The service is poor- that's a given but sometimes on a budget you are stuck. That being said the main issue to avoid is DO NOT BUY their phones. They won't unlock them when you want to change, Oh they will tell you they unlocked them but they don't no matter how many times you call them. If you must go with this low cost service buy your unlocked phone from an independent like Amazon. That way when you want to change it will be possible. Service Value Quality Date of experience: November 9, 2024I redeemed mine reward points and never received call customer service 4 times and today stay on the phone for 1 hour no result Date of experience: November 25, 2024I do not appreciate your bad cell service. Multiple times I have had to reset my kids phone just so it gets service. This last time was the last straw. Thank you for terrible service. I will be giving a bad reference every time someone asks. Hanna Nash - 1 Date of experience: October 4, 2024I had constant problems with them shutting off my phone every month. I decided to pay for 1 year service in advance thinking that would make it smoother. I was paying about $20 per month. The year program was 250 - $300. A month later and they tell me That I used up all my minutes. What a bunch of nonsense. Tip for consumers:I should have gotten a refund. Don't take your chances with this company, you will lose Products used:None Service Value Date of experience: July 8, 2024Today is day 5 of me dealing with Tracphone. Each time it is to be fixed by waiting, 2 hours, or 24 hours. Last night, I was told I needed a new phone #. It is a new phone #-I have never used the phone. I was then told to wait 24 hrs and "all would be working". I am on the phone now-after 24 hrs-can't make a call, can't log in, etc. Then the customer service rep accidentally dropped the connection after 25 mins and didn't call back. Now, I am on the line with another person who has to see what was done tonight and what else needs done. I bought the phone, I purchased a new SIM card, I already loaded 30 days of minutes. Nothing...It's not worth headache! Date of experience: June 22, 2024I have had no service since yesterday morning, and the agent I talked to over chat was unable to fix the problem--he was only able to tell me there was a "service mismatch." Tracfone was supposed to have someone call back at my alternate phone number, but I never got a call back. I called the customer service line, and according to the AI operator, there is a service outage in my area (central KY) and it won't be restored until 6 am July 11! I find it odd that there is nothing on their site alerting people to the fact that there is an outage--and nothing in the news either. They were happy to take my money when I paid my bill a few days ago--but you can be sure they won't give any credit for the several days we will be out of service. On another occasion, I refilled my service with a card I bought at the store, but never got credit for it--and had to pay online to get my service restored. I never got a refund for the card I bought. The only reason I have kept this phone is because I have so much data on it, and it would be a pain to switch to a new phone. But now I am seriously considering it. Service Value Shipping Returns Quality Date of experience: July 4, 2024Tracphone has the worst possible customer service. I bought a phone and they could not properly activate it and six straight days I am calling because I can't make or receive calls. After the six days they still telling me I can call backwater not knowing what is going on with the phone. Date of experience: May 20, 2024Although the set up was free originally, the phone sucked n stop working so I had to purchase a new one. They sent another faulty one and has been giving me the run around for months. Still have not received my refund even though they have the phone back! Customer service sucks. They either hang up, transfer u a million times, or tell u you're going to get a call back and never receive that call back. I hate them so much omg. Service Value Shipping Returns Quality Date of experience: January 25, 2024When I bought a new phone from them I tried to activate it and they were incapable of doing so. They were not even capable of giving me the info I needed to port over my number. I say I can't make calls or text and they tell me to call corporate. I had to borrow a phone from my neighbor and after wasting more time they did not help activate it. I had to go to Xfinity where they gave me a new number because Tracfone would not give me the pin necessary to port my old number. They asked me to provide 4 numbers I had called most recently and after I gave it they said I failed verification though I gave numbers I really called. Now I have to give up the number I have had for years and change it everywhere because of their total incompetence. Date of experience: March 29, 2024Never buy from them. My nephew lost his phone and they won't change his plan to the new phone