"I ordered three cell phones from their website; one more than I would have because it clearly states free overnight shipping on orders over $19.99. Otherwise I would have only ordered two and paid the $4.95 three day shipping. But when I selected the Free FedEx overnight shipping they charged me $14.95. I called a rep who said the charge will come off when it shipped. It didn't. Called another who said it will be refunded in 24 hours. It wasn't. Next one said if not refunded in 48 hours call an 'escalation" number Called the escalation number and they told me the promo had ended (the website clearly stated offer good through 5/12/14 (and I printed a copy of the promo ad for documentation; I ordered 4/23/14) and that they would "reimburse" me with minutes; but not triple minutes allowed; that I specifically bought these phone for. So that's not really much of a reimbursement. When I insisted on either triple minutes or my money back (which had been promised to me 3x's previously) they hung up. Isn't this false advertising? I'm very unhappy with this company"
"When I switched to Tracfone, they had a poor choice of cell phones in my area. They sold me a Samsung S390G phone; and I think I will throw it away. I can not, in good conscience, resell it to someone. It turns itself off from time to time. It turns itself on as well. No paper manual is provided. The online information is inadequate. Here is the killer. The phone inadvertently dials 911 when it's in my pocket. It has happened eight or nine times during the short period I have had the phone. This is unacceptable. I don't give up easily. I searched various avenues to correct the problem, but did not find one. I locked the keys. I searched for a cover, but did not find one. There are covers for about 50 Samsung phones, but not this one. I tried different positions in my pocket. Amazon reviewers stated that the phone dials 911 when zero is pressed three times- even if the keys are locked. That is great if you want 911 operators to be so busy answering inadvertent calls that they can't help people who really need them. I hold tracfone responsible for selling me this phone. I could not even find a way to write a review on Tracfone's website. As frosting on the cake- I had to get help from Radio Shack to transfer the info from my old cell phone's sim card to the sim card for this one."
"I have had a wonderful experience concerning my latest tracfone phone. I know have three tracfones and have never experienced much malfunction. I have received a few dropped calls in the past but none recently. Overall my tracfone experience has easily been a 10!"
"I ordered one and it seemed OK, but it didn't come with a minutes card. Three phone calls to tech support didn't help. They wouldn't sell me any minutes without the card! The only useful thing I got from them was that I had to pay minutes for tech support if I was using their phone!
I spite of all this, I ordered a second phone for my wife. She didn't like it, so I attempted to return it using their 30 day money back guarantee. The tech support person was completely incompetent and I finally gave up and hung up after he told me it would take 70 business days to refund my money!
I must be a masochist. And these people claim to be the number 1 prepaid phone service?"
"I won't repeat what has already been said about their horrendous customer service. If I was a heavy cell phone user I would avoid this company. I am not so it does satisfy my pricing and the phone does work after an endless conversation with a Guatamalian service rep."
"I ordered a phone to replace one which was unsatisfactory (low volume and poor accessing of call service). To activate this new phone it was necessary that I spend perhaps 1/2 hour on the phone with a rep (somewhere in a foreign country, given the accent), punching in maybe 80 to 100 numbers. The first attempt didn't work and after maybe 4 or 5 lengthy sessions with other reps (each seemed to be in a different country) I gave up and requested a refund of the phone's price. I also cancelled my account, losing over 300 remaining minutes on my account. There has been zero response from this company to my inquiries."
"Great value. Nothing fancy but the price can't be beat. Nice phone to talk!"
"I've had a Tracfone for about 10 years. It's a convenience and I usually buy the 1 yr plan in order to avoid messing w/ reactivation. This year I missed my deadline by 61 days: it's an emergency tool I keep in my car. I spent nearly 2 hrs on w/ cust serv trying to get my 453 units + the 60 units on my phone unsuccessfully. I feel like the "units" paid for were stolen and I certainly wouldn't want to give additional money to a disloyal company so I tried to get the 60 unit card refunded HA!
I know all about their policies on units & refunds...what about customer satisfaction. Who will buy units if they keep irritating their clients. DONE with TRACFONE!"
"My wife has had a cell phone from another company for a number of years and it just about drives her nuts. The hassles she has had with it are beyond words. Therefore, a cell phone was one of those things I thought I would never want. But. about a year ago my son purchased a Tracfone for me and I have since found it to be completely enjoyable. I recently purchased another Tracfone for my wife and I'm sure she will love the simplicity of the whole process.
As a first timer, I had some problems setting up voice mail. When I called tech support it was straightened out in a matter of minutes. The girl was so overly understanding and apologetic that I started to feel sorry for her, she must have apologized 10 times during our conversation. If you are having problems with tech support, try contacting them via email. I prefer this method and have always received a response within a day. Their email page can be found here.......http://www.tracfone.com/contact.jsp?task=contact
The roaming charge has been eliminated and the cost per call is the same nationwide. This happened last fall (2007), oddly enough while I was roaming for the first time. I made a call and got charged double minutes, later I made another call and was charged single minutes. You can get by for a little less than 10 cents per minute, with the "double minutes" add on. Plus, we have always received at least 60 bonus minutes when we add time.
