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TracFone
Reviews and Complaints
Reviews Chart
$200K
CLAIMED LOSSES
1.5K
TOTAL REVIEWS
210K
PAGE VIEWS
19
ISSUES RESOLVED
Tracfone uses deceptive sales practices
I have had a tracfone for several years with few problems. This past year I bought a new phone that came with prepaid service and minutes for a full year. I asked the rep specifically if this phone would work anywhere in the USA, as I planned to use it while traveling. I was assured that "yes maam, it will work wherever you go in the USA." It did not work anywhere beyond 24 miles from my home in one direction. It did not work from my home. When I called the reps approx. 5 times over a weeks time period, I was repeatedly read to from a flow-chart by reps and supervisors and finally told that I would need to take my land line with me and call them from the area that I was having problems getting service from. They could not send me a new phone unless I did. Needless to say, they never sent me a new phone.Yes, you read this correctly. It was pure lunacy! I documented every call and submitted a claim to my credit card company to reverse charges on my purchase. To this date my credit card company has sided with me. I will never buy another tracfone. Deal with a company that has reps from this country that you can talk to face to face.
ID
Location
New York, New York
Buyers beware.... Worst Service Ever!!!!!
Buyers beware.... Worst Service Ever!!!!! I am on my third TracFone... I had purchased this phone via their website. The first phone that I had received ... did not work. So after being on the phone with them 1 1/2 hours... the decided that they would replace me with a another one... which was refurbished! Guess what? This one did not work either! Then they decided ...after a little over 2 hours on the phone with them... the decided to mail me a third... And surprise... this one does not work either! After being on the phone with them for a little over a 1/2 hour with them today, they told me that I would not get my money back and I will not get another exchange. So here I am out over $50, over 3 hours of my time and I do not have a phone... As for my 2 cents... stay away from this train wreck!
ID
Location
Saint Louis, Missouri
Service
Tracfone Phone Service
Loss
$53
Tracphone may have cost me my business!
Im a service provider who relies on 24/7 phone service. After being a Tracphone customer for 3+ years I decided to upgrade my old Trackphone to a new Tracphone. I was told by Tracphone to move my phone # to and activate the newer phone could take up to 24 hrs of downtime. This was acceptiable on Sunday. So after turning off service to my older model on Sunday morning they tell me my number is to old and they need to send me a new sim card to connect the new phone. I will get it in 3 to 5 days! They cant turn on the old phone, cant activate the new one. Im SCREWED!
1 comment
ID
Location
Austin, Texas
Product
Tracfone Sim Card
Cannot get my name with my Tracfone.
It makes no sense to me that I cannot get my name, Fred Atchley, with my Tracfone number. I bought the Tracfone new. At first the name with my Tracfone number was Ago Roberto. After my wife and I talked to at least 6 different customer service people in 3 different countries, they finally changed the name to "wireless caller." If there was a name originally and there was, and if that name could be changed to wireless caller, which it was, why could it not be changed to my name, Fred Atchley? Our e-mail address is lillis-fred@***.com
1 comment
ID
Location
San Antonio, Texas
Net 10/Trac-phone lied to me for 6 weeks!
Net 10 wireless (Trac-Phone) lied to me for 6 weeks. I asked for a detailed call listing which they said they can provide and faxed the information they requested. After a few weeks I didnt receive anything so I called again. They gave me a second set of instructions which I followed. Nothing came. I called again, the agent told me the information was being sent to me DHL and was on its way. Nothing came. I called again and they said everything I was told was wrong. I was lied to every time I called. I paid good money to have the information they requested notarized and faxed to them. They gave me false information, false instructions, empty promises and even hung up on me mid sentence 3 times!!! All their agencies are in other countries and they don't care about their consumers, just the money they get from them. DONT buy anything Net 10 or trac-phone.
1 comment
ID
Location
Palatine, Illinois
Tracfone phone upgrade nightmare
Tracfone doesn't tell you that if you "upgrade"your phone that you will be without service for a week or more.....the vague answers you get from customer service are infuriating, and in this day and age of computers why does it take this long for carriers to switch your information, and on top of that I called daily sometimes 2x a day and they just told me that the request to the carrier just had to be resubmitted!!! hello!!!! change the website and recorded message that says keeping your number and units is "quick and easy".....Not! And why is the carrier information is so secret........
2 comments
ID
Location
Tampa, Florida
Deactivated my phone in my area and gave me a cheap replacment
I called to reactivate my phone and was told it is no longer usable in my area. They would send me a new phone and what comes in the mail the cheapest model they can send you and it is a reconditioned used model. When I called to complain they told me that my phone I paid 30-40 dollars for is now only worth 14 what a RIP OFF. I was told this is the phone I get and sorry about your luck basically. I will not use them again. I want everyone to know what a ripoff they are find a new company to use.
