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Carol of New Brighton, PA (05/11/08)
I just want to say that I have used Tracfone for several years without a problem. I have had to call once or twice for issues and they have treated me well, and have immediatly acted on my concerns. They were very helpful to me in learning how to use a cell phone and even though my old phone is totally outdated and huge, I keep it because I like Tracfone.
Gary of Williamstown MA (02/19/08)
Three years ago, I gave up on my TracFone because the Cingular network they assigned was worthless where I live. Recently, hoping that things had changed, I e-mailed TracFone and asked whether I could get the Verizon network (the only one that works reasonably well here). After two irrelevant replies, I finally was assured that Verizon was the network for my area code. When I tried to reactivate the old phone, I discovered in a very lengthy, broken-English phone call, that it would no longer work, but that TracFone would send me a new, $15 Motorola to replace my old $49 Nokia. When the new phone arrived, I discovered (a) that its battery would not take a charge and (b), after another hours conversation, that my network would be Cingular! I decided to give TracFone one more chance. They are sending me a replacement phone and I will try to get them to honor their assurance that I can have Verizon. Truthfully, I am not holding much hope.
Consequence: a waste of this writer's valuable time.
Laurel of Luray VA (02/13/08)
After purchasing a new Air Time Card, I was informed that I needed a free upgrade on my TracFone. All was well until I went outside my local calling area. On a trip to NC, I tried to use my phone only to receive No Service messages on my screen. When I called TracFone to ask why, I was told that I did not have the right technology. I could wait for a new SIM card, wait for the area network to be changed, or upgrade my technology. There were no other alternatives available. All of this might have been OK, except I speaking to TracFone on my husband's TracFone that was working perfectly well.
The damages are personal inconvenience. I cannot retrieve voicemail, make or receive calls if I'm in other parts of the country. I as essentially without cell service except in my home area.
Martha of Kerhonkson NY (01/19/08)
I have a Tracfone and I am getting nowhere with them. I received a ticket on 1/17/08 for talking on my Tracfone, which I was not doing and I need proof from Tracfone before my court date on 1/30/08. I need my dialed out numbers from date1/17/08 between the morning hours 10:30-11:00 am. They tell me I HAVE TO WAIT 30 DAYS and IT'S TO LATE. What horrible service, I will never recommend this service to anyone.
Jason of Grundy VA (12/11/07)
My Tracfone one day all of a sudden when I called said Welcome to Verizon Wireless, please hold while your call is transferred to an external operator. I quit using the phone, it still has the airtime good till 2009, and still has units on it. I decided tonight to test something, and I called my Tracfone phone number from another phone. Someone answered that has a Verizon Wireless phone, it appears to me that Tracfone has given my phone number to Verizon Wireless somehow. This phone was being used as a temporary business phone, and was going to be used again for the same purpose, so Tracfone has cost me business and alot of money.
Doyle of Dolomite AL (12/04/07)
I have been a customer since 2004. In October 2007, I received notice that due to upgrade in the company's technology, my old phone was to be disconnected. They sent a new phone. I have called their customer service line 1-800-867-7183, got the press a number for this or that, and always get the run-around to different employees speaking broken English. I had over 1200 minutes balance on the old phone but cannot call the new phone. It says 10 units airtime. A call from a landline gets the message that the number you dialed is not a working number. I have been passed around, on at least FIVE (5) calls, to different people with poor English, and have had to repeat things such as serial number, SIM#, IMEI#, my name, landline phone #, zip code, over and over. The last employee I talked to, Duma in Bogota, Columbia, kept asking me the same questions because my system is falling down. Her only solution was to give me a different case number so I can call back and talk to someone else. Yeah, and get the run-around from others equally deficient in English skills. Their lack of service amounts to consumer fraud.
I have spent at least 3 hours trying to communicate with these people and get the phone activated. I am a health care professional. My time is worth $90.00 per hour, but the frustration and stress cannot be quantified, not to mention the lack of emergency phone service.
Brenda of Anadarko OK (10/21/07)
I was informed by email that my Tracfone would not work anymore unless I upgraded to a new one; they were upgrading to new technology in my area. I did and was sent a new phone that I had to transfer all my units and number. It works to call out, but I cannot receive calls. After three attempts to correct the problem via the 800 number I still cannot receive phone calls. They gave me a ticket number and told me to call back in 24 hours. I did this three times. It still does not work, and I am frustrated because they want to do this to my husband's Tracfone, also.
I might have to buy a new phone and lose all my units and time on the Tracfone that I bought, with same problem to my husband's.
Linda of Quincy, FL (10/03/07)
Tracfone basically has No customer phone service. I have called several times seeking assistance with a value plan problem and am always put on hold.
Their computer isn't working or I need to be transferred to another department and then the transfer never happens, I'm just disconnected.
