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TracFone - Activation Problems

TracFone • Missing minutes • Activation problems • Can't get local number • Defective phone • Network problems • Lost the phone • Advertising, promotions • Rebate problems • Inside Trac --- News • TracFone Pays $50,000 for Violating Missouri's Do Not Call Law

Roy of Embudo, NM January 5, 2010

I was previously with Verizon and their tower is 200ft from my home. I always had 5 bars here. This phone says it cannot connect with the network. I have held and punched codes till I'm blue. Any help ? or just like the rest?

previous message to you which you took NO action on: "Order# was not delivered by fedex although they show it delivered Dec.22 at 1:56 pm. It was not . I was home and available and they did not come. I viewed the signature proof of delivery and there is no signature." The next morning I found the box on the door of one of the out buildings near my property. Bad delivery, but worse customer service. You can bet I will advertise my experience on local and national forums. Thanks for nothing customer ignorance

On Dec 23, I spent 4 1/2 hours speaking to people trying to activate the phone. They said due to high call volume they could not help me then and I must call back.

On Jan 5 (today) I called and spoke for near 1 hour until I had another appointment and had to leave. I called back but on the the sales number and asked for a return and refund. I spoke to Roger who handed me off to Alan (who barely speaks English) after 6 min he hung up on me. I was always polite and patient. The 7 or 8 people I spoke with were nice but terribly incompetent. They could not pass simple info like name and nature of problem to the next person when they would hand me off.

I just tried to call your sales dept. and a message says that you are not accepting calls right now. I finally got on hold and have been holding now for 44 min. I really want to use this phone and would accept it if it could be fixed. For now, it does not work, I am dissatisfied with my purchase and want a refund. Tell me what you want done with your phone.

I prefer an email response about what you want done with your phone since it will not work. You may call me if you (can speak English and) want to try to fix this, else I have no recourse but to dispute the bill on my credit card. I will wait until the afternoon ( US mtn time) of Jan, 6 2010 for you to get back to me before filing a dispute.

valerie of kelseyville, CA January 4, 2010

It is 11:33 am jan 4, 2010. i have been on the phone for over 39 minutes waiting for a supervisor to assist me. she has the phone line open and i hear her talking with other staff...laughing. she has not come back on the line with me. I gave her my serial number. check records of my calls in to try to activate new phone and transfer old tracone number to it.

i keep calling out hello....no answer from supervisor. I am holding on line because it has been since dec 27 since I tried getting this handled. it has now been 43 minutes and I am still holding an calling out. what gives? [They] have cost me time, cost me minutes, cost me the ability to receive calls for work, have prohibited me from hearing from my pregnant daughter in Switzerland. she is past due.

Lori of Mosinee, WI January 4, 2010

My son wanted to get a vell phone for Christmas so thinking a prepaid was the way to go I thought I would try a Tracfone. I had one in the past and had no issues with it. The first day I tried to activate this phone I should have taken it back to Target. I spent 1 hour with a agent trying to get this phone to work. The agent stated I had to wait 24 hours for the activation to take place. 24 hours later guess what... nothing.. The phone still didnt work. I called again and a different agent stated I needed to add minutes to the phone. I spent 25.00 for min and called back. I spent another hor with a agent was informed I had to wait 4 hoursfor the phone to work. I waited 24 hours just to be safe.

The next day still the phone could not receive calls or make calls. I called again. I spent 2 1/2 hours on my phone with a agent trying to get this phone to work. I punched in so many numbers in to this phone I lost count. After 2 1/2 hours I was told I had to wait 24/48 hopurs for this phone to work. I asked to speak to someone higher up (thinking they would know what to do) This so called professional asked me what my issue was (thats very professional) After I started to tell her my time I specnt on the phone to get this wonderful Tracfone working, this wonderful very professional (NOT) agent hung up on me. I have never been treated so rude. This company needs to take a good hard look at teh product they are attemptign to sell and then also the so called professionals thay have working for them. I will NEVER deal with this comapny again and I will aslo pass my story on to others.

Rose of O'fallon, MO January 3, 2010

I asked to get time on my phone and you took the money out of my account for it but did not put the time on my phone. I have waited more than 24 hours to get the time on my phone.

deb of lock haven, PA December 27, 2009

I received a tracfone for Christmas, 2009, I bought time & activated the phone, well I can receive calls but cannot make calls, tried to contact customer service, only a recording & to call back in 24 hrs. it's been 72 hrs., & I have not gotten through, tried to contact on Tracfone.com. gave all information, & no response, I am very unhappy because now I lost the money for time(min) purchased & my I cannot use the phone.

