Straight Talk Wireless

Customer service is terrible. Took 3 days to activate. Each time I was 181 in line. No refunds either

Phone was locked called customer service to fix it, got a rude lady who provided no help. Hard pass.

I was a straight talk customer many years ago and a customer for years. I ordered a phone on their web site. I called back within an hour to cancel that order. I was told there was no cancelation permitted. I filed a FCC complaint and disputed the charge through my credit card company. The credit card company didn't back me so I dropped them. It took months, but I got my money back.
Well July 2023 I decided to give them another chance. They sent me a sin card with instructions on how to activate my phone and transfer my number to straight talk. I tried for hours to transfer and activate my phone with no luck. I got a representative to help. He asked for the IMEI number on the phone I had when I was with then maybe 10 years prior. Well,I have that phone and charged it and gave him the IMEI number. I got through the activation to the password part. I write down my passwords. So I know the password was right. Their system wouldn't except the password and even though I asked for an email to reset my password, I never got one. I finally said cancel my order. They said send our sin card back. I drove the 30 miles to a UPS store to return their sin card. The man at UPS said I had to pay for the return. I refused because none of this problem was my fault! I called straight talk again and to the woman what I (a 68 year old man) I had been through. She said she would refund my money. I said what about this sin card? She said keep it or throw it away. I also disputed the charge through my Chase credit card. Straight talk lied and never have returned my money. It's been 20 days. I have once again filed a complaint with the FCC against straight talk. These people are liars and thieves! NEVER AGAIN!

I bought a phone before it even shipped I called them because I had changed my mind asked him to stop shipment they said they couldn't and it's not true they can they could have called over to the warehouse and stopped the shipment but they did not they've also proceeded not to pay me until 30 days have gone by their policy states that they don't have to if you look at the attached photo you will see that the product hadn't gotten back to them a week ago they still have not returned my money I've had to literally start a claim at my bank which takes a lot of paperwork to fill out and all the photos that I have to prove that straight talk is not paying back for my phone I ordered and returned right away let's keep in mind I tried to stop before it even shipped I tried to stop at while it was in route I'm not sure if they have a policy with FedEx but FedEx said they would reroute it and never did I had to refuse to package which is not a good idea make sure next time you get a tracking number to prove that the phone is going back I was able to work it out to where I could get a photo of the return package

Yesterday on 10/07/2023 I had an appointment in Atlanta and ended up being stranded because I had no data left and I needed my GPS. I was running on 2G and managed to be able to get into the app. I paid for my refill early at $36.04 for 10gigs of data. I turned my phone off and on three times. Nothing. I buy 2gig worth of data for $10. Turned phone off and on. Nothing. So I call my boyfriend and he has to navigate me TO AND FROM my appointment. Later I get home and call Straight Talk and a guy is trying to trouble shoot my data. At this point all I wanted was my $10 refund of the 2 extra gigs and to test my data when that was done. He sends me to the "refund department" also what they call "higher ups." Im hung up on. I call back. Same guy. He tells me I have to activate my reserve to use the 10 gigs? He does it for me and I ask to be transferred once again and I ask he stay on the phone with me while Im connected. He says he can't do conference calls. My old wall phone from 2002 can 3 way call but he can't? He also told me he is not allowed to give me the higher ups phone number or his supervisors number. He refuses to transfer me and insists I turn my phone off and on to make sure my data is working. I do it and play like 10 second of a song on Spotify off of wifi. Data works so I call back FOR MY REFUND and I'm hung up on immediately. I call back a 4th time and a woman answers. She "transfers me to the higher ups." What she did was put the phone down. I could hear them speaking. Then I'm hung up on again. I call for a 5th time and another woman answers. I threaten with a lawyer. She says I'll get my refund. Suddenly I'm magically on the phone with a supervisor named Vince. Turns out I can't get a refund because I used KILOBYTES worth of my data. Why? Because HIS EMPLOYEE told me to make sure my data was working before calling back. That's on the company. I asked for $9 out of the $10 and he refused. It is such a little amount of money but I'm a sick broke college student and really can't afford to spend money on a service that doesn't even provide me the means to get me out of the middle of a city. So, I'll be switching to a company that won't hang up on me multiple times.

