Freedompop is a Scam and Ripoff! I bought the free SIM card that specifically States free monthly service only. It's usually $4.99 at Best Buy. I got it for $0.99 on Black Friday 2019. They charged my debit account I think 7 times but kept saying error can't go through and would not allow me to do the free account which is what I paid for with the SIM specifically stating free service monthly only with option to upgrade.

In fact they force you into the free trial and $20 to downgrade and $5.99 to get any kind of Live help which they automatically charge to your credit card or they don't even pick up.

Otherwise your option is to go to the self support page which by the way there's no live support there's no chat and there's no support whatsoever from actual FreedomPop sales or employees whatsoever Zippo zero NADA none. They're supposed support page has two options which are: number one everybody complains about how much they hate freedompop and got ripoed off and service sux... customers with zero experience to some try to help each other. What a sick joke. Option two. People that have been on there a long time iving and receiving complaints and helping other unfortunate people with FreedomPop are moved up in status as helpers but do not work for FreedomPop and do not have any training. There's no real help... you're screwed.

If you want to downgrade even though you just signed up a second ago literally it's an automatic $20 charge to your credit card!

They state it takes up to three hours for them to supposedy figure out if you've made any calls or sent out any text or used any data. It's impossible to use $20 in a matter of seconds or days. It took me three tries by phone and three tries online before finally my account was canceled. Online when I tried signing up there was an option to remove the free trials and just be charged a $0.99 activation fee which is BS because then site forces the 99 cent surprise activation fee but refuses tonlet you finish activation. Holds your bank money but says SORRY... ERROR... CALL FREEDOMPOP. I already paid $0.99 for this sim and ithere was not supposed to be an activation fee it's not stated on sim package or online until AFTER THEY GET YOUR CREDIT CARD INFO.

This is another act of fraud. The $20 downgrade fee from the forest upgrade when you try to sign up by phone is also fraud because they have to put up front in bold writing all charges on the device, on packaging, online, at cetera and on their website! Not legal to surprise you at the end with secret charges! When you realize it's a piece of crap then try to force you into a $20 downgrade fee on a free item.

I'm calling my bank tomorrow since they're closed now and having the 99 Cents removed. I'm also going to completely block FreedomPop from ever charging my card again. It also will not allow you to remove your credit card account info from their website even if you delete all cookies and it will not allow you to actually change your credit card info to something that has less money so they can steal from you. I'm returning the three SIM cards that I bought which includes the one that I never used it all and did not set up and already canceled back to BestBuy and I'm going to make sure they take every one of those things off the shelf why put up a sign with a warning saying buyer beware and why. I am also going to be calling consumer affairs and every other number for help that I can because I'm going to shut these people down the way I actually down BellSouth in Palm Beach County when they were doing illegal slam charges on my account and singular also noticed they're gone I'm the one that turned them in I was the first one to turn them in.

I have less than zero tolerance for scam artists and these people are the worst as far as phone companies go. Do not buy anything from them you will be sorry and you will be ripped off!

3 years ago September 2016 eioboard the previous Global set for 99 cents it didn't even work for the first three days and then they stopped the service and stole my money. When I call to complain they used to have just crappy life service and they had the nerve to pick on me cuz after all this only $0.99 and I said you stole my $0.99 and God knows how many other thousands of people or more you stole from for a device that didn't work. The global Sim hasn't worked since not even with the free app from Google Play. I also had to stop about 7 charges to my other credit card with just a few dollars that I keep in it because they kept putting $0.90 on hold as a test to see if my credit card was legit but then telling me online that it was an error and couldn't put it through and they can pie lady sings up and I had to call and get my money back. FreedomPop needs to be shut down by the FTC that's the Florida Trade Commission which is in charge of phone companies so feel free to call with your complaints to them Consumer Affairs and whatever other numbers you can find these people need to be stopped.

At this point, after corresponding with FreedomPop's Facebook support team, I am somewhat placated. But not yet 100% happy. Primarily because I'm still not getting the "100% FREE High Speed Wireless Internet" that I was promised when I originally accepted this offer from FreedomPop. Even after jumping through all the hoops and dealing with all the unwelcome surprises they placed before me, I've still got a "Recurring Bill Amount" of US$0.51 on my account.

And what were all these hoops and unwelcome surprises? Let's take a look:

1. First of all, the initial 2-week trial period of their premium service(s) is a joke. The 2 weeks start right when you order the service. But then it takes a week to receive the Netgear Unite Mobile Hotspot and actually USE the service. So, in reality, you only have ONE week in which to try the premium service AND downgrade your account to avoid being charged the regular monthly charge(s). I can see how people might be confused by this and end up getting charged. Not cool.

