But please God, just 60 fucking seconds in a room with the assholes responsible for this. Just 60 seconds. I close my browser and smoke is coming from my ears.

Then I open my browser and hit the link I had saved for my home page.

I'm there. Back in, and I quickly use this opportunity to try and cancel the whole fucking thing. And this time it DOES take and I am cancelled of the whole thing. Why not just uncheck those two "services" instead OldFatGuy??? Because I'm not doing business with any company that acts like that, even if it's free.

Stay away from FreedomPop. Stay far away.
" Additional plans available including unlimited calls and texts as low as $10.99 per month"
Minutes? They still use that kind of system?

I'm pretty sure that even Net10 has retired that kind of system so you got double scammed.
By the way, I just found out why I couldn't find a way to contact them.

If you use their free service, (vs one of their paid ones) you are not allowed to phone them OR email them. Seriously. That's their policy. If you want to phone them, you must sign up for another "service" called "live phone help" ($4.99 a month IIRC) and if you want to be able to email them you must be on a paid plan instead of the free one.

That's just great. So if people on the "free" one have some sort of issue that is FreedomPop's fault/responsibility, they can't even contact them.

Assholes.
Post edited November 16, 2017 by OldFatGuy
Meh, I read it 1st as "A True Love Story", disappointed! O.o
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triock: Meh, I read it 1st as "A True Love Story", disappointed! O.o
Then you need HuniePop, not FreedomPop.
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OldFatGuy: That is no way to do business. That shit SHOULD be illegal. But not in today's world.
Not that it helps you any, but this type of thing is illegal in Europe, and companies which engage in it regularly get hefty fines (but mostly have just stopped doing this type of shit).
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Oddeus: Then you need HuniePop, not FreedomPop.
Nah, was hoping for a funny story, along the lines of " A girl with the printer" :p (I already played HuniePop btw)
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OldFatGuy: That is no way to do business. That shit SHOULD be illegal. But not in today's world.
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gogtrial34987: Not that it helps you any, but this type of thing is illegal in Europe, and companies which engage in it regularly get hefty fines (but mostly have just stopped doing this type of shit).
Yes, I know. Europe is light years ahead of us in terms of consumer rights and citizen benefits (health care and education especially).

My whole life I hoped (and believed) that some day we would gravitate toward the European way. Instead, it appears that European countries are gravitating towards our way. So depressing.
Post edited November 17, 2017 by OldFatGuy
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OldFatGuy: My whole life I hoped (and believed) that some day we would gravitate toward the European way. Instead, it appears that European countries are gravitating towards our way. So depressing.
It feels like things are still improving here with regard to consumer rights and privacy protection from corporations. (The heavy fines for practices like what you suffered with this cell phone are definitely a new thing from the last couple of years, and new privacy regulations coming into effect next year are already sending companies scrambling.) The only big issue where things are deteriorating and getting heavily influenced by the American situation is in privacy protection from governments, where despite all of Snowden's revelations, European governments are still continuously approving new laws giving ever more powers to their NSA-equivalents. :(

Don't give up hope on your country yet. There's a lot of your fellow Americans who recognize that things aren't right, and even though the pendulum currently seems to have swung away, I have the feeling it's already past its furthest point, and on the way forward again.
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OldFatGuy: By the way, I just found out why I couldn't find a way to contact them.

If you use their free service, (vs one of their paid ones) you are not allowed to phone them OR email them. Seriously. That's their policy. If you want to phone them, you must sign up for another "service" called "live phone help" ($4.99 a month IIRC) and if you want to be able to email them you must be on a paid plan instead of the free one.
But... you were subbed to two paid services. You were not a free user.
may want to have a discussion with the bank or credit union about that credit card. something to think about.

actually nevermind that. might be finicky to cancel though. how did you get the idea this would all be completely free?
Post edited November 17, 2017 by johnnygoging
sounds like a nightmare. one of the things i try to remember doing before signing up for any service etc, is try to find contact list, customer service links, or the process to cancel/opt out. if i cant easily find those links, or if they insist all cancellation be done via snail mail i run for the door. they sound like a scam, i pity the older folks who get this phone and cant figure it out and watch their monthly charges in frustration.

report the scam to whatever business entity you have, usa has better business bureau, plus post online reviews to warn off others


AARP recommends some cheap phone plans and you can trust they arent scams at least

cricket (my spouse has them)

and consumer cellular no contract
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Darvond: Minutes? They still use that kind of system?

I'm pretty sure that even Net10 has retired that kind of system so you got double scammed.
The places I work make me carry a Tracfone. I very rarely use it and when someone needs me, they se3nd a text since the speaker on it isn't very good.

I think I've accumulated like 3k minutes on it over the 5 years I've had it.

My "monitors" keep telling me to get an iPhone but I don't want to waste that kind of money, even if it would be paid for out of the funds.
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drmike: The places I work make me carry a Tracfone. I very rarely use it and when someone needs me, they se3nd a text since the speaker on it isn't very good.

I think I've accumulated like 3k minutes on it over the 5 years I've had it.

My "monitors" keep telling me to get an iPhone but I don't want to waste that kind of money, even if it would be paid for out of the funds.
Well, you could get an equivalent android phone. I personally have used BLU, because it's better than the low end crap at the dollar store, but isn't mega expensive like a flagship. Only about 200 for an unlocked!