Is my account DOA? Can I restart it somehow?

[phonerboner]

Here is my issue.

1. Every December I buy my father a tracphone SIM card for his fliphone, from ebay that has [1 year \ 1200 Talk\text\1GB]. It expires every year on December 2.

2. Every year I call tracfone and have them port the number to the new SIM card. They transfer any minutes he has left to the new SIM card.

3. This year my father didn't turn on his fliphone for many months and they deactivated the account on October 28, 2022.

4. When I called tracfone, to reactivate it, they told me that I had to buy a new plan to restart it. They said he lost the 4,000 minutes and that it would be a new plan. with new minutes.

5. I took advantage of the 2 fliphone deal with HSN recently where you get two Orbit flipphones with 1 year 1200 T/T for 1 year each.

Have I truly lost all the minutes that my father had on his old account? Can I enable one of the new fliphones and somehow port the number over and get the minutes back that were lost?

[hpham]

1. Every December I buy my father a tracphone SIM card for his fliphone, from ebay that has [1 year \ 1200 Talk\text\1GB]. It expires every year on December 2.

2. Every year I call tracfone and have them port the number to the new SIM card. They transfer any minutes he has left to the new SIM card.

From that, I assume his flip phone is BYOP and not TF-branded. Otherwise, it makes no sense.

3. This year my father didn't turn on his fliphone for many months and they deactivated the account on October 28, 2022.

4. When I called tracfone, to reactivate it, they told me that I had to buy a new plan to restart it. They said he lost the 4,000 minutes and that it would be a new plan. with new minutes.

5. I took advantage of the 2 fliphone deal with HSN recently where you get two Orbit flipphones with 1 year 1200 T/T for 1 year each.

Have I truly lost all the minutes that my father had on his old account? Can I enable one of the new fliphones and somehow port the number over and get the minutes back that were lost?

When a phone is deactivated because its service days ran out, you can reactivate with a time card within 60 days and get its previous balances restored. Its phone number could still be there or lost, no guarantee on that.

When a phone was deactivated due to no activities within 6 months (phone using 3 buckets) or 12 months (phone using single bucket), I suppose it could be reactivated using a time card, similar to a phone that expired.

No, you cannot activate one of the new flip phones and use its service to reactivate the old flip phone. You need to use a time card/PIN. You can buy on Ebay (sold by TF) a 30-day $9.99 card (delivered by email) for that purpose. Once the old flip phone has been reactivated, you can activate new flip phone #1 with a transfer from the old flip phone, then the next day activate new flip phone #2 with a transfer from new flip phone #1.

If the old flip phone's balances are not restored when you reactivated it with a time card/PIN, contact TF Executive Resolution at one of the numbers below to get them restored before activating the new flip phones.

Tracfone Executive Resolutions 305 715 6500 Extension 1029
Corporate office 305-640-2000 x1029
800 626 4883 x3324

[Tracfancier]

The airtime for re-activating. Check back here if you do not quickly receive the e-mail with the airtime pin... for a solution.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/28481367395...AAAOSwoeJhSH~0

Executive resolutions would be the best source for accurate information on the fix for your problem.
Be cautious of supplying too much Info., because the eBay bundled SIM is for new activations, and the $9.99 airtime is not for Smartphones. But both can be slipped by Tracfone if you watch what you say to CS or don`t interact with CS.

[phonerboner]

Thank you for you r advice. Yes, it is a TF branded flipphone.

[phonerboner]

From that, I assume his flip phone is BYOP and not TF-branded. Otherwise, it makes no sense.



When a phone is deactivated because its service days ran out, you can reactivate with a time card within 60 days and get its previous balances restored. Its phone number could still be there or lost, no guarantee on that.

When a phone was deactivated due to no activities within 6 months (phone using 3 buckets) or 12 months (phone using single bucket), I suppose it could be reactivated using a time card, similar to a phone that expired.

No, you cannot activate one of the new flip phones and use its service to reactivate the old flip phone. You need to use a time card/PIN. You can buy on Ebay (sold by TF) a 30-day $9.99 card (delivered by email) for that purpose. Once the old flip phone has been reactivated, you can activate new flip phone #1 with a transfer from the old flip phone, then the next day activate new flip phone #2 with a transfer from new flip phone #1.

If the old flip phone's balances are not restored when you reactivated it with a time card/PIN, contact TF Executive Resolution at one of the numbers below to get them restored before activating the new flip phones.

Tracfone Executive Resolutions 305 715 6500 Extension 1029
Corporate office 305-640-2000 x1029
800 626 4883 x3324

Yes, it is a branded TF. I will follow your advice and get a 9.99 card to re-activate it.

[AnciusD]

From that, I assume his flip phone is BYOP and not TF-branded. Otherwise, it makes no sense.



When a phone is deactivated because its service days ran out, you can reactivate with a time card within 60 days and get its previous balances restored. Its phone number could still be there or lost, no guarantee on that.

When a phone was deactivated due to no activities within 6 months (phone using 3 buckets) or 12 months (phone using single bucket), I suppose it could be reactivated using a time card, similar to a phone that expired.

No, you cannot activate one of the new flip phones and use its service to reactivate the old flip phone. You need to use a time card/PIN. You can buy on Ebay (sold by TF) a 30-day $9.99 card (delivered by email) for that purpose. Once the old flip phone has been reactivated, you can activate new flip phone #1 with a transfer from the old flip phone, then the next day activate new flip phone #2 with a transfer from new flip phone #1.

