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Straight Talk Wireless

Straight Talk Wireless review: fraudulent service cards 33

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6:24 pm EST
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Crooked talk! Do not even think about doing business with these criminals! I purchased a straight talk cell phone and service plan card at walmart - $134. I activated the phone on line at straighttalk.com, entering the phone's serial number and the service card's pin which was required to activate service on the phone. The phone worked for 2 hours before completely shutting down. I returned the phone to walmart and exchanged it for an upgrade phone. I was told I could transfer the remaining days (29) on the service plan card to my new phone. That was not true. When I phoned straight talk customer service, in belize, central america I was told by a straight talk representative, with very limited english skills, that I had to purchase another $45+ service card for the new phone as the original service card went with the old, broken phone, and that I cannot activate the new phone until I purchase another card! I asked "what if the second phone is also defective?" "then you have to get a new phone and buy another service plan card." I think this is called extortion - for certain, it is a slimy way to do business! I am filing a formal complaint with the ri state attorney general's office, consumer justice branch. Bottom line: straight talk is crooked talk! Do not even think about using these criminals!

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33 comments
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hlp1983
Pekin, US
Jun 11, 2011 2:26 am EDT

*I wish I could sue*

I ordered my phone and card together online and it was 143.43 taken out of my acct. with my debit card. They sent me a phone ran by at&t towers which we do not have here at all which they should have ran a check on on there site cuz it forces u to put in ur zip code then i had to wait a week for a new phone i told them no i just want my money back and so they agreed. Few days later they out of the blue sent me another phone which i did not want then i call them again mind u i have spent over 5 whole hours on the phone with these people in the philipines they tell me they didnt get the phone and i paid extra on the shipping they made me pay out of my pocket for a signature required which shows me they recieved both phones so now everytime i call they come up with another excuse as to why it will take 30 more days to get my refund. I have never been so disgusted with anything in my life and now i'm still waiting on the refund and im disabled and have been forced to be without a phone for 30 plus days. Do urself a favor people go to BOOST MOBILE! Same deal and better service and SUPPORT!

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RobInDaytona
Daytona Beach, US
May 24, 2011 6:40 pm EDT

I acquired a Straight Talk phone and so called 'service', the choice of phones was very limited. Tried acquiring a 'Smart Phone' but none of the Wal-Marts in a 100 mile surrounding area of my home had any nor could tell me if they would ever get any. Attempting to activate the phone was a pain in the @#!%, tried getting the number I had with AT&T. Told by first 'non-English speaking so called Customer Service Rep' I had to discontinue my service with AT&T; that did not work, next Customer Dis-service rep (again she not speaking and/or understanding proper English) stated I had to discontinue my AT&T and only then could I get that number (how does one tell a company they are leaving them so give me my number so I can use it with a new company?! - plus once one leaves the old company that number is now obsolete!). I kept getting calls on the STalk phone from collection agencies calling for a MARK OLSON; I later find that my calling friends, etc. that their caller ID stated MARK OLSON as the caller. I called repeatedly to Customer Service? continually got someone who was either in the Phillipene Islands, India or Belieze (Mexico?) and when I asked to speak to someone in the United States who spoke better English I was denied. The last 'supervisor' I spoke with told me "You put your name on the phone!" (referring to MARK OLSON - who I definitely AM NOT) and continued to be disrespectful of me and my complaint(s) (the OLSON thing; the telephone number exchange; my being unable to speak with someone who spoke fluent English, etc). I was continually 'bombed' with messages from Straight Talk advising me that I should or could renew my minutes by dialing a certain number or on-line, etc. these messages coming at ALL HOURS of the 24/7 and over a week before my renewal was close to being due. When I attempted renewing on three different occassions the incompetent Customer Service person(s) had me more confused than a first grader in senior high school. I finally took the phone back to Wal-Mart, demanded my money back and lost part of my $45.00 fee for its use.
DON'T USE THIS COMPANY THAT NOT ONLY SENDS ITS BUSINESS TO OVERSEA INDIVIDUALS WHOSE SERVICE IS 'DIS-SERVICE' BUT A TOTAL FRUSTRATING EXPERIENCE EVEN FOR THE MOST PATIENT INIDIVIDUAL! The phone I had was a very good one, the LG620 but without good service in particularly CUSTOMER SERVICE SPEAKING WITH SOMEONE WHO CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD YOUR CONCERNS AND WHOM YOU COULD UNDERSTAND - TOTALLY WAS DISGUSTING

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Kbanks
, US
May 05, 2011 4:35 am EDT

Straight talk is good as far as the price you pay for what you get. The trouble comes in when you need customer service. Noone can really speak english and they put you on hold almost the entire time, and then they always want you to call back in 24/48 hours. When you do call back you get bounced around from person to person. It is just HORRIBLE customer service. HORRIBLE!

