Straight Talk Wireless
Reviews and Complaints

Straight Talk cell phones at Wal-Mart are a waste of money.

My husband wanted a cell phone for the longest time, and got one on his birthday. He was given the 38.88 dollar one, not the cheapest one they have, his sister bought it for him along with the replacement plan. What a mistake.

The first phone was a flip up phone, and the inside screen cracked in less than two weeks. Not the plastic part, but the lcd part. The second phone did the same thing, but on the tiny outside screen. The third phone cracked the lcd screen on the inside. Every time we had to go to Wal-Mart, deal with the gothic witch at the electronics counter, and then spend hours on the phone with straight talk to transfer the number and set up the phone. Not to mention that every time I had to re-enter contacts, set up the browser, and tweak the phone settings to his liking.

The fourth phone my husband got was an upgrade so he wouldn't have to deal with the cheapness of the Motorola that had given us such headaches. I went through the set up process for the fourth time. Only this time when he brought it back from the store it was activated all ready, and had a new phone number - JUST GREAT!

I called straight talk and was told that they would have to send me a new SIM card, and it would take 3-5 days to get it to me so we could keep the same phone number as the original phone. I told the person on the phone that was not acceptable, and she needed to work around it.

She assured me that she could and de-activated the phone in order to do so. I was on the phone with her for two hours programming codes by hand and being put on hold while she did the same at her end. At the end of the process she told me the phone would be up and working in an hour, and to turn it off and on to test it. The phone came back on after 24 hours (not the hour she said), but with the same phone number.

The next day I spent two and a half hours on the phone doing the same thing with another tech, a guy this time, who assured me the same thing. After hours on hold, programming codes, and begging for more talk time on the phone to compensate us for the inconvenience, he gave us 200 minutes, and assured me everything was fine.

Again, it was not. It took 24 hours again, with the same result except now the internal information on the phone stated that the phone number had in fact changed, while the caller id stated otherwise, and I had to use the new number to reach the cell phone. Meanwhile, the phone number that I wanted to keep told callers that the voicemail had not been set up.

Today I asked for a supervisor right from the start, and Mary Jo assured me she was a supervisor, and that she would be able to help me. I spent two hours and 45 minutes on the phone with Mary Jo-employee number 48846.

I spent the next couple of hours programming codes into the phone AGAIN and being put on hold AGAIN with her breaking in every three minutes telling me to bear with me, all the while my temper going higher and higher.

At the end of the long and tedious process she informed me that she had to call the carrier, and that they weren't answering her call. I told her to put me on hold and take care of the situation. She came back every three minutes again until I felt like pulling my hair out when she said please bear with me time and time again. Every time she asked me if I was still on the line, like I should have answered a question when she never asked me one. Please bear with me doesn't require an answer, if she had said can you please bear with me, I would have said yes. I was ready to scream at her by the end of it. I was able to hold on though, thinking that we would have a satisfactory result at the end.

In the end, she told me that she would indeed have to send me a new SIM card, and I was infuriated! If the first person had gone ahead and done that, I would probably all ready have the card, and wouldn't have wasted days and hours trying to fix the phone. I told her that Straight Talk was going to compensate us with something, and she came back after putting me on hold yet again to tell me she could give me five days on my service days. What a crock! I told her to put me on hold and get me more than that because we would have been waiting for 8 days by the time the SIM card got here, not to mention the time I had wasted on the phone over the last couple of weeks. She came back and told me she could give me 10 days. I told her that was REALLY GENEROUS of Straight Talk.

Now, I was at my wits end from the beginning, and the end result of my hours of work, and my patience was that I would have to wait to have the number I wanted, and they were barely making up for it with the 10 days. Unbelievable!

As I told Mary Jo, my husband is a talk show radio host in Fayetteville, and he has people calling his phone all the time to set up interviews, and appearances on his show. I am talking about editors of sports journals, other talk show hosts local and national ones even one from Canada, athletic directors, coaches, and a couple of people who are on ESPN national T.V. It is not professional and has become impossible for him to keep in contact with these people because the telephone number that he has given them says that the voicemail is not set up.

