Tracfone for Christmas? Watch out...

[Trixiezzz]

I just read this on another board, and it looks like it may be true.

The Tracfrone "referral" program often doesn't work right during Christmas time. So many people give Tracfones from presents and then when they try to do referrals to get the free 100 minutes the referral emails never go through ~ so the gift recipient just activates by phone ~ thereby losing 100 minutes for both the giver & receiver.

Some people say this is intentional...I don't know. But I do know that I just tried to send a referral email and it never has come through for my DD.

So.... if you're planning on giving or activating one, be sure to WATCH closely whether that email really goes through so you don't lose your free minutes.

Or, if you can, wait till after the first of the year to activate and maybe it'll be better by then.

 

[D&DDisney]

How are the tracfones? Any good?

 

[granmanh603]

I have a trac fone and love it. I live in the boonies and it works fine, and I use it at Disney and works great. My DSL just got one on Long Island and loves it toobetter service than her old phone. I had Verizon and was sick of paying 40 a month for 300 minutes that I never used. It is only good if you don't use alot of minutes.
I did just refer someone(in Nov) for the free 100 minutes and as the OP said we did have trouble getting the minutes but we did not let up on them and did get the free minutes.

 

[S. C.]

I just read this on another board, and it looks like it may be true.

The Tracfrone "referral" program often doesn't work right during Christmas time. So many people give Tracfones from presents and then when they try to do referrals to get the free 100 minutes the referral emails never go through ~ so the gift recipient just activates by phone ~ thereby losing 100 minutes for both the giver & receiver.

Some people say this is intentional...I don't know. But I do know that I just tried to send a referral email and it never has come through for my DD.

So.... if you're planning on giving or activating one, be sure to WATCH closely whether that email really goes through so you don't lose your free minutes.

Or, if you can, wait till after the first of the year to activate and maybe it'll be better by then.

We got GS a tracfone for christmas last year and used a referral from friend. We had no trouble getting the free minutes email when we activated. I hope they haven't changed their policy.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

I ordered a Tracfone for DFIL. I don't have one myself and although offered a referral from a DISer, DFIL doesn't have a computer. He'll have to activate, refill his minutes over the phone - if he decides he wants the phone. He mentioned wanting a pay-as-you-go phone, but wasn't quite sure how they worked. Tracfone hasan online special - buy 40 minutes for $19.99 and get a free factory serviced phone (taking my chances on the phone, Nokia 1100). If it doesn't work out I'll give it to DD or return it.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I ordered a Tracfone for DFIL. I don't have one myself and although offered a referral from a DISer, DFIL doesn't have a computer. He'll have to activate, refill his minutes over the phone - if he decides he wants the phone. He mentioned wanting a pay-as-you-go phone, but wasn't quite sure how they worked. Tracfone hasan online special - buy 40 minutes for $19.99 and get a free factory serviced phone (taking my chances on the phone, Nokia 1100). If it doesn't work out I'll give it to DD or return it.

You can activate it for him so he can get the 100 free minutes.. You also get 20 freee minutes for activating it online. I bought 4 for gifts and did that with each one. I also got the one you mentioned.

 

[maggiew]

I got my DD a tracphone last Christmas and the referrel worked great.
Maggie

 

[Imzadi]

I was one of those who posted this warning about the referral program going "down" around Xmas & activating early. It IS a referral PROGRAM so technically Tracfone can pull it at any time. Still I consider it low that they would do this right around Xmas.

However, if anyone was able to get a referral email through, the recipient has 30 days from the SENDING of the email to get the minutes. So even if your giftee activates the phone on Xmas, they have til the 30th day of the email to get the bonus minutes. Hopefully the Tracfone program will be back up by then.

I ordered a Tracfone for DFIL. I don't have one myself and although offered a referral from a DISer, DFIL doesn't have a computer. He'll have to activate, refill his minutes over the phone - if he decides he wants the phone. He mentioned wanting a pay-as-you-go phone, but wasn't quite sure how they worked. Tracfone hasan online special - buy 40 minutes for $19.99 and get a free factory serviced phone (taking my chances on the phone, Nokia 1100). If it doesn't work out I'll give it to DD or return it.

You can activate the phone online for him to get the 100 free minutes & 10 more minutes for activating online (total 20 minutes.) THEN he can add on more minutes over the phone with Tracfone's automated system & key in the bonus code that way. You can always phone him the bonus code number.

 

[ceecee]

We got Trac Fones last year for three people and used the referrals. We got all the minutes, we have almost 400 minutes on the phone and need a new one because the battery will not hold a charge (replaced it already). The only drawback I have with it is that the minutes are lost if you get a new phone.

 

[Imzadi]

The only drawback I have with it is that the minutes are lost if you get a new phone.

