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Tracy of Allentown PA (05/12/08)
My 14 year old son and i both had tracfones. My sons never worked right from the start, but he was afraid to tell me. I borrowed his phone once and saw all the problems with it. I contacted tracfone and they said they would send him a new phone AND he would have the same phone #. That was very important to him. They sent the new phone and when we activated it his minutes were gone and it was a new phone #. It took 3 months, 5 Sim cards and countless hours and hours on the phone with this company(I would only deal with supervisors towards the end) to get this fixed.
He had the reconditioned phone for 2 1/2 months when one day it just stopped working. I once again contacted their customer service and explained what was going on. This was my son's only way of communicating with his father who was 2 hours away going thru his 2nd cancer. He could not talk and via text was the only way of communicating back and forth. 3 months and 7 phones later none of which worked or were compatible in our area (yeah he was without a phone for over 4 months now.) My ex husband decided to put him on his plan due to the fact that he needed a phone so he could communicate with him when he was in and out of the hospital.
There corporate office contacted me and i informed them of my DISGUIST of their company's customer service and the count less hours of my time that was waisted trying to get my son his phone and that they lost him as a customer, but I should stay with them on a TRIAL basis. I asked if I could upgrade my phone to the last one that they sent him which was finally a decent phone. She said definitely and she would transfer my phone # give me his units as well as mine and that the phone would have double minutes with each card I added for the life of the phone. And she gave me 50 extra minutes for ALL the problems. The first card i put on did not double. I contacted customer service and they doubled my minutes and said they fixed it and all cards would double. The next card I added did not double and the 3rd did not either.
i contacted customer service and was told that i did not purchase the double card and there was nothing they could do. I found the corporate office phone # that was given to me and contacted the extension of the woman that had helped me. After 3 calls and leaving messages the 4th time I called and asked for the extension I was informed that she was no longer at that office and had not been for a few months and was there something that she could help we with. I explained the whole story and she after looking up all the information stated that i did not purchase a double minutes card. i EXPLAINED for the 100th time that the phone comes with double minutes for the life of the phone and that i had flyer's from different stores who carry the phone that say just that. She put me on hold for 10-15 minutes, came back and stated that there was no mention in my record of this and that they don't think they can accommodate me or give me the 3 cards worth of double minutes promised to me. She then stated that she would contact another area and contact me by 5pm that day.
That was 1 week ago. i am taking care of my ex husband and he is now in the hospital here locally, but can not talk due to a throat infection from the chemo. the only was he can communicate with me and tell me if he needs something before i go there is thru text. I refuse to buy another card and waist my money so I NOW AM WITHOUT A PHONE. This company should not-even be in business. my time is precious and I have at most times been on with them each time for at least 2 hours per call most on hold. They are nothing they say they are and i have been a customer service rep for over 12 years. If I did my job the way they did I WOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED!
George of Glenwood Springs CO (04/30/08)
phone quits working and have been sent replacement phones and batteries.Purchased new minutes for $100 in June of 2007 and have never used all those minutes,283 remaining.Called today about phone,which does not work and asked about remaining minutes and was told that they are not redeemable...$100 down the drain.
I have had 6 new phones with the same result everytime.This company is unreliable and definitely untrustworthy. I will never do any business with them again and if I am asked about them I will relate my experiences to them.
Kathy of New Boston IL (02/23/08)
I got my granddaughter one for Christmas, and now she can't use it because it displays "disabled service". She has 41 units and airtime until May 21,2008. What's wrong here? If you call for help you need an interpreter to understand the person you're talking to. Why can't they teach these people better pronunciation of the English language?
Gail of International Falls MN (12/31/07)
I received a TracFone for Christmas. I actually chose it, and my daughter paid for it. It was purchased at Target in Virginia, MN. I brought it to the IT guy at my work (Falls Memorial Hospital), and he tried in vain to get it to work. What is my best recourse? He has suggested I buy a Go Phone. HELP!
I don't have a mobile phone, not to mention a Christmas present either, and my daughter is out $50.00.
