Unless you’re into masochism, of course.
So I’ve been trying since early May to get Drek Fone to change my phone to the local area code.
TL;DR: Their online system doesn’t work, neither does calling their 800 customer abuse line, nor email. Ditto for their “Chat” which can’t actually be found on their web site.
Right now, my phone shows that I have 1208.10 minutes and 316 service days. I won’t be terribly surprised if all that airtime disappears.
Trac Fone called this evening. Since they were supposed to call (as scheduled via email) two days ago, I was a little surprised.
It did not go well. And, no, they still didn’t fix my phone number.
Hee’s the email I sent to their corporate office when I got off the phone:
Dear Effing Moron (please see earlier emails regarding term of address),
At 5:02PM EDT, 6/10/15, I received a call from Trac Fone. This is roughly 45.5 hours late, as the call was scheduled for 7:30PM two days ago. When asked, your rep stated that the call was in regards to my requested phone number change. I expressed surprise since I’ve only been trying (online, by phone, and through email) to get this changed since early May.
The rep insisted that my number had not been changed because I would not provide the answer to the “security question” (father’s middle name) despite the fact that I have provided that information several times. Again, I gave him the correct answer.
He then informed me the number had not been changed. I replied, “No shit,” since I’ve been attempting with a laughable lack of success to change the number for almost six weeks.
Your rep then informed me that he would terminate the call for language, so I hung up.
You’ve got my phone number (demonstrably, since I’ve given it to you more times than I can count without pulling up copies of all the message traffic and screen captures. You’ve got the phone serial number (ditto). You’ve got the new zip code (yep, that one, too). You’ve got the security question answer (many times).
Either change the number and return my lost airtime (47 minutes, 21 seconds for the first call; 58 seconds for this call; total 48 minutes, 19 seconds), or stop bugging me to no purpose.
If your tender sensibilities can’t handle irate customers, perhaps you shouldn’t jerk them around for weeks.
—
Carl “Bear” Bussjaeger Author:
Net Assets, Bargaining Position, The Anarchy Belt, and more
Free Books, Craft How-To Articles:
http://www.bussjaeger.org/
I will grant that this call came from someone with an acceptable grasp of American English. I suspect it might even have been a lawyer, since the only thing he was definite on was that the call was being recorded (for the record, I did not consent to recording which could be interesting in court: Florida, where Trac Fone is located, is a two-party consent state. Well, that and the fact that — despite Trac Fone’s own delusional claims (see previous updates) — they still had not changed my number.
Yesterday, I found this amusing. Today, they have me pissed off again.
Ah! And I have a new email from the idiots. They aren’t going to change my number at all now.
We talked to you today, June 10, 2015, 5:00 PM EST at 6038649390. In the middle of our conversation, we identified a foul language, we warned about it and then you hung up. In this case, we were unable to continue your request for a phone number change. Please reach us from a different phone if you pursue to change your phone number.
“We”? They’re fond of the royal plural. I only heard one Trac Fone person on that call.
“Middle of the conversation”? Hardly, I said, “No shit” at the end. He simply said he would terminate the call, so I hung up then.
“Unable to continue”? Why? They had every piece of information they themselves claim they need. Heck, they’ve gotten the “security question” answer from me multiple times now, both by phone and email. Anonymous “TracFone Wireless” dickhead means, “Wah, ‘we’ can’t take it when our customers speak up about us screwing them over! I won’t continue!”
ADDED,6/10/15, 9PM: Oh,why not?
I just filed Public Service Commission and Federal Trade Commission complaints.
The PSC might do something, but I’m not holding my breath.
The FTC doesn’t resolve individual complaints at all. But…
They do collect complaints, and when they get a bunch on the same company they start investigating. Because it’s profitable. In fact, the reason I thought of complaining to the FTC about TracFone is that TracFone was just forced to pay the FTC $40,000,000 for ripping people off with bogus “unlimited” data plans. I expect they’ll be happy for an excuse to shake them down again.
Random Acts of Gibberish 