No you will NOT lose the minutes if you get a new phone. You will probably lose the phone NUMBER, (MOST of them cannot be switched to a different phone/network,) but you can have the minutes transfered to the new phone. Simply call up Customer Service & tell them you are upgrading to a new phone. I've done this twice over the last 5 years I've had a Tracfone.

Or: You can use your old phone, while it is still activated, refer yourself for a new phone. Activate the new phone while the old is still activated so you get the referral minutes that are specifically registered for each phone. (You will be assigned a new number for the new phone, but that is likely anyways.)

Use the time left on the old phone to tell people of your new phone number. You can even set your old voicemail to do this. Then when the old phone's airtime is set to expire, call Customer Service & tell them you are transfering all the old minutes (plus the referral code assigned to the old number) to the new phone. You will have the minutes from the old phone plus the new onto the new phone.

If you find a CS rep who cannot do this for you, simply hang up & call back another time. Tracfone outsources their CS overseas. This is one of the few down sides to their service. Many aren't properly trained as i doubt an American tracfone rep has ever gone over there to train them properly. Many can't really translate into English properly to fully understand a complicated procedure such as the above, so they think it can't be done or is even possible. Again, politely hang up & call back later.

Trust me, if it wasn't for web forums such as this, were we help each other out & tell each other what CAN be done, we'd all be misinformed. But I, & others have transfered minutes onto new phones.

Also, you have 1 year from the date the referral for the new phone is sent to add on the referral bonus minutes for the new phone. Add those on at a later time to extend your airdate for another two months.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

DH is trying to activate DS's phone. They are asking for a promotional code. Are we supposed to have a code to get the 100 free minutes. We do have a referral email. I used a link in the email to order the phone, & DH is using the link to activate the phone. I don't know if using the link helps anything though. We have no idea what we're doing, so please let us know what we need to do to assure we get the 100 minutes. Thanks

 

[LisaNJ25]

DH is trying to activate DS's phone. They are asking for a promotional code. Are we supposed to have a code to get the 100 free minutes. We do have a referral email. I used a link in the email to order the phone, & DH is using the link to activate the phone. I don't know if using the link helps anything though. We have no idea what we're doing, so please let us know what we need to do to assure we get the 100 minutes. Thanks

After you activate the phone you go back to the email and click on step 3.. its will ask you your cell phone number and a few other details.

There is no promo code that I have even found to put in while activating. IN approx 48 hours you will get another email with the code for the 100 free minutes and you will have to enter than into your phone.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

After you activate the phone you go back to the email and click on step 3.. its will ask you your cell phone number and a few other details.

There is no promo code that I have even found to put in while activating. IN approx 48 hours you will get another email with the code for the 100 free minutes and you will have to enter than into your phone.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have another question. Where do we find the ESN#? Thanks again

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We looked through his papers & it appears that the ESN# is actually an IMEI# on his phone. So, we entered that number, along with the other info., into the referral link #3. It didn't go through, & there was a number to call. DH tried calling, but couldn't get a live person. What do we know now? Sorry, for all the questions. Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Imzadi]

Did you ACTIVATE the phone first? You must activate it in step 2 first using the ESN/IMEI number.

The ESN number is found on the PHONE, it is underneath the battery. Don't trust any paperwork included with the phone. Take off the battery & copy down the number - no dashes, spaces or anything.

Also, when the webpages on the site don't go through correctly, it will give you a funny error page, which may NOT correspond to the actual problem. Cheap server, I guess. Just keep trying the page at a later time. The site might be clogged as it is still early-ish on the West Coast.

CS closes down at 9 PM EST.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Did you ACTIVATE the phone first? You must activate it in step 2 first using the ESN/IMEI number.

The ESN number is found on the PHONE, it is underneath the battery. Don't trust any paperwork included with the phone. Take off the battery & copy down the number - no dashes, spaces or anything.

Also, when the webpages on the site don't go through correctly, it will give you a funny error page, which may NOT correspond to the actual problem. Cheap server, I guess. Just keep trying the page at a later time. The site might be clogged as it is still early-ish on the West Coast.

CS closes down at 9 PM EST.

Yep, I was going to say try step 3 again.

I also want to add I sent mom on a referral email about 2 hours ago and she still hasnt gotten it yet

 

[ceecee]

Thanks so much for the info Imzadi, we didn't think you could do that!!!!!!

 

[kilee]

I had 3 referrals go through in the last 5 days. So, no problems right now w/ them.

 

[Imzadi]

I also want to add I sent mom on a referral email about 2 hours ago and she still hasnt gotten it yet

Yep, try sending it again. It should have gone through right way. I send an extra referral to one of my one Yahoo spam accounts. This way, I know right away if the referral has gone through. If one went through, the other one should too. Again, cheap faulty server.

Also, have her check her email's Spam folder. Sometimes it ends up in there, especially when sending to Yahoo or AOL.

 

[soccermom5]

ok im Lost , i bought 4 trac phones for x mas presents how do i do this referral thing ?