Over the top ANGRY with TRACFONE

[eeyorethegreat]

I have had issues with Tracfone for years but have continued to use the service because I have been too cheap to buy into a regular cell phone plan. Anyway between poor reception dropped calls (which could happen with any plan, I know) the biggest frustration is that minutes are not added like they are supposed to be so I end up having to call "Peggy in India" so I can punch in numbers after numbers. Which doesn't necesarily result in the minutes beig added. Now they have taken to randomly deactivating my accounts. To which I spend hours LITERALLY on thphone with them to try to get my phone back online. Then they have issued me phone numbers that are one number on my phone and another on my account, neither of which work. They even issued me a phone number what was someone's land line! Now I have yet another phone which they have disconnected sayong that I had traded it in, that someone else called and mysteriously used the serial number, that I really didn't buy the phone (basically accused me of shoplifting), I can think of the other stories that were brewed up by costumer service to blame ME for them disconnecting my service. I am fed up to the top Anyone know who I can talk to to make a complaint to get some action here?

I am pretty much done with Trafone but I want to use the minutes I PAID FOR before I kiss their stinking LOUSY service goodbye!

 

[Kies99]

Can't help you with Tracfone, but we've been Virgin Mobile customers for quite a few years and have never had any issues. The few times we've called (never with issues, only questions), the customer service people have been great.

Might be time to switch. If it's truly a headache, it might be time to eat the loss on the paid minutes and switch.

One thing that helps when you call and get "Peggy in India" is to immediately ask for an American call center rep. They all have them and should be able to switch you back to the U.S.

 

[becky1960]

Never had a problem for many years, we can get signal with Tracfone and not get a signal with ATT going across U.S. We buy online and no problems with minutes. We have a ATT plan, but use the Tracfone for a son. Depending on your location (service wise) you would probably happy with a service. The Iphone is great to use and with data you have complete Internet..

 

[disneysnowflake]

I've used Tracfone for many years.
I've never really had trouble until recently.
I purchased a 1 year service card and activated it in October.
I went to use my phone, and it said I had zero service days left.
After 3 hours being mostly on hold "for 3 to 5 minutes", being transferred to other people and being told to put a ton of numbers in with nothing changing, I'm here with a phone I cannot use.
I'm not even sure what else to do at this point. I paid for service until the end of October.

 

[nunzia]

I've had issues getting minutes added but after all the numbers with Peggy in India it's worked fine. I don't upgrade phones (that was a struggle the last time) and I bought for 2 years service last time to avoid the headache. I would have no problem changing to other similar carriers if it go really bad.
Since most companies have Peggy in India instead of Susie in Utah I've found real issues with other companies, not just TRAC. I had a Qwest internet issue and after VERY lengthy and difficult to understand 'fixes' (all of which I had already done repeatedly,) I asked to speak to someone in America..after a bit of arguing and a long delay I got "Darren" who was a 'supervisor' who then started telling me to the same things I'd already done..over and over..there was an accent so I asked "where are you?" and after a delay I found 'Darren" was in the Phillipines. So I'd been shuffled from India to there. I then restated that I wanted to speak with someone in the US, and after another argument and long delay SUSIE in UTAH!! Whoo Hoo, Now the connection was awful, having been routed from US/India/Phillipines/Utah, so Suzie said she'd call me back (uh oh) but did and determined quickly that my modem was bad, which I had figured, and scheduled a quick repair guy. I have heard that companies are beginning to bring these jobs back to the US because they are finding that these calls take so much longer because of language barrier and that customer satisfaction is low. Hope this trend continues.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I've used Tracfone for many years.
I've never really had trouble until recently.
I purchased a 1 year service card and activated it in October.
I went to use my phone, and it said I had zero service days left.
After 3 hours being mostly on hold "for 3 to 5 minutes", being transferred to other people and being told to put a ton of numbers in with nothing changing, I'm here with a phone I cannot use.
I'm not even sure what else to do at this point. I paid for service until the end of October.

I've had issues getting minutes added but after all the numbers with Peggy in India it's worked fine. I don't upgrade phones (that was a struggle the last time) and I bought for 2 years service last time to avoid the headache. I would have no problem changing to other similar carriers if it go really bad.
Since most companies have Peggy in India instead of Susie in Utah I've found real issues with other companies, not just TRAC. I had a Qwest internet issue and after VERY lengthy and difficult to understand 'fixes' (all of which I had already done repeatedly,) I asked to speak to someone in America..after a bit of arguing and a long delay I got "Darren" who was a 'supervisor' who then started telling me to the same things I'd already done..over and over..there was an accent so I asked "where are you?" and after a delay I found 'Darren" was in the Phillipines. So I'd been shuffled from India to there. I then restated that I wanted to speak with someone in the US, and after another argument and long delay SUSIE in UTAH!! Whoo Hoo, Now the connection was awful, having been routed from US/India/Phillipines/Utah, so Suzie said she'd call me back (uh oh) but did and determined quickly that my modem was bad, which I had figured, and scheduled a quick repair guy. I have heard that companies are beginning to bring these jobs back to the US because they are finding that these calls take so much longer because of language barrier and that customer satisfaction is low. Hope this trend continues.