2. Anyway, after accepting the initial signup offer and having $9.99 charged to my credit card, the first unwelcome surprise was being notified that ANOTHER $20.00 would need to to be charged to my credit card for something called a "Top-Up Credit". Supposedly - as they say in their response - this charge was necessary in order "to help avoid unexpected charges as a result of data usage beyond their plan's allotment during our data reporting delay". I was somewhat prepared for a charge like this, as research indicated that LOTS of other new customers were unpleasantly surprised by it. However, I was not prepared for it to be $20, as most of the previous complaints from other people were about charges of $5-10.

Also, as you'll notice in their response, they say, "If a customer does not use any data beyond their overage, the $20 credit will remain on the account." Since all I want is a basic account with minimal bandwidth for emergency purposes only, I will NEVER use that $20 "credit". So basically, it amounts another $20 added to the initial $9.99, for a total initial signup fee of $29.99 NOT $9.99 as they originally promised. Besides, if any of these "unexpected charges as a result of data usage beyond their plan's allotment during our data reporting delay" DID occur, they've already got my credit card number.

3. After resigning myself to that surprise charge, I endeavored to downgrade my account ASAP so they wouldn't have any other reasons to charge my credit card (or so I thought). I followed the required steps in my online account and successfully downgraded my service from the trial period of their premium services to the "free" account (or so I thought). Just when I hoped I was done and everything was finally set up to be a "free" account, I checked the billing page of my account. And for some unknown reason, there was STILL an $8.50 "recurring bill amount" noted there!

4. At this point, I contacted FreedomPop support via their Facebook page. They eventually got back to me and explained that this $8.50 was still there because I hadn't deactivated their FreedomPop Premier add-on service. Excuse me? Why wasn't this deactivated when I went through the prescribed steps to downgrade? Why wasn't their ANY mention of this service still being active and needing to be deactivated during the downgrade process? I wonder how many people think they've downgraded only to find this extra service charged on their credit card? Lots, judging from all the complaints I found online. Nevertheless, I went ahead jumped through that hoop as well and deactivated that service. Again, I hoped I was done hassling with this nonsense. But then I checked my account billing page again and there was STILL a "recurring bill amount" of 51 cents per month!

5. Back to their Facebook support team I went, to find out what THIS charge was all about. A while later, they explained that "This $0.51 charge belongs to FreedomPop Recovery Fee, as with all major carriers, we've added a nominal administrative fee to your monthly bill to recover and help defray costs incurred for increasing customer support services, offset higher payment processing fees, and other expenses related to fraudulent usage monitoring on our networks. Your recurring bill has been updated to include required taxes and regulatory fees as mandated by local, state and federal agencies. Please note these will be identified as Regulatory and Recovery Fees on future billing statements."

I fail to see how any of those "costs" that they're supposedly trying to defray would apply to a "free" account. But OK, whatever. I can live with that. Government always has to get their piece of the action even when there isn't any action. But again, it might have been considerate to WARN customers about this, before they commit to placing an order. Also, it's very deceptive to advertise "100% FREE High Speed Wireless Internet" when you KNOW these charges are going to apply, regardless.

6. Since it looked like I was stuck with this 51-cent monthly charge on my supposedly "free" account, I decided to change the credit card they had on file (as I didn't want the original one to have this stupid 51-cent charge every month). After I successfully jumped through THAT hoop, a window popped up and said that my new credit card would have some kind of $20 fee added to it just to make sure it had enough credit available to handle the 51-cent charge every month. The window promised that this $20 fee wouldn't actually be charged to my credit card. But as you can imagine by this time, I was highly suspicious to say the least.

7. Finally, I contacted FreedomPop's Facebook support team one more time. I asked them if this 51-cent charge could be deducted from $20.00 "Top-Up Credit" that I already had. Not surprisingly, they said no. It had to be charged to my credit card for some unknown reason. So again, this $20.00 is just lost. It won't be used the way they say it should and it can't be used the way I would prefer.

No doubt there's more, but those 7 points are all I can think of at the moment. And yes, I'm sure all of these pesky little details are squirreled away in their microscopic fine print somewhere. But absolutely NONE of the above unpleasant surprises were made crystal clear up-front. It was a major hassle having to clear up all of the misunderstandings due to lack of information provided beforehand.

Bottom line: if this company was serious about customer service and they genuinely desired to make me somewhat happier after all this, it would be incredibly easy. All they would have to do is one of the following:

A. Refund that $20.00 "Top-Up Credit" (that will never be used).

Or...

B. Subtract the 51-cent recurring bill from this $20.00 "Top-Up Credit" INSTEAD of charging my credit card every month.

Neither of these options will cost them one thin dime. If they can't even manage simple solutions like these, I'll have to assume their negative reputation is truly deserved.

It provide Free Wireless Internet and 4G Mobile Broadband ISP.