I can't believe the position that Straight Talk has put us in, the time and effort it has taken just to keep a simple phone number. The cheapness of the phones they sell at Wal-Mart, and the ignorance, and incompetence of their staff from the simple technicians all the way up to the supervisors.

I am appalled by the lack of knowledge that has caused the delay in sending a new SIM card, I am frustrated by the time it has taken out of my personal schedule, as well as the professional implications my husband has to deal with because of the inconvenience Straight Talk has imposed on us. Why he continues to use Straight Talk is beyond me. He refuses to discuss it on the radio show even though it would probably cause a boycott of their products in the Fayetteville area, refuses to put it on Twitter and Facebook. I suppose he is thinking it is unprofessional of him to do so, but I would think it would be a public service. So, I am going to do it for him. Even if I have to call every talk show in the nation, everyone everywhere will hear of this incompetence, ignorance and inconvenience put upon us by Straight Talk.

As my husbands passion and talent is being on the radio with his words spoken to a loyal and adoring audience, my talent is my written word read by everyone I know, everyone they know, and every outlet I can find.

Straight Talk will hear my story not only from me, but from every possible facet available to the common consumer.

Thank you for your time, as I have given Straight Talk plenty of my valuable time, and expect them to do the same for me to make this right.

With hate in my heart, and malice in my eyes,

Andrea

Don’t do it! Walk away & be glad you did!
Do not buy the plans & do not buy the phones!
When I activated the phones (Online) I requested my old at&t number on my phone and my husband's old at&t number on his phone. The paper work I printed off the internet activation was correct.
When they sent me the phones they put my number on his phone and his number on my phone. My phone would not work. I called them to get my phone to work. They sent me a new sim card for my phone. When I recieved it I installed the new sim card and the phone worked. However, they still did not correct the phone numbers. And then the same day my husbands phone quit working. It read "unregistered sim".
After numerous (7) phone calls with them... They sent us a new sim card for his phone. I also told them to leave the (Screwed up) numbers the way they were.
We received the new sim card. I called to get his phone working. After a lengthy phone call she got the phone working. But 5 minutes after hanging up with the tech support I noticed they had changed his number... To a completely different number. I called back and waited on hold for another 15-20 minutes. When I got a tech rep and we went over everything (I mean everything) again. She said they would have to send out another sim card. I told her I wanted a refund... She said "please, hold and I will transfer you to the refund department." after being told that I would have to be on hold again for 15 minutes... I hung up.
After 6 days I calmed down. I decided the phones were working. There was never anything wrong with the phones! The setup wasn’t exactly how I wanted it but let’s move on. During this entire time I never could access the internet and my text messages were coming thru as video instead of text and so I was unable to open them. Ok…. Let’s call the tech support one more time and get this fixed. Long story short….. The tech managed to make my phone completely inoperable. The last words he told me “please turn your phone off for 4-5 hours, during which time the codes we entered will take effect.” it never happened. The next morning my husband and I drove to the us cellular store, signed a 2 yr contract & got new phones. Amy, w/ us cellular, is a beautiful woman who was extremely helpful and pleasant to speak (Understandable english) with. We are now paying $40 extra per month to have peace of mind, speak with a us citizen and know that we can go see amy anytime we want to.
Straight talk is impossible to work with. Customer service? Really? Is that what they call that? We spent (7) weeks, numerous (10-12) phone calls, hours and hours and hours trying to get everything resolved. My patients are gone. It’s too late to get a refund on the phones. Although I think i’ll send them back anyway. They won’t be in the same condition … but at least they’ll have them back and I won’t have to look at them anymore.

