I bought a one year plan & refurbished phone from TracFone (www.tracfone.com). I have had a problem with my tracfone from day one. It took from the day I got it (4/9) until 4/27 to finally get the thing activated. I tried to port my verizon number, and received a new sim card the second day or so, but that didn't work because the number didn't port. That didn't bother me, as long as I got the phone to work. I called customer service. The person I talked to asked for my SIM card #, the new sim card I had just received, and told me that the SIM card wouldn't work in my area. She said she would send a new one. I waited 3 days and never received a new one. DON'T LIE AND TELL ME YOU'RE SENDING A SIM CARD IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO NOTHING.

I called back and the next person told me that my number didn't port and that he would have to send me a new sim card so that I would have a phone number. Sim card # 3. On 4/24 it did come, I popped it in the phone, went thru the activation online, on the phone, and nothing happened again. I called back on two different occasions, was walked thru a ton of code-entering. Once they got the phone "activated" they asked if I had an airtime card to add, to which I gave them the number. The typical ending answer would be to "wait 3-4 hours and if it isn't working then call back." Which I did. Again and again.

In the early morning of 4/27 the phone actually was working, and actually had its very own phone number, but out of my 250 minute card (ended up being 400 minutes total with bonuses, every time I tried to activate the card it told me that much) I only had 120 minutes on my phone. And that happened by accident by one of the people trying to help me get my phone activated, I entered a code she read me and 120 minutes show up on my phone.

So I called back on 4/28 to find why the remaining minutes weren't received. The last time I called tracfone was the worst. I called and ended up with a man who I hung up on because I couldn't understand what he was saying because his English was so heavily accented. No problem, I could deal with that.

Calling back I got someone I could understand. I explained that I didn't receive my original 400 minutes, but I had 120 (which seemed to confuse her) and asked why I didn't receive the other 380 minutes. She checked the airtime card and told me that the card had been redeemed on 4/12 (funny...my phone wasn't even working then!!!) and that I had used my minutes. I said no, I couldn't have used my minutes because I didn't get the phone to work until 4/27. Is someone else using my minutes? She said no, that I had used them. At this point I was very angry. Finally, during one of the many "I need to consult with someone, can you hold" episodes, I asked if I could talk to her supervisor since she wasn't helping me.

After 15 minutes or so on hold, he came on the line. I told him my problem and he told me the same thing, that the phone card had been activated and the minutes had been used. I told him that I hadn't used them. I was so furious that I then told him I wanted a return authorization number to return the damned thing and get my money back. He said he would have to talk to his supervisor. I asked if I could talk to his supervisor. He said sure, let me get her, and I spent another 15 minutes on hold to have the same man come back on!!!

Then he said he would try and get me my minutes. No return authorization number. He fiddled with things, I entered codes, and when nothing worked, he lied to me and told me that the system was down, he couldn't give me my minutes tonight, and to call back tomorrow. WHAT?!! Tracfone's service motto must be "Call back tomorrow so maybe you would forget about the whole damn thing because the maze of customer service is so aggravating customers would rather forget they wasted their money than keep dealing with customer support."

So he ended up LYING TO ME because when I got bitchy with him, mainly because I had by then spent over an hour on the phone with customer nonsupport, he fiddled around some more and ended up telling me FINALLY HE SENT THE REMAINING 380 MINUTES and that I should receive them shortly. I have waited. I am still waiting. Still 380 minutes missing.

After all of these many phone calls and hours on the phone I have still not received the original 400 minutes that I PAID FOR!!!!

This morning, while trying to help myself and going thru the instructions online (which are a hell of a lot more helpful than anyone I've spoken to thru customer support) suddenly I received a text message that says "0 units and 380 bonus minutes added. Please turn phone off and on. Time: 7:38pm 4/30/07" I don't know if my phone wasn't set correctly and I just now got this message or if it's been there all the time. But I've since turned the phone on and off, on and off, and nothing. NOTHING!!!

The worst part about this whole ordeal (worse than the lying) is that you only have one freaking phone number to which you always get people that can't help, follow that damned script which is very annoying because if you get someone off their script they don't know what the hell they're doing, and to which English is not their first language, which I would think would be essential to providing helpful customer support. Divide up the phone line and specialize people, then maybe SOMEONE would know how to fix the problem!

I have already filed a report with the BBB. I'm just getting this out there to as many sites as possible.