Complaint Review: Wal-Mart Family Mobile - Nationwide
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- Author Confirmed
- Wal-Mart Family Mobile Nationwide USA
- Phone: 1-877-440-9758
- Web: myfamilymobile.com
- Category: Cellular Phone Companies
Wal-Mart Family Mobile Tracfone Own your phone, No contract, BYOP but we will lock it if you don't stay with us Miami Florida
*Author of original report: So I got an email from Corporate and a response to my reply
*Author of original report: LOL Tracfone wants to help?
*UPDATE Employee: Wal-Mart Family Mobile Tracfone Own your phone, No contract, BYOP but we will lock it if you don't stay with us Miami Florida
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I became a customer of Walmart Family Mobile on October 10, 2016. I purchased a LG K7 cell phone from walmart the one at this address https://www.walmart.com/ip/Walmart-Family-Mobile-LG-K7-Prepaid-Smartphone-with-Camera/50658531 for $59 I owned the phone outright it was a prepaid ohone for non contract usage. I chose Walmart Family Mobile after looking into all cellular phone company unlocking policies. As of October 12, 2016 Walmart Family Mobile had a policy that the phone I purchased was not locked to their service as a matter of fact is is actually branded a T-Mobile phone. I chose this particular phone because of the features and capabilites along with Walmart Family Mobiles exceptional unlocking policy.
I believe if you OWN a phone and you are not under contract then you should indeed OWN your phone. In June of 2017 I began to experience issues with the previously stellar service. I was receiving notices that my text messaging was blocked even though my billing period was no where near due for renewal after repeated calls to customer service in which I learned that Tracfone had taken over I decided it was time to move on.
I purchased a T-mobile sim card with prepaid service to use with my tmobile phone because I had been told when I bought the phone that if I ever wanted to switch that would be the easiest to do since it was indeed a t-mobile phone. At this time I found the phone was locked. I called T-mobile to double check that I hadn't done something wrong and they said it was locked via the IMEI of the phone to the previous carrier. I called Walmart family mobile and requested that my phone be unlocked. I was told by a TRACFONE rep that my phone was not eligible because I was required to be with them for one year. I asked them how that was so since I was a walmart family mobile customer and their policy was 40 days, I own my phone, I am not under contract, and I can not be forced to use a service that is not providing me with service that actually worked. Not to mention that locking a phone that they had no rights to was not a good way to retain customers.
Tracfone has esentally stollen my phone from me. Leaving me without communication abilities. I have a debilitation disease and suffer from hemiplegic migraines and dangerous seizures, I am on a very limited income and they are hampering my ability to contact my doctors and help in the even of an emergency. This comany is getting away with theivery. I OWN my phone. I never chose to be a tracfone customer. They have no right to lock a phone that does not belong to them and is not contracted to their service. It even says in their system that it is a BYOP.
Every time I have called back I have gotten a different response ranging from,
1. You do not appear in our system, you have never had service with us (LOL)
2. We show that is a BYOP we did not lock it someone else did (never been used with another company bought, and activated at Walmart on the same day)
3. Hanging up on me.
4. We don't care there is nothing you can do. You have to pay us for a year.
5. We bought Walmart Family Mobile that means it's our rules now and our rules say one year.
6. It doesn't matter if you have a contrat or not if you use our service then we lock your phone you should read the terms. (again I joing under Walmart Family Mobile who clearly had terms of 40 days posted which have now been oblitereated from the website by tracfone)
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/26/2017 03:26 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/wal-mart-family-mobile/nationwide/wal-mart-family-mobile-tracfone-own-your-phone-no-contract-byop-but-we-will-lock-it-if-1381442. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#3 Author of original report
So I got an email from Corporate and a response to my reply
AUTHOR: - ()
SUBMITTED: Friday, June 30, 2017
Dear Rachel E*****,
Your BBB complaint has been received and resolved. Based on our research we see that when activating service with Wal-Mart Family mobile you opted to take advantage of the Bring Your Own Phone option. This means that your device would have already been unlocked in order to use the service. Please know that we "TracFone" have not locked your device, so we do not have the capability to unlock your device. We would hate to lose you as Wal-Mart Family mobile customer. If you would like to discuss this matter further, my hours of operation are Monday through Fridayfrom 8:30am to 5:00pm EST.
