TracFone Wireless
reviews and complaints

This is a second draft of a complaint that I filed before that had some typos in it, but this site would not allow me to edit the complaint.

I have a BLU B131DL Android smartphone that I got from TracFone near the beginning of this year, and out of nowhere, last week it stopped reacting to incoming texts, not even showing me the little dot on the icon that means I missed a text. No sound or notification whatsoever that there was a text at all. The only way I would know if I got any text messages on my phone at all was to open the text app. and look if there were any new messages.

This was frustrating, but I was able to accept it, even though no settings had been changed. Unfortunately, the issue was only evolving, and now I cannot even get a ring when someone tries to call me. My stupid phone won't even ring anymore, and it will not show the dot for a missed call either. So there is no way for me to ever know if someone tried to call me unless I open the phone app. and see a highlighted number. My client Liz tried to call me FOUR TIMES today, and I never got a ring or anything.

I spent all evening trying to get some technical assistance from TracFone, but not shockingly, their chat was broken until I FINALLY got someone tonight at 11:30pm to answer the 'Chat Support' (ye right), and after spending what felt like an eternity providing information about my phone, myself and my account, he had me restart the phone (the standard TracFone fix, restart the device and see if that fixes it), then he asked me to get someone to call me to test it. It was pretty late, as I noted, so I was limited to who I could call at that hour, so I asked if he could call my number to check it. NOTHING, so I asked a second time, NOTHING, so I asked if we were disconnected, NOTHING. He had just left the chat at exactly 11:45pm, without so much as telling me he had to go, HE JUST GHOSTED ME.

Now understand, I get it, when your shift is done, you are ready to leave, but some common humanity isn't out of the question is it? At least say something, don't just leave the chat session, turn off your computer and break out.

As this is not an OLD or damaged phone, the only thing that could be the problem is my carrier, TracFone. As such, they could be a little more responsive to paying customers who need help!

I purchased an Alcatel flip phone this year and was able to buy a pin number from Walmart and simply add minutes with no problem. Last month this suddenly stopped working. I had to contact customer service to get my minutes added after much hassle, so this time I purchased a 30 day unlimited text and phone minutes card. Again, it wouldn't work when I added it to my phone.

Both times I've gotten a text that says something like "you've reached the limit of devices on your account". I don't have an account and I only have one device. I haven't changed anything on my end.

I tried going online and entering my information that way. The message afterwards indicated that the PIN had been added correctly, but there's no change in my phone status. A bit upset because I'm in a situation where I need to use my phone and CAN'T!

Is Tracfone no longer supporting these cards? What should I do differently?

Thanks!

I have called in about my sealed phone, the back went to coming apart they said they would replace it, I called back in 5 days and the next one told me it would be in in 3-5 days, I called back in 5 days then he said to send my phone in. I sent my phone in, after they received it, I called back and said I would receive it in 3-5 days, I have called in 7 different times and since then and I get they have found the problem and I will receive it in 3-5 days, sometimes I had to call them back because some of the support staff would hang up on me? I'm tired of getting that for an answer, I have been with TracFone for 26 Years and I have never been treated like this before!

The Tracking number for when I sent the phone in: 1Z6980XX9001865105

My Ticket # is [protected]

I had 36 days left on it! I had Talk 6,930, Text 7,226, Data 518.08

My home is [protected] or [protected]

E-mail [protected]@bellsouth.net

my phone broke stopped working on june 23 of this year . called [protected] they herd my phone told me send back. i did cost me 23.00 to send that day this is now august 2 2023 they told me 7 to 10 days i called 61 times now sent ups tracphone told me they never got phone ups said they got on tuesday june 27 at 9.25 am finally they said okay it was signed for by delaro they still have not sent my phone mean while i paid ovber 200.00to rfnew my phone they told me no problem they took my money and still no phone ups number is 1z 698 0xx [protected] beaware you will never get your phone when it stops working what a terrible mess do not send a phone to be fixed at 5501 centrepointe dr in la vergne tn 37086 you will never get your phone back i even called a boss no help yours truly susan

On June 12th of this year, my two month old cell phone froze up completely. After calling Tracfone, and with them attempting to fix it, they told me that I needed a new phone, which they would send me. Instead I got a shipping label saying I needed to return my old phone in order to get a new one. No phone showed up, after numerous calls from me, until July 28th! I feel, even though they assured me no, that they were refurdbishing my old phone.

