Straight Talk Wireless
Reviews and Complaints

Every month I have some kind of problem with my phone, it drops calls at least 4 a day my weather app will not update. I can't use my internet more than half of the time. And when I call to have it fixed the people early speak english its vary hard to understand them. And most of the time they can not even help me. And when I ask to speak to a other person they tell me they are sorry but they can't let me talk to another person... Its really getting old and vary frustrating. I payed 300$ for my phone and it is not working more than half of the time.. Vary disappointed.

These people are incompetent. I'm here with a non-working phone because of more stupidity and unprofessionalism on the part of the Straight Talk people.

Last month, despite my clear directive that the phone rep add my service plan card to "reserve, " the genius with whom I was speaking applied it immediately, thereby wiping out the 7 days that I had remaining. It took me three days of emails to the ST corporate resolution people to have that 7 days added back on (so that my correct service end date is October 10th), and to reinstate the minutes/texts/data balances to be effective on October 10th.

Well, you guessed it - on October 3rd, my phone was shut down. I called the "customer service" people (of course, in the Philipines), who had absolutely no idea at all about what the ST Corp Res people were supposed to have done. They told me (mostly in broken English) that I just ran out of minutes/texts/data. That, of course, was a bunch of c***, as I had at least 700 minutes/900 texts/15mb data left at the time that my phone de-activated. He admitted that he didn't know whether I had all of that remaining, but nevertheless insisted that I must have run out.

I told the representatives with whom I spoke that I had an agreement (and emails to back it up) of the resolution of last month's problems. The supervisor told me that she didn't need to be bothered with those details because she had years of experience on the job.

I asked to be connected to the ST Corporate Resolution office. The 2 stooges with whom I spoke told me that they didn't have any information about that office, and that all this was my fault anyway.

I've been sending emails to the person with whom I entered into the agreement to fix last month's errors on the part of Straight Talk, but no one is bothering to contact me.

I just want what I paid for. Silly me for having such a high expectation

When my Straight Talk cell phone went bad (within a year) I contacted them to receive a new phone, but their policy is to require that the faulty phone be sent first prior to receiving a new one! This will leave me without a cell phone for who knows how long! I spoke to tech support, then had no luck with a "manager". Other companies send you a new one first, then you send back the broken phone. I am cancelling my service as soon as I find a new carrier. That policy alone is enough to drive me away, and it did! I will never use their services again!

Original request:

