Customer Reviews

TracFone Prepaid Airtime Card, 100 Units for TracFone Phones

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I purchased the Trac Fone because I don't like cell phones, but figured they must be used in emergencies (Pay phones are becoming VERY scarce).
The cell phone services offered by the big carriers are a much better deal if you frequenly spend more than a minute or two on the air. Trac fone minutes go by too quickly and are expensive to replenish. I have noticed that Trac fone charges you for a call even if no one answers on the other end. That sucks.
I didn't learn my lesson. I purchased a Trac fone for my son last month. The battery wouldn't hold a charge and I had to pay to ship it back to the Tracfone warehouse. The replacement phone works, but I ended up losing the bonus minutes I was supposed to receive. I tried to explain it to the customer sercvice people in India, but got no satisfaction. The people are very polite, but don't understand that I was promised 240 minutes of air time and service until March 2006. What the phone shows is 169 minutes of airtime that expires December 2005, and I have't placed or received a single call on this Trac fone!
My wife's AT&T wireless (Cingular) ia a MUCH better deal. 60 prime time minutes plus 240 night & weekend minutes for less than $20 per month (all taxes included!)

Jim

UPDATED REVIEW:
I've talked to Tracfone customer service now five times on the phone, spending close to four hours waiting on the phone. The second SIM card they sent me apparently doesn't work (see below). If you buy a Tracfone, you had better chance you NEVER have a problem because problems tend to snowball. I have to say I like to see a silver lining in every situation, but I can say this is honestly the worst customer service I've ever dealt with. I HIGHLY recommend you look elsewhere before you buy a tracfone. I would hate anyone to go through the headache I've went through. For more reviews and stories of tracfone service, go to the following website.

www.planetfeedback.com

Type "Tracfone" in the company title box and search.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I ordered my new Nokia 1100 tracfone from tracfone.com only a week ago. My first complaint is that although they say on their website that they require signature to recieve the package, the FedEx guy left it on my door step in plain sight so any Joe could have taken the phone. Next, the supporting material in the box is great. It took me 3 hours to charge my phone out of the box (surprisingly short). After doing the website activation, it took about 24 hours to activate my phone (not bad, but I was hoping for shorter). Fairly simple to try the features with the manual included. I had good reception with my first call, had free voice mail, and received a text message for free. Which is great if you do a lot of online instant messaging.

The REAL problem I had was attempting to change my security code. In order to permanently change the security code, you have to input your PIN code. Simply, the PIN code in the Nokia manual provided was wrong and I ended up locking my SIM card. This required me to go online and fill out a technical issue on tracfone.com. They emailed me the next day telling me to call their technical service number. I did but while the lady spent 40 MINTUES on the phone trying to get both my PUK and PIN codes to work; in the end, my SIM card was permanently locked and now they have to send me a new SIM card. :( Very sad. The lady did seem sincerely sorry for the problem and checked in on me at least every 45 seconds, even while I was on hold. However, she didn't offer to mail the new card via overnight (instead it's coming 3-5 day mail) or offer me any minutes for my inconvenience.

Weaknesses:
-Tracfone.com simple look and feel, hard to find information
-FedEx leaving package on step
-Length technical assisstance and no help via online technical website
-Numbers, numbers everywhere for every thing imaginable
-Lack of incentives (i.e. shorter shipping/free minutes) due to problems

Strengths:
-Don't have to spend a fortune for service
-Nokia 1100 phone cute, small, and just plain cool
-Free Voice Mail
-Can receive text messages for free
-Free Caller ID
-Sincere Technical service

It sounds a good idea of not having to pay monthly fee, no tax, no commitment. However, you end of paying more than that, plus tons of troubles.

After I purchased the phone, I signed up the service, set up the account and voice mail. It costs me almost 20 air time units to make it work. (1 unit = 50 to 60 cents)

I called home 3 miles away from my home, and still in my home area, (not in roaming) a recorded voice told me that "you have to dial the area code first", this stupid message costs me 2 units. And I have to use the roaming dial to reach my home which costs me 2 units per minute.

Carrying Tracfone to roaming area without even touching the keypad, which costs me another 2 units.

Since, there is no contract, once you run out of airtime or the airtime expired, you will lose your phone number. For this reason, the phone number are recycled fast, so I received a lot of calls from people looking for previous phone numbr owners. Which ends up I have to pay a lot of units for wrong numbers.

I have no idea why the air time units displayed on the phone decreased so fast, neither do I know what causes it to decrease.

The phone (or the service) is very unreliable. It will NOT work in malls, groceries, and hotels. People can NOT reach you, and you can NOT call out. In the open area, it works, so far.