I've been with straight talk for some years now. Before the change the company was good but now they're garbage. First I get a phone from their website and pay for it through smartpay. I purchased insurance for the phone also in case my phone was broken. I activated my phone just for it not to completely activate. This went on for almost 2 weeks. So I wasted 2 weeks of my service plan trying to get my phone activated. Then my area code is 228. I had my 228 number activated to my device. When I went to bed and woke up the next morning straight talk had changed my number without my permission. Now I'm stuck with a South Carolina number. On top of that I purchased device protection insurance on my device when I bought it. My phone was broken due to negligence of someone else. Tried to get my phone replaced and I was told I didn't purchase the device protection. After arguing with them on the phone and put on hold then I was told my phone was not replaceable. Afterwards I was then told I would ha e have to wait a year for get another phone. I'm mad that I spent my money for nothing and I could have went with another phone company. They do not like to replace your device even if you have the device insurance. They mess you over and it doesn't make since what they tell you. I explained that my phone was broken and the screen was out and they still tried to troubleshoot the phone I wasn't able to use instead of sending me another one. I will be leaving this company for another company. Don't have time to spend money on A device then can't get it replace with insurance you purchased. Straight talk is sad and need a lawsuit against them for false advertisement and stealing people money.

Called customer service because I bought this phone yesterday and I tried to activate it and the phone glitched during activation. Customer service put me through a loop of frustrating calls repeating the same things. They had no solution to the problem. They stated that they were waiting on their system to assign me a number. I waited all day 10 am to 7 pm! On the phone with these people. Calls being dropped after an hour and 30 minutes on the phone with these people! I didn't have a phone to call them so I had to drive all the way to my grandparents house to make this call. I called them earlier off the phone I had bought because I downloaded text now and used my wifi to make the call after them trying to trouble shoot it they said I was going to have to call from a working phone. Like wtf! Why do I need a working phone to even hook my phone up. Hours later I arrived to my grandma's house and loop Repeat this process of talking to the rep the manager and the tech guy no one could solve my phone not connecting. After like the 13th call I realized that they were making me repeat the same thing. The same loop. I was so pissed. And they are lucky I didn't hurt anyone. By the time I got off the phone with these people customer service at Walmart was closed and I wasted my day off to return this weak $#*! phone by talking to customer service. I'm down 271 dollars! If they don't accept the return. But I'm still 60 in the hole cause I can't get the month of activation refunded. I can't have another problem like this. I got scammed and I felt like hurting anybody and robbing someone for my financial loss. Basically I'm tired of being a nice person and getting screwed over by company's just like this. Boost mobile isn't any better. We just work and slave for our money and get taken advantage of at the end of they day wether it be taxes, working for someone who doesn't care about you, or when It comes to a company that just give a $#*! about the product that it sells to people. This world is making my heart cold.

I took my phone for a swim and it was toast, I decided to switch to verizon, and after speaking to them was told there would be no problem doing so. Then the fun began, contacting straight talk customer service, after 45 minutes I was connected with a person who could only be understood by her fellow countrymen, asked for a surervisor, was put on hpld while she transferred me, and anter five minutes of listening to how valuable my call was, I was hung up on. I spent another 20 minutes waiting on straight talk and got a agent that was a bit easier to understand, after giving all my information including the secret question she asked for my account number. Since I had never received a paper statement, I asked where I could find it and was told it was on line under my account information, NOPE not there, I spent over an hour talking to three of the most incompitent agents I have ever spoke to. Frustrated I turned to Verizon and she actually stayed on the phone with me as I called ST again, she was wonderfull and made the ST agents look stupid. Finally I was told that my account number was the number of my iphone. Wer'e not done yet, so after knowing my account number she said she would give the access code so my number woul be transferred. NOPE it didn't happen. I called Verizon and Nick called ST and was told that even after jumping through all the hoops, my phone wouldn't be released until Monday at 12 noon, thats two days later, now you know what you will be getting with Straight Talk, Nothing, Special thanks to Verizon help team Nae and Nick