If the old flip phone's balances are not restored when you reactivated it with a time card/PIN, contact TF Executive Resolution at one of the numbers below to get them restored before activating the new flip phones.

Tracfone Executive Resolutions 305 715 6500 Extension 1029
Corporate office 305-640-2000 x1029
800 626 4883 x3324

I thought the usage requirement before deactivation is 6 months for smartphones, 12 months for flip phones. That's how I read the T&C.
What does a phone using a single bucket mean? What's the scenario where the OP's father triggered deactivation?

[hpham]

I don't think the physical format of the phone is the deciding factor. The old dumb phones use a single bucket for talk, text, data. Texts and data are deducted as fraction of a minute. Most of them are gone now because they're not VoLTE.

[Senkoboy]

I don't think the physical format of the phone is the deciding factor. The old dumb phones use a single bucket for talk, text, data. Texts and data are deducted as fraction of a minute. Most of them are gone now because they're not VoLTE.

The last several flip phones I activated had the 3 buckets, but still got triple minutes.

[AnciusD]

I don't think the physical format of the phone is the deciding factor. The old dumb phones use a single bucket for talk, text, data. Texts and data are deducted as fraction of a minute. Most of them are gone now because they're not VoLTE.

This is what I was referring to, under section 4. Adding Airtime:

REFILLING YOUR ACCOUNT BEFORE YOUR SERVICE END DATE.
...Tracfone reserves the right to deactivate any phone for which there is no voice, text or data usage for a period of six (6) consecutive months for smartphones and twelve (12) consecutive months for other phones. If your Service is deactivated, your Service can be reactivated by purchasing and adding an Airtime Card. Once reactivated, your phone may be assigned a new phone number. Airtime which remained unused at the time of deactivation will still be available if Service is reactivated within sixty (60) days from the deactivation date, otherwise any unused airtime will be lost.

[hpham]

This is what I was referring to, under section 4. Adding Airtime:

REFILLING YOUR ACCOUNT BEFORE YOUR SERVICE END DATE.
...Tracfone reserves the right to deactivate any phone for which there is no voice, text or data usage for a period of six (6) consecutive months for smartphones and twelve (12) consecutive months for other phones.

Yes, I know about those clauses in the TF Terms of Service. TF's use of the word "smartphone" is not very clear. When you have a flip phone that uses the 3-bucket (talk/text/data) system, if TF site requires you to buy a "smartphone plan" and not a "basic plan" for it, then it's considered a "smartphone".

If someone wants to experiment and see if a flip-phone that uses the 3-bucket system falls under the 6 or 12 months "inactivity rule", then feel free to not use it for 7 months or more and let us know the outcome.

[jet1000]

This is the key part:

"Airtime which remained unused at the time of deactivation will still be available if Service is reactivated within sixty (60) days from the deactivation date, otherwise any unused airtime will be lost. "

So if time is added, the 4,000 minutes should reappear since the deactivation only happened on 10/28.

[AnciusD]

So, back to my question about the OP: What triggered the deactivation, >6 months inactivity or >12 months inactivity?

Stipulated: a flip phone, with a 3 bucket plan
Known: previously renewed in Dec, deactivated in Oct, ~ 11 months
Originally Assumed: there was some 'activity' at time of activation, therefore it deactivated after more than 6 months but less than 12 months
Hypothesis: there might have been no activity since previous Oct since renewal was via TF assistance?
Current Status: puzzled

Personally, I consider any flip phone not a smartphone since it requires a basic phone plan. Thus, it's covered under the 12 month rule. But I'm willing to be dissuaded. Seems a waste of 4 or 10 good months, for me, to test the inactivity rule (6 to 12 to test, minus the 2 required to unlock). I've been telling people they have 12 months so I'd like to know I'm giving sound advice.

obs=1

[hpham]

Known: previously renewed in Dec, deactivated in Oct, ~ 11 months
Originally Assumed: there was some 'activity' at time of activation, therefore it deactivated after more than 6 months but less than 12 months
Hypothesis: there might have been no activity since previous Oct since renewal was via TF assistance

The terms of service require "usage" of talk or text or data. Renewal is not usage.

The OP didn't say how he determined that the phone was deactivated on Oct 28, 2022. Was there a notification from TF that they deactivated the phone or that was when his father was trying to use the phone and it had no service? If it's the latter, the phone could have been deactivated some time before that, after 6 months of no usage.

[hpham]

Here's an example of TF's unclear definition of "smartphone". Go to TF web site -->Shop-->Smartphones, it shows some flip phones.

[AnciusD]

The terms of service require "usage" of talk or text or data. Renewal is not usage.

The OP didn't say how he determined that the phone was deactivated on Oct 28, 2022. Was there a notification from TF that they deactivated the phone or that was when his father was trying to use the phone and it had no service? If it's the latter, the phone could have been deactivated some time before that, after 6 months of no usage.

Correct, that's why I said 'originally assumed', after I realized TF intervened and the renewal wasn't manually done by the user. That's how it dawned upon me that it may not have been 'active' since before the last Dec. renewal. Missing pieces, yes.

Here's an example of TF's unclear definition of "smartphone". Go to TF web site -->Shop-->Smartphones, it shows some flip phones.

Interesting that the Nokia and My Flip 2 are both listed under basic phone and smartphone, too. The TCL Flip 2 excepted. So I assume these flip phones can use either smart or basic plans? In that case, a basic plan is not required More likely, in my opinion, is simply a sloppy web page implementation.
Clearly, what's required is an interpreter equivalent to that of a Talmudic scholar.