because we can't receive a code. Told me I need a new number and pay for more service. Unprofessional and not worth the money. Service Value Shipping Returns Quality Date of experience: March 12, 2024After years of being a tracfone customer yesterday I suddenly could not make or receive calls. Their outsourced tech help is useless and after 2 hours chatting with them on my computer they said they could not fix it, too bad. Metro has an actual office in my little town and today I went in ported to a new phone and got a great deal on a new Samsung a 15 great phone value of service and fantastic "American" young lady for tech help any time I need it. I think Verizon wanted me off my $15 a month plan and thats how thy did it. They suck GO T MOBILE Tip for consumers:Goodbye Products used:T Mobile Service Value Shipping Returns Quality Date of experience: January 30, 2024Every 2 weeks I had to call for the same issue, they changed my phone number 3times, I purchased a card and still no help they say we will call you back I'm still waiting, they all sound like scammers asking me for the last four of my social, no one has ever asked for that before out of the 65 times I've called, Extra poor service. And yes my name is Jackie. Products used:Just a SIM card and a 20.00 prepaid card, never ever again, they should stop the bull ish with troubleshooting and go through the settings with the customer something might be checked off and it shouldn’t. They DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING AT ALL Service Value Quality Date of experience: March 8, 2024SO, disappointed in this co. Have been a customer for YEARS. Their service coverage is spotty & they've recently changed to Verizon only. I cannot get coverage unless I travel 10 miles from home. I have 1,1300 minutes left & I can't use them! U can't email this company. Live Chats u just go round in a circle explaining your problem over & over. I'm in auto enroll and will lose $435 due to not using their service. Stay away! They refunded me $22 out of $430. It's like a scam! We've spent LITERALLY 8 hrs. With foreign customer service reps. Tip for consumers:Tracfone SAID they have coverage in my area, but they do NOT! Products used:Nokia flip phone & apple iPhone cell coverage Service Value Shipping Returns Quality Date of experience: September 19, 2022Tracfone? Total systemic incompetence, complete lack of accountability or follow-up, and a severe language barrier with all customer service representatives--if you can comprehend one word of a sentence you're doing well. Over the past week I spent more than 20 hours attempting to activate my new Tracfone and get it working reliably, much of that with "high level" technical support. They were incapable of addressing my problems. I'm now attempting to return the phone for a refund and cancel my service, and that is turning out to be extremely difficult. Avoid them at all cost. Products used:Samsung Galaxy A53 5G cell phone Service Value Shipping Returns Quality Date of experience: August 26, 2022I've had nothing but trouble and bad experiences with TracFone wireless. I bought two cell phones from them and both of them were bad and it was literally like pulling teeth to get any customer service. I ended up having to contact my bank and file a claim to get my money back. Also, I'm a senior citizen and I have trouble hearing sometimes during phone conversations. Nobody at TracFone speaks very good English. When you call their phone number for customer service the call is redirected out of the United States to some foreign country where they speak little or no English. Good luck with that. I would highly recommend that you do not do any business with track phone but go to one of their other competitors. There are plenty of prepaid wireless services out there that provide you your money's worth along with good customer service. TracFone is not one of them Products used:Smartphone Service Value Shipping Returns Quality Date of experience: September 7, 2023I recently bought an iPhone from tracfone. Found out after this purchase that customer service does not know anything about activating this phone. They suggested I go to an Apple store for assistance. Very unprofessional. If I could have I would have given a zero. Date of experience: January 22, 2024$#*!in Stupid as hell, ordered a sim card and paid for a payment plan and I received the sim card but not the service plan card, chatted with support and they said I didn't order a phone plan, I've got the email receipt and transaction on my card showing I paid for the phone plan. Tehn I called the service number and they said the same $#*!in thing. Aint using tracfone again, worst $#*!in thing that ever existed. Products used:neither Service Value Shipping Quality Date of experience: February 19, 2024I recently called to have my phone shut off because it was stolen and they refused to shut it off. They kept saying because I couldn't confirm the text that they sent… well obviously