Honestly, screw tracfone in the ear

Discussion in 'General Chatter' started by Lizardlicks, Sep 30, 2016.

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  1. Lizardlicks

    Lizardlicks Friendly Neighborhood Lizard

    Sorry if this should be in a different thread, let me know and I'll ping someone to move it.

    I hate this company so much, it is nearly useless and non functional in every aspect, and everyone there completely lacks any sort of competent costumer service training. And just trying to do basic things has twice now put me in a financial panic as their website randomly charges me for SHIT I DID NOT ORDER and then it takes daaays to process a refund.

    This was the best malfunction yet. I was trying to purchase a $19.99 dollar minutes card. double check the cart, double checked my order on each page as I proceeded because THEY HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE FHJFSHJLGS. First time this happened a few months ago, we were trying to add minutes to my husband's phone, and it charged him $140 dollars for a huge chunk of data and a service subscription without any minutes. SoI was being extra careful to pay attention to what I was buying and not do things like refresh or hit the back button. Finalize the purchase... the confirmation message tells me "Thank you for purchasing 1060 minutes and one year service subscription, your total is $199.63!"

    W HAT.

    At this point it's worth noting I only had only $$250 in my checking account this morning. Don't get payed until next Friday. I need at least $30 cash to get my chickens tomorrow that I have been waiting all month for. Call up customer service, they transfer me to refunds, the rep there says oh yeah, we'll refund the purchase, it will take 3-4 days to process. Well fuck. Okay I know they gotta wait for their bank to do the talky thing to my bank and clear it. Nothing I can really do about that.

    In the mean time, "to avoid interruption to my service," the rep says she'll have to charge me for the original purchase that I was trying to order. I tell her that won't work, there isn't enough money in the account, and is there something else we can do? She makes non-committal noises then goes silent for about 5 to 8 minutes. While I'm sitting here going, "hey are there any other options, is there something else we can do, are you looking for a workaround here, you aren't talking and nothing is happening." For those who have never worked in a call center, it's similar to radio: dead air is bad, you do not leave your customer sitting in silence. You especially don't do it for extended periods of time, and especially not while they're upset about a sudden unexpected and huge loss of money.

    She finally comes back... and says she's charged my account. The thing I explicitly told her not to do. Yeah okay now I'm actually fucking on the verge of tears in both rage and panic because WHAT THE FUCK, LADY!?

    Ask for a supervisor and have to wait, another 30 minutes for one to free up.. Of course, once again the rep says nothing to me, doesn't even acknowledge I'm there unless I directly ask her for a response. all this while I'm lso trying to get ready for work and get the kids ready for school/daycare and get out the door. Finally get a supervisor. At this point there's jack all he can do about the charges, but he does say that he'll credit the minutes for the original charge to the account while still honoring the refund. Which, cool I guess? Doesn't actually help the fact that I have now exactly $30 to my name until next week. Nothing anyone can do at this point, and I thanked the supervisor for that, but I'm just so fucking upset that this is such a regular and MONUMENTAL problem, between a buggy website and piss poor trained customer service. I want to get rid of the phone, but I can't afford switching over to a different service right now, and I feel like, given the kinds of clients that regularly use this service, Tracfone as a company is specifically and purposefully preying on low income people. I just don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do now, if some auto charge for some kind comes through I'm fucked and I have been waiting literal months to go meet these people with the chickens because they're all the way out in Beaver and only come out to Spokane twice a year :(
     
  2. Kodachi

    Kodachi Well-Known Member

    Be prepared for overdraft charges...
     
  3. rigorist

    rigorist On the beach

    I'm in late here.

    Get hold of your bank and let it know the charge is unauthorized. It might work and will at least set you up to be in a better position as this mess progresses. The bank should prefer to not be on the hook for Electronic Funds Transfer Act liability, but unfortunately they are often clueless.

    In general under the relevant laws, your best leverage is on the bank. It might not make a lot of sense, but that's the way they're written.
     
  4. Lizardlicks

    Lizardlicks Friendly Neighborhood Lizard

    They've already agreed to process the refund and have done so before the last time it happened, so at this point disputing it with my credit union is extra paper work and forms I have to go down to the bank personally to fill out, and it doesn't reverse the charge any faster (went through this song and dance the first time). Also, account is set up not to overdraft (at least that's what I have had them do in the past). If the full balance is not available, they will not authorize the charge. Plus, If I do dispute it, tracfone will deactivate my phone and possibly my number, which I need for work daily and can not go without because of this. I am considering talking to someone down at my CU and seeing if there's anyway they can put a limit on the amount that can be charged to the card at one time,though. Because fuck this happening again.
     
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