TracFone Wireless
Reviews and Complaints

I live in an area that doesn't have service. I use a tracfone when I go out of the area. I've always been able to add minutes and reactivate my phone when I need to. I added airtime at the end of Feb. for a trip out of town in March. I was assured that I had minutes and the phone was activated. When I left for my trip and tried to call my daughter I had no service. I tried several times with no luck. I called again last week and spoke with several people. I requested a supervisor and was on the phone about 90 minutes. I was finally assured AGAIN that I now had service . I went to an area last w.e. to check and still had no service. I am at my wits end. I want my phone activated and my service extended or a refund.

Valerie Mesa

i was in larado Texas and purchased a trakfone from wal mart . got it activated was was doing great untill i was going eastbound on I-10 to Houston where there was NO SERVICE..i was an OTR truck driver @ the time, and it was an everyday thing.the first chance i got when i was on home time i called tracfone and told them there was no service between san antonio and houston the rep was like houston california? i started laughing i said no!Houston, Texas dont you understand english? she said let me tranfer you to my superviser so after 20 mins of being on ignore the superviser says to enter in a code of numbers to refresh the network to the phone so i did. the phone turned off and turned back on and it said "enter SIM code" i told the superviser this and she said that wasnt suppose to happen i said ok now what smartass? she said sir if you dont watch your language iam going to hang up i said ok lemme tell you something your service sucks you locked my phone and i hope your business rots in hell..with that i slammed the phone down breaking it and she was like what was that i said that was your piece of #### phone and thats what i think of your sorry assed company. that same day i went to wal mart and bought me a T mobile phone a week later tracfone sends me out another phone to replace the one i broke. i looked at it and it had 3000 mins on it. i sold it for 30.00 on the streets

I bought a Tracfone from HSN (Home Shopping Network). It came with 1200 minutes, text, data which is good for one year. I gave it to my 13 year old teenage son who primarily uses only the text and data but hardly talk on the phone. (Anyone who has a teenager can confirm the truth behind this statement).

Since he hardly makes phone calls, he has a lot of minutes left, probably around 1, 000 minutes. But two weeks ago, the talk minutes just ALL disappeared.

I called Tracfone and they kept insisting that my son must have used the minutes because it is currently 0. I kept explaining to them that he definitely has not talked for 22.5 hours (or 1350 minutes) on the phone. Teenagers text and use data but hardly use the phone. But they kept insisting that he must have because it is 0.

I have talked to 4 customer service reps who said they do not have the power to give me back my minutes. They said they have to check with Loss Prevention Department but the latter denied my request to restore any minutes. I asked to talk to a supervisor but when they checked, supervisor was allegely busy. I asked to talk to the Loss Prevention Department directly and the Loss Prevention rep I talked to was extemely rude and just kept repeating that I need to talk to customer service again or else he will hang up. Finally, I called HSN where I originally bought the phone to let them know the frustrating experience I am having. The HSN rep noted the issue and supposedly, a HSN supervisor will read that tomorrow morning. They are my last hope at this point. I did buy the HSN protection plan and I am hoping that they can use that to give me my stolen minutes.

Last Christmas, I bought 4 more tracfone as gifts to my relatives. We have used Tracfone for about 3 years and only recently have we had these cases of stolen minutes (yes, this has happened to 2 other tracfones we own).

I went to the tracfone site to purchase a new phone so I would be sure to have one that worked in my area. I ordered the phone on Dec 31st, 2016 and they shipped it on Jan. 3, 2017. When I got it, I charged it and followed all the directions to activate it but it would not activate. After several calls, a 24 hour wait, more calls, taking it around town to find a location that would give me bars, more calls, I received the package to return it for a replacement phone on Jan 23rd. On February 17th I received the replacement phone and went through the same process but I refused to travel around town again so we agreed that I would return the phone for credit. They told me I needed a phone with a sim card and none of the phones on their site indicate whether they have a sim card or not. Once they got the phone back, they determined that since the actual purchase I made was over 30 days ago, they refused a refund. The only solution they had to offer was a cheaper phone, no refund of the difference in cost, no refund of the cost of sending back the second phone, no credit of time for the months I went without service, no ability to re- activate my old phone, and the same phone I bought is still for sale for my area on their website. Personally, I am totally fed up and frankly have lost all faith in the company but I hope someone else doesn't go through all I did, especially since I did all of this at the time so I would have a good phone during some trying times in my life when I really wanted and could have used a phon, " for moments that matter", as they post on their website.