I have been with Freedompop for over 2 years with 4 different phones for my family. I stay with them because the cost works with my budget and after learning how to work with them I can actually maintain a somewhat decent service. But my advice to you is that you need to be better than their customer service in order to make this work for you. Here is what you need to know if you dare to venture in with Freedompop services:

* Money: you need to watch your account page under billing overview and on your credit card. They will charge you for services that sometimes were in the terms but not advertised well and sometimes they make mistakes but if your not quick to catch it they will be reluctant to refund. Always review your credit card charges. Ofter what you are charged will not show up on your account overview and you need to submit a billing question claim or better call them and challenge them aggressively.

* Customer Support: They are in India and with heavy Indian accents. Many times they are very difficult to understand and are very annoying with their polite manners. Often they do not record the information correctly because of the language barrier. They have improved by having their representatives repeat back to you a summary of what you asked. Pay attention closely because often you will catch wrong information.

*Technical Support: The people at Freedompop technical support vary in knowledge and willingness to help. Some are limited to what their computer tells them to do. Some are savvy to use their experiences to actually find a solution. Expect to put on hold often when a greenie finds someone more qualified to fix the problem. They have 3 levels of technical support: expect to get transferred. The service is poor to great. Calls can either be crystal clear or cutting out to dropped. They offer a diagnostic app that basically provides a method to reset the connection. It helps sometimes. But if your app locks up or your account gets suspended for going over data usage then expect do a factory reset. Save pics and music often and keep your phone contacts on your gmail account because you will loose them on the reset. The 4 phones I have will either have 4g or 3g in the same house at the same time. We live in high coveraged area and no reason with weak coverage.

Billing: If you don't use your phone much away from your wifi router and can escape mobile service I suggest you select the annual service of $79 (plus $19.99 activation) for unlimited voice and text and 500mb data per month. The voice is actually capped, not sure how much though and text is capped at 5000. They offer a extra 500mb on the data for the first month but mine continue to be at 1g data per month endlessly. If you buy a freedompop phone they give you the first month service for free than they automatically put you on their monthly service of unlimited everything for $25.99 per month. You can dispute this and get your money back if you switch to the annual plan. On your phone and on your account page you can control extra charges for data by clicking no auto top off and alert me when close to limit. I set my phone to alert me at 350mb when limited at 500mb. The charge is $10 for each 500mb which can get spendy.

Extra Services: Freedompop offers extra services like MMS, Better coverage (if you live in remote areas) voice messaging. They offer better coverage as if it will improve the quality. It does not if you live in the city. The annual plan seems to include the voice messaging but then they say that its separate and you need to pay extra. Check your account page under accounts then services to see if you automatically or mistakenly signed up for any of their services. Each one is a few dollars but it adds up every month.

Lessons Learned: I signed up for basic free services for my daughters phone and Freedompop changed it to 'value added services' at $9.99 per month. Since the phone was never used and only for emergencies I never checked the account. The credit card charges do not associate the phone numbers and with 4 phones it went unnoticed. When I discovered it they blamed me for not checking. Their policies do not allow them to refund more than 5 months. Getting angry does not work. They will elude you. I ended up with 200mb data and $19.98 refunded (2 of the 13 months). Freedompop offers an address in their terms to write to them your dispute before you file suit.

When buying a new phone to replace your old phone can be tricky. Requesting your phone number, email account and annual plan to be transferred to your new phone can take hours on the phone. Some will tell you it can't be done but others say no problem. This is evidence of the varying level of skills and experience of each Freedompop representatives. You will get transferred a lot and hear frustration in the voice of the person trying to help you. But it can be done. Make sure they completely cancel your old phone. They seem to want to keep it working because they can make money off it. They did this to me and I caught it and had charges refunded. Once I paid for my annual plan and they recorded it as a phone purchase and a upgrade in services. I started getting monthly charges after paying for my annual plan. They admitted they messed up but I am still in dispute of getting a refund. After you change phones and update your account pay attention to your account and billing charges.

I hope this information helps in navigating the treacheries of Freedompop. Remember to guard your pocket book and know how to fix technical problems on your own is the bottom line with this company.

They are crook steal my money

500 mb free / that is bull$#*!. I didn. T use data but they took every minute data usage and put 10bucks from my card acct. And keep take data usage I didn't use.
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These thing I don't know. Not only these things. Apr 6,2015 10:25 PM Pay As You Go 2 MB
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These things I don. T know and I didn. T use it but they took out like this.
From few weeks ago I got feel something wrong and start tried beware using data. Some time I don. T use phone for few days but they keep steal my money while phone sleep one side of my bed. Today morning they send me message they top up 10 bucks. I call them and I didn. T use data like that and ask explain but one of rep told me international service bla bla... but what international service? I don. T got any international service and I didn. T order and that rep cannot answer.
This company is crazy.
I told that people i. M gonna tell evberybody about your company.
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Love it, really good!

Great service...

This company is the WORST!