Let me start by saying that I have never in my life encountered so many problems with any service provider EVER! Over the last year I have been lied to, hung up on repeatedly, and been promised things that never came true. Your employees are by far the most unprofessional, unreliable service reps I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I have read countless horror stories from customers like myself and today you will hear another one. Last year (May 2012) I decided to purchase one of your Samsung Straighttalk Flip Phones. Not long after purchasing, the phone itself stopped making and receiving calls. I was then forced to spend entire days on the telephone with your customer service reps only to be promised the issue had been resolved and find myself calling again countless days later! I was made to program hundreds of numbers into my phone for hours at a time! I was then promised 1 full year of service by a manager who lied to me in order to get me to complete the exhausting task of reprogramming the phone! Needless to say i received no more than 2 weeks of compensation on a phone that had cost me weeks of time and hard earned money! I should have sued then but i didn't. Now less than a year later I've encountered even more problems from a company I had been so loyal to... Last month (April 2013) I purchased a straighttalk sim card for my Iphone as well as an unlimited data plan. I called and had the cell phone and service card activated with no problems the entire month. Last week (May 2013) I tried calling to add more airtime to my Iphone and was informed, only after purchasing a non-refundable card, that the $30 airtime cards were not compatible with the Iphones and, that even though there is no mention of this on the card itself, I would need to purchase another card for an additional $45! This is an outrage to think your company sells items in Walmart that fail to mention something as important as this! Here i am again less than a year later being lied to and feeling taking advantage off by your company! But wait it gets even better! After argueing with management, about the false advertising your company engages in, I was promised my $30 would be upgraded to unlimited usage for the month due to this error on their behalf. After spending another hour on the phone I was told my account (which was just activated in the system 1 month prior) could not be found so therefore i would have to wait 24-48 hours for them to track it down and activate it! This is the second time i have been told to go without service in the last year and to me and so many others this is plain and simply unacceptable for a service I had already paid for! I was then hung up on by a member of management and forced to revert back to using my old Samsung Flip Phone for the next 5 days. 5 DAYS LATER: Today May 14th, 2013 I called back to straighttalk due to more problems I had been having with their service and also to check the status of my account in hopes that they had in fact located it so i could finally go back to using my Iphone with the straighttalk sim card and service plan i had purchased. Not only did the manager I spoke with days earlier never create a ticket before hanging up on me, they had no record of me ever calling or being promised cell phone service for my Iphone! Alast we are getting close to the end of my nightmare! I spoke with a manager who agreed to uphold the original managers promise to refill my Iphone service for the month! She disconnected my old Samsung Flip Phone and claimed to reactivate my Iphone. Alast had come too soon when dealing with straighttalk customer service reps! Hours after calling and being promised a working Iphone neither one of my phones were working! Can this nightmare get any worse? Im missing business calls and couldnt even call for help in the event of an emergency! After giving them hours to correct the problem I contacted customer support through email online. I was written back back by someone who would not leave there name stating in order to correct the problem I would need to call straighttalk customer service back on the phone. Did i really just email customer service and the only help they could offer me is to advise me to call customer service? What the hell is wrong with you people!? I will end this email with my phone number, sim card, and one simple question...Why would I ever want to do business with a company like yours again after receiving nothing but lies and empty promises despite my faithfullness to you? Scott

THE FOLLOWED UP BY TELLING ME THEY WERE PROCESSING MY REQUEST. WHEN I RESPONDED THEY EMAILED BACK STATING MY TICKET WAS CLOSED! DO NOT BUY! THEY WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY AND LEAVE YOU WITHOUT A WORKING PHONE OR SERVICE!

last night I tried to buy a new phone and service plan from straighttalk, the phone i have the screen quit on, so i called straighttalk told the man I wanted the lg220 and an unlimited service card, I told him I needed to add the card now, and then send me the phone, and when i get it I will transfer the service to the new phone, To those of you who read, speak and understand english this sounds simple doesn't it ? Well you would be wrong, the guy sells me the card first, and then when he goes to sell me the phone tells me I have to buy another service card because they only sell them as a bundle! I said now wait a minute I just bought the card, and I told you what I wanted when I called, Well he wouldn't even try to do anything so he sent me to his supervisor a guy named jay-z, who also told me sorry but he could do nothing about it! So Again today I call to straighten this out, and started with aCarlotta who didnt understand so she sent me to her boss stephanie, who didn't care and sent me to operations manager sylvia who thought the best way to handle this was to shut off my service and send me refund, and they can keep my phone number ! I have never in my life dealt with a company who cared less about customers, and whats really sad Is I have been happily paying this company for years
never knowing how little they care about customers

I have just used less than 3 gb of data in 20 days of there unlimited plan and they stopped my data service for violation. When called they transfer to technical department which only has automated service and nobody to talk to. So i think it is a scam and would like people think twice before signing for it.

I am so angry right now, I was waiting for a appointment call from EDD n when I didn't hear anything I called my cell only to find out that again you took minutes await before they were all used. Last month I had 200 minutes left and they were taken away and I got no where w/customer service. I had 233 calls using 14 hers 54 min 56 sec. Even rounding it off to 16 hrs. It still would have left me w/ 40 minutes. I am contacted the CPUC again I also took a picture of call timer n when reset. This is illegal and I am contacting an attorney and I will be posting this on your site and others...I have also been in the middle of phone calls and the minute reminder interrupts calls continuously. Have called customer service n they're a joke. Filed complaints with CPUC and BBB.

