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Tracfone contracts to various carriers to provide cellular service. When I purchased the phone for my parents I explained that Tracfone should not assign AT&T as the carrier because that carrier does not work in my area even if the computer shows that it does. The type phone purchased was a Motorola. Got the phone, they assigned AT&T and it didn’t work. They said it must be a defective phone because their computer shows that the carrier works in my area. (It’s important to note that my parents and I have the same zip code and live two miles apart.) They sent a second phone. Same brand, same carrier, same problem. After talking for hours to technicians with thick accents using my Verizon cell phone minutes I decided to take the next step and call the corporate headquarters in Miami.I called Miami corporate headquarters and got a person who said that the Motorola phone purchased had old technology and that what was needed in this area was an updated digital phone so they sent me an LG with different capabilities. I insisted that they assign Verizon as the carrier since AT&T does not work in this locality. I got the phone and tested it before I gave it to my parents. I set up the voice mail and thought the problems were behind us. Everything was working fine.
A few days later I called my mother's Tracfone and the call went directly into her voice mail so I left a message. I called back later on their landline and made certain she had the phone turned on, which she did. I told her I would call her back on the Tracfone to test it out because something doesn't seem to be working correctly and to my surprise the phone was answered but it wasn’t my mother. It was a woman who was in a boat in the middle of a lake. She said she had a problem with the number Tracfone had assigned to her and so they gave her a new number which was my parent’s number. This disabled my parents new Tracfone! Once again I called Miami corporate headquarters". They deactivated the number of the “woman in the boat” and reactivated my parent’s phone/. Problem solved? No! Now I could call in but they still could not call out?. I called Miami headquarters back/. They said this was very unusual and that there must have been a computer glitch|. The technician went into the computer system and corrected the problem|. Finally we have an operable phone!
I have documented 34 telephone conversations with Tracfone technicians, many of whom have such a thick accent I found it difficult to communicate!. I’ve also spent a total of 430 airtime minutes from my own Verizon personal cell phone getting this resolved,. So the bottom line is we now have a Tracfone that works but is it worth spending over seven hours talking with technicians to get these problems solved? You decide! 1298764
 Comments (33) |
| 1. Written by Steve on November 26, 2011 from monroe, north carolina, US I am a new Tracfone customer. No problems so far. Everything works fine. There are millions more like me. |
| 2. Written by Fernie on July 21, 2011 from los angeles, california, US let us not talk about accents mostly because everyone of us has an accent what you need to is pay more attention with your ears when the persons are talking to you with thick or light accents most human ear listen to 10 percent of the words said by some one else so pay more attention of what are your hearing from a persons with an accents. as far the tracfone I had it for 3 year without a problem Am I lucky? or what. |
| 3. Written by me 2 on June 22, 2011 from providence, rhode island, US Trakphone sucks ! Buy it at 'ur own risk. Call your state AG for advise on what to do. |
| 4. Written by tracfone customer service on May 3, 2011 from leland, north carolina, US i agree they need people we can understand with out the foreign accent maybe things would not take so long and get done properly. everyone should start complaining to all these places who hire these people for PHONE CONVERSATIONS and hang up when they call or ask to speak to American persons when we get them when we call....eventually they will get the picture! |
| 5. Written by Mad Max on April 7, 2011 from germantown, maryland, US Trac phone sucks, I won't be having it any longer as soon as our mins run out. We only got it because we live in an area where there is no cell service. We only use it when we are out of this area. We have had nothing but problems with this phone trying to get Mins. It is the hardest thing that I have ever done. Can't understand anyone that I talk to so have to insist I talk to someone who speaks english. I was told last year that our phone was out of date so had to buy another. Still having problems with this one. Tried to buy more min last week and spent over two hours on the phone so I had them put a supervisor on and he got it done but not without more problems. When done I still didn't have the min that I bought so had to call again. I yelled and screamed but didn't do any good so we are done with this BS. he FCC needs to nip this in the bud.Not a happy camper and still pissed.   WTH  |
| 6. Written by db on March 19, 2011 from algonquin, illinois, US My daughter had a net10 phone (a division of tracfone). She turned the phone off while in a play - when she turned it back on it had 0 minutes 0 time. It had 440 minutes and 2 months before she turned it off. This is the second time this has happened. Last time it happened at the airport when I was waiting for a call to come and pick her up. This also happened to her cousin with the same phone. |
| 7. Written by George in PA on March 4, 2011 from carlisle, pennsylvania, US If you don't have any sort of technical problem, tracfone works fine. I have had one for five years and until this year, no problems at all. Verizon put up a tower near our hunting camp and my Motorola phone could not access it, so I called their technical support and was told that I needed a new phone with CDMA technology which is what Verizon uses. They sent me an LG phone, but surprise, it was not CDMA technology and does not work. After two hours on the phone with heavily accented support (NOT!) persons I finally gave up and phoned tracfone headquarters in Florida. A nice English speaking person solved my problem in five minutes by shipping me a new phone that is CDMA technology and will work on Verizon towers. Don't waste your time on their 800 tech support number. |
| 8. Written by Shad on December 28, 2010 from lansing, michigan, US Can't complain for $100 a year and the Motorola phone is 5+ years old now. Only problem was opening my voice mail periodically--for some reason, had to re-enter my access code. Also showed 1 message in voice mail, when there was none. Oh, well, I really only use it for a phone backup and traveling. I am near a cell tower in the boonies where I live in N. Michigan, so phone works great; worked great in the wilds of Montana where nobody lived, too. Have a second one, Samsung, just got for $10 at Walmart, only problem is a bit of a voice transmission delay when I start to speak, so I have to start off slowly. I really only have them for emergencies and traveling, so these work great for my purposes. BTW, I would be very eager to buy from, and deal with, an American company. Will it ever happen? |
| 9. Written by Mary B on December 28, 2010 from rochester, new york, US I've had a Tracfone for many years. I buy one $100 card per year, and it does all I need it to do. That's less than $9/month! It was a hassle when I first got it, in the "olden days" when I was using a land-line to renew every month. But renewing online once a year is super easy. Haven't had to call them about anything in years - the online instructions have been enough.  |
| 10. Written by Robert on November 22, 2010 from eau claire, wisconsin, US I called tracfone about a small issue I was having with my phone. and after talking to a customer rep about purchasing a 1000 min card . I asked if there was a time limit for scratching off the number until X-mas. The person at tracfone remarked " stop talking about that ugly holiday..... allah is the only ruler of this world. after a small exchange in words >>> tracfone cancelled MY phone service which had just over 2,119 mins... this is not a joke. FCC here I come. |
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