Tracfone Reviews

First, I had to port my old cell phone number to my current TracFone phone. It took 3 days to port the number. I didn't have a cell phone for 3 days. The representatives kept saying sorry for the inconvenience. I must have called TracFone 2-3 per month. Finally, I got the problem fixed. There were issues in between that I can't recall. The last straw was today (6/8/2010), I was on the phone for 2 hours and got disconnected twice. What happened was TracFone could not get my 100 min. to my phone. So, they sent me a "replacement" phone but I received a reconditioned phone. I called them and said this is not a new phone. I purchased a new phone from them but they gave me a reconditioned phone. I sent it back. I had an issue with the SIM card saying it was "unregistered". I called, I must have spent 45 min. on the phone. Whenever I called customer service they kept telling me to punch in these numbers.

Tonight, I was transferred to 5 people and my issue was not resolved. The issue was since they sent me the "replacement" phone they took me off my monthly plan and only had 46 min., when I should have had 246 min. The customer service is horrible and I voiced my frustrations with the final 2 people and they didn't seem to be listening to me. Even when I asked for a supervisor; she couldn't solve the problem. Finally, I found someone that pin pointed the problem, but at the very end of the solution, we were disconnected. I called and the rep. wanted me to do all of the things all the other reps. said to do. Do not use this service.

I listened to my neighbor, thinking I was going to be okay. I read reviews before I signed up but ignored them, since my neighbor said they were good. Please don't sign up with these people. There is a language barrier, big time. I signed up for Sprint's Plan $29.99 for 200 min. (20 cents per text) but the min. can't be carried over like TracFone. It's a contract plan for 2 years. I know it is more than the $10.00 I paid for 100 min. but it is not worth the frustration. They even charged my AMEX for the month of May and I disputed the charge since I never received my min. I changed my cell phone carrier and have to pay $30 per month instead of $10 per month. Couldn't find a comparable service plan.

Long story short, I could not get my old number back. It was not only connected personally, but it was also used as a business contact phone. The last straw, my family and friends always buy the airtime for me, either by credit card purchase online or by phone with credit card, but now I find out that because the phone number changed, mind you, the new phone number they gave me without my permission automatically attaches the credit card number used and places it on file, so now when family and friends try to add/buy airtime for my phone, they are denied because the file is cc number is not attached to this new number, nobody told them to attach any credit card number to a file or phone number, the cc are good. Just how stupid is that. No matter what phone number it is, if the credit card is good, it should be utilized for the purchase! My son attempted to purchase minutes for me, gave them the info and was told it would need to process 48 hours, wow!

Two weeks later, they’re still not processing. I called today, 6/6/10, to see exactly what the problem was and what happened to the 2 weeks ago 48 hours. I spoke with a representative and supervisor. Their malarkey is full of **. It’s a 'polite script for all of their customer service representatives and supervisors with no resolution. I was told to use another credit card or buy a phone refill card. No ease of use, their processes penalize the customer! I am sorry for the day that I listened to their commercial and believed it! Warning: Do not invest in TracFone, extremely problematic when you activate and attempt to get issues/problem resolved. That is what you can expect from an American company that uses overseas company to handle their customer service! What a rip-off! What bad customer service. I purchased a new phone, in less than a month, replacement phone was same brand, but not new, reconditioned. I had to reprogram personal and family telephone numbers all over again. They have poor to no resolution for customer problems. I’ve lost opportunity for business calls because they changed my number without my permission!

Now, I called for both phones on the same day. Then I called and told them that mine was still wrong. They said they needed to send me out a new SIM card. I waited about a week and a half and called them back on 5-15. They said that when I got the last SIM card, I was supposed to call them and not activate the card online.

So you guessed it. They had to send me out a new SIM card, but the guy told me that when I received it, I was to call him. He also told me that for compensation for my time and trouble, I would get 100 minutes. So on 5-24-10, I received a new SIM card. I did what I was supposed to do and called them to activate. I went through a bunch of malarkey.

Finally, I talked to a supervisor and told him what was going on. After about 45 minutes on the phone, I got my old number. When I asked about the 100 minutes, he told me that he could only authorize 30 minutes. I told him that I was offered it by the person I talked to on 5-19. He said that there was no record of the CSR offering me any minutes. After a little arguing back and forth, I told him I would take the minutes but that he should check the taped phone conversation for that day and have a talk with the CSR. He said he would, but I don't think that will happen. Every person I talked to was hard to understand. They lied to you and made promises they don't keep.

I think that upper-management (way up) should really do something about their customer service department. Now you would think that a company that is number 1 in the business would do a better job at caring about how the customers feel. I know I would.

Once again after hours on the phone with them and a migraine, I had to give the phone to my husband to speak to them. A representative finally told him that the number would be changed and the minutes added if we left the phone on for 72 hours. Currently, we are waiting the 72 hours but due to past experiences, I do not expect much. I am honestly disappointed in TracFone to say the least, and I would not recommend anyone to use them. Thank you. I am permanently and totally disabled, which I told the TracFone representatives, and the experience was emotionally challenging and mentally straining, to say the least.

There was no serious consequences, but there could have been. I was letting someone else use my phone in case their car broke down or some other serious incident. That person could have had car troubles and been stranded on the way to work and would not have had a working cell phone to call for assistance.

I called again to hear a repeat of the same thing and again to hear the same message you must purchase another 60 minute card to activate the phone. I emailed CS and was told to call CS and given the same number I had been calling all along getting no where the 4th call. Finally, I informed the representative that this is not satisfactory customer service and anyone would consider this theft for me purchase a card and then to give them my information which was supposed to give me service and I was given nothing in return. I explained that I had the original receipt and date the cards were purchased and would be happy to fax a copy to anyone to prove we purchased 2 cards one for each phone and why would we allow the one with the most minutes to expire?

I demanded the address for their corporate office. I said they would hear about this and I would also be contacting the BBB if I did not have either a full refund of money spent on minutes which at the time they deactivated the phone we had 540 minutes accumulated. I had previously the night before researched a corporate phone number for tracfone and proceeded one more time to call and speak with someone and seek resolution to my deactivated phone as we need them for health reasons and the week before my mother had fallen and could not use the phone to call for help. Not acceptable. I spoke with a lady who was very well versed in English, she heard my concern and listened to the issue from start to finish and repeated the primary issues so we were both clear as to what needed to be resolved. She told me she would have to contact tech support and once she did she would return a call within the hour and have a resolution to reactivate my phone. She returned the call about 30 minutes later added 120 minutes on top of my 540 minutes that had been there and it reflected. I now had 3 more months left til it expired.

I have done further researched tracfone and understand that they have outsourced their CS department to India and since English is not their primary language, it is causing them friction in the manner that calls are being handled. If you have an unresolved issue do not bother with the CS number on the package, call the corporate number and get to the root of the issue before it gets too far out of hand. You will waste time and become totally frustrated with any other method of resolution the corporate office was super in handling the issue and did not waste me time to get me further upset the whole ordeal was resolved within an hour. Something that got absolutely nowhere over 3 weeks via the standard method of CS that is offered. Has my sister not explained to me what happens in a customer support center for prepaid cell phones, I would have been out the money the time and the phones, but a small bit of insight and the right call found a perfectly happy resolution to a simple issue.

I pointed out their mistake and asked that they simply reassign the number back to us. They refused, claiming that their equipment wouldn't allow them to change his number even though they had just done this to us. I asked that they contact this person, explain their mistake and offer him another number. They claimed that they were an "incoming" call center only and had no way to contact him. I asked that they text him, since their promos appear on my phone regularly. They told me that was another department and they could not interface! I have never dealt with a more disingenuous group of people in my life. Now my wife has to contact every person, business and others that have her old number. No telling how many calls will be lost from those we miss. At the end of the conversation, they actually tried to thank me for being a valued customer all these years. I cut them short, told them they will have two less customers soon and that I will file complaints with anyone who will listen. They are dishonest and or grossly incompetent. This complete lack of business acumen should be shared.

After numerous conversations with TracFone "customer care," "technical support," and 3 levels of "supervisors," they finally sent me a replacement phone in May 2010. Now, the next challenge: get the purchased items transferred to the "replacement" TracFone. This took hours on the phone and again several transfers just to get the May government minutes and the 60 minutes I purchased transferred to the replacement phone. I purchased two items from TracFone, Double Minutes Card and 60 airtime minutes.

