Page 12 of Tracfone reviews and ratings

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4.0 overall
You just don't get it.
By Kelly Taylor, posted: Nov 08The good: Best prepaid service out there.
The bad: People misunderstand the concept of these phones.
Summary: People don't seem to understand what these phones are for--these are NOT phones for heavy talkers! If you talk on your phone for more than 30 minutes a day or 300 minutes a month, you do not to be on ANY prepaid cell phone plan. Do the smart thing and get a contract.

These phones are for people, like me, who don't jab on the phone all day but still want a cell phone in case their car breaks down, they're out shopping, or to call and ask where someone is. Those kinds of calls.

Also, if you have bad credit, these are handy. Major carriers will charge an outrageous deposit if your credit is bad.

And as for all the complaints about the customer service, I don't understand why so many people have to call them in the first place. The entire process if set up in a way that you never even HAVE to talk to a live person. You can buy the phone at Wal-Mart, activate it on the website, add minutes on the website or even from the phone ITSELF...there is no reason to even call customer service at all. I don't understand. You can completely bypass ever speaking to a live person should you want to.

As for the quality, mine works fine. Clear calls, loud volume.

I switched to Tracfone after having an AT&T GoPhone, and let me tell you, this is the superior prepaid service. AT&T's prepaid wireless will charge you for every text message sent to you, even if you don't read it! I learned this the hard way when I had a friend get mad at me and begin sending me blank text messages to purposefully drain my account (0.15 per text!). The only thing you can do is file a police report, and AT&T cannot even shut off the texting and they need a report before they can refund your money. This alone should make you stay away from them. With Tracfone, you are not charged for a text message unless you READ it. If you ignore it, you are fine. AT&T dropped the ball on that one. AT&T also charges $1 a day for their prepaid service! So regardless, you'd be spending $30 a month MINIMUM anyways just to have it! With Tracfone, as long as you add more minutes within 90 days or your service end date, you are fine. You can pay $19.99 a month and not worry about being charged $1 a day just to have it.

Trust me, if you don't want your money drained by texts you don't want or to be charged fees for everything, this is the only prepaid service to use.

I have never even had to talk to a live person before, so I don't know what the deal is here.

People just don't seem to understand what these phones are for or how they work.
Service Quality
4/5
Customer Service
4/5
Overall Value
4/5
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- 45 people found this review helpful
3.3 overall
Great for people like me.
By Jake Caldwell, posted: Nov 08The good: No contract, no hidden fees or gimmicks, and no bill.
The bad: Pretty basic phone designs.
Summary: I guess I haven't had all the bad experiences some people on here claim to.

This phone is perfect for people like me who have really bad credit. Big cell phone carriers like Sprint will run a credit check when you try to sign up for service, and depending on your rating, you will have to pay a pretty hefty deposit. My credit is not the greatest, and upon shopping around for a carrier, I found most places were asking for a $500 deposit or more because of my rating. This was not an option for me.

So I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a Tracfone for $9.99 and a 60-minute airtime card. The activation was simple and took about 10 minutes. I plugged the phone in to charge, followed the directions on the package insert, and activated my airtime card. I had service in 10 minutes.

The calls are clear and I haven't experienced any difficulty, and reception is fine everywhere I go in town.

The big appeal to these phones is that you aren't bound to anything. You can stop service anytime you want and throw the thing in the trash. Here in Texas, all the major carriers such as Verizon and Sprint charge a $200 cancellation fee should you choose to terminate service before your contract has expired. Ridiculous. I also love the fact I don't have a cell phone bill. I basically have a phone without the hassle of dealing with anyone at all. Whenever I need more minutes, I simply pick up a card whenever I go to the store, and you can activate it online or even from the phone itself. I've never had to talk to a live person.

However, if you are a gossiper or talk a lot, maybe you should look elsewhere. I am not a chatter, and my phone calls are for basic things like to find out where my girlfriend is, or to call a friend up to see if they wanna meet up somewhere. I rarely spend more than 5 minutes on the phone for every call. A 60-minute airtime card costs $19.99 and lasts me at least 2 weeks. You get 3 text messages per airtime minute as well, so a 60-minute card will get you 180 texts. They charge for incoming and outgoing, but you have the option to not read an incoming message and it will not charge you for it. If I am running low on minutes, whenever I see someone sends me a text, I just ignore it and I am not charged.