Whenever I have to call Tracfone they do not seem to understand the issue. They repeat the problem put you on hold and then tell you they are waiting for the system to load etc... and the call usually last at least an hour or more.

This time I had to call because my phone broke and I bought a new one from them and I was able to activate it online and also transfer minutes and my phone number but they kicked the phone out of the monthly value plan and when I called them to fix this I was on the phone for ninety minutes and talked to four different people and the only thing that they were able to accomplish was to kick another one of the phones off the value plan- finally they transferred me to a supervisor and I was put on hold for 10 minutes and then I hung up. I chatted with them and could not get the problem fixed they said I had to cancel the plan and re-enroll all three phones at the same time- the problem with this was that the value plan was not offer on the website so I would have to call customer service to do this. I told the chat lady that if I ever have to call Tracfone again I won't call I will just cancel my account. I think they do this on purpose because they make their money off of airtime sales.

I have had a problem starting in 3/14 with adding minutes to my phone. I have tried unsuccessfully 5 different times to purchase minutes for my phone. I was finally able to speak to one of your customer service associates on the evening of 3/16 using the phone in my hotel room, The problem that I am having even on tracfones websight is the credit card that tracfone has on record was declined, kroger who I use on a regular basis to purchase tracfone minutes was charging for the minutes but no minutes were ever put on the phone, I even used my debit card from my bank and was charged but never rec. any minutes added.This has been so irresponsible on tracfones part as they have not reached out to me once mostly aware that all these purchases are being declined. Then when I did speak to the customer service person, they clearly stated to me that the whole problem that I was having was entirely my fault and when I mentioned I will most likely be returning to Verizon for my cell services, I was encouraged by your employee to do so. So on behalf of your smartass employee I won't ever miss the chance to inform the public about your customer service

I am thoroughly disgusted with this company's lack of professional and optimal tech support. Each and every other night, like clockwork, for the past month I have to call in to have them reconfigure my phone to accept internet. Words cannot describe how upset this makes me. Not only is it inconvenient, but had I known this company provides such poor service, I would have talked my husband out of getting this phone. When a call is placed to 'customer service' they always refer to my data minutes at zero! However, my husband purchased phone with ' a plan to include texting, voicemail, internet, etc. NONE OF THEM WORK CONSISTENTLY FOR MORE THAN ONE NIGHT AND I AM SICK OF IT.

I am thoroughly disgusted with this phone and the help I have received with it. I ordered it through QVC and received it the end of Dec. or first of Jan. 2017, But I had to wait for my minutes to expire on my straight talk phone in Feb. I activated it Feb. 12, 2017. the text message has never worked on it. I have called at least 5 times to get help. once they tried to say it was my fault! Not likely since it never worked from day one. another time he assured me after 25 min. of going back and forth, if I turn it off for 10 minutes and back on it would work. NEGATIVE! Every time you have to deal with someone: WHY? #1 you can hardly understand them #2 if you ask for a supervisor they put you on hold for 30 min. so you 'll get even more mad and hang up! #3 why do they keep putting you on hold several times when they are supposedly helping you and never do? #4 when I ask for a supervisor, I am the customer and I don't expect her to argue with me and tell me she's trained and I don't need one. when a customer ask for a supervisor you give them one. If she was so good she would have fixed my problem. My g-mail has quit twice and is presently not working again since March 5, this is aggravating for a new phone. Finally the last woman I talked to said " It's our policy you cant have a new phone. " I told her after all of this trouble you will give me a new phone or my money back on 3/4/17. So she wrote a ticket for a new phone, said I would get it in 7-10 days. On 3/8/17 I got a box for the bad phone, why wasn't the new phone in it too? SO I called AGAIN. now they say I won't get it until the 18th. this is totally ridiculous! To put a customer through this is uncalled for. my phone came with 1350 min/text/data. I have used most of it on you trying to get a piece of junk replaced. You will have to call me because the text doesn't work and neither does my g-mail. I hope you give your employees a course in how to talk to their customers better and quit putting us on hold so many times when we need help. I live alone and it is important that I have a phone plus I'm not in good health. I hope to receive a new perfect phone with the 1350 mins/text/data like I ordered really soon.

