Has anyone had any experience with Credo Mobile? (This is the Working Assets mobile phone service). I am thinking of switching but don't know anyone else using it.

they run on the sprint network and I'm looking at them as well but feel that it might be limited, customer service-wise

very limited selection of phones too

let me know if they're worth getting

Ohhh yeah, I'm sick of soul sucking Cingular.

Verizon's always been really, really good to work with.  I've had Cingular, T-Mobile, and Nextel.  They all can kiss my ass in hell.

Verizon has the best coverage but the Sprit network is a close second and is way cheaper.

AT&T's shitty coverage and horrible customer service is the one and only reason I don't have an iPhone.

GSM still sucks in the US

Coots, transfer your contract (and financial responsibility) to a friend and get a new service (and transfer your number)

A bunch of Creed songs just popped in my head :(

I'm bumping this thread in hopes some people have used Credo by now or have any feedback about it?

(And please no more spam from the company or a rep).

I am thinking about this myself and would be really interested to know about others' experiences with Credo. My biggest concern is coverage.

Supposedly they use Sprint lines so coverage is same as Sprint.

Yes I know...I'm curious how good that is.

That's what I have now and have always had so I can't compare it to others.

Hey guys, I found this thread after posting that seemed to have more info (not favorable)
yelp.com/topic/san-franc…

I have no experience with this company but I like their signs in BART.

Is there a VICE mobile that invest a portion of its profits in gun, defense, oil, and gas companies?  I want to use that company.

Eric "This Space Intentionally Left Blank" M. says:

Is there a VICE mobile that invest a portion of its profits in gun, defense, oil, and gas companies?  I want to use that company.

================

Isn't using a cell a vice in the first place? (it is the way many do).  Well, it's a de-vice anyway

Credo sucked for me.  I switched from another company and my old phone got cut off on a Monday and I called them Monday afternoon to activate the new phone.  They couldn't activate it then ("waiting for data from HQ"), nor could they do it each day that week when I called them back, so I lost phone service for the whole week.  Finally by Friday I got disgusted and switched back to my original company.

I was planning on switching over to Credo.  I have to admit it was because of their 'progressive' attitude and advertising such as this on their web site:

**********
SUPPORT BUSH/CHENEY?
We all make mistakes. But who knew your phone choice was a political decision?
Well, it certainly was when AT&T's political action committee stepped up as a maximum contributor to the Bush/Cheney campaign -- twice!

And it remains a political decision when there's such a clear alternative -- a mobile phone service that stands up for your values, a mobile phone service that has helped contribute $60 million to progressive causes like Wellstone Action, Planned Parenthood and Project Vote, and a mobile phone service that is brought to you by Working Assets.

And that's CREDO Mobile.

It's the one mobile phone service where you get to automatically support the causes you care about -- without supporting the causes you can't stand (like Bush/Cheney's). And where you get to serve the world with your mobile phone without giving up anything in, well, mobile phone service.

Because CREDO Mobile has the cool phones (many free*), comprehensive coverage and affordable plans you deserve and demand.
**************

Then I realized that they just lease coverage from Sprint/Nextel which contributes just as much to the conservatives/GWB.  I don't really care about the politics, you gotta do what you gotta do.  What bothers me is the hypocrisy of their ads.  

Come on.  I'm not THAT stupid.  

ATT may treat me like crap, but at least they don't lie.

This thread almost scared me away from Credo until I realized that all the people complaining at length had no Yelp friends and no photo.  Hmm, exist much?  Anyway, I signed up.  I'll post again once I have actual experience with the service.

I've been a customer for a few months now, and my review is now up: yelp.com/biz/credo-mobil….  The short answer?  Recommended, but check your bill carefully!

So I was the only person on Earth under the age of 80 with no cell phone until I signed up with CREDO so admitedly I don't have much to compare them to. But here's my experience for whatever its worth.

After researching the options I went all out and got their web capable "smart phone." Unfortunately the web interface on the phone totally sucks so I decided to cancel the "internet" portion of my plan. (Note: this is a problem with Motorolla, not CREDO). I fully expected to get the run-around, since my contract was for two years and I was well outside the trial period. To my surpise I was able to reach an actual, living person within three minutes of calling customer service, and they changed my plan no questions asked. Since then I have no complaints. Well, just one... the bill can be confusing. But if there's a problem it's easy to resolve it because they actually answer the phone when you call. How refreshing.

I've been with Working Assets for a looooong time and love them.

I switched my cell service at the end of last year to Credo (from Cingular/AT&T) and have been THRILLED with the service, the price, and everything else about them.  I recommend them highly, AND they do good in the world at the same time.

I recommend them highly.

I love Credo Mobile.  I know, some of you won't trust my review because I haven't posted a picture or written a book of a profile, and I've only been a member of this yelp site for like a minute, etc., but when I saw this question posed, Has anyone had experience with Credo Mobile, I had to respond.

My first ever cell phone plan was Verizon, which I absolutely hated and I cringe whenever I hear anyone say, Verizon's the best.  I don't believe they are, but that's just my opinion.  Everyone's entitled to one.  They were not that great for me.  After that, I switched to Sprint.  Great.

Then I got an offer that I couldn't refuse.  I had Working Assets long distance for my home line and they offered to pay my termination fee and send me a new phone just for trying their service out.  Well, it was a no brainer since I was already a Sprint customer (that's who provides the cell service) and it was the most painless experience I've ever had talking to a customer service rep.  I don't remember how many months I had to stay on the plan to get credit for the termination fee, but it was all squared away when they said it would be.

Because of my great experience and I always talk up Credo to friends and colleagues.  I try to persuade people to switch, but that dang iPhone stops a lot of people.  But I'm not one of those prey to 'gotta have the latest gadget'.  I was happy with the selection of phones Credo offered and since I've switched, I've upgraded for free.

And their customer service department rocks!  They actually called me the other day to inquire about the increased web browsing on my account, much the same way a credit card company would flag unsual charges.  I know, the cynics will say, they're just looking to swindle me into another plan, but I was happy they took the time to call.

So, for anyone out there who's looking for another plan, I say, take the jump and switch to Credo.  I also love that they fight for causes that interest me and they aren't afraid to stand behind those beliefs.  You won't see a lot of companies taking sides on any issues for fear of offending customers.  I love that they don't just give money to organizations that fight for their beliefs, but they get people involved.  Actions speak louder than words sometimes.  That's another reason why I responded.  I hope you're happy with whatever plan you've chosen.

Credo provides great customer service, and they always thank you for using their service (e.g., "Thank you for being a customer for the last nn years.").  The mobile service works just as well as I remember AT&T, lo, those many years ago.  I know I feel good using Credo as my provider, as they give 1% of their profits to progressive causes (same as their long distance and credit card arm, workingassets.com).  Use your consumer dollars to vote for progressive issues, and go with Credo/Working Assets!

Years ago, I switched from Sprint PCS to AT&T because AT&T had better coverage around Boston, MA, usually 2 more bars.  (AT&T became Cingular, which became AT&T.)  AT&T's support for Bush/Cheney got me tempted to switch to Credo.  I called, and was told they use GSM (the global standard for mobile communication), but their phones still won't work in Europe.

From being a customer of AT&T and Swisscom I know their GSM phones have a removable SIM card.  Sprint's phone does not, so on a technical level that leaves me a bit confused about Credo.  But that Credo "the company with a global focus" doesn't work globally may well keep me from switching.

I just switched to them a few months ago- I loved Tmobile but couldn't get any reception in my apartment. Credo's reception is fantastic, the customer service is awesome, and you get some great opportunities to promote the environment and liberal causes, but if you're looking for fancy ringtones, games, and a grillion phones to choose from you're out of luck. You join Credo for the cause, not for the bells and whistles.

We've had Working Assets (the folks who offer Credo Mobile) as our phone carrier for nearly 15 years now.  Joined because of their 1% donations to causes we support.  So it only made sense to switch over to their Cell service too.  WHAT A MISTAKE.  But don't get me wrong, I don't blame CREDO.  I blame *#&$^@ Sprint, who is the provider they use.  We live in a rural area, AND we now have no Sprint providers up here.  I have had to call CREDO *every* month because of something screwy on our bill, due to Sprint's stupid service plans (they only offer 50 minutes of roaming PERIOD, on every plan except the "everything-pay-100-bucks" plan.  I'm on "roam" in my DRIVEWAY).  Every single month, we've ended up paying at LEAST $100 more than our "plan" is set up for, due to either roaming charges (my partner works in Sacramento, 5 hours away, and it's all roam from half hour south of here to the 5 freeway!!!), email charges or what have you.  The customer service people have been nothing but nice and helpful, but they are hog-tied by the stupidity of the plans Sprint offers them.  If you live in a major metropolitan area, you may not have the troubles we have, but I'm about to cancel our plan with CREDO and just go with someone who has a service provider (storefront) up here.  I've given it every chance I can, but after 16 months of sheer hell (and talking to customer service once a month minimum), it's time to go with a cell provider that cares about people and has some flexibility!  And that is NOT Sprint.  I will never, ever use Sprint again for cell phone service.  It's unfortunate that CREDO can't use a different provider, because then the service might not be a problem for those of us in rural areas.

I've been using Credo for about 14-15 months now,  Their customer service may be great because you talk to a real person (I don't know if I even think that's better than an automated systems most of the time), but once you have a question or an issue, falls to pieces.  I have found that the customer service reps are ill-trained, lack knowldeg of the company's servicves and phones and almost always leave me unsatisfied.  I love the whole idea of working assettes.  I used to have a money market fund with them, still have my long distance and cell, but once this contrat has expired, I  think I'll just go back to one of the other monoliths.  At least with them they have local stores and if your phone stops working, you can get a new one ion hours.  With Credo, that process is 9 days!  The rep said 3-5 days.  So, I'm pretty disgruntled , nay disappointed with their service and most of their policies now are no different that anyone else.  I thought they would be different, but they're not.
My experience with their carrier Sprint has been that it's about like all the rest. It works most of the time.

We have also thought about switching to Credo but I keep hearing how Sprint service sucks.  Also I haven't seen many more seasoned Yelpers respond to this thread.

We have Working Assets for our regular phone service.  I also also doubt that Credo/Sprint has cell phone service in our area.  When we first thought about getting cell phones through Working Assets we tried for years but they never had service in our part of the East Bay.

I'm also a Working Assets customer from a rural area.  I wanted to be a customer because I liked the sound of their progressive efforts, but once I got my phone I found I had to walk 2 blocks from my house to get a decent signal.  I didn't use it a lot, at first, and thought (stupidly) that maybe the poor signal wasn't 'that big a deal.'  After a few months though, I realized the phone was virtually useless because, let's face it, who wants a phone they can only use two blocks from their house?  When I called and explained that to the customer service folks they said "well, you had a whole month in which to cancel!" - which is true, I've only myself to blame, but since they start billing you from the minute you sign up, you really only have 3 weeks to investigate the signal strength and, if you work for a living (i.e. you aren't home all the time), that poor signal strength can seem pretty minor until a few months have gone by.  Bottom line - if you don't live in a big city, Credo is probably not a great provider for you.  (Also, you either have to sign up for a text package, or go through the hassle of requesting they turn off your text entirely - otherwise you pay 15 cents per every text sent or recieved.  I don't know if that's par for the course, I'm not a fan of texting... but I have a friend who is... so I found out the hard way just how fast texts add up.)

