Safelink Wireless

Safelink Wireless Reviews

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Overall Rating2.0 out of 5
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About Safelink Wireless

Safelink Wireless Reviews

ConsumerAffairs has collected 883 reviews and 939 ratings.

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Customer ServiceStaff

Reviewed Nov. 13, 2023

I was calling for my 86 mother who was having a difficult time activating this replacement phone and I wanted to see about porting the number she'd had for 5 or more years over to this new phone since it was giving us a different number now that it was activate. After verifying that the phone was operable & ready for use, I asked Grace about the possibility of changing the number to the number that my mother remembered, at 86 getting her to memorize a new number was going to pose a challenge. We verified that it would, that number was under the carrier T-Mobile & Grace stated the Safelink phone would have to be shut off in order for the number to be ported over, and I would have to contact T-Mobile and see if they would release that number.

I told no, I wouldn't make that decision without consulting my mother. I just need to verify the phone number for this phone is **? She asked again if I wanted to suspended service on the phone? I said no, I wouldn't do that without talking to my mother. She's been without this phone long enough; I promised I would get this phone working & back to her before I return to work on Monday. I would just like to verify that the phone number is **, she asked, "Do you want to cut the phone off?" I said no, I want to respect my mother. She 86, I respect my mother. She not at a stage that I have to take that type of authority & make those decisions for her. I just need to make sure that the number is **. The call terminated.

The next thing I know, 25 or more verification codes started coming to the phone. I would have let it go but you are now messing with the device that was going to my mother's house. How evil can a human being be to do something so unjust to a senior citizen, a child or someone with a disability. I called Safelink and spoke to someone named Ashley. I'm not sure if this was or will ever be reported. However, I know that anyone as acrimonious as Grace has no business working in Affordable Connectivity Division. She needs to over in Corp contracts so shows in companies bottom line how she treats customers.

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Customer ServiceStaff

Reviewed Nov. 5, 2023

I have received the combination ACP / lifeline and I have been using it for 6 months in Vancouver Washington area then moved up to Yakima and I moved in with SafeLink wireless as my new ACP / Lifeline provider. So I received the phone and SIM card linking me to SafeLink. The phone was a Nokia C100. The "C" represents crap. I wasn't even getting a bar even though the tower is just a short distance away. I even bought one of those old cell phone antennas they sold for years on the TV which was supposed to increase your reception. It barely added one bar which at least was better than what it was.

Recently I found an old Moto g pure phone and decided to try this. Talk about night and day I get nearly four bars with the Motorola. Obviously if SafeLink wanted good customer service and good equipment obviously they're going to have to put out some money for it. The fact that they don't care and don't plan to kind of tells you how they feel about their customers. And closing I found out that going through the ACP / Lifeline connections legally you have to hold them for 30 days then you can drop them and go somewhere else. Now I'm in a debating mode right now. While SafeLink sent me a crummy phone me having a backup good phone compatible makes this workable, however I am still disgusted with what they did in the beginning. That is why I do not rate them very highly. Give your customers a good phone and everything will fall into place, give them a bad one and the customers will fall away.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 26, 2023

    First off they outright lie about saying their service is unlimited. It ran out of data in a few days even though I signed up for the unlimited plan. Now the customer service person hung up the phone.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Oct. 22, 2023

    When I initiated the benefit transfer process recently from another carrier to Safelink a.k.a. crooks' den, I thought I knew enough already about what the Lifeline (and ACP) industry was and how it was operated: the lowly off-shore entities picking up phones, with their linguistic challenge. Yet, most that I have dealt with were at least not 'unsupervised prank playing phone line. As it turned out, Safelink was unlike those competitors who may be not competent but not with intention to defraud you.

    They are located in Philippines and Safelink's pool of agents are no exception. One said she was in Cebu island in one of the recent calls that I was on. Or she might be minority working remotely but most agents are in Manila as the call center is supposed to be located. Where else? If you think this does not matter, think again.

    These agents are certainly so incompetent that you would have no idea what kept them from not losing their jobs by then in the first place. Compared to other lifeline carriers' customer service, though, Safelink agents are somehow trained to act unhinged with regard to 'cheat, steal and lie.' They turned out to be depraved with abandon. It is not just one or two individuals acting wrong but these are trained to lie and hang up on clients so that clients would stop pursuing the subject matter that made them call in the first place after this infinite loop of verification from scratch just to get hung up process, which they never get past.

    No sooner than my device arrived for the Lifeline and ACP combo plan that I found something odd: I was not receiving the service that was promised for the plan. I began contacting to learn their phone line operated just to block your calls after screening and they are teamed up to neglect and sabotage their duty of serving clients. Or agents have the uniform tactics to collect your information to verify your identity in a lengthy manner and hang up the call so that clients never get to talk to someone who would engage and assist, ultimately fix your problems. My problem, according to their explanation if not consistent, seemed to be my account enrollment registry was not properly entered therefore I was sorted as a pay per use client, or Lifeline without ACP, whichever that really was, I was alleged to have NOT satisfied their requirements to receive unlimited service. Therefore, they were rightfully not delivering service (?)

    Even after the issue was addressed and acknowledged on their end, the next problem was that they would never fix the problem. As my call was dodged among these agents, I was shocked to see these agents employing prank call behavior to sabotage and pushing dial keys like they are playing piano for minutes. Or just not saying a word while I could hear other agents talking on their phones behind this sabotaging agent whoever that was. I was patiently waiting for any development to hear a human voice (male named J^&n) after good five minutes. It was a long way but I was as tenacious in search for justice as they were in search of negligence (and profit out of clients' Lifeline and ACP funds, which were automatically delivered to them).