Also, it cost me $24.95 for a "double" minutes card that could not be used on the only transaction I will ever need it to double (last month's purchase of 60 minutes). TracFone refused to refund the $24.95 spent for the Double Minutes Card, and they could not Double the 60 minutes airtime card I purchased at the same time either. I have had no benefit from the "Double Minutes" Card. It should be illegal to not refund a product that is "worthless" to the consumer. I offered to return the phone with the "double minutes" feature, but they also refused that suggestion. They prefer to keep my money and not give me any benefit for it!

After 59 minutes of being put on hold, literally every 2-3 minutes for 3 minutes each time so she could "update her supervisor". I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was transferred and spoke to a supervisor, who again asked all of the same information. The call appeared to thankfully be nearing completion and I was expecting a pleasant outcome. He put me on hold to finalize things and at that moment, disconnected me. I have been too frustrated to call back. Due to my son's constant begging and disappointment, I decided to take the $49.99 loss, buy a new TracFone (my mistake) and hope to transfer the minutes to it. I purchased a Motorola TracFone in Madison, where I work which is 57 miles from my home. When I tried to establish service, I was told it does not work in my area. TracFone will not return it, either will the store. TracFone will send me the $9.99 phone, but not the same phone. Now I am out $49.99 + 39.99 + $25.99 for the second phone. I would never buy a TracFone or recommend them to anyone!

I have spoken to Tracfone Tech Support approximately 15 times. First, approximately 1/2 of the time you get someone in India. They have approximately 25 people crammed into a phone both all talking at the same time. You cannot hear them. They cannot hear you. You end up spending endless hours on the phone repeating everything 2-3 times. They put you on on hold to supposedly update your records, or to look something up. They are lying and doing nothing . They tell you that they have identified your issue and to wait 24-48 hours and it will be fixed. This is a lie. They are trying to get you to use up your minutes attempting to connect to a voice mail system that does not exist. They will even give you a Ticket number. If you look up that number on the web site technical support area. The Ticket Number they give you does not exist, they are lying to you!

I have been given 3 different ticket numbers and have even contacted them via email. They do not fix the problem (no voice mail) and continuously lie to their own customers. I wish someone would sue them for fraud. Do not do business with Tracfone. You have been warned!

Day one, I thought it was going to happen. I had made contact with somebody I thought was going to help me. Just then, I managed to cut myself off, my bad. I quickly dialed back on another phone and actually got through, was put on hold, and was told by the recording that somebody would be right with me, wait time 15 minutes. This is when it happened. I knew it was a little longer then 15 minutes. I told myself, "I'm gonna hang in there, I'm getting help." So, I did. But when a person that had gone somewhere came back and said they had been gone two hours (no exaggeration here), I noticed the chew marks on the end of the desk, and that I was whistling to the tune I had been listening for two hours, and getting kind of turned on by the woman who kept telling me to hold on and that my call was important. Seriously, I was dumb enough and desperate enough to hold that long.

I finally came back to earth and hung up. Next day after going through similar stuff, the final results came in. They told me they wouldn't put any more time on because they already had (like I'd waste all this time, being a con and a liar, for a 120 minute card) and that was that. I said no they didn't, she said yes, they did; I said no, they didn't; she said yes, they did, and on and on. Finally, stuff your phone so long. I ended the call and heard uncontrollable sobbing, and realized it was me. I am now typing this from a darkened room, doors locked, and my pet hamster diligently guarding the door. But when I get out, I am going out in the air, I am going to burn off the last of my minutes by calling 900 numbers, and sigh with relief at the thought of going with another cell company. Thank you.

I have contacted the BBB and I have learned that they have had over 3000 complaints in the last 36 months. How can they have an A+ rating with that many complaints? I want all the units we had on the phone. They refused. I feel that is theft on their part. So, for now, my husband is out a phone until this issue is resolved. This is the phone my husband uses for work. They say they only have a record of one transaction on the old phone. I said that is because it only lasted 3 weeks. The transactions are on the phone before that and they should have records of that.

Then I go to their website and put in a complaint. When they eventually contact me they have me put a series of codes into the phone and hope that it works. Now this is a system that is contracted by the government to supply low income households a cell phone. I think they should lose the contract from the poor service they provide. I have missed calls about jobs and business opportunities. We are talking about 50K plus a year first year opportunities, which right now is kind of important seeing that I am unemployed. I can’t afford to get another phone right now; otherwise, I would.

Then on 04-29-2010, I bought another card for 120 minutes (I get double minutes on every card I buy. It was a special deal to buy the phone, airtime phone card #**) from the same place, CVS drugstore Hwy 80 West, Selma, Alabama. At 11:07AM, I went to my add airtime button on my phone like I always do. I punched in the number then it said "do you have a promo number?". I said yes, it asked for it. Promo #**. I received a message that I was credited my airtime minutes but not my promo minutes. Then I received a text message from TracFone saying, "please contact our customer care center to complete this transaction". I was running errands at that time so I couldn't call at that minute because TracFone always asks to call them from a landline phone in case they give us codes to enter. I use only the TracFone as my phone. So I had to go to my mother to call TracFone. It was about 3:30PM when I called.

They said I had been credited those promo minutes, I was not. I have the text confirming the whole thing. They have some type of computer problem happening because those promo minutes were not credited to my phone. I've never had to call about not getting my promo minutes before this. But first, I did go by the library. While I was there, I put in a complaint on their computer site. From now on, I will call them in person on the phone to put my minutes and promo codes on my phone so a live agent will see the transaction. I am still not happy that I lost these minutes. I spend a lot of money with this company. I buy a lot of $29.00 and $39.99 cards (or I did anyway).

I am going to check out the other prepaid phones since my service means nothing to them. I know a lot of other people are having the same problem. All I can say is don't program it in from your phone anymore. Call and give it to a real person. Their computers are not working correctly.

They said they only had the one sim number which was my original phone, and when I gave them the sim number of my lost phone from the sales receipt, they said they had no record of this sim number, and they could give me any refund of minutes. I spoke with three people, going higher up the chain each time, for almost two hours to no avail. They insisted they had no sim number for the second phone, even though I was reading it from the sales receipt. However, they did have a record of me purchasing a 400-minute card in September. Because I believe they were stealing minutes, which is more than $100.00. I could not, in good conscience, do business with a company that stole from me, and got a contract with T-Mobile. Needless to say, my TracFone contract has expired.

A few days ago I found my lost TracFone with 607 minutes on it under my car seat. Nothing against T-Mobile, but TracFone has better coverage. I want to contact TracFone to restore my contract with the minutes, but I cannot bear the thought of talking to customer services for hours and arguing with them. That was truly one of the worst experiences I have ever had. I have lost 607 minutes or over, $100, and for two hours, I experienced living in ** and greed won out. I am a strong believer in the free market, but now understand why some people hate capitalists.

This service is bad, first the people you talk to can hardly speak English and you have constantly to ask to repeat. Second, they are not shy to lie to you. It's the worst I ever experienced and I called back my old provider T-Mobile who will get my number back for tomorrow. Lost $50 for the phone and cards. Lost 4 days of income ($1800) plus phones cannot be returned as this is Tracfone policy. They told me ($50).

I called TracFone at 5:30pm. After 4 people telling me they could help, they have not. They said I can purchase more airtime for my phone to have service days. I said no because I should have service days already available. After stating all the same things over and over I keep getting transferred to so I called supervisors. It is now 7:13pm. I am on hold waiting for a manager. Now Journey answers he said he is a floor area supervisor. I restate everything all over again to him. This is the most insane call I have ever been on.

It is now 7:28pm I am on hold again. Now he comes back saying that the December card minutes does not show and has to put me on hold to verify what was done on the phone. Keep in mind each person said the same exact thing. They needed to verify the minutes and transactions on the account. This is a sick under handed game to get the consumer to be so frustrated that they don't care and give up or worse buy more minutes that have less service days. This makes no sense I have 141mins but no service days. TracFone is a rip off.

