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One Happy Customer (Reply to this comment)
by notsophonie
I'm very happy with my TracFone service. I'm generally not a heavy cell phone user so the little minutes I purchase suit me just fine and I have never experience any connection problems. Also, I have no need for extra gadgets on my phone. But for those of you with the need, I heard that Net10 offers more options when it comes to features :)
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Jun 29 '09
7:06 pm PDT
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TRACFONE Incorrect Deducts Minutes (Reply to this comment)
by mizsophia
Following a 2 minute call to #411 Directory Assistance today, my minutes went from 176 to 125. I called and spoke with 2 Customer Service people and a Supervisor. Neither support people were helpful and the only help I received from the Supervisor was advice not to call 411 again. Although I authorized them to access my records so they could see the calls and minutes used today, they told me that option was not feasable. They stated my phone was working fine and basically, I must have been mistaken.
I've had 2 phones with them since 12/08 and this is the second problem I've had. The first one was that the phone stopped working altogether but that was fixed with a support call. After today though, and experiencing their Customer Service at its best, I will be cancelling the phones once the minutes on both phones are used.
I would suggest that 'buyer beware' when it comes to Tracfone. There are much better options.
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Apr 01 '09
4:28 pm PDT
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Tracfone is a Nightmare! Avoid like the Plague (Reply to this comment)
by jtg61
I bought a Tracfone two weeks ago at Wal-Mart. I'm still trying to set it up and get it to work. I made the mistake of buying the minutes online instead of buying the minutes at the store. My phone would not accept the online code to add the minutes and my credit card was double charged on top of it. When I complained to customer service, they accused me me of using all the minutes that were never added to my phone. As it turns out the activation process didn't assign a number to my phone properly so it couldn't assign the minutes and I couldn't call out. Trying to work with customer service is a nightmare. You can barely understand their accents and the connection is weak. After hours on the phone and getting passed from one person to another, I finally got the erroneous credit card charge reversed. They had me punch in long sets of codes to try to get my minutes added. Then we discovered the SIM card wouldn't accept a phone number and they needed to send me a replacement. Two weeks later and I'm still waiting for a replacement SIM card. So far I'm out $20 for the phone and $40 for the minutes and the phone has never worked for the two weeks that I've owned it. I dread the day when my SIM card arrives as I'll have to deal with Tracfone customer service again. If this phone ever works and I ever get to use the minutes I purchased, I'll use it until the minutes expire and toss it in the trash. I'll stick with a reputable major cell phone carrier and use their prepaid service in the future. At least you can purchase it in their store and have it working before you walk out. I'm through with Tracfone. Beware! You've been warned.
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Mar 17 '09
6:54 am PDT
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Tracfone works fine for me (Reply to this comment)
by jackzz
I don't have a need to make alot of cell calls but I wanted to have one for when I am driving or away. After checking out all the carriers I found Tracfone to be the best deal for me and my cell needs. There is no muss and no fuss. I checked out all the other carriers like Verizon, Unicel, AT&T etc and even with their most basic plans I was stuck with a 1 or 2 year contract and more minutes than I would use which would factor in to my cost per minute.
So after doing my research I decided that Tracfone would be the best deal for me. I only use it for 60-120 minutes per month so a 400 minute plan does me no good and is a waste of money.
So I went to Walmart and for $17.88 I got a Tracfone LG200c flip phone which came with an AC charger, a car cigarette lighter charger, a leather phone case and a headset for hands free use. The phone also was DMFL or Double Minutes For Life so when I buy say 120 minutes for 29.95 I get 240 minutes. Also if you pay attention there are Bonus Codes which can add a free 60 minutes. So for 17.88 plus 29.95 I got the LG200c and 330 minutes without any contracts or monthly fees and the minutes will rollover. With DMFL my airtime is about 9 cents per minute.
For my first month I used about 60 minutes and my monthly cost was $5.40 for the month.
For me this is such a good deal I am thinking of having my landline disconnected since I spend $32 per month or $382 per year. I am guessing my Tracfone will cost me about $120 per year total.
As of yet I have encountered zero problems.
