Sunday, January 2, 2011

It's 2011 & Great Call Inc aka Jitterbug Cell Phones for the Elderly are still defrauding customers

Plenty of awful reviews still popping up everywhere on a company that is supposed to be helping the elderly and is just contributing to elder abuse and corporate fraud.

From: http://www.prepaidreviews.com/jitterbug.html

Dana 2010/08/15
This would have negative stars if I could.

I thought I cancelled my mothers Jitterbug 5 months agoI had sent an e-mail to their customer service asking how I can cancel the account and did not receive any reply) and they never sent a final bill (since I paid ahead, and had a credit balance, I never thought anything about it). Now I get a call on my phone saying I need to call them since some mail was returned. Turns out they were sending mail to the wrong address (magically I got mail from them before I tried to cancel the account).

They let the account go for 5 months, presumably sending them to the wrong address. Who does this? Any other company would have cut it off by the second billing cycle that was missed. When I returned the call they tell me that you can't cancel by e-mail and must call customer service to cancel. I asked why their customer service did not reply to my e-mail explaining this I was told that they don't reply to customers who do not have an e-mail address on file. Something that is not disclosed on the site.

I asked why they did not call me before 5 months and he said they tried to call the Jitterbug phone 3 months after I sent the first e-mail. Since that phone was sitting in a drawer not being used, because I thought it had been cancelled, that was a pretty futile thing to do.

I set this up for my 70 year old mother, I paid all the bills, and I was the contact on every other occasion. Yet they called my mother 3 months in and did not bother to call me till they finally cancelled the bill at 5 months past due at which point they somehow remember that I pay the bills and call me for payment.

When I called customer Service the first customer service rep was AWFUL. The First time I asked for his supervisor, instead of giving me to the supervisor, he replied why should he do that since he was answering all my questions (though not to my satisfaction).

When I finally got the supervisor, after explaining everything and being told about the customer service I told him how dissappointed I was at not having at least cut the bill in half (even though I think they should dismiss it all) he said he would not do that because he considered it all legitimate even though there was no usage on the phone, because a lot of people use the phone for emergencies only and have zero usage and I could understand that if I had the minimum coverage, but at one point there was large usage ($250 in the first month and we upped it to more minutes) how is that for emergencies only in this case?

If you are going to use it only for the pre pay it might be good but if you think you may need customer service at any time do not use them.

If you plan on skipping on the bill then use them as they won't cancel you for 5 months.

From: http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=69075

Jitterbug / Great Call Informative
JItterbug Rip Off - Cell phone service
Posted By: krasavka on 12/26/2009

Location: Carlsbad, CA

Jitterbug is ripping off elderly customers by billing them for calls never made and then threatening to turn them in to a collection agency if they don't pay their bill. They treat their employees like crap and then terminate them if one of them attemps to correct the "error" in a customer's bill.


From: http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=89797

Several years back I obtained the Jitterbug Service for my mother. She is now 93 and is not using the phone. I even set up the web site with password etc. Yesterday I called Customer service to cancel her service and was told only she can do that. I went on the web site and could not find any place to cancel the service. It is going to be difficult to get mom to say the right things on the phone. Since this company is dealing with primarily the elderly and, in turn, their caregivers they need to learn to accommodate the situations this will present. There should be the opportunity to cancel service on line if you have the account information or even through customer service if you have the account information, log in etc.

From: http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=86361

Jitterbug charges a $35 activation fee to initiate service in the light that there is a glaring absence of this charge in any of the literature or packaging on the Jitterbug Samsung phone packaging or mention of it prior to its purchase.

Customers should be alerted to the the charge before spending time and money purchasing the phone.

As it is, for those of us who are on a limited budget and fixed income, the glaring omission of any mention of a $35 charge for activating service with the purchase of the Jitterbug phone raises suspicions, and it makes me not want to do business with a company that indicates future business dealings may also be shady in the future.

The company mantra is, "The $35 activation charge is paid to Verizon, and we don't collect this fee, and we hope that the customer will pay the fee anyway despite no verbiage or indication of an up-front charge." Wow, now that's Chutzspa--hoping you'll succumb to their unethical practice anyway! This is indicative of a company that is not up-front and honest with their customers.

I hate hidden charges.


Jitterbug / Great Call, Inc. Informative
Jitterbug is an Embarrassment

Posted By: TOKER66 on 4/29/2010

Location:
1950 CAMINO VIDA ROBLE #100
Carlsbad , CA 92008
Phone: 7606026700

As an employee of Jitterbug since 2007 I need to say that Jitterbug is a a lousy company to work for and do business with. The company does NOT care about it's customers or employees. The Customer service Director, Abe Bui, is a real piece of work---this is a guy who had absolutely NO experience in the wireless industry prior to coming to Jitterbug.

he also has NO people skills whatsoever and walks around the call center all day scowling at and intimidating employees. When it comes to customers, Jitterbug really takes the cake. Customers are treated as if they are stupid because they are of a generation that finds electronics challenging.

There have been many instances of Jitterbug printing incorrect billing statements and when the customer calls to inquire, the customer service reps are FORBIDDEN to contact the billing department directly to provide a resolution for a customer--this in turn causes an unnecessary delay, which in turn causes the customers cell phone service to be interrupted...any way the Jitterbug Management team can screw a customer is OK with them...

STAY AWAY FROM JITTERBUG!!!!

(Note from bloggger. Yes, Abe Bui has the ugliest scowl you'll ever find on anybody here in southern California. No People Skills is an understandment). LMAO!!!

From: http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=80787

Jitterbug Complaint
Dishonest Sales People - Cell Phone
Posted By: Mad in NC on 6/21/20

View Company Response To This Review!

I returned the cell phone in April of this year. They are still charging my credit card which I never authorized for a cell phone I do not have. I get a song and dance every time I try to talk to a sales person. This company as per all the other complaints I have read as well from my own experience is stealing money from my account which is factual as I can prove from my credit card company. They should be run out of business and I intend to report them to Attorney General office here in NC.

Editor's note: It looks like the "take advantage of the elderly people by overcharging them and leaving elderly people without service" business model plan is still in action. There is a sucker born every minute.

3 comments:

Sue Weaver said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ruth said...

The tricks performed by the Jitterbug Company to take advantage to the elderly are very much disappointing. They don’t deserve the trust of their clients. With this claim, I can proudly say then that I made a very right decision to trust the Just5 cell phone for my safety. I highly recommend this device to the elderly as I have seen how dedicated this company is in providing their clients a quality service. Check this phone here www.just5.com.

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