I am filing complaint after complaint until I get my minutes credited. I have a phone that I cannot use at all. Now it is 7:40pm. I have been holding with no help. I have filed a complaint with their main website and I will be mailing their main corporate officials as soon as possible. This is a warning to all consumers beware of TracFone!

I contacted Tracfone again. I am told, once again, the transfer is in progress. 'Sorry for your inconvenience'. I am assured my phone will be up and trouble free within 14 hrs. I gave them most of 48 hrs, and still no service. This time they tell me the first sim card I received is not the right one, something the last guy failed to tell me. I would receive the right one soon. I explained that I have lost over a week's revenue in addition to the 5.6 hrs lost trying to resolve this. As I write this, my new sim card has arrived. Yes, after 288 hrs my phone works. To sum it up, I only lost about $5000 in possible revenue and 6 hrs of my time and who knows how many missed calls, but hey,they comped me 500 mins (368 of which were on my old phone) so it's all good, right? I don't think so. I could use all that time trying to download a picture, and never get it. It's time to find a provider who gives the service they say they have. I bet I can do that in less than 288 hrs.

I then called the 800 number on the card, and as I was listening to the computer message, I got a low-minute warning. They actually were deducting time from me for calling them to get my minutes!

I had to hang up with only 2.9 minutes left and still listening to a computer, they have since sent text messages, even though I have told them to stop calling or sending anything to that number. I did read the last one the other day, because I thought they were finally going to release my minutes. It was just a repeat of previous text messages. So now, I am down to 2.2 minutes.

I am on disability, and through a government program, I got the phone for free and I do get 70 minutes a month, which I use only for doctor appointments, and I need it when I drive in case I break down. I cannot walk more than a hundred feet, and that is with a cane. So I could not go out on my birthday, which was the day I bought the minutes. It was my birthday present to my self. I live check to disability check. I had a good job back in 2003 when I got MRSA during spinal surgery. I have long gone through all my savings, so I can't afford to spend money, trying to recoup the minutes or $5 I spent.

TracFone called me the other day, even though I told her this was costing me 20 cents a minute on my roommates phone. She continued to tell me useless stuff. I told her to get to the point, and she said she needed the serial number of my phone. I told her I was disabled and wasn't able to remove the battery cover on the phone to get to it and I would have to wait for my roommate to get home.

He did get the serial number for me, and I emailed them the serial numbers 36 hours ago and haven't heard anything from them. And I don't expect they will bother to call.

How the government gave them the contract to help disabled people is beyond me. They are a bunch of thieves as far as I am concerned, charging you money to call them when you are trying to basically collect a debt from them. They owe me 25 minutes from the card, and as far as I am concerned, another five minutes they took from me for contacting them about the minutes they owed me. If there is a class action lawyer out there, I would think this would be a possible class action case.

After over two hours on the phone with non-English speaking people or very badly broken English, I was informed the time and minutes would be transferred to the Motorola, after the standard remarks of "wait 24 hours and everything will work". Four days later, I still do not have a phone and the only thing showing on the Motorola is the service days which expire on 02/16/2016 and 28 minutes.

I called again and again, I was told to wait 24 hours and call back. I was given a status number, to give that to the operator and the phone will be re-activated. The phones are good, it's the service and knowledge of getting the phone properly activated and not able to understand what the people are saying. They all talk like they have marbles in their mouths and there is so much background noise it makes it even worse. And when you ask to talk to someone that speaks English, they won't let you and will not even transfer to the on floor supervisor. This company used to take pride in their service. I have been with them for years and hear lately, that the service issue has been flushed down the drain. No wonder the unemployment is so high in America. All the companies that utilize people to provide assistance not limited to phone service issues, are using non-speaking English, foreign persons. I distrust this company. I'm not getting what is paid for. They used to be easy to work with, but like Walmart, they have become money hungry.

I can not use up the minutes on both Tracfones, the one with the number ** that has over 198 minutes to it and the other has 34 minutes to it and that one is **. I just want to use them up. Okay, thank you!

Well, I was still able to use it but kept having to call in for minutes to be added. Supposedly, they even sent me a new phone. It went to old registered user, who Tracfone had listed, because I never got the phone even though they kept saying I did. They even told me that they could see that my minutes had been transferred to another phone. Keep in mind, I am still using phone. After 5 months, I have had enough with Tracfone ! After numerous calls and e-mails since day one, they disconnected my phone. Now, they won't give me a refund after I faxed them a copy of the receipt that has the serial number of phone on the receipt.

I have also lost the minutes that were on the phone. And now, all of a sudden, they can replace the phone, that I asked them to do 3 months ago when still under warranty. I told them to send me the ** phone. It is the least I can get out of them. I have a sledge hammer waiting to smash the junk when it shows up because I will never use or trust Tracfone again ! Has anyone ever contacted Tracfone and talked to someone you can actually understand? Spread the word to never use or deal with Tracfone ever!

I was told that I could use TracFone via the Executive Escalation Dept. But I do not find an appropriate way to do that. I request they complete a thorough audit, and make correction. Right now the fact is that we paid $100.00 for 400 minutes and lost 300 somehow.Your assistance is gratefully requested.

New phone works and gave me 10 minutes. I wait an hour for the balance of 1,454 minutes to appear. Old minutes never appeared. I called a third time, old minutes appeared but then shortened 8 months on the date of service. I called a fourth time (40 minutes on the phone this time) and service date is now correct. Total time on the phone is 143 minutes. Yikes!

Three months ago, I was sent a new sim card with no written instruction. I thought I had to put it into my phone which I did and threw the old one out. Big mistake. I tried to get the new sim card registered (3-4 hours wait over three days) and got hold of someone (very polite again) and was told by the third person that after 24 hours the sim card would be registered. No luck. The next day came, no luck. Again, I tried to phone someone at 11 pm (only 45 min. wait with constant reminders that your call is very important to us). I gave up.

Two days ago, I got a call from the Philippines that I needed my sim card to be registered. That person had absolutely no idea about my previous debacles. He must have read the email I had sent to TracFone complaining. I told him that I had no time to talk and that they should call back. That of course never happened. It is now two days later and I am worn out. The promised new TracFone never arrived. I give up. I am now looking around for a cheap phone because I only need it for emergencies. Something must have happened to that company over time because in the beginning (last year), the service was much better. The physical damage to me was that I got so worn out at times that I started to cry out of frustration.

I said they weren't on my phone, was asked questions: name, date of birth, Tracfone's number and ESN, my home phone number, home address, etc. The rep said the airtime minutes from that airtime PIN went to a phone with a different Tracfone ESN. I asked what I could do to receive my minutes or a refund and was told to take my receipt and airtime PIN slip back to the store for a refund or airtime minutes with another PIN. I called ahead to the store, explained the situation and my Tracfone rep's instructions, asked if they could take care of the store refund, was told they could and took my slips back to the store.

A clerk called Tracfone, fully explained the situation, and asked for clear directions on how she was supposed to handle the transaction. She was told the airtime had been applied to a phone with a different serial number. She said she understood that. Tracfone's rep told her there could be no customer refund and added that if the store elected to issue a refund to the customer, their store wouldn't receive credit and be reimbursed for it by Tracfone. The store manager came to the phone and tried to help.

Told the Tracfone representative that mine was the third or fourth complaint from customers who'd bought airtime PINs from their store in the past two weeks. She was told the same thing. No credit to the store if they issued a customer refund. I said that was fine, I'd accept the $20 loss and buy another airtime PIN. The manager told the Tracfone rep that she wouldn't sell any more Tracfone airtime PINs at her store. Didn't want the customers to run into the same problem and be out even more money and said she'd contact her corporate office to report the problem.

Still no compensation to me, the customer, which I understood from the store manager's perspective. She had no recourse. With the store manager's utmost apology, I left the store with my receipts. Thought over the situation, called Tracfone from home, said that my airtime inadvertently could have been applied to the phone with the other ESN and that the recipient of those minutes could be unaware of how s/he had received them. I asked if Tracfone could contact the phone customer with the other ESN, explain the error or system glitch, and transfer those 60 minutes to my phone. They couldn't/wouldn't do that. I was transferred to several different people not because I requested it, though explained the situation to each Tracfone representative, and was finally told that there would be an ongoing investigation into the problem. Was issued a reference number and was asked to call Tracfone after 24-48 hours for a follow-up on the status of the problem.

