206 responses so far ↓

• 1 Hank K // Dec 21, 2007 at 9:41 am

  Credo is awful because Sprint is awful. (Credo uses Sprint’s pphones & towers). You get stuck with all of the Sprint problems – bad phones with disabled features, long contracts, absolute inflexibility over phone choice – in exchange for the tiny donations made by Credo. Do yourself a favor – get a good phone service and make a donation to the charity of your choice. You’ll save yourself endless frustration.

• 2 Top posts of 2007 // Jan 2, 2008 at 9:17 am

  [...] 6. Vanguards Coming into New Orleans 7. Planning for Good 8. Hurricane Katrina 2 years later 9. Credo Mobile 10. Make it Your Own [...]

• 3 Allen // Jan 29, 2008 at 2:42 pm

  Credo has been around for quite a long time actually. I have used them since early 2004. Since they are the only socially and environmentally responsible choice for mobile service, I can’t see choosing any other provider as a good decision. Yes they use Sprint – a necessary evil I suppose. With any luck they will grow and build their own network like Cingular did back in the day.

• 4 Kareem // Feb 1, 2008 at 11:09 am

  I doubt they’d build out their own, but they could try leasing from another provider. On a related note, does anyone know about their credit card alternative?

  http://www.workingassets.com/CreditCard/Default.aspx

• 5 Lisa // Apr 30, 2008 at 3:00 pm

  So can we use any sprint phone for credo mobile… ?credo has a short list of phones available for purchase and I bought a Moto Q – huge mistake… the battery life is quite short – 8 hours or less – I carry an extra at the cost of nearly $45 but for those who don’t – better plan ahead or be left without service…

• 6 Mike E // May 4, 2008 at 11:05 pm

  I have researched CREDO Mobile and their service and I cannot find anything negative about it. They seem like a growing company with a good cause.
  As soon as my contract with Verizon is done, I’m going to switch providers.
  Answer to Lisa’s question. I already asked their customer care about that, unfortunatly, they cannot activate 3rd party handsets ‘yet’ with no indication this is even in their plans of ever being a possibility.
  However, the past few months, their recent handset releases have been promising, so I am prediciting a good forcast in future equipment releases.

• 7 KTF // May 5, 2008 at 6:31 pm

  Switching my cell service to Credo in April 2008 has been the most expensive mistake I could ever have made. Not only is the connection signal terrible the customer service is non-existent then rude and inept when/if you are able to connect.
  Most likely their customer service dept. is staffed by Sprint employees simply answering the phone using a Credo greeting. Save yourself the agony and expense and donate to good causes directly. As a former Working Assets subscriber, I wish, oh how I wish, I had never bought into the Credo mobile nightmare. I am now cancelling after a month and willing to incur the $175 early cancellation fee just to be rid of Credo Mobile. So, Mike E. follow the recommendation of Hank above and perform good deeds in another way and whatever you do don’t switch to Credo/Sprint. More and more negs. are starting to appear on websites/blogs. I wrote a lenghty letter to Credo Pres and VP in charge of Mobile program w/no reply.

• 8 Caroline O'Brien // May 12, 2008 at 12:31 pm

  I had a two year contract with Sprint; when it expired, I continuted to stay on as a month to month customer while I shopped around for a new carrier.

  Early March 2008 I received in the mail a flyer about CREDO mobile phone. I called to check it out, and had my land line switched over fromAT&T to Working Assets and ordered a cel phone (thirty day free trial period…blagh blah blah) from CREDO.

  I wanted a phone with a chip that would transfer information to my computor (my Sprint phone does not have this and therefore the pictutres are expensive to retrieve). I planned to read up on the CREDO phone information when it arrived, and if I didn’t want it – NOT PORT UP and send it back to CREDO without having to transfer my number from Sprint to CREDO.

  The CREDO cel phone was delivered by FEDEX
  on Friday March 28th, 2008 at apx. 1:15 PM.
  I signed for the box and put the UNOPENED box on
  my kitchen table figuring I could come home, open it and read the information before I decided if I wanted to accept it and port over my Sprint number. After I signed for the package, I went
  out for coffee with a friend around 1:30 PM.
  REMEMBER: The unopened FEDEX box with the CREDO phone is on my kitchen table and I am out in
  KCMO having coffee.

  If I didn’t want it, I could just send it back…RIGHT?

  WRONG !!!

  I left the coffee shop apx. 4:30 PM Friday March 28th. (The CREDO phone was still in the unopened
  box at my home); I tried to make a call on my Sprint phone – NO SERVICE.

  I called Sprint and was told by the port department I no longer had Sprint service because my service was “ported”. I asked: “How can my service be shut off with out my prior consent?”
  I ask for my service to be re-instated and Sprint refused saying the number was ported on the 28th apx. 1:30 PM….even though I told the agent I had no other phone with me to use / port to for my number.

  I drove home and called (on my land line: at
  15 cents a minute) CREDO. I asked why and how did they disconnect my Sprint service without my
  consent? They based the cancellation on the FEDEX delivery information. “Joyce” in CREDO porting department told me the phone was free for 30 days and I could return it at no charge within that 30 day period. I asked it if had a chip – “No, none of our cel phones have chips”. I told her I wanted my month to month Sprint service back but she insisted all she could do was walk me through the CREDO port up process.

  I told her I NEVER WOULD HAVE PORTED UP THE PHONE HAD I BEEN GIVEN THE OPTION to CHOOSE CREDO. I made it clear I am a customer of CREDO by duress because they hijacked my Sprint service without my authorization. I was forced to use the CREDO phone and lost my month to month Sprint service. When I tried to return the CREDO phone with in the 30 day (March 28-April 28) period – I was told CREDO lists my account as active on the 21st of March – 7 days before I ever received the FEDEX box with the CREDO phone.

  On the 21st of April I purchased a Cricket phone (because CREDO was saying I am now ‘on contract ‘) and spent from the 21st of April to the 6th of May trying to get my Sprint number to port from the CREDO phone to my Cricket phone.

  I was told by Cricket on the 21st that my Sprint number would port in from the CREDO phone in one to four days: April 21st – April 25th…..

  The port would not go through because Cricket representatives kept getting a “Sprint” port signal when they tried to port from CREDO.
  HMMMMMMMM…..curiouser and curiouser said
  Alice in Wonder-CelPhone-Land…..

  I continuted to call Cricket and CREDO from the 24th of April through the beginning of May 2008 in an attempt to get my number to port.

  On Tuesday the 6th I had no service on my number from Sprint in the CREDO phone (I had three phones from the 21st of April to the 6th of May :
  my Sprint phone with all my
  calendar/contact information
  CREDO: with my old Sprint number that
  wouldn’t port over
  CRICKET: with a temporary Cricket
  number that was to be replaced
  with my Sprint number ported
  from the CREDO phone.

  When I called CREDO customer Service on the 6th of May (Tuesday) during the completion process for porting to the CRICKET phone – a young woman named ‘Christian’ answered the CREDO Customer Serervice line on my CREDO phone as :
  “Sprint Customer Serrvcice, this is Christian”….

  WTF?

  I get Sprint cutomer service on a CREDO phone when calling CREDO Customer service?

  Christian said she had no access to my CREDO account information, ( ?????????)
  ….but that her records (Sprint) show my Sprint service stopped:
  ON THE 30th OF MARCH….not the 28th.

  CREDO is a green- wash of SPRINT – they use bait and switch techniques to get month to month customers from Sprint hooked into contracts again – under the guise of CREDO.

  Sprint COULD HAVE CONTINUTED MY SERVICE ON THE 28th – CREDO COULD HAVE HAD MY SPRINT SERVICE REINSTATED …..they lied..the lying liars.

  Oh, yeah, and AT&T sent me a land line bill for 200+ saying Working Assets never ported over the land line number from AT&T to Working
  Assets.

  Meanwhile CREDO thinks my contract should begin on the 21st of March ….7 days before I ever had any phone with CREDO or CREDO service….so I am to pay for seven days during which I had Sprint and and a Sprint phone but no CREDO phone….since it didn’t arrive until the 28th of March.
  My number would not port until the 6th of MAY and so now I am to pay for a year contract and two months of lousy service?

  SPRINT AND CREDO ARE
  C R O O K E D

  stay away from them………….

  -Caroline O’Brien
  816 916 2090

• 9 Ken // May 13, 2008 at 12:08 pm

  I have been using Credo Mobile for years and I never had a problem with service, customer service, or prices. A notice to the lady before me that when you sign up for a new service you can’t just get the old service back… you signed up and thats why they sent you the phone. My mom and I are using the family plan and its the first cell phone service she ever had. Her and I are very happy that we have such a great service provider and that 1% of their profits go to environmental and civil rights organizations.

• 10 Lisa // May 13, 2008 at 1:08 pm

  I find the customer service to be exemplary actually… they have credited my account for things no other company would and when I got the “talking liberally” service (so that for extra minutes above and beyond my plan I would pay 10 cents instead of 45 cents each) I added the service on the 27th of March and they backdated to the 1st so it covered all my extra charges for the month… which would have been $40+ more than my monthly… when I couldn’t figure out what plan to get for internet, they credited me $84 because I wasn’t clear on what they had sold me… so I think their customer service is great… they just don’t have a good phone selection…

  Another note, I think all the mobile phone companies are going the way of CDMA – it kind of deters the purchase of phones from outside sources…kind of sucks but what are you going to do????

• 11 Caroline O'Brien // May 13, 2008 at 10:42 pm

  Hey Ken:

  Go back and re-read my entry.
  I didn’t have the CREDO phone ported when CREDO shut off my service in order to force me onto their contract. The Sprint shut off date was the 30th of march according to Christian of Sprint. My service was active at the time of the hijacking of my service on March 28th at 4:15 PM.

  I didn’t want service back that I had relinquished, I wanted the service that SPRINT records show I HAD at the time of the hijacking of my service by CREDO.

  They lied – they ripped me off – they deserve all the free advertising with which I intend to provide them.

  Caroline O’Brien

• 12 Corina // May 27, 2008 at 7:51 pm

  I also have had almost non-stop problems with CREDO. I had been a longtime Sprint Customer with no problems and wanted to give my money to a better cause. A family member of mine has CREDO and loves it and referred me to it as well, so I made the switch and have had problem after problem.

• 13 Lisa // Jun 4, 2008 at 3:26 pm

  Credo is horrible. I called and asked to have the service disconnected in March of 2007. They said ok fine, we will disconnect it. I got another bill and called them and they said they hadn’t gotten my disconnect request. I requested it again and paid the bill. I get ANOTHER bill and call and then they tell me I needed to call my local phone company and confirm the disconnect. They tell me they will write off the last charge. They send me to collections instead. Their collection company calls me and they even agree that Credo is bad to work with, they confirm that they can see the details of my account and that I did pay a couple of times after requesting disconnect. They tell me that they are having to deal with a lot of messes like this from Credo, but they can’t do anything unless Credo agrees to drop the charge, which of course they won’t.

  Horrible rip-off, horrible customer service.

• 14 Caroline O'Brien // Jun 5, 2008 at 12:27 am

  I’ve compiled my paperwork from AT&T, Sprint and CREDO. I am currently writing a detailed chronological report of my (umm…Feb.’–June ‘08)…
  6 month nightmare…. I am sending copies to the Office of the Attorney General …. of Missouri, California and Kansas. I am interested in corresponding with anyone who has had bad service with CREDO. I have no cel sercvice until Friday, but after that I can be reached at
  816 916 2090

  ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM
  Caroline O’Brien

• 15 Liza // Jun 6, 2008 at 12:28 pm

  Lisa asked “So can we use any sprint phone for credo mobile… ?”

  I’ve just learned the answer is no. Even though Credo uses the Sprint network, and uses Sprint phones, they will only activate phones that are sold as Credo phones. This means that you are locked into purchasing new phones from Credo. I’ve not been able to discover a Credo/Working Assets used phone market. Working Assets used to offer used phones, but no longer does so.

  This is probably going to be the issue that sends us back to a major carrier.

• 16 KDM // Jun 11, 2008 at 3:35 pm

  I had Credo Mobile service for a while and let me tell you, it was the WORST. I thought I was being a good citizen by getting serice because they donate to non-profit organizations, print bills on recycled paper, etc. BUT, they have the worst customer service (and phone service, calls get dropped all the time) you could Imagine. They definitely don’t train their customer service reps very well, because each one you talk to tells you something completely different than the last, etc. I finally had to cancel my service because I couldn’t deal with them not knowing what they were talking about and losing service all the time ( my calls would drop out of nowhere) Well, lets just say cancelling a customers account is extremely difficult for them…they claimed they cancelled my service, but I got billed for the next 3 or 4 months until finally I had to call and raise hell with them!! They are a ridiculous phone company and NO one should have to deal with them as their phone company!!!!! I would bot reccomend anyONE getting phone service with Credo Mobile.

• 17 TJS // Jun 17, 2008 at 6:57 pm

  I recently received an unsolicited email from Credo that sounded more like a political smear campaign than an advertisement. No talk about the quality of their service, just about how much holier they are than all those unwashed bad guys. When I called the number given in the email to tell them about my negative response to their spam, the “agent” who answered on behalf of this idealistic company hung up on me. Maybe I should have placed an order first.

• 18 bill // Jun 28, 2008 at 10:19 am

  I am One of those customer service reps that you guys are saying, are terrible, if the customers would read all the information we send them, and make it clear over the phone, what they exactly want instead of saying maybe this and maybe that, and if you werent such an ignorant american, that you say what u want done and hang up, if u hang up on me im not going to do anything for you because u were prick……..and as for the sprint/credo thing, we have to call sprint for the ports, and it sucks they are ass holes, and it takes forever to get anything done unfortionatly we cant switch our network because of contracts, and the reason why u cant use any other mobile phone on our network is because motorola and LG and samsung and sanyo, send us phones designed for credo, and they wont allow them to be active on any other network so they can make more money in the long run….and as for the obrien situation, were sorry u had the difficulties but sometimes stuff happens, its not us thats responsible its the systems and on the last note CALL TMOBILE AND TRY TO GET THE CUSTOMER SERVICE U GET AT CREDO!!!!!!!!!

• 19 Brian // Jun 29, 2008 at 9:37 pm

  I used to work for a cell phone provider and a port isn’t something that “just happens”. It’s not the fault of the customer service representatives or the systems. There is no way a port can go through without the customer actually providing detailed account information from their original provider. So, Ms. O’Brien, maybe you didn’t realize that you were giving authorization, but you would have had to have given Credo your Sprint phone number, account number, pin number and billing information in order for that port to complete. Logically, it seems to me that if I didn’t want another provider to port over my phone number, I wouldn’t provide them with all this information. So maybe the next time you share your opinions, you should include all the facts.

  By the way, I now use Credo mobile service and although the phone selection isn’t outstanding, having a “pretty” phone isn’t my primary reason for choosing a provider. Customer service is great for crediting me for my own stupid mistakes (going over my minutes, using web browsing) and they are always very friendly when I call. And they actually speak english, which is a plus. And TJS, idealistic company or not, anyone will hang up on you if you call in to scream at them and verbally abuse them. Try calling ATT and see how long they will put up with what you have to say.

  So, with that being said, if your primary concern isn’t having the sleekest, most attractive phone on the market, and you want a cell phone company that is working for something more, go with Credo. No cell phone provider is perfect, but at least this one has some morals.

  Oh and Caroline, as wonderfully interesting as it is to believe you are a part of a great conspiracy, it makes you sound like something of a psychopath. Good luck with your report for the Office of the Attorney General.

• 20 Mark Hollis // Jul 4, 2008 at 12:42 pm

  Happy July 4th Allen, Mike E, Ken, Lisa, et al. – this is Mark, Director of Customer relations for CREDO Mobile in San Francisco. Let me start by saying thank you for balancing this thread out with your insights as experienced CREDO customers. Your words will do more to validate Working Assets 22 year history of progressive action and the 50 non-profits that you help support than my participation in this dialogue. That being said, with mutual respect, here’s the rest of my 1980 word response to current customers, former customers, and the curious.

  Caroline, first, I apologize for the negative experience described in your first posting and start with your issues since you have provided the most details. I’d also like to thank the moderators of alldaybuffett.com for starting this forum and allowing candor by CREDO’s unsolicited promoters and detractors, along with those that are just curious, three audiences that better have our attention. In this response I am going to give monetary credits, but more importantly, I am going to ask Caroline and others on this thread to stay open minded about the some of their perceptions. The power of alldaybuffett.com and other blogs resonates in ideas reshaping emotion, taking the mantra of Modernism; Make it new, affording change via ideas and emotion that are better after dialogue, and enjoying the change.

  Caroline, in your case let me say right off that it is time for action, not just explanations, so I will issue a credit for all usage and early termination fees on your closed account. Out of mutual respect, I ask for your reflection as we review some of your notes and make clarifications that might help you and others make future changes to us or other carriers seamless. I am also including what we are changing to make things better for existing and new customers. As many CREDO Mobile customers on this blog have shared based on their positive years of experience, the only three things that differentiate us from the big carriers are customer service, activism, and donations. I am researching your account notes and listening to the digital .wav files of your calls into sales and customer service to find the root causes of your issues. This is what I’ve found so far:

  You called into our sales/customer service center on Friday, March 21st and initiated an order for a Samsung handset and mobile service. During this call you requested that your existing Sprint number be transferred (ported) to CREDO Mobile phone/service. As a customer states on this blog, that means you requested and authorized a service change, which is not how you portray it in your notes.

  FedEx shipped your unit on Monday, March 24th and made their first delivery attempt on Wednesday, March 26th, noting that no one was at the address to sign for the package. They tried again on Thursday, March 27th, and noted the same unavailability. On Friday, March 28th, FedEx delivered your new handset after acquiring your signature. Sprint released the port on that Friday. Please note that CREDO does not release the service when you are transferring a number/service to us, the current carrier does this, Sprint in your case. Therefore, the comment you quote by the Sprint representative is inaccurate because once you request that we transfer your number then the actual release of that number/service was dependent on Sprint. By the way, we do not use Sprint customer service. In one sentence you state that Christian identified himself as Sprint Credo Mobile Customer Service and then later you state that Christian with Sprint Customer Service informed you (incorrectly) that CREDO ported your service on May 28th instead of a set date of May 30th.

  Although there were no actual human or system errors by CREDO in your case, we do apologize for your misunderstanding of the process that you initiated. We set a 5-day interval minimum after customers request a number transfer before ports finalize and unfortunately your handset arrived on the fifth business day after two earlier attempts to deliver it. That being said, here are improvements in this process that CREDO is making as additional safeguards for our current and new customers. In April 08 the Customer Relations team conducted an audit of port system notes to gain insight into preventing loss of service when a customer requests to move an existing number to our CREDO Mobile service. After pulling “port inquiry notes,” the team analyzed work flow timelines in our order, billing, and shipping systems. Our findings showed that 92% of port-ins that month completed and those customers were still with CREDO MOBILE. However, we are not satisfied with that level of performance, so here is a snapshot of our issues and resolution plan.