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Dec 17 '08
2:13 pm PST
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Only good to be used at home and they are STEALING YOUR IDENTITY (Reply to this comment)
by eind1
The connection is good only at home. 20 miles away from home, you get connection only by LUCK. Do NOT depend on it.
To add airtime from Tracfone is extremely painful:
If add it from their website (most of time it ends up ERROR and ask you to call the service representative), the webpage asks a lot of unnecessary information, then sends hundreds digits you have to key in to your cell phone.
If add it thru calling their service representative, the representative will try to STEAL YOUR IDENTITY by ask you all unrelated information. Besides credit card and your cell phone ID, they ask:
* Name
* Address
* Other cell phone numbers
* Social Security Number!!!!!!!!!!!!!
* Birthday?????????????????
If you refuse to answer the question, they will argue that 'Our System Requires It'. Who cares about their system? I do care about my own IDENTITY SAFETY.
However, if you still want to jump into the trap, there is a way to beat their stealing:
***** Besides credit number and you cell phone ID, give them all FAKE information. ****
I tried the strategy, and it works
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Jun 14 '08
7:59 am PDT
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Tracfone Nightmare - called BBB (Reply to this comment)
by tedtretts
Where do I start? I have had many of the problems already listed. Cust Serv is still the worst I have ever encountered. Just had my worst experience and have given up. Tracfone - you win. You have robbed my money, but you will never get another penny. Here is my latest and will be my last problem.
I discovered 800 additional minutes had been added to my phone, which I had never ordered. Also when going to the menu, to retrieve my own number, my number had disappeared and another number showed up. The number carried an area code from another State. In a short time thereafter, my phone quit working and and I was getting a message "sim card deactivated". I called Tracfone (encountered the usual problems with CS in India) and explained what happened. They told me my phone had been shut down because I had owed them $156. I told them I had never purchased those 800 minutes and was not about to pay for something I had not ordered. I requested they remove the 800 minutes from my phone and activate the sim card, since I still had legitimate minutes on the phone. They would not do this and implied that I was lying. I mentioned that I had many times purchased minutes (never more than $99. at a time) and would never have purchased 800 minutes, since I use very few minutes in a year. All to no avail. I told them I was totally disgusted with their little scam and my next step would be a call to the Better Business Bureau and I hung up. I did call the BBB and registered my complaint. A few days later I received a call from a Tracfone cust service lady, repeated everything once more and received the same reply. They would not remove the minutes from my phone and insisted I owed them $156. By now I was pretty well wiped out. I am 73 years old and do not need the constant abuse I receive from Tracfone. I told them what they could do with their phone service and that I would do everything I could to inform all of my family members and friends to stay away from Tracfone. The company is the absolute worse. Their customer service is just plain horrible and they are getting away with this scam and stealing money. Buyer Beware! DO NOT USE TRACFONE. Deal with legitimate Companies only. I am going to try Virgin mobile or net10. Ted Tretts
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Apr 09 '08
7:37 am PDT
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Not So bad (Reply to this comment)
by hotwilz
I had my tracfone for about 3-4 years now. I just upgraded my phone to a new one. I can tell you from my past experiences, the customer service has actually got better recently. When I call, I usually go into a quiet room in the house, and speak slowly and clear to them. I can hear my voice echo on the phone and that is annoying, but I try to keep my cool. I have always had my issues resolved with first call. My worst complaint is that phones take too long to activate. Web site has improved some over the past year. Tracfone works almost everywhere here (West virginia). We don't have many options for cell service here. I guess I'll take what I can get for now.
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Apr 05 '08
5:45 am PDT
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Beware Tracfone - new phone given out-of-state area code (Reply to this comment)
by corax56
I recently purchased a $50 Motorola W370 cell phone directly from Tracfone's website; it came with "double minutes" for life. I successfully activated this phone but discovered that the number which Tracfone assigned it had an area code which was out-of-state. I live in MD and my new cell phone was given a DC number. I thought this would cause problems, as folks I would call might reject or not answer because of my phone's errant area code.
I promptly called Tracfone's customer service department (at about 9:30 PM EST) and finally got through to a young man whom initially I thought was trying to help but subsequently realized was providing only "lip service" and he wasted about 30 minutes of MY time while accomplishing absolutely nothing to help me or accurately describe why I was given a phone number with an out-of-state area code.