As instructed, well after the 48-hour waiting period, I called Tracfone, gave the rep my reference number, gave a full story on the situation, explained that I was told to call back for a follow-up - didn't know why, because I hadn't been promised a refund or added airtime. But that I was doing what I was told to do. Even though I'd explained the situation to that rep, he asked all the pertinent questions again. I answered each one and he informed me that those airtime PIN minutes were added to a phone with a different ESN, not mine. I told him I'm aware of that. He said he was sorry for the inconvenience and said he'd transfer me to another department where someone else might be able to help.

Another rep, same story. All the reps were extremely polite, and I was, too. It wasn't their fault any more than it was mine, but after all the same information being given repeatedly and after having several deja vu moments, and after being told that those airtime minutes with that PIN had been assigned to a phone with a different ESN from mine. Well... actually, it started to get sort of funny long before that point but I went along. Refused to hang up just because each transfer had prompted no change in the conversation.

Eventually said I was willing to fore-go the loss of $20 that I'd never had a problem with Tracfone in all the years I dealt with them. But the biggest concern I have is that if I buy another airtime PIN, I might run into the same problem and be out a $40 loss. The rep said if I buy another airtime PIN and call them to let them apply the number, there should be no problem. But I didn't feel confident in that response. I haven't made up my mind on whether or not to give it another try, especially after reading the concerns posted on this site.

I called on 03/11/10 to go through the transfer process again, advising the CSR I spoke with that I had an existing case number and I wanted to transfer a number. I was under the impression she listened to me when I gave the number, seeing as she read it back, and repeated that I wanted to transfer a number. She went through the process with me and advised the transfer would be complete within 1 hour. Two hours later, I called back and found out they had assigned a new number to the phone. I was then advised by a supervisor "Gainsimee", that I would need yet another sim card and that it would take up to 7 days.

I asked "Gainsimee" or whatever he claims his name is (oh I worked as a telephone CSR and real names are never given) the following question: "If I went to Walmart and bought a brand new phone (mind you the phone we're transferring to is less than one year old), would I have this much of a problem?" His answer? "No." Hmm, so go throw my phone out which results in more clutter on the earth and spend more of my hard earned money? Okay.

Question 2: If I had a loved one in the military, stationed somewhere far away, or a child away at college and was doing this for them as this would be our only form of telephone communication, what would they do then? Would I still get the same headache? Answer: "That would not be our problem." Excuse me?

Oh and yeah, I might have an absolute perfect command of the English language; however, when you speak with me on the phone you can understand what I am saying. I did ask what country he was in and he refused to tell me. Hmm, thank you, Tracfone, for screwing up our economy even more. While my husband is still able to use his phone, I am starting to wonder if it's all worth it. Oh and anyone that does home party type business, do not use Tracfone for your business.

When they sent her the new phone, they said it would be transferred over. We also had problems just adding minutes to her phone on more than one occasion. The last time we tried to add minutes, we had more problems. We called and the service center must be somewhere in the orient, as the agent was hard to understand. They kept asking us the same questions over and over, and putting us on hold forever. Finally, the 60-minute card was activated, but not doubled. They then asked us to go over all the information we had previously gone over numerous times. Then, they wanted all the information regarding the phone that they had us send back to them!

Amazingly, since we had had so many problems, I had actually saved that information. But they said that they could not find it (go figure) and then asked if we still had the phone! After a very long time of trying to deal with this one individual, I asked to speak to a supervisor. She kept apologizing over and over until it was becoming quite annoying, and finally, when she said she would transfer us to a supervisor, all she did was send us into a looped recording that kept saying a service rep would be with us shortly--which of course never happened, and we finally just hung up. So, when the 60 minutes she finally did get activated are gone, we are purchasing a different prepaid phone. All I can say is buyers, beware!

This went on from Tuesday to Sunday night. Sunday night, I started looking for TracFone Corporate info. I found phone numbers, fax numbers, and the old stand-by 800 number. I typed a letter (on asbestos paper, just kidding). I typed a letter, printed it out, and faxed it to TracFone's fax number. Hurray! Today, I got a call from TracFone which said they are working on the problem and will call me tomorrow. Why would I doubt their word?

Okay, this is my only phone and I'm scheduled for surgery. Had I known this would have been such an ordeal, I would have just waited a couple of weeks to do this while I had the luxury of waiting. So now, neither the doctor nor the hospital is able to reach me. I must impose on friends to use their phones/long distance charges or minutes as I cannot reach anyone during unlimited time frames. Considering trying TracFone? Run very fast, do not walk to the next option within your means.

Finally today I got someone, Julio, his English is not functional and I asked to speak to a supervisor. He told me to hold on a minute, which I did for 30 minutes before I was hung up on. Upon calling back, I waited 35 minutes, and couldn't reach anyone, aside from the recording. It appears my plight with Trac Fone is echoed by many other customers, as I discovered on this Trac Fone website. I would like to get my minutes back, but I assume with these people, I am ** out of luck. How are they able to get by with this on such a broad scale?

In addition, no other minutes have been added to my phone besides the free ten minutes I received with the purchase of the phone so it's not liked my receipt can be confused with another purchase of minutes. They have poor customer service and I have wasted $20.00 unless Target is good enough to understand my situation and make it right.

I am going to try to take the phone back to Target and get my money back for the minutes and for the phone. I'll never use TracFone ever again.

I also tried some of the phone numbers you would expect them to answer (e.g. the ones where you order new plans or phones) and got the same message for all of them "due to unusually high call volume, we are not accepting calls at this time". Which leads me to suspect that I have now purchased a phone I can't use, from a company that has fired all of its (human) customer representatives! I'm out the cost of the phone ($20), but more important, and thinking that it might be time to switch the other phones to a company that answers the phone when a problem arises.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later, I bought a 120 minute card and put the pin from the card in to add minutes and no minutes were added to my phone, I had to call the 800 #, spend hours on the phone to get my minutes added to my phone. Now, 3 months later I buy a 120 minute card, go to the phone to add the pin to redeem my minutes. I get a message to call the 800#, again. So I do and spend hours on the phone only to be told to wait 15 minutes and the minutes would be added to my phone.

3 hours later, no minutes. I call the 800# and spend hours on the phone only to be told that the minutes would be added to my phone, in 15 minutes. 24 hours later, I'm out $32 and I still don't have my minutes on my phone. Lost money, aggravated and ready to break stuff, generally seriously P.O., this had been a nightmare since the day I bought the phone. Terribly frustrated.

I purchased a C139 phone, double minutes for life, one year 400 minutes. All okay. My daughter gave me her old W370 phone when she upgraded her TracFone. I called TracFone to see about swapping my account to that phone. I specifically asked at least three times if the double minutes for life could be transferred to the W370. I was assured it would be transferred, that was last year. Today, I purchased another one year 400 minutes package. It included 250 bonus minutes. I expected to see a total of 1050 minutes (400x2 + 250). All I got was 650 minutes, so I called TracFone. I was told by John, supervisor #**, that the double minutes would not transfer! That is the exact opposite of what I was told last year!

I then asked to transfer the account back to my old phone and put my latest purchase on that phone so I would get the double minutes, and abandon my W370. He said it would have the double minutes added, but later said I would only get 400+250. This exchange lasted so long that my cordless landline phone's battery finally died. When I called back and waited through the cue line, I was told I could not talk to John. I was connected to some woman who sounded like her mouth was full of cotton balls. I couldn't understand anything she said except to say I wouldn't get any double minutes. Their company hosed me with wrong information last year and I didn't find out the double minutes would not be transferred until after I purchased another year of service.

I feel very much mistreated by the company. I have paid for services promised (double minutes for life) but not delivered. A simple adjustment on their part will restore what was promised to me. To make it right, they should transfer the double minutes for life to my W370 or at the very least, my latest purchase should be given double minutes plus 250 bonus minutes on my old phone. Old phone is a C139, IMEI **. W370 phone IMEI is **. I am very disappointed in the shoddy treatment by the company's policies and I am hoping for a proper resolution of this without having to go further.