James of Greenville PA (08/08/07)
Twice within the past 45 days my Tracfone with a 1 year prepaid card has become disconnected from the tracfone network and would not complete calls even though several months and over 500 minutes of airtime remained. Each time it took over one half hour on my landline with Tracfone technicians to resolve the problem. Neither of the collection of technicians could give me a satisfactory explanation of the problem but were profuse with apologies which , of course, are of little use when the phone fails to connect when you need it. My advice is to avoid the Tracfone if occasional or emergency use is primary. Other providers such as Verizon are more costly but vastly more dependable in my experience.
Harry of Concord CA (05/20/07)
On recent trips to Denver and Los Angeles my cell phone was useless, informing me that there was no service available. These were metropolitan areas that certainly had cell phone coverage. Locally, the phone works.
Scott of Occidental CA (03/17/07)
I ordered a prepaid phone online and I have still not received it after one month. Worse than that, I have called the company 5 times and EVERY time I get a representative, I am told numerous times that they need to talk to a supervisor. I have received no explanation and when I called and told the representative that I want a refund, I am told they need to talk to a supervisor.
Everett of Schoharie NY (01/28/07)
Late in December 2006,I was informed through my telephone message machine that my nokia tracfone would no longer operate after janurary 1st 2007. This was because of Tracfone implementing a new technology.I had just recently purchased more airtime and minutes. I called them and was told I would have to buy a new phone. I ask why I was not informed of this before I purchased all this air time and minutes. I was told that the person I was speaking to did not have that Information I was upset to say the least.
Because I have been a customer for about 5 years and was happy with the service, I would overlook this FORCED PURCHASE and got a new phone. I called the company to have my phone turned and put my airtime and minutes on the new phone. Since then I have spoken to 5 or 6 representatives, put hundreds of numbers in the phone,and still have no service.And each time I call them back to inform them that the phone still does work, I am requested to wait another 24 to 48 hours and try again. This has gone on for over a month.
Ron of North Port FL (12/28/06)
I purchased Tracfone minutes in early November this year which should be good for 60 days. Prior to the 60 days, the 101 units still remaining were emptied and the cell phone is inoperable. After over 6 hours on HOLD over 2 days no one in technical support has even answered. I filed a Web report and no reply received. I have filed complaints with Wal-Mart and the FCC for Tracfone’s lack of service.
Paul of Brownsville PA (12/19/06)
I transferred an older Tracfone Motorola to a newer model about 1.5 months ago. Upon transfer, the voicemail had issues with the new phone and they reset the original mailbox with a new password losing all my old voicemail. It took 4 or 5 calls and web complaints for them to respond to reset the mailbox, which took about 4 or 5 days. Now, for about the past 2 weeks, I am unable to access my voicemail from a land line.
I have talked to 3 different people, including 2 supervisors, who have been unhelpful. I am told that the only way I can access my voicemail now, on the new phone, is by using the cell phone itself, for which I am charged by the minute. I have lost voicemail that is essential to my business and now am burdened with having to use minutes to check voicemail, doubling the cost for my being able to use the phone as a business tool.
Scott of New London OH (12/17/06)
I purchased a Tracfone early in 2006 and installed 180 minutes (60.00). The phone itself cost $47.00. This phone lasted about 3 months before the battery would no longer recharge. I looked on Tracfone's website and discovered that replacement batteries were no longer being offered for sale on this Nokia built phone, so I bought another phone. I was informed that I would be issued a new phone number.
After this number was issued I discovered that Tracfone had subtracted half of my airtime minutes. I questioned the Tracfone representative regarding this and was told that those minutes were lost because I had activated a new phone and received a new phone number. This made absolutely no sense at all to me. When I tried to place a call with my new Tracfone I discovered that I did not have service in my area. When I called Tracfone again I was informed that my Tracfone Motorola cell phone was not the correct model for my area and that I would be sent a new cell phone in exchange for the Motorola.
I did receive another Tracfone in the mail approximately a week later (a reconditioned Nokia built Tracfone that was missing several of the features the Motorola). When I called Tracfone to activate this new phone I was informed once again that I needed a new phone number and that I would lose my remaining airtime minutes. I finally gave up in disgust and followed through with the activation of the phone. When the wireless service became active on my new cell phone I had only 20 minutes airtime and the phone continues to show a constant "roaming" icon.
I have no local service in my area despite the fact that all Tracfone representatives have claimed that service does exist in my area. I have suffered a monetary loss of $100.00 and cannot afford this because I am a disabled veteran trying to survive off of a very limited disability income.
Christine of Keshena WI (12/12/06)
On 09/07/2006, I had purchased a 1 year, double minute plan. We started to have difficulties right away with our text messages. Apparently, when you send a text message you still get charged even if the other person doesn't receive it. When we called Tracfone we were told that the problem was taken care of. We have had the same problem over the last couple of months. Each time we complained we were told that the problem had been resolved.
