Tracfone woes

[OkieJohn2]

Okay, so I am currently using a tracfone for my limited needs but both my old working cellphone and my new cellphone are about to be defenestrated in frustration.  I even checked online to see if it is possible to buy a new, better phone and transfer my  number and minutes, website says sure, no problem.......HA HA.  It seems that the new phone purchased at Walmart is defective out of the gate.  They say I must call them to get a new SIM card for the phone to work....Many tries with several Customer (so called) service reps, some who speak Engrish(or the Hindu equivilent) better than others and no joy.  A call to the Miami corporate headquarters (about 20 minutes on hold, seems they get lots of complaints) informs me that gee sorry you are having problems but you HAVE to deal with the problem.  So now I am burning hot, check the BBB, I can't see how they get an A+ rating with nothing but complaints from consumers. So I head next to the Walmart website to leave a scathing review of the piece of junk they sold me, guess what, they don't allow customer reviews for Tracfone, imagine that.  Grrr, so anyway buyer beware.

[peternap]

Thgat's a no brainer John. Walmart has a very good return policy (One of the few good things about it).
Get a Verizon or T mobile phone and have them port your number over. Trac outlived their usefulness years ago.

[Redoverfarm]

We got my son a trac-phone a couple years ago.  After the same go around and entering zip codes from up and down the east coast to get it activated he still wasn't able to use it.  So the solution was to take it back and got a refund.

Fortunately it was at a time that AT&T bought out Cellular One and we had to get a new plan and phone.  Got the identical phone that we had for the plan for free so the logical thing was to let the son use our other phone.  Which was just a year old  (Previous switch from Analog to digital).  He has a pay as you go plan.  Only downside is that the minutes do not roll over.  But he usually doesn't have any roll over time left.     

[MountainDon]

Tracfone was our first prepaid. We also dropped them when we ran into service problems (no service). The telephone voice based customer service for all the cell companies suck as far as I am concerned. No chance to just return the phone to Walmart? Then start over. We've had great phones from Alltel and Verizon. I found their walk in stores a bit better than telephone service. Plus no problem swapping one phone for another.

We do the prepaid thing too, never use it much; mostly when out of town.

[OkieJohn2]

Great ideas all, but I gave it one more try, just before heading to Walmart.  I went to my workplace and used the real phone there and managed to get thru to someone who I could understand (mostly). Turns out I didn't need a new SIM card, just someone at customer service who was actually capable of providing it.  I don't have a land line and only have the cell phone for emergency use, and the price is right, twenty bucks for three months service, and of course I was too focused on the exsisting 200 minutes I had. 

[MountainDon]

.... of course I was too focused on the exsisting 200 minutes I had. 

You paid good money for them. I'd be concerned about that too.   

[ScottA]

Cellphones are a rip-off...use landlines.

[IronRanger]

Personally, I use Net10.  The minutes and days left of service are rolled-over.

http://www.net10.com/cellular_coverage.jsp?nextPage=cellular_coverage.jsp&task=cellcov

[Redoverfarm]

Can I get along without it. Yes.  But I think back before when I needed to call someone and there wasn't a phone available it just seems to fit in with the hussle and bussle of today.  I mainly have one for travel in case of emergencies.  Being that the area that I live is a radio free zone and reception is scarce at best I don't rely on it for day to day communications.

I concur with Scott but I'm keeping mine anyway until the price goes up.

[ScottA]

I can pay for 2 landlines and a high speed internet connection for what my daughter spends on 1 cell phone a month.

[Redoverfarm]

Wow Scott either your phone service is awfully cheap or your daughters cell phone is out of this world.  My phone is almost the basic package and with my high speed it is about $75 a month.  Cell is only $29. 

Last year we went on a trip and my son forgot his phone.  So dear old dad said he could use ours to text his friends.  For about 4 days it went to $25 more than my base service.  He will not forget his phone again. 

[ScottA]

She pays $100 a month for unlimited service. My 2 phones and internet runs about $95

[peternap]

Wow Scott either your phone service is awfully cheap or your daughters cell phone is out of this world.  My phone is almost the basic package and with my high speed it is about $75 a month.  Cell is only $29. 

Last year we went on a trip and my son forgot his phone.  So dear old dad said he could use ours to text his friends.  For about 4 days it went to $25 more than my base service.  He will not forget his phone again. 

Scott, You're getting ripped. We have 4 cell phones and pay $120.00 for all of them. Three are unlimited and one is limited to 500 minutes.

Back before the cell phone, I used to carry a linesman handset with me. If I had to make a call, I'd stop at the nearest pedestal or pole, find a live line and make the call. The Cell phones are much more convenient.

[ScottA]

My biggest gripe with the cells is the constant...can you hear me now?...how bout now? Wait I'll call you back.

[pagan]

Scott,

"What was that? Hang on...I'm at the movies. No...THE MOVIES. Yeah...Watching a movie. I'M WATCHING A MOVIE. No, at the theater. AT THE THEATER."

That was a small segment of one side of a conversation I listened to at a movie theater in NYC. After getting complaints the manager asked this person to shut off the cell phone, when told by this person to go f%&k himself, the manager called the police. We all got free tickets, popcorn, and soda. I was just happy to watch that rude piece of crap get arrested. No taser action, however.

Turned out the live show was better than the movie.

[ScottA]

Too bad. Tasers look really cool in the dark.

[pagan]

That was a little bit before all of the taser issues, so nobody was shouting for the cops to use it. When I was in the Army I was in a forward position on the impact area and watched several WP artillery rounds at night...beautiful.