Customer Reviews

Firefly Cellphone for Kids

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This item is for kids. Having said that, parents need to have a little bit of brains to use this. DON'T sign up for "firefly's" service. It's prepaid, if you know anything about prepaid you would know your minutes just don't hang around and wait for you to use them THEY DO EXPIRE! So, what you do is buy this off of a popular auction site (we all know what that is). You can get it cheap (I got 2 for 15 [..]) anyway, since they are sim card based you can use them on any sim card service ie; tmobile, ATT. just add your kid to your accout for 10.00 a month. I have roll-over with about a million minutes so I don't worry about the talk-time, but if you do just tell them to use it only for an emergency. It's good for 10 & under any older they'll want more bells & whistles. This is your basic phone. laughing at the lady that wrote a book for the last review. Give me a break it's just a cheap phone meant for a kid, not an iphone, LOL.

This phone designed for the tween set is good in theory, but the company's terms & conditions, which are not clearly spelled out anywhere obvious, get you to keep dumping money into it, even if you're not using the minutes. I had activated my phone over the summer, but never used it. When I went to give it to my daughter to take somewhere, I was puzzled when I tested it and was told that was not a valid phone number. Apparently, once the minutes are activated, you have 90 days to either use them or buy more, after which the minutes expire. To reactiviate, you have to purchase a new SIMS card at $25! This was supposed to be mostly for emergency use, I certainly don't need more minutes every 90 days. I plan to wait until my kids are older and will see more use out of it.

I bought this for my son at the beginning of the school year for emergencies. Far too expensive on the minutes that must be used before they expire. I tried getting more minutes on their site that you must use and is poorly setup. It keeps looping you on a minimilist site. Good luck trying to find a phone number to call them and getting a human being. I sent email and a day later they responded with a phone number to call. No, the number is not listed on the site. Finally I just gave up and got a free real cell phone for just $10 extra a month on my plan (T-mobile). I'll take the chance of him being responsible than having the frustration of trying to work with this substandard product (there are no number buttons on it and it is difficult to hear anyone) and poor customer service. I would give it ZERO stars if I could. Save your money and look elsewhere.

I bought the phone for my 6-year old who was having separation anxiety. I purchased $25 of minutes and gave hime the phone for emergencies (which is what the thing is for). Since we did not have any emergencies in the last 6 months, the phone has gone unused.

When I tried to use it this morning it would not work. I called customer service who pointed me to a terms & conditions page 3 links deep on their website. In 5-point font they let you know that if you don't use the minutes in 90 days they expire and if you don't use the phone for 120 days they deactivate it. There is a $25 reactivation fee and you lose all of your purchased minutes.

When I pointed out that the policy was not clearly posted I was basically told tough luck by a 22 year old "Customer Service" manager.

This is a terrible way to do business, a really obnoxious means of wringing additional revenue out of an existing customer base (especially given the primary purpose of the phone as an infrequently used emergency device).

This company ought to be ashamed of themselves. Bunch of scheisters.

Got this phone for 90-yr grandmother who has forgotten how to use a regular cell phone. I have programmed numbers into it (took a while since there aren't any number keys), and used it for several days with my own sim card just to see how it works. The ringer volume can really be cranked up. Ringer songs sound like kiddie songs---the upside is that they sound pleasant. Overall call sound is great for this little phone. During one conversation both myself and the person I was talking with heard a slight echo, but it was only one time. I stopped using it after a few days because I was missing my own phone with its convenient bluetooth headset. (Also, I charged it the first day, and then didn't charge it for 4 days. I kept it on all the time and used it as my phone. It was down to one battery 'bar' on the 4th day.)

**The best part about this phone is that I got an unlocked version and it works perfectly with my TMobile family plan. I wasn't crazy about paying for the special/limited service offered by other companies. The Firefly phone uses GSM service, so any company that can use those phones will work. TMobile is one of those.

The phone size is tiny. TINY. The up-side is that I got a lanyard for the phone and my grandmother can wear it around her neck. With her declining health and increasingly limited mobility, we were getting concerned about her ability to get to her 'land line' phone or the pull-cords that are strategically placed in the bathroom & bedroom (what if she's not near them when she falls/has an emergency situation). And having to cross even the living room to make/answer a call is an ordeal. Now having this little phone around her neck will be more convenient and give us & her peace of mind.

There is a silly 'light show' button between the volume buttons. I thought it would just confuse her if she hit it. After removing the phone's casing, the button was really easy to cut off--problem solved. Also, the case has lots of 'free space' that I will be decorating with little labels to help her remember what the keys are for.

I was worried about the possibility of her accidentally calling 9-1-1. You have to hold the emergency button (which doesn't stick out as much as the volume keys---it's almost flush with the sides), then push the 'send' button for the 9-1-1 call to ever be completed.

I wasn't crazy about the 'Mom' and 'Dad' keys (poor planning on Firefly's part), and they were easy to rename in the menu, as well as having plenty of room below the keys to affix labels.

My only complaint is that the screen is too small. It does light up (as do the keys--very bright too), but it could be larger. I got a small credit-card sized magnifying plastic card that is now also hanging from the lanyard. Hopefully she'll use it as needed with the screen and any other uses she might have...

Now that I have programmed, disfigured, and completely covered this phone in labels, I am sending it to her this week. I will update my review after I see how she does with it.