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

found this thread and couldn't resist adding my two cents. about 4 years ago i had a working assets cell phone in michigan and found their customer service to be good and the reception to be good most everywhere i wanted to go.

fast forward to 2006 when i got a credo cell phone again. so many bad changes! first of all, two year contracts. also, terrible reception. recently we moved across the country and the phone was roaming for entire states - montana and wyoming, for instance. what if my car had broken down? i would have had to pay up the nose!

also their customer service, which was the original reason i contracted with them again, SUCKS now. they do a crappy job of explaining their byzantine service policies and plans and will never cut you a break in any way or help you. the only way they will help you is to provide yet another explanation why the service costs so much more than you think it's going to because normal life things happen: you drive through wyoming, you drop your cell phone in water, your brother texts you even though you don't want him to, etc. they will explain things to you, but they will never offer you a good deal or do anything to make your life easier.

i cannot afford my credo service anymore, but i can't afford to drop the service either. i just dropped my cell phone in water again. i also moved to the west coast and all my family and friends are on eastern time zone so the free long distance is no good for me at the times i used to call them - weekday evenings - because by the time it's 9 p.m. here it's midnight there. i am thinking of actually ditching the cell phone forever. but i just had to renew my contract to get a new phone because of dropping the first one in water, so i am stuck with them for two years.

and i just don't care about their causes that much - i give the donations i want to give directly to the charities i really care about. i don't need liberal cred. i need an affordable phone plan! any suggestions (for two years from now when i finally shed credo once and for all)?

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.

I've been a Credo customer for 10 years (starting out when it was called Working Assets).  I had landline long distance for 5 years and have had wireless service with them for the last 5.  I started out using this company when living in Berkeley, and continued after moving to Chicago, and still use them now living in DC.  The motivation initally for choosing Credo was their great international rates, which I believe are still great, if you are looking for that feature.

The network is fabulous.  It is the Sprint Network.  Signal reception is fantastic also.  I've never experienced the problems others have with dead zones.  In fact, I can even get reception inside the Merchandise Mart in Chicago--a 4-block mass of solid stone that blocks almost all signals.  But not Credo.  The only signal issue. I've experienced are on the Metro, underground.  I've only experienced roaming when in certain areas of certain military bases.  These two issues within reason for a mobile network, I think.

Customer service is also superb.  The 1-800 number has an automated system that has a few options for new customers and checking your bill, and then 'talk to an operator' for all other problems.  Very very easy to reach an operator.  I've never experienced after-hours problems, although this may be because I'm now on the east coast so I have the advantage of the time zones.  Recently I changed area codes and experienced some technically difficulties getting the phone to accept the new programmed number.  Credo customer service was extremely helpful--although it can take some time for the phone to work with the new number, they asked me to call back immediately if that time expired and the phone didn't work, and were prepared to send me a new phone at no charge if the second time around didn't work (it did.).

Cost is fantastic also.  Same price as sprint.  If you are frequently calling before 9PM, I suggest asking for their add-on package for, I think, $4.95/mo that starts your N&W hours at 7pm instead.  I'll even admit back when I had landline long distance service, I got behind on my bill, and they were very accommodating in my payments and didn't report it to the credit bureau.  Not that I'm advocating anyone not pay their bills on time.

Phone choices are fine.  I really really like the Sanyo Katana.  I had the original model, which outlasted my contract, and now have the newer model.  Credo always offers you the option of buying the phone instead of signing a contract.  And the contracts aren't that long, compared to some companies.  

One small problem for some people might be the wait to receive the phone in the mail (since Credo doesn't have stores that you can walk into).  But they ship via Fedex (or maybe UPS?), so the phone arrives quickly and if there were any delays they would be able to track the package right away and deal with the problem.

The big problem we've run into is that you can ONLY use phones sold by Credo.  Even though they use the Sprint network, you cannot buy a used Sprint phone (or a pay as you go phone that works on the Sprint network) and have Credo activate it.  This is bad news for both ethical and financial reasons:

1) If you're signing up for Credo, you're probably a politically progressive sort.  You might want to keep your purchase of new phones down to a minimum, because you don't want to contribute to the warlords in the Congo who are profiting from the trade in coltane, which is a necessary component of many tech devices.  Or you might want to recycle someone else's tech castoff so that every bit of use gets squeezed out of it before it goes off to be e-waste.  Unless you can find a used Credo-branded phone, sorry, you're out of luck.

2)Ever dropped your phone in water and needed a replacement before your contract is up?  The cheapskate way  is to buy a used phone from someone who's upgrading, or buy a pay as you go phone.  That's a much better deal than paying $5 a month per line for phone insurance for all but the most expensive phones.   Sorry, no dice.  If you're on a family plan,  with a teenager or two who is a little more careless, look forward to paying for either lots of insurance or buying an expensive new phone.  

If you want to buy a new enhanced phone because you need browsing or other smart phone capabilities, again, you have no option but to buy new from Credo.  There is no used market.  

To their credit, Credo says it's a restriction put on them by Sprint.  On the other hand, Credo offers no used reconditioned phones.  

I've been very happy with their customer service, but this issue is going to be the deal-killer for us.

Hi Lisa, CREDO Mobile will start selling refurbished handsets again at the San Francisco Green Festival, November 14th - 16th. It will take us a bit longer for our regular launch to set up inventory, billing system, Web site, and train representatives, but we will be offering refurbished handsets on an ongoing basis as soon as possible.

Thanks,

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

Based on the replies of the CREDO people here, they are a company very interested in the welfare of their customers - you wouldn't see a Verizon rep on a review forum trying to settle customer issues.

I'm another new yelper, but very interested in CREDO. I'm just waiting for them to adopt Android - or any handset worth jumping off Verizon (and my trusty VX8300) for...

I was thinking about signing up but looked first at the section of their website that discusses groups they donate too. One of the "progressive" groups is Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, a Nazi follower who advocated Negative Eugenics. Negative eugenics is aimed at lowering fertility among the genetically disadvantaged. I dont call the Nazi movement or supports progressive.

But don't you get to choose which NPO gets your Credo dollars?

I am currently in a struggle with Credo Mobile customer service.  I was a Working Assets customer for many years until my local carrier offered free long distance.  I was tired of Cellcom and liked the idea of giving back with my service, so I contacted them about my concerns - Cellcom was the only server that worked in my area.  They promised me a month free trial - it didn't work and I called them to return it on the month free trial.  And they said, fine no problem.  

NOW - fast forward six months - they have instigated a collection agency to get $250 out of me!  And I don't even know why.  Yes they send the bills and yes I return the bill and say, sorry I don't owe this because I was given a one month free trial but they refuse to listen.

I thought I could trust them.  I have no backup information to verify what I say is true.  So now all I can do is write them a letter, explaining why I'm not paying, and let them destroy my good credit rating.

Beware.
Monette

I have been using Credo Mobile for over 2 years.  I ordered an LG phone (no special features) which is good for my needs.
The phone operates very well in the area I live.  There used to be dead spots, such as Walmart,  a medical building.
The local hospital did indicate that no cell phones work in the building.  In the hospital clinic outside of the hospital there are weak signals.
Other dead spots are a local super market.  
In Walmart and the super market I am directed to pay 75 cents a minute to Verizon if I want the call.  I solve the problem by walking about 25 feet away from each building and the phone works with no extra charges.
What I like about Credo Mobile is that I do not have to purchase a large amount of minutes which I do not use.  Verizon's plans start at twice the minutes Credo Mobile does.  What I do not like about Credo Mobile is the charities.  I do not agree with any in the list.  
Credo Mobile offers no extra charge to call 9-1-1 and other government numbers.
The bad features of Credo Mobile is that the phones offered are not new, but rather older phones.  
But other than that I have had no problems with Credo Mobile.  
I would imagine the only phone service I would purchase would be from COSTCO since they also offer free activation.
COSTCO also gives a free case.
I purchased a case for my LG at Walmart which had a large selection and good prices.
To keep your phone charges down and even if you need other features, Credo Mobile is definitely the way to go.

I have been with this company 12 years.

In 12 years I have never, ever had a bad experience with their customer service.  I have never been on hold for very long at all, and their reps are well-informed, helpful, and above all, friendly.

Their phone options are limited, I will admit.  It is my only complaint.  However, when I last inquired, they were working on adding a lot more to choose from.

Rural areas might be an issue - I don't visit them often (by choice).  Didn't have any issues with the reception in Marfa or Fort Davis, TX, and it doesn't get any more rural than that.

Bottom line is, if you are a progressive-minded person who cares about where their money goes and what it supports, there really is no other option.  Imagine a cell phone company you can actually be proud to give your money to!  

(Also:  To Sean D. - do some research before you make such bold statements.)

Fifty percent of the responses I have got have been from people who work there. I don't need to hear it. It's as if they use this query to bump the promotion of their company. Bad! No more!

brand new yes--credo employee--no--in fact disabled--that's why we switched--we are getting the same services we got with Verizon with just about the same coverage area (reception) for literally (LITERALLY!!!!!) half the price--existing now on SSDI how can you beat that?  plus the customer service is great--they seem to have a way to drop what I pay every time I call (like putting me on a plan with no roaming charges when I started getting some--and then forgiving all my roaming charges too!  Let's see Verizon do that!)  I've only been with them six months--but I also have now (due to further things having gone wrong that are eating my money) cut down my account twice now--they told me all I have to do is keep my phone at the lowest level for the life of the contract--that's the only stipulation--beat that!--the way things are going we may get there!  no other phone company lets you cut back your contractr--you can add to it--you can never take away!  Just my two cents--oh and one other thing--I can't drive anymore--my wife has to do everything for the whole family--whenever I call credo--no matter what the reason--I get a free pint of ben and jerry's--she gets them and when she'd had a rough day of trucking around four kiddos and working and dealing with my medical issues--well lets just say chocolate can work wonders--and in six months I believe I've gotten like oh--18 pints at least--my family is soooooo grateful--only thing is now that my kiddos have experienced premium icecream the store brand just doesn't seem as good!  definitely go with credo!

I'm new here.  Hi. No picture, no other reviews.   I promise, soon as I rage about Credo, I'll post reviews full of awesome for companies that aren't the devil.
AVOID CREDO.  Like that kid in 1st grade that had the pool you coveted but also wiped his boogers on you---potentially a rad relationship  until the boogers started.  I switched to Credo because I was sucked into their causes & was attracted, more than that, to a company with (GASP) CS that appeared to be good & possibly in the US for once (looking at YOU, Sprint).  Oh, what a mistake this was.
I joined 4 months ago.  For the ENTIRE 1st month, Credo couldn't figure out how to port my phone number.  This of course meant I had no service.  Gosh, Sally, we're doing our best!  How did I know they were doing their best?  Because I had to call THEM every other day for updates.  Mind you, the entire time this was going on, I was still paying for the, um, service?  From then, it was all downhill.  
I have a family plan so my aging parents have phones if something should go wrong.  During the "durrr how do we port your numbers" phase, of course, one of the 'rents needed that phone to work.  Major source of anger #2.  So this hiccup is finally worked out (the day I could cancel with no penalty, of course, not that I'd had time to USE the phone to know if I should cancel), more fun!  My 1st bill.  SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS?  Seems the Mensa candidates not only charged me per text (w/ a text plan included), but also went ahead & added a 4th line to my account.  My phone number with a different area code that doesn't, incidentally, exist.  It took at least 2 weeks to be able to figure out how to make all of that go away, including the few hundred bucks I didn't really owe.
I've spent no less than 10 hours of my time on the phone with Credo pointing out mistake after mistake. Every bill.  I pay online, like many do, & instead of accepting the $100 payment I entered in the 'what I want to pay' box, Credo went ahead & took the entire $387 they said I owed at that point (another point of contention, I was in mid argument over THAT number too).  I had to put a stop payment on it, & then it took so long for them to 'allow' another payment that they suspended my service.  While I was out of the country.  & oh hai, it's my biz phone as well so there went much revenue there.  On my return, I paid $150 & was told that Credo had never credited me for the termination fee, the 1 from the fake line they created on my account???  Fine.  I owe another $85, no sweat.  Let's just make sure this payment is kosher & then I'll settle up.   Oops, not so much.  Another $350 bill online? After 3 more calls to supervisors, I was told indeed that credit WAS already issued & eventually they will give me another 100 for my trouble.  But not now.  Later.  HUH?  .
Do the math. 4 x $100 a month to pay, $225 of MY $ & credits from Credo paid=$350 to pay still?  I'm done. Shiny & press worthy progressive while screwing customers. Nice.