  ROOT CAUSES
  The majority of port issues that impacted the customer with loss of service resulted from four circumstances:
  • multiple attempts to deliver handsets because FedEx policy required a direct signature
  • delays caused by Verizon’s policy of requiring a password as part of the port authorization information supplied by the customer.
  • Human errors by customers giving account information.
  • Human errors by agents entering information into the billing system.

  ISSUE RESOLUTION
  CREDO Operations met with our fulfillment house and negotiated the following changes in policy with FedEx and Customer Relations is working to up-train agents in the following areas:
  1. FedEx will now allow indirect signatures at the delivery address by neighbors, office managers, etc.
  2. FedEx will now accept door tags authorizing that the packages can be left at the delivery address.
  3. CREDO Mobile will now have direct email contact with the shipping associate at our fulfillment house.
  4. Updates on these policy improvements were communicated with all agents. Online Help has been updated. We also will schedule an up-training with the sales team to re-emphasize the importance of delivery details being clearly explained on each sales call that involves a port and the imperative that sales agents confirm back details to customer after entry into billing. In addition, we have revisited the importance of sales agents properly coaching customers porting from Verizon about the password requirement. Customer Relations will make these two observations part of sales call live sweep feedback.
  5. Ongoing port audits by Customer Relations are in progress.

  Specific to your scenario, in your posting you mention that you were under the impression that you could make port change decisions after the original port request that you authorized is transmitted between carriers. This is not possible, so in the future I suggest you order a new handset from a carrier and request a temporary number. Then if you are not home during delivery attempts, there will not be loss of service with your current provider/handset. You can test out the new phone at your leisure, and then make a decision to transfer the existing number to a new service provider. In your posting you also state that you ordered a new phone with the intention of checking, after it arrived, to see if it had chip technology that would allow the easy transfer of images and other files. For future orders with any carrier and a good user experience, I suggest you ask the sales representative during the handset selection process as many feature questions as possible. In this case they would have guided you to the Moto Q and explained that the Samsung did not have your chip requirement. This will prevent disappointment upon a product’s arrival and save you the hassle of returning a phone via mail. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience you encountered trying to use our service and support our mutual causes. My contact info is below, if you want to discuss this more.

  Hank K, As an MVNO we do use Sprint’s towers, but our customer service is separate. Our average supervisor has 5.4 years experience and the average agent has over two years tenure, unlike most contact centers, so they have the knowledge and empathy to resolve issues. Most customer service contact centers have annualized attrition rates in the 100% to 200% range. Our center averages below 5% per month. As for what you describe as “small donations,” Working Assets customers have generated over $60 million in revenue during our 22 year history. And this come off top line revenue, so growth goes to non-profits no matter what we spend on marketing or other areas.

  KTF, I apologize if you did not get a response from our President or VP, but if you contact me, mhollis@credomobile.com, I will listen to your issues and research them.

  Corina, you mention a relative that loves our service, but reference a bad experience. I would like to hear about it because if you had Sprint Service before, we use their network, but provide our own customer service from only one location with an experience staff.

  Liza, CREDO Mobile is Working Assets. We still offer used phones.

  KDM, I’m sorry your individual experience was ugly, but as a Director that’s spent eight years in customer service centers in Tempe, AZ; Portland, OR, Salt Lake City, UT; Houston, TX, Juarez, Mexico, Lexington, KY; Frostburg, MD; and Nova Scotia – our one-site customer service and sales center is the best one I’ve ever had the opportunity to help manage. I know many people resort to stereotyping and they group all call center employers as apathetic, but I have the highest respect for the complex work our customer service professionals conduct with passion for the customer and our causes. Last week the most recent net promoter survey results came back and 64% of our customer are promoters, which puts us within percentage points of an industry leader, Virgin Mobile (they also are an MVNO like us that uses Sprint towers with a drastically different business model).

  TJS, CREDO Mobile does send out serious and edgy communications, like our recent postcard with a photo of Dick Cheney and the caption: Did your phone help elect Bush/Cheney? AT&Ts PAC did, donating the maximum legal limit, twice. If you would send me more information about the email that offended you, I will provide more information about our intent – and it would probably add fuel to the discussion between members of that have posted here.

  This is one of the most challenging blog threads I’ve read with its dynamic tension of pro CREDO and negative CREDO experiences and perceptions. Because of this I will work harder on issues such as number transfers to minimize customer impacting issues, both by proactive training so explanations will be stronger and by constantly researching the systems. Someone also mentioned we probably use Sprint Customer Service reps. No, we have only one site taking your calls and my team in San Francisco also listens to live calls everyday. You won’t bounce call by call from Phoenix to Manila to Juarez when you call our customer service. Sure, you could go with AT&T and get an IPhone, but just remember – the political action committee at AT&T contributed the maximum amount allowable by law to the Bush/Cheney campaign — twice. And you could go with Verizon for more phone selections, but CREDO opposed the FISA wire-tapping and sent out thousands of communications voicing our customer’s opinion about privacy and we sent out objection letters when Verizon blocked text messages sent out by NARAL, PRO CHOICE AMERICA. CREDO Mobile is not for everyone, but I think participants on this site should investigate us, test our service, participate in some serious causes, and also have some irreverent, progressive fun.

  Finally, I believe everyone on this thread should have a discussion about CREDO Mobile service, their past issues, future needs, activism clarifications, non-profit groups we support, etc. – Send me your email addresses and I’ll find a time that works for as many as possible and send you a toll-free conference call bridge invitation.

  Thanks,

  Mark

• 21 KDM // Jul 9, 2008 at 9:53 am

  Att: Mark: When a ton of people from all over are saying the same thing about Credo Mobile–that is sucks…it begins to become apparent that it is not the individuals problem, but the company’s problem that is providing the horrible service. There is no way you know what every credo customer service rep does and says to customers in which case you can’t say that “our one-site customer service and sales center is the best one I’ve ever had the opportunity to help manage. ” I mean everytime I called Credo, every customer service rep told me something different, that is just ridiculous, and put me on hold for 5 mins at a time…..I am a customer serive rep for an online company and if all of my fellow employees and I told our customers different things we would all be fired because that just makes the com[any look like a joke!! It is obvious that credo reps do not receive the proper training they need to provide good customer service. It was actually comical everytime I called Credo because all the reps told me something different everytime I called, and on top of that, when I called to cancel my service I stilled got billed 3 more times!!!!! COME ON, that makes your company look soooo bad that someone cancels there service yet they still are billed with bills saying ” no calls made for this number” duhhh if there were no calls made obviously there is something going on there and instead of looking into the situation, credo just sends a bill!! CREDO CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRIBLE and you can say all you want that you are a reputable, envrionmentally concious, mobile service, but none of that means a thing when your customer services reps are telling people eight different things and put people on hold so long they have to hang up and call back!!!!! Stop telling people how your company does so many good things and start working on actually running a good company!!!!!

• 22 Mark Hollis // Jul 11, 2008 at 5:35 pm

  Hey KDM, thank you for taking the time to share your frustration. Let me assure you that I am taking individual issues and working with our team to fix those specific cases. Along with other tools, we also use these forums to improve our service overall – they let us know if there are common problems we need to tackle. So I am going to ask you for more feedback, focused feedback, even if it hurts for me to hear it. Could you please send me details that can be researched so we can set the record straight (mhollis@credomobile.com)? For instance, Caroline posted details for us to research and we provided answers. Your emotional description offers only adjectives and adverbs, affording me and other readers very little substantive examples that we can use to make changes or balanced decisions. Help us use the power of the alldaybuffet.com blog.

  Thanks,
  Mark Hollis
  Director/ Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile, brought to you by Working Assets

• 23 Mike McCusker // Jul 16, 2008 at 12:25 am

  Mark –

  I found this blog because I was researching Credo mobile plans and phones, and wanted to see what “the word on the street” was. After reading some of the earlier negative comments, I became somehwhat dubious of some of their statements. Suffice it to say that when we are aggrieved, or feel such, we tend to exaggerate the perceived wrongs and slights. This is not to minimize any of the complaints or problems some of the people here have listed, but only to say that, it is human nature to think our problems are the biggest, the worst, and the most awful.

  But the real reason I’m posting is to commend you for taking all the heat and offering some thoughtful, meaningful responses. This wasn’t the typical company VP who talks about the company’s “commitment to excellence” and other such mission-statement drivel. You took each specific negative, addressed it head on, and didn’t get defensive or dismissive if there was the slightest chance you could have been in the wrong. I applaud that, and I find it a little disheartening that all the people who complained in all those previous posts couldn’t take the time to say the same. It’s refreshing to see a corporate bigwig take personal responsibility.

  My wife and I have been considering switching from our current provider, and while I can’t say that your post would put us into the Credo camp, I can say that it certainly makes us strongly consider it.

  Thanks
  Mike

• 24 Lisa S. // Jul 16, 2008 at 8:08 am

  I have been with Credo for a year and seriously, I can’t wait till my contract is up. In fact, I am thinking about paying the $150 to get out of my contract because I have a phone with a battery that runs out in less than 8 hours without even using it – just having it on. I spent money on a second battery… talked with the company, went through the rigamarole of exchanging the phone waiting for the credit, etc. and all the while, Credo’s customer service was exemplary. They credited me for problems regardless of whose fault it was. But that didn’t fix the phone and I can’t go anywhere or do anything without charging it so I have to carry my charger around if I plan to do anything in the evening or all day, yes, even with the second battery ($44).

  Another thing is the website, checking usage since they became Credomobile – it’s hit and miss.

  Another thing, when you change or add services, you have to check your bill in case you’re being double billed.

  But as I said, I call and they fix everything… (except the phone) it’s just a pain having to call – still the calls have gotten fewer and father between.

  If you love the mission – I do – then you can put up with this stuff… but I have only one phone… no land line, etc. so I depend on it and there just aren’t and other choices for smart phones at Credo. I just want a smart phone that stays charged for 24 hours and that is one issue they haven’t been able to fix.

  I had planned to write to Lynn Scher, their CEO to tell her about this site because they are getting slammed but since Mark Hollis has chimed in, I guess Credo knows.

  thanks for listening

• 25 Mark Hollis // Jul 16, 2008 at 11:51 am

  Mike, thanks for your observations. Yes, our customer relations team in San Francisco and our contact center team are trying to communicate in a plain spoken manner, and follow up with actions. As you reflect, we all tend to speak out more quickly and with greater force when we have a bad experience. It’s harder to collect the voice of content customers. CREDO employees make mistakes and handsets/networks have bugs and gaps, but we will keep addressing issues and make service better for existing customers and new ones. As you’ve probably seen after your posting, Lisa has shared some negatives and positives. She’s been respectful, patient, and provided details, so now I’ll research solutions and post them. Again, if you have more questions, write: mhollis@credomobile.com.

• 26 Mark Hollis // Jul 16, 2008 at 12:55 pm

  Lisa S. – I too have a Moto Q and although I love its email and Web browsing, the charge duration is an issue. Do you frequently go to the Task Manager and kill all applications? That extends usage with a Windows OS. Many of my associates have ordered the extended life battery. Is that the one you ordered? If you email me (mhollis@credomobile.com) and provide your full name and cell number, I can go into your account and see what other options we can offer. I’d like to share some future smart phones that are on the CREDO horizon.

  We did upgrade our Website and that series of changes added functionality for customer self-care, which caused some access problems. I keep my wife’s account separate from my corporate one so I can go into the usage and Web bill sections to test it. We’ve added an auto-alert so our online team knows faster when there is a data/connectivity issue impacting usage checks.

  In March CREDO transitioned to a new billing platform and as you said there were isolated double-billings that we caught and credited. The good news is that now customers can more easily change plans based on varying usage needs.

  Again, thanks for your patience and the honest sharing of positive experiences and areas where we need to improve. I hope to hear from you soon. And be assured, Laura Scher also voraciously reads blogs and works with our CR team to make changes.

  Mark Hollis
  Director | Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile
  101 Market Street, Suite 700
  San Francisco, CA 94105
  CREDO Mobile | more than a network. a movement.
  Brought to you by Working Assets
  http://www.credomobile.com – 1-877-76-CREDO

• 27 stacey // Jul 17, 2008 at 9:42 pm

  Just found this when researching whether to switch from tmobile to credo…interesting comments. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to share your insight.

• 28 Amy // Jul 18, 2008 at 11:36 am

  Hi all,

  Like Stacey, I want to thank everyone for their comments. We just made the switch to Credo, but I wanted to see what other people were saying, and I think I’m pretty happy with the switch. Mark ’s responses are great, and our customer service experience has been really good so far (we’ll see what happens after we actually get the phones and everything is switched over).

  I do have one question that I’m hoping Mark can respond to:

  Sprint, along with Verizon and AT&T, was named for its participation in the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program (and you kind of leave them out from your accusations, which makes sense since you’re using them). Nowhere do you guarantee that the Credo service isn’t being watched, because obviously it’s basically legal now, but I was wondering what your thoughts are on your provider and whether Credo has any power to pressure Sprint into being held more accountable.

  Thanks again, and I’d love to keep reading about others’ experiences!

• 29 Mark Hollis // Jul 18, 2008 at 1:02 pm

  Amy, I’m excited to hear that your first impression as a CREDO Mobile customer motivated you to write about it here on alldaybuffet.org. Hopefully, what I provide here will illustrate how we continue to oppose warrantless wiretapping. These links will take you to three petitions CREDO is pushing -

  http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/fisa_senate_bad/
  (for senators who voted yes)

  http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/fisa_senate_good/
  (for senators who voted no)

  http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/fisa_reid_cowardice/
  (a petition specifically chastising Harry Reid for his role in shepherding this bill to a vote, then voting “no” at the last minute to cover himself)

  Finally, I certainly respect your inquiry about our business relationship with Sprint, and its impact on our activism against the US government spying on US citizens through telephone company records and phone lines. Throughout our ongoing campaign against warrantless wiretapping and against immunity for telecom companies, we’ve been emphatic about the fact that none of us are safe from being spied on unless the Bush administration is held accountable for breaking the law. Even if a carrier – be it Sprint or AT&T – were to pledge to refrain from cooperating with illegitimate eavesdropping, their customers would be no more protected from eavesdropping than anyone else’s. This is because calls are carried on multiple networks. You may pay your bill to AT&T, but the calls you make and receive are not restricted to AT&T’s lines.

  Because no single carrier can effectively “opt out,” we are putting our efforts towards supporting our friends at the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation as they challenge the so-called FISA reforms in court.

  Again, welcome to our network, and more importantly, thank you for joining the movement’s support of non-profits and political actions.

  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 30 stacey // Jul 22, 2008 at 9:44 am

  Mark, thanks so much for having a senior rep call me to answer all my questions. I’m ready to make the switch and give you guys a try, but I’m waiting for your smart phones to be in stock. Any idea how long the wait will be? Thanks again.

• 31 bill // Jul 22, 2008 at 10:51 am

  we should have the new moto q within a few weeks, we just stocked the LG rumor Yesterday….

• 32 Jodi Vander Molen // Jul 22, 2008 at 12:51 pm

  I’ve worked for a non-profit for years, been a Working Assets customer for a decade, Credo for several. All the comments re. poor customer service, poor reception, all of the bad feedback regarding Credo is unfortunately true.

  We’ve been struggling the past few years with bills that contain a ton of charges to a number in Silver Spring, MD we have never called (does anyone know what this phenomenon might be?). We’re two adults, monitor our calls closely.

  At first, Credo credited us. Now they refuse to remove the charges, say they can’t block the number, have no idea what’s going on, and aren’t even competent enough to cancel the “automatic bill round-up” we requested.

  We’re leaving, and it’s unfortunate. But the bad stuff is all true, folks. Just because some of you haven’t personally had problems yet doesn’t mean they’re not around the corner.

  Any suggestions for carriers, anyone?

• 33 stacey // Jul 22, 2008 at 1:00 pm

  Not to get too far off topic…but, Bill, will the LG rumor suffice for checking email and using Google maps app. as a GPS? Or do I need to wait for the MOTO q?

  Jodi, that’s weird, but it sounds like something that could happen with any carrier….very, very strange, though. I have been really happy with tmobile.

• 34 Yogesh Chawla // Jul 22, 2008 at 1:09 pm

  Hey All,
  Jodi’s husband here. It was very unfortunate because we have been working assetts customers for over 8 years now. The mysterious roaming operator assisted calls that randomly appeared on the bill to Silver Springs, MD were very disconcerting.

  Fortunately, credo has offered to let us out of the contract with no ETF due to the unique situation. I guess we move next to a corporate conglomerate and try our luck there. Sigh.

• 35 Lisa // Jul 22, 2008 at 2:33 pm

  Jodi & Yogesh…

  I’ve been with most of the major phone companies since 93 or 94… have you thought of just changing your number? You may have already and it didn’t work, but I’ve had issues with all the major companies and they never worked very hard to fix anything, I got their pat answers… one rep even asked me why he should replace my phone since I probably wouldn’t stay with them when my contract ran out… I was with the next company for 6 years – till they started changing their towers and I had no service in my neighborhood and in my house for 5 months… a phone is a phone, it’s customer service these guys are celling (sic)

• 36 Dave // Jul 23, 2008 at 12:51 pm

  Hey guys! I have been a Credo employee for almost 2 years now. I think this conversation that is going on, while unfortunately is mostly about problems that you have been having, is great dialogue for us to look at to see where we can improve things. Jodi and Yogesh, was this issue with your Long Distance or Mobile service? I am truely sorry to hear about this issue none the less. It is in no way in our grand scheme of things to create problems or bill erroneus charges. Quite the oposite. In my experience here with customer service I have seen us go many extra miles to remedy situations. Especially with folks like Mark Hollis helping to run this business, we have motivated staff. As employees we are happy and proud to do this job. I wish that everyone you spoke to could resolve every issue, and that is something we strive to do in one call. But I must go now, but as Mark has been doing, I would be more than happy to chip in to see if I can help you guys with your issues. But if not, you know our service # if you have any questions or concerns

• 37 amy // Jul 23, 2008 at 8:09 pm

  I have had the worst service ever from Credo. I switched from Verizon, thinking I was doing a good thing. To start with, they refused to port the number over until Verizon closed my account. After 5 days going back and forth with no phone, Verizon told me they could not send over my number until Credo requested the port, which is the exact opposite of what they told me 3 different times. Then, they limited my monthly spending at $200. After a month my phone cut off and when I called they said it was because I was over my limit, because they had charged me for a month and a half. I requested 4 different times that they raise my limit, and no one ever put in the request. I feel deceived, manipulated, and just plain angry at this point. Do not switch to credo, unless you are willing to tolerate the worst customer service ever. Oh yes and one more thing. If you go out of their range, they piggy back another provider and charge you .69 per minute even if you are in your calling area.

