I ordered a SIM and 3 months of service from mint mobile for $90 in late June. The SIM arrived on July 1st and I activated it, but got a "No Service" message: no calls, no texts, no data.
So I talked to mint support, who had me try the SIM in a different phone. It took a while but that phone didn't work either. Support told me that I had a bad SIM card and they would send me another one. I asked if it was certainly the SIM that was bad, and not a matter of coverage. The coverage map indicated that I should get signal, or at least calls, but it might be exaggerated. Tech support insisted that the SIM was bad because, according to the agent, "I can see it trying to connect from my end."
So the new SIM arrived on July 9th, though I couldn't pick it up until Monday the 12th. It didn't work at all either. "No service" no texting, no calls. I talked to tech support again that day, and this time they told me that I had no coverage in my area. I immediately filed for a refund, but was denied.
I was told the refund was denied because they only offer a 7-day money-back guarantee and I had to wait 8 days for the new SIM card to arrive. I was also billed $10 for a replacement SIM.
Mint tricked me into buying their service with a false network coverage map. Then, their support lied to me to delay until after the refund terms had expired. In the end, I paid $100 and received nothing. That's a scam. At the moment, I have no reason to believe that their SIMs work anywhere; they might just repeat this ruse as a business model.
I finally got my refund by disputing the charges with PayPal. Typically PayPal adheres to the seller's refund policy. However, PayPal's resolution center offers refunds if the product received is damaged or nonfunctional or not what was ordered. I made this argument and the charge was reversed in about 24 hours. This is the second time I've used PayPal's dispute resolution and they refunded me both times. It's one reason I like to click "Check out with PayPal" if the option is there.
If Mint scammed you like they did me, I advise disputing the charge with PayPal or your credit card company.
Someone emailed me another Mint horror story through my contact form . I am reposting their email verbaitm (with permission).
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2023 03:36:44 +0000
From: "ki9.us/contact" contact@ki9.us
To: ki9@gf4.pwI had a similar experience with mint mobile , as follows :
I have been using Mint mobile for approximately 2 years, and I have an established track record of renewing my service every 3 months with their $75 plan - this was a prepaid plan so I would manually renew it just before or on the day it expires. My last authorized renewal was 12/14/22 for $75.00 and the total after tax was $81.88. It was essentially the day my line expired. However, on 11/22/22, they charged my credit card $199.71 for a 12-month renewal without my knowledge. Enclosed is a screenshot of my account transaction history. By looking closely, you would notice a clear pattern of renewal every 3 months. Their charge to my card on 11/22/22 was unauthorized and fraudulent and logically unnecessary by examining the line expiry and renewal pattern.
I called their customer service which is a call center in the Philippines. They told me that they had no option to reverse the unauthorized transaction and I should request my bank to do a chargeback.
After talking to them I concluded that they were a shady company since the call center person had the audacity to tell me to continue to use them until it expires or I will “lose out” since I had already paid for a 12-month plan.
It is clear that they are fraudulently charging customers in order to keep them locked to their service.
^ 2021/07