Complaint Review: Net 10 - Sacramento California

Six months ago I bought a Trac Phone Net 10 cell phone from a "Big Box" store retailer.  It could not be activated straight out of the box.  Unfortunately I lost the receipt so I could not take it back to the store for a refund.  When I contacted Net 10 Trac Phone they said their official policy is never to give refunds - they just send you a replacement phone & ask you to return the defective phone to them.

I have been sent EIGHT replacement phones and NONE of them worked - not even for one minute.  I have spent as long as TWO HOURS on the phone with 800# call centers trying to activate the cell phone. Frequently their website does not function properly to activate a new phone and you have to talk to their offshore, foreign call center.

Not only is it India Philipine call center - but in obscure nations in Africa.  The staff cannot speak English and is extremely incompetent.  They just read from a script and then deny there is any problem with your phone and it must be your fault the cell phone won't work.

In the last 6 months when i was dealing with 8 defective cell phones - It is never less than one hour I spend on the phone with the idiot customer service representative.  They are very rude, inept and argumentative - they refuse to transfer you to a supervisor and state "we don't have supervisors and I am the ONLY person at Trac Phone Net 10 who can help you".  When you insist that they fix the problem they put you on hold and then deliberately drop the call and disconnect you.

These phones are NOT NEW - they are old used "reconditioned" cell phones that have been cleaned up and repackaged - that is why they don't work.

What Trac Phone and Net 10 are really about is SELLING YOU TALK TIME - when you buy the phone from a retail store - you can't use it unless you buy at least $30 of talk time - so they get your money up front - the piece of crap cell phone doesn't work even one minute - and they refuse to refund your talk time money and refuse to refund you for the cost of the phone.  You can't use the phone straight out of the box - the FREE BONUS talk time which is advertised on the box is a RACKET.  You never get to use that "free talk time" because the phone cannot be activated in order for you to redeem it.  What you have to do is PURCHASE a minimum of $30 of talk time in order for the phone to be activated.  Then the phone breaks and won't work so you cannot even use the talk time you PAID FOR -  and forget about those FREE BONUS MINUTES - they promise up to 450 minutes of free talk time and it is a lie.

A friend let me borrow her Trac Phone Net 10 phone for awhile and the reception was awful - like talking into a tin can with a lot of echo - and really scratchy sound.

I am going to write letters to the CEO's of Safeway, Target, Wal Mart, K Mart, CVS Pharmacy and ask them to stop selling this brand.

piece of crap worst cell phone I ever had in my life.

I lost $30 of talk time I bought and I also lost $30 I paid for this piece of crap phone.  8 months of my time - probably 2 hours a week

you are better off talking into an orange juice can with a string attached to another tin can than trying to talk on a Trac Phone Net 10 cell