Me and my wife have been with straightalk wireless for over 8 years and today I have decided that they are a bunch of theives. We purchased a phone and phone card because it had a 3 day Shipping and needed it quick, being that my wife broke hers. Anyway 2 weeks of seeing that the order was processing, we finally called them up to cancel our order. They supposedly did. However, we still got no refund and the phone was delivered to us almost 3 weeks from the day of purchase. Called again and they told us not to open it and send it back to them. We did and they received it 8 days ago and still no refund or email. So called them again, after finally getting through, they hung up on me as soon as I asked for the refund department. Called again and we spoke to a lady who argued with us, trying to tell us that the computer system issues a refund on the same day they receive it and that it takes 3 days to hit our account. I told her that it has been 8 days and she started saying that she assures us that the refund was sent and that it's the bank that hasn't credited our account because maybe they had a hold on it and we needed to contact them. I did call my bank which confirmed what I thought from the beginning, which was that they hadn't worried about taking care of my refund. The lady at the bank had us call 3 way to straight talk again and finally got to the refund department. We explained everything that has happened again for like the 8th time and as soon as we told her that the lady we talked to before her said and told her that the lady from our bank was on the line, she hung up. HOURS OF WASTED TIME FOR NOTHING! Now we have a dispute and thanks to the bank lady that witnessed the call she said her part in our dispute. So we will be getting our money one way or another. One thing is for certain. They're a bunch of theives, that only care about money and not their once loyal customers. NEVER AGAIN!

If you have to use them whatever you do don't do Auto pay. Had to cancel a debit card and they charged my account two days early before I could plug in my new card so my phone got shut off for maybe 15 mins because I called right away that morning and got it paid. My phone was back on and everything was good, until the next day when my SIM card stop working. When I called them they said it quit working because my phone was shut off even though it wasn't a long period at all! They said I need to pay 25 dollars for a new one. So I cancelled with them and the funny part is I got my money back then, when I cancelled with them. My husband scenario was not like that. We were trying to cancel straight talk before he was charged and we were waiting on a phone to come in.
His account was charged the 18th 2 months in a row, then 17th two months in row, so I figured the 16th would be next, but nope. Here we are Monday the 15th being charged for his account and they will not refund our money back either even the manager denied it. Even though it's a service we are not using they will not give us our money back. So now we are out 50 dollars and its towards a stupid company we are not using! I will NEVER USE STRAIGHT TALK EVER AGAIN! WISH I COULD GIVE ZERO STARS!

AT&T PREPAID IS WAY BETTER and they don't screw over customers!

Firstly I tried to set up my BYOP phone at the Straight Talk website
Through my existing account as a phone transfer. I had a phone with
Them for years and tried to transfer it to my new phone using the SIM
Card I bought from them and the MEID. The website gave me errors saying
To call them. The first ST employee told me that MEID on that phone
Didn't exist. I had to call them again then I found an employee that
Would manually type in my MEID to find it (important step if they can't
Find your MEID). The Straight Talk employee set up my phone and it was
Working. I had texting, phone and Internet. I woke up the next day and
My phone service stopped working. I called back and was told I had
Called to "cut off my service". I was told they gave away my phone
Number, put it on the $55 plan and cut off my auto refill which I had
For years. You have no idea how upset I was! I stayed calm and I
Sat on the phone for at least 30 minutes while he tried to set my phone
Back up with my number. He finally got it working and I was told they
Restarted my service and my auto refill would begin again next month
From the day I called. They said they would not recharge me but I
Haven't checked yet. I do not trust anything they say now. BYOP at
Your own risk because their employees might cut off your phone instead.

I posted this review at ST when ST asked me to review them. I got an email saying they moderated my review which "didn't meet their website guidelines" and means they didn't publish my review. I've taken a screenshot of their email to me. I assume any reviews you read about them from ST are blocked if they are not good reviews. That's not a good way to do business.

I've had Straight Talk for several years with no issues until last week. I bought a new unlocked phone and a new sim card. I called Straight Talk to activate the phone, transfer my number, and my active minutes. The initial call went great everything was transferred. The first time I attempted to make a phone call it said I did not have any active minutes. I called customer service after being on the phone for 30 minutes I was transferred to a "higher up" who I was on the phone with for over an hour. He stated they were updating the system and he would call me back in 30 minutes. An hour later no return call, my new phone and previous phone are not working. I call again and explain what happened. She proceeded to tell me the problem was my sim card was old. I explained that I just bought it and it was activated the same day. She then said I did not have an active number or account. I told her I did and gave all of the information to prove I did. She kept saying my credentials were not correct and she could not help me. I asked if I could be transferred to someone else and said she no. I called back a 3rd time and got the problem fixed within 5 minutes after being on the phone for a total of 2 or so hours. The next day my data would not work and my voicemail was glitching. I called to speak to customer service I was put on hold and after 15 minutes was hung up on. I called back again and they again transferred me to a "higher up" who hung up on me again. Finally the third try I got ahold of someone who told me he could not fix the issue and nothing was wrong with my service. It's over a week later my service still isn't working correctly and no help or advice from Straight Talk.

