I had been a Tracfone customer for at least 4 years when I bought two new phones this past July to replace the analog ones I originally had.
Minutes were transferred fine, I placed both phones on Autopay, as the old ones had been for some time, and thought things were fine until mid October, when one of the phones was deactivated.
Called Tracfone to try and straighten it out, was placed on hold at least seven times by the person I was talking to after being told there was "a problem with my credit card" being charged and she was going back and forth between me and "her supervisor". After I spent nearly 40 minutes trying to resolve the problem, the line went dead.
I called back and, very upset, explained the situation to the next person I got, who transferred me directly to the Autopay department, where my problem was handled in about 15 minutes, and only after I had to buy 30 more units of time (to add to the 300 I still had on that phone) in order to get it reactivated.
Apparently my billing date for Autopay comes AFTER the date when I would ordinarily have to add units if Autopay weren't in effect. Translation - their error... And I was given an additional 30 minutes (free) as compensation.
I specifically asked about my second phone, not wanting the same thing to happen to it... It's on Autopay... I've never had a problem with Autopay in all the years I have owned a Tracfone. Was assured by the person on the other end that it would not happen to my second phone.
Last week while out I tried to make a call with my second phone and discovered that it, too, had been deactivated. Again, the Autopay billing date comes AFTER the date it says I needed to add more time (which I did not, having over 125 units left on this phone.
This problem had never happened before with my old phones.
I waited the weekend and called Tracfone Monday morning, got connected quickly, and explained that I want to transfer the minutes from the second phone to the first phone and leave it deactivated because I signed up with Verizon instead. I spoke with someone who again said she "needed to check with her supervisor on how to transfer" my units, and again spent a lot of time on hold. When she came back the fourth or fifth time, the line went dead.
I called back and got someone else in the Autopay department who took care of the problem immediately.
Living in a rural area as I do, I need to have dependable service and can't be wondering from one month to the next whether I'll have service or whether the billing practices are up to snuff. So, like I said, I signed up for a regular family plan from Verizon and gave the second (still operational) phone to my daughter to use.
Which is too bad, really, because I had previously had no problems with Tracfone before this.
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