This rep told me that he had corrected the problem, but I would need to wait one hour for the cell phone to show the new number. Not true... In calling back I discovered that Tracfone's customer service department closes at 10 PM EST, so this lazy rep succeeded in pawning me and my problem off until the next shift.
Early the next morning, I called and succeeded in getting another customer service rep. After explaining my concern again, the lady acknowledged my problem but was unable to assign me a phone number within my home area code (301 or 240). Incredibly, both her and her supervisor explained that Tracfone did not have any available phone numbers within these 2 area codes, which is why their computer initially assigned me a DC phone number (area code 202).
I find this explanation to be implausible, but if true - my problem is likely to be visited upon many others.
The remedy offered by the customer service rep and her supervisor was to send me a new SIM card, which meant a 4-5 day delay to allow for shipping. Even then, there was no guarantee provided that the new SIM card would actually enable me to get a phone number with a MD-based area code.
As I wanted the Tracfone for use during a trip I was taking in only a few days, the SIM card "solution" was not appealing. I asked whether I could get a full refund for my Tracfone and was told I could - but that I'd have to pay for shipping which had to include a tracking number (even greater cost). I pointed out that I should not have to pay for shipping since it was Tracfone's mistake or flawed policy in assigning my phone an out-of-state number (and I never was notified in advance or given a choice about this decision). However the supervisor refused to agree to provide me with a shipping voucher.
Since I really needed a cell phone for my trip, I felt they had me "over a barrel". Consequently, I was able to negotiate only a rather weak compromise: I would keep (temporarily) my DC cell phone number for use on my trip, and Tracfone would give me just 20 "bonus" airtime minutes.
I was told that after I return from my 10 day trip I could still return the Tracfone for a refund, but I wonder whether this verbal commitment actually will be honored.
I strongly urge folks not to purchase Tracfone service, but if they do - I recommend they only buy the least expensive phone and purchase only a minimum number of airtime minutes.
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Apr 04 '08
10:54 am PDT
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Beware Tracfone - phone # had out-of-state area code (Reply to this comment)
by corax56
I recently purchased from Tracfone a $50 Motorola phone with double minutes, but when I successfully activated my new cell phone - it was assigned a phone number which had an area code that did not occur in my state. I live in MD and the number they assigned me was for DC (202 area code).
I thought that having a cell phone whose number was obviously not in MD would pose problems given that folks I would be calling know I live in MD, not DC. So I tried to see Tracfone would correct what appeared to be a simple mistake.
I had to try 2 times to get a customer service rep to actually help me. The first time I called at about 9:30 PM EST, and got nothing but "lip service" from a lazy rep who did absolutely nothing yet wasted 30 minutes of my time before he lied and told me the problem was corrected - but I needed allow an hour for it to show up on my phone. It didn't. I called back but found that Tracfone's customer service department closes at 10 PM, so he succeeded in pawning me off until the next shift.
Early the next morning I once again reached a customer service staffperson, and this lady did understand the problem - but was unable to correct it. I was told by her and her supervisor that no phone numbers were available for Tracfone use in the 2 existing area codes which service my region of Maryland (301 and 240) - and that is why their computer assigned me a DC phone number!
However, they informed me that Tracfone could send me a new SIM card in another 4 to 5 days, which perhaps would allow me to obtain a MD-based cell phone number. As I wanted the phone for a trip in which I was to depart in only a few days, I replied that this was not an acceptable solution.
I asked about whether I could get a refund, and was told "yes" but that I'd have to pay for shipping and needed to pay extra to get "tracking number" before they would authorize reimbursement. I countered that Tracfone's failure to inform me that no cellphone numbers were available for my area was not my mistake, and that they should give me a shipment voucher so I didn't have to pay for their mistake and/or flawed policy. No luck...
As they had me over-a-barrel, I could only negotiate a weak compromise: I'd keep (temporarily) the DC phone number and they would credit my phone with an additional 20 "bonus" minutes. Not a good deal, but perhaps the best I was going to get... I bet after my trip they'll tell me that Tracfone won't give me a full refund.
