RateItAll: The Opinion Network

I over the past 4 months have went through 4 US Cellular phones. US Cellular uses low grade, weak, britle phones that break or malfunction if you even look at them the wrong way.

First I went through 2 Motorolla Razor phones of which in each case, both phones began shorting out and eventually stopped working. I was told by Matt at US Cellular, that the reason for this, was moisture or steam was getting into the phone and shorting out the phone. I told him that, NEVER has the phone been dropped much less dropped into water and he aggreed that the phone was in good condition as the original wrapping was still on the phone, but somehow steam was entering the phone. I told him, " steam?, my house is not loaded with steam and sorry". I wasnt buying that excuse. He said, well I can offer you a new phone of which he recommended the LG UX 260. This phone as it turned out was worse than the Motorolla phones with continual software issues of which I was told after calling Matt at the Orland Park store, to come in and a software upgrade would need to be done. My question is, why wasn't this done in the first place? I was told that it was an issue with an entire batch of phones bought by US Cellular and that US Cellular doesn't know what phones are faulty and which are good. So that said, I had to go out of town for a few days to a hot climate with this faulty phone. Once down in the hotter climate, I left my phone in my car where the heat "supposedly" cracked my screen on the phone due to the fluid in the screen expanding from the heat. Now I'm sorry here, but aren't phones supposed to withstand the heat that is on EARTH?! Isn't that what they were made for? I remember old phones such as Nokia's could be dropped off a building and still be ok. Not a new US Cellular phone though. I was told I would need to file an insurance claim of which I would be billed the $50 deductable for. Matt assured me that US Cellular would reimburse me the $50 as a "good faith credit". I received my next LG UX 260 phone days later. Upon activation, I began having problems with the new phone almost instantly such as the phone's processor running slow or locking up all together and a hairline crack appeared at the top of the screen. I called Matt back at the Orland Park/Tinley Park store and was told to once again bring this phone back and he would take care of the problem. I came back in irrate on a Friday afternoon after the phone this time locked itself up and was told that he would issue me a $10 credit for the hassel, but he could do nothing and that I would need to come back another time when the tech was in. I said fine and that when I got a chance I would be back.

Today, I took my phone to work with me where I work in an office and had my phone alone by itself in my FRONT pocket of my pants and had not used it all day. At my time of departure from work I took my phone out of my pocket to use it and noticed that the screen's small crack had spread down the length of the screen and the new phone only 3 weeks old, was now un-useable. I called the US Cellular store from a work phone and was told to bring it in to the Harlem Ave location and that they would have to look at it and get me a loaner phone. I arrived and was told that I have been abusing the phone, and they would do nothing for me. I pointed out that there are no scratches on the phone and that the original packaging is still attached to the phone. I was told that I must have sat on the phone. I said, "I'm sorry I don't usually sit on my front, its kinda hard to do so" and that this phone was not used all day. So, after many people looking at the phone, they agreed that this phone was NOT abused, but still would do nothing due to the fact that there was physical damage to the phone and that I would need to file another insurance claim.

I called customer service where once again I was told that I must have dropped the phone. I told the woman on the phone that I never even took the phone out of my pocket, nor did I sit on or fall on the phone. She said sorry, the best I can do is offer you $20 for your trouble. I told her that I just wanted out of this contract so I could go somewhere that has "real" phones. Again no luck. So, after dealing with customer service over the phone from within the US Cellular store, I was then told, "sorry we ran out of loaner phones and you need to go to the other Orland Park store". BOTTOM LINE... DON'T BUY A US CELLULAR PHONE!!! WORST PHONES ON THE MARKET!!!

I have had US Cellular for almost a year now and had nothing but a wonderful experience. They didn't push the coolest or greatest phone on me, nor did they do that with a price plan. They actually helped me find the plan that would be most cost effective for me and helped me monitor it over the first 3 months to let me know if I could drop down to a lower plan (without extending my contract). The staff is knowledgeable and friendly which doesn't make going to see them a drag. This is by far the best company in the cell phone service, they may not be the biggest but they focus on the customer.

US cellular Is the worst. I was told by a customer service rep. on Sept 28 that my account was paid in full an that I wouldn't get another bill unless there were roaming charges. They said, if you get another bill ignore it. I did. They sent it to a collections agency on Oct 15. I didn't get a bill from the agency until Dec. It ends up they were billing my ex-husband at an address I never lived at. I told them that I had been told by US Cellular that I had been paid in full. They said it wasn't true, yet refused to send me proof of the bill. US Cell said they could no longer legally look at the account. I ws stuck. I was VERY upset about this and let them know it. I told them my father had had a massive stroke in Oct. and that this was very stressful. They said, "Lady we all have problems" in a VERY rude way. I paid it just to try to save my credit. I'd been with them for 10 years. I only canceled because my son is now paying for my service with Verizon. I will NEVER go back to US Cellular. No heart, and incompetence.