Hope this helps others who have an elderly friend/family member. There really aren't many options out there for that population. ;)

I bought this phone mid November for a Christmas gift for my 8 year old son. It's a great looking phone and easy to use. BUT......when i tried to apply my pre-paid minutes (from the card i purchased with the phone), i had big problems. I has already activated my phone on line and had an account set up. I could go back and fourth to it etc.... but when i tried to apply my prepaid mins, the auto phone service didn't recognize my number. So i called customer service (after was on hold for over and hr)and they told me so many people had activated at the same time and they working on the systme still and my number should be recognized soon. They told me to give it 24 hrs. Well i did wait 48 hrs and nothing....so i was left with a phone where i could not apply mins. They were very happy to take my credit card details and charge my card and apply mins that way, but i didn't want to put more money into this company that were obviously having technical problems. Hail to Target.....they took the phone back and gave me a refund but the $25 min card could not be returned...so i am out this amount. I bought a $15 trac phone that immediately loaded my trac mins and is working great and has way better calling rates. My son prefered the firefly but couldn't use it...... very disappointing.

One would suppose that a company producing and marketing a product for young children would consider children. One might also suppose that children's product company would consider child safety.

And you might also think that a telecommunications company would be required by law to provide what they sell. Or, that a telecommunications company would remember that phones are for safety as well as for fun and games. Not so with Firefly Mobile, producers of the flyPhone and glowPhone for children.

I am a grandmother. When a family crisis hit, I decided my seven year old grandson needed to be able to have easy, friendly, reliable access to family members and to be able to reach help, an adult or parent when necessary. The phone was principally for his safety and security.

At the heart of a phone for a child, regardless of age, the telephone is a way to reach a parent or helper when necessary and much more than just a way to play games or try out ring tones when bored.

Firefly seemed to have considered children and produced a phone that is user friendly for young children, so I ordered one and had it sent to my grandson in a different state.

Four months, two hundred dollars, innumerable hours and several other problems later, I can accurately report that Firefly Mobile isn't interested in your child, your child's well-being, you, or providing the services that you paid for.

Now, why am I spending my time to tell you this? Because sixty years later and forty some years in the world of business, I'm still surprised and saddened that a company trading in the illusion of caring about children doesn't and that a communications company can sell communication methods that it doesn't provide.

I purchased the firefly glowPhone with accessories and had it sent to my grandson. I signed up for their automatic refill option so that he would be safe, able to make calls whenever he needed to and would never run out of minutes. This plan refills the phone from your credit card whenever the balance is low.

His parents and I spent several hours setting up the account online after the phone arrived, but the next day, the information wouldn't be there. We could never get the account to work and the phone worked for three days. After several thirty minute waiting periods to get someone in Customer Service, I finally did.

The problem? The phone was out of money. I wondered how this was possible since it was supposed to automatically refill. I was advised that their software didn't work, but that it would be up and running very soon and they added some money to the phone from my credit card while I was on the phone.

A very long story short, we tried for two months to get the account to work. At long last, I was advised that Firefly had no idea when the software would work. Their solution was that I could call in and wait the half hour for Customer Service to answer the phone and add refills verbally on my credit card on an ongoing basis. There was no way to know how much was left on the account without making the call.

After needing to use the phone several times during a two day period, the inevitable finally happened. My grandson had an emergency and the phone didn't work because it didn't refill and I didn't know he had needed to use it as often those two days.

Enough! The safety tool had become a liability. I called fireflyMobile, waited the allotted time to finally reach someone in customer service, added fifty dollars to the phone and was advised: "We have no idea how long it will take to get this problem fixed. It could be a very long time. The only way we can solve this is to change the phone number and hope that works."

Needless to say, I got my grandson a different phone. One that worked. One he could feel safe with.

So when I contacted fireflyMobile and asked to return the phone and get the balance on the phone account back, you know what they said? "There are no returns even if we didn't provide you with the services we sold you. Even if we kept telling you the last three months it was going to be fixed." Oh, the the balance? It disappeared from the account.

I'm thinking there are a lot of people out there who have had this problem. People who spent a ridiculous amount of time, money and their child's security on a "refill" program that didn't work. I think this is called a class action suit. I'm thinking this is child endangerment.

I'm going to post this to as many places and agencies as possible in hopes that telecommunication companies are stopped from offering services they cannot provide particularly to our children.

Addendum: Three months later, fireflyMobile has never responded to these complaints, the unprovided service or request for a refund.

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This item is a great concept, BUT, First of all you have no idea how many minutes are on your phone unless you go online to find out. The phone does not hold a charge long enough to last the day. Your child cannot text you back because the phone hasn't the capability, providing they can even receive them on this thing with all of it's need for tech. support.....I ended up getting my child a trac phone, cost less and worked much better. Do not waste your money on this thing.

I gave both my grade school age daughters one of these. They are easy to use for the kids! Easy to program!!! It taught them to be aware and responsible without risking an expensive phone! Thanks so much!!

I purchased this phone for my son and had no complaints. I just made sure I added $10 every 3 months. After adding minutes to my son's phone on 7/3/08, it stopped working on 7/05/08. Apparently, the company that provided service for firefly changed. To make a very long story shorter, the new company now charges 35-cent daily fee (without informing us of impending changes), new sim cards were issued with new numbers and balances were not transferred. I think that their lack of disclosure is reprehensible and won't be adding any future minutes to that phone.