Complaint Review: Straight Talk Cell Phone Service

I used Straight Talk, with good service, for several months prior to purchasing several months of prepaid service  & getting rid of my landline.

Soon afterwards, my Straight Talk phone screen stopped working.  I had to ship it back to the company (Walmart will not take phones back after 2 weeks).  They send an envelope to ship the phone in.  This meant I was without a phone for a few days of troubleshooting, a few days for their envelope to arrive and more than a week for the phone to be returned.  During that time, I had to have a phone, so I bouht a Slider phone for $69.99,  plus tax.  After a few weeks, it kept dropping soon after talking on it.  I had to send it back to Straight Talk.  Once again, I am without a phone while troubleshooting, waiting for the envelope and the week + for getting the phone back.  I cannot transfer my number to another Straight Talk phone during that time or they will not fix my phone for free; at least, that is what I was told.  Once I got the phone back, I found the same problems existed.  Walmart would not refund my $70.00+ .  From communicating with many other customers, I found the Straight Talk phone that I purchased was one that used AT&T service instead of Verizon.  No one at Straight Talk told me any of the phones differed in the server they were able to access.  I called Straight Talk and told them the phone did not work because it accessed AT&T service and I did not have good reception where I lived.  They sent me a brand new phone - exactly like the first one that did not work where I live. 

Now, I have 2 phones, exactly alike that do not work well in my area.  I have a refurbished phone that was sent to me after my first phone went out.  Since I had paid for several months of service, I went out and both another of their phones for $99.99.  It worked great, but then stopped working right after about 5 weeks.  Again, Walmart would not let me return the phone.  I have not been able to get a phone signal for more than 4 days.  I have been in touch with customer service during this whole time.  They are little to no help.  They keep having me do the same things over and over.  I don't think those people know what they are talking about.  By a couple of days ago, it became obvious that something is wrong with the phone.  There is no dial tone and the battery won't hold a charge through the night.  I am having to go through the several days of customer service, then I will receive an envelope and then my phone will be away for over a week.  At least, this is what I expect.

During this whole time, I am paying the $45/mo and am not reimbursed for the time the times I am out of service.  From my own experience, and what I have read that other Straight Talk users have written, I have to wonder if their phones are defective.  I use electron things all the time and have never so many problems with things not working.

Straight Talk has got to have some of the worst Customer Service around.  Every time I speak with one of their representatives, it takes forever to have a conversation.  All of them have heavy foreign accents and use very poor English.  I cannot understand them; and, they cannot understand me.

If you get what you pay for, Straight Talk users deserve a lot more than the $30 or $45 low quality service that Straigh Talk provides.  It is very bad.