Phone stopped charging battery within warranty period. I followed all instructions in warranty book and all was a dead end. Tried calling but no live person. Message sent me a link. Was a dead end as the information would not compute. Did a live chat. Message was you need to contact tracephone. It is easier to contact the Kremlin. What I have hear here is a defective phone some crooked ### who make it impossible to reach the chicken ### thiefing ### and ### who leave no way to get in contact with them for warranty guarantee.

On Jan. 6, 2017 I purchase a phone online speaking with the agent said there would be no problem, and there was so. Jan. 23, 2017 phone return by way of FedEx, they received phone on Jan. 25, 2017. Tracefone refuse to credit my account I've been calling and they keep putting me on hold and transferring me to different departments, they have held my money still.

Phones for sale @ TracFone are absurdly overpriced and I want to purchase a particular new phone which they do not sell but would gouge the consumer if they carried it by $100-200 more than current retail price. I attempted to ask simple question and refuse to spend 1-2 hours on the phone in call centers with unskilled tech. I tried Chat again bc I'm a fool. In advance I advised tech that I would provide the name and brand of phone, my zip code and state ONLY but will not provide personal nor account information unless the answer to my question was "Yes, we cover service for the phone in your area/zip code if you are our customer". As usual, Chat staff ignored my request and refused to answer the simple question.

Not sure why but it seems that tracfone has made some changes with their providers. And without any notice just shut off my phone service. Even tho I had 30+ days of service left. With a bunch of text, data, voice, and even international credit left on my account.
They seemingly did this because the phone number they had given me was no longer available to them. So not only did I lose all I had paid for but my phone number.. Which is a total pain to now have to go to every place that had that number for me.. And fix this.

After numerous chats online.. And no way to get through the automated phone system that requires a phone number on the account to be given.. Which mine was now out of the system.

I basically had to pay for more service... And live with the new phone number and being blown off by support with a never ending response of... Is there anything else I can assist you with.

After years of service with you.. I think you just robbed me out of around 50$ screwed me out of my number.. Never gave me any notice or consideration.

Displeased.

I added a card and lost minutes, data & texts. The first person I chatted with solved nothing the second person I spoke with and she said my minutes and data and texts would be put on my phone she gave me a confirmation number [protected] My minutes and data and texts are still not on my phone. CAN ANYONE HELP ME GET MY MINUTES AND DATA AND TEXTS THAT WERE PAID FOR, THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

February 22, 2017 /[protected]

I received a mailing with bonus minutes if we purchased a one year card. Today, I purchased a one year card and tried to add the bonus minutes and was told that this coupon had expired. I am attaching a copy that clearly shows that this offer is still valid.

If you make an offer to your customers, you should stand by your offer . I believe I should receive these free bonus minutes.

I bought an iPhone from this site and after I received it I activated the sim kit but nothing was working. I contacted TracFone support service and they said that was not their fault and told that there was probably a problem with the phone. They said that it was manufacturers problem and said that I need to contact Apple. I contacted Apple and their rep did all he could to help, and we found out that there was nothing wrong with the phone and that it was TracFone responsibility. Contacted TracFone again and told them everything Apple told me, but they refused to admit that was their problem! Apple support said that TracFone has to authorize my sim, but for some reason that was not done! I'm extremely disappointed with this company!