(FREE SERVICE) Your CELL provider adding charges that you did not authorize. Have you ever been told I can not remove that from your phone bill? It is a valid charge or we only do the billing you have to contact the company for a refund, only to call the company and not get a return call or they have such a process to talk to someone that you just give up. Now we have the power, when multiple people band together we can get your money back by letting your provider know as a group that we will no longer put up with business practices designed to rip off their customers. I have received this the last time that I spoke with US Cell corporate team. I have since worked to cost them money. Subsequently they have shut off my service. Now I am looking for people that have had charges put onto their bills that they did not authorize and the cell provider refused to refund the money. If this is you I would like to talk to you. Send me an email at 1paulgreen@gmail.com and I will respond to you how I may be of service to you at no charge.

THIS WAS MY PROBLEMS W/ US CELLULAR: I have more of a complaint than a question. I am
starting to wonder about the eithics of your company or at the very
least the training of your employee's. I have been lied to twice to what
I feel are very major lies. I recently went out of town on business
training and incured numerous roaming charges. I forgot to set up a plan
so I would only be paying th 10.00 dollars for every 100 minutes. I know
this is my fault and understand once I got home and saw my bill was 698
dollars that I should of set that up. That however is a big chunk of
change and I went to the store to ask if I could work out a payment plan
or if there was anything to do to make this bill easier to pay. I was
told at the store that they could give me a 25.00 credit but if I called
customer service they could help take a few hundred dollars off. Well I
called the customer service line when I got home and the first person I
talked said there was no kind of payment plan I could work out at all. I
was very upset and called to talk to someone else over the lie the store
told me. The secong time I called back the gentleman I talked to said
that the store didn't lie to me and told me what I had done was my
fault. Which I had already realized and I was not debating that I should
set up a plan I wanted to talk about being lied to. As a customer
service rep it was very poor service he was very rude and accusatory. So
what I got out of my conversation with him was that the store didn't lie
to me but the customer service rep was refusing to help or guide me in
any way.
When I first decided to go with your company I was on a plan with my
family. When my fiance and I decided to go on a plan together. We went
to two seperate stores and was told that If I left my dad's plan and got
one of my own it would not change my dad's plan in any way. Well when we
went in to take care of that they told my dad his plan had to change he
ended up with less minutes and more money than he was paying. We were
there for a good hour debating over what I had been told and lied to. At
no point did we ever recieve an apology for being told one thing and
having something else happen. You have a serious problem with employee's
saying one thing and doing another. Which reiterates my point about
ethics. And the customer service line was just extremely horrible. I
will pay my bill as promised. If no positive feedback comes of this then
I will pay for the termination of my plan. I will also make sure my
friends, family, and anyone I know thinking of using your company knows
of these issues we had so it doesn't happen to them.

THEIR RESPONSE:Thank you for contacting our Online Customer Care Department. We
apologize for any frustration this may have caused. You were advised
correctly in reference to the $25.00 goodwill credit, but we do not
want you to be mislead about receiving credits to your account.

If you have a legitimate billing dispute, it will be researched and an
adjustment will be applied if necessary. The situation described below
was not caused by a billing error. The charges on the statement are
valid and there would not be an adjustment applied to your account in
this situation.

We want to take this opportunity to show our appreciation for your
feedback.
By taking the time to share your thoughts, you help us make enhancements
to our products and services, improve our network and handset offerings,
and deliver a consistent experience to our customers through our call
centers and sales locations.

We are committed to providing the ideal customer experience during each
and every interaction you have with us.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

BOTTOME LINE: They are morons

I have been with US Cellular more than ten years, and every two years I renew the contract for two additional years and get new dicounted phone with that this time I choose a phone which came out to be very bad by droping calls and bad ring tone,I went back to change it as they promise thatI have thirty days to do so but they did not let me change it because it is no longer new in the box with the plastic cover,and I am stuck with this cheep and poor quility phone for thenext two years,this is what I call 0% CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONS GARANTEED.I advise if you have a choice to choose cellular combany stay away from this cheep one and their cheep cell phones too.

