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I have not dealt with their customer service, but if anything goes wrong I can always buy another one for $10 and reactivate the number. All other info they request (name, home number, birth date) is not required and you can even skip it or lie about it. After reading the bad reviews, I reluctantly bought one of these phones, however for only $10 I decided to give it a shot anyway. I activated the phone using the tracfone website and I have to say that it was easy and fairly quick. Also, when you register online all you need is the long string of numbers that comes on a card within the package, your email address, your zip code and the zip code of the area where you will be using it most. Signal strength has been excellent (4-5 bars) just about everywhere I have been so far. The airtime cards have been working smoothly and the minutes+expiration date rollover everytime you redeem minutes.
Do not give out the number to everyone, it can run into real money if used too much, this phone is meant for sporadic and emergency use only. Buy airtime cards at any major retailer, pharmacy, 711s and supermarkets, it is easier than doing it online and less aggravating.
The phone itself is a good quality piece of hardware for the money and it has a bright and colorful screen and backlighting. Do not setup your voicemail option, you will know the number of the person that has called without losing minutes.
I read the start-up instructions (very clear step by step with pictures) and did accordingly. Tips to keep cost to a minimum: buy the double minute card before any other cards.
Overall: VERY GOOD. The phone was activated in literally minutes and it has been working beautifully ever since.
The phone sounds loud and clear and it has more features than I expected.
Like most of us, I'm too busy to do more. NOTE: If you check out my other Amazon reviews, you'll notice that I usually only take time to review products and services that I especially enjoy. By the way, I'm moving to T-Mobile's pre-paid plan, which I've found offers slightly lower rates for my particular needs and, most important for me, significantly better customer service.
Recently, though, after my first problem that required customer service, I decided to cancel my service. Unethical companies like this don't deserve my business--or yours. I used a Tracfone for a few years with decent results--the phone was fine in most basic ways.
I should have trusted the army of web reviewers who've issued similar warnings, and now I find myself adding to that list. In this case, though, with clearly unethical behavior and lost money involved, I simply feel the need to warn others like you. As I've learned again and again in my life, a company's true merits emerge when a problem arises and a consumer seeks reasonably fair resolution.
In my case, I just lost $100 of minutes due to Tracfone's error, and despite my calls to 3 service reps and 2 supervisors, I received nothing more than an apology.
Battery life is a little short and the phone cannot be used while it is charging (that's a pretty big negative, IMO). If you have a child who you want to carry a cell phone, but don't want to pay lots of money for all of the extras (or if you yourself just want a "basic" phone), this is a good value for the money. If you just want a dependable phone to carry with you in case of emergencies, this phone fits the bill nicely. But overall, this is a good starter phone and serves the purpose. Large screen displays numbers very clearly. Sound quality is good.
So that makes me want to dig out my c139 and reactivate it.It also never dropped a call and back then I was on the cell a bit more than I am now. Another great thing with the tracfone is that you NEVER lose your minutes as long as you purchase airtime by the due date. It's solid, durable and the battery time is awesome. because even though the bells and whistles are nice and fun for a while, what I really want is a reliable, solid phone. They never ask for your social security number.NEVER. This was a great little phone (more detailed review in the next paragraph), I say was because I am a bit of a Tracfone new model junkie and tend to purchase their latest and greatest (in the last year I have been through the W376g, the V170, the V176. I am mainly writing this because Tracfone is an HONEST company and will NOT steal your identity as previously noted by another reviewer who I think is rather disgruntled with Tracfone. It is a tad slow to start up, but I keep my phone on all the time so that wasn't too much of a bother.
My current Tracfone (an LG225) does not get reception their either. Even the best rollover plan out there for pay by the month cell plans only lets you roll over for 12 months.I will take the time to write my reviews on the LG225 and others, but the more I write, the more I think I will reactivate this little phone (and add that double minutes for life card). I should point out that my current phone came with double minutes for life of the phone. And that is what this phone is. Most of the time I can find a promotional code where it will give you bonus minutes. Great signal reception. I buy a 60 minute card every 90 days for around $20.00 and I get 120 minutes. Because I have been a customer for at least 8 if not more years and have dealt with their customer service more times than I can count.
My heading does say I pay around $7.00 a month for my phone. Employees used to ask what kind of phone it was because their own fancy schmancy phones wouldn't work. I actually miss this phone which I used for about a year.yes, it's basic, no bells and whistles phone, but the reception is great. It is nearly impossible to get reception in our local WalMart, however, this little phone never had a problem.
If you're tired of the high charges and contract hassles, give this a try. The only caveat to this service is that you get dinged for an entire minute even if you only used 2 seconds of it. I bought this phone because I was sick of Sprint's contracts. I spent $100 on 1200 minutes and a year's worth of service. But with all the other good stuff that it does have, that little detail doesn't bother me a bit. It has been great for the following reasons:- cheap ($13)- superb coverage: I travel coast to coast and even get service in the backwoods of rural Alabama (Costa Rica too)- battery lasts and lasts (and lasts)- easy to use All I wanted was a phone that worked. After previously owning the $700 mini-computer type phone I was ready to kick 'em all to the curb but this has been great.
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