Do not ever use tracfone!

[DerStrom8]

So I recently bought a used Tracfone (a company that allows you to buy minutes for a cell phone without binding you to a plan) and called customer service to get it reactivated. First, I got some stupid recording that tried to walk me through the reactivation process. First off, it was supposed to be voice-activated, and it did a terrible job.
After a couple of hours, I finally (supposedly) got it reactivated. But it still wouldn't let me make or receive any calls or texts. Anytime I tried making a call, it would say "Check call restrictions-34," and not make the call. There was an icon on the top of the screen that showed a phone with a red line through it. I eventually found out that the icon meant I was out of my calling area. That alone was confusing--I though Tracfones were supposed to work anywhere there was cell phone service (somehow, this was supposed to be the case). Anyway, I thought I'd go somewhere where I was "in my calling area." I went a couple of towns away and the icon finally disappeared. I tried making a call but when I dialed a number, the phone immediately said "Call ended," without making the call. I called (from my home phone) customer service (not the recorded one, but the actual "customer service"). I was forced to wait 45 minutes on hold with the most obnoxious music before I finally gave up and hung up the phone. I decided to try again an hour later, and after waiting only a half hour I got hold of a customer service representative. Unfortunately, the woman could hardly speak English and it was extremely difficult to understand what she was saying. Several times, I had to ask her to repeat one sentence because I couldn't understand her, and she started to get fed up with ME. I was still being extremely polite. She finally started talking, and I could only pick out bits and pieces of what she was saying, and she told me that the phone number on the cell was inactive and that I would need a new SIM card. She had me give my home address, which, of course, since she couldn't understand English, I had to come up with common words starting with the first letter for each letter in the name of my state, town, and road. Even after this, she kept getting the letters wrong. I finally got her straightened out, and she told me that they would be sending me a new SIM card and that I should receive it within 3-5 business days, 7 at the most. She gave me a ticket number, presumably to track my order.
Today (the eighth day), after still not receiving the SIM card, I decided to give them another call. Again, after waiting about 40 minutes on hold with the same obnoxious music, I got the same woman who could barely speak or understand English. I told her that I had called a while ago to re-activate my Tracfone and that they had told me that I needed a new SIM card. I mentioned that they said I would get it within 7 business days, and that I still didn't have it. I asked her if the ticket number would help. She said yes, and I gave it to her. She said that that ticket number was for something else, not a SIM card. I couldn't understand what she was saying it was for or asking me, and after asking her to repeat it three times (politely), she got fed up with me again. I finally just decided to answer "Yes," and after waiting a total of another half hour to forty-five minutes on the phone while she tried to figure it out, she finally gave me another number to call, and said I could give them my ticket number and they would help me. I wrote down the number she gave me and hung up. I then called the number and it just took me straight to the main menu that I got when I just called the regular Tracfone customer service number! Now, extremely annoyed with the entire company, I hung up the phone. I decided to go to the Tracfone website, go to the "contact us" link, and complain about my problem and the lack of proper customer service. I left a rather nasty e-mail, threatening to find another company if they couldn't be bothered to help me. So, here I am, waiting for an email back from them, as I rant on and on about how useless and stupid the Tracfone company and customer service is.
Finally, I leave you with this warning, as suggested in the title of this thread: DO NOT EVER USE TRACFONE!!!

 

[BrownOut]

Sorry to hear of your travails, brother.

 

[DerStrom8]

Sorry to hear of your travails, brother.

Thanks, Brownout. I'm just hoping SOMEBODY can actually help me....

 

[BrownOut]

Customer service just keeps getting worse. I got a double charge from an internet company a couple years ago, thought I'd never get it straightened out. Makes me leary of doing business these days. FWIW, I've had bad experiences with AA&T and Verison too.

 

[Ratchit]

DerStrom8,

I'm just hoping SOMEBODY can actually help me....

If you purchased that service with a credit card, then you can probably get your money back. Ask the CC company for a complaint form, and go from there. I have had good results doing that for knothead companies.

