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TracFone Complaint - Broken Record - Customer (Non) Service Regarding Lost Phone
Customer (Non) Service Regarding Lost Phone - Complaint
I know customer service has gone downhill in the last few years but attempting to talk to TracFone customer service was one of the worst experiences that I have had.
First my daughter had lost her phone and I called to stop service and asked them the steps I need to take once I purchase a new phone. The call center (wherever it is overseas) has their representatives reading from a script and every time I asked a question that was not inline with the script the person would just repeat the script over and over again.
After I purchased her new phone, I wanted to transfer the over 200 minutes she still had on her lost phone. Once I activated the phone, they only gave us 70 minutes back. The test call worked but later that day and for the next 3 days (they say the transfer can take up to 72 hours to take effect) she could not use her phone. It kept saying Unregistered SIM. So I called back on the 5th day (because the online re-register did not work) and was placed on/off hold for over 45 minutes while their "special" department was working on building documentation for my case (whatever that meant). Finally, after several minutes of turning the phone off and waiting for them to run test calls, we could make a receive calls. I asked them about the 200 minutes that she had and was repeatedly told that I must have the "lost" phone in order to verify minutes and that I must deactivate the phone. I told them I deactivated her phone right away. I know they must have a server or database out there that records each phone's minutes but at any rate, the woman on the other end would not answer direct questions.
I asked to speak to their manager which took another 20 minutes of being placed on hold. I guess they do not consider how much time and money they are wasting on 1-800 customer service calls. Once I got the supervisor on the phone, she went through the exact same script. I let her know that it took 5 days to get my daughter's new phone working and that only a portion of her minutes were transferred and asked what they could do for us in regards to credit. Again, she just repeated her broken record. What a waste of time.
Needless to say, I will never buy a TracFone or their services again. It's so disappointing that these companies are so narrowly focused on profit that they send their customer service overseas and they do not care whether or not they have satisfied customers. Well, they just lost another one.
First my daughter had lost her phone and I called to stop service and asked them the steps I need to take once I purchase a new phone. The call center (wherever it is overseas) has their representatives reading from a script and every time I asked a question that was not inline with the script the person would just repeat the script over and over again.
After I purchased her new phone, I wanted to transfer the over 200 minutes she still had on her lost phone. Once I activated the phone, they only gave us 70 minutes back. The test call worked but later that day and for the next 3 days (they say the transfer can take up to 72 hours to take effect) she could not use her phone. It kept saying Unregistered SIM. So I called back on the 5th day (because the online re-register did not work) and was placed on/off hold for over 45 minutes while their "special" department was working on building documentation for my case (whatever that meant). Finally, after several minutes of turning the phone off and waiting for them to run test calls, we could make a receive calls. I asked them about the 200 minutes that she had and was repeatedly told that I must have the "lost" phone in order to verify minutes and that I must deactivate the phone. I told them I deactivated her phone right away. I know they must have a server or database out there that records each phone's minutes but at any rate, the woman on the other end would not answer direct questions.
I asked to speak to their manager which took another 20 minutes of being placed on hold. I guess they do not consider how much time and money they are wasting on 1-800 customer service calls. Once I got the supervisor on the phone, she went through the exact same script. I let her know that it took 5 days to get my daughter's new phone working and that only a portion of her minutes were transferred and asked what they could do for us in regards to credit. Again, she just repeated her broken record. What a waste of time.
Needless to say, I will never buy a TracFone or their services again. It's so disappointing that these companies are so narrowly focused on profit that they send their customer service overseas and they do not care whether or not they have satisfied customers. Well, they just lost another one.
Comments:
Posted by Ghost of Doc J on 2009-04-13:
My wife has a TracFone and likes it. The OP is 100% correct about TracFone's customer service. It is the pits. The CSRs are dumber than a bag of hammers. TracFones are cheap, but the airtime is a pricey. OTOH, they are 100% disposable. If you lose one: just write off the lost minutes as a stupid tax, buy a new phone, get a new number, tell your friends the new number. NEVER buy huge packets of minutes. If you lose the phone, you've lost more money in prepaid minutes than you did in losing the 100% functional, but obsolete phone.
Posted by K8W on 2009-04-13:
I agree, the TracFone itself is fine. Good points.
Posted by Disgusted on 2011-12-08:
I too lost a cell phone - new, with 1200 minutes left. I had originally transferred my number from an ATT phone (ATT "owns" number)and that took only about 1/2 hr to get number transferred to new phone. I lost that phone and tried to put hold on use until I could get a new phone (from HSN - sched for 7-14 days mail deliv. They said that if I did that that my number would revert to ATT and I would have to get new number. I have had that number for probably 15 years and I have been looking for a job for over a year and that is the number on my resume and all agencies haver to contact me. Not acceptable. Then I ordered a brand new really nice phone from HSN - it was supposed to take 7-14 days so tried to put number an a tracfone that I had for a while but never activated. Then it was going to take up to 24-72 hrs. to activate. Never happened. Got new phone in 3 days so tried to get that activated. I have had to use another tracfone I have to call Tracfone and used over 6 hrs of minutes (on phone I was on)over several days, and we thought that t the new phone was activated and phone number and minutes showed up on new phone. I requested the minutes back on the phone I was using and after 3 "supervisors" I got most of them credited back. Next day, I looked at phone and it said "Unregistered SIM"!!!!!!!!! After calming down for 2 days I called again, took about 3 calls (would get disconnected) and 3 "supervisors". The first agent I got said that I had the "wrong" SIM card and would have to replace it and would take 5-7 days (again unacceptable). Next person I talked to I got hung up on, the last "supervisor" also said that I needed a new SIM card but that she would expedite it (right). They refused to credit me the more than 40 mins I used because of their ineptitude because it was against policy - she said that it could only be done once (already used it because of last several days) as a courtesy. I have to wonder why nobody in the last 7 days told me I had the wrong SIM???? Because I like the phone I will wait to see what happens - otherwise the phone goes back and Complaint letters go to everyone in Tracfone! PS I used to work for ATT and even the agents in the US are limited to what they can do because of the lousy training and things that agents are required to do and say (causes longer calls that necessary and aggravated customers). The companies are all the same - they are out for the buck and who cares about the customer!
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