I was enticed to try Straight Talk because of it's low cost, month to month, no contract plan. What I didn't realize was that it piggy backs off of other carriers so the service coverage isn't as good. It dropped calls all the time and if I entered a store, forget it! It wouldn't carry a call into a building other than my own home. Weird.
The frustration didn't end there. I called for customer service several times during my two months with Straight Talk and it was about as pleasant as running my fingers over razor blades. Good luck talking to a real person and when you finally do, good luck understanding them (nice people, I'm sure, but just understand that English isn't their first language).
I purchased a $30 phone card from Walmart, not realizing Straight Talk wouldn't allow me to use it with my refirbished Nokia phone I bought from them. It was my mistake but because I had scratched off and exposed the pin, Walmart wouldn't take it back. So I called Straight Talk to have the $30 applied to my regular $45 plan. Talk about a hassle! One hour later I finally was allowed to count it as 20 days instead of the 30 I paid for.
I'm using that 20 days to find a new phone carrier. I wouldn't recommend Staight Talk to anyone.

Calling the Straight Talk "Customer Service" (and I use that term very loosely) center in the Philippines is almost as rewarding as dental drilling without Novocain.

They are supposed to transfer you over to a service center in the USA to speak with an American customer service representative upon request. I made that request when I called today after my phone said "no service" for nearly 2 hours, but those clever little idiots, thinking that they really don't have accents after all, just transferred me to another Filipino. I have NEVER gotten good customer service (or even answers to basic questions) from ANYONE in the Philippines, and moreover, the accent has always made it difficult to understand anyone I've ever spoken with in the Philippines "service" center. I just want to get good customer service and someone that speaks English clearly and properly to get that job done.

For example...during one of my conversations with a Filipino today, she asked me if I called "422890." I said "what does that do, ?" and she said "calling 4422890 is for to reset phone." I replied "I thought that 22890 resets the phone, " and she said "yes, call 422890." Then it dawned on me that she meant "call FOR 22890, " which of course neither makes grammatical sense in English, and also confuses the number "4" with the word "for, " which renders the “information” erroneous, making that entire exchange a complete waste of time.

I asked for a transfer to an American in the United States, and spoke with a rude man named "Akan" (who said he was in "Mammy Service Center") told me that I was a rude person “who do ‘dispect’” and "who not tolerate dialect." After his rants and raves, I asked him to please knock it off and just tell me why my phone wouldn't work for nearly 2 hours. Guess what? He hung up on me.

I had to call back again and spend another 22 minutes on hold, another 5 to be transferred to an English speaker in the United States, and got yet another Filipino, although her English was more clear than the others with whom I had spoken in the past. She couldn't give me any information, and kept cutting me off while I explained the problem (until I told her that she needed to let me finish). I also told her from the beginning that I was recording the conversation because of past problems, to which she replied "that is forbidden" and told me that customer service would not help anyone recording conversations [I know what you're thinking - quite the double-standard - WE can't ask THEM not to record US.]. I told her that consumers have an absolute right, particularly when consumer BUSINESSES have the same right.

Guess what the resolution was, in the final analysis? "Call back tomorrow."

So, I've decided to go get my teeth drilled later on today so I can relax from my experiences with Straight Talk.

Bought $45.00 plan.. 1st week.. It all was great. After that it started going down hill... Where I could not even use the phone dropped calls.. No service.. I call and they take info.. Said going to investigate.. I told them that sprint towers were down in my area.. Friends who had sprint were in the same boat. Asked for refund for time not able to use phone.. Guy said they credited me 3 weeks.. Also, go email they shipped me a new phone.. I was to send my back.. Waited and waited on new phone.. Called straight talk again.. Actually had to call three times today.. Now they say I have to ship my phone for them to take apart and look at.. And that I only get one day credit.. The company is a joke.. And if your lucky you will get someone that speaks english half way.. They kept passing me around and hanging up on me.. If you finally get thru.. You sit and wait for minutes at a time while they look up your account.. There is so much chatter in the background.. So now I paid $45.00 for a week of service.. Not a good deal..

