TracFone Customer Service--NOT!!!

Written on October 19, 2009

My wife and I had cell phone service with one of the big national companies, which shall remain nameless. Our contract with them ran out and we were on a month-to-month plan with them. As we don't use our cell phones all that much, on the recommendation of a friend, we decided to dump the carrier we were with and go contractless with TracFone.

We ordered two phones--an LG600G for me and a Motorola C139 for Pam. They both came within a few days and I got mine up and running fine. However, when it came to Pam's, it was not so easy. First of all, it was dead and I plugged it into the charger for a couple of hours to charge the battery. Still no luck. Call #1 to TracFone (India, that is). The guy told me to leave it plugged in for a couple more hours. Still no luck. Call #2 to TracFone. This guy told me to leave it plugged in overnight, which I did. Still no luck. Call #3 the next morning and, after some cajoling, I finally got them to agree to send us a replacement.

Replacement phone comes about a week later and seemed to work. Charged up okay and, since there were only ten minutes on the phone, I went online to purchase additional time. When I filled in all the blanks and hit "enter" an error message appeared telling me the account# I had entered was wrong. After retrying it, I got the same message so I called them to make the purchase. Gave them the info, but nothing showed up on the phone. The guy told me to check the phone the next day, which I did. Still nothing, so I call TracFone once again and am told to wait an additional 48 hours.

In the meantime, I make a call on the phone but only faintly hear the party on the other end. Another call to TracFone to find out how to increase the speaker volume (it doesn't work). on Saturday a wrong number call comes in. Pam answers the phone, but cannot hear anything on the other end. She hands the phone to me and I can barely hear the person on the other end. At that point, we decide to give up and get rid of the phone.

Today, before I had a chance to call them, TracFone calls me to get the additional minutes I had tried to purchase LAST WEEK added to the phone. I told the lady I was not interested in such--only interested in returning the phone and getting my money back. After convincing her that "not no, but hell no" I don't want yet another replacement phone, I get the address and insructions on returning the phone. I then go to the local UPS store, ship it back, return home and call TracFone (still India) with the tracking number. After being on the phone for better than a half hour (the VAST majority of time on "hold") and giving the tracking number to two different people I thought I was through. But no... I had to talk with yet another lady to discuss the phone time I had purchased. Since it was "Reserved", I could not get a credit on it. I could only add it to my LG600 phone which has more than enough time on it.

Of course, I was thoroughly pissed by this time. My patience had worn extremely thin and the last two women I talked to had to bear the brunt of my frustration. I was not nasty with them; I only told them how disgusted I was at the entire situation. In looking at the receipt I had printed up when I first purchased the phones, I noted their slogan is: "The Cell Phone That Puts You in Control". I told the woman that I did not feel in control of anything and that I would think long and hard before recommending their company to any of my frineds.

So, please, all of my friends. Think twice about purchasing a TracFone and utilizing their service. I'm stuck with them now, since I have purchased time which I will have to use. Maybe my opinion of them will change in time but right now they've got a long way to go.

Addendum: A couple of days later I received a follow-up call from TracFone by a lady who spoke very good English and with a good phone connection. I let her have both barrels. She was speechless. I think I FINALLY got my point across.