Tracfone ripoff - can't reach the specific person needed to contact by cellphone Miami Florida

I got my tracfone 15 months ago to use when driving to Houston to visit for all the reasons everyone else uses this company - no monthly bill, ease of use, etc. I had trouble activating it initially, but spoke to 2 people who were Americans & spoke regular english - they even gave me 30 free minutes because of my problems activating - life is good! !

Not so fast - along the way there have been minor glitches adding time & each time I now encounter what these other unhappy customers have: on hold for long periods of time, no one is in charge & the english is deplorable.

Two weeks ago I tried to call my son in Houston because I was going to visit - it gives me not a working number. I called on my landline & he answered. I called Tracfone & was asked: "How did you dial??" "Perhaps he has placed a block on your number?" I spent 1 hour - a FULL 60 minutes last Wed. a.m. & was finally told it would be fixed in 4-6 hours. Six hours & 2 minutes later I called my son's number & got the same message. I called Tracfone back - "please hold for 1 minute" . . . "please hold for 1 minute" TWO FULL HOURS - I requested a supervisor - each time I was told to hold I asked for a supervisor.

Finally they said the problem will be fixed in 24 hours - by then I would be driving. I borrowed a real cell phone from a friend for the trip. Got to Houston & it called my son just fine. Got back home & once again the not a working number. It will be time to renew in 2 weeks & I was contemplating doing the 1 year thing because there is currently a free 200 hr bonus offered, but reading y'all's information has helped me decide not to do that. Plus, it still does not work to reach my son.

If we cannot file a class action, we at least need to contact an investigative tv show to expose this - perhaps John Stossel.

Apparently, sometime in late 2003 perhaps, they decided to outsource to whatever other country these people are from & the general feel when trying to talk to them is that they don't give a rip what we say or feel

I am still trying to quickly find a reliable company with the same basic premise for my cell phone. Does anyone know of one??

I, too, primarily use it for occasional trips, etc & do not want to be burdened with a monthly bill.

Our local Wal=Mart has been great about trying to get further information for me as to why they stopped offering 30 minute cards for a while & 60 minute ones (my original phone had free minute coupons if you purchased a 30 or 60 minute cards) It seems their grand scheme is to just rip us off

Thank you for reading/listening -

Sue
Plano, Texas
U.S.A.