DO NOT USE Tracfone! My plan was set to expire in November 2023 and currently had 975 min, 822 texts, and 1.01 gigs of data remaining. Knowing I wouldn't use all of that, as this is a back up phone for work. I purchased a 1 year extension on May 20 carrying me until Nov of 2024. Out of the blue the other day I get an email stating my service was set to expire on July 29 unless I renew. (Where did that date come from?) So, I called Tracfone yesterday the 29th and spoke to Victor (Employee#518484) who assured me he had set my phone to reflect the correct expiration date 11/20/24 at midnight. I wake up this morning and you guessed it NO PHONE! Tracfone just stole $80.00 from me. Customer service lies just to get you off the phone.

Wow, where to start... About five days ago, somewhere around 07/23/23, the SIM card tray broke in my LG G6 phone that had been in use for TracFone service around three years or so. No problem, or so I though, I'll just use the previous phone I had in service with TracFone because I know it worked and already has everything set up (phone was LG G5). I phoned TracFone, but they were not able to reinstate service, telling me it was because I needed a new SIM card due to the Verizon transition (I was able to receive texts but could not dial out - attempts to phone the cell resulted in a message that the number had been disconnected). I purchased a new SIM card and phoned back the next day, but they still could not get it working. I was then told it was due to my not having a phone compatible with 5G network and that I needed to purchase a new phone. After that conversation with the TracFone rep, I did some research to see if the Verizon towers in my area were using 5G, which they were not, so the TracFone rep obviously didn't know what they were talking about. I phoned back the next day and was told by that rep my phone would not work because it needed to be VoLTE. A couple more phone calls after resulted in my being told I could not get Verizon at my location. Tonight, 07/28/23, I phoned a number found online for Verizon transition to simply find out if I had cell service in my area. The rep was actually a TracFone rep. During that conversation, it was discovered that all of my text, data, and call minutes have disappeared. I have been a TracFone customer for over 20 years, only using the phone when I am rarely away from the house and for incoming texts, so my minutes have rolled over and accumulated to over 6000 for each of those services (just checked the numbers last night, and the minutes were there). The rep I was speaking with said she didn't show proof on her end that the minutes had been purchased and that the last purchase in their system was from years ago. That was another blatant lie by yet one more rep. I told her the TracFone app on both of my phones showed the transaction information with the date, ID, amount spent, etc. She told me that all of the reps were gone for the day and I would need to phone back again tomorrow. What started off as an apparent small issue has now grown to where they have lied and robbed me of everything. I can no longer use either of my phones, spent money to purchase a new SIM card that can't be used or returned, and lost over $100 for the one-year card I just purchased 07/03/23. Oh, and this last rep told me the reason I lost all of my minutes was because I attempted to activate the SIM myself, which was not true. When I told her I phoned in to have it activated and walked through the instructions, she told me it was because I had inserted it into the phone myself before calling. I don't think that's true either, but, if it is, there's something wrong with their activation process.

My tracfone [protected] has been without service since sunday 7-21-23 I called customer service on 7-221-23 and spent 5 hours with 7 different service teck people. They finlay said I needed a new sim card. They sent one. I called when it arrived on 7-25-23 I spent over 6 hours and spoke with 9 different people. Everyone had me do the same thing. And when it failed, they had another higher level teck take the call. They did all the same things again. Nothing worked. They had 3 top service people call me back. They all did the same thing. And after 6+ hours resolved nothing. I asked for someone (higest level) to take over. They said ok and then I ended up with the same person. I had before I went to the chat line, no help and after 20 min stopped responding.. My tracfone still does not receive or make calls. I have searched. But could not find any way to contact them other that [protected] and all that does is put me through the dame people and the same actions that have failed in 50+ attempts. Any help! Thank you jim non cell # [protected].

