Hawk's Babble-Log

I forgot to post this update on what happened.

My monthly “re-up” date rolled around and, of course, Simple Mobile would not charge my card (because they don’t want my money) so they turned off my service. I tried, fruitlessly, many times, to re-up using their website. Their website constantly declined my card. My card worked fine with Amazon.com (they do want my money), PayPal (they do want my money as well), and other miscellaneous stores such as ThinkGeek (they also want my money).

But it seemed Simple Mobile didn’t want my money. I fear they’re going to be canceling a lot of people when their re-up dates roll around and they can’t charge any cards. I hope Simple Mobile stays in business because the phone I got works on the T-mobile network and I don’t really want to sign up with T-mobile.

Anyway, after several days of complete website re-up failure, and calling Simple Mobile (they could not help me either), I decided to swing through a local Simple Mobile store and see what they could do for me. Turns out, if you have cash, they can re-up right then and there. I didn’t have enough cash, so I couldn’t do it right then. But it’s nice to at least be able to pay for the service.

I went back again a few days later and paid with cash and was able to re-up via the store. The store called a special number, put in a special code, entered my phone number, then waited about 3 minutes (of silence), then it was done and my phone worked.

Here’s the best part:

The plan I was on was $60 / month. This was their “unlimited talk, text, and web” plan. I don’t know when it happened, but now their “unlimited talk, text, and web” plan is only $40 / month. I logged in to my account on their website (yes, that part worked), and switched my account from the $60 / month plan to the $40 / month plan and now I’m working again.

So because of all this trouble, I’m saving $20 / month. I’m really kinda happy that they didn’t automatically re-up me at the $60 / month level. Hopefully, they will have their website fixed next month so that I don’t have to go back to an actual store to re-up.

Very strange. I’ve been trying to pay Simple Mobile for my cell service for about a week now. They refuse to accept payment. When I call, they tell me to go to a store and pay with cash there; they don’t take payments over the phone.

Otherwise, I’ve been pretty happy with the company and the service. Not too much to complain about.

But when they actively refuse may payments, makes me wonder… Does this sound like a company that wants to succeed? Maybe they just have sooo many customers that they don’t need me?

Very strange. I don’t know what to do except hunt down a store and pay with cash.