Like I said, these phones are a lifesaver if your credit is terrible. I can't pay a $500 deposit to get service with a major carrier. I also don't want to be bound to a contract with outrageous cancellation fees. I have this phone, pick up minutes whenever I need to, and never have to deal with anyone.

One other con is that these phones are basic. Mine does not take photos, connect to the net, or any of that fancy stuff. But that's fine with me. I don't do any of that anyways. I use my phone to talk or send texts when I need to--not as my personal compute. I have a laptop for that.
Service Quality
4/5
Customer Service
2/5
Overall Value
4/5
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- 22 people found this review helpful
1.7 overall
Please someone HELP!
By melissa timmer, posted: Nov 08The good: Cheaper than a big plan.
The bad: This thing BEEPS! Reps speak very bad English
Summary: Please someone write a review to answer this question! The stupid thing BEEPS while on the phone talking. Does this happen to anyone else? I have had 3 different phones and it does the same thing on every one of them,completely annoying!e-mail me @major-mat-mason@juno.com
Service Quality
2/5
Customer Service
1/5
Overall Value
2/5
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- 7 people found this review helpful
1.5 overall
The WORST customer service IN THE WORLD
By Louella Brown, posted: Nov 08The good: no contracts
The bad: If you want help, just go shoot yourself instead and save yourself the trouble.
Summary: My issues aren't with the phone service. I hate this company with a passion so am going to throw the phone in the trash and bite the $19.99 cost of the minutes I can't attach to the phone.
Service Quality
2/5
Customer Service
1/5
report
- 4 people found this review helpful
3.7 overall
Tracfone for the frugal
By blah blah, posted: Nov 08The good: Inexpensive, good enough
The bad: No-frills
Summary: IF you use your phone for semi-emergencies/short calls every now and again lasting 1-3 minutes...

IF you don't mind a no-frills basic cell phone...

IF you can remember to renew on a yearly basis...

IF you are careful with your phone because despiste what people say on here there is no such thing as lifetime service, there is an option to purchase lifetime double minutes for the life of a particular phone (not the person calling lol), but IF u dropped it in the toilet? oh well. the phone itself is essentially the contract.

IF you know what u r doing u should not have to call cust serv. I did once they replaced a faulty phone they originally shipped with no hassels, but I have never had to call again... but I am aware they have poor service.

bottom line... ONLY people interested in having a no-frills phone for short calls can make it cost effective. NOt for the gossiper, or daily user.

Also... you can use tracfone (WITHOUT THE VOICE MAIL SET-UP) as a free pager by simply calling a loved-one on their tracfone, they in-turn don't pick up but instead call back on a land-line, consequently there is no charge and at the same time you are communication you want to speak with them, like a pager.

Also, you can use google sms to send text messages to a tracfone free (receiving them is alaways free) and avoid the 1/3 unit cost to send from your tracfone.