Michael of Snow Shoe PA (12/16/07)
I've been a dissatisfied Tracfone customer all along, about a year and a half now, and I'm a guy who's not very difficult to please. My first Tracfone was a Motorola Model 120-t that I bought at Dollar General for $20 in 2006 and it never worked very well in my area. I had to leave the house and drive to high, flat ground to make calls, which was ridiculous. I was stupid enough to put up with this for over a year, adding air time when I had to or else lose my phone number, until I had 460 unused air time units, which was worth about $200 at $25 a clip. But I was still unable to make or receive calls except in areas where I did not live. I thought the network service would improve but it didn't and I eventually let my service expire with all those unused minutes on them.
Then Tracfone emailed me, asking me to come back as a customer. When I did, they told me my Motorola 120-t was no longer compatible with my area and that they would send me a replacement cell phone at no cost to me. This turned out to be a reconditioned Motorola C139 cell phone. I had a very, very difficult time getting Tracfone to transfer the 460 unused air time units to this new phone, mostly because the Tracfone customer service reps did not speak or understand English very well. Well, the C139 got a better signal but the battery wouldn't recharge. So Tracfone sent me a replacement battery for the C139 and it also wouldn't recharge. When I complained to Tracfone about that, they sent me an email offering a Motorola V170 and 120 air time minutes for only $29.95. I haven't bitten on that hook because why would I want a third Motorola cell phone that will not work? So, I'm out the original $20 for my first Motorola 120-t cell phone and approximately $200 for nearly 500 units of prepaid air time I currently still have. When I contacted Motorola about their defective cell phones, they emailed me back and told me to deal directly with Tracfone. I'm out $220, I have no cell phone service for emergency contact between me and my elderly mother. No one seems to care.
Glen of Tipp City OH (12/09/07)
I do not have a Tracfone but yet they keep taking payments on the 50 min. plan that I canceled before 10/07. The phone did not work; I returned it to Walmart. Now they owe me a return. I have called them 2 times and still cannot get them to stop taking payments.
Robin of Sacramento CA (11/25/07)
I experienced poor Tracfone technical support/customer service, 2 defective phones, bad SIM chip, an incompetent supervisor, and the illegal termination of my phone number under California law due to replacement with a new phone number.
I've suffered a breakdown in emotional health due to the technical supports stupidity to resolve my issues (with the phone/phone service) that they helped create.
Kurt of Robinson IL (11/25/07)
I purchased a Tracfone cell for $39.99 with double minutes plan for $50. Two months ago the phone quit working. I bought a new Tracfone and tried to get the double minute plan transferred to new phone with original phone number. Tracfone refuses to do this.
I am out the $39.99 for the original phone, paid $29.99 for second phone, and am out $50 after using the double minute plan for only two months.
Steve of Oldsmar FL (11/23/07)
I have had service with Tracfone for several years. I called as was told to do because I move from TN to FL. I spent at least 2 hours on the phone with people I could barely understand, and was told that I had to buy a new phone. I had bought enough service to last a year. I just wanted to change my number so I wouldn't be roaming. Well they told me now that something is wrong with the new phone that I just bought. This company is one of the most awful I have ever dealt with, and their customer reps. are horrible. Please don't give any business to these people.
Barbara of Waukegan IL (11/16/07)
We were recently sent from Tracfone a new (reconditioned) Motorola C139 phone because, we were told, this was a better phone, new technology, etc. The phone did not work from the start; every time a call was placed or a call was received, the phone would lose all service bars as soon as the phone was answered, and the call would disconnect. On 11/16/07, I spent 1 hour and 25 minutes with 3 different service reps at the TracFone 1-800 # explaining the problem. After getting dropped almost immediately the first time I was connected with an operator and being placed on hold eleven different times and repeating the same information over and over, I finally spoke to a supervisor who had a clue about how to resolve the problem and get a replacement phone! Even then, it took another 25 minutes to complete the order.
I have never dealt with such an incompetent staff of tech services operators. It seems like they would have some kind of decision tree that would allow them to trouble shoot, and record the information so it did not have to be repeated each time I was transferred. So now we'll wait a week and see if a new phone actually shows up.
