I purchased a Straight Talk smartphone for my daughter and set up auto-refill to pay for the unlimited data plan.
Three weeks ago, the data service was shut off. My daughter called them to report the internet was inaccessible, but gave up after being transferred through several non-English speaking representatives whose command of English was so poor she couldnt understand them. She still had phone service, so she assumed they would fix the data when her service refilled.
Straight Talk sent me a notice that they were processing the credit card payment on January 21st, and notice that they had refilled the service on January 25th. My credit card statement reports the charge went through on January 23rd. However, the phone was deactivated on the 23rd.
When I called to find out why the phone wasnt working, they said it had been shut off due to excessive data use. When I asked how somebody could use too much data on an unlimited plan, they refused to explain and said they had to question the user about her data use. I explained that would be difficult, considering she couldnt use the phone, and was told the phone would not be turned back on until she called them and hung up on me.
So, it was obvious that they had arbitrarily turned off her data service, with no notice to anyone, and then drafted money for the next month of service, knowing that they were not going to provide service. I think thats called FRAUD.
Their customer service is absolutely horrible. Every time you call, you are transferred from one representative to another and none of them speak English well enough to carry on any semblance of a functional conversation. Frankly, I suspect this is an offshore company hiding behind a Miami address. Every person I have spoken to (bar none) talks in heavily accented Indian.
I am currently filing complaints with the FCC, the Florida State Attorney Generals Offices and the Florida Public Utilities Commission. I would recommend nobody dealing with this company.
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