Don't do it.
I never had any problems with Working Assets, but I've had nothing but problems with Credo.
In my pure unadulterated frustration as a Credo customer, I'm starting a yelp account in an attempt to enlighten potential customers.   Perhaps this line of thought is compelling the other no-name yelpers above.  What I'm emphasizing here is I don't usually do this online review thing, which might indicate how truly dissatisfied and frustrated I must be.  Granted, every time I call customer service, a human being picks up the phone relatively soon.  They've always been nice, and relatively unable to help me, disempowered and ill-informed, reminicent of volunteer phone-bankers and not competent employees.  They say they'll switch my plan and then don't, they say they'll call back and then don't.  My partner and I have a family plan and in a vain attempt to elliminate the hundreds of extra dollars incurred on our monthly sixteen-page incomprehensible bill, I called to have my own plan established.  The very nice woman on the phone set it up and assured me that everything was okay, and then when the company decided several days later that my credit check wasn't sufficient to warrant my own plan, they didn't call me or inform me in any way.  They just cut off my service.  Which I didn't immediately realize, because I rarely make outgoing calls and mostly need my phone for emergencies because my father is recovering from a series of strokes.  Meaning in short order, I'd like to know when my phone is shut off.  When I called to find out what the problem was, the very nice man on the phone explained it  to me, and did nothing to help.  It's like the government itself; the problem isn't the individual people who answer the phones, but the entire irrational and poorly constructed beaurocracy.  I find myself wondering about the potential hazards of mediating my political power through a phone company anyhow.  It's the kind of philosophical underpinning I may never have evaluated if I'd not experienced the Credo arm of Working Assets, and maybe that's a backhanded blessing.  Mussolini said that fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism since it is a merger of state and corporate power.  I've begun to think the same logic keeping church and state separate should apply to corporations and the state.  How much of the thousand or so dollars we've given this company is funding causes I'm compelled to support?  If you want phone service, just pay for phone service.  If you want politics, do some good work.

I'm sorry to hear some folks have had service problems with CREDO. It's true that no company can have a perfect track record, and my experience with CREDO has been *** 100% positive *** - basically, I echo the sentiments of others who have written of good experiences. IN ADDITION - and I feel this is important - I don't feel you can fairly compare CREDO as just "one of" CREDO, Sprint, Verizon, etc. CREDO has a special mission to provide service to their customers while contributing something of value to the world as well. Unless having the absolute top-performing service were essential to my occupation, I would choose CREDO for that reason alone, even if their phones weren't the most exciting, etc. (in the long run, who really cares?) - as long as their service were at least _adequate_. And in the case of CREDO, it's more than adequate.

ALSO, in comparing services, I feel there is good reason to avoid both Verizon and AT&T on grounds of basic human decency. Both companies actively aided the Bush administration in illegally wiretapping private phone service, yours and mine. In addition, both are heavy Republican contributors, and Verizon provided free cellular towers to the McCain campaign. So, in patronizing those companies, you are helping the people that turned our country into the mess it is today. In some cases, it's hard to avoid them - for example, in my area local land-line service is provided by Verizon, period. I've responded by limiting my Verizon service to basic dial-tone connection, so they don't get a penny more of my money than necessary.

I must say I'm thoroughly shocked and saddened at some of the comments made here and the problems talked about.  I've been with Working Assets and now CREDO since 1999 and have never looked back.  They have been spot on thru multiple moves, a divorce, a stolen purse w/ phone in it.  Since my divorce a few years back, I have struggled financially and these folks have been soooo incredibly supportive in allowing me to pay what I can each month to keep my phone service.  After my purse was stolen, they gave me a new phone for just $20, after I had just upgraded to a new phone a mere 3 months prior and I didn't have to "renew" my contract.  

I can think of only 2x's in the almost 10 years I've been with them that I ever had a negative customer service experience and all those entailed was an individual who was less than helpful, other than that they are always friendly and courteous.  Incidentally I do not work for them although there have been time when I wished I did.

Someone in a different though connected thread said something about the 1% of your bill going to the different causes wasn't going to save the world.  Sure, you alone, probably won't but combine your 1% with thousands of others and it does make a difference.  Last year, me and other CREDO/Working Asset members helped raise over THREE MILLION dollars (this is from my latest bill statement):

Just a few of the organisations that received money:

                   ENVIRONMENT    
                   $69,597          Alliance for Climate Protection    
                   $67,892          American Rivers  
                   $79,583          Greenpeace
                   $69,718          Ocean Conservancy
                   $69,597          Sierra Club Foundation

                   CIVIL RIGHTS    
                   $37,446          Alliance for Justice  
                   $48,650          Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence    
                   $52,548          Center for Constitutional Rights  
                   $31,844          Center for National Security Studies    
                   $38,055          Equality Now    
                   $39,881          Family Violence Prevention Fund

I just signed up with Credo.   Here is what I've experienced so far...

1.  Beats Cingular's plan - Credo doesn't offer rollover minutes, but my partner and I never go over 1400 minutes a month, so that's a wash.  I pay $5 for 200 texts with Cingular, but I get 300 texts with Credo for the same $5.  Nights and weekends end at 7am with Credo, but CIngular's ends at 6am.

2.  I ordered at 7am on Monday morning, and FedEx delivered at 2:30pm the very next day.  They told me 3-5 days, but then to be able to deliver the next day?  I feel like they have their systems worked out pretty well.

I'll write more when I've been able to try out their service for a while...

I used to sell Cellphones and had to learn a bit about the tech used. I don't anymore. I sold all companies cept Credo so I'm unbiast.   Here's some basics to understanding if Credo is right for you on a tech basis you'll have to decide whether on a mission statement basis on your own.

Cell phone tech.
All CDMY carriers Sprint Verizon and Credo are limited on cell phones.  The only reason Sprint and Verizon have more options is that they have more customers and more cellphone manufacturers are willing to spend the cash to build phones to work on their networks under their built in chips.  I'd expect that as Credo gets more customers more phones will be available but never as many that are available for Cingular/AT&T (or whatever they decide to call themselves today) or T Mobile.  If techs your deal T Mobile has the most universal chips and you can choose the most amount of phones (some even sold outside of the country) though the coverage leaves a bit to be desired in the US.

Roaming and Coverage.
You'll get decent coverage in city, and you'll drop calls while traveling but most major freeways shouldn't have much of a problem.  If you are able to afford the roaming charges you can use the Verizon towers and get coverage almost anywhere.  Verizon is often called the "best" for this reason, they simply have the most towers up.   They are pricey as far as plans and I'd recommend if you live somewhere where you can use another company do so. Though on the plus side the most techy towers "digital network" are owned by Sprint and Verizon and Sprint share a deal to share towers so if all you are worried about is your internet signal you'll get the same coverage from Sprint, Verizon, and Credo.  Also because the towers are all digital while on the Sprint towers Credo and Sprint calls will always be crystal clear. The only advantage on Sprint over Credo on this is that Sprint is allowed to roam on to Verizon towers for free.  You will drop your call while switching networks its an annoying querk.  As far as the moral "I don't want to give Credo money cause it goes to Sprint", well you don't have a choice.  The money is either going to go to Sprint or Verizon.  Putting up towers is not cheap and is not an easy process legally or to get the permits and really do you want to have anymore cancer towers than you have to? (I have no information on the long term medical effects of towers but nothing about putting out that many waves seems healthy to me)  Plus these towers pull energy and its one of those green choices we need to argue over while thinking of putting up more towers.  Cingular and AT&T use a different type of system, GSM (most of the world uses this) and have their own type of towers/repeaters  you will most likely not be able to use them on Credo/Sprint/Verizon depends a lot on the type of phone. If you need to use your phone outside of the country, Credo/Sprint/Verizon is not your company it most likely will not work.

Part 2

Customer Service.
I just signed up to try Credo, but I do have to say no company out there aside form Credo is willing to buy you out of your old contract.  They have given me easy step by step instructions for this process and I'm eager to try out there phone for the 30 days.  They also waved my activation fees on both lines and gave me a $40 discount on top of the contract rebate for the main line phone.   A lot of the customer complaints I've seen on here have been personal or contract related.  Read your contract, texting, roaming, picture, web are not free.   The texting price in both package deal and per text charge is not the cheapest out there but it is fair.  Just know how many you have and how much it costs to both send and RECEIVE (a lot of people miss this so If you do have a friend that texts you a lot but you hardly text budget for them not for you).  Set your phone to not roam ever if you don't want roaming charges.  Web is rediculous on ALL networks.  I highly recommend not using any of it.   Even to download ringtones, because each page you go to while looking for that special ringtone or screensaver keeps racking up those Kilobytes and its quite a few kbs per page.   But if you like to, buy a plan the plans are fair on Credo.  Watch out also for any games or applications that use web time they will be racking up your bill without you even knowing it.  Billing I like much better on Sprint and since Credo is like Sprint and not split like Verizon I would expect they are similar.  Verizon has an annoying querk if you move you have to switch your billing plan to the new area if you want a local phone # (they are usually state but sometimes local).   They seperate their business through some legal jargin, so that technically the cell phone company I had signed up for in California is not the same as the the one I need in Florida for a local number even tho it is Verizon and they want me to switch to a new plan.  This is one reason I am switching, the switch in plans will require me to pay more for less minutes.  This also prevents family plans being split to phone numbers from different areas (for instance if your college student in another area wants a local phone #).  Sprint Cingular/AT&T and Tmobile don't do this and I assume Credo doesn't either since it isn't that big I suppose legally it doesn't have to. Credo also offers a unique month by month option as well as contract WOO!  As far as talking to the reps it all depends on who you talk to, if your rep is giving you heartburn, hang up on em, call again and you'll get a different one.  I spent most of my time selling talking to service reps about issues and it didn't matter which company they all have bad reps but most of em are reasonably good and want to help.  I'll have to try Credo out to see how they are before I say anything definative.

There's no such thing as the perfect company, just find the closest match for your needs.
Hope this helps

I've been using Credo for over a year now am quite happy with it; no service problems, free ice cream, good price, no spying by government.

I've been on Credo for almost a year now, and I'm very satisfied customer.  Super responsive customer service, great coverage (granted, in NYC), and a pretty cool Sanyo Katana with solar charger to boot (although haven't used that charger yet).  I like to know I'm supporting worthy causes and a company that is concerned with more than just profits.