We have had dropped calls that we were charged for, phone calls that we never made being charged to us, and have lost numerous business accounts due to the fact that we were not able to communicate on a timely basis. We also had printed our Tracfone number on our business literature and now it will be meaningless because we’ll have to change carriers.
J.k. of Ponca City OK (07/19/06)
Tracfone has the worst customer service ever. I had tracfone for many years and was actually very happy. Over the last year or two its service has went down hill drastically. I was having some problems with the phone roaming when it shouldn't have been and could not get any help from customer service. I finally gave up and ordered a new phone. It worked OK for a while but then went out of state twice and phone wouldn't work at all and it shows it in our covered area. The tracfone rep. told me the only way he could help me is if I called him when it was happening. How do you call him when you are driving down the interstate and your phone doesn't work!!
I finally gave up and went to cingular (which had great customer service). Tracfone was still a problem though. Cingular could not get them to transfer the phone number. I had to call and throw a fit (finally talking to a supervisor) with tracfone and cingular had to call 3 times to get this done.
Gary of Bellingham WA (03/08/06)
We had been Tracfone customers for a couple of years and decided to upgrade the phone and have the older number ported to the new phone. We spent countless hours speaking with customer service, received three new SIM card and never got the phone to work. I wanted to return the phone out of frustration and their obvious incompetence but was informed we were outside of the 30-day return window. So we are stuck with a phone we cannot use and out the purchase price. Don't just walk away, run away from Tracfone. By far the worst customer service we have ever encountered.
Paul f Purling NY (01/24/06)
I ordered a phone for a gift. Upon arrival I activated the phone via the internet. I waited the suggested waiting period and consequently found that I could dial out with the phone but could not dial into the phone; I would receive a "the phone is not in service" message. I called TracPhone ane they gave me a case number and said it would be fixed the next day. It was not fixed the next day so I called again. They said the case was still being worked on and it would be fixed the next day. The next day it was not fixed, so I called again.
They said it would be fixed in 4 hours. Four hous later I called again. This time they said the phone number was different than indicated in the phone itself (they said this was normal for Motorola phones) and gave me the real number. When I expressed dissatisfaction with this arrangement and wanted a phone that indicated the real number the hung up on me.
Mary of Hancock NH (01/18/06)
I was able to activate the Tracfone BUT cannot record my voice mail message because the passcode they give me online doesn't work. So far, I have wasted about 1 1/2 hours on the phone with their so-called Customer Care people, who are poorly informed and even more poorly trained to handle a problem like mine.
Mike of Sierra Vista AZ (10/27/03):
We have had a tracphone for almost 4 months now and last week it changed from digital to analog, will not accept calls, and no voice mail. We called the customer service number and they gave us another number for the new exchange in our area. We have tried to call them, but keep getting a message that says to leave our number and they will call us back. Now this is not possible since our phone will not accept calls. We called Tracphone back and they will not help us to solve this problem.
Since I am looking for work, possible employers can not call me and this may have caused me to lose a job. This will create a severe financial hardship if I fail to receive a job offer due to the tracphone not working properly.
Nicholas of Bloomfield NY (10/7/03):
Since the beginning of 2003, I had two occasions when my prepaid wireless phone failed. I could not call out and could not receive calls. On both occasions they told me that I had a bad phone number and it would have to be replaced. On the most recent occasion in Sept, 2003. This failed to solve the problem. They told me that I had a defective phone and had to replace it. I mailed them back the old one and received a new one and yet a third phone number.
The problem is that they only gave me 40 units of air time and a renewal date of 11/23/03 on the new phone. My old phone had 263 units of PREPAID airtime with an expiration date of 4/14/04. I have called them daily since 9/23 (when I received the new phone). First they were telling me to call back in 24 hours; then they told me to call back in a week. The last call to George Acuar on 10/6 resulted in asking me to call back in a MONTH because they could not locate the records of my previous airtime. I asked for a refund of my phone purchase and airtime because I need to put the money into a phone and airtime service that I can rely on. Their answer to BUY more airtime while they look for the records is UNACCEPTABLE.
John of Kearneysville WV (9/21/03):
Every once in awhile when I would make a call on my tracfone, the phone would ring and tracfone's answering service would intercept my call and charge me 2 min. off my time. I tried again right after and the call goes right through. To me this is unnecessary and they are stealing my minutes.
I don`t know how many time this has happened in the past. I never really paid any attention to it until last month when they got about 30 min. out of me. I called them and complained about it and they would look into it. They gave me back my 30min. I just wonder how many other people they are doing this to. This is still happening. I hate to keep calling and complaining.
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