A couple of tips: You can access your voice mail from a land line by dialing your cell number. When you connect, press the "star" key and it will ask for your password. Also, if you set up your contact list with the names and numbers of the people you want to hear from, the phone will display the name of who is calling. This allows you to ignore someone who has dialed your number by mistake.
There may be better deals out there that I'm not aware of, but I don't spend a lot of time talking on the phone so this one works great for me."
"We have had a tracfone for about 5 years. The first 4.5 years I was very satisfied. However this summer they stated that due to technical changes we needed a new phone. They sent one free of charge - the transition seemed flawless. However the new phone was roaming all the time - even in our local calling area. After 6 months of customer service calls, 5+ hours on the phone (at least 45 minutes each call), 3 phones, and numerous swearing about their customer service the roaming seemed to be fixed (seemed somewhat by mistake by them). Aahh life was better. Until our friend tried to call and call and call. It seems that our number of 5+ years has been changed without our knowledge. I highly recommend not doing business with tracfone. Find another pay as you go program."
"They deserved to be sued, They stole my units, 7 months of my air time, my phone number. 3 hours of hold time on the phone to customer service, I was called a lier, and after all the time on the phone, just tring to get answers was hung up on, I wish something could be done about this company, I contacted the BBB. maybe they can help people like me.."
"TracPhone is a ripoff. They were supposed to "port" my business phone number I've had for 15 years, sorry, lost it. I have another phone with 180 airtime units, they decided to deactivate the phone. Sorry, I lose 180 units, well actually 130 units because I spent 50 units on hold to their technical support without speaking to anyone. Today I spent four hours in a hot phone booth on a stanky pay phone on hold to TracPhone, never speaking to anyone.
100% Dishonest, total ripoff. Avoid this company at all costs."
"Purchased a reconditioned Motorola V170r with 450 minutes (1 yr card) with an additional 200 units for $99.99 as a gift to a young girl that was relocating & needed it for job call backs.
Phone was received. As everyone says, adding minutes is a hassle. We waited for the phone to activate after entering all of the cards, it never did. The girl called customer service (on hold for a long time), they would send out a new phone.
New phone was received, when we tried to enter the minutes, we couldn't because they'd been used on phone 1. Custoner service (on hold a good hour) supposedly took care of this, as far as I knew, the date was reading correctly.
A few weeks go by, the phone is out of minutes. I get the phone back and find only 200 used. I contacted Tracfone, they tell me they can't give me the original 450 minutes back.
I am now going to try to recover the units, but don't feel I will be successful. Tracfone was neglegant that it did not send new cards with the new phone.
I feel the offer is fraudulent, as they can recover money by sending out defective phones; ones that customers activate minutes makingt them worthless. No where in the directions does it say not to active all cards at the same time due to this.
Buyer beware"
"This was my second purchase from Tracfone. I bought my wife a phone and a 1 year prepaid card last Christmas. It has worked fine for her (Motorola). This year, I decided to take advantage of one of their free reconditioned phone + 2-60 minute card offers (Nokia 1100 phone). The online order process was simple, and they offered free 3 day shipping. Because of snow in the Denver area, shipping took longer, but that was not Tracfone's problem; it appears they shipped quickly.
I went through the online activation process on 1/4/07, and was told my phone was activated; to wait a few minutes and try a test call. I waited, but the phone was not activated. I waited another day, and still nothing. So, I called the number they listed for problems with activation. My first call was on hold for 30 minutes and then was disconnected. I called back and was on hold for 2 hours (I kid you not!) before I hung up. During the hold process, they played the same song and message over and over and over. Please Tracfone, silence is better than the same song for 2 hours!! I called back the next day, and was on hold for 1.5 hours before I got a rep. Her accent was very strong, and I had a tough time understanding what she was saying. Imagine how difficult it was to enter 4 extremely long strings of numbers to get the phone activated. The phone was finally activated with only 10 minutes free air time. I told her I should get 20 minutes free time since I tried the online activation. She put me on hold to talk with someone, and came back with another long string of numbers to enter. After entering that string, 20 minutes was showing on the display.
Since I only use a cell phone infrequently, the Tracfone concept is ideal for me and my wife. The service in the Denver area has been good; no dropped calls and good reception. Once the Nokia 1100 phone was activated, it has worked great. I like the concept of the same unit deduction for local, long distance and roaming; 1 unit/minute. Also, free incoming text messages on this phone.
If Tracfone could resolve the problems with customer service (or inservice), I would be totally satisfied with them. They provide what I need at a decent price. One thing I do not like is having to add a card every 60 days even if you have airtime remaining. If you don't, you lose your number and any remaining airtime. This is a real hassle for the emergency type user like myself. But, it is still cheaper than other services, and discounted cards are available on eBay."
"My tracfone received a number that is a long distance call from home phone. Called tech support and received automated message of 10 minute wait. I have been on hold for 90 minutes now. Not a service oriented company."