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Posted in Forum: Electronics
Hello,
Are you aware of the constant issues trying to activate the Tracfone Phone bundles that you offer? I have been purchasing your bundles for a few years including 4 bundles between myself and my parents. Each and every time that we activate a phone, they either do it wrong, or it has no data for a while. They always ask for a Service Pin Card, of which is NOT included in your bundles.
Who can I talk to about this as the last phone my parents purchased was activated on 4/20/25, assured by Tracfone that it was good to go, and we had proof that it was good until 5/26. However, only 18 days after the phone was activated (1 year unlimited plan with 12GB of data) her phone stopped working completely with an error of the phone being deactivated.
She called the company, as their chat was totally useless, and was instructed to purchase the $15 Unlimited Talk and Text plan with 1GB of data. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I hear Unlimited, I think it is not tied to the data plan. Why they didn’t instruct her to just purchase more data (if in fact she was out of data) instead of buying ANOTHER Unlimited talk and text plan. Does that make it Unlimited+ or Unlimited no takesee backsee?
This is not the first time that Tracfone has tried to pull this on us. I had to fight tooth and nail to get my last bundle activated that had 24GB of data and Unlimited talk/text. It took 2 times of being depleted (ONLY by time, not even by data standards) and multiple phone calls and chat sessions to get it rectified.
What I NEED you to do, is communicate with Tracfone on how the bundles are sold. We don’t get a Service Plan card. We are told that the phone comes with it. That must not be correct, as they ALWAYS ask for that number and say we didn’t get any plan with the phone.
Either Home Shopping Network is part of this scam, or they just don’t care that the bundle they are selling is the biggest hassle ever. Can someone please look into this? Why is this always a hassle, and I know that more people have had the same issues. Why does this continue to happen?
Thank you.
They do offer plans with unlimited talk/text and 24GB data for the year, but getting that honored is another thing. I’ve found numerous complaints across various forums whereas the phone was activated but with a limited number of minutes or with no plan whatsoever.
I encountered the same issue. The Samsung A15 was offered with unlimited talk/text and 24GB data for a year. I successfully activated the phone. After a few days, I lost the ability to make or receive calls. It took probably an hour to “resolve” with Tracfone support. Less than 3 weeks later, I went through the same exact thing. And again a couple of months after that. I think the support agents had been applying temporary fixes to get me off their plate. This most recent agent seems to have been able to finally get me on the correct plan. We shall see.
I believe in my case, it may have been HSN that sent out the wrong item. Though I received the correct phone and accessories, the item number on the shipping inventory doesn’t match anything on the Tracfone box. It seems to just be the phone with no plan included.
Regardless, I cannot wait until I’m free to move to another carrier.
Moderator- 01.05.25 7:56 PM
Yes, @lucy822, each order should contain a red activation card. The instructions are as follows:
To Activate follow the steps below:
Open your phone package.
Find the Red Activation Card that says START HERE, you will need your phone’s Serial Number which is written inside the white box as it is required for activation.
You do not need to provide a Service Plan PIN during Activation. Your initial Service Plan PIN comes bundled with your phone and will be automatically added during the activation process.
Go to Activate.Tracfone.com or call this exclusive number, 1-800-816-0663.
If you are a current Tracfone customer upgrading to a new phone, you will be able to transfer your service and airtime balance to your new phone. (Safelink customers cannot upgrade or transfer service to this phone)
My phone is activated. Just can’t get the 365 days of free service that was supposed to come with it. Tracfone says no.
What is the deal?
- Moderator
- 01.04.25 1:40 PM
I’m sorry you’re having trouble with your Tracfone activation, @lucy822. It’s important that you go to Activate.Tracfone.com or call this exclusive number, 1-800-816-0663 for our HSN customers. If you have further problems, please don’t hesitate to reach out again.
Hello peachy79,
I have been using Tracfone for years. I have never had a problem with rolling over my existing minutes and having them combined with the new mins, data, etc. Although you aren’t rolling over, the way to handle this is to call them (Tracfone) again and they will ask for your sim card number. Well, whatever info is in the little book with the red cover. That information identifies your program purchase through HSN. They will activate your phone and you will turn it off and then turn it on again. You should see your minutes by texting Balance to 611 611. Sometimes it happens immediately and sometimes it takes a little longer. If you can call from another phone and do the activation with the technician in real time, you shouldn’t have a problem.