I strongly urge folks not to buy Tracfone service, but if they do - to only buy the least cost phone and minimum minutes needed.
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Apr 04 '08
10:04 am PDT
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Overall, very pleased with this service. (Reply to this comment)
by flamingdeath
Some things to remember...when you go to the site and sign up for a new phone, you'll want to look for "One Rate" or "Single Rate" phones. Those do not charge roaming anywhere in the United States. Often, the phones you see on the site are also readily available at the local dollar store...that's where I've bought both mine and my wife's. The price is the same and you can have a phone up and running the same day. Just be sure to write down the model numbers of the one rate phones so you'll know what to buy when you get there.
Also, avoid Tracfone's car accessory kits. Most of the time, it is much cheaper to buy accessories from Wal Mart or another discount store, because you can pick and choose to get exactly what you want or need.
Also, if you talk more than a few minutes a month, it will pay you to get a Double Minutes for Life card. This automatically doubles the minutes of any card you buy...for example, a 60 min card gets you 120 minutes. You pay a one-time fee of $50 for that, but it's well worth it in my opinion. It's already paid for itself several times.
If you don't want to mess with cards and buying airtime before the expiration date, then get on the Family Plan. The first phone is $9.99 a month for the first phone, and $5.99 a month for each additional phone, billed to a credit/debit card, or directly withdrawn from your bank account. The first phone gets 50 minutes each month, the additional phones get 30. But, when you have the Double Minutes card, you get 100 and 60 for the same price (about $15.98 - about 10 cents per minute). This is more than enough for my wife and I each month, as we are not heavy cell phone users.
The phones seem to be reliable. My LG 3280 is over a year old and still working just fine. My wife's LG 200 is not quite that old. Both hold a charge for days and pick up well just about everywhere.
You get free voicemail and caller ID. Text messages are charged at half a unit per message, send or receive, so if you do a lot of texting, you should be careful and watch your minutes!
Plus, some phones are capable of simple email functions. Try sending a text message to your home email address. Then, look in your email at the sender to see what your phone's email is. Mine is myareacodeandphonenumber@message.alltel.com.
Also, if you do Yahoo messenger, you can send the following message to 92466 (Yahoo):
in username password
You are now logged into Yahoo Messenger, and you can send and receive IM's from your friends. You can probably do this on any phone, but it's just handy to know if you like that sort of thing. It makes the cheap Tracfone even more versatile. Just remember to watch your minutes!
That's easy to do too, with the built in counter which tells you how many minutes you have left.
And now the bad part. Customer service leaves something to be desired. Expect to talk to someone with a heavy foreign accent. However, they are careful to repeat to you what you said so you know they understand you. And, you will spend a LOT of time on hold and a lot of time discussing your problem. But, ultimately, the representatives are polite to a fault and very helpful. Fortunately, there's only been two occasions that I had to call Tracfone, once for my phone and once for my wife's, to correct some sort of glitch in the software. Both times the issue was resolved to my satisfaction.
As I said, so far, I have been very happy with Tracfone, and until they do me wrong, I will continue to give them my business.
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Mar 18 '08
10:40 am PDT
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Re: HORRIBLE customer servive (Reply to this comment)
by danielw
I agree completely! We've had three TracFone's. The $19.00 Nokia 2126 that my wife has worked out okay. I had the same and it died, after MANY problems. I've now got a Motorola V170 which I've also had many problems with. It will lock up and I'll receive no calls, but there's no indication of a problem until I call my wife and find out that she's been trying to call me.
Calls to TracFone have been extremely frustrating. Although, very polite the customer service reps (located overseas) have been difficult to understand. I too have spent an hour plus on the phone, then have to call back because the problem is either unresolved--or worse than it started.
Sorry TracFone, "polite" does not equal "competent."
