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Straight Talk Wireless

Straight Talk Wireless review: horrible service - won't activate phone 13

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12:41 pm EDT
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I spent appx $250 ordering a new phone and 3 months of service directly from StraightTalk and cannot get the phone to work. Three days and counting, all I've been told is that my PIN is no good (it's the PIN they sent with the phone), and then they said it's a network problem and they'll have it fixed in 24 hours. I waited 24 hours -- still nothing. I still haven't been assigned a phone number. I called back again and this time they hung up on me. As near as I can tell, when I call StraightTalk (I have to use a friend's phone to call them), I get put on with someone from India... Three days now, I've used up all my minutes on my old phone, and now I have nothing. StraightTalk is a piece of garbage. I'd be better off with two cans and a piece of string.

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13 comments
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Please be careful
Nederland, US
Jun 03, 2016 8:36 am EDT

Straight talk has been taking out extra payments every other month since
April 2013, I have been on the phone with them for a very long time. Their system shows no extra payment and I was instructed to call my bank. My bank explained that Straight Talk has been taking extra payments out. The bank can only go back thirty days and Straight Talk refuses to resolve the issue. There is a black hole in their accounting and they are the problem. They will not resolve the issue. I urge consumers to check their bank accounts every month.

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Xierra
, PH
Dec 08, 2015 11:57 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

That must be very frustrating! If you are fed up with talking to Customer Representative, try sending an email at ST.CorpResolutionTeam@straighttalk.com or you can chat with them live. They will be able to assist you immediately. Believe me, I've tried it, and I was satisfied.

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simonize
Marshall, US
Nov 08, 2015 11:57 pm EST

Looks like I am in for a great scam with ST. I went thru an hour of form filling and info providing and got a message my phone will be activated 24 to 48 hours. After almost 100 hours no activation. I have talked two times with their Chinese agent ( I felt bad I had to tell him to speak clearly so that I could hear what he said) on their help line who promised it will be activated. There is no message otherwise either. Looks like a company for FTC investigation. Now it is probably a fight to get my money back!

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layla09
Dublin, US
Apr 28, 2015 7:09 am EDT

ive just got a staright talk kit ... and I activated my phone yesterday afther going through 4 customer service with straight talk and back in forth to Verizon wireless. now the sratight talk company says that I have to wait 24 hours for my number to be ported in to them after they used my network access, then my pin number and now my Dual Sim card. what the hell is going on?

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leilababy89
Casa Grande, US
Feb 22, 2015 10:04 pm EST

I've had straight talk since they first came out. I've never had a problem. I buy the cdma phone so it works off Verizon towers. I didn't get minutes on my phone for like 4 months. I had to get a new number and reactivate it. I did it online and they gave me my new number and said to dial 22890*. I've had to do this a few times over the years of having straight talk. This time it kept giving me the message that my number was invalid and phone not active when dialing the activation number. I waited 24 hours and still no luck. I've never had to wait before when I got new phones or had to reactivate after service ran out. Its always been instantly. I called customers support, told them my problem and that I tried dialing 22890* they went thru a few steps [censored] trying to call my phone? Yes most of the asian accented people with customers support are idiots. They was transfering me to someone else when I got the idea to try *22890 and bam it started activation programming. I dunno why the guy didn't tell me I was dialing wrong code. I don't know if I just read it wrong or it was printed wrong. Maybe a few of you are doinh the same thing. I hope you guys give straight talk another chance because seriously I've had it about 5 yrs and I've never had a problem NEVER except with signal but that was a phone that ran on att towers. Its really crazy to pay high Verizon cost when you can get Verizon service and unlimited data for $45 a month. The big named companies are ripping us off and your basically paying for the name Verizon. I'm a travel nurse and drove from Virginia to Arizona with my straight talk cdma phone and never lost signal even through the desert. I'm never changing companies. I know if u stick with it until u g et whatever problem your having solved and give it a real chance you will not be sorry. Hope some of yall was just doing what I was and this helps you solve it..good luck everyone

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jesseca thompson
Pacolet, US
Dec 03, 2013 8:16 pm EST

Bought my son s.t.phone for his birthday, and 3 days now ..trying to activate it! Its crazy! Already talked to 8 different people, including higher ups .They say 1 hour, 2 hours 24 hours twice! They were even supposed to call me back at one point! I can not explain how mad I am!Need I remind these people..ITS NOT HIS BIRTHDAY ANYMORE! HE GOT NOTHING!

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Mad Girl 2013
Tallahassee, US
Apr 26, 2013 6:04 pm EDT

STRAIGHT TALK!...Is damn rip off. I bought my android from wal-mart and it was working fine until 4 months later my phone and my husbands phone just doesn't turn on, wont keep a charge, nothin! I call straight talk they say ok we will send you out 2 new phones.After 1 week and half i get my phones back, but these idiots send one of them elsewhere (WTF?...How the HELL?). Then get my new phone but it aint new its refurbished. Oh so, you just gon give me somebody elses phone that was f***ed up. ### run slower, cant access the internet. The other phone talkin bout there is no mobile network(that ### work when it want to!) Than after all the ### I had to go through calling them left to right. They tell me that they will compensate both of my lines for 30 days and to call them once we receive the "new" but really refurbished {like new} phone-somebody elses f***ed up phone they tell me I can only get 10 days of service. After they got they ### chewed out somemore because they stealin my money, the phone still dont work. Damn, Straight talk! BUT YOU KNOW WHAT. f*** YOU! b/c as soon as Im finished with these minutes, mothaf***a i aint turning ya'll ### back on. STRAIGHT TALK AINT STRAIGHT-----THEY CROOKED!----straight up!-------DO NOT BUY ANY SMART PHONES FROM STRAIGHT TALK! *******WARNING************** DO NOT LET STRAIGHT TALK ROB YOU **** Everything that glitters aint gold! they ### aint NO GOOD!----i cant wait to get away from straight talk.!