I tried to explain to this person that the reason why I chose to purchase less time was because I was angry about that 'erroneous' promo code. Anyway, I'm disgusted with them and since I only have this cell phone for emergencies and once again this morning received another dumb email from Tracfone which put me over the top with them. I have decided to let the 511 units remaining on my Tracfone expire next month and I will purchase a prepaid cell from another company. My money is just as good at another company and apparently, Tracfone has so much. They don't need mine. I am going to lose the cost of the 511 units that I paid for by dropping the service.

Today, we purchased the new one and we went to call Tracfone to transfer minutes and phone number to the new phone. This is where it all began. I was told that there were only 54 minutes left on his phone. Any one with a 13 yr old knows that they only text and without a screen you cannot text. Where did my minutes go? Finally, after 1.5 hrs on hold and 3 different customer service reps, I get told no more minutes will be added, only the 54 and that I should just trust them that this is correct information. I am at this point **** off. I asked the man what country he is in because in America, the customer is first and is always right. He tells me he is from Columbia, South America.

I asked him for a phone number that will allow me to speak with an American located in America. He then tells me I have been warned and if I continue to use "vulgar" language, he will disconnect our call. I then asked what vulgar language. He said I knew what I said and to stop. Now, please note, I am **** but have yet to raise my voice or curse in any way to anyone. He then asked if he could help me with anything else. I said, "Yes, please transfer my remaining 54 minutes to my new phone. He then had the ** to tell me he would not do that. I explained that those were my minutes and that to hold them is theft. He then hung up on me!

I went online to try to purchase the 400 minutes + 365 days service for $99.99 but the bonus year for $49.99 was no longer available. I completed the purchase details on automated system giving all the information and I was then referred to a service representative. I was with her for an additional 30+ minutes with a sound that was terrible. She requested all the same information. She said that her system was not working properly and finally said that the order was declined. I gave her another credit card and it was declined. She said that she was transferring me to her supervisor. I waited over 15 minutes and then I was transferred to an automated system advising me how to order on the internet. I hung up in frustration.

I still have 134 minutes which I do not intend to lose. My husband also tried to add minutes and he was double charged. They claim they do not give refunds, so we had to contact the credit card company to have the extra charge removed. I had been happy with the company (wherever they are located) up until now, but I am very concerned that they are using the busy ploy to not take my call in time before the minutes expire, and I have to pay for time I do not get. I am extremely disappointed and hope that we can get the problem resolved.

I am basically out of pocket for the cost of the phone and the additional minutes I bought. At this point, I do not know what else to do or who to contact since I cannot get any support from either the TracFone representatives on the phone or email.

I question why the BBB gives an 'A' rating for this company and feel they should be investigated. It is also obvious to me that the company would prefer you to buy minutes for a year so that they have the use of your money before you do or would also like you to go on the monthly budget billing. So once again, they get to use your money before you do. And I guess the email I received with the 'promo code' was an advertising gimmick. I always enjoyed the ease of my TracFone and had recommended it to others until now and, unfortunately, I will lose the minutes I still have on the phone if I drop the service now. I would never recommend TracFone again.

I called TracFone back & was transferred between a few people until I reached someone who tried to reactivate the phone number on the phone. He then assured me that he had solved the problem and, if I would wait for 1 hour, my phone would work correctly. I waited for 1-1/2 hours and tried the phone only to have the same problem. I called back, was transferred between a few people again, and reached someone who issued me a new phone number. He assured me that this would solve the problem and that I would need to wait another hour before my phone would be active. I waited yet another hour only to have the phone still not work.

When I tried to get her attention, I was ignored. I hung up and called back, requesting a supervisor. This supervisor attempted to reassign me another phone number only to determine that there was some sort of a system problem.

She transferred me to another department who informed me that there was a system error with the company's computer system and that they could not get my phone to work for 48-72 hours. This was at 2 pm, a full 6 hours after I first called the company. When I informed her that, since at this point I had been trying to resolve my phone issues for over 6 hours and had no longer had any interest in keeping my TracFone, I wanted a refund of the money I spent to purchase additional minutes, she replied that the company did not issue refunds.

When I protested, she said she would transfer me to a supervisor. I was placed on hold where I waited for nearly 30 minutes before I finally gave up and hung up. I called back and waited on hold for 10 minutes before being able to speak with someone and then another 10 minutes before I was transferred to a supervisor.

I explained the entire situation to him and requested my refund again. He looked at the account and tried to figure out the problem himself, coming to the same conclusion as had already been determined. I told him I had no interest in keeping my phone and wanted a refund of the money I spent putting minutes on the phone. He looked at the account and transferred me to someone in the credit card department to try to issue a refund. I was placed on hold again and waited for over 20 minutes to reach a real person. Ultimately, I received a refund of the initial amount I spent on minutes, but only after 8 hours on the phone, most of which was spent on hold. In all that time, I don't think I spoke with a single person who spoke English as a first language. I wasted an entire day that was supposed to be spent traveling to spend time with family.

In the process of doing what they were asking, they told me to remove the battery from the phone so I could read a couple of the numbers they wanted. I did this and when I placed the battery back into the phone, the entire phone was dead. No matter what numbers I gave them, they told me the number was wrong. I asked to speak to the supervisor. Not only did the person not transfer my call to a higher up authority person, they hung up on me!

I called back a few minutes later to see about having better luck with another agent; no such luck was to be had. I'm going to be calling them in the morning. But if the person is of no help, then I'm going to seek a new cell phone company to deal with, because I refuse to spend my money on purchasing minutes only to end up with nothing. And when you phone them, they don't even have people there who are competent in their job or in the language they're supposed to speak. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against people in India or wherever they get their agents from, but give me a break. At least, make certain the person can speak proper English if they're going to be speaking with Americans.

I am then put on hold for half an hour before speaking to anyone. Then it was another hour before I could get anything accomplished. Needless to say, I have to watch my checking account to make sure I get refunded. I will never do business with this company again. I give their customer service an F. Don't waste your time on Tracfone!

Then, I was told by my new carrier that my number could not be ported unless I activated my account with TracFone again. I have had my number for more than 14 years. I know it's not a big deal to most people (getting a new number) but it's just the principal of the thing. What TracFone did was wrong and they know that they can get away with it without any consequences. I am just sick of getting treated like I'm nothing.

I called 1/30/10 8 times. Each time I was asked to hold but was never asked to enter codes this time. Each and everytime the person whom I was speaking would go away but you could still hear everyone talking then I would be disconnected. The last call I made to them, I was connected with a person to talk about the double billing of my charge card. He acted like he didn't understand then told me that it didn't look like I was charged twice even though I was looking right at it online. He told me that I wasn't scheduled to receive my minutes until 1/31/10. One phone on 1/29 and the other on 1/31.

This whole session of calls took almost 3 1/2 hrs. I was finally disconnected from my 8th call. It's like they are waiting for you to hang up. So, on 1/31/10, no minutes were received. I called and this person told me that I received my minutes on 1/29/10 and I told her no I did not. She still says I did. I asked to speak with a supervisor and was told no one was available and to call back. I got mad and swore at her and she had the guts to ask me not to use vulgar language.

I asked to be transferred to someone who could solve the 2 charges on my credit card and she just flat out wouldn't do it. She stayed on the line not saying anything. I kept saying hello and she would say she was still there and I asked her what she was doing and she said nothing, there was nothing for her to do. I asked her name and she wouldn't tell me. Not that I could have understand her in the first place. I have sent emails to the complaint dept and also the corporate offices.

Now, my secondary phone keeps popping up with a code 34 call restrictions. Last month, I blamed a friend for using minutes on my primary phone, the one that isn't getting the minutes because they all of a sudden disappeared only about 30 of them but it emptied out the phone. My friend swears he didn't use the phone and now I believe him. I feel this is all a ploy to buy more minutes. Something is going on with this company and it needs to be dealt with. Also, now the web site is not responding. I can't rely on my secondary phone. My primary has no minutes. Loss of use. I need it for work as I travel also I need it because of emergencies at home. I have digital landline and if the power goes out, I must rely on my cell. Last week our power went out and I was stuck with no phone as it said code 34 call restrictions.

I got on the phone with her and could not understand her either. She told me there must have been a glitch in the phone. I asked how, when they are brand new phones. She said sometimes that happens. Now, come on people, I could understand one phone, not two doing the same thing. Then she said it would take up to 48 hours to have it fixed. The first person we spoke to said 24 hours. They don't even know how long it will take. I told them if they are not fixed, I am going to take them back and get my money back.