Dale of Little Falls MN (11/16/07)
I have used Tracfone for the past year with a Motorola V60i cell phone. I noticed that there was a service upgrade notice on their web site, and it said that technology was being updated in my area. I needed to send in my old phone for a replacement compatible with the newer technology. I had them ship me a new phone and I received a Motorola V170. It wasn't new but a refurbished model. It was necessary to transfer everything from the old phone to the new one, such as number/minutes, etc. Upon the first call with the V170 after activation, I noticed the handset speaker volume was extremely low, even when set at the highest volume. I called Tracfone customer service about the issue, expecting they would send out another phone since I was having unacceptable call issues with this one. The Tracfone rep, upon talking to her supervisor told me, they couldn't send me another phone. This is the way that model is.
I guess I was supposed to be happy that it worked at all, even though I needed to strain to hear a caller, even in quiet surroundings. I asked if I could cancel my Tracfone service. I was told they couldn't do that. I regretted signing on for another year and being sucked into the black hole of consumer complaints about Tracfone. Becoming agitated, I told them customer satisfaction must not mean much to them. When you have a problem, any problem, don't expect Tracfone to do much about it or having it resolved. I have an unacceptable phone and can't get out of a $90 service plan nor my money back.
Sherri And James of Addison PA (10/18/07)
We had been customers for several years, we tried to redeem a minutes card and it would not work, so we called and was told we would have to purchase a new phone due to new technology and was told we could keep our existing phone number, so we purchased a new phone through them, it came and we then tried to activate it online, it did not have our old phone number so I called the company, first time, they made us go through a series of punching codes and said that it would take up to 72 hours for the new number to be programmed in the phone, well after time period, it still did not have the new number, called second time, waited 1 hr and 15 minutes to get through to a service tech, punched more codes, told to wait another 72 hours.
Still did not work, tried calling again, could not get through, went on web and tried to activate it, did not work, called a fourth time, got a Service Rep after 1 hour on hold, could not resolve, told me that if i got a new phone number they could make it work after 72 hours. I refused the new phone number, they advertise that you can keep your number, which my husband wanted to keep due to all his business contacts knowing that number. She said that is all they could do, since they did everything on their end to port the number over and it was not working.
By this time, 3 weeks into it, I was getting very angry. I called again, 5th call and after 1 hour and ten minutes on hold got a Rep, and I asked to speak to her Supervisor,after being told there was nothing they could do, she got me a Supervisor, and I was wlaked through 1 hour and ten minutes of troubleshooting, and she could not get it to work, said she could program a new phone number and it may make the phone work, I told her we wished to keep the existing number, she said we would have to take a new number. I told her I would like to return the phone and she told me to do what ever. Needless to say, we are very upset with this company, still have a non working phone, the phone number is programmed in now, but it does not dial out or receive phone calls. i emailed the company and they said that the phone rings, it is working, I emailed back that it does not ring and does not work, have not heard back from them. I have reported them to the BBB, I am disgusted with the service.
Al of San Jose, CA (10/03/07)
I believe the best way to deal with Tracfone is to document your problem then forward this info to the Better Business Bureau in Florida, their home office.
I used the BBB to get action on a problem I was trying to get solved with Tracfone for over a month. The BBB got a Tracfone supervisor (who spoke excellent English) to call me in three days.
I was even given extra minutes of time for my troubles.
Michael of Memphis, TN (04/23/07)
Tracfone has sent my second reconditioned phone and like the other two, after trying to activate it, it only says, "Searching, please wait" and after about ten minutes it says, "try later". All three non-working phones have been Motorola V170s.
I have talked to technical staff in the Philippines, Columbia and Argentina and they keep sending me more bad phones. The V170 has a colored display and makes a cute little jingling noise when turned off or on, however I can't make calls on it!
Brenda of Surprise, AZ (03/11/07)
I received an e-mail from TracFone on 1/25/2007 stating I could now have international dialing at no extra cost. On March 6th I received a phone message on my land line stating the same thing.
March 11th I tried to make an international phone call using all numbers and steps given by TracFone. The system did not work. I phoned customer service twice. On my 2nd call I was told to try back in 4 hours as they didn't know what the problem was. So far this incident has not been reconciled. Is it a ruse or genuine?
Susan of Marrero LA (03/02/07)
My mother is elderly and I tried to add minutes online to her Tracfone. It didn't work so I called. The nightmare began there. They sent her a new phone, but it did not have the minutes I ordered. It took 8 days and over 3 hours of phone time to get the minutes on. Then they gave her an area code of 617. We live in 504. More lengthy calls where we tried to send the phone back and get our money refunded. They refused stating that after 5 days they don't refund. But the kicker was that it was only 4 days since the minutes were added. Then they put me on hold and left me there. After 20 minutes I called back and they were closed. We’re out $108.74.
