Tracfone Reviews See All Tracfone News

Company Overview: TracFone is a prepaid wireless provider. The company is a subsidiary of América Móvil, and also operates Net10 Wireless.

Network Benefits: TracFone does not operate its own network, but operates as an MVNO reselling service from over 30 other providers.

Special Plan Features: Prepaid services only; Remaining minutes balanced tracked on handset.

Unique Features: Refer-a-Friend offers free service minutes in exchange for referring a friend who purchases service.

Pros: Flexible service options without contract commitment; Inexpensive handsets (often refurbished); Phones and service available direct from Website and at stores nationwide; Choice between many networks and technologies.

Cons: More expensive than contracted service from national carriers.

Technology Used: GSM, TDMA, and CDMA.

Primary Coverage Area: Nationwide.

Customer Service: TracFone's service is both very popular and widely complained about with regard to phone activation and other technical problems, call quality, customer service, and general business practices.

Show me:

Average user reviews

 

Based on 272 Reviews

Overall
2.3
Service Quality
2.35
Customer Service
1.8
Service Quality:
3
Customer Service:
2
Overall:
3
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Recommend to a friend.

Mixed feelings about my Tracfone

Posted on: May 12th, 2009 by Marsha Priesmeyer

The good: Cheap!!! Easy to use. The bad: some phones don't add minutes and require frustrating calls to Customer Service; hard to understand them.Don't offer a phone with qwerty keyboardSummary: My first tracfone was a Motorola flip phone and I often had trouble adding minutes. I would do all the required steps and then receive an error message. I would have to go through customer service and key in long numbers that they would call out. I finally solved the problem by buying a different model phone--Motorola V170($10)-- and have had no problms since. I got the same phone for my husband because he had dropped his original Nokia model and it was pretty messed up. I still worked though. I use phone so seldom that I have accumulated a good many minutes. When I decided to do a bit of texting, I was pleased to discover that incoming messages were free (this varies by phone model) and outgoing only used up a third of a unit. I had a value plan for awhile that added minutes automatically, but it didn't show on the screen so when I bought new phones for both of us, I canceled those plans and now just add minutes online myself before cut-off date. I may go back to value plan because they have a family one that will be pretty cheap. I will soon be retired and on fixed income so this value is important. I would recommend Tracfone to anyone who uses phones only occasionally, to those on a budget, and for teenagers. Parents could pay a basic fee and extra minutes could be at the child's expense.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
5
Customer Service:
1
Overall:
2
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Recommend to a friend.

Tracfone Customer Service SUCKS

Posted on: May 8th, 2009 by John Orange

The good: priceThe bad: POOR Customer ServiceSummary: I wanted to get a number from an old Motorola 120 to a W370... after talking to 20 Indians, I lost the Number that I had for 4 years and this IS BAD for My Consulting Business. I was on the Customer Service Number for 15 Hours on 6 days.... this is sooooooo bad.... Unreal, and all them Indians names were BOB, MARY, Joe Charlie... Those guys were good believe me, but the Tracfone SYstem SUCKS

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
3
Customer Service:
4
Overall:
4
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Recommend to a friend.

Why doesn't Tracfone have a Keyboard phone?

Posted on: April 22nd, 2009 by anthony montgomery

The good: A slider w/ keyboardThe bad: Camera, ya na the wrksSummary: If tracfone wants to make a great entrance in the phone world-they need to come up with a keyboard phone-like At&t or Verizion.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
2
Customer Service:
1
Overall:
2
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Tracfone's 29 Minutes Worth Of Disgrace And Shame

Posted on: April 19th, 2009 by R. A. L. O.

