Amp'd Mobile to shut down July 24 at 12:01am?
Update: Make sure to hit the "Read" link for full details on how the shutdown will affect customers (i.e. can I keep my phone? my contacts? all that freakin' digital schwag I switched carriers to buy?). Interestingly enough, the main Amp'd page is still buzzing along as if nothing was wrong, and it actually took us quite a few minutes to locate the tiny graphic linking to the FAQ.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Johnny T @ Jul 22nd 2007 2:14AM
this is so funny...i owe Amp'd 1,934.97 for 2 lines i got them last Oct. and NEVER paid my first bill they just finely turned both my phones off july 3ed. that means i went for --10-- months with out paying amped 1 penny no wonder there going bankrupt. My credit sucked before its going to suck after there not going to get a penny out of me. do i still have to pay them even is they go out of business?
Tom @ Jul 22nd 2007 3:08AM
You really think it's "funny" that you're a deadbeat?
derX @ Jul 22nd 2007 3:10AM
...and you're proud--at least enough to boastfully tell the world--of this? Interesting.
How can you say this is funny? You *stiffed* a company out of about $2,000 because they were willing to take a chance on you and this is funny?Dude, you certainly have a marred sense of humor.
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I cannot and will not judge you not only because I don't know you but because I couldn't care enough to, but it's people with your mentality that make it hard for others with bad credit that are trying to get in shape (i.e.: a lot of people close to me), have a chance to do so. Thanks a plenty!
P.S.: Not that I am grammarian (I am sure there are TONS of typos and grammatical errors in this post), but try to capitalize (which, apparently, you do well but in a different sense of the word) the beginnings of sentences more than once in a while.
ir1 @ Jul 22nd 2007 4:47AM
Well Verizon will get to go after you since the reality is that they own all Amp'd customers. I really hope you never planned on buying a house cuz your credit is going to be really bad... Verizon does not play around.
Robbie @ Jul 22nd 2007 2:27AM
lol. try signing up...
"ERROR
PLEASE NOTE: We are experiencing technical difficulties which may impact your order. Please try your order again later. We apologize for any inconvenience. To purchase an Ampd phone today, visit Best Buy or your nearest Ampd dealer."
dominick jaksic @ Jul 22nd 2007 2:36AM
so what are ampd customers like me supposed to do?
Dylan @ Jul 22nd 2007 4:32AM
You can probably move relatively seamlessly to Verizon as the Amp'd network is actually verizon afterall you'll just be using a regular cdma network vs the edvo network that amp'd used.
Satur9nine @ Jul 22nd 2007 2:53AM
Two choices. 1: Stop having a cell phone, 2: Get a new carrier. Hint: Avoid MVNOs as they tend to go bankrupt. Ask your new carrier: "Do you install or own mobile base stations, or use someone elses?"
onlysoma @ Jul 22nd 2007 3:17AM
dominick jaksic @ Jul 22nd 2007 2:36AM
so what are ampd customers like me supposed to do?
Get a phone with one of the big 4 and get over it.
Also, does anyone know if they charged for that text message? Made their last 15c from everyone they could?
Dylan @ Jul 22nd 2007 4:38AM
This isn't a huge suprise, most of Amp'd customers were prepaid which means they were usually credit card'less and not regularly paying fees to the company. You can't base a providor on non regular customers, just look at all of the big companies, they;re all up in the plans an such...there's a reason for that, they understand business. Customers who can't get monthly plans an prefer prepaid are either using the phone very little (a very small percentage) or can't get the approval for a monthly plan, neither one of these are going to make a company money or instill reliability in the small amount of capital they produce.
Nikoli @ Jul 28th 2007 3:35PM
D, I'm not sure as to where you are getting your information about Amp'd Mobile's client base, but I know that the V-A-S-T majority of their clients were postpaid. I know this because I worked for them in their (lack of) customer service. What really effed Amp'd, besides the lack of customer support, back-end infrastructure, and rather vague focus, was the people that they allowed to have postpaid accounts.