1 comment
ID
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana
Service
Tracfone Phone Service
Loss
$40
Complained about having 350units on my phone, and they cut it off. Was I ever pissed off.
In 2007, I purchased two TracPhones with over 400 units. I was down to 350 units one one of the phones. I was surprised when they cut off my phone with those minutes still on the phone. I complained to those idiots at TracPhone about me paying them for something I did not get benefit from. My complaining to them didn't make any difference at all. I suggest anyone thinking about buying anything from TracPhone, should seriously consider looking else where for anything relating to cell phones. What else was so disgusting that the people I complained to spoke english so bad, it was terrible.
3 comments
ID
Location
Reston, Virginia
Tracfone Customer Service:Nonexistent
For about two years, my Tracfone worked great, so I told my girlfriend to get one. We had a few issues with hers. All the customer service people sounded like they are from India. It took many hours to fix simple problems via phone, so I tried the website. Most recently,both of our voicemail accounts stopped working. The website help uses a menu system with limited choices, which of course, does not include the problem being experienced. Ever. Which means one's only real choice is to e-mail or call one of the Indian people. E-mail gets automatic responses with a long list of instructions on how to fix a problem that you don't have. A telephone conversation is a constant struggle to understand the Tracfone employee, while they SLOWLY read a script, and ask the same questions over and over, usually the phone serial number, your address, credit card info, etc. which appears to have no bearing on the issue at hand. When I asked for a supervisor, I was told to call back, and disconnected. Nice, eh? When the Tracfone works, it is okay, although I've noticed a lot more disconnects and fading/garbled calls in the past 6 months.
7 comments
ID
Location
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Tracfone is terrible
Well, I have to agree with almost everyone here. Tracfone has terrible customer service, outsourced to other countries, mine were to the Phillipines. I bought a tracfone, it worked for less than 2 weeks, and I only made one call in that time. The phone died, and I have now had 3 phones that don't work. After speaking to a "supervisor" and being assured that I would get another phone, and NOT the Motorola V170, and being told it would be overnight expressed to me, all I got was a new battery, 5 days later. I'm complaining everywhere. I hope someone reads this, and it stops them from buying a tracfone. I've contacted a lawyer now, and the BBB, the Attorney Generals Office, here in my state, and in the state of Florida, where they are located. I have also contacted the Secretary of State, here in my state, and they're state. We'll see what happens, but I'm sure I'm out my $120.00 that I spent for minutes, and the phone. We'll see.
2 comments
ID
Location
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Service
Tracfone Phone Service
Trac Fone Blows Another Chance to do Things Right
My father purchased a card with the intent of expanding the number of days, but confusion over the terms led to an incorrect purchase. Both the store clerk and my father made the same error trying to understand the terms. The store clerk had already attempted to activate the purchased service before the error was discovered, so he could not obtain a refund. TracFone support offered to exchange the erroneous purchase for 180 extra days of service and 180 minutes of time. This is roughly the equivalent of purchasing 2 of their $19.99 options with a few extra days thrown in to cover the price difference. We accepted and a happy resolution was at hand, but then our call was mysteriously disconnected. We immediately recontacted customer service, but suddenly everything had changed. They would not offer the 180/180 option again and refused reconnect us to the support rep who had offered it. They wouldn't even tell us her name. INstead they changed the offer to 250 minutes and 90 days, which was not acceptable. We tried to escallate to management but the offer of 250/90 remained unchanged with each "manager" we spoke to. What good is having an escallation procesdure if the only thing they can do is echo the same options that led to the escallation? We asked for a refund, but the unused service had been "activated" and could not be refunded. But they would have to deactivate that same service in order to process the 250/90 option, so we knew this was false obstacle. All our calls to TracFone support are hampered by the horrific quality of the headeset microphones the reps use. They sound as if they are speaking while gargling and what words can be made out are electronically distorted. If you check around the web, you'll see this is a well-documented issue. You'd think a company selling communications products would be more aware of the amateurish image this conveys, but TracFone may have a good reason for allowing it to persist. My father abandoned efforts to activate a $60 card because he simply couldn't understand the support rep. I think TracFone hides behind the lousy quality of their support lines becuase they can embarrass customers into accepting poor solutions to their problems. The caller feels self concious constantly having to ask the rep to repeat what he/she said until they take whatever deal they can get just to get out of the call. I will defend most of the support reps, though. Although most reps did have thick accents and spoke through the cheap-o headsets that garbled their voices, almost everyone we spoke with treated us politely and professionally, even though their hands seemed tightly bound by policies designed to make consumers regret the day they ever thought of using this rip-off mill. The big exception is a "manager" named Sherry Davis. She spoke with a condescending sing-song tone that immediatley angered us. She also refused to honor the 180/180 terms the other rep had offered. The call became angry and contentious. Ms Davis said we could not escallate higher than her. Her disrespectful attitude and confrontational tone are prime examples of why so many complaints about this company are on the web. If she is the highest level of management available in their support department, you'd probably be better off taking your complaint to a block of wood. At least a block of wood has the potential of serving a useful purpose and is less bound by bone-headed "policy." If you haven't bought a TracFone yet, then don't. Right now, two cans and some string are a more attractive option than anything TracFone can offer.
