Consumer Cellular hidden fees

[dax212]

Did you notice the "operational  compliance fee" increased 75% on your recent Consumer Cellular bill.  There was no notice or substantiation.  No wonder they provide an AARP discount since they just make it up in this bogus fee.

[AlexS795094]

i hear ya. i went with cc becuz of aarp AND they hand hands on in target. well, they dropped the help in target, my bill was creeping up past 30/mos. last straw was they told me i needed to ''upgrade''.

during it they ended up bricking my phone and a NEW one was $400.  i went to TELLO, and got a refurbished for $170. mt plan has more than before and it is $9/mos. the taxes and fees bring it to a whopping $9.12!

[jt53034901]

Let's not forget who steered us all to Consumer Celluar to begin with.

[AlexS795094]

exactly!! please read my comment to dax212

aarp are not here to help...

[NancyR888566]

 is the fee per line or per account?

[JoeM250146]

Nancy.

When I look at my bill it does not break down the fee for each device. I don't know if an Apple watch or a tablet has lower a fee then a phone would have. As far as I can tell the fees are for all devices on the account. My current bill is broken into two parts. The first one shows 4 different fees.

Consumer Cellular Surcharges & Other Charges
DESCRIPTION RATE AMOUNT
Fed USF Cellular: Federal 32.80% $2.24
FCC Regulatory Fee (Wireless): Federal flat $0.05
Operational Compliance Fee flat $9.91
Total $12.20

The second shows 6 more fees.

Government Taxes & Fees

Statutory Gross Receipts (Wireless): SD 4.00%  $2.40

P.U.C. Fee: SD 0.15%  $0.09

Sales Tax: Summerset  2.00%  $1.25

Telecom Relay Surcharge (Wireless): SD flat  $0.60

E911 (Wireless): SD flat  $5.00

Total $11.96

Fee totals $24.16.

Your fees will be different then mine. It depends on where you live.

You can also get a discount if you are a member of AARP. My Discount is $3.00.

Just looking at my last bill from Verizon from last June I only paid $6.05 in total fees for 2 phones, 1 Apple watch and 1 Tablet.

So I broke down my total bill of $81.16 for 2 phones, 1 Apple watch and 1 Tablet, using 5GB of data, I am only paying $20.29 per month per device.

I hope this answers your question.

[JoeM250146]

I guess I forgot. Who are you referring to as who steered us to Consumer Cellular?

[StephenLee]

AARP’s 5% discount and promotions…

[ds75185044]

Consumer Cellular has over 4 million customers.  The OCF on my last bill was $7.11.  That means they collect over $28,000,000 to fund their Compliance Department.  Must have a HUGE Compliance Department.  Where is government oversight on these types of fees?

[bkniffin]

Mine has gone up now to $9.36 as of November 1. Every 2-3 months it goes up another $2 or so. They say it's a Federal fee and they have no control. The Federal USF (whatever that is) rate has gone up as well. They say since it's a federal increase I should speak to the government about why there is no notice. They're not offering any new or increased promotions to offeset these increases. For a company marketing itself to seniors, you'd think they'd do a better job in trying to keep our business. 

[LouieC802457]

Consumer cellular is ripping off seniors with there so called gov fees.  I went to them, and my previous carrier was less money, I called and was told fees can not be reduced.  I went back to my previous carrier and have a much lower bill.

[ElizabethG812502]

This is a "made up" charge.  They say that it is to cover the costs of complying with the government requirements, whatever those might be.  The government doesn't charge Consumer Cellular the fees that they are passing along to the customers.

[StephenLee]

And by increasing the Operational Compliance Fee, it actually increases multiple other fees and taxes which are based on the overall bill, as well!

[dax212]

They've done it again: increased the OCF with no notification or justification.  Last year they told me the increase was the first in years and so they didn't expect another increase any time soon.  Liars and scoundrels!

[JoeM250146]

I am looking at my latest CC bill. I see 2 different areas for fees. Surcharges & Other Charges for $12.32 and the second area, Government Taxes & Fees for $12.65. So $24.97 for the monthly bill. That is about a quarter of my bill. I think it is time to start looking for a new provider.

[ag6476]

I'm so over CC.  My mom's phone didn't work for six months.  I kept calling them and they told me a variety of things each time.  The interent in the area went down, then the next one told me we had great internet connection.  The volumne was too low then the next one told me that they keep it at 85% but they could increase it to 100%.  (She has almost lost all of her hearing and doesnt want to wear a hearing aide.)  Then she couldn't dial out to her contacts but there was nothing they could do.  Then the next one told me that they were upgrading the teleopones and that's why the lack of service.  I constantly asked for a refund since the whole reason I bought this device was for her to have communications with the family.  She's 100 years old for God's sake.  They told me no because they were able to see that she was able to make a  call every once in a while even if she couldn't hear anyone.  Then I asked them if they had new phones as I was tired of dealing with them,  They said yes but it would be a refurbished one!  Now how can that be if they upgraded to a new (maybe 5g) and she's getting a refurbished, almost new, phone!  I told the agent I wanted a new phone, and they said no!  So we were supposed to get the new one in 3 days but I had to make the request through their insurance company which I did. Two weeks went by and no working phone.  I called again. Oops, someone forgot to put in the order!  Another week and no refund or discount on the weeks of service that she was without a phone.  Sounds like I should be complaining to the AIG or the BBB. I'm so disappointed with their service, it is incredible.  

[LeeP5060]

Yes, I see in every aspect of life this happens, a store will have a great sale, after raising their prices...the entire system is rigged.

[kyjweber]

The world around us is now designed to sell, sell, sell at every turn.  Making more profit - an increasing bottom line - is what drives the competition.  Maybe we should curtail our consumerism?!?!