Tracfone say that their phones are easy to use, wrong. If I would have known it was going to be this big mess, I would have went with someone else.

They took my money for minutes but I can't use them. I also cannot use the remaining 120 minutes I had before trying to purchase more minutes (time). What can I do? I paid ($20) for more minutes. I lost 120 minutes that were on the phone. I will have to purchase a new phone, new phone number and more time. I estimate the additional cost will be about $80 at least.

I called on 1/5. I actually tried to call on 1/3 and 1/4 but their phones were busy all day to inquire as to the status of my refund. They told me it could take up to 30 days. I called today, 1/19, to check on the status. The first call ended after 15 minutes when they apparently hung up on me. I called back and spent another 35 minutes on the phone simply trying to confirm that they had received the phone. I'm sure anyone who has called Tracfone is familiar with the phrase "Can I put you on hold for 3 minutes?" After about 15 minutes I demanded again, to speak to a supervisor. IT didn't do any good. The "supervisor" either wasn't a supervisor or is as incredibly clueless or incompetent as the rest. More likely the "supervisors" are simply the best at toeing the party line of don't ever give a customer their money back and if you stall long enough most of them will hang up.

My only advice is this. If Tracfone sends you an envelope to return an item, pay the postage yourself and send it certified (with a signature required). You need a way to prove that they received it, because they don't have any intention of refunding your money even when they've sold you a defective product and wasted hours of your time.

I waited the 48 hours and when I called back, I was put on hold again. I was told to key in numbers to identify my phone and I did, then I was put on hold again. As my patience was wearing thin, I sent an e-mail to Tracfone expressing my dissatisfaction. I was sent a reply which stated that my minutes would not be restored. I called Tracfone again and was told that the loss prevention department had determined that I had used my minutes. So basically, they have accused me of deceit. This accusation comes after the admission that my phone was known to be faulty. From a reputable company, I would have expected not only a restoration of my minutes, but also a free Tracfone of a different model. I am still using the minutes I had on my older, non-Tracfone cellphone by the way.

I have a useless Tracfone now. It cost about 20 dollars, plus I have not been reimbursed for the lost airtime. I have missed calls to this phone because it would ring and when I tried to answer, it denied access because of being out of minutes. Ironically, the phone states that I have 396 service days remaining.

Now this phone I lost they did the same thing when I first got it. I bought a phone right here in town. They told me it wasn't right for this area also to send it back. I returned it and they sent another one. I returned the one I bought. I would like to know why this time when I purchase a new Tracfone LG410G at Wal-Mart. They asked for the serial number then like the other time they tell me it wouldn't work in this area. I bought it in my area. I was told to return it for another one which I did.

They sent me an LG Plain Jane, no ID number other then serial number card and charger cord. When I received this exchanged one it was a recondition phone. It was stamped on the box it was shipped in. It much cheaper made then the one I had bought. None of the accessories would work. I was told I would get my same number and my 500 minutes I had on my old phone would be transferred. They transferred the minutes but when they put my old number on it wouldn't activate. It took four calls to get it activate with a different number after it was all said and done. Approximately 6 hours, 4 days off and on the phone. Why is it I get a used phone when I purchased a new one? This is the second time I have had this to happen with wrong phone when I purchase another new one. I feel like I have been taken for a ride and they end up with a better type phone than I received. I will use this until my minute expire but will not renew with them. I will also let others know what type of deal I was given, especially at WAL-MART. Dissatisfied customer.

I just can't understand how a big company as Tracfone can't admit they made a mistake and refund my $11.03. I know it’s not a lot of money but it’s the principal of it. They make a killing ripping people off and saying they don't have the money. It is just sad they can get away with this and no one can help. Just a lot of worrying with phone calls and emails about this issue.

But it has been 8 days and I still cannot get incoming calls. Plus the time and minutes still show up on the old phone as well as the new one and I can call out on both phones. But cannot get incoming calls on either phone. Every time I call they take my EIN # and sim card # and have me punch in codes, etc. and tell me it is fixed and to wait 24 hours, 72 hours, etc. They have me take the battery out and turn the phone back on, etc., but they cannot fix the problem. I asked them to just put the air time back on the old phone and I'll take the new one back to the store, but they said that will take just as long to do as to fix it.

They tell me there is a problem with the towers; that there are two that can be used US Cellular and Cingular. But if the problem is with the towers how come I can call out? The only contact number for TracFone is the 800-867-7183 number so I cannot get to anyone else for help. I have also tried going online and sending message that way but have not heard from them. I thought about just buying another phone and using a new number and throwing away the phone I just bought, but I would also be losing the 269 minutes of service and 4 months of service. What to do?

We probably spent 2 or 3 hours on the phone with people who speak bad English very fast. After all the calls to TracFone personnel, we're stuck with a worthless $30.00 card and much higher blood pressure.

She stated, "Is there a pay phone nearby?" I said, "Ma'am, I live in the country, pay phones are almost extinct." I told her that I only had the service for three days. I said, "If you can't help me, may I speak with a supervisor?" She said that the supervisor is on break. I asked, "When can I call back to speak with the supervisor?" She stated that I can't give out that information. I said, "Can someone walk me through your Web site?" She said, "No, we don't have that service." Well, I got tired and just left. I am going back to the service I had and pay $6 more per month.

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.

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.

I am in a rural area and a caregiver for an invalid. My transportation is broken and I am stranded without communication except the web. I let my Verizon account expire after ordering the tracfone and now have no way to communicate. I can use the neighbor phone and that is the number I have given.

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 an agent trying to get this phone to work. I punched in so many numbers into this phone I lost count. After 2-1/2 hours, I was told I had to wait 24/48 hours 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 (that's very professional).

After I started to tell her the time I spent 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 the products they are attempting to sell and then also the so-called professionals they have working for them. I will never deal with this company again and I will also pass my story on to others.

I contacted the customer service number and the representative could not figure out the problem. She asked me to enter 8 codes (and she kept switching the numbers around, and I'd have to start all over so this call took about half an hour). She had me turn the phone off, replace the battery, checked the coverage for my area (great coverage) and could not figure out a problem. She transferred me to another department and they had me do the exact things she did and still had no idea what the problem was. I spent almost an hour on the phone. I really needed a working cell. So thinking it was just a fluke or a lemon phone (it was only ten dollars), I went to different store and bought a more expensive TracFone. Guess what?! I had the exact same problem.

I activated this 2nd phone on the 24th and could not receive calls on it either. Called customer service again and talked to "Alan". I was on the phone with him for 47 minutes and he may have spoken to me about 4 times and that is it! He didn't put me on hold, but he kept typing things and wouldn't say anything. I'd have to ask what he was doing and he would just repeat the same thing over and over, "I'm looking at your information." He could not figure out anything either. I told him I had two phones with the same problem. He tried to make test calls to my phone and would ask "is it ringing?" and nothing would happen. I don't even know if he was actually making the calls or not. It was Christmas Eve and I was tired. So after the 47 minutes, I just said “forget it and I'd call back.” He was more than happy to let me go and ended the call with the required but annoying "Is there anything else I can do to assist you?" when he'd done nothing to assist me.

On December 26th, still in need of a phone, I called customer service again. Same run around, same things were tried with no results. I called again on December 27th. The first representative I talked to took all my information (phone serial number, phone number, etc.) and then had me take out the battery, etc. Nothing worked. She put me on hold about ten times and typed a bunch of stuff. And after being on the phone with her for over 20 minutes (I was watching the clock as there was nothing else to do), she asked me if I was calling from my TracFone (we'd already established I wasn't) and told me she needed my serial number and phone number! I asked her why she needed this if I'd already given this info to her earlier and supposedly she'd entered it into the case (what she said she was doing); and she said she needed it again and that she hadn't entered anything.

I was upset and told her I needed to talk to her supervisor, that I had already been on the phone twenty minutes and I wasn't starting all over. She transferred me to a woman who said she was the "floor supervisor." This woman was even less helpful. I explained the situation (two phones that won't receive calls but I can make calls) and she looked up the info and said my one phone (1st phone) had never been activated! Okay, so how is it that it has never been activated but I've been assigned a phone number, set up voicemail and been able to make calls! She said she was going to activate it and I'd be assigned a new phone number. Nothing happened except I had to set up my voicemail again and that used up more minutes!