• 38 Mark Hollis // Jul 24, 2008 at 12:29 pm

  Amy, I’m really sorry that you had a bad experience when you transferred your number/service from Verizon. Please contact me so I can gather more details about this and also offer you some solutions regarding your other account issue. Please note: a new carrier cannot successfully enter a port request until the customer provides the exact information on file at the carrier you are leaving. And Verizon requires a password, something many customers don’t even realize has been added to their account. Logically, it doesn’t make common sense for us to obstruct a number/service transfer, but all carriers have retention departments dedicated to try to prevent customers from leaving. And in all cases, it is the former carrier that releases your number so service can transfer once they have matching information. I look forward to talking with you so we can do what is possible to make your mobile service and non-profit donations work the right way for you. If you want me to call you, just email me your number. Thanks again.

  Mark Hollis
  mhollis@credomobile.com
  415.369.2042 desk

• 39 Claire // Jul 25, 2008 at 12:13 am

  I have been a CREDO customer for over a year, and am completly unhappy with the EVERYTHING.

  First, my account is constantly being shut off, for ‘going over my spending limit or $150′

  Second, We have overnighted the payment, only to have it take several weeks for the check to even be processed let alone have my service turned back on.

  Third, The customer service is awful. They make you feel like they’re doing YOU a favor by turning your service back on, even when it’s not your fault, and a payment had been sent two weeks prior.

  Fourth, The biling comes on different days of every month. You send a payment in, and two weeks later, get a bill for the same amount prior to sending a payment.

  Fifth, They say that they are an environmentaly consious orginazation. But when I recieve my bill,Iget a 20 to 30 page summary of EVERY SINGLE call and EVERY SINGLE text. And I send atleast 2000 texts a month.

  Sixth, If opting to pay the bill via internet, payments don’t clear immediatly but rather, 2 weeks later, or sometimes not at all.

  My advice is DON’T SWITCH TO CREDO MOBILE. You can do your part in helping the world by giving right to the source.

• 40 j. // Jul 25, 2008 at 10:50 am

  Long time Working Assets / Credo customer. My contract has been up for years now & I still have this crumby old Nokia candybar phone.

  I’d like to get a new phone, renew my contract, etc, however while the newer models have improved (they now offer the rumor) at Credo, they are still not up to my liking.

  The sony ericsson, & phones the phones that Helio offer, like the Ocean, are more ‘hip’ in my opinion. Sometimes I wonder if Credo might be forgetting about the younger, digital generation.

• 41 Alex // Jul 26, 2008 at 12:19 am

  I wholeheartedly agree with j. My current phone is the first one I got from Credo a little over two years ago, an LG flip phone. It’s an okay phone for basic use, but its reception is getting flakier as time goes on and I think it’s time for a new phone. Problem is, other than the Rumor, none of the eight (8) yes EIGHT phones Credo currently have listed available on their site strike my fancy. And I’m a little wary of the Rumor since on their website it is pictured only in an ugly gold color… if they have other colors (read: BLACK) I’d go with it. Bottom line is, Credo could DEFINITELY use a more diverse phone lineup… though I imagine the bad selection isn’t ENTIRELY their fault.

• 42 j. // Jul 26, 2008 at 11:20 pm

  Alex, I’m glad to know we share the same sentiments. I’m in complete agreement that the gold color Rumor is very unattractive (I’d be happy with black too!). I truly hope Credo is able to add some new phones to their line-up soon or they might be losing a customer. My Nokia has been randomly shutting down on me, but I seriously don’t want to be stuck with any of their current phones for 2 years. Which is sad because overall I like my phone plan & service… though I wished it worked overseas when I travel.

• 43 Mark Hollis // Jul 27, 2008 at 1:39 pm

  Alex, et al. – regarding new handsets, please send me your email addresses or telephone numbers. We have some exciting news on the horizon that I’d like to discuss.

  Thanks,
  Mark
  Director, Customer Relations
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 44 Alex // Jul 27, 2008 at 6:09 pm

  Thanks. I sent you an email. I find it really extraordinary that you’re actually addressing our comments and offering to talk to us personally about the service. This has made me respect Credo Mobile a great deal despite your problems (or rather limitations). Sprint is just such a dinosaur… no unlocked phones? Lame :/

• 45 Phil // Aug 19, 2008 at 1:10 am

  I would like to know what the switching cost to transfer from Verizon to Credo would be? I understand Credo covers up to $200.00.

  Why switch? I have evidence on my phone where some “out of control” computer or whatever created about six different contacts (while tapping my line?). I have heard “clicking” sounds, echoes, and what I thought were “people typing” as I opened up my phone to dial a number!

• 46 stacey // Aug 19, 2008 at 6:10 pm

  Well, I switched last month adn have had no problems. I have spoken to customer service twice and have been helped quickly and easily both times. I waited until I got my phone, forwarded my calls from my tmobile phone, and THEN called to port my old number over. The rep helped me set up my phone so that I was never without service at all. It was an easy transition.

  Thanks for all your thoughts Mark!

• 47 steve // Aug 22, 2008 at 10:46 am

  I’ve spent my share of time researching products by reading blogs and have been satisfied when my investigations lead me to the right ’stuff’ for my needs. I am impressed with the amount of information I’ve found here, while investigating CREDO. Seems like a fair back and forth, especially with Mark Hollis being so diligent.

  I must be naive, but it did seem odd that a company employee posted information on a blog about a customers’ transactions, even as what seemed like a sincere effort to help (and promote CREDO). Is this what we now do?

  I will say that I am 58, with a lifetime commitment to progressive causes. I was really angry with the government spying on us “illegally” and then as angry with the passage of the FISA Bill – which Obama pledged to oppose… I read that the drop in Obama’s popularity may be because young people were angry with his flip flop on FISA.I say all this because it is oddly, the theme for the promotion I received first introducing me to CREDO and then I find this thread which seems to transgress boundaries of privacy.Can anyone help me with this as I attempt to keep current?

• 48 Leo V // Aug 23, 2008 at 2:47 pm

  CREDO, BUYER BEWARE!!!!! I ordered phones from Credo, after waiting days to be approved i decided to look for another company and found T-Mobile that approved me right away with a better plan. I called credo and told them to cancel the order, then they tell me i was approved and the order was shipped out. I told them no problem, just cancel me and ill refuse the order from fedex, they said they wanted to send me a return slip ( yea, maybe on the 29th day before they can lock me into the contact) from that time on, i would get email after email welcoming me to credo, i kept responding that i am not with them and the phones were sent back and i gave them the tracking number. it was like talking on deaf ears. they did everything in thier power to drag it on for he 30 days to lock me in. luckily i kept all emails and mostly a copy of the tracking slip from fedex. here it is 22 days later and they still think I am part of Credo and claim they havent recieved the phones back, i told them, will hope you put insurance on it, take it up with fedex because i have a copy here that says it was returned. and told them not to call me or email me again. that didnt work. so i changed my email and phone number. yesterday, i get my first bill from them and i’ve never even touched the phones. lol BUYER BEWARE

• 49 Lynsey TV // Aug 25, 2008 at 10:50 am

  About a year ago, I told my boyfriend about Credo mobile, stating then that it seemed to be a company with a conscience, and he said, “There’s already a company that does that… Working Assets!” Low an behold, Credo and WA were the same group (and WA has been around since 1985).

  I just signed up for Credo last week with the contract buy-out program, and so far so good. I received my phone Friday, they ported my number by Friday night, and I called Credo to have them program my phone Saturday morning.

  I must say that every time I’ve to speak to a support rep, they have been so pleasant. The simple fact that they speak to me like an actually human being is wonderful. I also like the fact that Credo doesn’t push the best and newest phones in your face and make you ‘buy buy buy’. In my opinion, cell phones shouldn’t have to be status symbols, though the big companies like Verizon and AT&T would lead you to believe the opposite.

  Thank you Credo Mobile for being a smart cell company with a heart.

• 50 Chuck Isner // Aug 27, 2008 at 7:45 pm

  Mark,

  My phones arrived today and I currently have them charging. I did a google to see what I could find out about Credo and I must admit, it’s scary. One thing that really scares me is reading Claire’s comment about having her phone shut off for exceeding $150 limit. Now I am wondering if I have a limit on my account since my credit is admittedly less than great. As a teacher I get paid monthly. If I were cut off toward the end of the month it’s likely that I wouldn’t be able to pay until the first. That also makes the possibility of having various due dates a real concern. Can you give me any assurances before I decide to “port” my phones that these concerns are not valid in my case. I really hope to hear from you. I should note that I have been impressed w/ your openness and willingness to address extremely negative customers with polite and direct comments that did not attempt to transfer the blame back to the customer, but rather, to have a dialogue and attempt to resolve the problem. I want to try your service; I just need some assurances.

• 51 Anna // Aug 29, 2008 at 1:30 am

  I’m very interested in switching as well and have been having a hard time deciding based on the variety of feedback I’ve seen on this site and others, but I also feel like Mark’s willingness to address many of the issues speaks well of Credo. Like Chuck, I would like to hear more about the spending limits.

  I would also like to hear more about the “exciting news on the horizon” regarding new phone options. The most recent email offer I have from Credo to pay the early termination fee expires on 9/15. I don’t feel like any of the current phone options quite fit my needs so I’d like to know when to expect more options and whether the buyout offer will have expired by then.

  Thanks!

• 52 Mark Hollis // Aug 29, 2008 at 1:52 pm

  Hi Chuck and Anna,

  All CREDO Mobile accounts have account spending limits that are set based on credit scores. This protects the customer and us, as a reseller that has to pay for usage. We place a call to alert a customer when an account reaches 75% of the account spending limit. Customers can check their balance by calling customer service. Remember, money balance is different than minute balance (minute usage can be checked by dialing into the customer service IVR or checking online in Member Services). We are also getting ready to launch free text message account spending alerts at 75% and 95% of the limit. If a customer exceeds their limit, the account is hot-lined, meaning that the next number a customer dials will go to customer service, which is the only outbound call other than a 911 call that a customer can make until they talk with a representative and make a payment that brings the account below the spending limit. So with most post-pay cellular companies, please be aware of the difference between minute usage and money balance. And although account limits concern some individuals, many of our customers like this feature and have even asked for their approved limit to be lowered, which acts as a safety net, unlike the practice of most carriers that let you run up hundreds of dollars of overage without communicating the issue. Also, during the welcome call review of your plan, our reps go over account spending limits and if you forget, you can call customer service at any point. When your phone arrives, there is also an account spending limit explanation in the box.

  As for new handsets on the imminent roadmap, please give me a call at 415.369.2042 or send the number where you’d like for me to call you to mhollis@credomobile.com (Chuck, since you’ve already signed up, I pulled your number from our system and left you a voice mail last night).

  Thanks,

  Mark

• 53 Lisa S. // Aug 29, 2008 at 2:24 pm

  A note to all… my issues have been resolved in fact, they were resolve very shortly after Mark Hollis read about them and I’m very happy with my phone now… the service has always been great… and the reps always give me the best they’ve got… I’m so glad I found this site… what other company goes the extra mile like this AFTER they’ve got you as a customer…

• 54 Leo V. // Sep 3, 2008 at 9:10 am

  So MR. HOLLIS, You havent responded to number 48. I would think that would be a priority. I would like to hear what you have to say about what i wrote. I am just waiting and itching for your company to threaten to take me to court next, but I do have all documentation that will make your company look like fools and will file a counter claim. please respond.

• 55 Mark Hollis // Sep 3, 2008 at 12:02 pm

  Leo,
  I have tried to pull your account by Leo and Leonard using a wildcard search, but I need more info to research it. Please email me with your full name as listed on the account and the Mobile number. I am sorry that there was a delay in your approval for our service, but I will be glad to research and respond. And we would not hold you to an ETF if you communicated a change of mind during the first month of a trial, even if the returns were not finalized until a later date.

  Thank you,
  Mark Hollis
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 56 Leo V. // Sep 7, 2008 at 2:13 am

  To Chuck Isner: You are better off getting a pre-paid phone, don’t allow yourself to be limited to how long you can use your phone and possibly letting them ruin your credit. I have done research and found that STI Mobile is the cheapest way to go, it’s 5 cents per min. you can get the phones for 30 bucks and buy cards ranging from 10 bucks and up, and with a press of a button, they tell you what you have left for time so that you wont be shut off without notice and then get hit with hidden fee’’s.. best part, there are no contracts. Good luck, In my opinion , Credo is a BIG mistake. not to mention a big headache.

• 57 lg // Sep 17, 2008 at 10:39 am

  i have had many problems w/ CREDO in my 18 or so months as a customer. the biggest in my mind, though, is CREDO’s absolute non-commitment to sustainability in terms of hardware. in a year and a half, i have gone through 2 phones (currently the screen is almost entirely dark, i have to go in a dark closet to see the display, i’m losing eyesight by the day, but CREDO will not send me a replacement b/c, even though this phone is ~6 months old, it is itself a warranty replacement for my previous phone, which also crapped out in less than a year. so only way to get a new phone is either pay full price or sign up for new 2 year contract.)

  problem 1 is that CREDO is providing people with low-quality hardware that does not last long, resulting in increased resource consumption, mineral extraction, etcetc.

  problem 2 is that CREDO, so far as i have been able to tell, makes it utterly impossible to purchase a used phone and then use it with their service. no SIM chip in any of their phones, making an easy transfer of service to another phone impossible. customer service reps maintain that you must purchase yr phone from CREDO. mark from CREDO wrote in an earlier post that CREDO still offers used phones, but hmm, i cannot find them anywhere. (mark, please correct me if i am wrong about any of this!) in my mind, making it impossible to utilize used products is the antithesis of a commitment to sustainability (not to mention customer convenience etc.).

• 58 Mark Hollis // Sep 17, 2008 at 6:54 pm

  Hi LG,

  I apologize about your current handset, but we can find you a refurbished model that is inexpensive and reliable. Right now our Product Development department is working on how to present these on our site, but in the interim, please contact me and we’ll go through refurbished inventory and get one sent out. You’re right; we need to do everything possible to increase sustainability while making it easy for our customers to act responsibly.

  Please call me or email the number and time you would prefer for me to contact you.

  Thanks,
  Mark
  415.369.2042
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 59 Jerry Mcgean // Sep 17, 2008 at 7:26 pm

  Hi i am one of those great customer service reps you guys are talking about, I personally think its the customers problem, on the long distance side of things, you guys are all old and stupid and do not know how to make a payment on time, and expect us to restore your service after 6 months of no payment and then hollar and scream at us for it, fuck you, stupid idiots…

  Thanks

  Jerry

  Feel Free to ask for me i give great customer service

• 60 Alex // Sep 17, 2008 at 7:27 pm

  I would also like to point out that the lack of SIM card support is not really Credo’s issue. That’s a problem with Sprint, and since Credo operates on the Sprint network, they too are limited by Sprint’s capabilities. It’s not a matter of Credo deliberately “making it impossible” to do ANYTHING.

  Also, although your complaint about not being able to get a replacement phone is legitimate, the blame for the faulty hardware definitely falls on the company MAKING the phones, not Credo.

  I have had 3 years of great service from Credo, no complaints. I’d definitely recommend it.

• 61 Harmony // Sep 17, 2008 at 10:52 pm

  Hey Jerry pretending to be a credo employee… I think they wrote this about you…

  Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt

• 62 Mark Hollis // Sep 18, 2008 at 12:14 pm

  Harmony, et al. – thanks for proving again that the physics of blogs works, cream rises. Our real Jerry at CREDO spells his last name, McGean. He is a tenured rep that helps customers and respects them.

  Sincerely,
  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 63 Chuck Isner // Sep 18, 2008 at 8:14 pm

  I went ahead and began my service w/ Credo two weeks ago. Last week I lost my phone. I called customer service and was treated kindly and quickly assisted in making arrangements to have my phone replaced. Then, a few days later, I received a message that my phone had been found. I called back and was again treated w/ absolute courtesy and was given the procedure to return the new phone and assured that I would not be charged for the replacement. During the time I was waiting for the first phone to arrive, Mark called me to answer several concerns I had expressed in an earlier post. If the service I have received thus far is an indication of what to expect from CREDO I will be a customer for a long, long time. It’s nice to know that I won’t have to deal w/ those companies who are assisting Bush in subverting our Constitution. That means a lot to me.

• 64 Lynsey Vandenberg // Sep 20, 2008 at 8:01 am

  Hi All – I just wanted to post an email conversation I had with a Credo Rep in regards to used phones. I sincerely think they should be available, but contrary to what Mark Hollis said, they are not. I do like the company so far, but something like this makes me feel much less enthusiastic about switching cell phone carriers. I really don’t want to think Credo is like all of the other cell companies.

  —————————————————————————-

  Dear Ms. Vandenberg:

  Thanks again for joining CREDO Mobile, where every call makes a
  difference. That’s because we donate 1% of your mobile phone charges (at
  no extra cost to you!) to nonprofit groups working to build a better
  world.

  Unfortunately, we do not offer used phones. I apologize for any
  inconvenience this may cause to your friend. We would be very happy to
  welcome him as a valuable member of Credo Mobile.

  We do, however, have a wonderful selection of new phones available. To
  see all the cutting-edge phones available, go to http://www.credomobile.com.

  We have plenty to choose from: phones with cameras, phones with
  Bluetooth(r), phones with text and Web technology.

  If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to email
  me directly. Or call us at 1-800-411-0848 and a friendly customer
  service representative will assist you. Our phones are staffed 5am-8pm
  Monday-Friday and 7am-5pm Saturday-Sunday (PST). Or go to
  http://www.credomobile.com/members .

  Did you know that we also have a credit card? To learn more about the
  Working Assets Visa Signature(r) credit card with WorldPoints(r), go to
  http://www.WorkingAssets.com/CreditCard. It’s the one card that makes dollars
  for you–and sense for the world.

  Thanks for your continuing support for CREDO Mobile, where you make a
  difference every day.

  Regards,

  Carol
  Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile

  P.S. Want to do something cool? Get 6 free pints of Ben & Jerry’s(r) Ice
  Cream when you sign up for our Easy Activism Program. Go to
  http://www.credomobile.com/automatic .

  —–Original Message—–
  From: Lynsey Vandenberg [mailto:lynsey.vandenberg@gmail.com]
  Posted At: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 1:02 PM
  Posted To: Carol
  Conversation: used phones
  Subject: used phones

  Hi -
  I was wondering if you could provide a link to the used phones credo
  mobile/working assets offers.. I have a friend interetested in getting
  service, but he wants to reuse a phone and not buy new.

  Thanks so much -

  Lynsey Vandenberg

• 65 Mark Hollis // Sep 20, 2008 at 11:44 am

  Hi Lynsey,

  CREDO will start offering refurbished handsets to new customers as soon as we can get a reliable supply and set up our Web site and billing system for that inventory. We will also train sales and customer service representatives on these options. Currently, we do have a small inventory of used handsets that are available to existing customers when requested. Last night I spoke with a customer experiencing issues with his LG phone and we are sending out a refurbished Motorola. I apologize for the confusion but we are excited to get economical and dependable equipment on the Web site for people trying to make environmentally responsible choices. Please contact me if you have additional questions.