I know this is an older thread, but wanted to get my thoughts in- I have had WA/Credo for 5 years and love it. No issues, CS is very nice, helpful, and I get an actual person almost right away. No coverage issues. I would not switch and recommend them to all my friends. The only bad- very limited on phone selection.

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Arvind M. says:

Then I realized that they just lease coverage from Sprint/Nextel which contributes just as much to the conservatives/GWB.  I don't really care about the politics, you gotta do what you gotta do.  What bothers me is the hypocrisy of their ads.  

Come on.  I'm not THAT stupid.  

ATT may treat me like crap, but at least they don't lie.

**************************************************************************

Maybe you don't think you're that stupid but you fail to realize CREDO is using Sprint's cellular infrastructure to pay 1%  to progressive causes. How smart is that? :)

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Derek C. says:

Credo sucked for me.  I switched from another company and my old phone got cut off on a Monday and I called them Monday afternoon to activate the new phone.  They couldn't activate it then ("waiting for data from HQ"), nor could they do it each day that week when I called them back, so I lost phone service for the whole week.  Finally by Friday I got disgusted and switched back to my original company.
*****************************************************************************

I just got off the phone. I signed up for CREDO. The CREDO customer service rep told me NOT to call my current carrier,
AT&T. He said CREDO handles the switch and ports my current number over, and when my phones arrive I should charge them up and use them to call CREDO customer service to make sure there is no service interruption.

Maybe you should have called CREDO first so they could have explained the procedure to you like they did for me.

I switched from AT&T and signed up with CREDO today. I've used Verizon and AT&T. BOTH of them cooperated in BUSH/CHENEY'S illegal domestic spying and both of them made the maximum contributions to the BUSH/CHENEY campaigns. CREDO has donated over $60 million to PROGRESSIVE causes. That's enough information to convince me to switch, AND I got a great deal -- free phone, FREE ROAMING, 10% off my monthly rate for a year, CREDO will pay up to $200 to cover your early termination fee, AND THEY SUPPORT PROGRESSIVE CAUSES. And even though CREDO has a two year contract just like the rest of the cellular companies, CREDO reduces your early termination fee by $5 for every month you're with them. The customer service rep was excellent. I got through to a live, polite, well trained, PROGRESSIVE human being in less than a minute.

Bye bye AT&T and Verizon, and good luck supporting Republican candidates because it looks like you'll really need it. :D

PS  I truly believe that MANY of the people posting negative comments here are right wing nutcases who just don't want to see a progressive company like CREDO succeed, because some of the anti-CREDO stuff posted here is just ridiculous -- and being ridiculous is the hallmark of the so-called "conservative" movement.

I have been a member of Working Assets and CREDO for over 15 years.  Every time I call customer service, they thank me for that length of service.  The thought bubble above my head always says, "Why am I such an idiot for staying with this company?"  I LOVED Working Assets for the first decade; no problems, and I could support progressive causes.  
All of my problems started when I decided to port my primary phone number from my landline to my brand new cell phone.  The customer service agents said it would take 24 to 48 hours; it took ten days, and they kept giving me incorrect information.  But, I stayed with them.
I admit to liking the free phones I get with each contract renewal.  But, there is almost always some error in the bill, and if you try to make any change, look out.  You'll spend hours with customer service.  I recently received a "loyalty upgrade" in addition to my new phone with a new contract, so I got a web enabled phone.  They didn't tell me that the phone was refurbished, and I couldn't access any websites that I needed for my upcoming travels.  I knew I would be roaming, so I signed up for a free roaming minutes plan.  I spent 2 hours on the phone with CREDO, my ISP, and the phone manufacturer trying to get it web-ready, and I never succeeded, so I arranged to return the phone, and reactivate my old phone.  
I had to invest my time to pack the phone.  I had to invest my time to deal with customer service repeatedly.  I just got my latest bill, and found several plan charges and erroneous charges that were not cancelled when I called to tell them I would be returning the phone.  I spent 40 minutes on the phone with an agent who kept babbling dogma at me, until I guided her line-by-line through the bill, and she FINALLY saw that I was right.  They willingly give credits on bills, but I now have to pay the entire erroneous bill, because the credit will be on the NEXT bill.
I only stay with them because they are the least of many evils.  Not a high endorsement at all.

I've had credo for almost a year. The phone reception is great. I'm in Los Angeles California area. I also used my cell in New Hampshire it was great there too. They phone I picked out is the first ones that I could actually hear the person I'm talking too. Though keep in mind I just use the phone as a phone & small amount of texting. I've had great service from Credo CSR.  One down fall is how long it takes to look your bill on line once it's ready for payment it's very slow. I had AT&T & the only other thing that is different for me is the ease of looking up day to day exactly what my teenagers is doing with her cell phone. Now I have to wait till the bill comes due to see what time & where she was using her phone. If Credo could work on there website to make it a little more advance that would do it for me. I like most of all what Credo stands for I think it important for us Americans to stand behind companies that want to make good change.

I've been with CREDO for almost a year.  The coverage is fine.  The rates are fine.  The phone and amenities options are light but I really just need calling service so it works for me.  I like the customer service and the payment/billing has been smooth and flexible.  Overall, I plan to stay with them for the forseeable future.

They donate 1% of your bill to charity and you for sure pay more than 1% more.

I have had Credo for six months and I am regretting switching from Verizon. Every single month I have had to call to straighten something out on my bill. The mistake is never credited until the next billing cycle so you are stuck with paying for their mistakes, and when you get the credit the next month there is something else usually wrong!

Also when I signed up I spoke with a customer service representative on the phone who said I would get a special promotion to recieve 10% off my plan for six months. I never saw that on the bill and spoke with someone about it repeatedly and never heard anything back until today, six months later, I called and explained the situation once again and she said they had listened to the phone calls and there was never anything of the sort mentioned. Where on earth would I make up an idea about a 10% off discount and trouble myself for months calling them repeatedly.

My bill always come out to be much more expensive than I anticipated, and the only thing good I have to say about them is it is at least very easy to get a hold of a human being to talk to and they are always very friendly, but not very efficient at correcting problems and mistakes.

I think I'd never switch to Credo however, can you recall the last time you saw input from an employee, let alone an executive, of ATT, T-Mobile or Sprint, regarding a customer service complaint?

carla n.   Actually go back to 2/14/08 and a CREDO employee did post here.  No they don't comment on a specific case or even on any sort of "customer service complaint" because they can't.  No company is going to allow their employees to talk in a public forum about how they handle or handled a customer service complaint, that's just standard company legal binds.  It's called CYA and one can't cover their ass if they're out spouting in public forums about how the internal workings of their company are run.

And what exactly is your point in posting here if you say you "think i'd never switch to Credo" and then you do not supply any reason(s) for your decision.  These forums are designed to help people gleam information in order to make better informed decisions but your post provides no such help.

I have been with Credo(nee' Working Assets) for more than 10 years.  The customer service has been incomparable- 100% positive and I have had minimal problems with service and billing.  My primary reason for becoming and remaining  a customer is Credo's dedication to progressive causes.
My only problem is the limited number of phones available and I don't understand why we don't have the same choices as Sprint customers or the ability to buy our own phones retail.

We've been with Credo going on 2 years and I am soooo happy we are! Great customer service, if I'm ever wondering about way to cut my bill down, they'll help out and answer questions no prob & suggest options. Plus now that theirs no roaming fee the coverage is even better. Also I know they aren't invading my privacy (can't say that about AT&T or Verizon) and I know the money I send them isn't working against me in the long run cuz we're on the same page.

We've had Credo for 12 years--the coverage=excellent, service=excellent--we have used our cell phones worldwide, no problems--the downside=selection of phones.  And, if you have a problem with your phone and want to switch to a different phone, this can really be a problem--my current phone is a reconditioned phone and I'm not happy--but, I've put off calling them just because . ..

I'm just putting it out there.......have no idea what Credo is but I'm a little SUSPICIOUS that there are so many positive things said by Yelp accounts from people with NO PICTURES, NO REVIEWS.

As NeNe from the Real Housewives of Atlanta would say...."SUSPECT" hummm????

Ian J., I have upgraded phones a gazillion times and gotten reconditioned one's as well from CREDO.  Perhaps you just merely got a lemon this time.  It happens, no piece of equipment is infallible.

Henry, you've no idea "what" CREDO is and yet you choose to post here on a forum that is strictly for people who have had experience w/ CREDO.  Boy, you sound like you're trolling.  And yeah, I"ve got no reviews but that's cause I lead a busy lilfe and don't have time to write reviews, it does not indicate any sort of conspiracy theory.

I have 3 virtually brand new Credo branded phones that are useless to me and I'm willing to sell for a song.  I had a craptastic experience with Credo and wouldn't recommend them to a soul, but those of you who are happy, good on ya.  If you are happy but need a new phone, let me know.  Promise---they were used for about a month and sure aren't reconditioned...and no one I know has even heard of the service.

Incidentally, let's not argue semantics regarding their social policy and donations....as I am the least "right wing nutcase" you're ever going to come across----I'm not staying with lousy service, incessant mistakes and ca-ca coverage just so I can wave my liberal flag.  I can do that via my principles and action.  Please don't make the mistake of assuming that anyone who had a less than stellar experience with Credo should be written off as a conservative troll.  Remember what your mother always said---assume.  Ass. You. Me.

Wow....A little defensive are we???

I had no idea that this thread was "Strictly" for Crappo users...oops I mean Credo. Yelp threads are to express your opinions and thoughts on the topic or anything that's totally unrelated/related to the thread...I did not mention anything about the actual service of Crappo just the fact that I am a little suspicious that there are SOOO many responses to this thread by individuals who have NO REVIEWS and NO PICTURES....which leads me to believe that they are posted by the same person with multiple accounts....but what do I know...Im just a troll right?

And don't worry this is the last time I'll post on this thread because I don't want to give Crappo any more exposure that it actually deserves.

Have a nice day, come again.

Credo is HORRIBLE!  I was with T-Mobile before and now I regret ever switching.  I like that they give a percentage to good causes but the service is so bad.  We just got back from a two week trip to Texas and it took me 5 or 6 tries each time I placed a phone call.  Their roaming in Texas is thru some super cheap cell company called Pocket.  The same thing happened when I was on a business trip to Chicago in May.  It may be ok for people who never leave the Bay Area, but if you plan on ever traveling with your phone, I would strongly suggest looking for another cell company.

I am a happy Credo customer with pics to boot. I'm a real person, who after using AT&T and Verizon for years has FINALLY found a cell phone service provider I'll be staying with for life. Credo's selection of phones is getting much better also...I just recently ordered my new Blackberry Curve 8330 from them.

I have had no problems with their customer service, in fact, it has been FAR AND AWAY the best customer service I have received since getting my first cell phone ten years ago. They are, without fail, prompt, courteous, funny, helpful and I have yet to see any weird surprise charges on my bill. (A first.)

I have had nothing but good experiences with Credo mobile. Interesting to note: after I first subscribed to their service, and got my first phone which was the LG rumor, I got a call about a week after, from a very pleasant lady in customer service who called just to see how the service was working out for me and if I had any questions at all, or needed help with anything. I have never had a cell service provider call ME up out of the blue to ask "can I help you with anything?"

As I said, Credo has been nothing but awesome for me. Just my two cents.

