LIES, FALSEHOODS, AND MISTRUTHS ~ SHAME ON YOU STRAIGHT TALK

[Elizmo]

I have been a ST user for several years now, never had any major problems and decided to settle for ST rather than being saddled with a contract. About a month ago my husband purchased the $150 SAMSUNG GALAXY PRECEDENT, which, I found out the hard way, is a PIECE OF CRAP PHONE THAT'S BEEN REFURBISHED!! But hold on.... Here's the BEST part: Straight Talk (soon to be renamed FALSE TALK) refuses to take the $150 phone back or even exchange it for a working phone!!! SERIOUSLY???? I know for a fact this phone had a previous owner b/c when I initially tried to activate the phone, the customer NON~ service representative let me know that I'd be allowed to keep the existing $45 plan on the phone, that some other poor fool obviously paid for, I'd just have to keep the (also) still existing phone number associated with said phone. REALLY???? REALLY???? Needless to say ~ I bought my own service plan and kept my OWN existing number (which also was a HUGE nightmare).

Now fast forward one month, I'm using a navigation app & all of a sudden, this "new" phone of mine begins shorting out, touch screen won't work, phone rings but the screen is BLACK so I can't see who's calling or even ANSWER the call. Even though fully charged, the phone just goes dead, the bottom of the screen is permanently messed up and squiggly. Any time the phone shorts out/turns off/powers down by itself, the settings go into freak out mode and change without my doing so: Ringer changes, screen brightness changes, sounds, volume, touch screen options change to make noise when tapping or typing. ALL of this mind you, THROUGH NO FAULT OF MY OWN!!!!!!!!! I'm very careful with my devices, this phone has NEVER been dropped, NEVER been near liquid or gotten wet and yet STRAIGHT TALK REFUSES TO ADMIT IT'S REFURBISHED, REFUSES TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELLING THIS PIECE OF JUNK, AND ~ I THINK THIS IS PROBABLY MOST APPALLING AND DISPICABLE: THEY WILL NOT ~ I REPEAT ~ WILL NOT ~ EXCHANGE THIS PHONE FOR A WORKING ONE!!!!!!!

I was on the phone with several less~ than~ helpful Straight Talk customer NON service reps (while at the wireless counter in Walmart) for over 40 minutes. The supervisor that I eventually asked to speak with gave me these options:

** Spend the $$ to mail them this $150 piece of crap phone, they would then attempt to fix the problems (oh joy, and I get back the same crappy phone you sold me to begin with? But now it would be "fixed", right? Yeah, like it was "fixed" the first time around. Nice.) They would then send the same junk phone back or ~ in extenuating circumstances~ mail me a new phone.... Could it be?? Well sure, but please don't forget: The time it takes to mail this $150 paper weight to them, DAYS spent in "repair", and then "7-10 business days" for the return mailing. Again I must ask~ SERIOUSLY??? When I let the "rep" know that this was not an option ~ TO BE WITHOUT A PHONE FOR AT LEAST 2 WEEKS ~ She said, "Ok, I tell you what we will do, you can use a replacement phone & we will transfer your existing service plan to that phone while yours is being fixed". Alriiiiight.... I thought to myself ~ finally I'm getting somewhere with these people! Well, actually, NO~ I didn't get anywhere ~ when she mentioned I could use a replacement phone, she failed to mention that I'D HAVE TO BUY ANOTHER PHONE!! BUY ANOTHER PHONE!! And don't forget, I wouldn't be able to return the second phone unless I did so in less than 14 days and I was told it would take at least that long to fix the first phone!!!

Is this the brilliant brain child of some asinine Straight Talk exec to sell more phones?? Must be. So here I sit... with a junk phone from a miserable, lying, cheating company that refuses to do the right thing: Sell a good, reliable, product and then actually stand behind your products.

Suffice to say: I'M DISGUSTED, APPALLED, DISHEARTENED, AND FURIOUS with my experiences with Straight (False) Talk.

My message to Straight Talk: STOP RAPING YOUR CUSTOMERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're considering purchasing from this company, one word: DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Debbie_ST]

Hi Elizmo. My name is Straight Talk Debbie. Sorry that you’re having a problem. I’m going to try to help you now. We need to take this issue offline so I can address it further. I’ll contact you directly at the e-mail address you provided when you signed up for this forum. Thank you.

[Fourbit]

Wow Elizmo,

So, please post back about your dealings with ST offline. I for one would be interested. I just purchased another phone (refurbished) through the site and so your comments caught my eye.

Thanks,
Paul

[kimmi614]

They certainly need to repair their customer service policies. This company could be a serious contender if they would just address that issue.

[Fourbit]

It's too bad that communication is so poor. I have a web hosting business and fought with a couple of hardware providers before going in with a service oriented friend to do our own service. Too bad we can't start up a phone service that puts customer service as their number one priority.
It's just really hard dealing with reps that apparently aren't trained very well. They just read the same sad scripts off a screen. Then "Please hold while I talk with my supervisor".

The good news is that it's a phone with service and no looooong contract.

[Debbie_ST]

Hi Fourbit. My name is Straight Talk Debbie. As per our offline conversation, your phone's issue has been resolved now. Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you for your patience.

[KDP]

I am following this thread as I'd like to know how this was resolved.
I'm looking for a new service, this makes me extremely leary about choosing this one.

[MountainMan420]

Please let us know how your "offline" experience has been. I am currently dealing with the same crap on a Samsung T528g. Came here for help, but then realized there is a posting limit I must surpass before I can make use of the php tools here. I have yet to receive ANY help.

[marianne]

MountainMan420, we’ve responded to your other post on this issue. I have approved your posts, please check if you are able to respond through private message.