IF you use promo-codes + lifetime-double minute card + 1 year 400 minute card(ea. yr), then you can reduce the cost of the phone to about $8-9/mo and recieve roughly 1000 min per year. As of right now I have over 2200 roll-over minutes after 4 years.
Service Quality
5/5
Customer Service
1/5
Overall Value
5/5
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- 18 people found this review helpful
2.3 overall
Cannot get a local number
By Don T, posted: Nov 08The good: Cheap, has worked very well
The bad: Customer service is not able to solve problems
Summary: My experience with Tracfone was great until I purchased a new phone from them. I did not transfer my old number. Now they give me numbers that are all toll calls from my home land line. I have tried for a week to get a local number. Repeated calls and a new SIM card has not worked
Service Quality
3/5
Customer Service
1/5
Overall Value
3/5
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- 4 people found this review helpful
5.0 overall
Good value easily activated
By Rosemarie Kesting, posted: Oct 08The good: Best value in the market. No billing. All prepaid. Deals abound.
The bad: You have to know what you're doing.
Summary: If you are computer savvy, literate and can follow instructions properly this seems to be the best deal around. I easily activated the phone over the internet by myself and received double minutes just as advertised. I would suggest read everything and write down promo codes. I started using the phone immediately with no problems and reception is perfect everywhere I've been so far.
Service Quality
5/5
Overall Value
5/5
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- 13 people found this review helpful
1.7 overall
Poor customer service
By Dave Schneider, posted: Oct 08The good: I'll wait and see
The bad: Very poor customer service.
Summary: My wife and I transfered our phones from Sprint to Tracfone. I activated my wife's phone and got a new number instead of transferring the number. When I called them they sent me a new SIM card for the transferred number. The phone works but not the voicemail. 4-5 nights I was on the phone for 1 hour each time. The people are polite but have no clue on how to troubleshoot problems. Three times i was hung up on after they tried to put me on hold. When I tried to call back the customer service was closed. I got ahold of their supervisor and he had no clue either. The customer service people only read scripts but have no clue how to trouble shoot. I finally found some help on a website complaining about tracfone service.
Service Quality
2/5
Customer Service
1/5
Overall Value
2/5
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- 5 people found this review helpful
1.7 overall
Don't bother the Customer Service is sooo bad, although polite while they are cheating you!
By Bee Demers, posted: Sep 08The good: Cheap phones
The bad: POOR Customer Service outweighs the cost of the phone
Summary: Do you like talking to a door? Or kicking yourself, HARD, well if you do, then this is the company for YOU! The phone was not a problem for me, other than they conveniently put the "web connect" so close to the answer button, guarantee you'll lose units constantly, as well as you have to pay to set up voice mail 7 to 10 units and pay to listen to them. The customer service reps are brainwashed, and quite frankly brain dead, but polite! They do not listen to you, make you wait for long periods of time, and make you do all the work to get the phone working, (even though they do have the capability to do it on their end). They ask you to press a gazillion numbers, then just to tick you off, they say oops try this number instead. They claim your issues are taken care of, to get you off the phone, guess what, they aren't. Time to start all over again and another 45+ minutes of your life sucked away! Maddening! Absolutely terrible service and to top it all off they are all foreigners, I do not believe I have ever spoken to anyone that is clear enough to understand. Well I will like to end on a positive note, although you do feel like strangling the CSR's, they are always polite when asking you to wait two minutes for the twentieth time. Good Luck if you choose this non customer friendly company.
Service Quality
2/5
Customer Service
1/5
Overall Value
2/5
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- 7 people found this review helpful
1.3 overall
Tracfone Stinks
By Amy Sanchez, posted: Sep 08The good: Pay as you go cell phone that requires no commitment to any service plans and no surprise billing. Great for people who don't center their lives around a cell phone and only use one in case of emergencies.
The bad: The worst customer service I have ever encountered. There is no service to the customer. I'm never able to understand what is being said through the mumbles and accents and total lack of knowledge for the product.
Summary: After being a Tracfone customer for 4+ years, I decided to add another phone to my family. When making the purchase, I chose "FedEx 3 day" delivery, but on the Tracfone website, it is not stated that a signature is required upon delivery. When delivery of the merchandise was attempted, FedEx "failed" to leaved any notifications at my residence and therefore the phone was sent back to Tracfone. Tracfone reimbursed the amount of the phone but did not reimburse the shipping and tax costs. After speaking with several Tracfone representatives, they refused to reimburse the small charge of $5.00 and would rather lose the hundreds of dollars my service brings to them rather than reimburse me $5.00. They are unsympathetic and were not willing to do anything to accommodate "the customer" hence their total lack of customer service. This was only the straw that broke the camels back and there a number of previous circumstances that all led up to me dropping Tracfone like a bad habit. They are completely incompetent when it comes to assisting you about your cell phone and it is near impossible to understand the technical talk through the mumbles and thick accents. All of these factors does not help anyone who is unfamiliar with cell phones.
Service Quality
1/5
Customer Service
1/5
Overall Value
2/5
report
- 10 people found this review helpful