I was transferred to this woman at 9:27pm. She had me go through all the steps the previous reps did and nothing was accomplished. She kept typing into her computer, and she didn't have me on hold but wasn't saying much other than telling me she was looking at my information. At 10pm, she just disconnected the call. No warning or anything. I wasn't speaking at the time, she was typing and suddenly no one was there. I called back and talked to another woman who said that the customer service department closes at 10pm, and they don't speak to customers after that. It is incredibly rude to just disconnect the call without any warning that they are closing, especially after I'd been on the phone with customer service over an hour at this point!

I advised the woman at this point that I just wanted a refund for the purchase price of the two phones and asked what the process was. She said all I could do is go back to the stores I bought them from and they should issue a replacement. I advised I did not want a replacement as I don't think it is a faulty phone as I'd bought two different models at two different places and both had the same problem! She said she'd check with her supervisor. She came back and said I could mail the phones back to TracFone at my own expense and receive a refund; but I had to give customer service 48 hours to solve the problem and I had not yet. Not true. I pointed out that I had called on the 24th and it was now the 27th (72 hours!). She agreed but said I'd still have to mail them back at my own expense. I was angry now and told her “No, I'm not paying for it when it is TracFone's fault the phones do not work.” I'd given them plenty of opportunities to try to figure it out.

She looked through the case notes, tried to make a test call and then advised me to try to make a call out (after she entered some codes). The 2nd phone I'd bought now will no longer make calls. So now I have two phones that can't receive calls and one that can't make calls either. An error code (call failed 346 or something like that) came up on the 2nd phone. I told her of this and she said the phone was not compatible with my area, and that I would receive a refund for that phone and a postage paid label would be sent to me. She took my address, etc. She said she could send me a replacement phone for the 1st phone and would give me some additional free minutes.

I thought this was a fair offer and said okay. And she said she had to verify it with her supervisor. She came back on the line and said no, they couldn't do any of what she'd just said, and that they would send me a replacement SIM card instead because it might be that I don’t have coverage in my area (even though this rep and three other reps checked the coverage and all said it was good or great); and I have three bars on my cell at all times.

I pointed out that even if the phone was out of area with no coverage, you should be able to call it and it would go to voicemail. But no one can get through to the phone number! I asked if replacing the SIM card would allow individuals to call the phone, and she said she could say it would! Okay, so why would you do this? She went on to say that they had fixed the issue of not being able to make calls from the phones. That was never the issue! I've been able to make calls from day one and now my 2nd phone cannot make calls (thanks to her).

Talking to customer service is so frustrating. Not only are they difficult to understand, it seems they just read lines out of a book and don't even pay attention to what the concern is! She then started grilling me on how I was able to reach her (I called the number and got her!). She said she would give me a case number and that I needed to call another department for a refund. We had been on the phone almost an hour by this time. I said why did she keep me on the phone for an hour if she couldn't do anything. She said she had to troubleshoot my phones (she did exactly what the three people before her had done, and I had told her this at the beginning of the call).

She said she didn't even work in the customer service department and that she couldn't help me. She admits this after wasting my time (at this point, I had been on the phone with TracFone for over two hours!). She said that I would have to send both phones back (at my expense) and that I hadn't given them enough time to resolve the issue (so 72 hours is not enough time?). I reminded her that she'd told me that the one phones were defective and that she would send me a paid shipping label for it. She said she did not say that (yes she did!). She then said she would have to get my phone numbers and SIM numbers again! I am so frustrated at this point; I just hung up the phone (after getting the case numbers). It is like they deliberately want you to disconnect so they don't have to do anything!

On 12/28, I called again. I have to get this resolved. I spoke to a young man who said "wow!” after I told him I had two phones that didn't' work (couldn't receive calls). I told him I'd first called on 12/24 and no one could figure it out. He said he needed to contact another department for me to speak with. He kept saying "I need to place you on hold for 2 to 3 minutes while I contact this department, is this okay?” And I'd say “okay” or “thank you”. And after 3 minutes, he'd come back to the line and say they were not answering his calls, and he'd try again.

This went on for 15 minutes and when he came back to the line, I said I didn't have any more time to sit there and wait and I’d call back. He said "my pleasure" and thanked me for calling and was there anything else he could assist me with? So after numerous calls, all I get is the run around, reps who don't listen to what you are saying or forget because maybe they aren't actually working but hanging out on the line until you get frustrated enough to just hang up, and a supervisor who just disconnected me when they were closed. Horrible customer service.

I looked at the website hoping to find a log of the minutes I'd used, call times, call length, and nothing was available. I'm amazed a company that sells minutes does not post information about how the minutes are used. I can get this sort of information from any other phone service. I feel I'm paying for minutes, having them stolen, and have no means of disputing it or identifying what may have happened. I think this is intentional on TracFone’s part as any business in the phone industry would be expected to account for minutes used and calls made, etc.

I feel I am being stolen from with no way to prove or disprove what is happening. This sort of thing has happened to me several times and initially, I believed it was just a fluke and that I was seeing things. I believe now that it's a pattern I need to watch for, and that I need to be conscious of when it happens. There should be rules/regulations/laws in place that would guarantee my ability to see how my minutes are being used. I don't have a huge list of complaints but I feel that TracFone isn't a very reputable company and I would like them to show me how my minutes are being used so I can dispute which minutes are being used on calls that I'm not making.

Meanwhile, she's not speaking to me and I was on hold for 20 minutes. Well now, I call about adding minutes to a phone that needs a new SIM card and new activation. I'm very unpleased with TracFone and they honestly suck to the high heavens. I am unpleased with customer service, because I couldn't understand most of what they spoke. I made him repeat his self many times. I asked to speak to his manager. He said, "Well maybe we can ask her what we can do." He asked her! Not put her on the phone to speak to me as I requested! So needless to say in 7 days, I must call them again about my phone and new SIM card. With my missing minutes, I spent money to put on, in the first place, which I won't get back! I'm very unpleased. In my opinion, they all should be fired for the runaround I received in 5 calls from my house, because I can't use my cell. I'm very unpleased with Tracfone.com.

I sent an email to their customer service dept. and got a computer response: "We are so sorry you are having problems. Please call this number to get it fixed." Well, it's the same number. I sent a rather heated email to TracFone stating everything in detail, and got the same email, "We are so sorry..." So, I sent a third email and basically wrote, "Happy Birthday to you, etc." You guessed it; I got a response saying "We are so sorry..."

So, I feel TracFone has grown too big for its own breeches, and needs to be brought back down. I am helping do so by not purchasing any more time. I plan to do some shopping at Wal-Mart and switch to a competitor. TracFone is no longer a quality business. It has joined the thousands of other businesses who are going downhill quickly. I will not only not recommend TracFone to anyone, I will be sure to tell all my friends how horrible they are.

Another 60 minutes passed and they finally agreed. Two days later, the new SIM card arrives. I called customer service, and after 60 plus minutes, the phone got activated. The phone number is area code 610, not the 570 code we reside in or where the store is located. Another 60 minutes and they say sorry and hang up. When I called back, I finally get a man that seems to know what he is doing and immediately tells me I need yet another SIM card, as area code cannot be changed without the new card. I get card yesterday, called customer service last evening and finally get area code 570. One problem though - I cannot get incoming calls on this phone number. I don't know if I'm going to continue with this nonsense. They need to be shut down. How long must consumers put up with such poor service?

Now, on August 16th, when I went to use my phone, I got the message that I would have to use a credit card to use the phone. I actually have 1,017 minutes and service to 10/16/09. As before, I do not have my phone available in case of an emergency situation. I normally only use my phone when needed. This is the second time that this has happened within the last six months. My last phone number was **.

I called back later on Saturday evening to tell them that nothing had changed, and they told me that they could not give me my phone number back because it was no longer available. They also told me that they had never transferred my Verizon number to this phone. At this time, I decided to review the calls I had sent and received on the phone and then check the call logs of the phones that were involved. Guess what, they all showed my Verizon phone number that had been transferred to my TracFone in 2007. I even found a picture that I had sent to my email address that showed my Verizon number.