Basically it goes a little something like this. US Cellular is a complete rip off when it comes to their phones. For example, the phone I have is a UX5000. The original model number for the phone is AX5000. LG made the original phone with a ton of features. US Cellular asked LG to make a version of the phone that removes all of the USB (phone to computer) communication ability. When purchasing the phone and even via customer support they told me over and over how I just need to purchase the software and cable from LG. LG told me over and over that they don't have any software that will work with the UX5000 phone... it only works on the AX5000. It took me about 2 months to actually figure all of this out because of ordering items and waiting for them to arrive and finding time to play around and then figuring out that there is no software available for my phone. By then my 30 day trial expired and I was stuck. I have made multiple calls to US Cellular trying to get out of my contract and they will not let me. I basically told them that they sold me a $300 phone (minus $250 for the 2 year deal - so $50 out of pocket for me) but the phone's features have been removed compared to the original phone (AX5000) which also sold for $300. My theory is the phone they sold me does half of what they promised so I would be more than happy to sell my phone back to them for $150 which is the cost to get out of my contract. They have told me that they cannot waive the contract fee. This company has now made it to the top of my list of companies I hate the most. I've been with them for 8 years (plus 4 more years when they were Cellular One) and this is how they treat me. Good luck if you are a new customer. Everyone of the phones they offer have limited abilities so make sure you only want to make phone calls with the your phone. Don't expect to take advantage of the phone book, voice command services, calendar, camera, video, MP3 playing or any other really cool feature the phones are suppose to offer. Even if they advertise the phone with those abilities just know going in that they don't work the way they should.

Personally I've been with US Cellular for 2 years. I have had a horrible time with reception and phone issues. The phones are crap and are behind with the competitior. I have not had any issues with the billing. It is important to watch the fine print and make sure you cancel the trial services after the first 30 days is complete. Otherwise, I have had a decent experience with the customer service representatives in Madison WI

I was with them for about 10 years they do suck. I switched to Verizon, I am much happier To bad senior management doesnt pay attention to the front line supervisors and some of their going ons. Senior managment really needs to take a bite of reality and see what it is like to be a customer os US Cellular. I think if they were just your normally every day person calling in and getting some of the run away and poor customer service that is given out, senior management might pay attention to what the customer is not getting,

I have been with u.s.cellular for almost 8 years over the last few years I have been constantly ripped off by a store in nashua n.h.They change my plans and add things to my 4 phones like easy edge at 40.00 a month add years to my plan. say they called me (while I was at work ha ha.)and I agreed to up my plan I wasn't even home on that day unbelievable.I have asked to be let out of my contract but they won't let me out. they have had to reimburse me on many occassions for being ripped off. don't enter into a contract unless you want to be ripped off.s.

For some reason or another many of you seem to have problems with USCell. I have been with them for 5 years and have had no problems with them at all. The customer service reps have always been helpful and pleasant. A few years ago on the last day of the billing period I knew I was going to make a lot of calls due to an out of state court case I had to testify in. I was close to my limit so I call USCell, BEFORE making the calls, to see what my options were. They were extremely helpful and without any proof or documentation, granted me 200 extra peak minutes to use that day. PLUS, any of those minutes that were unused would roll over to the next month. I also had a recent encounter with Signal Insurance. It was over the holidays but their service was prompt, courteous, and professional. I faxed them the claim one morning, they processed it that day and shipped the replacement out that same day. It was at my door the next morning. I have no complaints about either company.

US Cellular is great. All the people that rate them bad obviously want way more than cell service OR they are too lazy to read the fine print and are pissed because they used something that costs extra.

You don't have to ever worry about roaming charges on the national plan. They never suprise you with random charges. The absolute best thing with them is they have agreements with everyone. If there is a working cell tower, you can use it.

My only complaint with them is the poor payment options. You either pay it over the phone (automated) or you do the auto deduction from your checking account. If you actually read the details it says you have to give them 6 months advance notice to cut it off which sucks but they do tell you.

I've been putting up with US Cellular's "Talk Tracker" service for a while, but I've had problems, and the latest one takes the cake. The only good think I have to say about them is the national coverage is good, but since I live in a major city, this doesn't really give them much of an advantage.

First, the initial problem: The service is supposed to automatically charge my credit card whenever my balance drops to 0 (or so I was told). On a few occasions, I found myself suddenly without service. I spoke with two different people on the phone, and got two very different stories. The latter, which appeared to be the more accurate, was that it only renews automatically if I used up my minutes, but if my 60 day period ends and I still have minutes left, the account is considered inactive, and I have to manually renew within 30 days, or the account will be terminated. Makes no difference if I used the phone every day during that 60 days. By US Cellular logic, it's inactive. Interesting... At any rate, I was told that I could manually add minutes in this situation by dialing #369. This worked once or twice, but now the latest: I try to make a phone call, and receive the message:

"The balance on your account is not sufficient to complete this transaction."