Now, trust, I am not judging those with bad or no credit, I happen to be a poor investment myself, but, but as a company, if you are going to stay in business, you cannot give to credit to those that have not earned it.
P.S. I am so sorry to all of those that Amp'd effed over, I know that those of us that worked at Sento, the company that Amp'd outsourced its customer service to, tried REALLY hard. We were not given the resources, and we were often times lied to as much as the customers. If it makes you feel any better, they laid us off about two months ago.
ir1 @ Jul 22nd 2007 4:49AM
This is what happens when you target teens/young adults and those with little to no credit and little to no money. It is too bad for Amp'd but I expect other MVNO's to follow suit, no one has proven the MVNO business model to really work yet.
dustin @ Jul 22nd 2007 5:46AM
Helio seems to be doing pretty well
dcny @ Jul 23rd 2007 8:02AM
Tracfone, Net 10 America Movil does quite well
kerry callinan @ Jul 22nd 2007 8:38AM
I'm a prepaid Amped customer. It was great,we could have two phones for only like forty or fifty dollars a month with excellent reception. I'm screwed out of eighty dollars in prepaid cards not to mention just yesterday I printed up a bunch of new bussiness cards with my Amp' #. Now I have to quick find anouther economical carrier. Verizon is out of the question. I can never go back to paying those rat bastards hundreds of dollars a month. I wish Comcast would hurry up and make my cable tv/internet/hard phone line plan include cell phones. They've been talking about it.
todd @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:58AM
Amp'd is an MVNO of Verizon, so by giving Amp'd your money, who in turn gives Verizon your money (well, they're supposed to), you're giving Verizon your money.
Elias C. @ Jul 22nd 2007 10:33AM
If you move fast kerry, you can transfer your mobile number to a new carrier no problem. Just make up your mind and switch as soon as possible.
Jimmy's Hotspot @ Jul 22nd 2007 12:57PM
As a current T-Mobile employee, may I recommend signing up with us. Currently, T-Mo has more competetive unbundled calling plans than any of the other Big 4. Hotspot@Home just launched which gives the user unlimited calling from home and any other T-Mo designated Hotspot. MyFaves gives you unlimited calling to your 5 favorite people, not to mention anytime minutes and nights and weekends. And for a limited time 9.99 unl messaging for myfaves customers. See stores for details and restrictions.
PEZ @ Jul 22nd 2007 1:21PM
I am trying to figure out who would be willing to stay on as a customer service rep to even do this shit work. This looks like its going to be a mess! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
D Pulido @ Jul 22nd 2007 4:35PM
No numbers can be taken to any other carrier. AMPed Mobile has already set all phones for termination. The phone numbers are lost for good. That sucks for a lot of people that need to keep there phone numbers and there's nothing they can do about it because you can't sue a company that doesnt have money
carcomptoy @ Jul 22nd 2007 5:32PM
Not true...they are allowing you the customers to port their numbers. Where in the world did you get that nonsense??
D Pulido @ Jul 22nd 2007 6:08PM
i had three different customers come into my store today and their mdn's were locked in an aging account set for termination which means they cannot port out or change anything on their account. Maybe it's not the same for all but the people I had were unable to do it.
Coco @ Jul 23rd 2007 4:24AM
I just checked my phone and did not receive any text message from Amp'd. Did you all got the message?
derX @ Jul 23rd 2007 6:45AM
...hrm, an unbiased suggestion, I see; how thoughtful.
-------------------
Your post was like a really bad TV commercial. In fact, it was worse than a TV commerical because I had to *read* it.
P.S.: Don't take this personally.
derX @ Jul 23rd 2007 6:47AM
...that was at Jimmy's Hotspot.
dcny @ Jul 23rd 2007 8:12AM
what happens to ampd mobile canada
derX @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:33AM
Dcny, from the site accessed via the read link:
Is Amp'd going out of business?