Janine of Portland, OR December 17, 2009

I bought a trakfone a week ago. I attempted to transfer my current number to trakfone. It was still not working 48 hours later. I called trakfone who said AT&T would not release the number. I called AT&T who said that trakfone had placed 6 requests, not all of which were my number. They said that the request was granted, but tracfone never acted on it. Tracfone meantime continues to say that AT&T will not release the number.

Tracfone clearly does not have trained representatives or technicians. Their reps are located outside the U.S. No one was ever able to connect me to anyone in the U.S. and I was told that there was no U.S. number for the company that they could give out. So now I've lost my access to my telephone number, I'm out 20, and I have no cell phone. 7 days with no cell phone, multiple calls from tracfone, multiple calls to tracfone and AT8T.

Arlene of Hartford, WI December 2, 2009

I am on Tracfones "SERVICE PROTECTION" PLAN and service is being disconnected. Tracfone says the problem is on their end but it has gone on for 6mo's. Customer service is of no help. I can't use the 184 units in my phone which I have paid for

Ronald of Mesa, AZ November 25, 2009

My wife and I purchased TracFones at Big Lots. We paid just 8.00 each for the phones. Minutes had to be purchased extra. The phones were activated by Big Lots. Our problem is the phone numbers seem to have belonged to someone else as I have recieved about 30 "text" messages from ESPN thereby using up the minutes I purchased for my use.

I called Tracfone Company twice and they accused me of giving my number to ESPN to use. I do not even watch ESPN on TV so why would I pay for thier Text messages? I am sure that I have been scammed. What can I do about it? I am purchasing minutes on my TracFone for someone else's use that I don't even know.

Darwin of Fort Worth, TX November 3, 2009

First of all, I tried to transfer service and phone number from an existing TracFone to a newly purchased TracFone and the activation was not completed. TracFone issued me a Case ID number that stated "We will contact you shortly after your case is resolved to complete Activation of your TracFone." 24 hours later, still no response from TracFone in any form or fashion.

So I initiated contacting TracFone customer service only to be read common canned response phrases and to be disconnected when requesting to speak to a manager or supervisor. I made several attempts to contact them by phone and through their website/email system. Again, it's the same canned message and they request for me to call their Portability Representatives. So I did and after almost two hours, nothing!

The Portability Representative placed me on speakerphone or laid his headset down. I listened to the department converse, mostly in Spanish for over an hour with no response to my voice calls. Then guess what, disconnected again and they did not call me back. During this call I was typing an email to Elston and providing him the details as well. Every correspondence with TracFone customer service is also being forwarded to Elston email address as well. Three days have passed and no response from TracFone or Elston!

Time is very valuable to me and I have spent countless hours trying to rectify this situation with no help on TracFone's behalf. Plus, the inconvenience of having no phone service, since they deactivated my original TracFone as well. Also, while I personally speak several languages, Spanish is not one of them, so I found it very insulting that every TracFone representative that I spoke to was not fluent in English.

Here's an important part of this whole process, TracFone does not provide 24 hour technical or customer support and TracFone claims to be the number one prepaid cell phone provider in the U.S.. Nor does TracFone mention on the TracFone website that TracFone does not provide around the clock customer support and what about the TracFone motto "No Surprises." Since TracFone's website states the customer is in control and there are "No Surprises," it seems there may be a fallacy of legality or customer deception on TracFone's part.

Also, I added the following information to my email correspondence to Elston and TracFone customer support. Since no company likes bad publicity here's some information that can help in the quest of protecting consumer rights: Contact the President and Vice President of Tracfone and place a Consumer Complaint. Contact news media in Florida, Your State, and national firms such as FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC and place a Consumer Complaint. Report (Consumer Complaint) to the FCC. Report (Consumer Complaint) to the FTC. Report (Consumer Complaint) to the U.S. Government (especially if employed by them)

Report (Consumer Complaint) to the Attorney General's Office of Florida. Report (Consumer Complaint) to the Attorney General's Office of (your state). Report (Consumer Complaint) to the Better Business Bureau of Florida. Report (Consumer Complaint) to the Better Business Bureau of (your state). Report (Consumer Complaint) to WalMart, CVS, Family Dollar, Walgreens, and Radio Shack

Nancy of Sacramento, CA October 30, 2009

I have spent hours and hours with customer service trying to get my new phone activated and the minutes transferred from my old phone. Their customer service is laughable. Instead of listening to your problem and helping you deal with it, they give you canned answers that waste tons of time and don't solve the problem. The phone connections are bad, their english is inadequate, and when a suggestion doesn't work they simply repeat it over and over with no opportunity to speak to a supervisor.

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