  Thanks,

  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 66 stacey // Sep 20, 2008 at 7:42 pm

  I received a text from Credo that they were not charging me for any texts, roaming fees, or extra minutes used during this last week of Hurricane Ike drama. None of my other friends using other companies have mentioned the same.

  Thanks Credo!!!

• 67 bridget matros // Sep 27, 2008 at 1:41 pm

  I’m glad I did yet ANOTHER round of googling for CREDO reviews… I have been hemming and hawing for quite some time, wanting to make the switch from Verizon to CREDO since I got a mailing offering free activation, shipping, Samsung phone, and my Verizon termination fee.. so many of us have been majorly screwed by our cell providers, it’s no wonder you’ve got threads like this going. I really don’t have the time or money to deal with a nightmare like the ones i’ve heard about – while at the same time, every fledgling company that is trying to do things in a new way needs a little extra leeway and support, and many of the glitches sound like fixable growing-pains that the company is interested in improving. I’m still on the fence, as I’m not confident I could pull off the switch without MY human error resulting in weird-timing issues or fees. But I sure hope if I sign up i can get the help of professionals like Mr.Hollis!
  (I’ve had a working assetts credit card for years. Favorite CREDO feature besides greeness- being able to have my “nights” start at 7pm for an extra fee! I am only free from 7-9 on weekdays and work weekends.. so my current “unlimited” minutes dont go far at all!)

  Thanks all,
  Bridget

• 68 Scott // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:19 pm

  I switched to Credo from Verizon about 2 months ago and I love it, the service is great in my area (northern Delaware) . At first when my number was carried over the data plan wasnt working but a quick call to customer service fixed that, and ever since it works great. I went with the LG rumor phone and its great.

  I carried my number over from Verizon with no problems, their customer service is great and you actually talk to a human within the first minute. I did initially wait to carry my number over until I got the phone and tested the service…

• 69 john // Oct 2, 2008 at 1:54 pm

  I have your site for its useful and funny content and simple design.n

• 70 Ramona // Oct 2, 2008 at 3:15 pm

  Hi everyone: You should deifinitely read what I just wrote to Mark Hollis about the joke that is the customer service of Credo mobile.

  Hello Mark,

  Initially when I heard about Credo I was incredibly interested your services. Even though I had read NUMEROUS bad things about your company, I decided to go ahead and try you out because I also understand that every company is going to have issues with their customers in one regard or another. Today, after one month of service, I have cancelled my service. Whilst everyone else who has had the pleasure of calling your customer service center may think that it is incredible, I will have to say that I beg to differ. The first time that I contacted you I asked why I had received a message from Credo mobile stating that I was approaching my balance. I had only had Credo for a week or so. The very nice woman who helped me notified me that I was approaching that limit because of Web usage from downloading ringtones. She also told me that as long as I never did that again I would not incur such charges and should stay well below my limit. Well much to my dismay today, after trying to make a phone call, I was re-directed to Credo and told that my service was SUSPENDED because I was at $213.00 in charges. How incredibly surprising to me considering the fact that I had just made a payment to you guys of $ 107.18 not even a week ago!! So apparently, the not so lovely nor informative woman who helped me today told me that I had over $40.00 in web usage charges plus the ringtones plus 411. That brought me well over the $110.00 ( since I had signed up for unlimited minutes and text to avoid this measure) that I was expecting. $113.00 over that amount to be exact!! Now here I am, a mother of 3 being told that in order to re-instate my NOT LATE phone bill I had to pay the ridiculous amount of $213.00!!! Wow!! That is amazing!! Once the completely condescending woman I was talking to transferred me to what must be your WIN-back department, I was talking to a very nice woman who was going to try to encourage me to keep my service. Until she couldn’t really access my account information because according to her “ they don’t have the same information as customer service available to them.” So instead she offered to reduce my bill, not only completely disregarding the problem that I was currently having but also insinuating that in some way I would want to continue service with a company that can’t even get all facets of their customer service departments on the same page. She was incredibly informative however when it came to the point of telling me that I was 5 days past the “satisfaction guarantee” and that I really don’t want to pay the early termination fee. No, I do not want to pay the termination fee!! I did not want to cancel my service!! Do you honestly think that I want to go through all of the trouble of letting the 250 people in my phone book know that I have a new number? That is why I ported my number from the last company in the first place! I didn’t even call and scream and throw a fit when upon signing up for service and my phone being shipped you did exactly what the people in those e-mails that I should have been listening to said and disconnected my phone service with the company that I was with before I even had a new phone to use!! I did not complain. I thought, well if I can look past that then maybe it will be okay. Well that is what happens when people hope for the best and end up with what they are told they will get. I will tell you that not only will I not be paying that early termination fee, but also I am within half of my mind right now to dispute that payment that I had already sent to you. How disappointing you turned out to be. I was so impressed with all of the different aspects of your company, especially the fact that I was able to round up my bill and use that as a donation to your causes!! How about this? How about you take that extra $113.00 in charges that you tried to stick to me and apply that to a charity.

  Your incredibly disappointed and very vocal ex-customer,

• 71 Deirdre // Oct 4, 2008 at 11:32 am

  I signed up on line for credo mobile service on either September 22nd or 23rd, and wanted to keep the same phone number I had with my AT & T service. My phone was delivered on Saturday, September 27, but I wasn’t home to sign for it, so I didn’t get the phone until Tuesday, September 30. I charged the phone and called to activate it on Wednesday, October 1st. I was told I would have to wait until I stopped getting service on my old phone, and then call to activate the phone. On Friday, October 3rd, my old phone was still working, and I called Credo customer service to ask when I could activate my new phone, and was told it would be “a few more days.” It is now Saturday morning, and I no longer have service on my old phone. I walked to a pay phone and called Credo, and was told I would not have phone service until MONDAY MORNING, at which time I will have to call yet again. I do not have a home phone, just my cell. I now have no phone service all weekend, This is unacceptable. If I had known I would have to go an entire weekend without phone service, I would never have switched. I had cingular, then AT &T wireless, for years and never had a problem with the service. I switched to Credo purely for political reasons, even though I knew it would mean a higher bill, and so far I feel I have made a mistake.

• 72 Mark Hollis // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:33 pm

  Ramona,
  I left you a VM last night. After researching your account history I issued credits for all service amounts on the last bill and waived your EFT fee. As I said on the message, I appreciate you agreeing to speak with me and I will call you again today to review what happened and how we can prevent it in the future for you and others.

  Sincerely,

  Mark

• 73 Mark Hollis // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:40 pm

  Deirdre,

  I just received an alert while walking my dog and I’m back at home researching it now. I apologize for this issue with your transfer of service during the porting. This process involves both your previous carrier and us. Sometimes the other carrier has issues releasing the service, but I do not understand why we can’t fix this faster for you. Please send me your email address and I will give you an update ASAP.

  Sincerely,
  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 74 Mark Hollis // Oct 4, 2008 at 12:56 pm

  Deirdre,

  And please include your cell number and name on account in the email so I can pull notes. Right now I’m searching by your first name with a wildcard * but that is not locating your account.

  Thank you,
  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 75 amy senn // Oct 6, 2008 at 6:29 pm

  Hi Mark,
  I wanted to thank you for the help you offered with my Credo account several weeks ago when I was having so much trouble. I need to say that once again my service was cut off because I went “over the limit” due to being charged for items that should not have been on my account (web mail charges for two phones on our family plan that should have been blocked from web mail per my request when I signed up) I also had my phone cut off before I even received the bill for the month. How am I supposed to know that I need to pay if I have not received a bill. And, while I am on the subject, why is Credo not sending email bills considering you call yourself the greenest mobile phone company. The bills I have received are made up of about 20 pages of information. Is that really necessary, or friendly? Regardless your mission statement is honorable (that is what brought me to your company) and yoru customer service is very good. But the technical end of things are in serious need of an overhaul. I terminated my service today. My employer terminated his service last week after similar issues. I told the very nice person that was helping me the reason I was leaving and explained to him that I wanted it stated for the record that I wanted my early termination fee waived. He offered me a $50 discount. I felt insulted. Credo is asking me to pay $175/phone minus $50 which means essentially I am being asked to pay $475 to terminate a contract in which Credo’s terrible company architecture was the reason for my termination. On top of that, at the end of the first 30 day trial period, I called to cancel and was talked into staying with the program. I feel like I have been duped. I hope Credo gets it together. It is a powerful business model and if you can fix these terminal errors apparently occuring with many of your customers, then you will do well. For the record I am reporting the unwillingness of Credo to waive my termination fee to the better business bureau along with an explanation of my experience over these past 3 months.

  Sincerly
  A Senn

• 76 Mark Hollis // Oct 6, 2008 at 7:55 pm

  Hi Amy,

  I am sorry that you’ve decided to leave CREDO Mobile. It would be better to discuss sensitive account details off-line, so I can call you if you’d like to review that history. Regarding hardcopy billing, our stock is made of 100% recycled paper and we do offer Web billing. You can create a member services account to check your voice, text, and data usage, or you can call customer service. Again, please email me a time and number so I can call you and we can review the timeline that involves sensitive account information.

  Sincerely,

  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 77 Josh D // Oct 7, 2008 at 4:11 pm

  I am thinking of making the big switch from Verizon to Credo. It would make me ‘feel’ better. However, it looks like there are still kinks, and my work/biz. I NEED my cell phone. I am very enthused my Credo’s mission & I like the Q. The pricing is competitive and they are ’socially responsible’. However, Verizon (evil) has an incredibly huge network, and great coverage. I travel and ‘roam’ alot. I also can not afford to have my phone/service disconnect b/c of malfunctions in billing. So in short, as my desire to make the switch is strong, and that’s where my heart is, my gut tells me to stick with the lesser of the two evils. At least for now. Although, I will admit, after reading the entire posts in this thread, it does add an increased level of confidence to have ‘Mark Hollis’ as a direct contact and resource for any issues. I was getting ready to go and get my new phone and extend my plan with Verizon today. Looks like I need to meditate on this one a little more.

  -Josh

• 78 Mark Hollis // Oct 7, 2008 at 4:31 pm

  Hi Josh,

  I am glad you are checking us out and certainly respect all of the concerns you list. If you call me or email a number that I may use to contact you, I can review how you can safely test our service/coverage before making the decision to port your number. I can also review some exciting handset options on the imminent roadmap and some advantageous new plan options.

  Thanks,

  Mark Hollis
  Director | Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile
  101 Market Street, Suite 700
  San Francisco, CA 94105
  D: 415.369.2042
  C: 415.871.7046
  CREDO Mobile | more than a network. a movement.
  Brought to you by Working Assets

• 79 amy // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:23 am

  Josh,
  I agree with everything you are saying. Credo does have a great business model. However, I suggest having them be very clear with you about their plans and how they work. For instance, no one told me that if I “roamed” it would cost me .69 per minute! So basically when I travel from NC to Atlanta on business I have no coverage outside of either city. I could use my phone, but a business call that lasts 20 minutes could cost me around $14. Find out what your coverage is exactly. Definitely meditate heavily on this, because it could cost you in the end.

• 80 lg // Oct 10, 2008 at 5:05 pm

  i wrote in a few weeks ago about some problems i was having w/ credo. mark hollis wrote me back and was kind enough to have a ‘refurbished’ phone sent to me to replace my old phone that was not working. i appreciate this. i hope credo is serious about making used phones available to all of its customers.

• 81 L. Zulli // Oct 22, 2008 at 4:42 pm

  Hi Mark,
  It seems you are the competent one to address here as to settling my concerns about CREDO. I am totally up in the air good or bad there are both here to consider. I am the head of a traveling Sign Language Ministry and currently use a pre-paid phone but need a bit more as our Ministry has had many request to appear and travels much more. What can you tell and offer me to calm my fears and address my concerns. I would like it to encompass our appts and etc. If you could help I would so appreciate it. Thank You and God Bless.

• 82 Mark Hollis // Oct 22, 2008 at 8:10 pm

  Hi L. Zulli,

  I would be glad to answer your questions. Please call me at 415.369.2042 between 9am and 6pm Pacific Time or send me a number and time so I can call you.

  Thanks,
  Mark

• 83 Susan T. // Oct 28, 2008 at 9:13 am

  Hi Mark and everyone -

  I was so happy to find this thread as I am desperately seeking an inexpensive Credo used/refurbished phone. I am a single mom and recent fraud victim in the midst of resultant financial crisis. I have never lost a cell phone so didn’t purchase insurance in an effort to save money as every dollar needs to go to feed my family right now.

  Sure enough, I lost my cell phone…. and I absolutely can’t pay full price for a new one for probably another year. For safety reasons, I hate not having a cell phone in case my (old!) car breaks down somewhere or something. Does anyone have an old Credo phone they would be willing to sell me, or would Credo have one? I can afford to pay up to about $50.00. Thank you so much!!!
  Please post if you can help and we can work it out.

  Susan T.

• 84 Shawn Hatcher // Nov 4, 2008 at 12:50 pm

  Hi everyone,

  I am one of the above mentioned Customer Service representatives you’ve been discussing. I’ve been with the company off and on since 2006 and I really do apologize for the bad experiences you’ve had with us. This may not mean much to some of you, but I can assure you that quality customer service is priority when our agents are trained. We are here to help you to the best of our ability, but sometimes things happen that we can’t fix immediately. We’ll always try to acccomodate you the best we can, and we’re the first to admit to any issues we may have caused. Working Assets/Credo is not your typical “corporate” type company, and we really do care about our members. The simple fact that Mark is taking the time to personally work with you on any issues you may have makes that evident.

  We are not “sprint employees branding Credo”, nor do we have any affiliation with Sprint beyond the usage of their equipment and towers. When you call Credo, you’re speaking with Credo.

  We’re here to help you, it’s our job, and we certainly don’t have any bias, nor do we judge anyone who calls our service center. It’s not our goal to make you upset, there’s no logic in that.

  We don’t just want to meet your expectations, we want to exceed them.

  Thank you for taking the time to read my response, and don’t hesitate to give us a call if you have any issues or concerns, and certainly provide any feedback you have to help us improve our quality, and your experience.

  Credo Member Services
  800.411.0848

  We look forward to speaking with you.

  Shawn

• 85 Lisa // Nov 4, 2008 at 4:08 pm

  Hey Shawn… it’s nice that you dropped by… it made me remember why I left Tmobile and paid the termination fee to do so… they had sold me a product that they didn’t support and they wouldn’t give me a receipt for the product either… they said my bill would reflect it, my bill said “equipment” so I couldn’t get any servcie on my ear piece from Jabra easily… so I was over them… what these companies don’t understand is that word of mouth translates to a lot of business… so I made up flyers with my story and stood in front of Tmobile locations and gave them out to anyone I though would be looking for a phone… DON’T SELL SOMETHING IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO SUPPORT IT… that’s all I ask… cuz what am I going to do with it when it breaks??? and it did – immediately and two more times after that…

  With Credo, they’ve done everything in their power to make me a happy customer… and those things were really above and beyond…

• 86 Jamie // Nov 8, 2008 at 9:59 pm

  My experience with Working Assets then CREDO started out OK then turned sour with age. I did like the support for causes, not having our phone records released to the government, etc. but the reception was sometimes dicey like at places I frequent like my mom’s house (big dead zone there). Further, my wife and I had had some not always positive experiences with customer service representatives. Recently, customer service seems to have improved but systems management has not. In fact the whole system seems really messed up. We recently upgraded our old phone for free (nice I must say) but have had to go through the cycle of plugging them in and leaving them alone for four hours to have services installed several times now. I am on my third or forth cycle of this now. Why this is not done all at once is a mystery to me when the services are free. There excuse is that they must wait to see what the customer wants. However, they are not proactive about this in any way or form. They could have told me right off about this process and suggested that we take care of everything at once instead of doing things piecemeal. The last straw has been this evening. I was going to call them back about 15 minutes before they close at 9:00 PM EST to take care of all this for our phones. So, I call at 8:46 PM their time and they have already set the “call during business hours” message to play. I tried three times. There is no excuse for the unprofessionalism. One more note about their donation program: 60 million since 1985 is NOT really that much if you think about it. In the great scheme (yeah, it’s a scheme) of things it is really glorified chump change. One percent of profits??? Come on!

• 87 Susan T // Nov 9, 2008 at 9:32 am

  Hello again – I posted a few days ago to try to see if I could “network” with anyone for a used CREDO phone.
  I saw Mark Hollis’s posts, and decided to try to contact him directly about refurbished phones.
  At no other cellular company that I know of (believe me, I used to work for one of them) would the Director of Customer Relations have taken such a personal interest in my situation. He was looking into getting me a refurbished phone within hours after my original email. It took him a few days to realize their stock of refurbished phones is not quite ready yet – they are a very new company – and rather than asking me to wait as any other company would have, he generously had a new handset sent out to me free of charge – sent overnight!
  The funny story is, the day I received the new handset, I found my old cell phone after 6 weeks of it being MIA, so on Monday I am sending the new one back….
  Folks, I used to own a start-up business. If you’re lucky, you only work 80 hours a week – it’s usually more. There are wrinkles to iron out and issues to remedy at first before it becomes a well-oiled machine. Hang in with CREDO. I’ve found their customer service to be refreshingly humane and responsive – not “canned” from somebody in India like so many companies – and I ‘ll stick with them for that alone.
  As for the “only” 60 million they’ve contributed to various causes since 1985 (assuming you’re referring to Working Assets, their parent company, who I’ve also used very successfully), let’s do the math. That’s about 2.5 million per year. Could they have done more? I don’t know – I don’t have access to their balance sheets. But I don’t know of any other phone company making that kind of contribution, do you?
  Personally, I think they’re the kind of company I hope we have more of in the 21st century, and they will definitely retain my business.

• 88 Phillip // Nov 9, 2008 at 7:36 pm

  I have concerns with regards to the recent Sprint Mobile fourth quarter losses and is this an indication of possible effects on Credo Mobile service as they are the company that provides the cable and towers.
  Believe me I want to switch bad! I mean, I hear echoes on calls from people, low clicking/buzzes, and in the past I had my current phone flashing numbers, symbols, etc.. The phone, a razor from Verizon, was producing the incriptions on it on it’s own. Of course this happened after I said all the “right” words and well, I guess NSA was listening. Additionally, I was trying to input a number to Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane and ACLU of Washington State wrote that the FBI was monitoring this peace group (July 07).

  Thanks,

  Phil

• 89 Phillip // Nov 9, 2008 at 7:37 pm

  I have concerns with regards to the recent Sprint Mobile fourth quarter losses and is this an indication of possible effects on Credo Mobile service as they are the company that provides the cable and towers.

  Thanks,

  Phil

• 90 Mark Hollis // Nov 10, 2008 at 1:32 pm

  Hi Phillip,

  Thank you for posting your inquiry expressing: concerns with regards to the recent Sprint Mobile fourth quarter losses and is this an indication of possible effects on Credo Mobile service as they are the company that provides the cable and towers.