2 comments
ID
Location
Washington, District Of Columbia
Update by user Oct 01, 2013
(Verizon not Verison....doesn't seem to be a way to edit my post.)
Update by user Oct 01, 2013
It has been over five years since I posted my original complaint. I've learned a lot about Tracfones over this time period.
My mother lives in a nursing home in a rural area. Neither Verison or Alltel...
42 comments
PissedConsumer723792
#723792
You are very patient---------- and dumb.
I would have given up long ago, dumped the phone, and got a Verizon phone if thats the carrier you want.
Its not complicated.....
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ID
Location
Lima, Ohio
Loss
$50
I used TracFone for over three years and I highly WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT to anybody. You have to keep all your receipts and scratched off cards that you use to add minutes. If the cards don't work, and most of the time THE CARDS DO NOT WORK, they will put you...
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37 comments
PissedConsumer1759174
#1759174
Scam , bought card and phone ! Phone was Broken I couldn’t make calls text or browse I was unable to set up account , bought another tracphone and the they did not let me switch minutes from utterly broken phone to new phone : because I did not have account and password
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ID
Location
Washington, District Of Columbia
Service
Tracfone Phone Service
On Hold !!!!!!!!
I recently had to upgrade my Tracfone to keep my service. In exchange for a stainless steel phone at $230.00 they sent me a plastic replacement that sells for $19.99. Recently the phone just stopped working. After being on hold for 45 minutes they finally decided to send a new sim card. When the card arrived I followed the procedures and repaced the old one. I called tech support to have the phone reprogrammed, knowing that the problem was the phone not the card. After being on the line with them for 2 1/2 hours, I still don't have a signal and all my minutes disappear. They issue me a ticket # and transfer me yet again. Another hour goes by and I'm still on hold. Finally they tell me to wait for one hour to give the phone time to reprogram. Well, guess what? No signal and no minutes. From the second time I call again, knowing what is ahead. Sure enough I was on the phone for over 3 hours this time. They were nice enough to let me listen to that great ad of theres over and over between the narratives of what was going on at there end (Step by Step with that thick accent that you can barely understand). Well its 10:30 now and the third department necessary for my continued journey of bad commercials and a bad connection finally comes to an end when the techie tells me the department is now closed and I will have to call again tomorrow. So I'm going to be on "hold" till tomorrow when I can start my day off with Tracfone whispering sweet "NOTHING" into my ear for another four hours. For those of you looking to buy a new cell phone. Your best bet is to get a car with On-Star so you can at least be hands free while getting somewhere while on hold.
4 comments
ID
Location
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
Service
Tracfone Service Transfer
To My Fellow Trac-Fooled;
I have tried 4 times at the TracFone website to add the $40.00 worth of minutes to the brand new phone that I recently bought. The TracFone site does nothing to address the problem; I've entered the Card PIN # four times into the Tracfone itself, and all I get is a message telling me "System Unavailable" and to call the service number, 1-80*-867-****. This leads to a phone communications ***-hole at which nothing related to the problem can be chosen from the menu and the electronic voice guy can only pick out "yes," "no" or numbers. There is nothing in the manuals or on the website to deal with the actual reality of the situation. Last week my sister and teenage niece (experts in all things cellular) were actually able to talk to real humans at the service phone number; I'm amazed that they even got through! They spent 40 minutes talking to 2 different people in the USA and a gentleman in India, trying to install a 200-minute card PIN# onto this Motorola C139. He was polite and it seemed like it might actually work, but I was being optimistic! I was able to find a lot of complaints about this on the internet; maybe some contact with a real person instead of a phone robot might yield some useful information to get this device operational. I quickly found the Pissed Off Consumer web page. The 1-31-08 Ksilarty "I got help" review (http://tracfone.pissedconsumer.com/i-got-help-at-tracfone-200801****2202.html) with the TracFone corporate office's Executive Resolution team (1-80*-876-****) apparently yielded useful results, so there may be hope! I personally do not have endless time to fight with the problem anymore (Five hours just this Friday evening!) Since I have been unable use the $39.99 card, I am guessing that the PIN # is still unregistered (I still have less than 20 minutes total time showing on the phone itself.) I will give the card to someone for whom it might be useful and test out my rock hammer on the actual phone. Bird_Dog_55
5 comments
ID
Location
Saint Louis, Missouri
Service
Tracfone Phone Service
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Why in the *** would you use a secod rate provider like tracphone in the first place for any busness?. So was the couple $ you saved worth it