I've had Credo, formerly Working Assets, for several years now and have NO complaints. I moved from Illinois to North Carolina to Louisiana and got great service everywhere. The customer service is always prompt and polite, so I don't know what the other unhappy posters are talking about!

Customer service reps have helped me work through problems and suggested other plans. I went way over my usage limit when I evacuated for hurricanes last summer, but it was my fault - I could've changed usage, I just wasn't thinking. Right now, I'm trying out a new plan to lower my expenses where I get unlimited prime time calling for five friends I've selected and 450 minutes "anytime" calling. But I can change the list every month if I want. I especially like that a percentage of the profit goes to causes I have helped select. Really, if you are a socially conscious person, you cannot beat what Credo provides - suggested reading lists, free calls to Congress, alerts on particular legislative issues, etc.

I'm on my second LG phone and it is great - very reliable. The coverage has been fine too. My experience has been 100% positive as well. I don't even care if I spend a little more because the money is going somewhere that matters. I can't imagine how all the folks on this listserv have complaints. They must have an agenda. Now, if you want to talk about cable services, I've got stories to tell.

Credo Sucks! unfortunately i'm stuck with them for a while. They've screwed up my billing several times, and it's so confusing I can't even understand my bill and just end up paying them. When I call customer service it takes a half hour for them to even understand what's going on because they have to look at months of notes about how they've screwed up my bill.

They're expensive. If you switch to a different plan (even if you downgrade) they charge you a month in advance just for changing something.

If they were actually progressive, they wouldn't be giving money to Sprint, and they would have a sliding scale, income-based service, or something that's actually progressive. I am a non-profit; why not help me out Credo?

oh also, my phone doesn't work inside my house.

came back to this thread (you can see my first angry post above) because i have had even MORE problems with credo. this time here's what happened:

their website went down, i couldn't pay my bill, three weeks of calls & emails back and forth to get my web account fixed, finally paid my bill, THEN the bank refused payment because their website garbled my account information.

i ditched paperless billing - which means now i'll be back to getting a slew of lame-ass propaganda w/ my statement every month. i want to choose my own progressive causes to support and find a phone company that just wants to sell me a phone.

i can't wait to be done w/ credo. counting the days till my contract is up.

oh and by the way? my husband works for one of the progressive organizations credo supports. and both of us are so sick to death of their terrible service and mistakes - i don't even care!

I created a Yelp account just to respond to this. 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.

Do it!  I have CREDO and it is as good as or better than any other service I have tried, most recently T-mobile.  I had Working Assets mobile through Sprint a few years ago and was not really pleased, but I decided to give CREDO another try .  I was warned when I signed up that my home was in a borderline reception area, but since I don't have to use my cell phone at home, I went ahead and have had NO PROBLEMS anywhere, including at home.   My experiences with their customer service and web site have been better than the other big carriers.  I've had the long distance service for 15 years, and I love knowing that The Man is not getting all the profit from my accounts.

I wish I had done more research before I went into this contract with Credo.  I hope the next two years goes by quickly so that I can end this nightmare.

I've had Credo for more than 2 years and Working Assets before that. They aren't perfect but I've tried many of the others and they are by far the best - As others have noted - customer service does consist of Real People. And I'd much rather support progressive causes - even if they are on Sprint network.

Funny that this thread is still going, being bumped every month so it doesn't die.

I think people would be better of donating money privately to organisations and having a better service provider.

Love my CREDO

There is always something to complain about in my opinion, you can literally complain your life away.  Anyway, I am a southerner and a teacher, so I am polite by nature, and because I am an example for others...in most circumstances.  With that said, Credo's customer service has been extraordinarily friendly, helpful, and prompt in dealing with me and my new mobile phone service.  I just ordered a new Blackberry Curve from them, for a fraction of the price AT&T was trying for, and I have twice the amount of minutes, and four times the amount of texting for the same price as I had had with AT&T.  Sprint is pretty strong around these foot hills and mountains where we live in Virginia, so I am hoping for the best.  I will update if they are not meeting their own standards, but so far I believe I have found the mobile phone company for me.  AND for all those who feel they can't make a difference with 1%, you would be surprised!  Everything you do and say makes a world of difference each and every day of your life.  We are all one, don't forget that...that'll be the only way we get ourselves out of all of this war, violence, famine, and indifference bull ****!

Liz S.,

Please understand that those of us complaining here (well, most of us) do so for good reason. The first time I got a bill for $300 from Credo Mobile I knew it was a mistake and expected their friendly customer service representatives to correct the problem, just as they promised they would. When the second bill arrived with more errors, I also expected them to fix those. When the third bill arrived, the customer service reps were still friendly and apologized profusely, even though my bill still stated I owed Credo hundreds of dollars. The trick is -- they wanted me to PAY UP FRONT these charges, and then they would be refunded on the FOLLOWING MONTH's bill. Is that any way to generate good will? I am supposed to pay you hundreds of dollars that your customer reps fully realize that Credo is NOT entitled to, and then you'll refund my money when you fix the issue? I always waited a month before I paid. Every month, the last month's issues were, indeed, refunded, but the problem continued so new charges would be applied. Essentially, Credo borrowed about $200-300 from me for a period of four months (month-after-month) and could not seem to get this issue under control.

There is always something to complain about, but there is complaining when you have been wronged, and then there is just complaining. Here, many of us are complaining because of REAL ISSUES we had with Credo. I can live with a lot of inconvenience knowing I'm doing something for a good reason/cause (for instance, a poor selection of phones -- no biggie), but when there are serious billing issues that take LITERALLY MONTHS to straighten out, and the only way I can end up straightening them out for good is to CANCEL the service and PAY THE DISCONNECT FEE, then that is something I feel others need to know about to help them make an informed decision about this company.

And I also love how you say you're a southerner and teacher and how you are polite by nature and an example for others, and end your post with a swear word. Love it.

I've had service with Credo for a little over a year, and I like them, but not as much as I did in the beginning. This is my first cell phone, so I don't have much to compare it to. Coverage is pretty good in my area, and I've been satisfied with my phone. Thoughts:

A) Customer service representatives have been great; I haven't had to call often, but when I have, everyone I've talked to has been competent and helpful and not too focused on selling me anything new.

B) Email customer service is less helpful; it tends toward form-letters, but I suspect that's par for the course.

C) Their billing is... not great. I bought a new phone over the summer and they accidentally applied my payment to my usual account. When I asked them why I hadn't been billed for a couple months, they said they would debit my account in the amount of the mistaken payment, which they seem to have done, but when they did, they sent me a past due notice. Arg.

D) This one will irritate people, so I'm gonna shout it. I THINK THEY SOLD MY ADDRESS. I've been receiving mail from a variety of totally worthy organizations to whom I have never directly given either my money or my address; additionally, the address is formatted in the same way it is in my Credo bills (not the way it's formatted in any other mail I receive). I suspect that they gave my address to these worthy organizations, and I find that extremely irksome.

Overall: Sprint gets pretty good coverage here, and I self-consciously like the idea of a crazy liberal phone company, but I'm not sure I'm gonna sign up with Credo again after my contract expires.

After 2.5 years with Credo, we've ported over to Sprint.  Partly this was because we got an offer we couldn't refuse--20% off of any Sprint plan.  Better for us to save the money and make bigger donations elsewhere.  But partly it was because of things that, for our family, Credo just doesn't provide.

1) Though Credo uses Sprint lines, Credo plans offer significantly less bang for the buck.  Our Sprint "Unlimited Messaging" plan includes text, picture and video messaging, and has free evenings starting at 7 PM.  Credo's similar plan is for text messaging only, and evenings start at 9 PM.  

2) The phone selection is very limited.  My previous Credo phone lasted me the entire 2.5 years, so I'm not the kind of person who needs to have the latest and greatest.  All I wanted was a slider or flip phone with a full QWERTY keyboard for texting, costing me no more than $50 a handset after signing up for a 2 year contract.  Credo offers no phones like this.  Sprint offers a few, including the made-from-recycled-plastic Samsung Reclaim.  

3) The problem with replacement phones that I mentioned over a year ago remains.  Drop your phone in water, or lose it?  You can only replace it with another Credo phone.  Since there are very few Credo users, the used market for Credo phones is teeny.  Credo now offers one refurbished model, at a $200 retail price.  I'm sure there would be a price cut if you agree to extend your contract.  With the major cell carriers, it's easy to buy a used handset on ebay or craigslist, or even buy a pay-as-you-go handset for far less with no extension to your contract.  Credo should be offering bargain-basement used phones to people in this kind of situation, and they should feature it prominently on their website.

4) We've always been pleased with Credo's customer service.  But we were recently surprised to find that you can't get any technical support on, say, a Saturday evening.  

5) Not a deal breaker, but it was a disappointment for my kids when we started our Credo contract to find out that no, there were no games on their phones, and no way to get any.   Just because I like the idea of supporting progressive causes doesn't mean I don't want the option to have one measly little time-wasting doodad on my phone.

One thing I will say in Credo's favor is that a cell phone expert said that there are often problems porting numbers from resellers like Credo.  Apparently, the telecom regulation that says that cell phone numbers must be portable exempts the resellers, and some outfits are apparently quite nasty about releasing numbers.  Credo is one of the good guys here, which is what I'd expect.

Let's put this to rest once and for all.

No phone companies are "great" or "outstanding." Period. They all have their flaws. But overall, I gladly fork over money to Credo for my monthly phone bill. Let's debunk some of the things mentioned on here:

COST: No phone company is cheap. Rates here are comparable to others. I don't care if your a mother with 2098230948 children or a single gay male who runs an at-home business. If you're pressed for funds, don't get all the fancy extras -- remember a few years ago when nobody texted? Yeah, I sure do. And I'm only 26. Pay for what you need. Me? I gladly pay $29.99 a month for 200 minutes with free nights and weekends, $10 for unlimited texting and $30 for data for the Blackberry Curve - which, might I add, was FREE - with it's QWERTY keyboard and all the glory associated with it... Let me repeat: FOR FREE....So for roughly $70 bucks a month, I get everything that I *need*. Which, comparing it to other companies is actually a heck of a lot less.

PHONE SERVICE: Look at the maps for yourself. You'll probably get great coverage unless you live in the middle of nowhere in a town that has one four way intersection with no stop light. I've traveled up and down the West Coast, from Seattle to LA, Vegas, Salt Lake, Reno...etc. And have only lost coverage where you'd expect it: rural Nevada, up in the mountains... blah blah blah. Everywhere else? I have it when I need it. That says a lot.

REPLACING PHONES: How often do you drop your phone in water? Not often. I never have. And those that I know that have done it have been intoxicated. And why do we Americans *need* everything right away, at our disposal? I don't mind waiting for the new phone I ordered. Nor did I mind when I joined. Patience goes a long way. And as far as the selection goes, sure its not the best -- but that goes back to why we always think we need to have endless options. Pick a phone. They have one for whatever you need. Sure it won't be fancy, but who cares about that? Umbrellas aren't fancy, but they serve a purpose. So do cell phones.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: What can I say? I haven't had any problems. They've helped when I needed it, which has been rare. It's easy to get a hold of someone. And working in the retail industry, quite frankly, when it comes down to "customer service" you quite frankly get what you give. Being nice and respectful goes a long way. These "horror stories" that are being told sounds like certain people needed to take a chill pill. Sure, things get messed up. And things get solved with time and patience. Slow down, take a deep breath, and if there is a problem, handle it with respect towards the person trying to help you. Whats the big deal about that?

