HELP! My phone says 123?

for the past week my phone will all of a sudden lock up with the numbers "123" on the screen, I cannot use the phone when it does this, I have a cricket phone, nothing fancy, a full keyboard, It is really annoying when this happens! customer service says to take the battery out and put it back and press*228 to reprogram, but now i cant even do this, for when i put the battery back in the phone it the numbers 123 come up, please please someone help me b4 i throw this phone across the room!!