Posted in Forum: ElectronicsHow long do we have to activate this phone? Normally, with Tracfones purchased on HSN/QVC, we have 365 days. However, when this question was asked on the Q site, it responded 350 days for activation. This is to be a gift, so the timing is important to me.
Posted in Forum: ElectronicsI purchased Blu Tracfone unlimited “ talk/text/data on May 1, 2024, received May 7, 2024, supposedly good for one year. Hyped by host and rep. from Tracfone. Turns out data was not unlimited. Fine. Added at extra cost to me. Yesterday, July 7, phone cut off in middle of conversation. Tracfone says my plan is 1500/ talk/text. NOT what they said when I activated.
Have contacted HSN “sorry for your disappointment with your order, cannot issue replacement/refund because beyond 30 days”, contacted Tracfone: “Your plan is 1500 talk/text.
DO NOT EVER BELIEVE HSN WHEN DEALING WITH OUTSIDE VENDOR. I’ve ordered thousands of dollars worth of products from HSN/QVC. Have never been so deceived with no recourse. Never ever ordering anything from HSN again.
Posted in Forum: Customer ServiceIs it exactly 1 yr from purchase date the time limit to Activate the TracFone to get the 1500 minutes etc that come with the phone? Is there any grace period or other stipulations?
Posted in Forum: ElectronicsIs it exactly 1 yr from purchase date the time limit to Activate the TracFone to get the 1500 minutes etc that come with the phone? Is there any grace period or other stipulations?
Dec. 3 2024 New Galaxy Phone & bundle arrives. I spent 6 hours one Sunday with my Daughter trying to get it activated. Then an additional hour three more times, THAT IS 9 HOURS.
Still will not accept the bundle part of the phone activation.
This is outrageous. Tracfone says no plan associated with the phone. Activation website will not work. HSN was no help. Tracfone is no help. THIS IS A TRUE NIGHTMARE !!!
I have absolutely no choice but to SEND IT BACK
I just activated a Samsung Galaxy A13 Tracfone that I purchased 11 months ago. Obviously, when it shipped it had the latest version of the software. 11 months later the phone wanted to schedule a software update. I updated it. Then, it wanted to update again and again. I called Tracfone and they could not help me. They told me to call Samsung. What I discovered is the Galaxy does not update to the latest version in just ONE update. You have to go through each update one at a time to get to the latest version. I thought the phone was broken, but after 4 successive updates the phone was on the latest software and working “just fine”. So, when the HSN/QVC host says you have 1 year to activate the phone, don’t panic with multiple updates if you wait a long time to activate your software. I was disappointed that Tracfone told me to call Samsung without a little more knowledge. In the end, everything was fine!
Posted in Forum: ElectronicsLast October, I purchased a Tracfone Samsung Galaxy A13 5G 6.5″ HD+ w/1500 Min./Text/Data/365 Days from your company. It was Item 802-380, and I paid $139.99.
My Order# was XXXXXXXXX
I purchased this item because the biggest feature was that I didn’t have to activate the item for a year or more.
Unfortunately, I tried to activate the item, and it didn’t work. The problem is that the phone doesn’t work, and I need the phone because my wife and I are in our 80s and I need to have a phone with us when we’re away from home, in case we need help. I spent about 4 hours on my home phone with Tracfone this week, and they weren’t able to help me, and I did some research and found out that what happened to me is happening to hundreds of people, and many of those people are complaining to higher authorities.
Obviously, there’s a valid reason why I didn’t return this item in 60 days. By copy of this letter, I’m requesting that you refund my money. If you want me to return the defective cellphone to you, your technicians can prove that the item is defective.
If you need any additional information, please call me or email me. My contact information is provided below.
Regards,
Fideauxdon
I have been using Tracfone for several years now. I always activate the phone by logging into tracfone website on my laptop. I click activate, click that I want to keep my same number, then a box will pop up if you want to enter a physical imei number. That is where you enter that number from the red card in the box. In less than 10 minutes the new phone is working. I always take a screenshot of my buckets of text, talk and data to see if the total adds up correctly. If the numbers do not add up correctly, I do a live chat with tracfone and they have always been very responsive.