I have added minutes both online and directly on the phone with the same issue (minutes not getting added) I have never upgraded a phone, this is just what they are claiming for the reason the latest phone doesnt work. I actually have 4 Tracfones on my account all have had issues resulting in literally hours of being on various stages of hold and when I say hours I mean one call can last over and hour. What threw me over the edge this time was intead of saying "we are sorry for the trouble you are experiencing let's make this right for you" they put me under a grand inquisition and basically told me that I had not "purchased" the phone and that they would not provide service to a phone that had not been properly purchased. BAsically in other words "Mary" accused me of stealing the phone from Wal-mart. I certainly did not steal it bought it with my very own money and the phone was in service up intil this week since April. I have never been so insulted with the way customer service dealt with me. And I admit after I was accused of stealing the phone I came unhinged. I didn't swear but I was very clear that I thought the tracfone service was ridiculous and that this was the topper of many many issue of poor service I have had.

 

[fakereadhed]

I can completely relate! I have had issues adding minutes where they never show up that went on so many days that they finally credited me with 60 min-well it was a 120 min card+ double min for life. They said if I had no proof, I was getting 60 and should be happy with that. Asked to speak with a manager and Peggy hung up!!! The 60 min showed up just then, and I went shopping for a new phone.

Here I am, six months later, no new phone. Couldn't find anything as cheap for someone like me that only uses my phone for occasional calls. Still mad though.

 

[dawson5]

I don't have tracfone but I did find this:

http://www.fone-review.com/tracfone_support.html

When you read that, toward the end there is a link and instructions to find executive resolutions. It sounds like it is customer service, but a level above basic. I don't know if that will help, but it is worth a shot.

 

[hsmamato2]

I have had tracfone for years- with no problems at all....I HATE the sister company Net10 however...ugh!
OP you might want to find another cheap prepaid plan to buy and just get rid of tracfone, the minutes are not worth the headache you're getting....around here a friend of mine got a good deal with maybe virgin mobile(?) and a prepaid card plan,no contracts...I plan to upgrade my phone as soon as my minutes run out,and I am terrified of how inept the service to switch will be.....since that is what usually causes the problems...
BTW on the tracfone site I thought it said only 2 phones per customer account? how do you have 4? and if you have 4,you might end up cheaper with a family type plan from another provider.....

 

[bettymae1121]

I've used T-mobile pre-paid for years with never any issues. I re-load on online at their website and the minutes are added instantly. My DH has had to talk to them on the phone to re-load a few times (he didn't have access to a computer at the time) and the call center people were all North America based and very helpful.

So if you're looking to dump Trac, I recommend T-Mobile.

 

[maxiesmom]

We had a heck of a time trying to activate a new trac phone. I got one for my dad to use at WDW, so if we split up we could call each other. By the time we left on our trip, it still wasn't working. My poor brother in law spent 3 nights on the phone trying to get the thing to work. Even though they took all your information down the first time, you had to repeat everything. And then the first 3 people couldn't figure out what the problem was. I would never recommend anyone buy a trac phone because of that.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I have had tracfone for years- with no problems at all....I HATE the sister company Net10 however...ugh!
OP you might want to find another cheap prepaid plan to buy and just get rid of tracfone, the minutes are not worth the headache you're getting....around here a friend of mine got a good deal with maybe virgin mobile(?) and a prepaid card plan,no contracts...I plan to upgrade my phone as soon as my minutes run out,and I am terrified of how inept the service to switch will be.....since that is what usually causes the problems...
BTW on the tracfone site I thought it said only 2 phones per customer account? how do you have 4? and if you have 4,you might end up cheaper with a family type plan from another provider.....

Not sure I have 3 listed on my account online the fourth I activated directly from the Tracfone itself and haven't added it to my online account. There is a fifth phone (so four listed on an account online) which is no longer in use and hasn't been in years but I can't delete it from the account for some reason. Never saw where it was two per customer. I had gotten the cheap Tracfones for the kids because esp my son is notorious for loosing them. I figured it was better for him to loose a Tracfone than one on a regular plan. I don't know why I have been able to add more than two phones if I am not "supposed" to actually never knew that.


Dawson5 thanks for the link I will check it out.