  Please remember that Sprint has over 50 million subscribers and one of the largest cellular infrastructures. While many resellers did not survive over the last two years, CREDO Mobile has proven itself as one of the MVNO’s with a solid business model as we continue to grow out our customer base, focused on progressive individuals aligned with our activism and nonprofit donations. Senior Management from Sprint recently visited our corporate office and shared their excitement regarding wholesale opportunities with our company.

  Sincerely,

  Mark Hollis
  Director | Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile
  101 Market Street, Suite 700
  San Francisco, CA 94105
  D: 415.369.2042
  C: 415.871.7046
  CREDO Mobile | more than a network. a movement.
  Brought to you by Working Assets
  http://www.credomobile.com – 1-877-76-CREDO

• 91 Lisa // Nov 10, 2008 at 4:10 pm

  Any chance we’re going to get the $99 unlimited everything package? I’m paying almost that now…

  Thanks Mark

• 92 L. Zulli // Nov 12, 2008 at 4:59 am

  any updates for me Mark?

• 93 Mark Hollis // Nov 14, 2008 at 1:57 pm

  Hi Lisa,

  Right now CREDO offers the individual, unlimited voice plan with free roaming, but we do require separate plans for text and data. I think Sprint is the only carrier offering the Simply Everything package.

  Thanks,

  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 94 Catie // Nov 15, 2008 at 5:02 pm

  Am I correct that roaming is included now in the plans ? That was always a sticking point for me because I travel quite a bit. I’m interested in the comment that nights ca start at 7 rather than 9. Can anyone elaborate?

• 95 Allisone // Nov 15, 2008 at 5:11 pm

  Glad to hear Credo finally started including roaming in the plan. When I signed up, no one told me about roaming charges (due to the fact that Credo used the back end of the sprint network) Needless to say I was quite surprised to get my first bill and see several hundred dollars extra charged to my account due to a whopping .69/minute for roaming fees (some of which were calls made from inside my house!) If you want a big headache, dont mind being overcharged for internal errors and love poor connections, Credo is for you. Otherwise, stick to your regular old plan and donate money yourself to your favorite cause. After canceling my Credo service I realized how they get the money they donate….from overcharging and mischarging their customers. Just say NO!

• 96 Mark Hollis // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:28 pm

  Hi Catie,

  Yes, in October we established free roaming plans. And you are correct, for $5 per month, you can add a feature that changes the start of unlimited nights and weekends to 7pm.

  Thanks,
  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 97 Lisa // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:42 pm

  Free roaming? Must have been after my trip to Oregon last month… my bill jumped about $70 that month…didn’t know roaming cost extra since I don’t travel much these days and just assumed it was included…glad it’s included now… that was a hefty hit… thanks

• 98 Mark Hollis // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:45 pm

  Lisa,

  Please email me your cell or member number. I will research your account and credit October roaming.

  Thanks,

  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 99 Lisa // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:59 pm

  Well Mark since I haven’t seen the bill- I don’t want be negative about any of this… if you didn’t have the service while I was roaming I can live with that – that’s not a Credo failure…

  I took a road trip from San Diego and found myself in desolate areas here and there and I WAS in the middle of the national forest up in Oregon for a few days and had absolutely no coverage (neither did anyone else!) I did see the word “roaming” on the screen a few times during the rest of my travels… just didn’t know it cost extra before now since I keep close to home. Oh and I used texting during that time… probably adds extra – I was just surprised to see the bill was $157 – but I only saw it via my Working Assets credit card bill… not the actual bill it’self… I’ll send you my info in a sec…

  Thanks for being concerned –

  Lis

• 100 Mark Hollis // Nov 18, 2008 at 2:43 pm

  Hi L. Zulli,

  I do have an update. Please email me a time and number so I can call you or write back.

  Thanks,
  Mark Hollis
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 101 Tim // Dec 7, 2008 at 8:33 pm

  Hey guys… thanks to all for the comments. Here’s my 2 cents on CREDO, for anyone who cares!

  I am basically a phone company’s worst customer- never pay on time (sometimes run 2 or 3 months behind!), bug customer service with all manner of requests, (i.e. “please retroactively assign the 900 minute plan to cover the charges for running 200 minutes over my 700 minute plan last month…” -which I have asked at least 3 times I think- or: add more text limit, reduce text limit, go back to 600 minute plan, etc.) In the last year I have changed my plan probably 8 times or something.

  I have been with this company for over 10+ years. First it was Working Assets of course. Maybe this loyalty serves me when Service Agents treat me so well, but I have a decent time with the reps every time. My requests are almost always honored. Yes there are glitches like knowlege gaps, but nothing monumental that couldn’t be resolved with some politeness and patience.

  From my personal experience, dealing with Working Assets/Credo folks is SO MUCH better than with the burned-out unfortunates who represent megalithic multinationals like AT&T. (Plus the hold times with companies like that… you might as well put on a headset and go do some yard work while you wait! With Credo you ALWAYS reach a human being by pressing “0″).

  Where was I ???

  OK yea, Credo isn’t the cheapest service, the widest call range, the best selection of phones…. but it’s the difference between shopping at Wal-Mart and the local organic market. Wal-Mart can be huge and keep their prices low because they exploit workers to gain monetary power, and their CEOs make out like bandits. Local organic might “cost” more but it’s better for the world. To me this has always been a fair trade-off with Working Assets/Credo, worth the investment, and I like hearing that they are working on making their service better.

  For the record, I have made requests for them to offer more competitive plans- cheaper with more features. Hopefully we’ll see a positive response to that, but to all who are reading this- you can definitely credit Credo in part for the social and political changes you are enjoying today in this country (in addition to keeping me connected with my mobile phone). Keep it up, Mark & Co.

• 102 Chuck Isner // Dec 8, 2008 at 9:58 am

  In contrast to Tim, I’m a relative newcomer having came on board just three months ago or so, but I must concur w/ most of his observations. Customer service has always treated me respectfully and thus far they have always been able to resolve questions I’ve had while assisting me to make plan choices that will be most helpful to me. I initially was on the 700 minute plan. That was not bad the first two months when I exceeded my plan by about 50 minutes each time. But it made me think that perhaps I should look at the next level. I called and the rep explained that it would be $20 more per month to increase to 1400 minutes (Mark how about a point in between here, say 1000 minutes for $10 more). I asked here where I stood on my minutes this month and I was over by 200+ minutes. At $.45/min that would have cost me nearly $200. I opted to take the 1400 plan and she rolled it back to November to keep me from being stuck for that $200. Name me one other phone company that would do that! Finally, show me any other company that is so willing to air their “dirty laundry” as publically as this, or has a customer service manager that will take the time to personally call unhappy customers and try to assist them in a positive manner. I say cheers to a great company who helps me help organizations who stand for the same principles that I do. Thanks, Credo, for all you do.

• 103 Tim // Dec 9, 2008 at 8:10 pm

  I would love to know if Credo is planning on adding any more phones to the roster of choices soon. There are some interesting smart phone options coming out now from Samsung and LG- which seem to be Credo-friendly companies. I’m hesitating to take the leap with the Moto Q after having read a bunch of less-than-favorable reviews but I want to upgrade to a smartphone and SOON! Any word on this?

• 104 Mark // Dec 9, 2008 at 11:40 pm

  My wife and I have chosen Working Assets for our regional toll and long distance for years. I appreciate that Working Assets uses recycled paper with soy based ink as well as offering web billing. I also dig Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and appreciate the coupons for free Ben & Jerry’s that we have received. The customer service is the best, let me repeat that THE BEST OF ANY COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH. You can always reach a friendly and helpful person. I have only had positive experiences with Working Assets over the years. We did have a little difficulty getting Verizon to transfer the regional toll calls over to Working Assets. If I remember correctly I had to get some type of regional call carrier code or etc. and provide it to Verizon (who may have been resistant to giving up the $ from the regional calls.)
  Credo Mobile has also been wonderful and I have recommended the service to friends who transferred and are also far happier with the service. My wife had service with Cingular and the bills kept getting to be more and more expensive. We switched her service and it has been far more reliable. With our old carrier every call would get dropped which involved redialing to finish calls and etc. I always swore I would not have a cell phone but the more I learned about Working Assets Mobile (now Credo Mobile) I began considering it. I had previously used calling cards and pay phones when traveling and for work calls. I had been hesitant to use a mobile service because we live in West Virginia which is mountain terrain and had difficulty getting signal with my wife’s prior carrier. We have used Working Assets Mobile/Credo Mobile for going on four years and have always been extremely pleased with our cell signal, voice call quality, customer service, and our phones-the Katana. I cannot say enough positive things about the customer service. I can call and reach a real live human without having to go through menus of voicemail menus just by pressing “0″ when calling customer service which are free calls. I can also call my senators, representatives, governors, and etc. for free. Credo provided free daytime calling minutes on Election Day.
  Working Assets was formed in 1985 and I had also used them for phone service when I was younger in college. Working Assets/Credo has donated over 60 million dollars to progressive groups representing the environment, civil rights, voting rights, and other social justice groups by donating 1% of each members bill since 1985. Almost 4 million dollars donated to peace and social justice groups in 2007. The only thing that I wish is that Credo would offer local landline service and internet service. Anyone looking at getting a cell phone or looking to jump out of a bad contract should check out Credo-we are very glad we did. I would like to say thanks a ton for the friendly customer service folks who have helped me over the years-you are truly appreciated!
  Peace,
  Mark

  STOP MOUNTAIN RANGE REMOVAL-www.ohvec.org

• 105 Mark Hollis // Dec 10, 2008 at 8:55 pm

  Tim,

  Thank you for sharing your postive history as a customer with over ten years of experience with us. As you, et. al have requested, we have made progress with more affordable plans and phones; we now have free roaming plans and introduced inexpensive but reliable handsets that have been refurbished. We’ll continue to work on more options.

  Mark H0llis
  Director of Customer Relations
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 106 Mark Hollis // Dec 10, 2008 at 9:01 pm

  Chuck,

  Since your usage is falling between plans, please make sure that you look at the $5/month 7pm start time plan for nights and weekends and our $5/month talking liberally option, which can reduce your overage charges to just 10¢/minute. Your overage rate without Talking Liberally ranges from 20¢ to 45¢, depending on your current plan.
  I am glad that you joined us and that your start-up went smoothly.

  Thanks again,

  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 107 Mark Hollis // Dec 10, 2008 at 9:05 pm

  Mark,

  The detailed description of you shared history with our company carries more weight than my ability to address our service and social stance.

  I will be sure to share your words with our CEO and President, along with our Customer Service Reps and managers.

  Sincerely,

  Mark H0llis
  Director of Customer Relations
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 108 Jennifer Swan // Dec 19, 2008 at 10:27 pm

  Hello:

  When will Credo start the text messaging alert so customers know they are coming close to their credit limit. We have been with Credo for about 4 months and I can’t figure out how to stop our service from being interrupted every time due to overages. Thanks.

• 109 Mark Hollis // Dec 21, 2008 at 3:02 pm

  Hi Jennifer,

  I apologize for your issue. We currently have reps make courtesy calls when customers approach account limits and they also leave voice messages. We are also setting up a test message alert as you suggested. I will pull up your account and increase the threshold so your plan will not cause this to occur.

  Happy Holidays,

  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 110 Jennifer Swan // Dec 21, 2008 at 3:38 pm

  Thank you for your swift response and attention to this matter. I REALLY appreciate it and so does my family of five.

  All the best.

• 111 Mark // Dec 31, 2008 at 12:25 am

  I was just following up to provide an update. Credo is now offering customer loyalty discounts for folks-ours was 10% percent discount voice plan on one line for 2 years and the other line for 1 year. Other companies may do this but I have not heard of any.

  We ran over our daytime minutes a couple months ago due to family members being in the hospital and making extra calls to update other family during day time hours. Credo retroed our account back and added the talking liberally plan and gave us account credits-what other phone company would go out of their way to help their customers? I sincerely appreciate the exemplary customer service that Credo provides. I appreciate being able to speak with someone in the US or Canada when I call and not having to go through minutes of voice mail menus to speak with a person. I appreciate that the customer service folks are always friendly, attentive and helpful. They also thank you for how many years you have been with them. Customers get free calls to politicians and info in each bill about pressing issues and upcoming bills of importance. I cannot say enough positive things about Credo-they are leaps and bounds above any other company I have ever done business with.
  Peace,
  Mark

  “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.”-Bayard Rustin

  Please get involved and help to stop mountain top removal. In WV alone over 4 million pounds of explosives are used in one day to blast the tops off of mountains and into nearby waterways. If this were done by another country it would be considered an act of war, but it continues every day because it is done by companies for profit. Conserve energy, fight to stop the destruction of Appalachian culture and end mountain top removal. For pictures and more information, go to:
  http://www.ohvec.org

• 112 Phillip // Dec 31, 2008 at 2:49 am

  I am only a few short months from changing over to Credo Mobile. For me it is the only right mobile service because Credo is not “beholdin” to any corporation or monopoly. I would like to know, when will Credo get its own towers!

  Thanks,

  Phil

• 113 Lisa // Jan 6, 2009 at 3:00 pm

  I just receive a text regarding credo loyalty offering me stuff… I tried to access the web address http://www.credomobile.com/loyalty but could not and I didn’t bother calling cuz I want to know if this might be a scam… anyone else get one of these texts?

  Thanks

  Lis

• 114 Mark Hollis // Jan 6, 2009 at 3:18 pm

  Hi Lisa,

  This is Mark Hollis, Director of Customer Relations at CREDO Mobile. Yes, the text is from our company. I just tried the link on my PC and it correctly took me to the member services personal account login. Your loyalty offers will be available for viewing after you log into your secure account. Please let me know if you continue to have issues.

  Thanks,

  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 115 Jeff // Jan 9, 2009 at 10:41 pm

  I have been a Credo Mobile customer for over a year, having switched from Verizon. I have had no problems with the service, and I admire Mark for being on here and responding to the issues people are having. My problem is mainly with the selection of phones. I need a smartphone and I had to purchase the Moto Q, which is mediocre to say the least. I’m hoping Credo makes some better phones available, but in the meantime, it is a good company and I will stick with them.

• 116 Stephen Smith // Jan 10, 2009 at 7:11 pm

  I am coming to the end of my Verizon contract (seems more like a contract on me than a contract with them) and I am willing to change but have no desire to make matters worse. So far it looks to me as though Credo is pretty much like other telecom companies. The problems I heard here seem to be common to the industry and Credo doesn’t seem to be doing much to change that.

  As I understand it Credo is using sprints network, not just “towers”. If that is true then I question their resistance to the data mining that fatherland security did. Since all credo calls went through sprint’s network and switching centers I imagine that all credos customer call records were turned over to intelligence agencies by sprint (as I understand it Sprint cooperated with the data mining that the ATT initiated). I for one am furious with Obama for his making this sort of thing legal and protecting Bush and his corportate handelers.

  For those that have asked about Credos spending limits I’d like to tell you about a very bad experience I had with credo’s credit card. (Kareeem take notice) I got the card on a supposedly fixed 12% interest. I used it for several years with no major complaints. Then I had a dispute with Best buy who hoodwinked me into a con on their credit card. I canceled best buys card and paid off the balance that I borrowed but refused to pay a $7.00 charge that I felt I had been tricked into. Best buy started putting no payment notes into my credit. (The only negative items on my credit anywhere) Credo decided to begin charging me 36% interest on my credit card without notice even though I had not been over or late with them and had been a performing customer for years. While this is currently technically legal (thank you Joe Biden) I feel this is indicative of a corrupt or at least disingenuous company who’s ethics are subject to convenience.

  I have used WALD/Credo calling card and long distance for many years without any major problems. Of course I am using it less and less since I make LD calls for free on my cell phones and skype most of the time.

  Considering the limits and fine print Credo Cell Phone is practicing I’m going to do a bit more searching around. For what it worth T-mobile’s much vaunted international service is pure crap. Verizon packs an extraordinary number of (even for Telecom companies) extra charges on to their bill so that your actual bill costs may be 50% or more higher than what you are lead to believe. Every one has the best coverage, just ask them. It’s nice that Credo employees address things written here but that does not necessarily indicate what your experience with them will be.

  Here is an important tip… ! Keep in mind that almost all states have a governmental regulatory body that sets fees for corporations, utilities, telecoms and insurance in particular and intercedes on behalf of consumers. In New Mexico it is called the Public Regulatory Commission. Unfortunately each state has a different name for this body. Your governors office should be willing to tell you. This body can frequently really help, if they get enough complaints of a particular nature they can even change the allowable rules that telecoms play by. Try them! It may take a while while they research your issue and case but it is liable to be worth it.

  As far as Credos’s 1% to charity that is all well and good as long as the service meets or exceeds it’s competition. Otherwise KTF is right. In one sense I advocate that anyway since I have found many charities to border on scams. Find out about ones you are interested in and give directly.

  Hey, Mark, is Credo a member owned company ? That would get you more points with me than the 1% to charities. Many of my favorites are not even on your list. I can understnad that to an extent because of the length your list would grow to to cover them all but that doesn’t really help me much.

• 117 Kari // Jan 12, 2009 at 11:30 pm

  I am currently trying to “recycle” my Credo phone (an LG Rumor that I am no longer using), but have found out that it can’t be activated for any other carrier b/c Credo won’t give out the lock code for the phone. So basically this $300 phone is now going to be discarded, which, to me, goes against what Credo stands for.

  A customer service supervisor nearly gave me the lock code for the phone (which would allow the other carrier to activate it for the people who want to buy it used because they can’t afford a brand new phone), but then she was stopped b/c it was not allowed.

  How is this not hypocritical? Recycle paper, cans, glass, but not a phone, and to someone who needs it?

• 118 Kareem // Jan 16, 2009 at 4:30 am

  Just wanted to say thanks to Stephen for the info about the credit card, and for the very informative message as a whole.

  On another note, is Credo doing anything to help Gaza survive the latest Israeli massacre?

• 119 Mark Hollis // Jan 17, 2009 at 3:25 pm

  Hi Stephen, this is Mark Hollis, Director of Customer Relations for CREDO Mobile. You asked if CREDO is a member owned company. We are not member owned but the San Francisco Business Times has honored us in its recent awards as one of the Top 100 Women Owned Businesses. And each year our customers nominate the social-change groups we fund and they vote on how to distribute the funds.

