Tracfone User Reviews

Cons: If you're looking for the latest/greatest this probably isn't it.

Summary: At our historical usage level our monthly bill will go from $90 with Verizon (2 phones -700 minutes which we never come near to using) to around $50 with Tracfone. We've been with Verizon (including other wireless providers they gobbled up) for at least 12 years. Though we've found the charges outrageous and their customer service lacking for sometime (especially in Verizon Stores - nearly always long waits, non existent follow through or problem resolution) we've been reluctant to venture out - like the dog that stays with his master who mistreats him. My parents have used Tracfone for years now and have been pleased - so we finally decided to make the leap. We've not used the service much so I can't comment on signal strength except to say my parents have had signal strength with their Tracfones in places where I have not with Verizon. One hesitation to the switch was all the complaints about customer service, poor english speakers etc... All I can say is that I've been very impressed with the reps I've talked with and throughout the porting process when I've called several times, I've not waited on hold to speak with a live person for more than a minute (very unlike Verizon). My husband is the texter in our family so we had a text upcharge fee on Verizon to cover but since I never text I didn't have a package and would get charged .25 every time someone sent me an unsolicited text (typically bad group forward emails - ugh). I've have to call and say, please don't text me. Now our average text cost will be around 3 cents! 3 cents Tracfone ... 25 Verizon. Let me think about that one for a minute! Just one example.

So far my only beef (minor) is that I didn't feel Tracfone was clear that you could be out of service for a while when the switch is made. The site says it will take 7-10 days to port your number (which I assumed I'd have my other carrier working until then) but then I lost Verizon and when I called they told me I could be without service for up to a week! I ended up being without any service for a bout a day and a half which was not a big deal. My husband was out of service for less than 24 hours. If that's the worst we experience and I can save $500 a year on wireless I'm thrilled. I think my parents have been with them for about 5 years and in all that time my father said he received one bad phone but when he called about it they sent him a replacement without having him wait to ship the other phone back. That's good customer service. I'll post again if the service takes a turn for the worst but based on our experience so far - I'm kicking myself for having waited so long to make the switch.