Mark of Hatfileld MA (12/18/06)
I bought a one-year 250 minute Tracfone card and tried to activate it. What a nightmare. The instructions on the card didn’t work so I went on line, called up my phone and tried to follow the instructions, but they don't match what is on the screen. So I called Tracfone's 800 number.
We spent a half hour entering 20 digit numbers and kept getting invalid codes. They have decided that the phone (which is two months old and never used; I want it only for emergencies) is defective and they will send me a "new" (remanufactured) phone. That means I will have to waste more time trying to get it to work. If it ever does work I will use up my time and then junk it.
Cathy of Finger TN (12/08/06)
I bought a Tracfone and tried to activate it online. That didn't work, so I called the 800 number. I entered long codes and was told my phone would be activated within 24 hours. It wasn't. I called back and stayed on the phone for more than an hour. I was finally told that I had a defective phone and they would ship me another one. I told the man that I really didn't want another phone; I'd rather have a refund. Well, turns out I didn't read the fine print. I got a free phone that doesn't work and paid for minutes that are non-refundable. They are supposed to send me another phone.
David of Frederick, MD (04/22/06)
I spent all day yesterday trying to contact someone to reactivate my phone that was deactivated for some reason. This is the second time this has happened. I purchased a one year of service for my Motorola phone for $ 94.99 on 12-16-05 and still had + 200 minutes left with a due date of 9-29-07.
This phone was purchased for emergency use. We are both senior citizens and deserve more than we are getting at the moment.
Barbara of Alpena, MI (04/19/06)
Tracfone - what a joke. I have had nothing but problems. Always in roaming mode, they deactivated it even though I purchased airtime and the unit shows minutes available and date of expiration is in the future. I have never been able to make a local call. It has been a nightmare. What a waste of money and time.
I spent $500 on phones and minutes.
Dallas of Lead, SD (04/08/06)
My wife purchased a Tracfone (Nokia 2126). The next day I bought the accessory kit, based on the picture on the box showing our phone, but the numbers didn't match. I sent an e-mail to Tracfone and was assured someone would get back to me. I didn't want to tear open the box and then find the parts didn't fit.
I haven't heard from them for 6 days and now I can't contact them. I can't return the phone but you can believe I won't renew or recommend this system.
Lousy phone system and even worse e-mail.
Mack of Lansing MI (03/08/06)
Phone is less than a month old. it was a hassel to get service turned on. spent almost 1.5 hours on my phone to get what I needed. Now I can not get my voice mail.This is the lousiest company i have ever dealt with.
Bill of Manchester OK (02/04/06)
I had a Tracfone for over a year. They contacted me saying they were sending me a new phone due to the one I had needed upgrading. (It had stopped functioning)The new phone would neither make nor receive calls. After many phone calls to the 800 number and endless codes entered into the phone, they sent me yet another phone. Same results as the first replacement phone. No calls can be made nor calls received. Each call to tech support is the same...enter codes, wait 1-3 days and call back. Enter codes, wait 1-3 days and call back. Forget trying to recoup any money you spent on airtime. I would also suggest forget using Tracfone.
John of North Tonawanda NY (02/04/06)
i purchased nokia cell phone about 3 months ago. lost it then found it, but broken. paid over 100 dollars for minutes and time rep said i lost the money have to purchase another one. said the phone needs to be on in order to make the transfer to another phone.i had the simms card # and information that he needed (they know anyways).
Ray of Kanab UT (02/03/06)
I bought a new phone from them after having one with them for 4 years. The phone they sent would not work. But they had already activated it for 90 minutes of the 190 minutes I had on my old phone. sain they would give me the rest of the minutes when I returned the old phone. I did and they received it, they gave me a case # 10031939 and said to mention it and they would give me back my time. Well I mentioned it and they never heard of me or my case # so could not give me my time back. These people hire uneducated foreigners and dummy supervisors. Just a warning to others, find another phone.