Ratch

 

[DerStrom8]

If you purchased that service with a credit card, then you can probably get your money back. Ask the CC company for a complaint form, and go from there. I have had good results doing that for knothead companies.

Ratch

That's the thing about Tracfone--you don't buy service. You can go to a store and buy a minutes card. It's activated at the register, and then you can type the PIN into your phone, and it gives you minutes. It isn't like a regular cell phone service.

 

[killivolt]

That's the thing about Tracfone--you don't buy service. You can go to a store and buy a minutes card. It's activated at the register, and then you can type the PIN into your phone, and it gives you minutes. It isn't like a regular cell phone service.

You have minutes but, the phone has a bad Number 1 key or so she thinks? It would be hilarious to put her on speaker phone and record the hole conversation.

Just make sure you get the company's name in it. Then put it on Youtube. Viral. There are a lot of people who most likely share your pain.

 

[DerStrom8]

You have minutes but, the phone has a bad Number 1 key or so she thinks? It would be hilarious to put her on speaker phone and record the hole conversation.

Just make sure you get the company's name in it. Then put it on Youtube. Viral. There are a lot of people who most likely share your pain.

I wouldn't be at all surprised, KV. Most of the people I have told about this say it is because of the used phone, not the fact that it's Tracfone. First, the phone wasn't technically used--Someone bought it new and found out it didn't work in their area, so they sold it to me. Also, I had it reactivated (or so I thought), and there is no denying that Tracfone customer service is utterly useless. Whether it was just my "used" phone or the Tracfone company, I'm still not at all happy with Tracfone.

 

[HiTech]

TracPhone has done well over many other pay as you go plans. I use TracPhone simply because I have gone the route of pricey cell plans that included data, GPS, etc. and too often their services sucked, from dropped calls to no signal coverage. Tired of paying $$$ for unsatisfactory service I reverted to trying out TracPhone basic service. I have no complaints thus far from the initial, easy set up of the phone/account to the overall experience of TracPhone. My cell bill is pennies compared to what it was. Prior to buying TracPhone, I phoned their customer service and was quickly routed to a live, well speaking representative that answered my questions politely -- I have no complaints there!
I bought during a promotion offering a phone for $20 with double minutes/service time for life... still not a bad offer IMHO. For $20 I get 120 minutes and that lasts me close to 4 months. I'm spending pennies on the dollar compared to my old cell plans.

 

[BrownOut]

You have minutes but, the phone has a bad Number 1 key or so she thinks? It would be hilarious to put her on speaker phone and record the hole conversation.

Just make sure you get the company's name in it. Then put it on Youtube. Viral. There are a lot of people who most likely share your pain.

What a great idea! Maybe once people get a load of the poor customer service, they will be forced to improve it.

 

[killivolt]

Back when I was working 3 part time jobs, I worked with Mcafee the company had to downsize because as it became popular and because of a information sharing strategy with Microsoft; the company chose to take their business to India. They had more money as well as Microsoft to pay for people who are intelligible when speaking in English. I'm not trying to point out that the representative is incompetent or Ignorant. But, there should be a clear speaking representative available. I just finished with interviews for some Tech positions, I feel bad for the Students with a very strong Accent because it worked against them during the interview.

If my Father detects the slightest accent he cannot understand people. He is 84yrs old. Meanwhile I can get past most strong accents but, when the representative could not understand what "DerStrom8" was saying (e.g. like my Students did during the interview) at that point they need someone to pass the phone off to; just like I did when I had a Customer with a computer problem I could not solve at Mcafee. Their should be a fluent Team leader on board to take it away from the rep. My calls we're monitored I'm sure they were monitoring the conversation as well and did not step in to help on purpose; because the Rep would have taken a point against her. So, I think "DerStrom8" should call them back and tell them he is recording the conversation and when it gets to the point of the conversation ending in a quagmire, he should request a Manager with good English and see where that goes. If it ends in more frustration. Put it on Youtube so we can all get a laugh.

