A slew of shill reviews for Wal-Mart's Straight Talk cell service have us questioning whether the name could get any more ironic.
After garnering the ire of consumers with unlimited data plans that aren’t actually unlimited, Wal-Mart’s low-cost carrier Straight Talk has belied its name yet again with an even shadier marketing strategy: shill reviews.
While we’re used to spam from the likes of tiny companies that need every eye they can get, we were surprised this morning when Digital Trends saw a bombardment of shill reviews promoting Straight Talk – a prepaid cellular service backed by giants Trac-Fone and Wal-Mart.
A flurry of “reviews” under different usernames left brief comments on the phones in question followed by hyperbolic raves about the wonders of Straight Talk. While we’ve since removed them, our research on the company churned up a slew of complaints about poor customer service, days spent without cell phone service while the carrier attempted to port over an old number, and even PIN numbers that scratch off airtime cards with the scratchoff material above them, leaving users out the money they paid for them.
Although TracFone has earned a solid reputation in the past, we recommend folks read our full guide to prepaid cell phones to learn about many of the hidden pitfalls to prepaid providers.
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RSSThe customer service is out of control I will confirm, but you don't have to go though them in most cases, like the activation process. You can simply get online and do it. It's much faster than having to speak w/ a forigner. I read reviews about Straight Talk before going out and buying it (Like a good customer :) & found nothing but good reviews minus the customer service people - Big deal. It's better than TracFone and less expensive. Send as many text/calls as you want w/out the hastle of worrying about how many minutes you have left. 4-5 Stars in my opinion!
There have been times where I waited only hold for close to thirty minutes just to be told by an automated voice that "all circuits are busy" and how they "appreciate" my patience. And, once, when I asked to speak to a manager after a quite unsatisfactory performance by the representative I was placed with (we'd been on the line for 30 mins., fifteen of which was spent on hold after our initial greeting), he'd flat out refused--apparently his manager "didn't take customer calls."
Just recently, I've bought a $45 unlimited service plan from Wal-Mart after I'd been told they could refill using my debit MasterCard (because it was out of funds) despite the fact that when I called to check my balance, I had twice-over the amount necessary for an automatic refill, not-to-mention the fact that before that they had my card registered online with an erroneous expiration date.
Currently, I've paid for a months renewal using the service card I mentioned above, but it's saying I have insufficient funds to receive text or make calls. I've tried multiple times to get in contact with my service provider (despite my obvious distaste), but as of yet, I've simply be put on hold in the seldom instances when my calls aren't directly dropped...
It's my personal opinion, that StraightTalk is not only a horrible service provider (in those instances when they do in fact provide service), but they're also a scam. They're milking honest, working people of their hard-earned money and providing little of what they claim to when they're not welshing on their promises. If I were Wal-Mart, I'd drop them, at least until they can actually provide what they're offering. Otherwise, it's just bad business.