    I surely had no patient for anyone who were not adamant to correct mismanagement and further wrongdoing. I complained to FCC and managed to get their attention without waiting too long. Although this was eventually corrected, the distrust has not completely been removed. There actually was no way to ensure that they were not defrauding me when they refuse to deliver service claiming they had not enroll me for ACP when National Verifier only had the record of my status verified and active for both ACP and Lifeline, transferred from one carrier to them.

    In this excuse, they tried not to deliver my ACP allotment while the record indicated they already had it. Practically they were already took my ACP allotment money but refused to deliver it saying all kinds of lies. Finally I got this all straightened out. But I never can let my guard down. At least I have to make sure that they would not try to cheat, lie and steal again. Whoever found oneself in a situation of this nature, I would suggest you go file an informal complaint using FCC. It would get more attention and faster than being stuck in their prank phone line.

    Reading BBB or here and other net forum, this company's depravity is on the rage. Also, the company's answer to each complaint on BBB would give you a glimpse of the harmful consequence of having US business outsourced. I sure had a hard time dealing with outsourced customer service of this nature but nothing seemed as evil and depraved, needless to say incompetent, as Safelink's.

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    Customer ServiceStaffReliability

    Reviewed Oct. 17, 2023

    Their service and data work well if they work. From day one my phone fails to get text msgs. I don't realize this until I can't a verification code. So every week or so I call 611 and it finds a problem and I get about 15 texts. Well I also talked to people at least 6 times and they want to do the fix and that's it. I told them after 2 months of this it was ridiculous and I need a new phone. They refuse to give a replacement phone, so I'm switching carriers. Why should they get paid for defective service? I missed texts for jobs and other important things. Until one realizes their not getting them they don't know. Also twice they failed to call me back when they asked for a callback number. Bad customer retention procedures!

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Sept. 23, 2023

    I started with Safelink Wireless government program in 2016. They stop serving to share it and I started paying the $15 a month and it went to a TracFone. Well last week Safelink decides to turn off my service and lock my phone and I lose my minutes for TracFone. I’ve lost five minutes with everything with soup. They won’t help me at all. I’m stuck with no nothing. I don’t know what to do. They won’t give me a refund. They won’t let Safelink is not available in my area area anymore for the government thing. It’s just TracFone all the sudden. Just drops me and says, "Sorry safelink to shut your phone off," and I I’m just I’m blown away and they were rude. I’ve been on the phone with people from a different country for hours today and I got nowhere. Absolutely nowhere, please help somebody v.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed Sept. 19, 2023

    I have a phone from them and I love it! It's exactly like the one I spent $200 on at another place, except free. The Internet is good. Anytime I do have a problem with my phone I call the 611 number and it's handled fast and they are very friendly! It only took a week and a half to get my phone! I am so grateful! Without them I wouldn't of been able to afford a phone or service and I really need one with 3 kids! I love it. I recently tried boost mobile and I didn't have it for a week before I had it shut off and switched back to SafeLink!

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Sept. 11, 2023

    I've used Safelink for 8-yrs, and my experience has been very positive! Customer Service has been excellent, and their Cellphones and Cell Service have been fine. They also provide (1) free replacement, for broken phones. Glad we have the option to "Bring Your Own" Smartphone, as long as it's "compatible" with the Lifeline Program. I used (2) other "free gov. cellphone providers" — and Safelink has been the best one yet!

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Sept. 7, 2023

    My husband & I receive help from government, we don't make much in income. While my mom was alive she received Safelink wireless, but she passed away & the wireless phone was canceled for non-use of minutes & number passed to someone else. A year later I re-applied for me since I had proof that we get help from Access Florida, first it was approved, then rejected. We waited for a letter explaining why but never received one. I don't think Safelink is fair, they think everyone lies in their application even with shown documents. Shame on them, they should know better.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed Aug. 26, 2023

    Always great customer service. If you need help trust me call Safelink. Better than the rest! When I needed a replacement phone they sent one right out to me. If you need help with a phone to find a job call safelink.

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    Safelink Wireless author review by ConsumerAffairs Research Team

    TracFone Wireless operates SafeLink Wireless, which is a plan designed for people who meet certain income qualifications. Consumers who qualify for a SafeLink plan receive free cell phone service and can add minutes on a pay-as-you-go basis.

    • Lifeline service: The Lifeline program was established in 1984 to help low-income families access telecom service. SafeLink’s plan gives qualifying customers cell phone service for free. Consumers may only enroll in one Lifeline program, but those enrolled in another program can easily switch to SafeLink.

    • Features: SafeLink’s plans include caller ID, call waiting and voicemail. As long as the phone consumers select can enable these features, they are provided for free.

    • Extra minutes: Consumers who need additional minutes can purchase a TracFone Airtime card. The company will automatically add extra minutes to these cards for free when they’re applied to a SafeLink account. TracFone Airtime cards are available at major retail stores.

    • Customer service: Customers with questions or problems can reach a technical support representative from 8 a.m. to12 a.m. seven days a week. Those wishing to enroll or change their service can reach a customer service agent during extended business hours seven days a week.

    • Qualification: Consumers who are not already enrolled in a Lifeline program can find information about qualifying on the SafeLink website. They can also submit required documentation and check the status of their application on the site.

    The ConsumerAffairs Research Team believes everyone deserves to make smart decisions. We aim to provide readers with the most up-to-date information available about today's consumer products and services.

    Safelink Wireless Company Information

    Company Name:
    Safelink Wireless
    Website:
    www.safelinkwireless.com