I've had nothing but trouble with this awful shady underhanded company, by the sound of it, I'm not alone! They are anything but user friendly. Sure, you may be getting a cheaper phone & service plan, but what good is it if you can't use it for one reason or other, or ever speak to a customer service rep for help who speaks decent enough English that can actually fix anything wrong, or help with activation? I have had to contact them several times & have always been left unsatisfied with the customer service from Straight Talk. They make you jump through hoops, provide all kinds of numbers & personal information, only to then place you on a ridiculously long hold, then tell you they're unable to help you or figure out the problem. Or my personal favorite, make you repeat all of the steps all over again to another customer service rep, because the first one couldn't figure out how to assist you! Who has time & patience for this nonsense?! This is a prepaid phone, it really shouldn't be this difficult for customers! I've spent hours over the phone with them, so frustrated I almost just hung up & got rid of my Straight Talk phone on more than one occasion. Once they even tried telling me after I gave all necessary information that my numbers didn't match & accused me of stealing my own phone! This type of service is unacceptable & no one should be treated this way, especially customers who are paying for your phones & service plans. I agree with others who commented how the two line service plans also don't work & are nothing more than a scam. Whenever I was almost out of mins, I'd attempt to add a card with the 2 line plan & it was always an issue, every single time & customer service could not ever help identify the problem. I had to buy multiple cards & spend hundreds just to get more mins! Buyer beware! Do not use this company whether for personal or business use. Go with ANY other carrier for prepaid service. The phones are also extremely slow, poor quality, camera is very blurry with low quality pics/videos. Battery doesn't stay charged as long as it claims either, so you constantly have to plug it in. They don't come with nearly enough data, so you are always running out of room, even if you don't download things often, or take that many pics or vids. Super slow Internet service as well. So many reasons why you shouldn't buy or trust Straight Talk.

Would start with the good part of my review but I absolutely CAN NOT bc of how pitiful and slack this back alley, low budget, Fisher Price generic wireless service continues to disappoint! Seems they pride themselves in being morons. I want to know HOW FREAKING DIFFICULT IS IT TO GIVE ME ACCESS TO ALL THE FEATURES OF MY PLAN! ALL I WANT IS WTF I PAY FOR... hell it's your package that straight talk decided the terms and services. EVERY SINGLE FUC---G TIME I refill my service $55 GOLD UNLIMITED. Includes 15 GB of HOTSPOT, and I am NEVER ABLE TO USE IT BC THE IDIOTS " your plan does not support mobile tethering!; YES IT DOES MORONS! So I have to contact customer service EVERY SINGLE TIME to get my hotspot. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? You should be embarrassed to have such a chump $#*! service as well as customer satisfaction. I'd be embarrassed if I couldn't provide the most basic service... DO NOT MAKE THINGS MORE DIFFICULT, STRESSFUL, FRUSTRATING FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS. DUH! When I purchase my refill plan, every feature of that plan should be ready for my use... But IT NEVER, EVER, EVER IS. ARENT YALL EMBARASSED? HOW ABOUT CONCERNED. I leaving straight talk bc I think y'all can do much better and you just do not have the integrity or sense of obligation. How sad

