Bkknits's Blog

Approximately three weeks ago, I purchased a new Net10 phone.  My current cell phone was starting to have difficulty maintaining the charge.  Since I am not an avid cell phone user,  my phone was five years old, so it was time for a change.  Following the purchase, we had difficulty with the activation on their designated web site.  My daughter who is “tech savvy” had difficulty also.  So I chose the activation by phone, how painful could this be right?  The customer service individual was very courteous, but I had some difficulty understanding her at times. I asked her three times where she was located and I never was able to understand her response.  One of my requests was to maintain my current Net10 phone number, which I assume would be a daily request with purchases of new phones.  All the codes were entered, but now they have to mail me a new SIM card in order to maintain my number.  OK, this could take 3-7 days.  Seven days seemed excessive to me, since this would be mailed from Florida, but there are no alternatives.  The customer service lady provided me with instructions on the method to activate the phone on the website, once the SIM card arrived.

Yes, the SIM card arrived in three days.  I noticed on my phone that the days were being deducted on the prepaid plan, even though my phone was not working.  Interesting?  I attempted to follow her directions for activation on the website.  Her directions did not correlate with the options.  Once again, I chose the telephone option.  As before, the customer service representative was very courteous, but I had difficulty understanding him at times.  He was located in Guyana.  We worked on activation of the phone for a total of 75 minutes.  This seemed lengthy to me, all I wanted was to maintain my number.  The last twenty minutes of the call, I was on intermittent  hold.  He would return periodically to apologize for the wait and my activation was in process.  At the conclusion, the last code was not accepted.  The customer service rep blew this off as the phone was in the process of activation.  I started to question why this was taking so long and requested that they contact me when the phone was activation.  Not a feasible request, they don’t contact customers.  He assured me the phone would be activated within four hours and they would send text when activated.

The next morning, the phone was still not activated, but another day was deducted from my service.  With hesitancy, I contacted the customer service number again.  My initial request was if there was customer service available in the United States.  Not a reasonable request, this service was not available.  But, after entering one more code, the phone was activated five days after purchase.

No complaints with the phone or the service following activation.  My advice is: if you have to activate over the phone have plenty of time and patience.

Enjoy!!

B.K.