I purchased a pre-paid phone from Straight Talk in November 2010.In July 2011, I began to experience a problem will maintaining battery charge.I would plug in my phone for an ample amount of time and would lose battery power after minimal use.I went to my local WalMart where I had purchased the phone and attempted to but a new battery for my phone.I was told by WalMart that they don't carry batteries for my phone and that I would need to contact Straight Talk.I contacted Straight Talk with my problem and was told I would have to send my phone to them and they would send me a new replacement phone.They said they would send me a FedEx airbill package and I was to place my phone in the package, mail it in and then they would send me my new phone.I explained that I am a provider of home care to the elderly and could not be without a phone.I asked them to please mail my new phone first and I would immediately mail my old phone.They would not do this.I was told if I purchase a new phone from WalMart they would transfer my phone number and existing phone minutes to the newly purchased phone, and I could use that phone until my new phone arrived from Straight Talk.I was reluctant to do this but feeling I had little choice, I agreed.WalMart said I had 15 days to return this phone or I would own it.Upon having the WalMart employee contact Straight Talk for the transfer of my phone number and minutes, I also spoke to the customer representative(a laughable title, indeed)and expressed my concern about promptly receiving my replacement phone in order to return the newly purchased phone.I was assured that I would receive my replacement phone in time to return the newly purchased phone.My 15 day return window has now expired.Straight Talk assures me my new phone is coming.I talked to a supervisor and explained that since I can't return my newly purchased phone and that it is Straight Talk's fault that I didn't get my replacement phone on time, I now own TWO phones and need only one.I demanded that Straight Talk refund to me the amount of$42.48 that I spent on the new phone.They said they could not do this but would credit that amount for additional minutes, which would give me 5 extra days of service.I said that $45.00 buys me 30 days of service but $42. 48 buys me 5 days of service?! I told the lady at Straight Talk that I am furious that I am stuck with a phone that I do not need and for expense and inconvenience I am receiving a mere 5 days of phone service.She expressed her sorrow, quite unconvincingly, for my dilemma but said there was nothing more she can do.I feel I have been devalued and cheated as a customer and although I see no immediate way to resolve this issue, I warn the buying public about Straight Talk's poor business practices and contempt for their customers.When I was growing up, the philosophy in business was that the customer was always right.This was when I did business with American and not someone in Bangkok.

When I first switched to Straight Talk, I tried transfering my existing phone number to my new service provider and phone (Straight Talk). Once we were at the close of the activation process I am given my phone number. Certainly, I stated that my number was being transfered form my old phone. (Straight Talk Idiot ~ "I'm sorry Ma'am. I did not understand that request. I appologise for the inconvenience: but, your number cannot be retrieved.) At that time, I didn't fight the issue. Small inconvenience at the time.

Fast forward to May 31, 2011. I upgrade my phone and transfer my number again. Would you believe... the lost my number again!? This time... it was NOT acceptable. I have entirely too many emergancy contacts that would need to be updated. I was able to speak with a Supervisor who was able to retrieve my old number (so I thought.) Long story short... for 2 months I had to call and argue my way through 12 different Idiots. My phone was working properly with my phone number. When I would check my account on line my phone number did not exist. A foreign number was attached to my serial number.

I would call the company, they would "work on the account" then tell me it should be all set. My phone was shut off twice during all this due to their errors. TWELVE people "working" on my account over ther last 2 months. HOURS on the phone "waiting 2-3 minutes Ma'am" They will only compensate me 10 days?

To add insult to injury... my upgraded phone continues to malfunction! Word of Mouth Travels FAST! As another complaintant reminded... You get what you pay for! Buyer BEWARE!

To the one's who are having trouble with receiveing there phones...SCREW THE CUSTOMER SERVICE LINE...CALL [protected] EXT 3324, or ask for Cherisita...If they she is not available the ask for her voicemail...When I called the Customer service line I spent 4 straight hours on the phone in one night not counting other day's and hours, but I was determined I was not letting this BS go anymore...So the last representative I talked to said we are sending you a phone but first you have to send us the old phone, short story it would be a while before I would have a phone...HELL NO...I don't think so...So i went up the ladder and found Cherisita and told her my issues and she proceeded to try and fix the problem and no guy's she does not read from the script..She tried she called the main carrier of the phone and they tried and nothing...Proceeds to tell me that the representative that told me enter in a code in code enrty mode somehow locked up my phone so I will have a Phone and 1 month free unlimited service at my doorstep with in 24 hrs of speaking with Charisita...She gave me fedex tracking number b4 i hung up and I have been tracking my package since this morning...Will be delivered by 3pm tomorrow...I HOPE THIS HELPS SOME OF YOU...I KNOW ALL TO WELL THE HASSLES OF STRAIGHTTALK...