i have had differnt services before but was turned on to straighttalk by friends who have straighttalk i frist had the cheap phone then upgraded to the android boy was that the mistake of my life half the time there is no service the other halfmy phone doesnt work right now im going to go to walmart and warn people about getting straighttalk that it is a really bad investment should of known because it is a ###ing track phone product walmart says they stand behind there products but yet they say its not ther fault r problem if its not thers then whos is it?! as soon as i can im going back to boost a least i never had problems with their phones r service thanks for nothing straighttalk it should be called rip off talk

I am not able to make calls to certain numbers on ILD - this despite the website showing the numbers are under coverage. When asked for a refund, I was given a refund only for the service and was forced to keep the phone. The phone without service is as good as useless for me.

this is my email to their customer service it describes the issue very well:Today November 12, 2012 I haven't had internet services on my phone since early morning. Around 8:30 am PST I called Technical support and I was with a tech. support representative for over 90 minutes on the call trying to have the internet fixed.
Tech. support representative DID NOT RESOLVE the case...I still had NO INTERNET.
1) he gave me fake case number [protected] (later on when i called and talked to supposedly a supervisor to inquire about the case the "supervisor" told me that there is no case created.)
2) Tech .support rep. in the morning misinformed saying that he is gonna escalate the issue to a higher level tech . support and that it should be fixed in about 4 hours.
3) After 5 hours of waiting/having on internet I called the number he provided me [protected] (he said it's a direct number for tech support) THE NUMBER DOES NOT EXIST! DOES NOT TAKE CALLS. He gave me a FAKE phone number.
4) at 2:30 pm i called regular number and spoke with another tech support rep. She was clueless...and started leading me through the same steps I was doing in the morning for over 90 minutes. She was really slow, and unhappy with her job. I asked for a supervisor.
5) Another woman with a rude, slow voice introduced herself as a "supervisor". She said her name was "Daisy"...Daisy was rude since the first sentence. Neglecting my complains and leading me through basic steps that I was led through in the morning. That was scandalous.
I asked why I have to do all over again...what I've done in the morning? and i asked how come she cannot see in the system what we've done in the morning with the other cust. serv. rep. She said: "That was another person so I don't know what you've done with him". And the supposedly "supervisor" said: "There is no case...here at Straight Talk we don't make cases". Than she put me on hold without warning me that she puts me on hold...so I was sitting with a silent phone for 10 minutes or more...I was calling her name checking if she's there and what happened...she was NOT RESPONDING! put me on FOREVER HOLD!
6) I tried calling back in at regular straight talk phone [protected] and the Straight Talk phone was hanging up on me...call after call...it was saying "Due to high call volume we have to disconnect with you" or something like that. Scandalous!

If Straight Talk does not resolve my issue with Internet (no Internet all day) and if Straight Talk does not reinburse me for not having internet all day and wasting almost 2 hours of my time with a rude and clueless technical support...and for going through so much stress with the most rude and unhelpful supervisor "daisy"...This is my first month with Straight Talk and it will be surely my Last Month with StraightTalk.

I made plans to move from WA state to SD. After being emails and then phoning about whether my phones would receive reception is Sioux Falls, SD I got the runaround: "depends on the type of phone of you have" "depends on the plan" "depends on the number". Mind you their website HAS the information for both phones, the addresses and everything since I knew where I was moving to.
Once in SD, my son's Samsung got spotty reception bt text was ok...my Galaxy 3 was find. However, when I looked at the debit to refill --- Straight Talk changed me the WA state SALES TAX with is 2+ % higher, than it is in South Dakota. AGAIN, the runaround with slight of hand excuses. My son's card was SD tax, mine was WA state tax (and they refused to refund the difference although his was purchases first and they are listed on the SAME account with the same address using the same CC.