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Manfromnantucket
, US
Apr 26, 2013 12:57 pm EDT

Straight talk also markets another plan thru Walmart for unlimited data. What a f***in lie!
After getting a month of failures to open voicemail, failure to get text, Internet, when they finally get it working, they cut us off after ten days, said there was excess usage, and tried to shake us down for more money. And we had paid for two months of UNLIMITED service already.
In the first week of this service not working, they only had run arounds to offer about it not being the phone which was defective, and not being ready to take the phone back. By day fifteen of this ###, they said they do not accept returns on phones after fourteen days.

This is bad faith and utter dishonesty. To think that our government will lock you up if you are caught stealing from Walmart, but they are absolutely licensed to steal from you.
I would encourage anyone to steal anything they can from Walmart; just be f***in careful. Remember, they have a million security cameras on you. Trash the place in any way you can. Leave shopping carts full of frozen food and perishables in the store. Launch a brick through the window. America doesn't need Walmart. Undermine their profitability any way you can. They don't deserve to profit by ripping us off, and attacking their profitability is the only way we can fight back. f*** WALMART

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Complthiss
Hampton, US
Nov 22, 2012 10:42 am EST

straight talk is a piece of ### even the corporate. all i want is my phone transfered to my new f***ing phone. this ### is ridiculous. i never had to go through this ### everrrrr. just transfer my ### how hard is that. with their fake ### commercials and then you ge the ### and have to go through hell. f*** straight talk and teir phones. they can stick a straw up my ### and suck it

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shane0613
Gresham, US
Feb 03, 2012 3:27 am EST

I have had a straight talk ever since it came out. I have had issues both times while activating and reactivating the phone. That being said I can't completely blame the ST support staff. When I initially bought the ST phone package at Walmart I got home and tried to activate it. Waited the 24 hours and nothing. The ST staff was at a loss and so was I. I was ready to throw the phone or bust it with a hammer. Then I found out the reason it would not activate. When you purchase the phone the Walmart cashier has to enter the serial number from the ST phone's box into her register. I'm not sure if they still have to do it that way but 2 years ago they did. Well anyway, the stupid Walmart girl had a typo when she entered the serial number of the ST phone. Due to her doing that the phone would NEVER be able to be activated. I had to return the phone and exchange it for another one. This time it went flawless.
Strike one against Wal-Mart.
After using the phone for a while I got a job where I was given a company phone. I didn't really have to keep adding minutes to the ST phone. Well enough time passed for the ST phone to lose the phone number I originally had due to not keeping minutes on it. I recently parted ways with the company I was working with and decided to reactivate the ST phone rather than pay $15 for 7 days usage on my GoPhone. The $30 ST plan is plenty for me. Well I bought the card 2 nights ago. I added the $30 card to the phone and it would not reactivate and the ST staff kept telling me to wait 24 hours and call back. I waited called back and still nothing. Wouldn't activate. I could see that the phone still had my old number programmed into it and feel that this is where the error was coming from. I spoke with a fellow named Javier that worked with ST support. He had me go through the typical *22890 crap and nothing worked. He took the time to lookup the manual for the phone I was using probably due to it being the first model offered by ST. In Javier's defense, he tried everything and did not stop until I got my phone working. He eventually gave me a couple of long numbers to enter into the Code Entry setting on the phone. After putting in the numbers the phone rebooted and I was able to make calls and my phone has worked great ever since.

I would like to thank Javier @ ST for being patient and going the extra effort until my phone was working. I talked to 2 other tech support people the night before and they just rushed my off the phone with the wait 24 hours excuse. Javier also found out that the number the tech from the night before gave my phone was a temporary number that expired later that same day. If he would have not noticed that I may still be without a phone. As a person who works in the IT industry, I know it can be a difficult job to put up with irate customers all day but Javier was extremely nice and got the job done.

Thanks Javier.

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Annie 2011
Beekuoon, US
Dec 17, 2011 8:44 pm EST

I understand why so many people ahve complaints with Straight Talk. They're service is reallyr horrible. I just had a phone changed and it took me 4 days, because they kept telling me that it would take 2 hiurs, 24 hours then 72 hours until it reach to 2 days. It doesn't make any sense at all. Even the managers were incompetent. I spoke to like 8 different managers and nothing good came from it. The thing is, I did not tell them to touch this phone number. Yert they did. Well, after many days and a headache, thank God. Well, just when I thought everything was clear, my friend tried to call me and she couldn't get through. They turned off her phone for what ever reason. DId I get a good explanation? Not at all. Someone who did not know what they were doing, just turned it off. I have never, ever had a company to be so unreliable in my life and I've had a LOT of cell phones. I would not recommend my worst enemy to this company. There's tooo many other good companies out there to be bothered with their headaches. For 4 long days my phone was just in a wreck. Go somewhere else. Take my advice. Thanks. Merry Christmas!

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Krystal.Ann
, US
Sep 30, 2010 9:22 pm EDT

I am having the exact same problem! My dad had a straight talk phone, and gave it to me when he bought a new phone on another service. He had no problems with it, but it went inactive after he stopped using it. So, I went on his account nd tried to port my number and the woman that helped me told me it would only take 1 day. Well, 3 days later, my other phone ran out of minutes and this phone still doesn't work, even after calling and reactivating it with a new number 4 times. The people on the phones don't understand anything and ARE all from India. Straight talk equals a pile of ###.

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DUGG007
Derby Line, US
Jul 19, 2010 4:37 pm EDT

spot on!