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mariusstranger
Keaau, US
May 02, 2011 6:19 pm EDT

i had this phone a month. some trouble as they said i could transfer my old number at walmart.
however it did not work. i bought a service card for this month and went to their web page today.
did not work. i called them and was told the service card was no good and that i had to go back to walmart. however i have no receit so will probably loose 30 dollars and time and energy.
im sure they could have filled my phone if they had been a bit service minded. this company seemes to be totally un professional. their cheap but bying chep can be expensive. dont use this company.

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tttjjj
Willingboro, US
Apr 29, 2011 9:33 pm EDT

I ordered 2 phones on line with over night Delivery. It's been a week already and still NO PHONES. They all have a different story when I call to find out where my phones are. I have asked for a manager they told me I had to call a different # Not to mention that every single time I called I was on hold more than I spoke to any one! Their company should be called "CAN U HOLD FOR 3 MINUTES? Because thats all they say. They dont want to refund my $$$ they told me I have to wait untill I finally get the phones and refuse them then they can refund my $$ Who knows how long that will take. I will NEVER recommend this company to anybody! I'm going to dispute everything with my card company to see if they can get my $ back.. DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY!

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Cindi Rivera
Ona, US
Jan 14, 2011 4:23 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

39 minutes already this morning. 3 days of calling, Same story. Your request for a new phone number is showing processing. It will be activated in 24 hours guarentee? What are they guarenting, free service card, new phone. No it is a guarentee that you will be back on the phone to someone in the phillipians. No thank you. Big mistake Wal-Mart.

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Mary Santos
Newport, US
Jan 12, 2011 10:45 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

As long as you get a new phone and it is first activation you are fine. The problem seems to be the customer service dept. They should set up customer service here in the U.S. But Straight Talk is a good deal with no contract.

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Mary Santos
Newport, US
Jan 12, 2011 10:29 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Thanks for the corporate office number. I will call it and see if I get any better service from them.

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Chelsaayx11
Wilton, US
Jan 02, 2011 10:41 pm EST

well, I got my phone about 1 month or so ago, and a few days ago I just refilled my unlimited plan, and I have had perfect service everywhere I went with it. But now all of the sudden when I wokeup this morning, it says NO SERVICE. I don't get any service in my house right now... I dont understand why, and its pissing me off. This is the only issue Ive had with it since I first got it. HELP ME SOMEONE PLEASE?

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Mrs.Robin
Pine Valley, US
Dec 30, 2010 12:17 am EST

I also got the run around i bought 2 samsung r451c (runs with verzion towers) and one i had to take back to walmart had a bad mic. in it. had to get a samsung t401g(runs with att) look almost the same, same price. phone cuts out distored voice and i dont get that good of coverage caint hear the phone ring somethimes when calling out on it. the other catch is they try to fix the proublem and caint make you wait to long so you caint return it. and then this is my only phone i have they want me a disable lady to go use another phone to call them back - so i have to get in car in the snow and drive to someones house to use their phone how dum is that i refused to do it! so they can check my phone so after a couple of months of stupidness i told them just to send me the phone r451c and i'll send this back they said only if i go use another phone well no way am i going to do that when i know it wont do me any good any way so im call the BBB AND PUT THIS ON FACE BOOK AND ANY WHERE ELSE I CAN so others wont have this proublem too just dont buy straight talk phones! i will go back to verizon its worth the extra money!

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raine01
Robbins, US
Dec 27, 2010 5:47 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Ordered phone off line would not work. Called customer service several times. They agreed to send package for me to send defective phone back in. Was told by supervisor new phone would arrive in 24 hours. No phone called back to customer service and was told it would take 7 to 10 days for me to receive the new phone. Told them I wanted money back and yet they said it would take 7 to 10 days for that to happen also. My husband bought one from walmart and has had no trouble at all with the phone. However customer service is horrible they lie constantly to you...

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hlhlgt
Chillicothe, US
Sep 12, 2010 10:42 am EDT

i bought one and levee at chillicothe mo. phone [protected] call if want will tell you about it it did work for about two days than quit tryed to get a refund but could not

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KenWS
Jasper, US
Sep 09, 2010 3:49 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

ACHHHHHHHH. Six days, 4.5 hours on the phone with the Phillipino Service department, and I give up. They just couldn't port my phone number from Verizon without screwing it up. I took the phone back to Walmart and told Straight Talk to delete my account and pretend I never existed.