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Mar 09 '08
7:27 pm PDT
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Go with Net10 (Reply to this comment)
by anjetea
I've had the phone 2 days and already I'm dissatisfied. First, they make your zip code the only place that the phone won't be roaming. I wouldn't be upset over that if it was made clear in the pamphlet, BEFORE I bought the phone. Then, they take forever to activate it. I Called to activate the phone on the 28th at 4 PM. At 2 PM the next day, I called to make sure everything was going to plan (since the phone's usually activated within the first couple minutes). After going through the process of giving a 15-digit number multiple times, the service rep says (through a barely comprehendable accent) that the phone should be active in 4 hours. That would be 2 hours past the latest time that the pamphlet says it takes to activate a phone. So false advertising again. Then I had to call customer service again to find out how to check voice mail from a land line. . . because they don't give basic information like that in their "information booklet." If possible, go with Net10. I haven't even used their service before, but it's got to be better than this!
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Dec 30 '07
12:52 pm PST
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HORRIBLE customer servive (Reply to this comment)
by maxell321
Tracfone would be nearly perfect if it weren;t for their horrible customer service.
Ive been with them for a little over a year now and whenever I have to call there pathetic customer support it ALWAYS ends up ending with some type of problem.
The last one being I had upgraded to a new phone, so I simply needed to have my minutes and number transfered to the new phone. Simple enough right? WRONG.
After spending 40 mins on the phone, I hung up and realized they gave me the wrong phone number. So I called back and explained what I needed, and needless to say after another hour on the phone with them, finally a supervisor told me my old number was de-activated because the previous lady I spoke to made a mistake. Therefore the number I had for over a year now had to be changed.
It is so frustrating trying to get anywhere with them especially when the person you are stuck with barely speaks any english.
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Nov 26 '07
1:39 pm PST
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Re: Tracphone cheap phone the worlds worst service (Reply to this comment)
by judy_k
I agree. I came to add my complaint to the others. I wasted $40 on a basic phone and one hour of time for emergencies and now I have nothing to show for it.
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Oct 05 '07
8:36 am PDT
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Tracphone cheap phone the worlds worst service (Reply to this comment)
by alcz
was sent a digital phone to replace old analog. been days calling tracphones service number (no internet activation). after punching in all their codes it still has not been activated. these people speak with a thick accent and with background noise sounding like their speaking from a rave dance floor. Do not buy Tracphone.
Virgin Mobile has been very good for me.
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Sep 14 '07
11:46 am PDT
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ripped off (Reply to this comment)
by mocoy9198
i will never use tracfone again, their customer service is awful! and to top things off they just ripped me off by the $20 i spent on a 60 minute card, i had attempted to add the minutes to my phone but the phone was "no longer supported" by the network i was happy to find out they had a replacement program that got me a new phone at no charge...but then i attempted to add the minutes i had purchased to the new phone and they tell me that i attempted to add them before and that i waited longer then three days to notify them that the minutes didn't get added, and i spent over three hours in the last week on the phone on hold and talking to people that i cant understand very well attempting to fix the problem...all to no avail
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Aug 24 '07
1:42 pm PDT
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No coverage from Tracfone (Reply to this comment)
by helenesaul
Despite repeated assurances from tech support, my expensive Tracfone simply does not connect. It said "roaming" one time when I called a local number, and the rest of the time it says no coverage. Well, my Virgin Mobile phone works just fine from the same places I tried my Tracfone, and actually when I tested my Tracfone one time I was about 1000 feet from the cell tower. They keep giving me codes to punch in, but to no avail. My friend got a Tracfone the same day as me, and after setting it up and using it, the phone needed recharging. The phone won't recharge. This company is a big scam.
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Jul 29 '07
10:41 pm PDT
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Re: Re: Tracfone -- the good and the bad (Reply to this comment)
by tracson
Tracfone is not located in India that's correct, they have their corporate offices in Miami, that is correct too, but for cost reasons they have more than 5 call centers in south america. -> Argentina, Bolivia, Guyana, Colombia, Guatemala, Salvador, and also Philipines. Before they wouldn't say where they were "for security reasons" but try to call now, and ask them "where are you located" they will say Bogota, Colombia or Buenos Aires Argentina... and so forth.
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Oct 14 '06
5:18 pm PDT
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How to obtain very good service from Tracfone (Reply to this comment)
by nekrib
To obtain good service from Tracfone
1. Don't communicate by email.
2. If you can't understand them hang up and call
3.If the accent is still to thick ask for the supervisor. They generally speak normal US speech.
