iPhone 11 Pro Displeased with Citizens One

[John-F]

I have an Xs Max on the Apple upgrade program and was considering an 11 Pro Max. Same monthly payments. I would just be extending it for a year after swapping phones.

While going through the process, I got a notice that because there was a fraud alert on my credit, Citizens One would need to speak with me directly before the order could finish processing. The notice read that the call could take up to 24 hours, and not to try calling Citizens One or Apple.

I have the fraud alert because there was an identity theft attempt on one of my credit cards.

After a few hours, Citizens One attempted to call. I was on another call which I quickly ended, but the call had already gone to voice mail. BTW, the call did not indicate Citizens One, only an 866 number. I called that number but got a recording indicating they would try again the next day.

I called the regular customer service number to see if I could verify with them. They said they needed to call me as part of the verification process. I asked if they could call me back, but they said it was not possible. I asked if they could either give me a time period or let me specify one so I could be sure to be available, but they said also not possible. They would call a maximum of 3 times over a 3 day period, then cancel.

I think that is lousy customer service. I'm supposed to stay by the phone all day, not take a shower, etc. I'm thinking about either forgetting about the 11 Pro Max, or buying one outright and selling the Xs Max. The downside is I would lose a little on the Xs Max, and would have to lay out the full purchase price on the 11 Pro Max, but to sever a relationship with Citizens One, it might be worth it.

Curious if anyone else has had a similar experience.

 

[Ramrod82]

Yes they suck! I had a similar issue!!

 

[Freakonomics101]

Had a similar situation happen to me and will not do business with them again. I decided to sell iPhone to upgrade and fork over a couple hundred bucks for it. If I like it, I will keep it. Swappa is a great place to do all of this. Plus the new iPhones are a tad cheaper on there and obviously you’ll have the one year warranty since these just came out.

 

[John-F]

Both good posts, thanks. Maybe this does not happen too often, but with Apple trying to have smooth customer service even with partners, surprising such a lousy situation is allowed to exist. It would really not be too difficult for Citizens One to let you call in and be in a queue for a call back within a half hour.

 

[John-F]

If I decide to sell the Xs Max, it would of course be deactivated from my cellular account. But does the balance need to be paid off on the Citizens One loan first, or could I just keep making payments until the phone is paid in full?

 

[noteple]

They have to call you.
To verify your, you.
they are not responsible for a credit lock - you are.
Fraud sucks but if your identity was successfuly
stolen they won’t be on the hook for that.

you could always try an alternate vendor like Barclays
But your credit cannot be locked or frozen without the same issues

 

[John-F]

They have to call you.
To verify your, you.
they are not responsible for a credit lock - you are.
Fraud sucks but if your identity was successfuly
stolen they won’t be on the hook for that.

you could always try an alternate vendor like Barclays
But your credit cannot be locked or frozen without the same issues

Never said the credit lock was their fault or there was a problem with them calling to verify. The complaint was the inability to get a call within a known or timely period.

 

[Arndroid]

I don’t know sounds like they have a procedure to deal with fraud alerts and they were following it. Part of it is getting a hold of you at your phone number.
I suspect their agents just go through a queue so it’s not designed for someone to just call you back. They are likely calling other customers.