OK, all I have to do is dial #369 to fix it, right? When I try that, I get:

"The balance on your account is not sufficient to complete this transaction."

So, I can't make a phone call, not even to buy more minutes. It turns out that I can't use the phone again without going to a US Cellular store in person. Um, no thanks, I'll go with a company that at least makes it easy for me to give them my money.

US Cellular is the absolute worst cell phone company, their customer service puts you on hold for hours, dont do business with them, you will live to regret it.

Service is fine if your in the midwest. And they are as cheap as you can get in Chicago. BUT. Just like the other reviews say,
the customer service is ass. They suck. They lie. They play little games. They ask for all the information every time you get transfered. All of it. They say that's not what they have. You ask? what do you have ? They say they can't tell you. Your calling them on the phone your paying for... don't these idiots have caller ID?????????
This is not a lie. five minutes i spent talking to one of these morons and she had a different name for the acount. I'm like my name is jim. What do you have the account name as ??? she says she can't say. I say what phone number are you looking at? because I'm pretty sure you must have the wrong phone number because that is the only name ..the name that she was looking for was James.. so on and so on.. you get the idea. It's like something a fifth grader would pull. She probably thinks she's really clever. I hope they pull that crap on her when she's filling out her unemployment forms. hahahah
I'm not helping matters by not switching to verizon. I promise I will next month.

They threaten to cut off service constantly. First thing they tell you. Interuption to your service. OOOOOhhh I'll never be able to make another call through us cellular. Ohhh nooo what will I do? Go to one of the dozen other cell phone providers maybe???? I really should. forget the price. Principle alone demands it. I promise I will eventually. It's such a pain.
I nevered called them a few years. Phone worked and bill was auto deducted from credit card. No problems.
Then I changed the billing. The same way I set it up the first time. Fax. This never took. They never follow up. They threaten. You complain that you want to pay your bill but they can't seem to process a bill. They send your three forms the same day to be smart asses.
The only thing I've seen like this... No I've never seen it this bad from anyone else. At&t was the pits. And now look at them bought up by a baby bell.
Cell phones must be half collections from losers who don't pay their bills. I'm still toying with them but If I can get a rate anywhere near the rate that I have. ( the rate they tell me doesn't exist) to add a line my rate will go up ten or fifteen more bucks a month because the plan no longer exists. Some one very nice told me this. Know why they were nice? Because I was going to commit to paying them fifty more bucks a month for a couple more years.
Ask them to help you. Forget it. Call back and they tell you what you said the day before. They keep notes on you.
account 123456789 "he is a big jerk"
stuff like this.
Days later I called back and the rep told me what I had said on a prior call. With the accusatory tone. Very professional. If you can't make the customer happy argue with them. Do everything you can to win the argument. I hope they all get yelled at all day and they are as miserable as they make the people who call them. They deserve it. Almost all off them do. Only a few exceptions. Very very few.

Additionally, I did call Verizon and spoke with a rep. I explained that I would like to switch from my current provider and that the deal that I had was x amount of minutes for x amount of dollars and was there any thing he could do for me.
I was told that the rates are pretty much the rates. No deal.
Take it or leave it pal.
This is what we charge and that's the end of it. They don't care what the other guys charge. It's irrelevant. Not their problem. Here is our deal. Not even an offer of a free car charger or something. Anything. Nothing. Take it or leave it.
I want to go back to the soup cans thingy.

Constant disconnects regardless of local, roaming or local to local connections. Customer service trys its best to cover for corporate but no admission, solution or hope for a fix is offered or followed up. Even after multiple calls. Instead, one wades through VM hell starting with having to PRESS 1 to speak English. A crude operation.

couldnt ask for better service. i had verizon and that was a joke us cellular is by far the best i ahve dealt with. 1000 minutes for 40 bucks with free incoming calls it doesnt get no better if you ask me. great service where i live (NC)

terrible. don't sign up with them!