I purchased a Straight talk phone at Walmart. I paid extra for the insurance. After 6 months the numbers 4 5 and 6 quit working. I called and after 45 minutes on the telephone, they realized they could not fix it and told me they would send me an airbill to send the phone back. I sent it back overnight and 10 days later got a replacement phone. This phone did not work either, as the speaker was broken. You could not hear the phone ring. What good is a phone if you cant answer it because you cant hear it ring. I again was on the phone for an hour with a person who could not speak English who tried to troubleshoot. She told me they would send me another airbill to send it back and replace it. 10 days later I got another replacement phone. This time I had NO SERVICE. After one hour and 20 minutes on the phone I was told by a supervisor named Joanna that they would expedite me a new replacement phone overnight since this was the second replacement phone. Well guess what, I never got the replacement phone. Instead I was told that I had to wait for another airbill, send this phone back, wait another 10 days to get the next crap phone. Who knows if this one is going to work? They FLAT OUT LIED TO ME! They had no intention to send a phone overnight because that is not their policy. They are lying to people. How is this legal?

I went without a cell phone for two weeks while Straight talk had a problem porting in my phone. My old service said the phone number was ported out, straight talk could not find it in their system. They sent me three sim card as they kept messing mine up trying to set the phone number. After that, they refuse to give me credit for the two weeks I lost. My LG620 phone that I purchase has an MP3 player in it. I purchased a memory card and USB for it, but no driver was available throught the Straight talk or LG customer service or web sites. It takes several minutes to download pictures sent to me, or to send pictures. The phone has ringtone issues where it will only play 5 seconds of the ringtone you put in it. Customer service is rude, and hangs up on you when they don't have an answer. Several calls with nothing resolved.

When activating my phone to the automated bank charge I was given a confermation & a 33$ price for my 1000 minutes per month fee's that will be deducted from my account... All seems well till two days later my bill appears as unlimeted fees of 50$... No big deal mistakes happen & I am little miffed clearly not a mis communication as it was repeated multiple times and asked to re confirm over & over again! (Ok so what mistakes happen anywhere life will go on) I call them I am put through a security course of acction fit for the recipe of building a nuclear bomb... Dam are you for real I am thinking... & in broken english of someone chewing gum with a mouth full of water speaking into a can (a phone co & can't communicate?) so I finally aire my issue & told I need to talk to someone from mngmnt to correct my issue... Perm put on a hold cycle with no end in sight... I hang up 45 minutes in wait! Now I am pissed & what the?... I call back < no notes no info no proof I ever even called > again I repeat the multiple unreal length of security questions asked by the winded seems to be unable to breath eyes rolling reading it from a book broken english not intrested in helping me or care that I have just repeated this call... Person who puts me into the exact cycle & checks back every three minutes repeating to me it will be another three minutes the manager is very busy & is the only one that can reverse this clear case of sales slamming against me...in one of the checks back to see that I am still holding (Now 30+ minutes & multiple sorrys but no actions... Boom I am lost in the call (Hung up on) I am a phone customer & it is impossible for them to call me back >? I call again insist they call me on my cell phone to resolve the issue & now 3 days later no call after a promises full of lies to return a call to my cell phone from their co. Rep! (I guess the only 1) funny I went from this is the best co I have ever dealt with (Never having had a problem to address 1 year of service) to 1 issue & total they just dont care at all & have no intention of correcting the illeagle action as it is clearly being held in (Good job regard) > to steal steal steal! Slam slam slam! & give no way of correcting the issue!

I give this carrier a total and complete F- for its God-awful service, signal, and phone 'quality'.
A good friend recommended ST to me last fall because its generous 1000 min/text with 25MG mobile web service. Well...Long story short... I owned the phone 30 days before signal issues began. Contacting "customer service" was a dead-on time-waster. They could care less if your phone has bed bugs inside (ugh). They already have your $$. And Walmart was no help. I gave THEM a F- as well. CS claims the signal issue(s) are a damaged simm card, and offer a 'replacement', routinely. DON'T BOTHER. They will suspend your service until you receive your new simm.
Bottom line -- Do not waste your $$ . There are MUCH BETTER wireless carriers - and some with very decent plans at affordable rates.