Renee of Harrisonburg VA (02/01/06)
My 15 year old son purchased a Tracfone on my suggestion because I thought it would be a good way for him to learn how quickly cell phone minutes can be used up. The first two phones we got had to be returned to Wal-mart due to them being "defective" according to the people at Tracfone. The third phone was defective as well and we were asked to return it to Tracfone. We did.
We waited 6 weeks to get another phone. The phone they sent was a cheaper model and only worked for about 3 days. That was in Oct. 2005. We have yet to receive another phone. It is now February, 2006. We have called Tracfone approximately 30 times and every time we are told that the phone will be sent out in 3-5 days. Except for twice when we were told it would be sent out the next day. And, today we were first told that it had been sent out yesterday. When we called back to get a tracking number we were told that it would be sent in 3-5 business days.
It seems to me that they can't figure out which story works best. I would NOT recommend Tracfone to my worst enemy. Buyer Beware!
Thorne of Durham NC (01/31/06)
Tracfone will not give me credit for the units I had after they said they would give me credit for them. I was having problems with my original Nokis Tracfone,first having them put in a new battery--which did not fix the problem...then I wound up not having phone service for more than a month. Eventually I purchased a motorola phone, but Tracfone will not give me credit for the units which were remaining on my original phone.
I paid more money for the Morotola phone and the people from Radio Shack said that someone would contact me regarding the units that needed to be transferred to his new phone. I have not received satisfaction from Tracfone on giving me credit for my remaining minutes. I am making every effort to report this to all the websites to let others know about this problem.
Victoria of Odessa TX (8/29/03):
I bought a Tracfone in March 2003 and it worked well until August 8. In August, the phone stopped receiving or sending calls. I still had 80 minutes on the phone and the next phone card was not due until two more months. I contacted Tracfone about my problems and they assured me that they would fix the problem. My phone still did not work, so I contacted Ms.Yelaney Suarez. Ms. Suarez told me to contact her if I had anymore problems, but she did not respond to any of my emails for two weeks.
I became frustrated and decided to send her 10-50 emails a day until she responded. She did email me with a promises to fix my phone. Today is August 29, Ms. Suarez has not contacted me and my phone still does not work. Needless to say, I am extremely frustrated that I cannot use a phone I paid for with minutes I paid for.
Damage Resulting: I lost the money I used to pay for my phone and minutes.
Katherine of Superior WI (2/3/03):
I spoke with a TracFone representative 1-20-03. I was instructed to return the defective phone to their warehouse. I was informed that the 73 units on my TracFone would be re-installed on the replacement phone, plus reimbursement for UPS charges installed on the replacement phone by means of units. I called 2-1-03 to activate the replacement phone. I was told that they could not re-install my 73 units or credit the UPS charges via units on the replacement phone. I told the representative what I had been told. She said that didn't make any difference (she had checked with two supervisors).
This is the second phone to be defective. The first one they would not replace. However, they did re-install the units that I lost.
Freddie of Lawndale CA (8/19/03):
I purchased a Tracphone due to my illness. The phone power button fell out so I called the company. I was instructed to send the phone in, this was in May of this year (2002). I sent it certified and it arrived there safely without any problem. I had not heard anything so on 6/17/02 I called and talked to Susan. I was told by Susan that the phone was delivered on 5/20/02 (3 days after they received it) and left on my porch. I informed her that I never received it and not only have I never had a package missing but no one has ever left one on my front porch.
She assured me that it would be taken care of and another phone would be delivered. She started a new case, transferred me to a supervisor by the name of David, he too assured me that this would be resolved within 24 hours. I confirmed with him that I would not lose my minutes which total 186. This is approx. $120.00 worth of airtime. On 7/3/02 I called again and talked to Michelle and was again promised that it would be resolved. On 8/19/02 I called back as I have not heard from them and talked to Sandy and then Nancy. Again is was promised it would be resolved. I do not see any resolution to this problem. I would like the phone back with my 186 minutes or a refund check reimbursing me for the minutes.
Holly of Lincolnton NC (3/26/01):
I purchased a Tracfone in October of 2000. I only used the phone about 3 times and it quit working. I tried for 4 months to call the company and I never got through to speak to a real person. I e-mailed the company, no response. i took the phone back to the place where I purchased it they said they could not do anything about it because I have had it for more than 90 days. I contacted the company again by e-mail and they said there was nothing they could do either. I just want a refund on a product that does not work.
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