TracFone Wireless
Reviews and Complaints

Have been attempting to get service on a new Tracfone I purchased. It has been three weeks now

when I call, sometjmes I am kept on hold as long as two plus hours. I am at my wits end

I'm on the line with their customer service now. 97 minutes so far. I started trying to get my number changed to a new area code five weeks ago. Numerous calls, emails etc. later, it still doesn't work. Every transaction with Tracfone has been a problem, with even simple things like adding minutes resulting in errors. So you call, spend an hour or so entering codes, get put on hold again, enter more codes, turn the phone on/off, enter more codes . . . it always takes numerous looooong calls to resolve anything.

I got the phone to use only when I travel. At one point I took a six-day trip, and the phone was non-functional for three days, which I spent searching for pay phones to make yet another call to their customer service department. After three days and I don't know how many calls, they determined that they had switched me to the wrong provider. Switching me back took yet another one-hour call. From a pay phone in a mall. Fun.

I got this phone because it was cheap, but while it may be inexpensive in dollars (at least for my very minimal cell phone needs, ) it's pretty pricey in aggravation and inconvenience. Worst customer service ever.

Purchased double the minutes for life card last year and it wouldn't work yesterday when renewing our yearly contract. After 13 years of service they will not honor their double for life saying that we only ordered the 800 minutes and not 400 plus double for life! Why would we pay the SAME price for the minutes when we could have the better bargain? After over an hour on the phone and speaking to a manager they refused to honor the double minutes. We are now stuck here for another year as we already renewed both phones but are done with this garbage after this. BALOGNA!

Bought phone oct 19, 2009. Tried to add minutes, couldn't. Had to call for them to add minutes and went through long process. Next time to add minutes, couldn't. Called again and had to go through long process again. Did this everytime to add minutes. Since day one, got phone calls from companies all over us. Complained about this. Never did tracfone want to exchange or replace phone (Knew there was a problem). Turns out, tracfone sells refurbished phones. Information from old service was never cleared. So tracfone was never registered under my name even when I "supposedly" registered it when I bought it (Tracfone can't change information). So after 3 months, or after warrenty, tracfone supposedly disconnects phone. 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 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 had had enough of tracfone! After numerous calls and e-mails since day one, they disconnect my phone. Now they won't give me a refund after I fax them a copy of the reciept that has the serial number of phone on the reciept. 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 warrenty. I told them to send me the dang 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!

Tracfone is a horrible service. Their customer support people do not speak english very well and it takes hours to get get them to understand you. It also takes hours of being put on hold before you talk to them, and even more hours as you are talking to them. They gave me a free fone 2 years ago and ever since then I have never, repeat never been able to add minutes with a card. Every single time it took a call to their customer service and hous of being put on hold. They said they would correct the problem but after 2 years I am tired of waiting. Do not, I repeat do not ever consider getting a tracfone !

Tracfone are liars and thieves!

I bought a new tracfone and was told I can transfer partial minutes to my new phone. Well, today on 23 march 2010, the tech said they can do that and at my request transferred 150 minutes and leaving the 60 minutes on the old phone. Supposedly. The tech said it would take only an hour to update. Well after 2 hours, I turned the phones back on and the old phone had "0" minutes and the new phone supposedly has double minutes, but the time is only 150, not 300 minutes! So much for "double minutes for all time on that phone!

I called again and spoke to another"tech"who said when any transfer is done all the remaining minutes from the original phone are erased! Well, they lied to me and basically stole my money value of those remaining 6o minutes that I just bought to re-activate my old phone! If I had known that, I would have transferred the entire 211 minutes to my new phone with double minutes! I spoke with 3 different people, each one said they would transfer me to"their supervisor who was standing right next to them".
Then I get transferred to just another stupid"tech"!

The last one said I could speak with her boss, because my 60 minutes that I just bought got erased and there was"no way"they can retrieve them, even though I have the purchased time card in front of me. So, then they pushed"ignore" button and put me
On forever hold and after 20 minutes, I got the dial tone!

Basically they stole that $20 from me. I hate big corporations that love to screw the little guy!

Do Not Buy A Phone from the TracFone store. I used a KMart bought store for 2 years with this company - no problem. Wanted to upgrade phone, so purchased it through them. Hated the phone because if you hit the button and also hit the internet button, it deducted a half a minute. Called to get RA to return. 24minutes on phone, the guy still wasn't done talking. I said Do you know how long we have been on phone just so I can get a RA? Yeah, 24 minutes was his answer. They inform you you can only ship UPS or FedX so to return a 20.00 phone it costs 15.00 from my zip code. I believe they make it so hard to return item that you just give it up.

The customer service is terrible. Wait time is ridiculus. I have spent several hours trying to get service. On hold for an hour. Hung up and tried again. No one seems to be able to solve the problem. They have sent two sim cards.

I have had no service for two weeks. I have made at least 8 calls. Still no resolution.

I regret using tracfone.

I will not recommend tracfone to anyone.

Surely the FCC should investigate.