BILLING: How hard is this phone bill to read? Maybe it's me.. but it's not that difficult: farm3.static.flickr.com/…

OVERALL: Very content. Highly recommended. Do it. And yes, I am real.

Maybe if they spent less time promoting their BS politics like Al Gore and more time on customer service they wouldn't SUCK!

I've been using Credo for years... 8 or 9 years now in fact.  They've improved a lot; they have a much wider range of phones available, including a Blackberry.  But I like basic phones anyway, and don't look for a lot of extra features, so if you're into that you might have to make some sacrifices to use Credo (although this seems to be changing so check out what they have).  Huge flexibility and customization options in terms of plans; for example, you can ask for a 7pm start time for evening minutes.  Coverage is amazing, it's always better than what my friends have.  And yes they use the Sprint network, but they are administratively a totally different company, so you are not dealing with Sprint at all.  They have always had, and continue to have, excellent customer service -- they are willing to work with you solve problems, don't charge late fees, etc.  One time I renewed my contract and forgot to mention that I wanted the 7pm start time for evening minutes, and consequently received a huge bill.  I called them and explained the problem and they fixed it retroactively, applying a credit for all those minutes to my bill.  I've never had an experience like that with another phone company.

One caveat with blackberry phones: you can only get a blackberry if you also purchase a data plan.  Credo now offers the Rumor 2, a slider QWERTY phone, for $30.  I don't understand why they're not offering the (figuratively and literally) green Samsung Reclaim, another QWERTY slider, which is now free from Sprint.  

Incidentally, my then 11 year old daughter was definitely not drunk when she dropped her phone in the water.  In fact, she was asleep--she'd left it on top of the toilet, and it vibrated into the bowl.  Stupid, of course, but kids and teens do stuff like that.  Even when they're not drunk.  :-)

I earlier reported that Credo seemed to be running a scam on me. I have had more experience with them and now believe that they either are unethical or totally incompetent. I would stay as far away from this company as possible.

Here's my issue with this company. I don't use their service. And I know nothing about them. However, today I received an extremely offensive sticker, in the mail, from this company. The sticker reads: "OMG GOP WTF?!"

I was honestly SHOCKED to get this in the mail. Luckily, I happened to retrieve it before my children did so. I would not want them to see a sticker with the acronym WTF on it. The older children know the acronym and are not allowed to say such a thing. I would have had to explain why such a sticker was mailed to me. And, if my younger children saw this sticker, they would have asked me what 'WTF' means. And I do not want/need to have that conversation with my young children.

It is appalling and irresponsible for a company to send such an offensive and unsolicited mailer. If this is any indication of how this company does business, I would stay far away from them.

I did NOT order this sticker, as it says on the back. I have no dealings with this company, nor would I ever do business with them. People should be aware of their revolting marketing techniques.

After my dealings with CREDO, I am not surprised at all by the sticker that Heidi received.

I, unfortunately, signed up for CREDO recently. I loved the idea of supporting an ethical company instead of an evil corporate giant. It saddens me that they don't see that real ethics should start with their own customers and policies. They began charging me for service when they shipped my phone not when I started using the phone. It took them 3 days to register my phone and switch my number over from my last carrier. I had no idea that during this time I was paying them for service! I was told there was nothing they could do about this.
They are also the only phone company I know of that despite having free in network calling you are charged minutes for calling your own voicemail.
On top of all of this the phone service has been very spotty.

most attention i got from credo was when i started some negative but honest tweets about them. seemed to get their attention. so if you use twitter, try that -- and mention them by name so they see the tweets. credo on twitter is @CREDOMobile

Lots of mysterious haters in this thread after FoxNews recently wrote about the company.  Found this post there:

"xentpro from California

I will definitely take it to the blogging world and do everything I can to make sure this company loses and alienates as many potential customers as they hope to attract"

I never listen to Fox News, in fact I find them repellent, and yet my experience with Credo has been horrible.

i will admit to watching fox news. but i never saw them do a story on credo. my issue was about a sticker credo sent me -- not about service. but honestly (for what that is worth on the internet from an anonymous person) i had never even heard of credo until they sent me that sticker. never heard a thing about them from fox news. i still don't know too much about them -- aside from what i read here. but now i kind of want to find the fox news story. any links?

I do not watch FAUX News. I tried to do the right thing by switching to CREDO. It ended up costing me bigtime. Money and inconvenience. They lied to me outright. They reduced the available features on their website DURING my contract. I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone, even FAUX News viewers.

I am glad that others have had the same experience as me. I know now that it's not just me, but a pattern with that company. Avoid it like the plague.

I have had Working Assets for 20 years almost. They are fine if you just want a regular cell phone. For smart phones, their selection is quite poor (only BlackBerry although they tell me that will be changing eventually.) I upgraded my contract for 2 years and got a Blackberry which I was told I would be able to use to read my work email and use GPS on. Their reps are largely not trained with Blackberry's so they didn't know that if your business has a BlackBerry Enterprise server, it will cost you an extra $15 a month to read your email (on top of the $30 you are already paying.) The GPS also costs extra. The sales rep said it was included with the phone. Additionally, it took many, many calls to get this straightened out. I have spent literally hours on the phone with them on hold and being transferred around being told a different story by everyone I talked to.

The end of the long story is I had to return my BlackBerry before my 30 day trial was up or I'd never be able to exchange it for anything else. Provided anything else ever becomes available. Despite my returning it, they wouldn't let me out of the contract. A two year contract. They did let me drop the now useless data plan at least. I am currently sitting waiting for my contract to become low enough so that I can buy it out. I am extremely unhappy with the whole ordeal.   Even worse, when I returned the BlackBerry I had to start a new contract that now expires 2 weeks later than my last one. Despite their progressive policies, I cannot recommend this company to anyone in the smartphone market and I'm extremely sorry I signed that contract.

My favorite part of the whole experience is when I told one of the myriad reps I talked to that I had a key that didn't work on my phone, she offered to sell me phone insurance. Fail.

Interesting.  I've been using Credo for a few months now and have had to call in a few times as part of their blackberry beta program and to adjust my texting options.  Each time I've called in the person I spoke to was extremely helpful and was able to resolve my issue reasonably quickly.  Coverage has been good, pricing competitive, and charity choices great.  I've had plenty of bad times with previous companies I've dealt with (Sprint & in particular Verizon) and think Credo is a great alternative so far.

Thanks for the response. Actually, since I have posted this I called back and complained to a manager and he said absolutely I should be returned to my old contract if I am returning the phone within 30 days. And since then, someone else has called to see if they can work out an interim solution until more smartphones are available and see if they can correct the misunderstandings with their staff. I'll look into seeing if I can amend the posting above to reflect the current state of affairs. I didn't like having to call so many times and speak to a manager to get things corrected, but I'm very happy they were responsive once I went to that level.

I agree their staff at least try to be helpful. And their mission is worthwhile definitely.

BTW, a friend worked for Verizon very briefly. The work hours are bad, the training is minimal as is the pay and they are encouraged to end calls as quickly as possible. Plus, the causes they support are not good. If you call, the service you are likely to encounter would be bad.

They said more smartphones would be available in the next few months. HTC, specifically.

Meanwhile, there's a price war beginning with phone services, now and for a few months is the time to compare and switch.

One Percent? Of profits? Why even bother. If one calculates what one percent of the actual profit from their trumped up bill is, it's chump change. As to Planned parenthood being nazi affiliated-I, for one, do not give a crap. We need less people on this planet. That starts with less unwanted people, which starts with birth control. They also handle infectious diseases, education, etc. Only a brainwashed ass would look at all the people who have had their lives saved by PP and whine bible quotes.
In the meantime, this plan isn't worth the confusing paperwork it's printed on.

Credo continues to display their total incompetence and their absolute inability to listen to their customers. After sending them a long explanation with my bill last month as to why they had overcharged me, I receive a nice overdue letter yesterday that shows a complete lack of even looking at my earlier letter. These people do not deserve a minute of our attention.

Credo was just one of the many phone company's I have been through in the last few years and I have had my phone calls blocked by law enforcement over looking into corruption in my county. Check out videos 3, 4 , and 5 on the topix thread to see what happen to the Credo phones and this is one bad situation that nobody should ever have to go threw.
I need help getting this story in the spotlight and I believe it might be the worst case of phone abuse by law enforcement in U.S. history.

topix.com/forum/city/elk…

killacab.blogspot.com

My numbers are 580-821-ACAB [2222]    580-225-TAXI [8294]   347-TAXI-GUY    724-VAN-TAXI

So since last posted, Credo has gone a long ways to make amends for the problems I had with my Blackberry (or more specifically, their CSR's handling of it.) I had much better experience when I called and asked to speak to a Manager tho. At the CSR level, if your problem isn't an out of the box one you may not get much help. I don't think this is a problem unique to them. As I've been with them for so long, I decided to stay.

I will be happier when they have a better smart phone selection and better trained staff on how to use them.

Okay Randy The Nutty Taxi Guy from Oklahoma, I'll bite.  Why is your lone self promoting yelp review a negative review of Credo when a quick scan of your (painful to read...paragraphs man! line-breaks! brevity!) blog seems to mention a long list of cellular providers who have wronged you during your multi-year taxi driving crusade to rid Elk City of corruption?  (p.s. I like your "Revolution Is Near" profile tagline!)

Heidi, relieved to hear that you were able to shield the impressionable eyes of your young children from the acronym.  Such entrepreneurial youngsters you have there, sorting through the household billing statements and all.

Vanessa, glad to hear things are moving in the right direction for you.  Agreed, sometimes basic CSR isn't enough to deal with serious issues.  I think this is true for a lot of companies as the first line of CSR deals with a lot of the typical and simple issues.  Cool that the manager was able to get it sorted.  I'm a big fan of the "can I speak to your manager" button.

David M. sorry to hear that Credo continues their "scam on me" program you mention with you as the lone enrollee.  Have you tried calling customer service to get out of this program?  This seems to be one of the main selling points of a large majority of the people in this thread.  Try searching this page for "customer service" and you'll see that it's one thing that, not all, but a large majority of people agree on about Credo.  I can see Doddie's point about not believing in the charitable process they're promoting.  Fair enough, but customer service does seem to be one of the areas where the masses think Credo shines.

David, maybe "...sending them a long explanation with my bill last month" wasn't the best approach.  Most interactions I've had with large companies over the couple decades I've been doing so have learnt me the part of the company that processes your payment isn't actually the same as customer service.  In fact it's pretty common that companies specify not to send correspondence with your payment.  Lots of companies use payment processing centers.  Why don't you try calling customer service that the rest of us seem to love, and let us know how that goes during your next semiweekly update?

Funny how this thread is over-run with trolls who all work at credo mobile

You've caught me Thömäs!!  I joined yelp in 2005, acquired a couple dozen connections, wrote over five dozen reviews, all in preparation for this very moment 5 years later where, as a member of a secret Credo mobile sleeper cell, I would turn my review writing powers in to a weapon to advance the corporate interests of my masters.

Actually, I work at Bella Pictures in SF as a software developer, for which I've never written a review.  Before that I worked at Xythos in SF, also for which I've never written a review.  You're welcome to connect with me on linked in if you want to see my employment history.