The customer services is terrible. You may spend 30 minutes on you home phone in order to get a person to talk you. (Warning: DO NOT use Tracfone to call their Customer Services, You may end up paying 60 air time units in order to get a real person to talk). And that person will NEVER solve your problem. DO NOT even try to complain that air time units disappear without a reason, they will insist that you have made phone calls a lot. There is no record of you phone call activities, you can only simply take their words.

Recharging air time is another headache. You spend half-hour to go through snail-responsed webpage, at the same time working on your cell phone to get your series number. The series number is NOT printed on the phone, you have to read the user's menu first to know how to get the series number out of your cell phone. Then give your credit card number. Then it the webpage responds "There is a error occur, please call our customer service." Then, start all over again to struggle to reach a person to talk on customer service. Eventually, type a 30 digits code into you phone.

I wish people have posted these messages before I purchased the phone.

Tracfone provides the worse customer service on the planet. I took advantage of their online ad for a 100 minutes/units with a free phone. The phone they sent would not hold a charge for more than 30 seconds. I sent it back and a month later got a replacement phone, when I reactivated it I had lost 50 minutes/units. The customer service rep who helped activate the phone would not explain what happened to the minutes and refused to give me a supervisor who could help resolve my problem (she insisted she had no higher-ups, but yet was unable to make simple management level decisions.) Eventually after a second call I was able to find someone who was able to rectify the situation (well almost, they refused to give me the minutes I was promised to compensate for shipping on sending the broken phone back.) The customer service department told me they were located in Florida, but I had trouble finding someone who was fluent in English-the first person I talked to thought Ohio was the name of a city, not a state. There is a very weird reverb effect so you hear an echo of yourself 2 seconds after you talk, but don't worry they assure me that is normal. Please for your own sanity, choose another carrier. Don't let the one star rating fool you; I would give them negative stars if it was possible.

TracFone is not for everyone to be sure! For someone who is not interested in paying a monthly charge but would like to be able to use a phone in the car for safety's sake it is worth the money.

I had a bit of a problem because I messed up trying to activate the phone over the Internet. The woman who worked with me on the phone was very patient and we got it taken care of. My second adding of minutes over the Internet went flawlessly. I've been quite happy with my phone and would recommend the service to a person who currently has NO cell phone because of the high cost but won't use it more than a few times a month.

I purchased a Motorola V60i that included one years service with double minutes in April 2004. Shortly after setting up the phone the phone began to be unchargable. I spoke to Andrew and he gave me a case number (6290365) and I sent my phone in. I was obviously without service during this time. When I received the replacement phone in July I attempted to set it up on 7/25 and then waited the 48 hours before testing. The two test calls failed. When I called the phone I would get a Verizon "number not in service". When I called out I would get a Verizon message giving me three pay options to place a call. I waited another day just in case. Again failure. On 7/31, I called and spoke to Ronnie and we entered new codes and he told me to test in four hours (case # 6532291). I did with the same results. I also waited another day just in case, same results. I spoke to Sophie on 8/4 (case # 6546385) and we entered codes changed some settings and she tried test calling me with no results. She then told me to call back in 48 hours, as the information would have to be sent to the carrier to be set up. After 48 hours the phone failed again and I called and spoke to Suzy who disconnected me after 45 minutes of trying to get the phone up and running I called back and spoke Ingrid who said that I would have to return the phone (#6563625). I asked to speak to a supervisor and Antonio apologized for the difficulties as they all do and I asked to whom should I write to at Tracfone to let know of the absolutely horrible situation. I have never experienced anything like this and it seems to me an odd way to run a business. Getting my money back is the least I should receive from you including the postage associated with sending back two phones. The inconvenience of using Tracfone far outweighs any other considerations. The phone calls to support take at least 15 minutes apiece and the last two combined over an hour. I know what I will do when the contract runs out. I will not be a customer. As it is I will post this as a review at every major web site that sells Tracfones and concerns itself with the quality of products such as Amazon.com, CNET.com, Planetfeedback.com etc. Speaking of being tricked (see your own website) you are the worst.
Too continue, I received a call from a Natasha after they received the above letter. She asked what I wanted and I replied "a refund". I asked if she would need a copy of my Visa receipt showing the amount of the charge. She said that was not necessary. I then received a check for $59.630 dollars. As my Visa charge (for phone, card, and contract) was $222.61. I sent them the letter that appears below.


Dear Mr. Pollack (CEO),

This is a follow up to my previous letter. I received a call from a Natasha that I returned the day after I received it. She asked what I wanted and I said a refund. She retrieved my records and I also had my Mastercard statement showing a charge by Tracfone for $222.61. A month later I received a check in the amount of $59.63. Is this some kind of joke? I asked Natasha if she would need a copy of my Mastercard bill when I first spoke to her. She said it was not necessary. Obviously she was mistaken. Attached is a copy of my Mastercard bill. I know you can do subtraction now lets see a little addition. As with my other letter this communication will be added to my review that is currently posted at Amazon.com.