After a number of years of satisfactory service on my two Tracfone lines one of the phones froze and could not be recovered. I was told to return the phone and a duplicate would be provided. I did as told.That began the nightmare with customer service. I have called several times, gone though the maze of automated service, spoken to a number of reps, been sent to the managers, transferred to the warehouse and cut off or hung up on 6 times in a row. If anyone has, or is considering usung Tracfone, DON'T.

I just bought a new tracfone I have still the one I got when government was sending them out many years ago and I have got cell phones and I tried to get it on phone but he refused I know and have done it on other phone kept my no I have a moto motorola us. I bought it from fuzzy who has been in business since 1970 has his on store I paid $48 for 2 of same phone I only called 611 every month and pd $30 a month no contract nothing my person owned phone it stopped working I told him I had o provider and refused to activate phone with no. Ave to have a phone have done this before and I have been ale touse old no and I do not have a provider I am a paraplegic and in serious condition I have to have a phone to call my drand others help

I only had the phone for 2 months and it stopped working
I called Trac phone and they told me to send it back
I keep calling to find out why i have not gotten my new phone
I've been waiting for 5 weeks and still no phone
Sometimes when i call they hang up or start saying Can you hear me? Then hang up.
They lie to me and say the phone will be sent out he next day...
What is wrong with these people?
What is there problem?

I used tracfone prepaid service for a number of years. never had any issues still now . my service was cut of as of 07/2023 I still had service time still owed to me .but when calling corp office , to speak to a manager. I was given the run around . with questions only a idiot could make up. no other person could explain why my service end it so soon. I regrettably had to buy a new phone. with tracfone

however If there is anything you can do for me, it would be appreciated

ordered samsung galaxy a14 5g from website on 7.5.23. Got email next day from tracfone that phone was on backorder and they would ship it when stock was refilled.

I have been a customer for 25 years. I was able to go to WalMart and get the same tracfone from them. I called tracfone on 7.9 telling them to cancel the order since I was able to get the tracfone from WalMart. They refused to cancel the order even though they do not have the phone and the phone is still on the website for purchase! I was told to call the next day, 7/10, which would be 3 business day and they would refund my money and cancel the order.

I called on 7.10 and they said I was misinformed and they have no way to cancel the order. I was talking to a supervisor. I asked to talk to someone above her and she said there was no one else to talk to, I could not talk to her supervisor.

She refused to refund my money and cancel the order. She told me to contact the bank and cancel the transaction.

Someone was to call me back, another supervisor, an hour ago and they never did.

Somebody has authority to cancel this order. They stole my money and are selling products that they do not have!

Tried multiple times to access account. I was denied each time. Tried to change password multiple times in case that was the problem. Never received an email from Tracfone to change the password. Called multiple times for help. Got a ticket number ([protected]) to have issue fixed. They could never fix the issue and HUNG UP ON ME 3 TIMES.

This occurred between the dates of July 3 and July 9.