 

[DerStrom8]

Just an update for those who are interested:

Tracfone received my email and had a customer service representative (who, I might add, could speak English slightly better than the previous woman) call me at my home. I was able to give her my information and she found out that the other (useless) customer service rep DID send out a new SIM card, but sent it to the wrong address. She said she would send another one to MY address, which I ensured that she understood. She even repeated it back to me two or three times to be sure. They also sent me a ticket number to actually track my SIM card, unlike the one I was given previously. So, with any luck, I could receive the card either tomorrow (Saturday) or Monday.
Overall, I am still not pleased with the Tracfone company, but they are looking slightly better now that they are actually helping me. In the future I will just have to make sure to email them rather than call, though I hope I will never need to. Anyway, that is where things stand at the moment. I will post more about it as I learn more.
Der Strom

 

[BrownOut]

Overall, I am still not pleased with the Tracfone company

I don't blame you. They should have done those things the first time.

 

[DerStrom8]

I don't blame you. They should have done those things the first time.

I agree completely. I don't mind speaking to people with accents, but it is when they get annoyed at me and send my things to the wrong address because they don't understand me that I can get rather angry. They definitely need to get more native English-speakers on the customer service staff to avoid that type of confusion.

 

[BrownOut]

I agree completely. I don't mind speaking to people with accents, but it is when they get annoyed at me and send my things to the wrong address because they don't understand me that I can get rather angry. They definitely need to get more native English-speakers on the customer service staff to avoid that type of confusion.

Ah, the wonders of off-shoring. It's all about paying low wages.

 

[DerStrom8]

Ah, the wonders of off-shoring. It's all about paying low wages.

And people here in the U.S. are wondering why so many of them are out of jobs. I'm sure just about every unemployed U.S. citizen would be more than happy to even be payed what these foreigners are getting.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against foreigners working for the U.S., but I do have a problem with them getting jobs instead of needy Americans. To put it simply, I feel that American citizens should have "dibs" on American jobs.

 

[HiTech]

Not too many Americans who are willing to wear a headset, sit at a small desktop, and get bitched at from customers for whatever reason(s). Just look at the high employee turnover at call centers/telemarketers. Plenty of jobs that Americans will not fill because it's either beneath them, the pay is lousy, the work is unfulfilling, no room for advancement. That's just the way it is... so a good many of those job tasks get sent offshore. Be honest -- wether it's a foreigner with an accent or a domestic person answering customer service calls, many of us would still get upset regardless. The real issue is a breakdown occuring when customer service routes calls through too many channels or the wrong departments, only to get a representative that isn't empowered nor knowledgable to provide a solution.

 

[DerStrom8]

Okay, another update:
Yesterday (Monday, March 14--Eastern U.S.) I finally got my SIM card in the mail. It was packed in a 12" by 15" cushioned envelope. Why they needed this for a SIM card measuring 1/2" by 3/4", I will never know...
Anyway, I took out my old card and put the new one in my phone, and turned it on. Right in the middle of the screen, it said "UNREGISTERED SIM". This really annoyed me, because they had supposedly registered it in MY name already. Then I had an idea. I looked at the "instructions" that came with it. They had five steps--1) remove back battery door and battery, 2) remove old SIM card, 3) put new SIM card in, 4) replace battery and battery door, and, the one that I failed to see earlier, 5) Contact us. When I called, my guess was proved right--They had not activated it yet. I suppose it was an anti-theft sort of thing, so it made sense. They got it activated and now my phone works (FINALLY!!! ). Unfortunately, back when I was still trying to get it to work, and it had the old SIM card in it, it still charged me minutes, even though my calls and messages were never sent. So, I basically spent 5 minutes on something that didn't work anyway. I still think I should be refunded those minutes and the five weeks of lost service days (each card only gives you 90 days), but I guess I should just be happy that my phone is working at all now....

Anyway, that's the end of my long rant. Thanks to everyone who listened
Cheers,
Der Strom