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TracFone - Defective Phone

TracFone • Missing minutes • Activation problems • Can't get local number • Defective phone • Network problems • Lost the phone • Advertising, promotions • Rebate problems • Inside Trac --- News • TracFone Pays $50,000 for Violating Missouri's Do Not Call Law

H. of Lisbon, OH December 29, 2009

I purchased a trac phone on 12/24/09 as I was switching cell phone providers and my new contract did not start until 12/28/09 and I wanted a cell phone to use while traveling for the holidays. I activated the phone on the day I purchased it and right away I could not receive calls (I tried calling it from my land line, two other trac phones, my work phone, and another cell phone (Verizon). Each time a message that the number could not be completed as dialed and to check it and try again was given, or just a fast tone like a busy signal. I could make calls but I also needed the capabilty to receive calls as well.

I contacted the customer service number and the representative could not figure out the problem. She asked me to enter 8 codes (and she kept switching the numbers around and I'd have to start all over so this call took about half an hour. She had me turn the phone off, replace the battery, checked the coverage for my area (great coverage) and could not figure out a problem. She transfered me to another department and they had me DO THE EXACT THINGS SHE DID and still had no idea what the problem was.

I spent almost an HOUR on the phone. I really needed a working cell so thinking it was just a fluke or a lemon phone (it was only ten dollars) I went to different store and bought a more expensive trac phone. Guess what! I had the EXACT SAME problem.

I activated this 2nd phone on the 24th and could not receive calls on it either. Called customer service again and talked to "Alan". I was on the phone with him for 47 minutes and he may have spoke to me about 4 times and that is it! He didn't put me on hold but he kept typing things and wouldn't say anything. I'd have to ask what he was doing and he would just repeat the same thing over and over "I'm looking at your information" He could not figure out anything either. I told him I had TWO phones with the same problem. He tried to make test calls to my phone and would ask "is it ringing?" and nothing would happen.

I don't even know if he was actually making the calls or not. It was Christmas Eve and I was tired so after the 47 minutes I just said forget it and I'd call back. He was more than happy to let me go and ended the call with the required but annoying "Is there anything else I can do to assist you?" When he'd done NOTHING to assist me.

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

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

I was transfered to this woman at 9:27pm. She had me go through all the steps the previous reps did and nothing was accomplished. She kept typing into her computer and she didn't have my on hold but wasn't saying much other than telling me she was looking at my information. At 10pm she just disconnected the call. No warning or anything. I wasn't speaking at the time, she was typing and suddenly no one was there.

I called back and talked to another woman who said that the customer service department closes at 10m and they don't speak to customers after that. It is incredibly RUDE to just disconnect the call without any warning that they are closing! Especially after I'd been on the phone with customer service over an hour at this point. I advised the woman at this point I just wanted a refund for the purchase price of the two phones and asked what the process was. She said all i could do is go back to the stores I bought them from and they should issue a replacement. I advised I did not want a replacement as I don't think it is a faulty phone as I'd bought two diff models at two diff places and BOTH had the same problem! She said she'd check with her supervisor and came back and said I could mail the phones back to trac phone at my own expense and receive a refund but I had to give customer service 48 hours to solve the problem and I had not yet. NOT TRUE. I pointed out that I had called on the 24th and it was now the 27th (72 hours!) She agreed but said I'd still have to mail them back at my own expense.

I was angry now and told her NO I'm not paying for it when it is trac phone's fault the phones do not work. I'd given them plenty of opportunities to try to figure it out. She looked through the case notes, Tried to make a test call and then advised me to try to make a call out (after she entered some codes) The 2nd phone I'd bought now will no longer MAKE calls.

So now I have two phones that can't receive calls and one that can't make calls either. An error code (call failed 346 or something like that) came up on the 2nd phone and I told her of this and she said the phone was not compatible with my area. And that I would receive a refund for that phone and a postage paid label would be sent to me.

She took my address etc. She said she could send me a replacement phone for the 1st phone and would give me some additional free minutes. I thought this was a fair offer and said ok and she said she had to verify it with her supervisor. She came back on the line and said NO they coudlnt' do any of what she'd just said and that they would send me a replacement sim card instead because it might be that I dont' have coverage in my area (even though THIS rep and three other reps checked the coverage and all said it was good or great) and I have three bars on my cell at all times. I pointed out that even if the phone was out of area with no coverage you should be able to call it and it would go to voicemail.