Amp'd is potentially suspending US operations on July 24th.
assedoutofdeposit @ Jul 23rd 2007 1:46PM
i've been with amp'd for a year now. my credit isn't super good, so they required a $300 deposit for me to get an account. I paid it cause it's necessary for me to have a cell phone. I'm sure I won't see that money again! What sucks, is I don't have the money to pay the deposit for another company. Guess I'll learn to survive without a phone for awhile.
dominick jaksic @ Jul 23rd 2007 2:06PM
i ported my ampd number to verizon on sunday. the port went thru quickly. but verizon could not activate my prepaid hollywood phone that i purchased on e-bay, i had to activate my original hollywood phone that i got from amped when i signed the 18 month contract. does anyone know how to unlock the ampd pre paid hollywood, so it can be activated as a regular phone on a cdma network?
Joey @ Jul 23rd 2007 4:57PM
The fact that none of the big 4 carriers have sent a text to the Amp'd customers offering a deal to switch over shows no one really wants the Amp'd customers. Its a customer base free for the taking and no one is going after it because there are more deadbeat customers than good ones. Most of them have poor credit and even worse histories of not paying their bills on time or ever. Johnny T in the first post is a prime example.
I wonder if the Amp'd customers are the same customers that rent furniture and use payday loan services. Maybe Amp'd should have cross promoted with those companies to build a larger customer base of deadbeats and down-on-their-luck people.
Carl @ Jul 23rd 2007 7:21PM
For those with bad credit, I'd suggest T-Mobile and their Smart Access program, or the upcoming FlexPay program...
April @ Jul 24th 2007 5:00AM
Hi. My husband and I only got Ampd because we liked the phones. I was able to get a T-Mobile phone with no problem. It was SH***y the way they did us.
elgee02 @ Jul 24th 2007 8:52PM
You seriously chose Amp'ed cause you liked their phones?!?! OMG that's too funny! The E815? Yeah that phone has been out 3 years now I believe? RAZR? Not only do all the other carrier's sell this, it isn't and never was anything special. And don't even get me started on that POS Kyocera slider phone they sold.
Why anyone would choose Amp'd cause of their phones is beyond me.
April @ Jul 27th 2007 1:32AM
I had no problem with the phone or service. Now their customer service was complete s**t.
feefree @ Jul 25th 2007 2:18AM
Amp'd was the cheapest prepaid around. I hate these American plans where you have to pay both incoming and outgoing calls. Not only they are expensive, but they are paid twice.
Waiting for wifi to kill the cellphone corporate bastards.
elgee02 @ Jul 25th 2007 12:40PM
"Waiting for wifi to kill the cellphone corporate bastards."
Lol, good luck with that one.
Billy @ Jul 25th 2007 2:55PM
I guess you will be waiting at least 10 years to get your next cell phone. WiFi wont kill the cell phone. In the next decade it will only be used as an add on to current technology for additional features.
We would need a strong nationwide WiFi network owned by one company or free for it to kill cell phones. The most we have so far is WiFi service covering most of a city. Thats a long way to go before you can use your internet phone anywhere.
Dont you think that if nationwide WiFi gets close the cell phone companies will buy up the networks so they can still charge you for usage. Or more realistically, any nationwide WiFi network would probably be provided by cell phone companies since they have the infrastructure & towers to attach transmitters.
Incoming and outgoing calls use the network the same amount so why shouldnt you have to pay for them? Have fun looking for a pay phone the next 10+ years. Feefree, look at the bright side, a pay phone doesnt charge you for incoming calls.
nene @ Jul 25th 2007 3:06PM
"I hate these American plans where you have to pay both incoming and outgoing calls. Not only they are expensive, but they are paid twice."