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twesaak
Reno, US
Jul 19, 2010 3:13 am EDT

I dont have a problem with the phones, they work great. The problem I have is that for the past 8 months, the minutes have been rolling over every month. I had up to 50 hour at one point. So I decided to get rid of our home phone, and just keep our cell phones. I use mine to work with, I do catering and need to keep in touch with my clients. We added our new time, and the new hours wouldnt go on the phone, we waited for a day (luckily we got our cards a day before our service expired), nothing happend. We call customer service, and told them that the cards didnt work. They asked how many hours we had on them, and told them 36 hours for each phone, which they confirmed with their computers, and then they started to add the new cards on our phone. They reset our phones and we lost all those hours. They said there was nothing they could do, we asked for a supervisor, and the employee (his name is Mario id#54410) forgot to close his mic out, and my wife heard him call her, "a stupid [censor]". The supervisor wouldnt go anything, and told us the our phones dont do rollover minutes. We asked him then why did we have 36 hours on our phones, if they didnt rollover. He said he couldnt do anything about that. And asked him if his computer showed that we had that many hours. He said yes it did. Asked again, then how can we have that many hours of there was no rollover minutes. He said he couldnt help us, and if there was anything else. My wife told him about the "[censor]" comment, he said he didnt hear that, and didnt know what we were talking about. My wife works in a call center for nintendo, they record all calls for training, and review. She told him to go into the computer(the program is the same as nintendo, and most call centers) and pull up the tape and review it. He told her that he couldnt do that only a member of management can do that. So when she asked for one, he told her that there was no memeber of management there. I find it hard to believe that there is no manager in the building with over 100 employees. He then hung up on her.
I wrote and email to the Executive Complaint Resolutions department. I got a response in 48 hours, but it was a automated response, and they added 15 minutes back on to our account, and no mention about the employees.

I have to agree with most people on here, DONT BUY THERE PHONES! unless you also buy some vasiline with it, as you are going to get screwed.

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tere jordan
scottsboro, US
May 20, 2010 7:43 pm EDT

I have had my straight talk for a couples of months and absolutely loved it, until it decided to go haywire. It takes forever and day to get someone on the phone. Well after 4 days the first time problem was resolved. This last time cannot reach anybody. I now have been sitting here holding for 16 minutes. I am very angry with the customer service. They tell you on the recording please don't hang up or you can go online to check on things. So when I pulled it up it says the website is still underconstruction. I just want to cuss. I will be going back to att&t. I can stand being ripped off.

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Lori914
Grand Bay, US
May 15, 2010 10:05 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I love my new StraightTalk phone! NO Complaints here!

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Lori914
Grand Bay, US
May 15, 2010 10:02 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have just bought my StraightTalk phone almost a month ago and so far I LOVE IT! I did have service through Alltel but was forced to switch to Verizon. I loved Alltel but Verizon SUCKED OUT LOUD! I was buying a new $15 dollar refill card twice a week, do the math, thats $30 a week. With straight talk I only spend $45 dollars a month and get unlimited talk, text (including pix and sound), and unlimited Mobile Web. I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS! I live in a very rual area where AT&T and T-Mobile do not have towers and therefor do not work where I live. Straight talk has service EVERY WHERE! Any how my point for this comment is that I love my new straight talk phone and don't get why everyone is complaining. This is a fairly new company so of course they are gonna have minor bugs and issues with Cust. Service that need to be worked on but come on ppl! What do you REALLY HAVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT?! You are getting a great deal for $45 bucks a month. Where else are you gonna find a deal like that?!

Peace, Love, Empathy,

Lo

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Hyruu
Easley, US
May 03, 2010 9:18 pm EDT

You guys need to read the fine print. Every issue you complain about here is written in the booklet none of this was secret covert ops against you. If I was to give you a free car and the radio stopped working in 4 years you would ###.

