Cricket update: not really their fault

I resolved my problem with Cricket the day after my last post. I still would like to have 24 hour support from them, but I can live without that.

It turns out the problem was really 2 interacting user interface issues:

The credit card statement (online) didn't say DECLINED but instead:

This doesn't say the same thing to me and I thought the payment was going through.

Then on the cricket site it didn't have anything attention-getting about 'overdue payment' in flashing red or anything.

The cricket rep took a substitute credit card number and waived the $5 late fee, which was all I could ask for (other than an obvious note on their site) ...