Some experiences I had with Trac are:
* A person with a mild accent worked 50 minutes with me in an effort to activate 2 phones, change an address, and transfer my minutes to a new phone
and add some different time and coupon time to the old phone. For most of these operations he had to get his supervisor's OK - which was time consuming. He complemented me on my patience I believe in working with someone who is making progress.
My 90 year old sharp aunt is somewhat intimidated by new electronics in the beginning. She told how me how helpful Trac service was to her in guiding her through using the phone. If I am not available she happily calls Trac service.
In summary Don't use e-mail.
Call a couple of times around a certain hour.
If still bad try the following day at a different
time frame.
There are a lot of helpful/the customer is generally right help personnel. Knowing this shop around for them. It's never taken me more than 3 attempts to find such a person.
Lowering Trac cost per minute.
2 or 3 times a year Trac offers 250 - 300 minutes
for the 150 minute $90 price. They also due this to their more expensive 12 year card.
Search Trac in Google. One often finds sites offering coupons with additional free time
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Sep 17 '06
11:45 pm PDT
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A long time satisfied customer (Reply to this comment)
by ytan
Still a satisfied customer with my 3rd tracfone...
by ytan | Jul 24 '06 Recommended:
I bought my first tracfone online on Nov 03 and today I am still a happy customer. My 1st phone was the Nokia 1221 and have since added one Motorola V170 and one Nokia 1100.
I'll keep my comments short and to the point:
1) Order online is quick but better yet get your phone at Target or Wal-Mart. The price is the same, or actually lower at stores with the latest price reduction etc., and you get to compare/touch the phones.
2) I have had to call customer service a few times and the reps are courteous and call answered almost immediately. My main complaint is with the quality of the answer line itself. Looks to me Tracfone is using some VOIP service internally and the sound quality is terrible.
3) Definitely go with tracfone if your monthly usage is low. Like 120 minutes or less per month. This will save you money with no hidden cost like taxes compared to contract based cell phone service. If you expect to use way more than 200 mins a month, go with a contract service.
4) Motorola V170 is a small flip phone, light, bright color screen. Downside is it's clearly made of plastic, kind of flimsy, dont like the external antenna and relatively low battery life (max 3 days on standby). I recommend it for folks who like small flip phone.
5) Nokia 1100 is great and cheapest if you just want a phone mainly to make/receive calls. Very light weight, It has Nokia's solid build, easy to use, double as a LED flash light. It lacks a color screen and limited ring tones. I recommend it.
6) When activating a new tracfone service, you automatically get 20 mins free. Be sure to get a referral from a friend to receive 120 additional free mins. If you need a referral, email me at yentan@yahoo.com.
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Jul 24 '06
12:53 am PDT
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120 free minutes for new users. (Reply to this comment)
by totalizeme
Awesome emergency cell phone, you can get one @ walmart for $20, and have a total of 140 free minutes!
For a special invite to this deal you MUST Email Totalizeme@yahoo.com with "free minutes" in the subject line.
Get 120 free minutes with your New tracfone activation. Special invite only. Send email to totalizeme@yahoo.com with "free Minutes" in the subject line. Good for 30 days, so if your planning to buy, don't miss out!!! Retro-active for up to two weeks too!
I've used this program to get over 500 free minutes!
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Jun 15 '06
6:02 pm PDT
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Easy and Cheap! (Reply to this comment)
by deb324
I have been with Tracfone for years, and it works well for me but then I don't use it for chatting. I would definitely not recommend it to anyone who talks constantly on a cell. I am on the autopay program, which is $15 a month. It keeps my phone activated, and gives me 30 min. For me that's enough, and I actually accumulate minutes from month to month. If I occasionally need to buy minutes, I get double the minutes for the same price. I have traveled all over the country, and have never been without service. It even worked in Mexico (at least to receive calls from the US; I couldn't call out to the US however, but could call local in Mexico.) I'm not sure how or why, but the minutes deducted were no more than at home. Go figure. I did recently have a problem due to an old Tracfone still on my account that I no longer use and couldn't buy minutes for the phone I have now on the website. I called customer service, and got straight through, but the representative who answered was difficult to understand. Someone mentioned that their customer service was in Miami. Well, it might be in Miami, but this guy sounded like he was from India. (If you want to know where directory assistance went, it went to the Phillipines. I know, I lost my job to the Phillipines.) After trying to communicate the problem, I got frustrated and just blew it off, deciding that if I needed minutes I would just go buy a card, which is easy enough to do because the Tracfone cards are everywhere. I realize now I should have asked to speak to someone with better English skills. Next time. All in all, I would recommend the Tracfone for someone who needs it to call AAA or hubby to see what he wants for dinner while you're in the grocery store.