I ordered a straight talk phone and an unlimited card from their website. When I received the phone, I went to their website to activate the card and it gave me an error. I called customer service and she tells me that the pin I gave them was already used. I asked them how this could be since I just received the phone and the card just a few minutes ago. She did find a way to activate my phone. Three weeks later, I bought another unlimited card to add to my reserve. I called Straight Talk to make sure it was added to my account and later checked the website and saw that I did have a card in reserve. When my month ended, they deactivated my phone anyway. I spoke to 3 different people on 3 different days until my phone was activated. They kept saying the phone had to be programmed, my phone number had to be associated with the account, and this could take up to 24 hours. It did not take this long when I first activated the phone.

I was told the total charge per month was $30.00 including all taxes/fees. Now I am being charged extra on my card after an initial two months at the agreed upon rate) and after a series of emails and telephone calls (with people who are almost impossible to understand) to the number they provided, it is clear that they are guilty of deceptive practices. They are now telling me that the extra charge is for taxes. My last email stated that I will be disputing the extra charges with my credit card company. Additionally, I too have have miserable success using the internet. After another exhaustive and frustrating talk with their customer service department, it worked for about and hour. I am very disappointed with this product and it's clear I've gotten what I have paid for.

Ok I have had my ST phone for about 8 months and everything was going fine until I tried to add mins to my phone, like 5 days. My phone updated my unlimited plan but I couldn't make or receive calls and it just so happen to do this, the week I had family come in from out of town. Customer Services is really bad I really hate to call them. If at&t or Verizon or t mobile get a prepaid phone with unlimited calling for $45 a month straight talk would be out of business real quick. I really wish my phone was working but oh well u get what cha pay 4 !

Phone just stop working, notice that it was after 1:00pm, service never came back on, called custemer service to complain, put me on hold numerous times, had me to take out my battery numerous time, had me go out side numerous time plus i couldn't understand the representative.I was really upset because i went through this twice because i waited to days just to see if the service would somehow connect. It was awful, they put me on hold for 3 min, then one, than 3 etc for at least an hr or two. I will tell my friends and family and other people never to purchase this service, they need to be put out of business.

By far the worse customer service I have ever dealt with. I work in customer service and am still in shock. First of all my phone, which I've had less than six months, will not work. Did everything the service tech said and still the phone was dead. When they finally agreed to send a new phone I was told I would have to send my old phone first. Then he was surprised when I became frustrated that I would be sending a phone back with a ton of personal data on it. After I finally agreed to send my old phone back he asked for my address five times. I asked him twice if my account which should be there in front of him had my address on it. He said it did. I asked what was the problem. He then proceeded to ask for my address AGAIN. I am not happy at all. I do not want to send my phone back first. I will not be able to prove I was not at fault with the phone through dropping or water damage. Also, I have phone numbers, pictures, calendar entries, bookmarks, etc. which are private. Straight Talk has by far the worse customer service ever...next to Wal-Mart of course.