Thank you for choosing Wal-Mart Family mobile for your cellular needs.
If you have any further questions or concerns, a customer corporate representative can be reached at 1-800-626-4883 Ext. 1029. For your convenience, our representatives are available Monday-Sunday from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM EST.
For more immediate assistance, please click on your specific brand below, in order to chat with a live agent.
We appreciate your business.
Sincerely,
Miami Corporate Office
Mildred
Agent ID: 501104
Ext. 6149
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This was my reply
This is not resolved Walmart family mobile is the only service I've ever used with my BYOP and TracFone keeps telling me I have to be with you all for a year for you to unlock my phone that you locked.
(Short and to the point. I'm tired of BSing with these people)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This is their response
Dear Rachel Ervin,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. When checking your account I see that you provided a ESN, instead of the SIM card that we have on file. The ESN was never fully activated since you are using a BYOP SIM card, which is the wrong card.
Based on this information and the original date of activation, your device will be unlocked. Please know that it takes 2-3 weeks for the unlocking process to complete. You will be notified once completed via e-mail, if additional steps are required you will receive instructions.
I do apologize for the miscommunication, if you would like to discuss this matter further, my hours of operation are Monday through Friday from8:30am to 5:00pm EST.
Thank you for choosing Wal-Mart Family mobile for your cellular needs.
If you have any further questions or concerns, a customer corporate representative can be reached at 1-800-626-4883 Ext. 1029. For your convenience, our representatives are available Monday-Sunday from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM EST.
For more immediate assistance, please click on your specific brand below, in order to chat with a live agent.
We appreciate your business.
Sincerely,
Miami Corporate Office
Mildred
Agent ID: 501104
Ext. 6149
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
So.....We'll see. I am very doubtful at this point that my phone will be unlocked but I have something in writing saying that it will be. So who knows?
#2 Author of original report
LOL Tracfone wants to help?
AUTHOR: - ()
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, June 27, 2017
So that bitly link that the ever so helpful trafone emplyee listed in the rebutal was to a facebook page. That basicaly said the same information about using a BYOP with Tracfone. All activation questions. Nothing about them locking my previously unlocked phone. There was a live chate button at the top and again in the chat I was told by this employee Sivra. That Tracfone did not have me in the system. I have made sure to take screen shots of my account screens for verification but since it contains personal information I'm a little leery of posting them. But rest assured I have very much been in the system.
Just for s***s and giggles I waited about 30 minutes and hit the live chat button again and Edren was able to find me in the system via my IMEI which I had also given to Shivra but very rudely told me that I had to be a customer of Tracfone for 12 months to have my phone unlocked. I asked him how that was possible when it was a BYOP, Tmobile phone, prepaid and that I was a Walmart Family Mobile Customer not Tracfone. When I asked him about notifying customers that policies would change from Walmart Family Mobile policies to those of Tracfone and how I was notified and on what day, if I had received a letter in the mail, email, etc... he said they did not have to notify me. I am soooo disgusted with this company. I have been reading on other sites and there are HUNDREDS of complaints just like mine. I can not believe there is not a class action against these people.
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#1 UPDATE Employee
Wal-Mart Family Mobile Tracfone Own your phone, No contract, BYOP but we will lock it if you don't stay with us Miami Florida
AUTHOR: TF01 - (USA)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Hi Rachel,
I am working with TracFone Wireless. I read your post on this blog. I am really sorry to hear about the trouble you have gone through. For further assistance, do not hesitate to click on this link bit.ly/2gQCmUz?caseId= to chat with a live agent. Thank you.
Edzel
TracFone Wireless
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