Below is an email letter from myself to Tracfone in regards to recent events between myself and their telephonic customer service line. Even with my opinion being that this incident is egregious display of unfair treatment towards a ?valued customer? it does not in itself make them fraudulent or illegitimate as an entity for consumer use, but is at least evidence of gross negligence and incompetence in maintenance of data. 18 April 2009 To Whom It May Concern: My phone had recently been damaged beyond function; hence I purchased a replacement, after two phone calls the phone was finally activated properly (due to poor customer service, but not the issue at hand). The problem comes when transferring the unused minutes from my previous phone of which I had 199. This is not a maybe or I think it should be, I know my minutes without the slightest doubt as my phone is not routinely used and I keep a tight eye on my minutes remaining (1 minute from 200 used in the last two weeks). After waiting for the Tracfone representative to confirm this fact, I was told that I only had 170 minutes remaining a 29 minute difference from the actual, to myself a clearly unjustifiable discrepancy on the part of Tracfone. Despite my avid protest, [edit](delete typo)[edit] detailed information on why I know the exact minutes remaining, a strong affirmation that slighting me would result in the lost of myself as a future Tracfone customer and that I would warn other off of the use of said service, I was told that since I could not prove the minutes I stated as remaining I had no recourse in the matter. That being I should just take the minutes Tracfone was willing to give and be happy about [edit] it [edit]. To myself the 29 minutes in dispute represent from one to three months of actual use, while to Tracfone they are in essence nothing, invisible in the overall use during the same time frame. What a disgraceful display of corporate bullying of the consumer. In these actions by representatives of Tracfone, Tracfone has both insulted myself by impugning my integrity and proved itself unreliable and therefore untrustworthy in the maintenance of its own data. Tracfone representatives have also proven that a handful of minutes are more precious to Tracfone than both the customer and its reputation to such. As a result I will disseminate the facts of [edit] today?s events [edit} to as may people as I can in as many ways as I can. For Tracfone?s 29 minutes worth of disgrace and shame, Good bye, R***************

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
3
Customer Service:
1
Overall:
1
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

"Suprise! We are cutting you off!"

Posted on: April 13th, 2009 by Alice Funk

The good: No problems up to this point. Fairly good coverage.The bad: Disabling my phone with no warning.Summary: I have used Tracfone since 2001 with no complaints.I don't use a cellphone much. Just when I travel and in case of emergencies (like if one of my children need me).It is nice to have one and be able to control costs. I like that aspect of prepaid.My phone is old (nearly 4 years old). Probably my mistake, I guess, was buying minutes on eBay. I asked them if that was a problem, and they did not say that it was.I have bought minutes on eBay many times before with no problems.The last time I added minutes, I also renewed for a year. It cost me $91. I already had about 1000 minutes on there, so that brought me up to about 1500 minutes loaded onto this phone.One day, I tried to use it and got a message saying to call cust service. I e mailed them and called them.I was told that my phone was de commissioned because of too many "upgrades." I explained that I had never upgraded my old phone ever. After spending about 30 minutes with the rep, I asked to speak to her supervisor. After about 10 minutes with her, asked to speak to her supervisor.All three basically told me that they were sorry, but I was out of luck.So a phone loaded with 1500 minutes is unhooked. No explanation, no nothing.I was told that I needed proof that I had purchased the minutes, which I said I could do.I have mailed a hard copy of the receipt from eBay and another letter to Tracfone.I am figuring I am out about $300 worth of minutes not to mention the crap phone.They stole my minutes. There was no offer of another phone, nothing. Just "we apologize."I will never buy another one. I will use another company. They have lost a loyal customer.And I will tell anyone who will listen.They say right on their web site, "No surprises." Well guess what? "Surprise, we just robbed you!"

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
1
Customer Service:
1
Overall:
1
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Poor Tracfone customer service is making me leave

Posted on: April 6th, 2009 by David Curry

The good: Great service area coverage - few dropped callsThe bad: Poor warranty and customer serviceSummary: Recently purchases an LG-600g phone with DMFL, data services, blue-tooth & camera. Phone was giving me message to 'check call restrictions'. Tech support could not help me. The phone quit working 3 1/2 months after purchasing it. (1/2 month after the store's 90 day return policy.) Tracfone customer service sent me 2 refurbished LG-600g phones in an attempt to replace the phone. When I tried to activate them, I was told they would not work in my ZIP code. I finally got a replacement phone worth half as much, no DMFL, no data services, no blue-tooth, no camera. They did add DMFL to the phone. Tracfone customer service used to be good but no more. There are many competitors in the market for my business now. I plan on using up my minutes and transfer my number to a new prepaid cell phone provider.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
1
Customer Service:
1
Overall:
1
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Worthless