Just to be complete, I called Verizon and verified that the phone number I had with them had been transferred to TracFone in 2007. This prompted me to send TracFone an email explaining my issues, hoping for a resolution. All I received was that this was being forwarded to customer service for review. Then, I checked your website to find Elston's email address. I sent him an email, asking for help along with a copy of the email I had sent TracFone customer care. Elston called me back within an hour and had everything resolved in just a few minutes. This man deserves a raise, a big raise. Maybe, he should be teaching the customer care group how to resolve issues?

The paragraph below was cut and pasted from your website, so others can get the help they need: "Hello, TracFone customer. My name is Elston, and I am a TracFone employee. I am here to assist anyone who is having a problem with their phones. You can contact me at 1.800.626.4883 or by email."

I researched this problem online, and it seems none of the newer phones allows you access to the web browser. What a ripoff. We switched to T-Mobile and what a difference. In five minutes, we had a fully functional phone, when we walked out of the store. We didn't have to go online and jump through hoops just to get the darn phone to work. I will never buy another TracFone again.

When the new SIM card arrived a week later, the exact same charade was repeated over a couple of days and many hours until they determined that the replacement SIM had been invalidated because it was activated to the number attached to the phone though I had clearly requested to retain my original number. A week later, they sent another SIM card and even tracking the delivery of the SIM card was a terrible ordeal. When the new SIM card arrived, I asked to speak to a supervisor as I had begun to do for some time and went through the same motions with specific instructions that if the phone couldn't be activated with the number I requested, do not activate it since I did not want to nullify the SIM card.

After over an hour on the phone, the person finally admitted in answer to a direct question that she was just repeating the same thing over and over again without hope of getting anywhere. I asked to speak to another department or someone with other expertise and she switched me to the floor manager. This person ignored my request not to activate the new SIM card on the phone unless it was to the number I requested. He said my number was no longer available since it was deactivated for so long. I pointed out that it was not attached to another account and was therefore still available, but the answer was not in the script he was reading from.

I asked how after reminding them in every one of the frequent conversations that I had with TracFone representatives, that the most important thing to me was to preserve my number for my use, I could still lose the number. He had no direct answer, just that it happened because of the length of time it had been deactivated, but did not know what the length of time was. I spent more than twenty hours on this and got nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. I don't have my phone number and I have not been offered anything remotely adequate to deal with the aggravation and time this cost me. Everyone kept saying things like "I understand" and I told them, "I don't think you understand and if you do, then you don't care. So stop telling me you understand."

This is for my emergency and I am 72 plus years. I depend on this. I am wondering about this TracFone's business. I thought this would be the thing for me, but I'm beginning to doubt that it's not good if I am out away from home. Hey, what's the answer? How come it's taking so long activating this new phone? Had I known this, I would have kept the old phone and added just few minutes at that time or quit it completely. I was told phones and cards bought from Walmart and Target are good on blue grass, some say it’s not a good idea. Just my opinion. I sure like to get better service on here or I am through pretty soon. I got 2 phones, no more cards bought if this is the way with it. Sorry, but I'm disgusted.

Okay now, we got a supervisor on the line; and he was trying to tell me that was all we had. I have no proof. Then, I got angry but politely said how we could have lost 280 minutes, and I told him to listen to their recording because this is theft on their part. After being on hold several times, guess what? He said it was a communication problem and gave us our minutes back. But now, when I made a local call for 10 seconds to see if the phone worked, 2 minutes were gone. What! I am using up my minutes and will tell everyone how bad TracFone is. Paul Harvey, you should stop recommending this phone!

I bought a new w376 and asked to have that number transferred to my new phone. The new phone has a screwed up camera (dark greenish tints to all settings!). I called a month later, 7/17, and asked about my refund. They told me the phone was free because I got double minutes. They had not been transferred to the new phone as they had insisted. I asked for a supervisor. He managed to give me the 102 minutes from the previous phone. He didn't give me the full amount of days that were left on the phone. He didn't give me the 30 days that the phone sat in their Indiana returns center. Maybe they need to hire people who speak English to communicate with US-speaking customers.

Never ever buy a TracFone! My children had to take my Virgin Mobile prepaid with them on vacation. Virgin Mobile by contrast is excellent and so easy to use. I never make complaints, but this was just outrageous and the customer service representatives are totally oblivious.

I waited weeks. New phone doesn't work, I called again and was told there was a computer click and to call back. I just called again, given a tkt number and told to call again. I asked for a complaint number and the given number that was inoperable. Every time I called them, they were unable to resolve a problem. I always needed to call back for various reasons. I always needed to use another phone, more personal time, etc.

She was difficult to understand and refused to transfer me to someone who spoke better English or a supervisor. When I asked her for a number to someone higher up the ladder, she just gave me the same service number I had just called. I spent over 35 minutes explaining the issue and she kept insisting my phone or the battery was defective. I offered to buy a new battery, but I wanted reimbursement when it didn't solve the problem. She said the phone was out of warranty, so they would do nothing. I kept telling her that the battery could not be bad because I could talk for hours before the battery wore down. I wanted the phone reprogrammed or replaced. I asked for a case number to refer to this when I called again since she wasn't helping me, but she didn't give me that either.

Finally, I was given an interaction number (524-67470), which I think was a phony number because I tried to look it up under my ticket number on the website but the number was refused. I think she just gave me a number to shut me up. Call centers in India are one of the worst trends there have been in America. No one seems to get service from them. As a business owner, I hear my customers complain about them all the time. I spent good money for this phone and feel it is their responsibility to fix the problem I'm having with it.

Then they tried to activate my phone and said that it was obsolete, that they would send me a new phone overnight with all my minutes and double min. card already installed. We agreed to this. This was on the 9th of July. Then the phone did not appear as promised and we called on the 11th of July. They informed us that our address was not correct (where we have lived for nine years), that UPS nor FedEx could not find us. Then we called again on July 12, and they would send out another phone to our address that they found, and that was over nine days ago. We called again today, July 24th, 2009, and spoke to another supervisor and she said the phone had not been sent out yet, and that she would send out one today again.

This has cost me jobs and no one has been able to contact me if I'm away from my house. Help! I can't get these people to understand anything. I'm very upset and expressed my anger today and do not enjoy this. What can we do?

Suddenly, on May 29 of this year, a "SIM card registration failed" message appeared and the phone stopped working. I spent 2 hours talking to various tech support people, finally to a supervisor who was able to give me codes to enter to get my phone working again. On June 18, same "SIM card" message appeared. I spent much time on phone with tech support who said they'd have to send me a new SIM card. The card arrived on June 29 and, when I set it up, the original phone number still appeared on the phone, even though letter included with card stated my port request had been completed. I called up tech support and was told they'd have to send me yet another SIM card! Then someone from the Portability Department called and told me they could not, in fact, port my number since it was inactive.

At that point I lost it, stating that I had been using that "inactive" number for almost 2 1/2 years with my TracFone, reiterated my many calls and issues. I stated if they couldn't port my number, I just wanted a refund and to get away from "you people”, and slammed down the phone. About 1/2 hour later, the guy called back and he said it turns out that in fact, I could get my number ported after all. And they were sending me yet another SIM card which would arrive in 24-48 hours. I had to laugh at that and told him it usually took 10 days (this one took 8). But, sure enough, when the card arrived and I went through all the coding, for the first time my correct number appears on the phone. Now I'm in the process of trying to get them to extend the expiration date of my minutes, since my phone wasn't working at all for 22 days, and 7 more days with only the incorrect number.

If this can ever get settled down, the service is costing me less than $5 per month, but I guess I need to be including many gray hairs and heartburn in the cost! TracFone is not for the faint of heart! I guess I'm not interested in any action, unless somebody gets a class action going.

When we requested a different model of equal value, we were told that it could not be done. We spent around a total of 4 hours speaking to them to try to resolve the problem. The customer service reps continually failed to understand the problem and told us bogus answers such as we had no service where we were. I have always considered 5 bars to be strong service. To top it off, my daughter and I were hung up on 5 times by a manager and 4 supervisors. I am fed up with the service that TracFone has provided and they have lost my recommendation and my business.