  Earlier in this thread, I addressed one of your other concerns. You are right about the overall issue of how difficult it is for any carrier to prevent illegal wiretapping, but here’s a re-posting of how CREDO Mobile has stood out in our industry:

  Hopefully, what I provide here will illustrate how we continue to oppose warrantless wiretapping. Although these links have expired they pointed to three petitions CREDO pushed right after the FISA vote -
  http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/fisa_senate_bad/
  (for senators who voted yes)
  http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/fisa_senate_good/
  (for senators who voted no)
  http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/fisa_reid_cowardice/
  (a petition specifically chastising Harry Reid for his role in shepherding this bill to a vote, then voting “no” at the last minute to cover himself)

  Finally, I certainly respect your inquiry about our business relationship with Sprint, and its impact on our activism against the US government spying on US citizens through telephone company records and phone lines. Throughout our ongoing campaign against warrantless wiretapping and against immunity for telecom companies, we’ve been emphatic about the fact that none of us are safe from being spied on unless the Bush administration is held accountable for breaking the law. Even if a carrier – be it Sprint or AT&T – were to pledge to refrain from cooperating with illegitimate eavesdropping, their customers would be no more protected from eavesdropping than anyone else’s. This is because calls are carried on multiple networks. You may pay your bill to AT&T, but the calls you make and receive are not restricted to AT&T’s lines.
  Because no single carrier can effectively “opt out,” we are putting our efforts towards supporting our friends at the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation as they challenge the so-called FISA reforms in court.

  Thanks again for sharing your opinions,

  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 120 Mark Hollis // Jan 17, 2009 at 5:10 pm

  Hi Kari, this is Mark, Director of Customer Relations at CREDO Mobile. Thank you for posting questions about our commitment to the environment. You also expressed concerns about why we will not unlock your $300 Rumor, “for the people that want to buy it used…” First, I will need to check with our VP of Product Development again to get the best answer about the decision not to unlock our handsets. I do know from previous conversations that as a reseller our partner agreement does not allow us to activate phones from other carriers for CREDO service. And to be honest, as you know, most carriers offer discounted or free handsets under the condition that the customer agrees to a contract, an option you selected to reduce the up-front expense and get the Rumor for free. The other option is to pay full price for a handset and select a no-contract, month-to-month plan. CREDO Mobile does offer this option.

  I do have a suggestion – we have customers that found and bought used CREDO handsets on other Web sites and called us up to establish service. In your case this would work for a buyer that wanted to use CREDO Mobile since you have a Rumor set up for our service. However, for others reading this, please use caution in buying used handsets on the Web. Just because someone has a phone set up for CDMA service, it doesn’t mean we can activate it. As mentioned earlier, we are an MVNO that operates under carrier reseller conditions, and the handset must have our serial number. You also would be operating outside of warranty. However, we are excited by the addition of three refurbished handsets to our lineup for customers that want to make environmentally responsible choices that also afford a savings. All of the refurbished handsets we offer on our Web site are made from reused parts, have been fully tested, and come with a one-year warranty, the same as our new phones.

  Here’s another option you might consider: CREDO partners with Collectivegood.com and we recommend sending handsets that are no longer being used to this organization, whether they are CREDO Mobile phones or phones from other carriers. Our phones ship with instructions on how to use CollectiveGood.com, a company that has been refurbishing and recycling handsets since 2000. Functional handsets are refurbished and sent to South America for use by those with financial hardships. Non-functioning phones are recycled to refine out usable elements in an environmentally certified process. Our partnership has helped keep over 25,000 phones out of landfills. This link will take you to the Collectivegood.com donation page where you can fill out an online application and print out a pre-paid shipping label. Plus, by following this process, a small donation will be made by CollectiveGood to our general nonprofit donation pool. Here it is:

  http://www.collectivegood.com/partners/index.aspx?organization_id=2

  Sincerely,

  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 121 david lee // Jan 21, 2009 at 6:18 pm

  i’ve recently switched to Credo, and i’ve had a very pleasant experience thus far. i’ve received no fewer than 4 calls from customer service since i signed up roughly 6 weeks ago – one of which saved me a significant amount of money as my web usage had gone far over the minimum that i’d purchased. i was given the option to upgrade to unlimited, which saved me roughly $80 – and she even told me that i could upgrade, avoid those charges, and then downgrade again. nothing mean or sneaky there.

  all the employees to whom i’ve spoken have been pleasant and informed – a couple of them have even demonstrated a sense of humor. all of them have been helpful.

  thanks, Mr. Hollis, for taking the time to address frustrations and (sometimes misdirected) anger with intelligence, concern, and respect.

  peace be with all of you.

• 122 A Very Proud Credo Agent // Jan 22, 2009 at 8:25 pm

  Hey ALL!

  As a very proud Customer Service agent I would love to take the time to first of all thank Mr Mark Hollis for all the time he has taken to answer all the above concerns an even help people that were not happy with our company by taking care of charges that concerned them.

  As a CREDO employee we’re trianed very well by highly Credo educated trainers. That I love an appreciate.

  I was very replused by the way some of our customers felt with the customer service at CREDO an for that I personaly do apoligize for troubles you have experianced with our services.

  I strongly do believe we are making this world a better place and im glad to be a part of this.
  We love and enjoy helping you make this world a better place.

  When a customer has large overage on a feature wether it be text or web we notify the customer so we can help save them money by placing them on an unlimted bundle for a small price rather than paying let say a $300 web overage for example.

  We are here for you as an American Citizen to give you the oppertunity in making this world a better place by helping you get the service you deserve.
  An giving you the chance for your voice to be heared.

  I love my Job an the causes we work for.
  The people at CREDO are very respectful indivduals.
  Supervisers are wonderful an the staff are amazing.
  As a team we are here to help YOU!

  I think all your post are a great way to help us improve or company to your needs. Thanks for all your post wether it be negitive or positve, you opinions are greatly appreciated.

  Thank you once again Mark for being there to answer an discuss the customers/ ex-customers needs, an also helping them with there charges.

  Ps:
  Im pretty sure all charges thats are credit back or waved for customers CREDO still has to pay for out of their own pockets which I deeply think is very thoughful.

  I am not a Sprint Agent taking Credo calls.
  I am one very proud CREDO agent.
  We Are CREDO brought to you by Working Assets with a little help from Sprint.

  -KDD

• 123 Greg LaBonte // Jan 23, 2009 at 10:49 am

  Hello, I have been reading this blog for a while now and just wanted to chime in on the comment from David Lee. I am a credo customer with a family share plan. About two months ago, I went way over on my minutes, mostly my fault, but I was shocked to have to pay a 300 dollar phone bill. I began thinking…..It would make sense for Credo to charge me for the unlimited $199 month plan for that month. I know it sounds crazy, but seriously, a $300 dollar phone bill is crazy. I guess what I’m getting at is that I wish a Credo representative would have called me and offered me that option. I am struggling to pay bills as it is. Having to consider spending less for food for a week to pay an inflated phone bill is crazy. It almost makes me wish I could get rid of the cell phone all together……but then there are cancellation fees which prevent me from doing just that. I want a progressive phone company to think about what is best for their customers, not their bottom line. We are, after all, the one’s who indirectly put food on their tables by choosing to do business with them. Thank You for listening to my rant1
  Greg LaBonte- Massachusetts-

• 124 Angie // Feb 3, 2009 at 5:41 pm

  Kari – I’ll buy the used LG Rumor as long as it works…
  I did have trouble this Dec. porting over numbers – took two weeks, and had two temp. numbers while waiting, but everyone’s been very nice and usually, I’m talking with reps from Nova Scotia. I kept track of my minutes myself and realized I went over and had no problem switching plans; I do wish we had more phone choices – neither me nor my husband like the Katanas – we were able to return one of them and get an LG rumor but can’t return the other because my husband – so frustrated with the Katana – thru it and cracked the hinge I’ll stay but not sure if I’m saving any money and am hoping to get rid of the second Katana without having to purchase it outright…

• 125 kari // Feb 3, 2009 at 5:56 pm

  angie — if you want to buy the rumor, i’d be happy to sell it, i just want someone to be able to get some use from it! contact me at klarson@gmail.com. it works perfectly and was only used for a few months. thanks!

• 126 Angie // Feb 3, 2009 at 6:34 pm

  kari — just emailed you; let me know what you’d like to do… thanks to you, too!

• 127 Angie // Feb 3, 2009 at 6:39 pm

  Kari — contact me at ajh40@case.edu if you didn’t get the email I sent; thank you

• 128 Jenny Swan // Feb 3, 2009 at 11:18 pm

  Hi:

  In response to Kari regarding her LG Rumor. I signed up for CREDO about five months ago with a family plan – five lines. We got five Rumors. They all work fine except one – the qwerti keyboard never worked. When I asked CREDO if I could exchange it they said they couldn’t. So, we have just settled for using the # keyboard. Bummer cuz we really wanted the qwerti and that is why we purchased it in the first place. Anyway if your LG RUMOR is still around maybe I could purchase it – it would make my teenage daughter very happy – although she understands the situation.

• 129 mark hollis // Feb 3, 2009 at 11:35 pm

  Ms.Swan,

  I will call you tomorrow and we will get you a Rumor with a working keyboard.

  Thanks,

  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 130 Will Easton // Feb 4, 2009 at 12:21 pm

  Hi All,

  Will Easton here…I’m a colleague of Mark’s at CREDO; I work on the political team.

  I wanted to let everyone know we’ve just released the list of progressive nonprofit groups we’re supporting in 2009. That list is here:

  http://www.credomobile.com/Mission/MissionCauses.aspx

  …and if you’re a customer OR belong to our action network (i.e. you get action alerts from us over email), you can vote to help us distribute those donations here:

  http://www.workingassets.com/Voting/Default.aspx

  Also, we just posted a roundup of our 2008 political accomplishments here:

  http://act.credoaction.com/2008victory.html

  The two of those I’m most proud of are our work registering voters (to increase turnout in last year’s historic election) and stopping new coal-fired power plants (once one of those things is built, we’ve locked in massive amounts of CO2 emissions for decades to come — which is a very bad idea.)

  If anyone has questions about our political advocacy work, please go ahead and post them here & I’ll be happy to answer as best I can. Thanks!

• 131 Greg LaBonte // Feb 4, 2009 at 2:31 pm

  OK, so here is another thing that bugs me about Credo. We PAY to call our voicemail!!! I call my own number to access my voicemail during “PEAK” times. Last month I spent 30 minutes on my voicemail. This cost me $13.50. Can you belive that? Mark, why is it that credo to credo calls are free, but if I dial my own number,I am charged. I have a family plan, so I should use my wife’s phone to call MY voicemail for free???? This policy is OUTRAGEOUS!!!
  Greg

• 132 mark hollis // Feb 4, 2009 at 9:06 pm

  Greg,

  I would like to talk with you tomorrow about your two issues. I will call you.

  Thanks,

  Mark

• 133 mark hollis // Feb 4, 2009 at 9:14 pm

  Jenny,

  Could you please email me your account #? I could not find your specific account by name searches.

  Thanks,
  Mark
  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 134 jon // Feb 15, 2009 at 4:32 pm

  Credo customer service sucks! They are the worst. They messed up switching my old phone number over, gave me the run around, and no one knows whats going on in their offices.

• 135 jon // Feb 15, 2009 at 4:35 pm

  I tried to join a family plan and wanted to like them because of “the cause,” but man, they have the WORST customer service EEEVER!!!

• 136 Lorraine Bowen // Feb 18, 2009 at 9:08 pm

  Credo has the worst phone service, and customer service I have ever had the bad luck of coming across. In December of ‘08 I received a letter from Credo looking for new customers and using a free trial offer and phones to draw us in. They also offered to pay my ATT service charge for early cancellation on top of great phone and customer service. Hard to resist right? Put all this on top of being against George Bush, and this company will have all of the liberal, and democratic customers in the U.S.

  Don’t fall for it good people. You will be as sorry as I am that I ever had the misfortune of even hearing of Credo.

  The phone service was horrible, dropped calls, unsent texts, no picture sending, it was worse and not comparable to ATT as they had promised.

  I cancelled the service and sent the phones back. One month later I received a bill for 400 dollars, this month I received another one for 800 dollars.

  Credo says that they never received the phones and that if I don’t have any proof then they will continue to bill me forever until I pay it off.

  I will never pay this bill. They will never get a dime from me. EVER.

  Sincerely,
  Lorraine Bowen

• 137 Sam Garchik // Feb 26, 2009 at 6:08 pm

  I lost my credo phone the other day, and was told by credo i had three choices.

  get another phone from another provider
  pay for a new phone for them
  search e-bay until i could find a used credo phone.

  in the past, ive bought cheap used phones (my contract expires in 4 months, so I am not going to buy a $150 phone from credo) for sprint on ebay.

  anyone have any ideas where I can get a cheap phone that will work on this network?

  anyone know what else i can do? i can pay for the privelage of voice mail until my family contract is up, which will stink, but id rather have a phone.

  sam

• 138 Jeff D // Feb 26, 2009 at 8:13 pm

  I wanted to thank poster Greg for mentioning the issue with being charged for calling our voice mail. I, too, went way over on my minutes last billing period, and although I haven’t gone over all the details on the bill yet, I call my voicemail often (to check business calls) and I had no idea that was happening. I called customer service and they did change my plan. I’m still frustrated with the lack of quality phones offered and no available sim card. I will admit that I had no idea that Credo used Sprint for their serivce when I signed up.
  Overall, the service has been OK, however.

• 139 Lisa S // Feb 26, 2009 at 10:06 pm

  Hey Sam… if Sprint phones work, perhaps you can buy a Sprint prepaid phone and have Credo program it for their network with your old number… just don’t buy any minutes with sprint… I had a friend who did that on another network and she got the new phone for $40

• 140 mark hollis // Feb 26, 2009 at 11:10 pm

  Sam,
  I can send you a free, used LG 150.

  Write me if this works for you.

  mhollis@credomobile.com

• 141 Jamie B. // Feb 27, 2009 at 12:57 am

  I would never go with CREDO again. I believe the 1% profits to charity this is a big fat sham designed to real in all you pot heads, hippies, vegans, and wannabe do-gooders because it’s an easy way out. I am super progressive and very liberal myself. I have nothing against pot heads, hippies, punks, vegan, veggie, etc but, honestly, get the right nutrition and get sober enough to see when you are being scammed. You can be just as high/drunk off of “doing good” as well. Get over it! 1% of all the money they make is a drop in the bucket. I personally do not accept the “better than nothing” excuse any longer. Especially with the snide customer service I so often receive from those folks up on Nova Scotia (which should be Acadia, no, I’m not French or a Cajun but I know what happened; however, the US now has a pocket of fantastic culture, ha!!! laizer les bon temps roullez!!!). Just do not risk involving yourselves with this poorly trained team of customer service and technical people. I am sick and fed up with “I am very sorry to hear that, sir.” Well, you can “sorry” in one hand and shit in the other and which one will get full first??

• 142 sam garchik // Feb 27, 2009 at 10:24 am

  mark:
  that would be great. I would totally appreciate it.

• 143 Bill McBiggins // Feb 27, 2009 at 6:39 pm

  Wow, Jamie. You know, there are doctors who can help remove that stick you’ve got lodged up your ass.

  I’ve had nothing but good experiences with Credo. Friendly and competent customer service, and a great service plan. Beats the hell out of my previous Verizon, that’s for sure.

• 144 Lorraine Bowen // Feb 28, 2009 at 12:35 am

  Well it sounds like the customer service reps of CREEPO phone service have been busy writing letters lauding how great they are. What a bunch of bullshit, from a bullshitting company. You can all go fuck yourselves. Fucking ripoff bitches.

• 145 Chuck Isner // Feb 28, 2009 at 10:59 am

  Lorraine,

  I’m not a Credo employee, I’m a customer who has not experienced anything like what you describe. The reps I’ve dealt w/ have been uniformly courteous. I suspect that the language you choose is a strong clue to where the problems you have had lie.

• 146 LynseyTV // Feb 28, 2009 at 11:38 am

  I am also not a credo employee, just another happy customer who hasn’t had to deal with the apparent terrible customer service that Lorraine has described. I agree with Chuck.. it sort of sounds that Lorraine was probably looking for a fight!

• 147 cree1326 // Mar 2, 2009 at 12:54 am

  this sounds like a conversation to be done on another chat board or mediated by credo management.

• 148 Chuck Isner // Mar 2, 2009 at 11:28 am

  Mark,

  Could you monitor the language being used on the site. I am interested in all the comments, but I see no purpose served by people posting profanity and obsenity laced messages. A civil tone is always going to obtain better results.

  Chuck

• 149 Mark Hollis // Mar 2, 2009 at 11:40 am

  Chuck,

  Alldaybuffet.org is a blog that is separate from CREDO Mobile. The blog founders posted an initial thread about how they found our business and social model interesting. This evolved into a sustained thread and when I posted information the majority of participants responded with positive feedback about how we were listening to customers and prospects, taking responsibility for mistakes, and fixing issues when possible.

  I have learned from this experience and made policy/system/single issue changes because people like you took the time to share detailed examples. So many of you have established mutual respect with through this medium. I apologize that some people have posted emotional inappropriate comments. I will attempt to write the founders/editors of AllDaybuffet.org and learn more about their comment approval policy and moderation guidelines.

  Sincerely,

  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile

• 150 Mark Hollis // Mar 2, 2009 at 11:40 am

  Chuck,

  Alldaybuffet.org is a blog that is separate from CREDO Mobile. The blog founders posted an initial thread about how they found our business and social model interesting. This evolved into a sustained thread and when I posted information the majority of participants responded with positive feedback about how we were listening to customers and prospects, taking responsibility for mistakes, and fixing issues when possible.

  I have learned from this experience and made policy/system/single issue changes because people like you took the time to share detailed examples. So many of you have established mutual respect with through this medium. I apologize that some people have posted emotional inappropriate comments. I will attempt to write the founders/editors of AllDaybuffet.org and learn more about their comment approval policy and moderation guidelines.

  Sincerely,

  Mark Hollis
  Director of Customer Relations
  CREDO Mobile

• 151 joisyphene // Mar 2, 2009 at 1:37 pm

  all i can say is i wish i would have found this site before i wasted my time and money on a company i was so excited to be a part of. now i know credo is a wolf in sheeps clothing, and i regret every day of the last 4 months i have spent NOT receiving my calls or text messages. BUYERS BEWARE this is not what it seems and every complaint mentioned before me is something i have personally experienced myself. in 4 months! terrible, terrible, service.

• 152 sam garchik // Mar 3, 2009 at 9:49 am

  mark:
  got the phone, it works great. thanks for taking the time to respond and pay attention to customer needs in this forum.

  im very pleased with this resolution, and hope that all other readers are likewise.

  sam garchik

• 153 mikekarnj // Mar 3, 2009 at 4:22 pm

  We do not tolerate profanity, bashing, etc on our website. This is not a place to have “online arguments” that result in an endless thread of useless comments.

  If you have a problem with Credo Mobile, you can post a comment on our site or contact Credo directly.

  What started as an initial post about a company that we support has evolved into a channel for superior customer service. We applaud Credo Mobile for their timely responses to ensure that each of you have a great experience with their brand. Let’s please keep it that way on our site. Thanks!

• 154 Sally // Mar 9, 2009 at 8:52 am

  Hideous. Worst experience with a cell phone carrier I have EVER had…really amused with the statement made by the FINAL supervisor I spoke with after 4 months of having to call often about excessive and absurd mistakes on my bill…”Well, I don’t know how you can complain. We FIXED the mistakes.”