I see many other complaints and agree with all of them.

The price is not worth the inconvenience.

Use another company for wireless service.

I bought my Tracfone for emergencies only and have been "unwanted texted" to death since. At one point I needed to get calls from prospective jobs since I had lost mine, after daily junk texts that ate my minutes up I started getting calls but could not get messages because I was out of minutes and could not afford to get more at the time. I knew opportunities were calling and in an emergency Tracfone let me down hard! Today I replied to one to unsubscribe and got an answer right back, "Sorry, we could not understand your message". I had to laugh out loud! You have to use minutes to set up your voice mail as well and they drag that out too! Tracfone is a TOTAL RIP OFF!

TracFone is horrible! Cheap, yes, but horrible service. You either get the Phillippines or India; you know what that's like! We live in northern Ca. and went to southern CA. for Christmas. The doctors kept trying to call us to tell us our father was dying, but the phone would not hold the signal. I went through two batteries which took forever to get and the phone still will hardly hold a charge. I've hardly use any minutes because the phone is worthless! I called several times, talked to a supervisor who was going to resolve the issue. I called back with the number she gave me to cite and they put me right back at square one, as if I had never called before; yet I had already talked to two service reps and their supervisor. I plan to call their corporate office tomorrow and see if the management of this company is as bad as their product and their service.

My phone de-activated while i still had minutes on it so i went to the website to add more...the website asked for me to enter the telephone number of the phone, which to my surprise was already awarded to someone else though my phone still says it is the current number...to make a long story short after spending 2 hours (not exaggerating) on the phone with customer support they basically told me there was no way i would be awarded the minutes to my phone nor would they refund my credit card...in the past few years i have purchased over a dozen phones for different members of my family and friends...after this last ordeal i will never do business with the likes of the ###s again and just to be spiteful i intend to replace everyone's phones with a competitor who doesn't treat their clients like ###

I added minutes to my account on-line the night before I was to make an 8-hour car trip. When I checked my phone the next morning at 7am (when I was ready to leave), the minutes had not registered to the phone. I called & had to call back at 8am (when the technical department opened) to speak with a representative. This rep was able to get the minutes to show up on my phone, but the phone would still not make or receive calls. 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. I called back again, was transferred around again, and spoke with someone who told me she was working on my account. I waited on hold for over 40 minutes, although she did periodically check in with me to assure me that she was working hard to resolve my account problems. After the last time she checked in with me, she must not have put me back on hold properly, because after she assured me that she was hard at work on my problem, I could actually hear her having a lengthy conversation (with laughing) with someone else on a topic that did not seem like it was related to my account at all. 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 2pm, 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 able to be 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. I have tried repeatedly to get a refund for the money I spent on minutes only to be told that the company doesn't issue refunds on airtime purchases. I finally got a hold of a supervisor who authorized a refund, but can't get anyone in the Direct Sales Customer Service Department to actually perform the refund transaction. No resolution has occurred and I wasted an entire day on the phone and had to ultimately reschedule my trip.

I have had a motorola tracfone since April 2009. It has never worked reliably in my home. Its purpose is an emergency home phone. I have made numerous complaints and have been referred to the 800# phone bank. To contact them by phone I must leave my home and roam around looking for a point of good reception. I finally contacted Florida's office of Public council. They then had a representative contact me by email as I requested.
A Denis Del Castillo. After another week he opted to forward me a replacement digital Kyocera phone. When it arrived I followed the instructions exactly for charging and activation. It said to charge initially for 5 hours. I did this. The phone came on but the icon for the battery registered nothing. I tried to contact Mr Castillo but it was a Friday and apparently he was gone for the week end.

I visited the website to register the new phone and maybe get some help. To access the site you must use a phone number. The kyocera displayed only the last four digits and therefor I was excluded from the website and referred to the 800#. I have wifi but no home phone.

I reread the instructions and decided maybe 5 hours had not been enough. So I left it on charge over night. Next day it failed completely. I continued to try to contact Denis Del Castillo by email but received no reply till the following Friday requesting I return the faulty phone. MY previous email had noted I already returned the phone earlier in the week but he would have had to read his email to know. Which he obviously chooses not to do.

I have asked him a number of questions which he also chooses to ignore. E.g. because I have been unable to use the old phone it has accumulated over 600 minutes. By accepting the new phone must I forfeit the old minutes? Will there be NO credit for the 10 months of NO service? Why do tracfone require people to register on their website then each time you log in you must enter ALL your information on yourself AND the phone every time? Seems like you are a new customer each time why bother to make us register? Why do they refuse to assign someone to a complaint so it may be resolved instead of dumping us in the pool and forcing us to begin a new every time they disappoint us?

This is Supposed to be a Service company. In reality it's a disservice company. Given the choice I'd never do business with them.

Sincerely,

Dr Thom Robinson

I purchased a 60 minute card approx. 2 weeks ago, as a part of this offer. I was suppose to receive 40 additional minutes, totalling 100 minutes. I never recived them
Additionally, I did not receive my alloted 60 miuntes per the safelink program for the month of February. Could you please look into this matter as soon as possible.