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ANNIE68
Mesa, US
Apr 13, 2010 12:37 pm EDT

THIS IS THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH FOR A REPLACEMENT THAT WAS PROMISED TO NOT ONLY ME, BUT MY HUSBAND TOO. WE BOUGHT A PHONE FOR $40, AND THE UNLIMITED PLAN FOR $45...THE PHONE WORKED GREAT UNTIL WE GOT THE SECOND MONTH OF SERVICE. HE HAD ISSUES WITH THE PHONE THAT THE TECHNICAL SUPPORT COULD NOT FIX. HE WAS PROMISED A NEW PHONE IN 3-5 DAYS. THAT'S GREAT, THEN WE GOT THE EMPTY BOX. THEY WANTED TO GET THE OLD PHONE FIRST BEFORE SHIPPING OF THE NEW ONE. THAT WAS NOT AGREED TO, AND TOLD TECH SUPPORT ABOUT IT IN THE BEGINNING. IT IS A BUSINESS PHONE AND CAN'T BE WITHOUT IT. WE HAVE NOW TALKED TO 4 DIFFERENT PEOPLE ABOUT THIS ISSUE, 3 OF WHICH TOLD US WE WOULD HAVE THE NEW PHONE IN THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF ANY CELL COMPANY THAT WANTS THE OLD PHONE FIRST, UNLESS IT'S SOMEWHERE WITHIN TRAVELING DISTANCE TO THE NEAREST STORE, BEFORE THE NEW ONE IS RECEIVED. THE SUPERVISOR (BOTH OF THEM) EVEN SAID POINT BLANK THEY WOULD NOT SEND THEIR OLD PHONE IN BEFORE GETTING THE NEW ONE. I WILL NOW FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE BBB, THE NEWS STATIONS, AND WHOM EVER ELSE I CAN THINK OF. THIS IS USELESS STRESS THIS COMPANY CAUSES FOR NO REASON. I WILL NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY FOR ANY REASON TO ANYONE. POLICY CAN'T BE OVER-RIDDEN, MY ###! I HAVE DEALT WITH CUSTOMERS FOR 20 YEARS, AND OVER- RIDING COMPANY POLICY IS WHAT SUPERVISORS ARE SUPPOSE TO DO, THAT'S THEIR JOB, AND IF IT IS OVER-RIDDEN, THERE IS A GOOD REASON.

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vernongray
Baltimore, US
Mar 05, 2010 10:44 am EST

Great phone. Was up and running in less then 30 minutes. Most problems occur with the person not reading or following directions. If its so horrible you should take the phone back and get a Verizon plan with a 1000 minutes for $69.99 to $129.99. You get what you pay for. Wife uses and has no problem.

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Jason the unhappy
Wellington, US
Feb 17, 2010 7:39 pm EST

My wife switched to Staright Talk about two weeks ago. She bought the $149 phone with $45 service. They never gave her the new number to the phone or otherwise told her that it was activated. I finally found the number in the settings area of the phone. The phone wouldn't ring loud enough to hear it. Called customer service and they told me they'd send me a new phone along with a return envelope to return the old phone after she transferred her pic, numbers ect. from the old phone. A week later we received a big 'ol box. In it was a return envelope and some padding. When I called to tell them they forgot to include the phone they told me to send the old phone and after they received it they'd send me a replacement. Red Flag! She decided to wait til Walmart got new phones and return it there. Now today she purchased a new $45 card to extend her service (I only get paid once a month so she'd figured she'd pay it in advance) After she loaded the new card to her phone her new expiration date was 30 from today rather than 30 days from her original expiration date. So she lost 14 days of service, and had paid for those days of service twice! When I called customer service the find out why, I ended up talking to a guy in Guatimala City. He told me they could not extend the expiration and refund the services we paid for. He said that if you add a new card to your phone BEFORE it comes due you loose the remaining days of service and service starts over at that point. I talked to he supervisor, got the same run around, got a number the Miami, called and got the same run around from the supervisor there. He told me he'd e-mail his boss and see if he will do anything about it. Seems to me from their web sight that the encourage you to add a new service card BEFORE your 30 of service expire but neglect to tell you that if you add early you'll loose your remaining days of service. RIP OFF! So you end up paying TWICE fr the same days!

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rich_ard
des moin, US
Feb 04, 2010 10:42 pm EST

i was wondering if anyone knew if straight talk has some type of statements ( call history, online usage, ect.)

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rich_ard
des moin, US
Feb 04, 2010 10:41 pm EST

does anyone one know if i can check any statement. phone records, online usage stuff a normal phone carrier would offer?

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crystalRoXanne4
lafayette, US
Feb 04, 2010 1:08 am EST

im also pretty irate about this straight talk crap i bought the 100 dollar phone with the 45 dollar plan and i tried activateing it about 7 hours ago and still it's not active... although it says it's active on the internet and the number they gave to call i still havnt recieved my phone number or service... it's truely frustrateing.