The end of June I had an issue that I lost all service to my phone. Error message said "you were unable to sened a text message due to a device restriction or insufficient funds. I have a service end date of [protected] with a years service, had almost 5 GB data since I use wifi and not data, and never received any warning that I was going to run out of minutes or texts. I had alot of minutes since I hardly ever use my phone to call someone, we have a landline and I use that. I had over 2500 texts at the beginning of Jan after starting a new phone and find it hard to believe I had used them all, but had not checked my usage for awhile since I knew I had plenty. Well I called customer service and was told I used up my service, but when I told them my plan goes to January, and after going back and forth for a day, they said they would start my plan back, but I didn't get any data or texts back. I was supposed to receive a call back but never got one. Called again, was informed they would resinstate my plan's minutes, texts and data but had to wait a day to see it. Another day goes by and got some minutes, but nothing else. I was told I could contact them again. So we were gone for a wedding, and busy and when I called again to the resolution dept, I spent another hour on the phone with a rep who just kept repeating I consumed everything and nothing they could do. My phone says I have used only 14 mb of data in the last 30 days, so someone has stolen all my minutes, data and texts. I advised that I would have received a warning if I was getting low, but the rep kept repeating there is nothing they can do since it is used . My tracfone account is messed up also, both myself and my husband have phones and lines with tracfone, but we can not see his info at all. I have advised that someone stole my minutes, data and texts and got no where - to the extent, I have to buy something I have already paid for. I am going to notify the BBB.

Purchased 8g data from Best Buy on 4-2-23 for $40. Activated it immediately on Tracfone. The data balance never showed up on my dashboard from Tracfone, but I was able to use some of the data, and I could find the balance by texting 611611, at least until they suddenly expired all my data in June 20223. Then tracfone expired the data on 6-1-23 because they claim that the was the end date of my unlimited plan, even though my talk and text minutes are good until 8-7-23.

I have been a tracfone customer for 12 years and my phone (1 year old) quit working. It said"phone has been deactivated". Called customer service and they keep transferring me different people until they hung up. They said they couldn't help me if I couldn't verify my account. They said they needed a 4 digit number. I may have gotten one 12 years ago but had not ever used it and so I didn't know it. They said there was no way to verify I was the owner so they couldn't help me. I said ask me the second security question because I use the same one, they said if I couldn't answer the first one they couldn't ask the second. I spent a total of 12 hours trying to resolve to get my phone re - activated with no luck. lost a years air time, 3000 minutes, 3.9 gig data, 11,000 texts. Having been told that there is no way for them to verify the account they couldn't help. I got tried of running around in circles with them have to go to a different service. They were NOT interested in helping solve the problem.

Stolen minutes from my daughter's EMERGENCY phone. My daughter doesn't use this phone at all except to call family. No texts were used, and only 15 minutes accounted for. I don't like technology for kids, so I opted for a flip phone for my daughter's safety only. I opened her account and it shows all of the minutes and data wiped, when 2 days ago it was full!

After being a loyal customer for a couple of years, they switched to the Verizon network. I ordered my new SIM card, installed it, and nothing happened. I spent an hour on the store phone at Best Buy trying to get it to work. They tried so many codes it locked out my SIM card. Bought another one and nearly locked that one out, too, but I managed to get it to work with a 10 year old Tracfone I had laying around. Because suddenly my Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone wasn't compatible. This took another two and a half hours. Then they cancelled my service because I didn't pay, even though I've been on autopay since day one. Got the number reinstated. Will keep it long enough to move it to Mint Mobile. I couldn't understand tech support half the time, the other half they didn't know what they were doing. Tried the website today. It took them five minutes to ask me for my name and number after I stated my problem. After I gave it to them with no response, they said they were still waiting for it. Told them I already gave it to them. No more communication after that. 20 minutes of my day wasted. Worst experience ever.

Activated new phone and new plan. Account after 4 days, still does NOT show talk, text and data-all 0. My Account activation order shows remaining 363 days, but no numbers: unlimited talk and test-no data of 24. Chatted 5 times, 2 callbacks promised ; zero callbacks and 0 results. Just please show my remaining data numbers .

Ticket [protected]

Description: Wrong description, not closed, no results.

Also the case that came w/ the phone messes up the speakers for talking and Audio play. No one knew this, found it on you tube. Restart the phone is the only solution CS gave. Tracfone Wizard was suggested for transfer to new phone, it does not exist anymore, for years. Customer Service is useless.