Straighttalk is not willing to help me clarify my issue on my phone. I bought a $379.45 after tax, and cannot get my phone to activate. They are scammer, they think that they are slick. They mistake is them and Samsung. But they have me go through hours and hours of waiting, just to talk to a representative and still they hang up on me. If I don't get it solve pretty soon, I'll get all my family member and friends to go to Verizon. I have put on hold for over 1 1/2 hours, and still waiting... while I type up this complaint

Switching from at&t to s/t, I have run into a wall of incompetence. I upgraded one of three lines to the 45$ plan with a new phone. s/t assigned the upgraded phone a number from one of my other 45$ lines making that line and the new phone inactive. three days later the new phone is finally working but they are not able to reactivate the other because it is not in the same area where it was activated although still in ny state.in their faqs it clearly states that a phone can be reactivated in a different zip code yet they are unable to do so with my phone. I have to go to the expense of having the phone shipped back to original zip in order for them to attempt to reactivate a phone that they were were responsible for deactivating, and, they will only compensate for service-time lost. I am totally pissed with s/t and will leave asap.

Upon believing their ads...I switched to Straight Talk...Could not keep my phone number as advertised. could only make and receive calls and plain text, multimedia and web access did not work. I went to walmart, bought a Straight Talk phone. When attempted to switch/activate it was told by Straight Talk that it would not work in my area. (bought 20 miles away). I have spent approximately 25 hours on phone with Straight Talk customer service. None of them know what they are doing or talking about. Got different answers from each person talked to. They are overseas. Impossible to speak to a supervisor as they say they are the supervisor. Yeah right! Was told to go to Walmart and call straight talk and tell them which phones they have so they could tell me which one will work!

To begin, we bought a $45 unlimited card to refill our phone for the first time.. Before we got to use it, we got a message saying something like, "Thank you for purchasing minutes!". Perplexed, we checked our account online. Horrified, we saw billing information and the auto-fill option set to on! We just checked it the night before and we never submitted billing info and auto-fill was definitely off. We feel like we have been scammed, and just purchased a $45 refill card that's worthless (before that we accidentally bought a $30 refill card that, for no reason at all, would not work. We were unaware that this wouldn't work and I can't find any documentation that explains why. We just wrote it off as "a mistake that must have been ours..."). We call up customer "service". We couldn't understand her and she couldn't understand us! We heard more non-English than English. After straining to understand and very slow talking, turns out that... it wasn't our billing info! Someone else was being charged! Seriously? How? How could someone else's billing info get on our account that uses our e-mail address and is password protected with completely random letters and numbers? It was like a reverse credit card scam! Well, they did remove this immediately from our account, but when we inquired if they were going to contact the person who owns the card and remove the charge, they said, "No. They must call and complain." Wow! They aren't going to remove the charge from this anonymous person's card unless they complain! Here is the weird part; after we talked to them, our services got really bad just minutes afterward! We can't contact Apple because our call will be dropped every time! Our voice echos and sounds like a robot, and this only happened immediately after we complained! We are not implying they are intentionally doing this, but others have complained about the same exact thing (after a compliant, bad reception happens). Very odd that we have nothing but dropped calls and "robot-like" voice after all of this. The price is not worth it. Definitely don't give billing info to them because you may be paying for someone else's phone!

In 2011, incurred charge of 182 dollars by Tracfone in Ordlando Fl on a credit card given to Straight Talk for auto refill. Issued a complaint with credit card fraud line and they released me from liability and informed me of the charge was for a phone (Tracfone) in Ordlando Fl. Incurred another charge for a phone they said was on auto refill and was not and a walmart card was used; so Straight Talk was paid twice. Tried twice to resolve. Credit Card Company will be called again for wrongful charge. Tonight talked to Straight Talk (Roekay) and she said transfer to a higher supervisor but got a recording of their hours. DO NOT GIVE STRAIGHT TALK YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER FOR AUTO REFILL-DO SO AT YOUR ON PERIL! I will have auto stickers for Straight Talk poor service and credit card security for auto refill since I own a sign shop and they will be free.