 

[MomToOne]

I recently had a bunch of problems with Virgin Mobile, that they could never resolve, despite multiple phone calls (where I had to sit on hold endlessly before talking to anyone) and escalated service tickets.

After 9 months of back and forth, I got fed up and filed a detailed online complaint with the FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/complaints

A few weeks later, I got a call from the Virgin Mobile "executive escalations department" and they were magically able to have the issue resolved in only a few hours.

I suggest trying the same thing

 

[robinb]

My DD's phone is with Page Plus Cellular. They buy time off the Verizon network and have never had a problem. Their minutes pricing is comparable with Tracfone.

Eta: PP minutes are also good for longer. The top up time is longer which is better for infrequent users like my DD. In addition you can activate just about any regular Verizon phone on PP. I bought my DD a nice LG with a full keyboard off of eBay for $25. I can add a link to on online forum that has more info once I'm home.

 

[Pigeon]

We have had two tracfones for years. They are great--right up until they aren't. Any time you have to call customer service, there goes four or five hours of your life that you will never get back, and your problem will not be fixed for many days and many more calls. Do what a pp said, and call the executive resolutions number. You will talk to someone who is allowed to actually help you and not just read from a script.

We don't use the phones much, maybe 30 minutes a month, and it's the cheapest way to go for us. I have Virgin Mobile prepaid for my daughter who texts a lot and there have been fewer problems. But while Virgin Mobile is less expensive than a contract, it's still more than the tracfones for occasional use.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Ironically... terrorists seem to have no problem using prepaid cell phones to communicate

 

[robinb]

Here is the website (the Howard Forums) for help on Page Plus Cellular:
http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php/364-Page-Plus-Cellular?

There is a link right on top which will tell you what phones can be activated with the service. I bought a VX9100 enV2 for $28 from eBay and activated it with NO problem. The "top up" requirement for PP is every 120 days instead of the traditional 90 days for the other PAYG phones. The only drawback to PP is that you probably have to order a phone online with them or buy a used Verizon phone to activate. There are some brick and mortar stores that carry PP phones, but they are not as ubiquitous as Net10 and Tracfone. Oh ... I also think they instituted a $1 per month fee, but it's still cheaper for me to only have to top up my DD's phone 3 times a year instead of 4 times a year.

 

[cseca]

I don't have tracfone but I did find this:

http://www.fone-review.com/tracfone_support.html

When you read that, toward the end there is a link and instructions to find executive resolutions. It sounds like it is customer service, but a level above basic. I don't know if that will help, but it is worth a shot.

I agree with this.
Contact the executives, give them a due date to contact you for resolutions. And tell them that you will contact BBB if nobody does.

I set up DH's phone with them and it took me 8 hours over 3 weeks period... yes, that's not an exaggeration... 8hrs on our other cell phone to get it set up. Which means I had to pay 8hrs worth of call on the other cell phone. The only reason it was resolved is because I got so mad and reported them to BBB with the whole story. I had dates and names and times of calls and their responses.
I received a call from "executive" office in 1 week I think (I blocked out the whole experience from my brain... I don't think I was ever that mad with any company before). And voila! Suddenly the phone worked and they gave me 100min free (pfffffttt... 100min vs. 480min I already spent on another carrier?).

The good thing is DH never really uses that phone it's a back up phone.
Because I never ever ever ever want to have to call them ever again...

 

[mrodgers]

Never have had a problem with Tracfone myself. I have had issues where my computer is in the basement and no signal on the phone (when I had to punch numbers in phone when adding airtime) and minutes didn't update. I would then take the phone to work and redo the minute card numbers and it would update. Now, I don't have to punch numbers into the phone and I just leave it in the location of the best signal upstairs when downstairs on the computer or just do it at work which is closer to the city and the signal is better.

2 things I've found looking at tracphone a bit more. I've read that you can get very good customer service by calling the Miami office (have to search for it, can't remember where I saw it) and I found tracfoneforums.com of which it appears people will help you via PM if you sign up and post on the forum.

 

[granmanh603]

I have had a Tracfone for years and now my DH does too. At first I had trouble but so far the last 3 years none. I registered it online and as the last poster said put phone upstairs(computer is down in basement) and have no trouble. I am not to techie so I posted on here to ask questions and someone gave me a person to contact I think over on Fat Wallet Tracfone forum and boy he was wonderful and helped me when I set up my new phone, explained how they sent me a phone with the wrong sims card for my area and to get them to send a different one(he also gave me the Miami number) and Tracfone sent the card out FEDEX (Fed EX left the package out in freezing rain so I had to call Tracfone again and get another sent, no problem) so far I go to Fat Wallet to get the added minute codes for free minutes and buy my minutes right online from Tracfone and they have been added in minutes no problem.
I think that Forum is still there on Fat wallet or google and I am sure you can get help...