TracFone Wireless Service

TracFone Wireless Service

I have signed up for the monthly auto-pay program in October 2004 with TracFone so that I don't have to buy new airtime cards every three months or so. The program costs $7.99 per month. In December 2004 during a trip when I wanted to use my phone I learned that it was disconnected. I could not use the phone at all during my travels which was a major inconvenience.

After my trip, I tried to reactivate online, but I could not because it would not let me skip the 'buy

airtime' step even though there is a 'Skip This Step' button to do so. I called the toll free number

(800-867-7183), but after going through a long automated service I was disconnected because of heavy

usage. This happened several times until I finally got a representative. I could barely understand the person and after about an hour of trying different codes on the phone, she decided that the phone is defective and that I should send it back to the manufacturer which was the most unprofessional way to get rid of a customer.

There was nothing wrong with the phone of course. I requested a supervisor, but I was either disconnected or she just hung up on me. After several tries I called again now talking with a different rep. I requested a supervisor again who finally was able to tell me that there was some problem with the Dec04 payment and he transferred me to the AutoPay department. The rep there first tried to make me buy more minutes, but after I refused he put me on hold than I was again 'disconnected'. I called yet again, then I was again transferred to the AutoPay department where I was told that there was some problem, but I was put on hold again to be disconnected again.

I called again, talked yet to another supervisor and asked him to conference in the AutoPay department, but he only transferred me. At this point I was extremely agitated so I asked the rep to make sure that I will not be disconnected. She then said that something must be wrong with my bank and that I should call them, which I thought was unacceptable so yet again I was speaking to a supervisor who eventually admitted that it was indeed a TracFone problem and agreed to reactivate my phone. The only problem was that I had to have a new phone number, because the old one was lost already. She could not enroll me again in the AutoPay program because she had some connection

problems so I had to do it for her while on the phone.

This last conversation took about an hour and a half. TracFone doesn't have a department to handle complaints the supervisor told me. The only thing I could do is for the supervisor to 'write' this case down in an Interaction Number, which I'm sure no one will ever read and act upon. I don't think I have ever encountered a worst customer service anywhere.

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