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mjightr
, US
Jan 08, 2010 7:48 am EST

I am having the same problem, bought phone and have been trying to get the number porting for over a week, they customer service does suck. They have been telling me that they were having problems and my old service provider would not release the number, then they said my service provider needed a pin number, so when they told me that I had my service provider on three-way and they didn't know it, my service provider stated they didn't need a pin and said they didn't even have a request from straight talk. From that point they have been telling me 24 hours, 2-6 hours, 48 hours and so on... This is a bunch of crap. I do have another straight talk phone that I didn't have to get ported and it works fine. The one I want ported its just a waste of money and I'm on the phone with them right now trying to get this issue resolved.

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gae304
Atlanta, US
Jan 03, 2010 10:47 am EST

I purchased 2 straight talk phones and attempted to transfer my numbers from Sprint. Both phones started working in 30 minutes. However, customer service had to deactivate one of the phones because it was "not activated properly." My phone was deactivated 6 days ago, and despite my attempts to contact customer no-service, the phone still has not been re-activated. Straight Talk customer service is worthless and you should NOT contact them for anything. They tell you that the phone will be activated in 1, 24, or 48 hours, but the statement is a ploy to get the customer off the phone. I have read other people's complaints and you must contact the corporate office in Miami, FL. Their phone number is [protected] and they are open Mon-Fri. I will be calling the corporate offce this week to have my problem resolved.

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Talk2Me
Miami, US
Dec 30, 2009 5:52 pm EST

Sorry to hear what you to go through. I live in Miami and bought Straighttalk phone from a local Walmart. It took me less than 30 minutes to activate and it's working great -haven't had to call Customer Service for anything so far!

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butterflyawaynow
Dwight, US
Dec 27, 2009 6:29 am EST

I have also had problems with Straigh Talk! Bought a new straight talk phone; gave the old one to my mom in law for christmas with a brand new card. Transferred my new phone so I could keep my number on my new phone. Mom in law called a day later to transfer old phone into her name and get a new number for it. Activated it and tried to set up number transfer at the same time using a different phone to TALK TO BELIZE, but all the sudden, my account on straighttalk.com was now under her name! I called them to get this fixed and they de activated BOTH our phones and would not refund the $45 plus tax for the new card my mom in law just used to activate it an HOUR before they disconnected our phones NOR would they give us a new card number! I asked them if they could see the time and date stamped on their computer screens of the card to know that this card was used an hour ago to do the same thing they screwed up in the first place on, and supervisor said yes. Still she would not refund the card or give us a new card when they were the ones that made the mistake in the first place! I was also talking to someone in Belize! Try fighting with a dude that doesn't understand English! I asked him if he knew what S***Head meant! DON'T DO STRAIGHT TALK! IF YOU WANT AN UNLIMITED PREPAID, GO WITH AT&T OR VERIZON FOR $10 MORE A MONTH. At least you will have customer service and they actually do something about it when THEY F*** up!

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yad bhujel
Fargo, US
Dec 26, 2009 4:07 am EST

i tried to see videos but i am unable to view, why?

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Whatagreatdeal123
Des Moines, US
Dec 25, 2009 11:49 pm EST

Bought two straight talk phones, ported numbers from AT&T. Both phones were up and running in minutes. No problems at all :) (keep in mind that the original poster took Walmart's advice, which was incorrect. Straight Talk didn't make that decision for them.)

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loast
Danville, US
Dec 20, 2009 12:35 am EST

Straight talk customer care is very teribal had to have phone replaced under warranty 25 days to recive a new phone had to fight with customer care. Was told several times i have a new phone in 3 days. YEAH sure. I filed a dispute with Visa regarding the straight talk phone. Manage to get a full refund for air time The bank conated Straight talk corporat office Finaly got somthing done. Bank said my claim was Valid and gave me back $32 and some change for air time . Today i still have the problem with my cell phone Droping incoming calls. If i leave my home area the Phone works fine. I keep telling them it is a network issue not a the phone.

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zaxxman43
Christiansburg, US
Dec 12, 2009 11:53 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

i bought a straight talk phone at walmart and it was working in thirty minutes

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KHRT
, US
Dec 08, 2009 4:07 pm EST

Had terrible experiance with Straight talk customer service. Waited 5 days to port my old number.
They never could get my phone activated. Told it only works in your home zip code. Refused to refund my money. Stay away from Straight Talk.!