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May 19 '06
10:20 am PDT
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Re: Tracfone -- the good and the bad (Reply to this comment)
by mackattack607
Customer service is not located in India. Their customer service base is in Miami, Florida. Check their website. Just thought you'd like to know.
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May 07 '06
3:27 pm PDT
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Great deal if you're not a big cell user (Reply to this comment)
by ldolson
I like prepaid phones - I have one with Verizon (minimum $15 per month, which is all I ever need), but they have changed their prepay deal so that it costs as much as regular service. So I recently got a TracFone for my daughter, and so far so good! With a referral from my neighbor, I got 100 extra minutes, and another 200 minutes for filling out a survey on the site (plus 20 minutes "start-up"). The package I ordered included a free phone (Nokia 1100) for buying a Double Minute annual plan for $129. This includes 300 minutes, so I have 620 minutes total for about $11 per month, including phone. This is about what I use in a year, but I can add minutes for 10 cents per minute (if I buy the highest level card) if that isn't enough - I probably will add a bunch of "double minutes" before the year runs out and then get the regular annual plan ($94).
So far, everything has been easy. I emailed customer service about one question I had, and got a response in about 2 days.
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Sep 26 '05
11:47 am PDT
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Tracfone review poor / no service but they will take your money (Reply to this comment)
by idiom
For low minute users expect to spend more time on your land line setting up your Tracfone then actually using the phone. For high volume users spend your money on conventional cell phone programing or a value oriented calling card.
The website works as poorly as you can imagine. I have yet to add minutes via the website. Calling there service line, outsourced, will require a minimum of 20 minutes, repeating the same information again and again, zero out and save time.
If you have a problem, expect to hear "try such and such and call us back in 48 hours." I have spent over 10 hours with customer service, again outsourced, and have yet to receive service they said they offered.
After numerous hours of "Please Hold" and "Please try..." I sent the phone in so they could check it out. The phone worked fine until they sent me a new SIMS card. After almost 2 months, a total of nearly 3 months, I called to see what was up, they had no clue. After 10 or so requests for a Supervisor, I finally had to threaten to stay on the phone until they hung up on me or tranfer me to a Super, you will find stonewalling is SOP. Again they had no clue, yet another call back in 48 hours. They still had no clue so I ordered another cell phone from Liberty Wireless, yet another stonewalling lack of service company(call their service phone line before ordering their service(not the sub-contractor selling the phone but Liberty Wireless, an almost endless loop of enter your phone # then a hangup)), this must be the new business model, if you get tired enough of fighting for what they promise you, give up and they win, your money.
Several days later a new phone is delivered from Tracfone, I was surprised considering they didn't know what was going on? At this point I don't need their phone and called to request a refund for my One Year Prepaid agreement. Again Stonewalling, you need to keep requesting and keep requesting (they are programed to stonewall) I cited the UCC and the Magnuson-Moss Laws (checkout consumeraffairs.com), regarding services/products (lemon laws) until they finally gave me a Florida (surprised) address to send my written request for a refund. It has been over a month, no reply.
Checkout their website??? Their 40 minute card is 50 cents a minute, and double if you are out of your area! I travel and there are a number of areas where there is no service. Unless you have time and money to burn, stay away, far far away. :(
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Dec 08 '04
5:35 am PST
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Poor customer service, otherwise OK (Reply to this comment)
by hboehm
I was a satisfied customer over a year. Then their process for buying added service over the web failed partially; I received 200 of the 350 minutes I was promised, though I did get the promised service extension.