I've owned a Tracfone for 3 years. My old Tracfone quit working, so I purchased a new one. I've been trying for 4 weeks to transfer my old phone number to my new Tracfone. It's been a nightmare-after 4 weeks, 3 new sim cards, and countless calls to TracFone customer service reps, I've accomplished nothing. My phone is still not activated, I still don't have my old number transfered, and I've wasted 7 hours speaking to customer reps. I don't recommend TracFone.

Tracfone is a very simple pay as you go provider. There are no min fees like other pay as you go providers. Simply purchase your minutes and you are set. tracfone has many different phone card options available for the very heavy cell phone user to people who use thier phones as merely emergency phones. now tracfone has came out with phones that are single rate phones. which means that for a single rate you get your local, long distance and roaming calls. Unlike before where the long distance and roaming cost extra minutes. also on the single rate phones it is free to recieve as many text messages as you like. And instead of costing half a unit to send it only cost .3 units. simply put tracfone is the best provider for pay as you go. and now when you sign up you have a chance to get a free 100 minutes on your phone when you activate your phone. Just send me a email to "tracfoneisgreat@yahoo.com" when you are ready to activate your phone and i will send you a referral that will enable you to recieve a free 100 units.

The tracfone has good reception. i like that it has free call waiting and free caller id. if you haven't activated your tracfone yet then the 'refer a friend program' will give each of us 100 free minutes. please send me an email and i will send you a fast referral along with the easy instructions. it's a win/win!

I knew I wanted to do prepaid wireless, so I did my research and then bought a Tracfone thinking that this would be perfect for me as I only sparingly use a cellphone, and the minutes I did use could be approxiately 10 cents a minute. This happened according to plan...however, when I started the process to port my number from a Cingular wireless phone, the nightmare began. I started with the website, which indicated was the best way to talk to them, where I entered my zip code, only to find that they "cannot process this transaction at this time". So I called the customer care center, and quickly realized that their people cannot understand or speak English. The reps will continuely tell you to repeat yourself, because they cannot hear you, they are having problems with their phones, or you need to adjust your phone. However, you can hear them crystal clear. I've called them from multiple phones, all land-lines, and they still say they can't hear you. It's not that they can't hear you, or that you are not speaking clearly...it's that they don't know English. I know how to talk clearly, I've lived in Japan for a summer, so I know how to use simple words to communicate, but these reps can barely understand that! It's obvious that's why they direct you to the website first.

After finally communicating the problem, they said I would need a new SIM card (the card which apparently contains the info the phone needs to connect to the network). Well, that seemed a little wierd, but I waited 5-10 days like they told me to get my new SIM card. When it arrived on the 10th day, I installed as directed, and then called the "help" center to get the phone activated. They then said that this SIM card too was not correct--they would have to send me another one! I was frustrated, but I tried to remain calm...and I asked to speak to a manager. After waiting about 15 minutes, I was hung up on...So I called again...another 15 min...and finally I was speaking to a manager, but her English was only marginally better. When I told her what had happened, she only said, "Don't worry, we will send you a new SIM card" I said I understood that, but that this one was the replacement SIM card, why wasn't this one working. She repeated her answer, and acted like it was perfectly normal for this to happen...why was I bothering her with this problem, essentially.

So the new, NEW SIM card arrives. I install it. I call them.

Once...they tell me to wait 5-10 business days for the port to go through

Twice...the website says it went through, but my phone is not yet activated, so they have me enter some codes on the phone...at last I feel like it might work! They tell me to wait 24 hours for the phone to activate

Thrice...the phone never activates. I call and they tell me THE MOST RIDICULOUS thing ever!

"You need a new sim card, we will send it in 5-10 days."

ARGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

At this point, I'm in awe of their total incompetance. I remain calm. I tell them this phone has had a total of 3 SIM cards--none of them has worked--and I do not want another one.

They put me on hold. They ask for some serial numbers, after I've told them once during this call. They put me on hold again. She talks with her manager. They put me on hold again.

Finally...the answer. The Nokia 1100 phone I bought is defective. They have been having many problems with this phone. They will have to send me a new phone. I will have to send this phone back and pay for it's shipping...but don't worry... I will be reimbursed for the shipping with some extra MINUTES! This is the last thing I want. I want to use up my minutes and BURN THIS PHONE!

So here I stand. I have no working cellphone, because when they ported my Cingular number, the account was automatically cancelled. The Tracfone certainly doesn't work, and I my old number will probably be lost. I will have to wait for my phone to get to them, and them for my new phone to be sent back to me. I cannot cancel everything, because then I will lose all of the minutes I had on this phone.

My advice...STAY AWAY, STAY VERY FAR AWAY!