Do the special VA tracfones still exist?

**Lisme** · 03-01-2012, 04:21 PM

I got a VA LG220c about a year ago and added some minutes so I could do the transfer scenario legally. I added one month of Value Plan 50, which doubled to 100 minutes, plus a small bonus code. Then I cancelled the plan.

I still have the phone and I decided to reactivate it with the Value Plan 50 again. The website showed me only 50 minutes and the bonus code button wouldn't work and made the site freeze up. It took my money perfectly well, of course. I got an email thanking me for the purchase and there was a phone number to call for questions. I called and got what seemed like the regular CSRs. We had the usual awful connection and the guy struggled mightily to get my minutes since absolutely nothing got sent to the phone in the first place. My account showed the due date at least, but nothing made it to the handset. Finally, almost an hour later, I was set. Except for the fact that my phone had totally lost its double minute feature. I was transferred to a second guy who said that it had been removed, which sounds crazy, but nothing surprises me anymore. The guy put the DM back on but I didn't trust him. So I called the 305 number and got someone really good who verified the Value Plan and the DM. Geez, an hour and three CSRs for things that should work right. They just make more work for themselves when the system is so bad.

I recommend verifying the DM before adding airtime. Especially if the phone was emptied out from a transfer. DM might have emptied also.

**richardho** · 03-01-2012, 07:01 PM

The last VA gsm phone I bought activated with only 12 months. The website seems to be less and less reliable these days. I recently initiated a simple number and service transfer to a new phone via the website, and the new phone never activated even tho the website said the transfer was successful. A call to Miami CS resulted in the new phone being activated with a new number. Took me a week to get my original number back.

**Extraordinary** · 05-31-2012, 01:55 PM

Purchased VA phone that had a 1 year of service sticker on it, but it only activated with 2 months. Rather bummed on this one. I guess it's time to call CS... Might go with the Exec team in Miami but this could be a lost cause. Would they even know what I am talking about? Anybody need to deal with this before?

**Lisme** · 05-31-2012, 02:37 PM

Call 305-715-6500. Because the phones are not scanned at the register, they are scanned before they are shipped. TF knows which serial numbers were shipped where. Especially since the phones (and cards) are shipped "live". They know which retailer is associated with which phone. So they will see that it is a VA phone.

**annepani** · 05-31-2012, 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by Extraordinary

Purchased VA phone that had a 1 year of service sticker on it, but it only activated with 2 months. Rather bummed on this one. I guess it's time to call CS. Might go with the Exec team in Miami but this could be a lost cause. Would they even know what I am talking about? Anybody need to deal with this before?

About a year and a half ago I got an LG 220c that had the 1 year sticker but only activated with 2 months. Regular CSR had no idea what I was talking about and didn't even know what the VA canteen is. Went around and around for about 3 months then finally contacted Exec Res (305 number), they straightened it out in about 10 minutes. Don't waste time on regular CS, go straight to Exec Res.

About 6 months ago a VA canteen Trac LG 100c and Net10 LG 800 both activated right away with 1 year. The problem seems to center on the LG 220c.

I wish Tracfone and Net10 would offer a 1 year no minutes card for $10 like T-Mobile does. I hate having to buy a phone and litter the landfall just to get a one year extension.

**Extraordinary** · 05-31-2012, 04:17 PM

305 # is closed right now so will try it tomorrow.

**richardho** · 05-31-2012, 04:57 PM

I just activated a 1-year VA phone a couple of days ago, and it activated with only 2 months of service. I called Corporate CS and managed to get an additional 365 days of service after about 30 min on the phone explaining several times why I should get one year.

**Extraordinary** · 05-31-2012, 05:28 PM

Did the phone give you the extra 365 days without any additional programming or did they make you go through a bunch of codes?

**annepani** · 05-31-2012, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by richardho

The last VA gsm phone I bought activated with only 12 months.

It used to be that GSM phones activated with 14 months and CDMA activated with 12 months. About a year or 2 ago, both GSM and CDMA phones started activating with 12 months.

**millept** · 05-31-2012, 11:54 PM

I activated a VA phone last week, an LG100C, which only started with 2 months. I called Miami and the CSR had to look through a list of various promotions before she found the one associated with the VA phones. It took her a couple of tries to find it and she kept asking me if I had a promotional code for the year, but eventually she found the VA promotion.

I don't know if she verified that my serial number was valid for the promotion, or whether she just took my word for it when I told her the package promised a year of service. She sent me 1 minute of airtime and 10 months of service to make it total up to 12 months.

Even some of the Miami CSRs seem to be ignorant of the less common promotions, such as the VA phones, or Net10 phones that promise 300 minutes at activation.