But NO ONE can get through to the phone number!!! I asked if replaceing the sim card would allow individuals to call the phone and she said she could say it would!!! Ok so WHY would you do this. She went on to say that they had fixed the issue of not being able to MAKE calls from the phones. That was never the issue! I've been able to make calls from day one and now my 2nd phone can NOT make calls. (thanks to her)

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

She said she had to troubleshoot my phones (She did exactly what they three people before her had done and I had told her this at the beginning of the call) she said she didn't even work in the customer service department and that she couldnt' help me. She admits this after wasting my time (at this point I had been on the phone with trac phone for over two hours!). She said that I would have to send BOTH phones back at MY expense) and that I hadn't given them enough time to resolve the issue (so 72 hours is not enough time?)

I reminded her that she'd told me that the one phone was defective and that she would send me a paid shipping label for it. She said she did not say that (YES she did!) She then said she would have to get my phone numbers and sim numbers again! I am so frustrated at this point I just hung up the phone (after getting the case numbers) It is like they deliberately want you to disconnect so they don't have to do anything!

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

This went on for 15 minutes and when he came back to the line I said I didn't have any more time to sit there and wait and I"d call back. He said "my pleasure" and thanked me for calling and was there anything else he could assist me with?

So after numerous calls all I get is the run around, reps who don't listen to what you are saying, or forget because maybe they aren't actually working but hanging out on the line until you get frustrated enough to just hang up? and a supervisor who just disconnected me when they were closed. HORRIBLE customer service.

Glenn of Clemmons, NC December 17, 2009

Bought a LG600 and went online to have my existing wireless number ported from another carrier to my new TracFone. Instead of porting my wireless number they ported my land line. I lost use of my home phone (which supports a business)and internet for a week (during the Christmas season) while the number was ported back. I was totally frustrated in trying to get any escalation of the problem and the whole mess has poisoned me to TracFone. I had the same problems as many on this site, hard to understand customer service people and continuous transfering the call to other people. After all was said and done they would not even consider paying shipping costs of the phone back to them. If that is the way they treat their customers, I am grateful to have found out early on. I cannot in good concience recommend TracFone to anyone.

marc of ontonaon, MI November 28, 2009

phone message said phone shutting down. called tracfone. guaranteed that phone would keep working. it died next day. called tracfone. they said sorry but now i still havnt any service and lost airtime. hate it when people who cant speak english. lots more to complain. just to tired of it to bother

Christine of Belmont, VT November 25, 2009

I bought this phone for my Dad, he is elderly and on a fixed income, to use for emergencies. He has not been able to use it for a few months now. So I took the phone home with me, and contacted support. I have spent over 3 hours trying to resolve the issues, and as of right now still not resolved. He is unable to recieve or make calls. They told me he needed a new number because the old number wasn't good anymore, I've tried to reactivate the new number and nothing is working, so now I have to contact support once again, which I know will be the same run around as it was the last 3 times. From reading other complaint about Tracfone, my experiences are basically the same not good!!!!!

John of Norwich, CT November 24, 2009

I received a safelink phone from tracphone. I requested that my current cell phone number on my personal cell phone I purchased with my money be transferred to the new safelink phone. This all began early September. At this point the safelink phone is inoperable and they turned off my personal cell phone.

I made approximately 10-12 calls to them and they have sent me 3 sim cards and neither phone is operable. The purpose of the cell phone is for personal health issues. My personal phone no longer works. I can't contact emergency services or my family and I am ill.

Stephen of Albuquerque, NM November 24, 2009

This cellphone is a piece of junk. I have had some of the problems adding minutes reported by others, but more problematic is the failure of the phone to work when I need it to. About one out of 5 times it puts y call through. Other times it enters the number in the address book instead of calling it, or I get an error code saying "restricted"( I can call the same number again and it goes through!) or other times it displays a digit above or below what I pressed - to try to avoid this I use the rounded end of a ballpoint pen cap to be sure I am pressing the correct number. Bottom line - this phone and its service are totally undependable, and if I had a serious problem while driving (the reason I bought it) I could not depend on it working for me. A piece of junk!!!