After a very patient attempt to fix this, I failed. I initially reported it on their web form immediately. That case was almost immediately closed with no action. They did ask for my email address, but a customer service representative later explained that they don't actually send email. About two days later I finally got around to calling during their apparently limited service hours. After
a long discussion, they basically tried to explain to me that I must be lying to them, and the minutes did get added to the phone. They complained I should have called earlier. Apparently I shouldn't have been misled by the existence of their web form.
An attempt to reach a supervisor resulted in a long wait on the phone, after which I was finally dropped.
It seems very likely to me that the whole problem was caused by a bug in their software. (The confirmation screen I got after adding minutes claimed it had given me 550, which is wrong in the other direction, and the initial code it asked me to enter was rejected, so I was probably testing a piece of their code that is rarely exercised.) But they don't seem to be very interested in identifying and fixing such problems.
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Oct 16 '04
11:14 am PDT
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TracFone - the one thing I regret doing in life. (Reply to this comment)
by thw420
TracFone customer service is horrible. I bought a TracFone and 1 year of service with 260 minutes in February, 2004. My phone worked for 3 weeks and then stopped receiving incoming calls. I can still make outgoing calls, but when someone calls me they get an error message before any rings even happen.
I have contacted TracFone and the FCC regarding this matter and TracFone has been HORIBBLE. They don't care at all. If I send them an email, they tell me to call customer service. If I call customer service, they tell me to send an email. No one wants to help solve the problem.
I would stay as far away from TracFone as possible. AT&T GoPhones are pretty good and the Virgin Mobile pre-paid uses the Sprint system so it's not too bad either.
Also, I urge you to do this. Call customer service of TracFone, AT&T, and Virgin BEFORE YOU BUY YOUR PHONE and see how easy it is to get a human and if that person speaks the English language as their native tongue. In the many attempts I've made to TracFone's customer service, each time I get an operator it is someone who can barely speak English and their background surroundings are VERY loud. It's hard to understand and hear them. I believe this company is run very poorly.
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Aug 24 '04
7:34 am PDT
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Tracfone -- the good and the bad (Reply to this comment)
by hulagirl57
For a person such as myself that uses a cell phone minimally, I think the Tracfone program is a good deal. However, their customer service BY FAR is the absolute WORST I have ever encountered. Although the wait to talk to a human is less than it used to be (only about 15 minutes at this point), the people you end up talking to are 1)not knowledgeable about the products offered 2)have no problem giving incorrect information 3)have very thick accents that are extremely hard to understand (I believe customer service is located in India) 4)which is compounded by the fact that apparently all customer service people are in one large room because they have trouble hearing you and you'll have trouble hearing them over the din of other callers in the background. That said, if you know what you want and understand how Tracfone works, the website works pretty well and I had no problems activating my phone via the website. Before you activate your new phone, however, I recommend a visit to eBay. There you will find many offers for 100 free minutes (a $30 value) from people who receive 100 free minutes themselves from Tracfone if they can "refer you" to Tracfone. You can buy your phone totally separately; just don't activate it until you've checked out one of these offers.
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May 01 '04
11:13 pm PDT
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Love tracfone! (Reply to this comment)
by gls7
I purchased my first Motorola tracfone last year when we moved to our new house and our phone line wasn't hooked up yet. It worked perfectly if I needed to get ahold of someone. I've since purchased a new flippy Motorola v60i tracfone and love it. It's just perfect. The reception is great and I had no problems activating at all. I've since given the other to my husband to have in his car in case of emergency and really that is all that I want it for also.
I've had such good luck with customer service the times I've had to call them. You'll find no complaints here!
I think these are perfect for emergency use or if you aren't going to be talking on them frequently, because obviously, the units will be used up. If you do all your talking on the cell, you may want a cellular plan.
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Apr 01 '04
11:05 am PST
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Re: My Minutes. (Reply to this comment)
by nc10
"now one at all sells TracFone minutes"
This was a review of the "online" store after all, where you can buy minutes. Did you try that route? I did update my review to included the qualification (US) after the word national in the first sentence to make it clear Tracfone is a US provider, I don't know how Canada is covered, if at all. Good luck.
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Feb 17 '04
8:21 pm PST
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