• In December of 2010 Straight Talk offered a special you buy the service card either 30.00 or 45.00 and they gave you the Samsung R355C free with over night shipping. GREAT DEAL! So I borrowed my grandmas credit card(#1) which was a VISA and I ordered 3 phones. A combination of 30 cards and 45 dollar cards cannot remember how many of each. Totaling around $120.00 which was an awesome deal. So I turned around and ordered two more, with a different credit card(#2). I ordered a 30.00 card and a 45.00 card ( plus the free phones ) so with taxes my total was $80.25 this was charged to my visa not my grandmas and this was on 12-15-10. After receiving these phones I figured Id try to order my step daughter one so she could have a better phone than what she already had. I tried to order this with a different card, this time my MasterCard ending in 0968 we will call this card #3. I then got a email saying they were out of stock due to high demand. Which was okay, we had already got a great deal on the others. Then on January 8th, 2010 I got a charge on the mastercard ending in 0968 for $96.30 so I called straight talk to see why this charge was on there? They told me they seen no record of the charge on their end and they used my name and credit card number. So since they did not have information on their end I was instructed by Straight Talk employees Vince and Stephanie to contact my bank and dispute the charge because with no information on their end they could not do anything. So I did that and money was refunded to the card and no issues. Then all of a sudden April 27, 2011 my husband and step daughters phone quit working. I had assumed it was the bad weather we had been having but they were still not working the next morning. So I called straight talk. ( also, I gifted the other 3 phones I had ordered and I contacted those people to see if their phones were working and they were not ). Upon calling straight I was told that I have filed an invalid dispute and inorder to get my phones back on I had to pay $165.00 by money order to them. I told them that the dispute I opened and filed had nothing to do with these phones that are shut off. The dispute that was filed was on a charge of $96.30 that no one could even find record of to tell me what the charge was for and the phones were paid for by different debit cards. I told them I had the receipts and everything and I was instructed by their company to file the dispute. My husbands phone is his business phone and is printed on hundreds of tshirts and business cars and vehicles. I have spent over 8 hours trying to fix this and talked to I don’t even know how many people and I do not know what to do right now because the phones are still not working but yet they were paid for by debit card #1 and debitcard #2 and the dispute was filed on the mysterious charge on debit card #3. No one can give me answers to anything. I want to know what serial numbers were activated from Debit card #1 and Debit card #2. If they could prove that, they would see they were paid for. And debit card #3 was never used to order anything because the product was out of stock and didn’t even total up to $96.30 to begin with. Contact email: [protected]@yahoo.com Thanks for the time!

I had a defective phone and called the company and they sent me a box after i had to go through 2 managers to get them to send it fast. I am a nanny and can't go long without a phone. I got the box quick and sent it back. They received my cell phone yesterday at 9:00am. I called back yesterday and was told that by this morning at 9:00am I would a brand new tracking number and my brand new cell phone would be on the way to me. Here it is over 24 hours later and no tracking number and it is still being processed REALLY?! WTH?! I have been going off on customer service people for hours now. I am sick of this company. They need to be shut down. I am going to complain to the BBB about them. I am pissed that I got lied to over the phone. I love how they teach their employees to lie to their customers when we buy their phones and service cards we are paying their salaries! I would never ever ever ever recommened anyone at all ever use Straight Talk. As soon as I can afford to I am going to Metro PCS. So now I get to go another week or longer without a cell phone and am more pissed off than anyone can possibly be right now. I am seeing red. Wait until I get ahold of a manager they sure wont like what I have to say to them one damn bit.

I had bought a 70.00 straighttalk phone on the 1st of april where I was suppose to be able to use web and recieeve and send picture messages and was not able to. I was then told that I needed a sims card so I went and bought one and eneded up on roam on my phone. I had then called straighttalk and was told with the zipcode I was in which is Skowhegan that i was not able to use the sims card for web or picture messages. I had also spoke to straighttalk about getting a 399 or 431 number instead of the current one I had which was 702 and they said its not possible again cause of the zip code. I then went up to Walmart in Skowhegan and had explained to them my problem they had first told me they were having several problems with my type of phone and someone in electronics should of told me before buying one. They then told me if I have the charger and the phone that they would give me the 40.00 phone and put whatever time I have left on. Well they then said they couldn't do that unless I bought the phone. They then said I couldn't buy the phone or do anything about the situation cause it was an electronic and I had to deal with the company straighttalk. So in all I was not able to get help with Straighttalk or Walmart.

dont buy this phone i had my street address on the order phone but they sent it to a po box knowing fed ex will not deliver to a po box when i called
the company i could not reach anyone who spokre english i was put on hold 4 times for them to talk to a support group
i asked to speack to a supervisor and the same person came on the phone and gave another name stating she was a supervisior
i had to give them the same info 6 times they stated i would have to wait until they got the phone back to give a refund and this could take up to 30 days the money was taken out of my account the same day i ordered the phone this is unexceptiable and noone should have to go thur this frustraion