Weldon of San Antonio, TX November 12, 2009

Tracfone is their own worst enemy. In my case the main office failed to send a correcting SIM card that their Belize Customer Service reps promise "has been shipped", three times now. Worse than that, they simply ignore it and wait for me to call and complain again. After much phone-holding the Belize reps apologize profusely and start over to understand, then promise again. They never read whatever ticket number info is there. No matter how long past, they try to put me off by saying "it's an open ticket, someone is working on it". I was a happy Tracfone customer for five years or so, until I updated to a new Moto cell phone. It did not work because the tower system was changed. I've been trying for a month now; many long waits on the telephone; for them to send the SIM they say is necessary. The Belize reps both say and e-mail me these words "A replacement SIM card was sent out to you on this same day...It normally takes 3-5 days to receive your replacement shipment...You may check the status of your ticket anytime by visiting our website". Not so, three times, and the web page ticket status says there is no status, call Tracfone (waste more time). Now I'm waiting again after the fourth Belize promise.

Brenda of kingman, KS November 11, 2009

I have had my tracfone for 3 years with no problems-then suddenly my password does not work-cannot retrieve voicemail messages-and customer service is a nightmare. They do not speak english-I have made 6 calls-45 minutes or more-on hold-and they cannot resolve this issue. tried online support-says to call-cust service. Email support-generic-solutions that do not work if password doesn't. manual w/ phone no help either. suddenly we are locked out of our phones-I have read similar issues on this website-many similar-including disconnected after 45 minutes from 5 different rep who cannot speak english. online tech suport used to be good-now just error-please call-the same 800# sent my 4th email to their tech support this morning.

Sydny of Chandler, AZ October 10, 2009

Purchased Tracfone for my father in 2006 and would purchase one 100 card per year and no problems UNTIL the phone needed to be replaced. Paid for a phone card in January 2009 and had to purchase a new phone April 2009. Had phone number and minutes transferred to new phone. New phone wouldn't make outgoing calls and minutes transferred didn't transfer. Called Tracfone, and after an unreasonably long hold time and another 30 minutes trouble shooting I was told I needed a new SIM card.

New SIM card arrived but I couldn't activate because I needed to purchase an airtime card in order to activate. called Tracfone, and waited about 20 minutes on hold; I finally get a CSR and explained my issue, that I had purchased a 100 card a few months before and won't even use those before they expire, AND the phone problem was *their* issued not mine. I got no where and ended up purchasing a 25 airtime card, this card was supposed to extend my service from January 2010 to June 30, 2010

Phone was working but still did not show my transferred minutes and showed by end of service as August 28, 2009. I called and was assured by the CSR that despite what my phone was reading, my service was good until June 2010. July, unable to make long distance calls. Called Tracfone on several occasion over the next 10 days trying to get issue resolved. Never did and gave up.

August 28, 2009 my phone would make or receive calls! Called Tracfone yet again. Was told phone would be working within the hour--never did get an answer to my question about why this happened and how to keep it from happening again. Four hours later, phone still is not working.

Called yet again. I kid you not; I spent 30 minutes waiting for a representative. Transferred to three different people to try and get phone issued resolved and phone working; was now being told that they (Tracfone) put my phone on the wrong carrier (apparently they use GSM and CDMA carriers) and I need another new SIM card!? Not sure I buy this story. I ask if I am going to be required to purchase yet another airtime card and was told "no", I guess not all I can do is wait. .BTW, I spent an hour and 43 minutes on the phone trying to get this resolved.

During my last phone call to Tracfone I asked for a refund on my minutes since they seemed to be unable to provide the services that I paid for and I have giving them multiple opportunities to correct the problem. They completely ignored my request. Defiantly will not be purchasing any more minutes or using Tracfone once this is over with and will tell anyone who asks to go with another company

Akia of St .Albans, NY October 7, 2009

I ordered a new tracfone and was unable to use it.I asked for my old tacfone number to be transferd to the new phone it was never transferd. Each time that I call tracfone I am put on hold for long peridos of time,when I am, able, to speak to a represenative no one is able to fix the problem.

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