if my phone was stolen, I can't confirm a text! But I can confirm the payment method. I can also confirm the email address where the billing went through. By the way I can also confirm my name as the buyer of the phone! If one cent comes out of my account for a top off I will be dyeing this company! You are thieves and aiding in a theft. I will never purchase another thing from Trashfone! Service Value Shipping Date of experience: January 26, 2024... for my purposes. I really do not want a cellphone at all. However at certain times I must use one. For these times my LG flip TracFone* service is adequate. I refill minutes as needed and time each call to no longer than ten minutes. For a telephone minimalist, this has fit the bill. Date of experience: September 30, 2019I went to refill my Tracfone's minutes and service time using a card purchased at Walmart. I did this on the Tracfone web site and was told there that the refill was successful. Only problem was that the phone no longer makes or receives calls. I was then told by Tracfone's so-called "customer service" that my phone was no longer compatible with my local cell service. When I asked about a refund, I was told to go to Walmart, but, of course, the card is non-refundable. Tracfone has essentially stolen $20 from me. Unless you enjoy being ripped off, there is no reason to use Tracfone. Also, when making other telecommunication decisions (TV, Internet, etc.) remember that Verizon owns Tracfone. Do you want to do business with a company like this? Products used:Refill Card Service Value Quality Date of experience: July 12, 2022I enrolled in auto refill because of a discount offer of $5.00 per month. After signing up, I did not receive the discount. I added my credit card information and the offer "magically" disappeared. I called customer service and no less than 3 people hung up on me when I tried to get the issue resolved. Now, I am trying to get a refund for my entire service and disconnect my service. Please be careful with this company. They are extremely unprofessional. UPDATE: The problem has been solved. I was given what was previously promised and 2 months free service for the inconveniences. All is well. Thank you! Service Value Quality Date of experience: July 5, 2022Four family members use Tracfone and nobody plans on switching. Six months ago I bought a $20 (Tracfone) Alcatel smart phone that includes triple minutes/data/texts. Its an Android and is similar to a Samsung. I live in a suburb of a Chicago and my cell service has been fantastic. I spend $49/ yr for service, texts are $5 per 1,000 and if I buy a card for minutes its tripled. Very inexpensive for great reception. Tip for consumers:Search for promo codes online or sign up for texts from Tracfone. Instead of buying minutes cards when you run out of texts, go to Tracfone.com and under “Buy Air Time” look for “Add-Ons”, where you can buy 1,000 texts for $5.00 Service Value Quality Date of experience: April 22, 2018I've been using tracfone.com since 2008. I am very happy with them. They have great customer service. One of the phones on my account quit working within the warranty period and they sent me a new one asap. Since then I bought 2 more phones for my family and haven't had any other problems. Date of experience: May 21, 2011I have two Tracfones. Pros: I pay only $20 every three months for each, buying the cheapest card. I use wi-fi almost entirely for data, so don't need to pay for any above the minimum. After several years, with rollover, I have accumulated over three solid days of talk time on each phone. If I could stay awake, I could talk around the clock many times. The phones I bought from them are refurbished, very cheap, and work well. Cons: Their website is very basic, filled with urgings to buy plans and phones, and has gotten worse lately. I have a hard time navigating it. Their customer service is adequate when buying things and a bit less so when needing help. Bonus codes seem to be disappearing. Overall: Cheap, usable, probably not for heavy-duty phone users. (I have Mint Mobile for more major/vital use.) Still, four stars. Tip for consumers:Unsure. Products used:Two phones currently. Various other phones over the years. Service Value Shipping Quality Date of experience: January 27, 2022Service works fine when working. If you have a question or require technical support be prepared to spend untold hours on the phone. Most likely get bounced around to several agents all of whom read from a script. Repeat themselves many times and this is if you can understand them in the first place. To top it off they recently truncated service without warning ostensibly due to a takeover by Verizon. After two days and working myself up to supposedly manager level support things actually got worse. Only comm left was being able to receive text from TracFone and now even that is gone. After 6 or 7 years BYE BYE TracFone! Products used:Service Service Value Date of experience: August 14, 2022