I No that US cellular is BAD BUISNESS!! They won't give you and upgrade on your phone. And if you don't pay attention they will keep your deposit if you don't pay attention. If you in good standing with your bill and you put a depsit down, they should either credit it to your account or return it to you. They TRIED TO KEEP MY DEPOSiT. But through many,many ca;;s I finally recieved my check. There promo are SHADY!!! And they don't even have roll over minutes. Pay attention to your bill. They will cheat you!! And have the nerve to argue with you. They even tried to argue with me about when I signed up with them and I had a copy of the contract in my hand. The phones are Crappy (the free ones w/ promo) so they don't last long!! And that's the trick!! You will have to pay FULL price as if your not a vaule customer because they already have your buisness.

US Cellular is NOT a company to do business wilth. They lie and cheat, and are hard to get hold of. They told us they would settle for an amount when the bill went up drastically. They were going to give us 90 days. They handed it over to a collection agency within 2 weeks and now we owe more than ever! They are rude and unethical. NEVER do business with them! do without before you get hooked up with that outfit.

Calls drop often (>1x a day) about 30 seconds after answering or calling. Customer Service has been very rude to me in trying to cancel the account. Long story, but in the future, GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING.

I have had US Cellular for nearly 4 years now and have had no real problems to speak of (except my phone itself!). I had other cell phone companies who had shady business and billing techniques who were impossible to deal with and US Cellular was a nice change. The only problem I have with them is with the insurance. DON'T GET INSURANCE IF YOU HAVE USCC!!!! Their insurance is through a company called Signal Insurance- and they are shady shady characters- just check out their info on the Better Business Bureau's Website. I didn't realize that my insurance was with an outside company when I signed up for it through USCC or I may have been more hesitant. Anyway I had to make a claim when my cell phone had an unfortunate swim at the bottom of the bathroom toilet- my phone shut down and would not turn on- I made my claim and received a phone quickly enough- only it didnt work right, the flip part wasnt screwed on tight and I couldnt get a signal (kind of ironic considering the company is CALLED Signal). Anyway, I called and they said to send the phone back and they would send out another one as soon as they had received it- but I would have to call back before it would be shipped out. Okay- a bit of a hassle and seems stupid but whatever- so I did it. And I received another phone- another phone that didnt work right, that is. So I called the company again and they said that I could go through the same process again. I call USCC to see what the deal is and was told that there wasnt anything really they could do but tell me to keep trying and sending my phone back until I got one that worked. This time I called the person answering my call at the insurance company told me that the phone was a refurbished model and that I could only expect so much. WHAT?!? I was livid! I argued that I had paid for insurance for all these years and that I wanted a new phone because they had already sent me two that did not work. They told me that was against their policy. I told them that my contract does not say that they would send me a refurbished phone. They argued that it didn't say it would send me a new phone. I told them that it most definetly did say that the phone they sent would be of an equal value to the phone I am having replaced and that the phones they have sent me so far were most definetly not of equal value- They DONT EVEN WORK!!! I was then told that there was nothing they could do but continue sending me refurbished phones until I found a refurbished phone that worked. Long story short- my old phone had dried out at this point and was working again and I told them where they could place their refurbished phones and demanded my money back. It took forever and many phone calls later to get my money back but my check finally arrived and my cell phone that has dried out from its swim is still working- and much better might I add, then the ones they tried to send me. I reccommend US Cellular but stay AWAY from the insurance!!!!!

US Cellular overall sucks! I have used them for 2 years and am really ready to get out of my contract! Their customer service people belittle you and are terribly rude, I had a woman hang up on me when they disconnected my service after I made payment arrangements, I told her I had made arrangements and demanded they reconnect my service, she stated if you are going to make demands i cant help you and hung up on me. They make Ameritech look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm!

US Celluar did a promotional thing with the hopital my wife works at. It sounded like a good deal so we signed up not knowing that they had made the hospital the "responsible party" on our account. We held the account for 4 years and when we went to make some changes on it we found out that we couldnt because we were listed only as the "users" although we had paid this account for 4 years. They said we only needed to get the hospital to fax them a note saying they were not the responsible party and the account would be switched over to us. The hospital faxed the note and US Celluar shut off our service with no notice. When we inquired about the interruption of service they said we would have to re-apply for a new account. Their service advisors and supervisors were EXTREMELY rude and unhelpful at all. NEVER again will I recommend US Celluar to anyone and I will tell all about their "shady" billing practices and deceitful promotional ploys!

US Cellular has very poor customer service. Right, now I'm trying to terminate my contract. They have tried to bill me for calls that were wrong. One monthe I had over a 2,000 dollar phone bill and they were trying to make me pay for it. Took me over 2 months to get someone to fix it. Left message with several different supervisors and no one ever called back. They are terrible. I wish I would of listened to my friend!!!