I don't have a secret agenda, I just think Credo is a decent company with above average customer service that doesn't deserve some of the lame negative posts here.  You do bring up a good point about trolls.  In evaluating someone's review, it can be a good indication to look at what level of the yelp community they are a member.  If they've never written a review and aren't connected to another person, then maybe you want to think twice about what their intentions are in posting, good or bad.

Mikey,

You can tell people to look at what level of the Yelp community the poster is, and call our negative comments "lame," but the fact is there may be people here -- like me -- who registered on Yelp solely because they had such a horrible experience with Credo that they thought others should know what happened. I don't know why that's "lame." In my case, I am a real person who does not work for any phone company. I am 41 years old. I joined Credo because I didn't want my money going to the GOP or its candidates. I really wanted to do the right thing. In the end, due to the incompetence at Credo, I ended up spending hundreds of dollars just to get out of my contract because after FOUR MONTHS and lots of polite Credo reps assuring me that my billing issues had been taken care of, month after month THEY WERE NOT taken care of. I give total props to the politeness of the reps. But in the end, it cost me and my family money I could've spent on those causes I support. Not only that, but on at least one occasion, I was totally LIED to by a rep when I called to disconnect. THAT I cannot accept.

So you can call those of us who had terrible experiences with this company trolls, or say that our posts are lame, or say that because we don't make other posts on Yelp that our stories aren't worth as much as others. But to those of us who had these experiences with CREDO and spent a LOT of money just go get away from CREDO (or suffered out the remainder of our contracts), these stories are VERY real and true. I would not have taken time out of my day to warn people of this company had the experience not been so entirely and utterly negative, to the point where I'd normally say I'd been scammed. The only reason this doesn't go to "SCAM" territory is because I understand they're a partner with Sprint and some things are out of their control. But bottom line, they're responsible for their company and they did NOT make good with me. And when they wrote back to say, "what did we do wrong," and I gave a detailed yet curteous and constructive response, I did not even get a follow up THEN.

So go ahead. Bottom line, some of us have been through the wringer with CREDO. People who visit here can judge for themselves if we're trolls or if we're people with legitimate gripes against this company.

Good day.

Mikey P.,

I realize you were being sarcastic. with: "Heidi, relieved to hear that you were able to shield the impressionable eyes of your young children from the acronym.  Such entrepreneurial youngsters you have there, sorting through the household billing statements and all."

Mikey, I'm not sure if you have kids. My gut instinct is you probably don't or you might empathize with my concerns a bit more. You'd be surprised by what children know these days. My kids frequently bring the mail into the house after school, especially if I am at work. They don't do it to 'sift through the bills'. (i wish; and I wish they could also pay the bills!) Two are old enough to "receive" actual mail -- nothing elaborate -- a letter from Nana, catalogs, a check from an Aunt or Uncle, information/schedules for their sports teams, etc. No, they don't get a lot of mail but they definitely do look at the mail on a daily basis, hoping to find something.

Personally, I was offended by seeing a sticker with "WTF" on it. And as I said in my original post, I was happy the kids did not see it first. Maybe it should be contained in a wrapper of some type? Honestly, most parents I know, wouldn't want anything with "WTF" on it, coming into the home.

Maybe I am from the 'old-school' of parenting. I simply found it objectionable and did not appreciate receiving. Parents have great challenges screening out those "things" to which we don't want our children exposed. It is already a full-time job in addition to the full-time job of parenting; setting up internet parental controls, previewing movies and television shows, monitoring video game ratings, listening to i-tunes lyrics, paging through books, meeting their friends, etc. So receiving mail that I don't want the kids to see -- it's just another thing about which I need to be aware (and "police.") I feel overwhelmed and bombarded, as a parent, trying to raise my children in the current climate, and instill in them, good morals and values.

Again, I don't know much about Credo, the services they provide or to whom they donate a portion of their profits. In theory, that all sounds quite admirable for a corporation. But the sticker, on the other hand, not so admirable (IMHO.) And the act of sending it unsolicited, left a bad taste in my mouth. I wrote to Credo about my concerns. They replied that the sticker was only mailed to people who requested it. I did not request it, so I can only imagine it was a computer data entry error. Or -- I suppose, someone who knows my address, could have requested it on my behalf? (That is highly unlikely though.)

Heidi, I did not realize that the sticker did not come in an envelope.  That is not so good.  My apologies for the sarcasm as I misinterpreted the situation.

Aaron, I understand your point, but my point is to realize you can't as easily assess the motive of those who aren't participating members.  You could be the owner/employee of the business or the owner/employee of a competitor of that business.  Not to say that participation in the larger yelp community assures us that the reviewer isn't one of those two but it's less likely.  When I read your comments I only know, by your own admission, that you came here with an axe to grind, not the whole story.  Not to say your points might not be valid, but for it me it helps when I can look at a member's other reviews to see if I think they're balanced in their opinion.

Mikey,

I would hope that the content of my post would be enough to adequately convey the situation. The fact that I didn't rant and rave in an inflammatory manner and also suggested that yes, CREDO people were polite, but ultimately could not resolve the situation would hopefully show that I was trying to be fair. Perhaps what I should have added was that I have never encountered an issue like this before. I've had minor billing issues with Verizon and AT&T, but these were all ultimately resolved to my satisfaction. To date, in my 41 years on this earth, only one other customer service issue has been worse in my experience -- a graphics school that closed up shop and owed me money. They still owe me $3K and I'll probably never see it. CREDO, however, is still in business and NEVER contacted me (as it contacted others in this forum) to help resolve the issues I had or make things right. So, I will continue to offer my experience as a warning to those thinking of considering this company.

Mikey PP you sound like a real winner and if my blog is so painful for you to read then I would hate to see how much pain you would feel if you were in my situation. You could always get a job cleaning toilets if that software job don't pan out. I'm pretty uneducated and I might be just a dumb ole Okie from Muskogee but what happen when I was with Credo is a very unique situation. You ask why I wrote this about Credo? Well I came to Credo because I saw on the internet that they were fighting illegal wiretaps in Washington D.C. and they guaranteed us that the voice mails wouldn't be toyed with on the phones along with many other issues. I would like to know also why my Credo bill came from Farmers Branch, Texas and this seemed to surprise many other Credo customers since Credo doesn't have a billing center there. So many strange things happened while I was with Credo that I am very thankful that a Sprint Nextel corporate executive by the name of Andre Sajaro urged me to document all of this on video. Its funny when I call Credo Action at 800-772-1077 from my Sprint or AT&T phones that it shows to be a number that is out of service but only from my phones. I think Credo could have assisted us in stopping so of this nonsense if they were putting up any kind of fight whatsoever especially since our calls were blocked not just monitored. Again check the videos because an investigative reporter believes that this maybe the worst documented case of phone abuse on record but reporters and lawyers are terrified of this because it has so many things that point to organized crime.

Hey Mikey, thanks for a much needed laugh this morning while I'm stuck on hold with the state unemployment phone center.  So now that I got that admission out in the open for Thömäs "Jughead" F. ...oh but that probably doesn't matter for a bloke who uses the shield of the internet to fling around stupid comments such as "Funny how this thread is over-run with trolls who all work at credo mobile".  

Just out of curiosity Thömäs "Jughead" F, what are you basing your claim on?  Or do you even have any proof?

I truly wish I worked for CREDO cause then I'd be employed and would not be in the position of having to request every month that my mobile not be turned off for being behind on payments.  I truly doubt, that if I were with any other phone company, I would still have my account as it would of gone to collections by now but thanks to my 11-year relationship with CREDO they have always worked with me.  

While I understand that not everyone is satisfied all of the time, it is difficult for me to comprehend the level of anger and dissatisfaction some of you express here.  All I can say is I am very satisfied, for the most part, with CREDO.  I've had a couple run-ins with lousy phone rep's, it happens and that's life but for the most part I've nothing to complain about at this point.

As for the Fox News article, it'd help if they got their facts straight.  "CREDO has been politically active since the 2008 election cycle, when the company said it helped 2.5 million Americans register to vote."  

ONLY SINCE 2008?  REALLY??  Well dang, I wonder what all those Citizen Letters I used to send out and all the donations I used to give to the organisations I choose from 1999 thru 2006 were about.  Yes CREDO, the name, has only been around since 2007, but the company itself has been around much much longer and has ALWAYS been politically active.  Or wait, maybe Fox believes that only helping people register to vote can be considered "politically active."  This article is such a pathetic attempt to convince people that only "big companies" can succeed and it's not till the very last paragraph do you read a little bit of positive.

"It's a much bigger downside risk. But for a smaller niche player, it might be a good strategy," he said. "If you have a small share of the market and you're trying to make your presence known, an aggressive strategy might work for you."

CREDO isn't about having the latest and greatest gizmos and gadgets.  If that's all you're interested in then go with AT&T or Verizon and enjoy knowing your monthly bill is going to  pay for their lame obnoxious commercials.  But if you're interested in being a part of something that is making a change in how we relate to the world (no matter how big or small) and doesn't need big name actors to sell their products, then give CREDO a try.  We all have the ability to make this world (your home, your city etc.) a better place.  We can either bitch about it or do something about it.

The biggest phone disaster I have ever encountered.  I switched to CREDO - my phone went down after about 12 hours. I kept calling and getting people who would tell me to reset the phone - I finally got a hold of someone who said they would look into it. The next day I called and was told they were working on it. I do not have a land line - I use this phone for my personal use and business back up.  After 3 more days of being told it would be fixed by the end of the day someone finally said, we are giving it the highest attention - but it will be another 3-5 days before we can have this fixed. (This has now been 5 days without a phone already)
I then said I will have to switch to another company - I need a working phone AND I NEED TO PORT MY NUMBER BACK --- NO PROBLEM!!!!
I switched back to T-mobile who at least gave me a temporary number and working phone to use until my number could be ported over - THAT WAS TWO DAYS AGO.  I called this morning - they put me through to CREDO who said they no longer had my number and it would now take at least 72hours before they can get it back!!!! I asked why this happened and once again NO ONE seems to have a clue!!!!
CREDO is a good idea but they haven't a clue as to what they are doing.  I have never dealt with such ineptitude.

Ineptitude! The perfect word for this company.

Just wanted to write back here and let everyone know that lo, these many months after the fact, I was finally contacted by a CREDO rep to see what they could do to make things right. Someone from the company saw my story here. She went through my account and saw the many calls I had made to customer service over several months -- that I had stuck with the company through all the billing issues until I had finally had it and saw disconnecting as my only option. She apologized for what I had gone through with the company, and detailed some of the changes that CREDO had made to help address some of the issues I faced. She also said CREDO would be refunding my early termination fees. I got a check last week for these. Not once did she ask if I would come back, and I consider that a real credit to the company because I could tell this was sincere and not some attempt to get me to sign up again. While I don't think I'll be ready to try them again for a good long time, if ever, the company has done right by me and that really counts for something in my book. Thank you, CREDO, for doing the right thing.

I'm still waiting for them to do the same for me.

Hmmm...Well now I don't know what to do. My T-Mobile contract is set to expire in a week, and I was all excited to switch to CREDO. I've read so many mixed reviews I don't know what to think anymore. I'm very happy with T-Mobile's service and the pricing on my family plan, but I love what CREDO stands for and the causes they support. But if they suck, I don't want to be stuck with them for 2 years. However, I am a bit skeptical of the reviews that come from no-pic profiles with no other reviews, whether or not they support CREDO.

I guess I will continue my research on non-Yelp sites to see if I can come to a decision.