Had been with Straight Talk for approximately 5 years. I liked the service and appreciated the fact that the bill was always the same. HOWEVER when I got a better deal with Cricket, I decided to switch carriers. When I first called Straight Talk about stopping service, I was told that I was "under contract" (keep in mind there are no contracts with Straight Talk). I decided to wait a few months and try again. This time was told "there are no contracts, so 'yes", you can switch carriers." Went to Cricket - the customer service rep there spent approximately 1 1/2 hours on the phone w/ Straight Talk getting all of the "necessary" information to make the switch. I spoke to the ST agent as well. After getting confirmation that I could take my number with me, the Cricket agent discovered that the new SIM card wouldn't work. She told me to go home, call ST and ask them to unlock the phone. After spending another 2 hours and 9 different agents, I was told that I wasn't eligible for a "free" unlock and I would have to pay $300 to unlock my phone. After a much heated discussion, I was told this was because I had gotten a new phone approximately 2 years earlier and I had "failed to register the device with Straight Talk." So then I was told that they couldn't unlock it until the phone was "registered". The "registration" was a matter of asking me my name and address. Didn't even ask about the phone at all. The customer service rep then had the gal to suggest that I trade my phone in for an unlocked one in order to avoid the $300 unlock fee. This is obviously a scam. I attempted to file a complaint w/ Straight Talk and why I did receive a reply from them, they simply wanted me to call them to get re enroll with Straight Talk. When I did call to try to speak to a human, I was number 111 in queue. Don't think I plan to wait 2 hours to have me re enroll with a fee to start up again. THIS IS A SCAM and if I could I think I'd try to file a class action lawsuit b/c I am sure I never received anything in writing stating that if I got t a new phone and failed to "register" it that I would be fined $300 to unlock it.

I have purchased a new phone then they asked me to purchase a new SIM card I have called over 40 not working I have brought over $180 equipment for my phone to work I have called over 42 times April 12 my internet is not working on my phone nor have I been able to make phone calls yesterday I had lost my job because I was unable to access what I need to ask to some my phone upon calling for help I was hung up on I have called since 5 p.m. all the way until 11:15 the last phone call I had received was that if I was unable to get to my job that I will lose it I lost my job on the last customer service that I talked to him tell me that everything happens for a reason because I'm a single woman out here with only one phone and there is no other phone for anybody to get in contact with me and that they could not help me I've cried all night from April 18th until April 19th right now at 5:32 this morning that was some of the most heartless yes I have ever been through in my whole life to the point that I have add to start to record each conversation that I have with them they truly do not care they'll get real with you or maybe it's something that they are relying on people about and their notes that soon as they say let me check the notes it's all of a suddenly is Hayes let me put you to somebody else or just an app Straight Talk has mess with people live in horrible horrible ways this company nice to have actual people who may be live in the country people who actually want to do their jobs but I had lost my job has spent money that I don't have this may seem like a sob story but I'm saying this in cheers because it is true I have nothing because the Straits off as of April 18th 2022

This company has no interest in providing customer service of any kind. If you have any issues with the service too bad. The service worked poorly at best when I lived near Denver, CO. I have since moved where I have no connectivity. ST is based on Verizon and there are simply no Verizon towers in the area. This means no calls, texts or internet service outside of my home's wifi range. Once I get service as I leave town I can call and text but still no internet connection so no navigation either. I decided to try another service plan but ST will not unlock the three iPhones that I have. I even tried to have them unlock an older ST phone (1st gen SE) that they claim I never used on their service even though I purchased it outright at Walmart and used it for about 4 years on ST. Their customer service is out of the Philippines so there is no way to get help. The people there read from a script and repeat themselves over and over, they put you on hold for over an hour and keep repeating that they are working on the issue only to come back and say that there is something wrong with their system and that they will call back in twenty minutes and of course never do. I believe what they are doing is highly illegal since they lock your phone and won't release it so your only option becomes purchasing a new phone. I believe that US law enacted in 2014 directs carriers to release the phone (unlock) if the phone is owned outright which all 3 of mine are owned. I also believe this falls under the Federal law of "obstruction of telephone" as they hold your hardware hostage. They want you to wear down and sell your phone on Craigslist, eBay, etc. so that the phone stays in the system and they essentially do not lose a customer. I will dispose mine before that happens. I explained that I have been a great paying customer for over 10 years but the service does not work where I moved to. I would stay as far away from this company as possible since they apparently are not held to US law being based out of the Philippines. So now I have to repurchase two new phones as ST essentially stole my hardware. I hope the CEO of ST is aware of his company's operating policy. If he is they should remove him immediately for fraud. Please do not filter this because I do not have my receipt from Walmart. The SE 2nd generation cost me $349.00 in Oct/Nov 2020 timeframe. If it is required to post this review please let me know as I may have a way to retrieve my receipt.