Working Assets

I can’t say enough about their customer service and tech department. They’ve been a huge help over the last year in resolving all of my phone issues. Unfortunately, their backbone is Sprint. Sprint can’t seem to get their stuff together, so I’m dropping them as a provider. 3 of 5 because Sprint is terrible.

I’ve been with Working Assets since the ’80 and I’ve been a CREDO Mobile customer since maybe 2007. not sure. Anyhow I love love the company and although I just have a little Kitana «dumb» phone I am very happy with my service. Any time I have a problem I get to actually talk to a person I can understand and my issues have always been resolved.
I got my solar panels thru CREDO/​Sungevity and I love that you are THE ONLY phone company with a conscience. Oh and that a portion of our payments/​fees go to good causes that WE vote on.
YOU REALLY ARE THE BEST!

Problematic phones, 3 one hour phone calls to replace under warranty. They try and blame the towers, blame your abuse of the phone, write some trouble ticket etc etc etc Run around, run around. When they finally ship you a new phone, they try and bill you for it 15 days later.
Incredibly high overages ($ 200 in one month).
Strange phone problems — yesterday my phone started giving a recorded message that my number had changed (it hadn’t) and using my husband’s phone number as the new # (how the hell did they get that #). Multiple phone calls with confused Credo people did not resolve, 3 hours later they wiped the phone which fixed the issue. What the hell? The cellphone is needed for emergencies, for my husband that travels a lot, for business. Arbitrary problems that they don’t have the ability to solve are simply not acceptable.
Bill is expensive.
Takes 3 or 4 calls to get them to resolve minor phone issues and they use this ghetto VOIP service that drops calls, and where you can’t hear the other person.
PISS POOR PHONE COMPANY!

I had a Working Assets credit card. They use Bank of America for their credit card bank. Working Assets/​Credo needs to stick to its mission and not be using BofA and large financial institutions which are exploitative, invest in bad corporate behavior as well as not pay their taxes. I cancelled this card and find it interesting that there is no customer service on the WA website for their customers to give feedback on this issue.

They are called Credo now. I have been using them for about ten years now and really love this phone company. They donate 1% of their profits to non-​profit organizations, their bills are on recycled paper with soy ink and lots of good political information on them.
But what inspired me to write this review right now is this… they have the best customer service! If you pay late or even don’t for a month, they don’t cut your service or even charge a late fee. They don’t want to be screwing the little guy.
I was out of town for a couple of months and didn’t take care of my bill and it was so nice not to have to stress because I know they have the right attitude. I just sent the full three months of bills in but they cut the long distance service because it had been awhile. I called and told them that the check was on the way, they apologized and reconnected right away, and it is friday night.
If it was at & t, I would have been on hold forever, they would have charged several charges and it would have taken so long to get reconnected.
Another thing, they answer the phone right away!
I love them.

Working Assets has been my long distance company for over five years and I recently signed up for cell phone service too.
Honestly, this the only bill I look forward to receiving.
Each envelope contains:
A list of books that are 10% off. I got my copy of The Omnivore’s Dilemma from Working Assets.
Political actions specific to your state. You can either check off a box to have a letter sent in your name or you can call your representative directly for free twice a day, five days a week.
A bill made of 100% post-​consumer, chlorine-​free paper and it is much easier on the eyes than the standard bleached paper.
And if you are a newbie, there is also a coupon for a free pint of Ben and Jerry’s
Just by paying your bill you are making a donation to a long list of progressive non profit organizations. The list of organizations receiving money changes each year based on the votes cast by Working Assets customers.
Visit
to see the list of organizations being supported in 2007.
Working Assets also hosts a free lunch and lecture series at its HQ on Market Street in San Francisco. Past speakers have included Markos Moulitsas Zniga (founder of the Daily Kos), Greg Palast (author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy), and Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards (authors of Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism). The list goes on and on.
Even if you don’t sign up for the phone service you can sign up to receive a variety of free e-​newsletters about political actions and events across the nation. My favorite is the San Francisco Bay Area Diversions which is weekly email with lectures and other events around the San Francisco Bay Area
Visit
to read discriptions and register for the newsletters

Thanks Holly T for that review.
We used to use Working Assets while living in the Bay Area. They not only donated a portion of your phone bill to selected causes, but they also sent us a coupon for free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream each month for a total of 12 months.
I don’t know why we discontinued using them, but hubby is in charge of our phone so I’ll have to ask him.

I first heard about Working Assets Long Distance nearly 15 years ago when I was in college and used to listen to KPFK and read The Nation and hang out at Midnight Special and wear hemp clogs.
A long distance phone company that donated money to progressive causes, sent out legislative alerts with the phone bill (and you could check a box to have them send letters to your elected representatives on your behalf), printed its bills on recycled paper (prior to online billing), and included coupons for a free pint of Ben and Jerry’s with every bill? Where do I sign up? On top of all that, they had great rates and great customer service, and I’ve never ever had a single problem with them.
Unfortunately I had to leave Working Assets for a brief period when my future husband left to spend 3 years in Italy. Although they did have good international rates, I was in a weird situation where I needed him to call me from Italy using my calling card and still get the discounted rate, rather than me calling him, since he had to use a pay phone, and the only companies that could accommodate that were MCI and AT&T. I went through total hell with those companies, dealing with all kinds of billing errors and horrible customer service.
Once that whole period of our lives was over and we moved into our new apartment as a married couple, I was so relieved that I could go back to WALD as my long distance provider. I get awesome rates, and the company is so easy to deal with. I pay online and it is easy, easy, easy. I guess now with cell phones and Skype and VOIP and so many other options that long distance isn’t that big a deal anymore. I hardly ever need to make long distance calls on my home phone, but when I do, I’m still glad that portion of my bill is going to WALD and not to Verizon.
They also offer a wireless service, which I haven’t really looked into but might, since I’m so sick of T-​Mobile and Cingular and Verizon. And they have a credit card, which I used to have, and it was a decent deal.
Sadly, I am no longer a good progressive. I no longer read lefty publications, listen to public radio, go to rallies or protests, shop for organic food, or write to my elected officials — at least not on a regular basis. Not that my politics have changed, just my priorities, I suppose. At any rate, at least I still have Working Assets Long Distance, and I’m not about to give that up.