I liked their devotion to causes also, but when they tried to charge me almost $200 for calls I didn't make ,or when they charged me for calls to my second line-- which are always supposed to be free-- I had had enough, devotion to causes or not. If you want to see my full profile or read my whole correspondence with CREDO, feel free to contact me directly. A bad, bad experience I assure you.

I am an activist Democrat and was enthralled with the idea of Credo for years.  I could increase my donations to favorite causes by simply switching my cell phone company so I signed on in January 2009.  I purchased my previous phone in the fall of 2004 and the battery was going out so I thought it would be a good time to go with Credo.  Well the complimentary phone was far inferior to my old phone which cost me about $35.00.  The charge did not hold as long and so I sent it back to Credo after they finally agreed to take it back.  They sent me a new one and after shipping the first phone back to them the trouble increased.  They could not locate it and charged $169.00 for the piece of junk.  It took about two months for them to locate it.  The new phone was no better than the first.  I am stuck in a contract for one more year.  The auto charger was also very cheap and I broke the first one trying to plug it into the phone.  They exchanged it but there was a hassle.  I wanted to stay with them and switch back to my old phone but apparently that is not an option with any cell phone company.    

On the bright side I am very happy with their activism.  I will probably go back to Verizon since I never had any problems with them.  I hope to return to Credo if they improve.

I have a general question about the Credo program. I suppose I could research it but I am feeling lazy. I thought one of you might explain. Credo donates a portion of their profits to particular causes, right? Does that increase your bill at all? And at the end of the year, does that mean Credo gets to take a gigantic tax deduction for charitable donations? I'm just curious about how this all works.

I posted here for the first time a couple of hours ago and Credo has contacted me already.  They asked for my phone number and wanted to research my account.  I responded with the requested information only to receive a response that the  e-mail address was no longer good.

I noticed someone else's post about them charging to retrieve voice messages and that is another complaint I have about them.  

I am glad I discovered this site.  I was doing a Google search to see if Credo had updated the phone offerings and accidentally found this site.  

Do not let anyone say that the winter snow storms are proof that global warming is a hoax.  Why were the trees in Vancouver devoid of snow and why did they have to create snow oln the slopes for the Olympics?  Al Gore has been warning us for years that we would see severe and strange weather patterns.  It is about climate change brought on by global warming. The warm oceans send moisture into the atmosphere and moisture can create precipitation.

I had a very bad experience with Credo. You can read all about it above. I am glad to see someone else talking about the very snowy winter and global warming. It stands to reason that if the oceans are warming there is going to be much more moisture in the air, and if the air is warming, the atmosphere will be able to hold more of that moisture. All it takes then is a cold air mass hitting the water-laden air to cause the snowstorms that we experienced this past winter. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Well, I'm glad to see both sides of the story here, though some of the detractors sound a bit nutty...maybe that's just me, as I'm only speed-reading everything.  

I do have one thing to note however- Heidi, are you sure one of your older kids didn't order that sticker?  I had to go onto the CREDO website to get mine...

Adrienne,
That thought DEFINITELY crossed my mind; in fact, it was my first thought. You really never know with kids. I'm not one to say "my kids do nothing wrong." I'm more from the school of 'blame my kids first'! They were my first suspects. I just don't think this sort of thing would be on their radar. And because I have parental controls on our computers, I did check browser history. Didn't find anything -- which doesn't rule them out because they have access to other computers in various places.

It just doesn't feel like something they'd do. If my yard was toilet papered, if the word "boobs" had been googled, or I was getting crank calls -- those sorts of things are more up their alley at this age. I think?

My best guess, after looking at the website and after speaking with Credo, one of my liberal friends probably signed me up for the sticker, as a joke. I happen to be conservative (really more a Libertarian than Republican.) I live in Los Angeles, work in the entertainment business. Most of my friends, clients, co-workers and business associates are extremely liberal (and the majority think my political views are insane. And most incorrectly assume I am a Republican.) In all likelihood, someone I know well (who has access to my home address) probably signed me up for the sticker, thinking it was funny. And if I didn't have kids, it would have been amusing.

But no, I have not "ruled out" my children. Anything is possible, with them. However, if I ask or mention it, then the website will be on their radar, especially if they know the sticker angered me. And then, I can almost guarantee, they'll be on-line, ordering stickers in batches, and having them sent to everyone imaginable. That would be a giant waste of paper (and money) for Credo and its customers. So I'm not even asking the kids about it. Bottom line is: I threw it out. I was angry for a day or two. Now, I'm over it. And I've accepted the fact that I will never know who ordered it. Some things will remain a mystery in life.

I appreciate the tip/input -- my children are the primary suspects ALWAYS!
H

We just switched the family to Credo within the first thirty days of an incredibly bad and stupid experience with AT&T. We got our numbers, really great free phones, and incredibly good customer service. I was a Working Assets customer for years, and they seemed to disappear. Having a wireless provider that is politically aligned with me is not a huge concern of mine, but why not? They support (with money and power) many things I support (like 'green" lifestyle and a woman'ws right to choose". As far as their leasing of tainted Sprint network goes, at least they are putting the devil's tools to good use. I'm glad they reappeared as Credo and glad to be back!

Mikey "Mikey P" P. says:

You've caught me Thömäs!!  I joined yelp in 2005, acquired a couple dozen connections, wrote over five dozen reviews, all in preparation for this very moment 5 years later where, as a member of a secret Credo mobile sleeper cell, I would turn my review writing powers in to a weapon to advance the corporate interests of my masters.
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Asshat, I said over-run by trolls, not "only run by". Look at all of the ZEROS and ONES and ?mark heads

MOST of this thread seems like bullshit written by employees of friends of.

My friend joined and want out of his contract

Funny how it's bumped before the 60 day thread death

Susan S. says:

Hey Mikey, thanks for a much needed laugh this morning while I'm stuck on hold with the state unemployment phone center.  So now that I got that admission out in the open for Thömäs "Jughead" F. ...oh but that probably doesn't matter for a bloke who uses the shield of the internet to fling around stupid comments such as "Funny how this thread is over-run with trolls who all work at credo mobile".
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this coming from a ?mark head with a fake photo with 0 friends and 0 reviews... very credible source.

I've just switched from AT&T to CREDO. I'm very pleased after setting this up with their extremely helpful customer service. I've already made $100 by getting another buddy to switch as well through their Tell A Friend program. I'll be paying less per month than what I paid AT&T and very happy with the plan I've bought! I'll check in again in a little bit to let you know how things go.

I'm loving my free Blackberry Curve from CREDO. I had one small problem with my voicemail which was easily corrected and I highly recommend CREDO Mobile!

They SUCK. Stay away. Their customer service is inept and their technical infrastructure is awful. They overcharged me for a system error and also expect me to pay for a mistake with their online payment system. STAY AWAY!!!

My experience was exactly the same as saku's. Run as far from these people as possible.

I have had excellent luck with Credo - but then I live in NYC. (grin)  Good coverage, fewer dropped calls, well trained and courteous techs and customer reps.  I have tried Cingular, T-Mobile, and Verizon.  IMO, Credo is the best of a bad lot.  It's curious that people's experience of Credo has been so mixed - perhaps it's due to local coverage/personnel being of different quality in different places.

Thanks!

John Hechtman
"Computer Help In NYC!"
zenarrow.com
beeper = 212-459-4323

Incredibly misleading reseller of phone plans. Their ads propose that by using AT&T, you're funding Republicans. Then they sell your business to Sprint, which funds Republicans.

In the meantime they make you feel good by sending out ineffectual letters demanding that wars end and BP be held accountable. You'd literally be better off keeping your present phone plan and giving more than about $2 to a charity of your choice, because Credo instead divides about that much among a number of liberal groups who range from worthy (Planned Parenthood) to useless (AlterNet.org.)

john g.  - I must admit that your comment of 'the website alternet.org as useless' is more ridiculous than watching Fox's irrelevant news coverage.....and to call it irrelevant coverage is putting it mildly.  Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, (or if it must be TV - Frontline) etc. are more often than not responsible reporting done by those true to their profession while risking their welfare to help bring people much more news-worthy stories of the human-rights violations, environmental degradation and other atrocities that are happening around the world.  If you haven't figured out that our two party system in this country is a joke, try traveling to a more well-educated country or two and find out what the people of those nations think about Americans.  I doubt you'll need to ask, because most likely your appearance alone will scream 'American' and assumptions drawn that you are a Fox "news" watcher and you prefer to remain blissfully unaware that the majority of your tax dollars go toward paying off debt, war and prison systems (our two largest industries) so you can catch the highlights of the rescued cat, the latest from Mardi-gras, or how the president was wrong to miss the Boyscout Jamboree to be a part of an open forum with a group of women.
After your comment I am looking into credo some more.  I am not sure how they could "sell your business to Sprint"  if they are charging less than what you would pay with Sprint.  Sounds like a pretty solid business model to me.  
Proud Member of the National Sarcasm Society - Like we need your support
==========================================================================================
"What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?"
Abraham Lincoln

show your face or go away

My friend has them now with their top of the line Blackberry and he can't get pictures via SMS or see them as attachments in his email.

He wishes that he stayed with Sprint.

My husband really wants to switch to Credo.  I will show him this thread.  I still don't see any "veteran" Yelpers (ie those with more than 10 reviews) supporting Credo.  I would rather keep doing what we're doing----donating money to several non-profits that we choose.

Credo sucks.  All phone companies suck but their telelphone customer support is not very knowledgeable and it is all you get.

We've been Credo customers (before that Working Assets) for 7 years. It works on the Sprint Network so check the    Sprint map for coverage. The customer service is excellent and we've used it alot as we've grown from 1 phone to 5. The costs are equal to or less than others and part of what we pay gets donated to progressive causes. What's not to like?

I don't have any experience with Credo, but the fact of the matter seems to be that when people see advertisements for this, it seems like a good idea, but the BS meter is rising so we go to Yelp to get some user reviews. I haven't been able to read through each response, but I don't see anywhere on Credo's literature how Sprint is any better than AT&T or Verizon, who they repeatedly call out in their literature as contributing to Cheney and other cronies. Is this a "lesser of two [three?] evils?" Seems to risky to me.

Thömas F. says:

Look at all of the ZEROS and ONES and ?mark heads

MOST of this thread seems like bullshit written by employees of friends of.

My friend joined and want out of his contract. They suck out loud.

Funny how it's bumped before the 60 day thread death
----------------------

as I was saying

I've been a customer of CREDO MOBILE / Working Assets for 10+ years. The reason I've stayed with the carrier so long is because of their political action. I've always had an uneasy relationship with the telephone service side of the company. They offer limited phones and sometimes spotty coverage. And over the past two years or more, their customer service has really gotten bad. The last rep I spoke to seemed bothered that he even had to answer the phone. And I requested a breakdown of some unidentified incoming calls that jacked my bill way up for three months, but never got it. In the end, I decided to say goodbye to CREDO MOBILE. It needs to focus on being a better phone company!

I wish corporate donations to political campaigns and groups was illegal in the first place, so that we, the people, would not have to choose a company to sell us a product or provide a servce BASED ON POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS of our NON-POLITICAL CHOICES.

Instead of changing your cell phone company, GO OUT AND VOTE AND SCREAM AND YELL to help change our totally corrupt political system.

Interesting.  I'm amazed this thread has been running for an upwards of 3 years!  Maybe it is because of corporate bumpers, but I do remember their cool ads when this first came out.