After having Tracfone service for almost two years Tracfone shut off my Phone service although it was paid for until June.

When I call them on it they told me it was not my phone and I owed money, then they traced it to an ERROR they made and then they sent me a new sim card, It came with a new Phone #. I called them on it and asked them why I had a new number and less phone time on my phone. They said the old number was unretreavable but they would call me back in 24 hours and get it for me anyways, 36 hours I sit here typing this with no answer and a phone number nobody knows.Several hours on the phone with these people over several Days has gotten me no where. They have prepaid service until Nov on the other phone I have thru them and they won't let me transfer my time to that one. Believe what you want, the number I was using was the only way certain people, know how to get in touch with me. Sorry it had to come to this.

this above company is unning a add on national they r false advertiseing from of the compliants i have read on a scam page called [redacted] there are many page of all which is fraud i read one where a 11 year child that had ben riped off their email is [protected]@tracfone.com they r scamming people natioon wide they should be took of the air committing this fraud an getting away with it i pay a company to have their an when i watch the comerical just find out later it fraud thanks ray

poor service - no resolution copy of complaint to ConsumerAffairs.com.
...
Tue, January 5, 2010 2:32:13 PM
From:
R. Tony Butler
...
View Contact
To: [protected]@tracfone.com
Fw: poor service - no resolution copy of complaint to ConsumerAffairs.com.
...
Tue, January 5, 2010 2:29:37 PM
From:
R. Tony Butler
...
View Contact
To: [protected]@tracfone.com

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: R. Tony Butler
To: [protected]@tracfone.com NO Response here either
Sent: Tue, January 5, 2010 2:25:54 PM
Subject: poor service - no resolution copy of complaint to ConsumerAffairs.com.

I will post this complaint on any forum I can find until and unless I get satisfaction. R. Butler 5 Dec., 2010

Date = [protected]:02:48
Name = Roy Butler
Address = 2166 highway 68
City = Embudo
St = NM
Zip = 87531
Country = United States
Email = [protected]@embudo-desert-rose.com
Home phone = [protected]
Work phone = not working
Company Name = tracfone
Company Contact = alan, cust svc
Company Address =
City =
State/Prov =
Zip2 =
Country = United States
Company phone = [protected]
Incident = Below is a copy of what I sent a to [protected]@tracfone.com who put his name on the web as a tracfone contact:

This is what I just sent to ha, ha customer service ha ha. What a joke!
If you are really an employee I would like some assistance. I want to use this service. I was previously with Verizon and their tower is 200ft from my home. I always had 5 bars here. This phone says it cannot connect with the network. I have held and punched codes till I'm blue. Any help ? or just like the rest? Serial #[protected], simm#[protected], name Roy Butler, Phone [protected]

previous message to you which you took NO action on:

"Order# 3000985 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

On Dec 23, I spent 4 1/2 hours speaking to people trying to activate the phone. They said due to high call volume they could not help me then and I must call back.

On Jan 5 (today) I called and spoke for near 1 hour until I had another appointment and had to leave. I called back but on the the sales number and asked for a return and refund. I spoke to Roger who handed me off to Alan (who barely speaks English) after 6 min he hung up on me. I was always polite and patient.

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.
Damage Resulting = 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.
Contact me = Y

I purchased a tracfone on 12/24 and activated it the same day. I could not receive calls from anyone. Got a message saying number was invalid or a busy signal. Called customer service 8 times to try to resolve this over 5 days. Nothing. Customer service is horrible. They basically do nothing and keep you on the phone (I was on the phone with them for a total of 4 hours) until you hang up in frustration or they disconnect you (This happened to me without warning when I wasn't even speaking to the rep). They say one thing and then come back on the the line and tell you something totally different. Reps forgot what the problem was (I can't receive calls) and they would tell me (After a half hour) that my problem was fixed and now I could make calls (Which I could do all along)
I thought it was just a lemon or something and as I needed a call phone while traveling I bought another later the same day (24th) and it was a different model from a totally different store and this phone has the same problem! Tracfone will do nothing! They said they don't know what is wrong and if it lasts more than 48 hours maybe they can do a refund (Its been over 72 hours! And they say they can't do anything. Don't ever buy a tracfone. Their customer service is overseas and they have no idea what they are doing (Probably intentionally) so no one can assist you when there are problems.

Tracfone is by far the cheapest wireless phone service you can purchase. But, the adage you get what you pay for certainly applies here. Customer service is non existent, if you have to contact them plan on spending hours, and I do mean hours, on the phone going over and over the same story and the same trouble shooting until you call is accidentally dropped, then you can start over again with the next phone call. Getting your minutes wither on line or with Card codes is hit or miss. If you get missed, again plan on spending hours on the phone with customer service and then like as not you will be told the YOU are mistaken, the minutes were added. If I had it to do over again I would not have spent the money to purchase any tracfone products. My recommendation to you is avoid this company at all costs.