  Uh, no. I CAN complain. LOUDLY. Several hundreds of dollars in mistakes that I caught, NOT Credo (adding a phone line to my account with an area code that doesn’t even exist?)—why in the heck should I be spending hours and hours of MY time on the phone pointing out Credo’s insane errors? Why is that my job? The bills are a mess, impossible to discern charges and make sense of any of it (perhaps this is on purpose?). I have had nothing but trouble from day one, error after error, and I’ve had enough.

  I will not be paying any termination fee to this company. In terms of errors, time wasted, revenue lost when my cell phone was erroneously suspended…these people owe ME money.

  I now am stuck with 3 Katana phones, basically brand new, that are branded with CREDO. I would be happy to talk to any of you that need a new phone. Please let me know and I’ll email you. I don’t want a single remnant of Credo left in my house.

  Sad, really. All pretty and shiny and progressive on the outside, with a miserable terrible horrible customer service hard inside.

• 155 cree1326 // Mar 9, 2009 at 3:00 pm

  Hi Sally:

  I’d love to purchase a Katana phone – maybe two. Let me know how to contact you.

  My email is cree1326@mac.com. I have a family plan and our phones we got when we signed up are starting to break down – sound going in and out, etc.

  Thanks!

• 156 Doria // Mar 10, 2009 at 8:46 am

  I have to agree with Sally and the many other unsatisfied customers on this list. Count me as yet another aggrieved, annoyed, and now, happily, EX-Credo user. I just got off the phone with a customer service agent, I gave up waiting on hold for a manager. Nothing is worse than being fed some line by a trained monkey customer service agent, put on hold forever, than the same line repeated. It’s bad enough when there are problems with your phone service and you are overcharged, etc, but then to have your time wasted on top of that is TOO MUCH. Sorry Mark, but you guys have a lot of work to do before I would ever recommend you to anyone.

• 157 Doria // Mar 10, 2009 at 8:51 am

  P.S. Do NOT buy one of those awful Katana phones, they are not worth the money. I hated mine, so glad to not have to use it. Can you believe, when I first got sent it by Credo, and discovered that you can’t use a SIM card to transfer contacts (thanks Credo, for not telling me ahead of time) the customer service agent told me to “find a teenager and have them figure out” how to transfer info from my old phone to the Katana. Then she told me to go to Radio Shack because “they could do that”. The guy at Radio Shack told me 1) that there was no way they could do what the Credo person said and be 2) Who the h@ll is Credo? I’ve never heard of that phone company.” I sure wish I’d never heard of them.

• 158 Kelly // Mar 21, 2009 at 11:35 am

  I have 2 Katana LX Credo Phones, virtually new that I would like to sell.

  I’m not going to engage in the misery sharing, because while I had a horrible (miserable awful hideous) experience with Credo, they DID finally make it right, and I do appreciate that much.

  I paid $60, I’ll take $30. Buy 2 for $50. I have all the chargers and instruction manuals as well. There are literally months old and hardly used.

• 159 Austin Murkland // Mar 25, 2009 at 5:13 pm

  Dear Mr. Hollis,

  I write again to inform you of dissatisfaction with Credo Mobile. I see that none of the suggestion from my previous email were implemented neither did you respond to it. This time i’m writing concerning the Credo Insurance program. My wife lost her cellphone at JFK International Airport ~ 2weeks ago, and a replacement phone wasn’t shipped until yesterday. Again, i’m comparing you to AT&T. When a similar situation occurred to me with AT&T i was sent a replacement phone within 1 week, usually within 2-3 days (i.e. shipping time) from when i contacted them about the problem.

  I don’t understand why it would take 2 weeks to get a replacement phone, it sucks mostly for my wife who’s been without a phone this entire time and has had to rely on the cell phone of others to contact me. Normally, we could just borrow someone else’s old AT&T phone, Sprint phone, Verizon phone, or buy a cheap used one off ebay, from a pawn shop, or even just a brand new on in a store. With credo you’ve locked out all other sprint phones so the ONLY option is to go through CREDO.

  I recently added a line to my account and gave it to my mother for her birthday (she is a technophobe, but with new england weather it’s just not safe anymore to travel long distances without one). That phone arrived within 3 days. What is the difference? Also, since i’ve “signed up” by march 31st both having had credo service previous to march 31st 2009, as well as added a new line of service while the promotional period for the “a stimulus package for you” fully advertised, please explain to me using the language on the website how i’m incorrect in assuming i qualify for “a stimulus package for you.”

  thank you,

  Austin Murkland

• 160 Austin Murkland // Mar 25, 2009 at 5:14 pm

  Mr. Hollis,

  cserve@wafs.com was given to me by a CSR after calling 611 and asking for an email address or a mailing address to send a complaint regarding the time frame to replace my wife’s phone… as you can see below, it was a amusing tactic for them to get me off the phone…

  as much as i love being part of a progressive organization that really is trying to make a difference, i’m starting to get tired of being disappointed. if you’re tired of hearing from me, i’m more than happy to go back to at&t with the offers/discounts they’ve been sending me.. my wife would have her sony ericson back with all the features that come with a REAL camera phone, and i would finally be able to check email from a phone that can both check email and receive of a phonecall without issue (yes, that was a motorolla slam. their equipment has been known to be the worst in call reception since releasing the RAZR)

  I’m willing to put up with crappier phones to help save the world, but not crappier service, and CERTAINLY NOT another SPRINT, which if you recall during our phone conversation was my primary fear before making the jump. Your assurances are beginning to wear thin the reality of actual problems, i find your lack of responses concerning.

  I’m guessing my mistake was taking a 1to1 approach with my problems, those who made them public appear to have much greater success with resolution, that will be my next step, quickly followed by termination of all contract with credo and switching back to AT&T where the service was cheaper, the phones were better, and i wasn’t given pretend email addresses as a diversionary tactic in lieu of actually dealing with customer complaints.

  Austin Murkland

• 161 Austin Murkland // Mar 25, 2009 at 5:31 pm

  I just called 611 and asked to speak to Mark Hollis. I was told that he’s unavailable, i asked for his voicemail, and i was told he was no longer with the company. True or not, it is a VERY VERY sad day for anyone who’s had to deal with CREDO’s CSR’s

  I will be terminating service immediately.

• 162 Capulette // Mar 27, 2009 at 8:31 pm

  “cserve@wafs.com was given to me by a CSR after calling 611 and asking for an email address or a mailing address to send a complaint regarding the time frame to replace my wife’s phone… as you can see below, it was a amusing tactic for them to get me off the phone…”

  Wow fulfilling your request for an e-mail address to complain to, now that is the greatest tactic I have ever seen to get you off the phone. And most amusing.

  That is like me ordering a cheeseburger at mcdonalds, then me getting my cheeseburger and me saying “Hey wait a minute! I think you are just trying to get rid of me”.

  How dare they not let us sit all day in line, with our requests unfulfilled.

• 163 Austin // Mar 28, 2009 at 6:23 am

  Alldaybuffet.org truncated my message, try sending an email to that address, you will get something similar to this: This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

  Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

  cserve@wafs.com

  Technical details of permanent failure:
  Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 #5.1.0 Address rejected cserve@wafs.com (state 14).

  —– Original message —–

  MIME-Version: 1.0
  Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:59:01 -0400
  Received: by 10.101.67.11 with SMTP id u11mr65862ank.39.1238018357041; Wed, 25
  Mar 2009 14:59:17 -0700 (PDT)
  Message-ID:
  Subject: phone insurance/replacement
  From: Austin
  To: mhollis@credomobile.com, cserve@wafs.com
  Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0016368e1d8a659b8a0465f89cc9

  –0016368e1d8a659b8a0465f89cc9
  Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
  Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

  To continue with you analogy, it would be like ordering a cheeseburger, and taking a bite only to find there was no meat, no cheese, no pickles, no onions, just ketchup, mustard, and buns, sorry i wasn’t clearer in my previous comment Capulette.

• 164 Capulette // Mar 31, 2009 at 7:27 pm

  I am sorry, you didn’t mention the e-mail did not work, that is why I was confused when you called customer service and they answered your question. I take back my cheeseburger.

  Perhaps the e-mail address is spelled wrong? I found customerservice@credomobile.com on their website, perhaps that may help you.

  Two weeks for a phone is a long time, did they explain to you why it took so long?

• 165 Mark // Apr 8, 2009 at 1:11 am

  I look forward to the day when Credo has eco-phones, low SAR phones, and android (open source). No phones company does all three of these yet, should be simple for a socially responsible company to do.

• 166 Willy // Apr 8, 2009 at 6:48 am

  Wow,all these negative experiences sound like people are dealing with some other company. I’ve had nothing but super-positive experiences with these guys since joining them in the late 90s (first with long distance, now with cell phone.) Every time I contact customer service they’re helpful, fix the issue or find the answer for me, and treat me with respect. Service/coverage is great, nothing to complain about there — and as a hard-core progressive I love their political stances and efforts to do a better job on corporate environmental responsibility. So, that’s my experience…

• 167 Willy // Apr 9, 2009 at 8:23 am

  Oh yeah, wanted to add — I have a Katana and really like it — slim, all the features I want and pretty rugged. I’ve abused it pretty hard for the ~2 years I’ve had it and it still works fine. (I didn’t expect it to have a SIM chip — I used bluetooth to move my contacts in from my old phone…)

• 168 Lori // Apr 21, 2009 at 11:42 am

  I, too, am surprised by all of the negative comments.

  I started out as a single phone user, then convinced my family to add in on my plan. (heh: I’ve got a conservative brother who’s on!) Having had Working Assets long distance, the cell phone plan is what tipped me over the edge of joining. Oh, and having everyone worried about me when I traveled. I don’t remember if we used the buyout option for everyone; I know we used it for at least 1 person and it was successful.

  They’ve always let me adjust my plan, as long as it’s before the next billing month. This has saved me some cash.

  I’ve had wonderful customer service with CredoMobile and Working Assets mobile before them. I’ve been on the line with a single rep for over 1/2 hour, at times. They’ve always been pleasant and clearly patient. No huffing in the background while they re-explained something to me. Their english has always been clearly understandable; I’ve never had to call back or ask for a supervisor in order to understand the rep.

  I was recently offered a free phone upgrade or $10 a month off of my bill. I decided to go with the $10/mo. My brother & I have the original Katana and the parents have some other, newer ones. My brother and I are each happy enough with the original Katana to not bother upgrading. We primarily use the sets as phones or texting, so didn’t really see any need to upgrade, even for a free or discounted phone.

  I sometimes go online, but not that often. That experience has been fine and pretty intuitive. I like the preprovided URL options: those are the places I would surf to even if weren’t already available. We’ve started using the picture features, too, and I find the phone website easy enough to use.

  I’ve never had reception problems and I’m in mid Missouri. I’ve often had service when no one else I’m with has. I’ve never been the one with no service. I can only think of a few times in the last many years that I’ve dropped a call.

  So, to have cell service and know that I’m also contributing to causes that I believe in and love supporting has been wonderful. I know people say to save the money and give it to organizations of my choice, but doing that is still using the service of non-progressive corporations.

  And yes, I would be willing to suffer some irritation in order to support causes I believe in. Fortunately, I haven’t had to do that with Credo.

• 169 Tay // May 5, 2009 at 5:44 pm

  It would seem as though the only people that are having problems with the credo serivces are the ones that switched it from Sprint…
  Credo is apart of Sprint and all the confision of switiching to a network that’s apart of that network had everything messed up

• 170 Dcooper // May 10, 2009 at 11:53 pm

  Credo has worked well for my US service, but as I am in Europe quite a bit, I have to find another cell provider so that I can be reached in immediate emergencies via my US cell number. Absolutely no quad band phones is not a good idea for a modern phone service provider, so I guess it’s back to AT&T.

• 171 Bill R. // Jun 2, 2009 at 9:02 am

  Pending approval, I’m switching from T-Mobile to Credo. I was also a Working Assets customer for several years back in the late 90s-early 00s; I appreciated their commitment to the progressive cause, but wallet issues over long distance sadly caused me to look elsewhere eventually.

  But I am looking forward to being back with WA/CM, and hope that the cellular side of it won’t be too aggravating because CM gets their service from Sprint…:)

• 172 Dano // Jun 7, 2009 at 11:32 pm

  I have had Credo service for a few months now and have not had any complaints. Customer service was very helpful and considerate, and would honestly answer any question posed to them. I also like the fact that the people vote for where their donations go to. If you have Credo because you believe in the cause, I highly recommend voting for where the donation dollars go. You can find this on their website.

• 173 Rob Sherman // Jun 16, 2009 at 9:31 am

  As a long-time Working Assets customer I had considered using Credo for a while but did not relish their phone choices. BUT, after AT&T (aka the Death Star people) bought Cingular, I decided it was more important for me to using a company that had some principles and gave to liberal causes than it was to have an iPhone, which I would really like to have. Contrary to several posts here, the entire experience I have had with Credo in the last two years has been nothing but exemplary. Their customer service folks are the nicest and most understanding of ANY COMPANY I have ever dealt with. My sister, whose phone is on our family plan, had to replace her phone, which was heating up, and they promptly did that, and then she LOST the new one, which they promptly and courteously replaced (and yes, I have insurance on our handsets). I am actually somewhat astonished at the experiences some people describe here. I have never encountered anyone at Credo who was less than understanding and pleasant. I am wondering if it matters where you are getting your service? I am in the Boston, MA area and the service is fine. The only “complaint” I have is that I would like a better phone selection (was hoping they would get the Pre, since its with Sprint) but if you want to stick with your personal values, I think its worth giving up having a sexy phone.

• 174 Joan G. // Jul 8, 2009 at 8:49 pm

  We were with Working Assets forever and then we switched over to Credo as a matter of course. We never had a single problem with them until just this past month. There must have been some kind of computer/software/hacker/spyware issue (your choice) because we did not receive our online bill at the usual time. I went to their website and found that I had to reregister. I thought that was odd. I went through the reregistration process and when I got to my account info. I saw that my email address had reverted to a very old address that I hadn’t used in years and that was partly corrupted. I entered my new address, etc. and everything seems fine for the moment.

  I’m not a computer expert, but the fact that they lost all of my contact data and had to revert to a ten year old email address tells me that their database got trashed and they had to use an old, out of date backup. I don’t have enough information to know whether this is Credo’s fault or whether they were the victims of foul play.

  We’ll see how things go from here on out. If this is the beginning of more trouble I’ll just cancel and find a new carrier.

• 175 juliewolves // Jul 14, 2009 at 2:53 pm

  I lost my LG 350 phone, and Credo offered a cheaper phone, LG160. When I removed the battery cover, it couldn’t be replaced. Credo replaced the phone. When it got sprayed with water, I took it to a phone store where they removed the battery cover to make sure it was dry, and they couldn’t replace the cover. So I’ve taped it in place. Then I found the LG350. I called Credo about adding the found phone to my account. The salesmen told me the terms, and I repeated them back to him three times during our conversation: $60/month for 550 anytime minutes shared by the two phones. To replace the LG160 with the malfunctioning battery cover he included a new and different phone, (Katana LX), which he said Credo customers had praised. So I agreed to the contract. Then I got an e-mail message with my order confirmation. The monthly charge listed is about $70, and there’s a note that this does not include taxes. I called Credo again, and without my asking they connected me with a “manager”, J.D., who argued with me that the order says $69.98, not $70, as if this explained the $10/month difference between what I had agreed to and what they confirmed in the e-mail. He constantly interrupted me, and was generally unhelpful. I am VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality for a biotech company, so I can say that he is either poorly trained in his job functions, or he is inadequate for the position,or Credo intends its customer service to be a hazard rather than a help. Then the LG150 with the faulty battery cover went dead, and I don’t have anymore time to waste on Credo customer service. So I’m adding to this string.

• 176 mikekarnj // Jul 22, 2009 at 9:43 pm

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• 177 Dano // Aug 1, 2009 at 3:53 am

  I hope Credo gets a mac-friendly smart phone.

• 178 Colin T. // Sep 13, 2009 at 11:20 am

  Hi all. Let me just say – talk to a group of people with ANY cell provider and you will get horror stories. some just more than others. Also, in my experience, I have some friends and family that always have bad customer service experiences and others (like myself) that usually have good ones. I have been a CredoMobile customer for 2 years and have had absolutely none of the above problems. The few times I have had to call for service I was on hold for less than five minutes (more like 2); the customer service reps. were always friendly, helpful, and efficient; my phone only drops calls in a “dead zone” where everyone I know gets dropped calls on every network. So I have to ask – are we talking about the same company here?

  -Colin

• 179 Aaron C // Sep 18, 2009 at 10:42 am

  Most expensive mistake I ever made. Seriously. What good are nice reps if they can’t fix issues, or if you have to PAY THE ERRONEOUS BILL in FULL and wait for your credit the following month? What if this happened to you FOUR TIMES and each month CREDO said you used four times the peak minutes you were allowed because of their screwup? In these times can you afford to have CREDO holding hundreds of dollars of YOUR HARD-EARNED MONEY for THEIR MISTAKE? And can you afford having this happen THREE or FOUR MONTHS in a row? I finally bit the bullet and canceled. My final bill with early termination fees was $600. I just paid it and said finally I’m friggin done with this damned company. So much for me trying to do the right thing, huh? Here’s what I wrote on another site. And if anyone wants to buy a second-hand motorola Q that works on credo, e-mail me at volswagn@msn.com (my junk address).

  ———————
  I tried Credo — I tried to do the right thing. And it was a COMPLETE and UTTER NIGHTMARE from start to finish. The mail problem was the billing issues that claimed I owed them $400-500 per bill. They would straighten this out and PROMISE me that the issues would be corrected the following month. When they weren’t, I’d call and they’d apologize profusely, claiming that this never should have happened AGAIN and that the credit would be applied the following month and the billing issues would be corrected.

  This went on for four months.

  During this time, Credo changed the capability of users to view how many minutes were being used on each phone in a family plan. When I finally called to disconnect and swallow the $600 it was going to cost me in disconnect fees, the customer service rep told me all I had to do was have each member sign up for a web account & they could each find their minutes used. I later found out this also was not true — that only the PRIMARY number on the account was able to log in, and only the grand total of peak minutes could be viewed. There was no breakdown per phone until you got your bill.

  When I finally did disconnect, I received a form letter from the CEO requesting reasons for cancellation. I explained all this in my reply and really thought at least I’d get some kind of response from CREDO. But I heard nothing. Only reminders to pay my disconnect fee.

  In short, I’d urge everyone to stay far far away from this company. $600 to get away from the horrible customer service and billing issues was well worth it. I’m not happy to be supporting one of the big carriers again, but at least I get service everywhere (even at my remote timeshare), and can order/change services through their web portal, as well as view how many minutes and messages each phone in the plan has used. Oh yeah, and it doesn’t take a week to replace a phone if it goes bad (which it did — my stepson’s Motorola Q had a key that stopped working). You try telling a teenager that it will just be a week before he has a working phone again.

