Posted November 16, 2017
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.
'
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.
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.
'
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.