On May 29, I purchased a smartphone ($130 plus tax) and an unlimited talk/text/data no-contract service plan ($55 per month) through the Boost Mobile store located in the 3700 block of Forest Lane, Dallas, Texas. The clerk activated the phone and initiated the service through a telephone conversation with a Boost Mobile office. The phone has NEVER provided access to the services for which I paid. After spending approximately 4 hours online in an attempt to learn WHY I could not access the features for which I was paying, and phone calls to Boost in an attempt to resolve the problem, I FINALLY was advised by the technical department of Boost that I could not access the Internet (thus, could not avail myself of 98% of the features for which I purchased this phone and top-of-the-line "service" to be used with this phone) because the "tower" that services my locale was "down" AND HAD BEEN DOWN SINCE MAY 13 and that there was NO indication when or even IF service would be restored to my location. CLEARLY Boost Mobile sold me not only a useless phone, but also a service plan THAT IT KNEW IT COULD NOT FULFILL. After additional telephone calls with Boost (during which every single "manager" or "service representative" REFUSED any kind of compensation, offset, or credit to my account despite its taking money in payment for a service that it KNEW it could not provide), I learned that the "tower" was supposed to be reactivated by June 21. On June 21, I again attempted to use features of the smartphone, only to discover that the service STILL was not available. It now is june 27, and the service has not been restored and no one knows if/when the service will be restored. Yet I can tell you that Boost Mobile CONTINUES TO TAKE PAYMENT FOR THIS SERVICE. I have no way of knowing how many consumers continued paying for service they did not/could not receive because Boost, by its own admission, NEVER ADVISED THE CUSTOMERS THAT A TOWER WAS "DOWN" AND NEVER MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO MAKE RESTITUTION TO THE CUSTOMERS WHO PAID FOR SERVICE BOOST KNEW IT COULD NOT PROVIDE.
Today, not only did Boost refuse AGAIN to make any kind of restitution for having committed FRAUD in taking money for service it KNEW AT THE TIME OF SALE that it could not provide, but also the franchise owner of the Boost Mobile store from which I purchased the phone (and paid the $55 for unlimited talk/text/data service) REFUSED to reimburse me for the phone that has never performed the functions for which I bought it THROUGH THE FAULT OF BOOST MOBILE. The clerk at the store (a) REFUSED to provide the name of the franchise owner/store manager; (b) REFUSED to give me HER name (this was NOT the person who initially sold me the phone); and (c) tried to tell me that I had acknowledged in writing that the store would not take back the phone, no matter what the reason, unless I returned it within 7 days. This is clearly ludicrous - there is a 30-day return policy in every store with which i conduct business, and i would never have signed an acknowledgement restricting me to a 7-day return policy!!!
boost mobile has committed fraud. It sold a service to that it KNEW at the time of sale that it COULD NOT PROVIDE.
This is fraud. Boost Mobile should lose its authority to transact business in the United Sates: this is ILLEGAL activity, it is FRAUD, and it is wholly contrary to American standards of business ethics. As we all know, a foreign corporation transacting business within the United States is subject to the laws of the United States.intentional fraud is illegal activity in the United States.
UPDATE: as of 7/10, Sprint also has refused to honor its fulfillment obligations (Boost uses Sprint lines/towers, and Sprint is responsible for providing service which Boost sells) because, according to Sprint "customer service, " Cynthia Cooper, the receipt provided to me by Boost (when I bought the phone and paid for the first month's unlimited minutes/text/data service plan) is not detailed enough for Sprint to determine what of the charge was the minutes plan and what part was the equipment charge (!!!) - in other words, the receipt that shows the minutes plan at $55 together with a comprehensive receipt in the amount of $195 is just too complicated for Sprint... It simply can't manage to subtract $55 from $195 to calculate the cost of the phone. Beware of boost mobile - these people are basically untrustworthy - and beware of sprint - it can't subtract and won't honor its obligations by standing behind its products. More importantly, both are knowingly complicit in fraud.
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