Posted on: April 6th, 2009 by Liam Owyn

The good: no contractThe bad: Psshh,where do I begin?Summary: I have had this phone since Sept.2008,and I lost my signal gradually in Feb.2009.By March,i no signal(bars).I called "customer service"(scoffs)to get my signal.I asked several times:"may I have a signal please?"I was given the routine of "let me put you on hold sir and inform my supervisor."accompanied by "I need you to turn the phone off,now turn it on,and hold 1 moment while I inform my supervisor".Yeah,well surprise...put on hold again.Within 12 days I had removed and put back the battery,turned phone off and on,waited on "hold" for them to inform their supervisor,as per routine.This scenario finally accelerated to begging them for a simple signal.Their next tact was a classic:"sir what I need you to do is try to activate it in a different location,approximately 10 miles from your area."I thought to myself they have to be kidding!Well for humour sake,I did it ,I went out to the suburbs and reactivated it,I got a weak signal,a signal yes,but weak.I arrived back in to Chicago and as soon as I returned.....no signal.I resorted to begging them for a signal; and asked why I was being mistreated,and they replied"we are not mistreating you."...And once again,"Sir,I will need you to turn off the phone......"...."Well,here we go again!"I thought.It got to the point I was disgruntled,and they knew it;I made it known.They sent me a new SIM card.That did not work either.I called a gain,and the same routine"turn the phone off,hold as inform my supervisor,turn the phone back on,hold as I inform my supervisor,ok,I need you to remove the battery,hold as I inform my supervisor,Ok ,sir we need you to turn on the phone and turn it of.........."...and on and on and on......the same routine,I have Never been put on hold frequently and arbitrarily in my life!Well after 12 days of "high volume nowhere",I really showed my impatience and blatently told them that they are treating me like crap again.Well this time they sent me a new phone,I waited,finally got it several days later and tried to activate it,but hey sent me an expired phone!!!This Has Gone On For 25 Days Now!What is wrong with these people?!Now I'm stuck with 2 useless phones,and appx.1200 min.that will be never used,and in these tough times ,needing work I missed a job interview due to ....well......So people ,please Do Not Waste Your Time And $$$ On This Company!

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
1
Customer Service:
1
Overall:
1
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Worthless Trash

Posted on: March 19th, 2009 by Lena Strope

The good: great answering machineThe bad: No one can reach meSummary: Ok so what's a phone for? So people can reach you when they need you!! This trac phone has never rang. All calls go straight to the voice mail and sometimes it even take a day or two to show up. If you do take a chance on one please check first to see if they service your area.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
3
Customer Service:
1
Overall:
2
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Tracfone unit deduction problems and poor customer service

Posted on: March 18th, 2009 by Sam E

The good: Advertised as an inexpensive prepaid cell phone that looks good with the double minutes option.The bad: - Unit deduction problems. I am not sure if this is with double minute option or not.- "Supervisors" were not helpful in working through deduction problem issues.- Supervisors would not answer questions and poor phone reception made discussions very difficult.Summary: For the first phone, I noticed that the units were deducting a lot faster than the use. 600 units had been deducted for about 150 used. When I called customer service, they had me enter a 100 digit code to make sure only 1 unit was deducted for each call lasting less than a minute. Some minutes were then returned and the phone appears to be working fine since. This was with the first level support. I then tested the second phone and found that for a short time period, 90 units were deducted for about 30 used. Again I called customer service to try and reconcile the discrepancy. After entering the 100 digit code, I was escalated to a supervisor as I needed minutes to test if the code was successful and I wanted to review the unit tracking process. The "supervisors" did not help with either the tracking or the minutes. The last guy basically told me that I was probably erasing data and insinuating that I was trying get extra minutes fraudulently. The only option offered was to subpoena phone records that take about 30 business days to return. In the mean time you cannot use the phone as the only records I had were the call logs. Use of the phone would lose the call logs as only the last 20 calls are kept.The phone worked for what was intended, however the uncertain deduction problems and the poor customer service are making me look elsewhere.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

Service Quality:
4
Customer Service:
4
Overall:
5
Overall:
Review Rating: 
0

Would Recommend to a friend.

Exactly what I need

Posted on: March 13th, 2009 by Rosemary Simpson

The good: emergency phone that works like a debit cardsimpleup-front paymentcustomer service plus website work well togetherThe bad: noneSummary: I have had Tracfone service for the last three years as a prepaid with no hidden charges emergency phone and have been very happy with it. I just upgraded to a flip-phone style with better sound and needed some customer service assistance in transferring my minutes and dates to the new phone. Yes, the person I spoke with had an accent but she was very good and I'm now up and running with the new phone.As others have said in the comments list - you need to know what you want a cellphone for. I've had health issues and need a phone just to be able to call for help if needed. Tracfone is perfect for this purpose.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of PhoneDog.com

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