I thought I had lost my LG flip phone tracfone. I called them to deactivate, and bought a new one. Didn't like the new android, and after I activated it. Tracfone wouldn't roll over the 259 minutes I had on the phone I thought I had lost. The android was an Alcatel - piece of junk. Wouldn't hold a charge, way too complicated for me to operate(I'm old!). I returned that phone to Walmart. Then I called Tracfone again and told them that I had found the "lost" phone and wanted to reactivate it. They sent me a new sim card. Once again I had to buy more minutes. They would NOT put the 259 minutes on the found phone, and gave me all kinds of ridiculous excuses as to why I couldn't have my 259 minutes back, and finally told me that my phone was defective. So basically, they STOLE my minutes that I had paid for. Since I had already paid for those minutes, how hard would it have been to either put those minutes back on the phone or send me a card to replace those minutes. These thieves know nothing about customer service at all.

I am a 64-year-old senior citizen living on a fixed income. I have no patience when it comes to TracFone and getting my minutes immediately added after I've spent my hard-earned money on a $29, 99 TracFone card. I am reconfiguring my money so that if/when my 360 minutes (I have triple minutes) are up, I have a cell phone from another company and won't ever be using TracFone ever again.

On Thursday February 9, 2017, I purchased a $29.99 (120 minutes) TracFone card from the local Giant grocery store in Prince Frederick, MD. When I got home and tried to add the time to my phone, it went into "System processing order" mode. It kept giving that message on Friday, all day Saturday, and again this morning (Sunday, February 12, 2017). At no time did a human being come on.

I have 12 minutes of time left and 360 minutes of missing time that I have already paid for.

A family member is in the hospital and is dying. I need to be in contact with family and friends.

TracFone has my money. I have 12 minutes of time left, 360 minutes (6 hours) of missing time, and a dying relative. I need my 360 minutes -- or a refund in full.

Thanks!

On 1/4/2017 I purchased a 120 minute calling card, I am on the double minute plan and did not receive my double minutes. I called and the person I talked to said I was just on the basic plan. I told him he better check again. After a few minutes he came back and verified I was indeed on the double minute plan. The minutes were added and he told me to call back to up date my account. I did this and was asked for my zip code. That person said I was updated and was good to go. Later that afternoon I went to make a phone call and my phone said no service. I called back again and was told that because I had a different zip code my phone number had been changed. First of all I find this is B.S., why would my phone number change just because my zip code changed. By the way I have been at this zip code for 2 years and had no problems adding minutes. The person I talked to this time said to turn the phone off and then back on and the new number would show up on my phone, no such luck. Now I call back and have trouble with the pre recorded menu because I have no phone number to give them. I am getting very P O. Finally get thru and am told the same thing about the zip code, I tell them just give me my old number back, they said they can't because it has already been given out, come on, in less than a couple of hours? I finally get my new number. How about compensating back about 15 minutes I used texting everyone the new number? This service sucks, and while I'm at it hire people that speak clear English, very annoying sorry I didn't understand you. You can contact me at [protected]@hotmail.com. or [protected]. Keith Vieau

Worst customer service ever.
Accidentally purchased the wrong type of card, I just want to switch to the right card of card. They will not do it, Multi billion dollar Corp and they refuse to transfer a measily 45 bucks to a cell fone?
I am ending my service with these people immediately.
Kevin and Steve ( presidents of tracfone) you should be ashamed or yourselves ripping people off 1 at a time while you make millions.

I called TracFone today because the phone I have would not connect to the internet using the mobile data feature. I spent well over 2 hours on the phone with customer service and the went through their script of possible solutions. None worked. Was transferred to another department and went through the whole process over again with someone new, because when you get transferred to someone else, the previous representative does not forward what they have done with you. We went through the troubleshooting script again with a few additions which included a factory rest of my phone. This still did not work. Their final solution was to replace my phone. I thought this was great until they wanted my phone sent back prior to sending the replacement. They said it would take 5 to 7 days to get me the new phone after receiving mine. I told them this was unacceptable as this was a business phone and I could not be without the phone for over a week and half! I asked for a manager and was told this was company to policy and there were no exceptions. I’ve been a TracFone customer for over 15 years and our family has had at least 10 phones over that time. As a result of this policy and treatment, we will no longer be TracFone customers and will be seeking a new provider.