• 180 cbdebris // Sep 24, 2009 at 8:49 pm

  I’ve been with Working Assets/Credo since I received the 411 from one of the original customers (I’m thinking it was the late 1980s). Yes, there are problems — it’s staffed by HUMANS, those horribly fallible creatures! But generally a bunch of decent humans nonetheless.

  I challenge you to find blogs where senior management from the other mobile carriers converses politely and respectfully with customers and resolves their problems.

  Moreover, for every horror story with Credo there are literally dozens for any other carrier. Search and ye shall find them.

  Credo folks have always done their polite and earnest best to resolve whatever issue I’m facing with my phone service. Added benefit is not having to slog through a maze of automated systems before connecting with a live human. That’s saying something these days.

  Everyone I know with other carriers seems to have one problem after another, even when they are trying to purchase something.

  I work in technology but I think it’s great that Credo isn’t throwing all the latest stuff at us, and that they offer refurbished phones. Examine your environmental values if you are frustrated with Credo because they don’t have the latest gadgetry — you have a serious disconnect.

• 181 Aaron // Sep 24, 2009 at 11:32 pm

  cbdebris, those HUMANS outright LIED to me, didn’t follow up when they should, and then did NOTHING to retain me as a customer when they messed up month after month after month. They did not do their polite and earnest best to resolve whatever issue I was facing, or I would still be a customer. They blew it bigtime. Since I have been back with Verizon, not ONE ISSUE. NOT ONE. I hate the fact that I’m helping to support their corporate agenda, but I am not made of money and I only have so many hours per day I can spend on the phone trying to solve issues that are not my responsibility to solve, especially when I have been promised several times that the issue has been taken care of.

  These HUMANS failed, bigtime. It happens yeah, but really, how much abuse should I be willing to take for trying to do the right thing? At what point am I just being a moron for not canceling my contract? Especially when I STARTED with the ability to view minutes used on each phone through their website, and then they took that functionality AWAY? That was the last straw. My stepson was limited to 200 minutes a month. We paid for his “early offpeak” at 7pm for $5 extra a month, and also joined the top 5 plan. There was no need for him to go over 200 peak minutes a month and I wanted to keep track of this because he said if he went over, HE would pay for the extra minutes. I wanted pre-emptively to tell him when he was approaching his limit and this SIMPLE THING could no longer be done through the Credo website. Neither could you get YOUR individual minutes on YOUR individual phone if you were part of a family plan. That was the last straw. And four months in, they STILL had not solved my billing issues. It was time to bail before I ended up handing over my entire savings account to Credo.

  These HUMANS failed bigtime and cost my family precious money that we needed for other things. Why should I put up with that??

• 182 Austin murkland // Sep 25, 2009 at 12:39 am

  @cbdebris. You won’t find anyone from executive, senior, middle, or even PR here either. Mark Hollis was fired for this blog or did you skip my posts?

• 183 Customer Liaison @ CREDO // Sep 25, 2009 at 8:14 pm

  It has always been our policy to monitor customer forums like alldaybuffet.org. The only change has been that we now respond offline to individual customers out of respect for their privacy.

  If you ever need to reach us directly, please email us at customerservice@credomobile.com or call us at 1(800) 411-0848.

• 184 Sika // Oct 10, 2009 at 12:31 pm

  Huh, that’s funny, I was going to use this website to ask some questions to try and find if I can make Credo work for me. I’ve found answers from the email address given to be short and not very helpful, and my situation is complicated, so having Mark Hollis available to speak with was a major point for Credo.

  The transparency his replies created made me really want to find a way to make business work with Credo, but your new policy has removed that transparency. Transparency creates confidence. Secrecy leaves just those with bad stories to be heard, and makes it seem like the bad stuff is the only truth. It makes the bad stuff seem like a general truth that needs to be hidden, rather than the outliers those stories probably are.

  So I guess I’ll go with someone else.

• 185 phil // Oct 17, 2009 at 10:56 pm

  I am fed up with credo. Once your phone is old the only way to upgrade is to buy in to another two years. Very hard to find any used phones so your stuck. Also they just sent out an email Thankyou for my one and half years of as a customer and going to give me discounts on voicemail and this and that and wow a new phone upgrade for free. I called right away and gave all my info and then she mentioned so your contract start from today. What. Another two year of this …. But the email. Oh sir if you check I’m sure it says there is a two year contract. SO I looked and you finally I found it sure enough in fine print at the very bottom. They really are no different than the rest pulling the same crap. So really makes me wonder if the groovy green company thing is sincere. Anyway I can’t wait till i can get out!!!!!! I do have to say everyone has been really nice on the phone.

• 186 Customer Liaison @ CREDO // Oct 20, 2009 at 12:53 pm

  Hello Sika,

  I’d be happy to talk to you about your situation if you want to contact me directly at crliaison@credomobile.com.

• 187 Yvonne (Customer Liaison @ CREDO) // Oct 22, 2009 at 6:38 pm

  Hello Phil,

  We make all of the donations, and plant all of the trees, that we talk about on http://www.credomobile.com.
  (Check out the “Our Mission” section of our site for more info.)

  We are a mobile provider, so we need to remain competitive in order to make those donations. To get a free phone, we do ask for a 2 year commitment. However if you do not want renew your contract, you could purchase your next CREDO phone. We have a variety of phones to match different budgets, including refurbished handsets.

  I’d be glad to discuss your concerns with you. Please feel free to contact me at crliaison@credomobile.com.

  Thanks,
  Yvonne

• 188 Bob Dozer // Oct 22, 2009 at 9:26 pm

  Hah. I love when people with cell phones expect a cell phone company to just GIVE their customers phones without any strings attached.

  Yeah they are gonna give you a 300 dollar phone so you can either just cancel a month later or flush it down the toilet and then the phone company is down that phone.

  And don’t bother responding with “cell phones don’t cost the companies anything”. Yes they do.

• 189 Willy // Oct 23, 2009 at 7:30 am

  If you guys are looking for transparency from, or interaction with, CREDO, you should join them on facebook. they publish some really cool stuff several times a day. http://www.facebook.com/CREDO

• 190 LucaNY // Oct 27, 2009 at 2:16 pm

  I’ve switch to Credo 9 months ago and regretting ever since.
  I can’t say their customer service is bad, but it’s not been always on top of situations (I had a few).
  BUT,
  the coverage sucks
  the phone I got sucks, it’s sooo bad I can’t even tell you (it’s the sanyo S1, the worse cell phone ever!!!!!) Whenever i try to write a text message (a Text message, not an email) the software get stuck… I hate it!
  They don’t have sim cards (chips), so you can’t use your old phone!!! this is bad, bad for the environment, bad for customers, bad for everything!

  They do give the 1% to good causes. That was the whole idea before my switching. BUT, they don’t have stores, they don’t spend much in advertising, they don’t have fancy cellphones … SO… why they’re contracts and phones costs the same or more than the other carriers?! They save millions in advertising, why they don’t have better prices? I don’t know but I’m waiting badly for my contract to expires, and this is not good for any company who cares about its customers.
  So my point is: the idea underneath is great, the fact they didn’t support Bush was attractive, but DON’T switch to Credo, you’ll regret it!

• 191 LucaNY // Oct 27, 2009 at 2:17 pm

  I’ve switch to Credo 9 months ago and regretting ever since.
  I can’t say their customer service is bad, but it’s not been always on top of situations (I had a few).
  BUT,
  the coverage sucks
  the phone I got sucks, it’s sooo bad I can’t even tell you (it’s the sanyo S1, the worse cell phone ever!!!!!) Whenever i try to write a text message (a Text message, not an email) the software get stuck… I hate it!
  They don’t have sim cards (chips), so you can’t use your old phone!!! this is bad, bad for the environment, bad for customers, bad for everything!

  They do give the 1% to good causes. That was the whole idea before my switching. BUT, they don’t have stores, they don’t spend much in advertising, they don’t have fancy cellphones … SO… why their contracts and phones costs the same or more than the other carriers?! They save millions in advertising, why they don’t have better prices? I don’t know but I’m waiting badly for my contract to expires, and this is not good for any company who cares about its customers.
  So my point is: the idea underneath is great, the fact they didn’t support Bush was attractive, but DON’T switch to Credo, you’ll regret it!

• 192 Mike Lee // Oct 30, 2009 at 2:32 am

  Wow, this is more lively conversation that I am used to seeing. I have been a Working Assets customer for something like ten years and was Working Asset mobile before CREDO even existed and I have the Working Assets credit card, working Assets Long Distance and I am part of the general political action network. OK? Enough Credentials? You know what I am going to say? Probably not.

  Regarding Sprint Service – yes that is a problem and it frustrates me. It is a technology issue. CREDO/Working Assets made a carrier choice a long time ago before all the towers were built and guessed that digital (PCS) would be better and so that is why they don’t have those fuctionalities that permit the use of other phones. Of course, remember, it took an at of Congress to get the damn phone companies to unlock things so you could keep your old phone. Alas, this did not incorporate the digital technology of PCS and about half of all phone users. I don’t think a big improvement is to be expected, but it is not that big a deal anyhow.

  Plus: Currently, enough towers have been built that the Sprint digital service is pretty much as complete as the analogue of ATT and everyone else. It is true that te future will be digital and unfortunate the there are bumps in the transition now.

  Plus: Customer Service is out of sight – not just compared to phone companies, but compared to anyone. I think that I have experienced this especially in 2008 and 2009. It seems to me that CREDO made a decision to have people on theothe4r end of the customer service connection and those people were expect to be knowledgeable. (I get a lof of nice Canadians when I call.)

  Negative: Windows Mobile sucks and this is not especially a CREDO thing, but I just hate the crappy Windows software and non-intuitive interface on my MotoQ. I hope the CREDO folks are looking elsewhere for their operating systems in the future.

  Positive: No matter whate, I like the social conciousness and these people are walking the walk and beyond talking they talk. Find me any other corporation (Newman maybe) that does more and their is none which is more politically out front.

  Congrats! (Dump Windows) Great Job.

  Accolades to the CREDO participants in this blog. Most companies would not tolerate such real discussion.

  Mike

• 193 Mark // Nov 26, 2009 at 2:10 pm

  The fact that all of Credo’s smartphones are built on the most insecure and unreliable SmartPhone OS (WindowsMobile) is enough reason to not sign up, along with the fact that they are (unfortunately) tied to Sprint, a carrier where the only thing they are losing faster than money are subscribers. It is unfortunate that the ‘digital crack’ of the iPhone is some of the best out there, and doubly unfortunate that it is tied to AT&T (for now). RIM Devices? No thanks; already did the CrackBerry, don’t want it again. Palm Pre? Not sure if the company will make it through 2010. Android? a possibility, but at the moment Google is headed down the same fragmented road the Windows Mobile traveled, and may wind up in the same crappy place if they do not watch it.

  The iPhone is seductive to developers because there is only one device to design for, not 200. Google should take heed of that, and not take the Microsoft route of ‘pseudo choice’: hundreds of cheap, crappy devices. I’ll save my cash for the one that works, thank you.

  Hopefully the next generation iPhone will break free of the AT&T shackle in 2010, and this Great phone/crappy company – Great Compay/Crappy phones dilemma will be moot.

• 194 Petnad // Dec 10, 2009 at 3:27 am

  Customer service is spotty. My Moto Qc went buggy so I called customer service. My patience was tested when I spoke to a clueless operator who had no particular knowledge about the MotoQ’s basic function. She insisted that I reset my phone but she couldn’t even navigate me through that process which I eventually had to show her how to do. I insisted that it was hardware and that I need to exchange the phone. Upon realizing I was right she told me that she would direct me to a more qualified tech and that i’d get a call back in 20min. Well I waited and waited until the next day in which I ended up having to call Credo customer service. Just an absolute waste of time. One of my biggest gripes about Credo is their lack of cell phone choice, most of the models they offer are older and they finally JUST got a touch screen model.

• 195 Progressive idea, Backwards Company // Dec 14, 2009 at 9:52 pm

  After a year of bad customer service and fees, I discontinued my service with Credo on JUNE 6th 2009. My number was ported to a new company, and I kept receiving bills from Credo. I called and called and called, and was told every week that only a manager could help me, and that manager wasn’t on duty, but that they would call me back within two days. Never happened. So I kept calling. Then Credo threatened to send my bogus bills to collections, so I paid them, and immediately disputed the charges through my credit card company–Thanks Capital One!
  Well, when I paid Credo to get Collections off my back, Credo had to ‘reactivate’ my line for the payment to go through–which I only found out about last week (this is DECEMBER) when I received a ‘reactivation fee’ bill in the mail from Credo. More bogacity!

  Mark, is Credo paying you to respond to these customer service nightmare webpostings during business hours?!? Now I know why Credo is so overpriced.

  If you’re a great grand-parent who has just learned how to make and receive calls on a cellphone, then Credo is for you. Anyone else: Stay far away!! And use the $45/month you save to donate to causes you want to support.

• 196 Progressive idea, Backwards Company // Dec 14, 2009 at 9:56 pm

  After a year of bad customer service and fees, I discontinued my service with Credo on JUNE 6th 2009. My number was ported to a new company, and I kept receiving bills from Credo. I called and called and called, and was told every week that only a manager could help me, and that manager wasn’t on duty, but that they would call me back within two days. Never happened. So I kept calling. Then Credo threatened to send my bogus bills to collections, so I paid them, and immediately disputed the charges through my credit card company–Thanks Capital One!

  Well, when I paid Credo to get Collections off my back, Credo had to ‘reactivate’ my line for the payment to go through–which I only found out about last week (this is DECEMBER) when I received a ‘reactivation fee’ bill in the mail from Credo. More bogacity!

  Mark, is Credo paying you to respond to these customer service nightmare webpostings during business hours?!? Now I know why Credo is so overpriced.

  If you’re a great grand-parent who has just learned how to make and receive calls on a cellphone, then Credo is for you. Anyone else: Stay far away!! And use the $45/month you save to donate to causes you want to support.

• 197 Robin // Dec 15, 2009 at 3:34 pm

  I am perfectly happy with my Credo phone and customer service–less crooked than Sprint. That is for sure. Question? You can’t use Sprint phone’s with Credo? You do have to use their phones?

  Thanks,

  Robin

• 198 Jennifer // Dec 18, 2009 at 6:38 pm

  Hi! We’ve had Credo for about 3 or 4 months. They have been really great any time I’ve had to call them. Unfortunately I lost my phone and it sucked having to get a CREDO specific replacement… I couldn’t just run out to a store and buy one quickly.
  I like that they are progressive and I’m actually spending a little bit less with CREDO than I used to have to spend every month with AT&T.
  PLUS every time I call their customer service for any reason I ask them to send me some free ice cream, and they always do! When I used to have Working Assets in college there was always a coupon for a free pint of Ben and Jerry’s included in with the bill. Sadly CREDO doesn’t automatically send the ice cream coupons, but they will send one every time you call them up and ask for one! I’ve probably gotten a dozen or more just for asking!
  My signal is good, the customer service is really competent and friendly, I save money over AT&T, they help me stay politically active, and I get free ice cream. It’s a win win win win win.

• 199 Susan Siebler // Jan 18, 2010 at 6:03 pm

  Credo sucks and I never thought I would say that. Like some other customers I love the idea and I loved Working Assets. I also loved Working Assets mobile, at some point around the time the name changed, the service changed too. Gone were the polite, low key customer service reps-for the most part. Some were still nice. Now suddenly there were reps threatening disconnection and saying they sent me a letter which I would receive a week later. The first phone I got had some sort of chip problem after a while so I wanted to add a phone anyway so for the first time ever I actually bought cell phones. They were LGs but no one could hear us on the damn things. Everytime I made a change they started my contract over and I finally bailed even though it would cost me to do so. Every time and I mean almost every single time I would call to pay a bill or ask about a bill, I was told something different. Finally after I bailed out, and requested a final bill cause none came, I received a letter from a collection agency for everything including the contract fees. I had not even gotton a final bill and they were turning me over to collections. When I called them, they told me they hadn’t turned me over to collections, just had collections sent me a letter to tell me what would happen if they did???? They are a night mare, an absolute nightmare. I am contacting the FTC about this company that I thought was so wonderful once upon a time and you better believe I am telling every Liberal I know to stay AWAY.

• 200 willie // Jan 21, 2010 at 2:53 pm

  Thanks for all the info – I had my suspicions about Working Assets back in the day when I found “ATT” somewhere on one of the bills…..thus when I got the “Credo” advertisement I figured, better check it out.
  Sounds like a very good company…to avoid.
  “Greenwashing” was a term someone up there used.
  It’s good to do research and not believe someone when they say they are “progressive.” Thanks for the help.

• 201 Tim // Jan 23, 2010 at 11:57 am

  Though embarrassing to admit, here are some examples of my experience with Credo. I’ve lost my charger, and Credo replaced it for free. I went way over my time limit and Credo reduced my overage charges. I couldn’t figure out a function on a phone and Credo walked me through it.

  Credo/Working Assets is an great company. Been a customer for 12 years, both cellular and land line long distance. When it comes to customer service, I am very demanding, which is why I’m a long term customer.

  My only issue with them is their current free phones offered aren’t rated very highly (check CNET).

  No matter what cell company, there will always be customers who don’t read and understand the contract or blame the company for the customer’s own errors (read posts above). And there will always be problems with any cell company, even Credo. The difference? Credo will make it right.

• 202 val1005 // Apr 22, 2010 at 3:00 pm

  Tim Tim Tim its so obvious you work for them. For you to blame ALL these issues on the customer alone. All carriers screw often in their customer service, some try to fix other times your just S.O.L.
  It seems like your loving company has issues, possible real ones.

• 203 val1005 // Apr 22, 2010 at 3:10 pm

  I was toying with the idea of switching but not now. Yes i have read complaints of other carriers on other sites. Sprint which I left, had similar issue with their customer service. I am now with T-Mobile and so far things are smooth.
  One of tee main reasons I’ll pass is Credo’s lack of 21st century phones. Blackberry is on it’s last legs and the others are plain run of the mill phones

• 204 Hope // Apr 26, 2010 at 5:51 pm

  4/26/2010

  Called to cancel my son’s cell plan two days ahead of the contract renewal date. I switched from Credo after a number of years because I was tired of paying a premium for their social progressiveness, and decided I would rather give directly to specific groups.

  Imagine my surprise when I was told I actually have to call on the renuewal date, and if I wanted to cancel less than 48 hours ahead of time, it would cost me $55.

  Credo doesn’t have the variety of plans you will find elsewhere, another reason I left. Then when I spoke with this extremely abrasive person on the phone today, well, all I have to say is, I am glad I’m with T-Mobile now.

• 205 rusfingroup. // May 13, 2010 at 9:51 pm

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• 206 Anonymous // Jul 22, 2010 at 2:00 am

  Credo Mobile? Isn’t that where you agree to pay for a third-rate phone service based on the idea that competitor AT&T is evil and gives to Republicans, while sending your money to Sprint, which gives to Republicans?

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