Cell companies are only getting paid once per call, not twice. Minutes are used on the network no matter if its incoming or outgoing. Its this lack of understanding and cheap mentality that makes cell phone companies not want to spend money marketing to Ampd customers. Why spend money to get a cheap customer who wont pay their bill or will constantly complain using up costly customer service hours.
twiddles @ Jul 25th 2007 3:14PM
I'm a middle aged mom and I bought the Ampd thing because it was convenient and I loved the internet/ampd live deal. I went with prepay for the most part because it was just simpler in case I decided to switch to a different carrier if I didn't like it. As far as the phone is concerned- I loved mine.. never had a problem with it or my phone service but the customer service itself was God awful- forget getting anyone on the phone to help you with issues! It's unfortunate they are leaving because I haven't found anyone with all of the same services I had with AMpd and cost wise- it knocked other prepaid programs out of the water- I honestly don't feel I should have to pay a daily usage fee whether I make a phone call or not AND pay the per minute rates.. ridiculous! I have been looking around for options to port my number and the two viable choices I found said porting prepaid to prepaid was fine but it was going to depend on if Ampd was still doing their part to port numbers. Does anyone know if it can still be done? If I have to change numbers that's fine but I want to make sure I go with a carrier that I can keep my Jet. Also suggestions on who to go with would be great- No sales pitches please- definitely not going with Verizon (prepaid cost with them is ludicrous) and T-mobile doesn't have coverage in my area.......
Dmobxxx @ Jul 31st 2007 9:13AM
I got a text saying we could port until 8/15/07...I hope they stick to that. This whole thing really sucks for me cause I actually PAID my bill...unlike most, apparently.
Jadio @ Jul 30th 2007 4:19PM
I have a hollywood ampd phone and i have pics on the phone not on my card is there anyone who can tell me how to get the pics off the phone? And did anyone get there phone changed to another carrier?
janay turner @ Jul 30th 2007 4:38PM
ampd mobile is a piece of crap....they told me false information and then charged me for the mistake they made. now i owe them $1800. i didnt have any credit when i got the phones now im sure my credit is really messed up.
Rob @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:15PM
i liked my ampd service but the phone i got was a piece of crap. my phone would "crash" when i tried to call certain people, and once or twice the alarm "went off" but never made any sound. i never had any billing problems or online issuse with them either though. it just pisses me off that because of 80,000 deadbeats not paying there bills i have to go get a new service provider. at least me contract ended this month anyway. only thing i'm wondering now is why its aug. 2 and i still have service. . .
homer @ Aug 11th 2007 8:41AM
wow, no wander we are at war, just listen to yourselves. ampd was good, phone, coverage & i had good csr's. hollywood is a great phone packed full of features. verizon will not allow any ampd phone, you must buy a new one. the big 4-5 pre-program there phones where as ampd downloaded there programming. as far as people paying or not paying, how does anyone know? maybe it was corrupt greedy execs that didn'tknow how to run a corp. it is not uncommoc. most execs & most of you are what is called
"educated idiots"! ampd mobil rocked
nicole @ Aug 13th 2007 6:52PM
first off, im bummed amp'd is out of business. i loved them. they had the best plans and best service.
anyway, im kinda stuck now. i went to verizon and said i wanted to port my number over but they need my amp'd account number. the problem is i dont have that number. i had paperless statements. and also, i cant call customer service cuz there is no one there! and you cant email amp'd's customer service either cuz they dont have anyone to respond back.
does anyone know what to do?
nicole @ Aug 15th 2007 11:40AM
Your comments: first off, im bummed amp'd is out of business. i loved
them. they
had the best plans and best service. anyway, im kinda stuck now. i
went to verizon and said i wanted to port my number over but they
need my amp'd account number. the problem is i dont have that
number. i had paperless statements. and also, i cant call customer
service cuz there is no one there! and you cant email amp'd's
customer service either cuz they dont have anyone to respond back.
does anyone know what to do?
LeviathanTM @ Sep 20th 2007 10:16PM
Ok so ive been trying to figure out what to do here...I owe Ampd for my last phone bill and I cant figure out what to do since they have shut down. Any ideas or help would be appreciated