Total Wireless
Reviews and Complaints

I called Total Wireless on Monday to get our numbers ported over from Verizon Prepaid to Total Wireless. My family was very skeptical about the switch, but I wanted to take advantage of more data for less money.

They were never able to port my son's number over, who I kept telling them is 14 and has never had his own account or account security code (mine wouldn't work?) so I just decided to give him a new number.

Then he was not able to get texts on his phone, so after spending another three hours on the phone with customer service, they told him he needed a new phone. Mind you, I had already checked eligibility for his phone on their website and it was supposedly compatible before we switched.

Now my husband and I cannot get the mobile data/internet to work on our phones. We have iphones, which were brought over from Verizon prepaid. Everything works but the mobile data. I don't want to have to contact tech support all over again to spend another three hours on the phone with no resolution. Their chat department isn't much help and my husband already wants to switch back to Verizon prepaid.

This has been a bad experience so far and I do not recommend switching to this provider if you want to keep the same numbers and the same phones.

I bought a refurbished Galaxy s9 from direct from total wireless, come to find out it has a lease still on it after countless hours on the phone with the so called Total Wireless customer service they told me I would have to deal with getting the lease resolved if I wanted to use the phone, to boot I bought the $35 plan with the phone they told me it was non refundable it was activated the first phone call in 2 weeks ago.

The plan I buy every month comes with 6g data. Every month since january 2019 they cut off my internet after 5g of use. When cut off I text Usage or Bal and it shows data used and data left. Always data left but they say there is not. Phone has program built in that also shows 5g usage when shut off. They told me you couldn't go by that as it was incorrect. At that point I downloaded an app that keeps track of all internet data usage when not on wifi. Shows the same 5g when I'm cut off. Last month I presented this information. After 3 calls and talking to 5 different people who I could not understand because they don't speak good English I finally spoke to a guy who after 30 minutes who told me they put a restriction on my account and that he removed it. Restriction? For what reason? He would not tell me why. I'll tell you why. Every month they cut me off early. Usually a couple days before I'm due to renew. This forces me into buying another 5g data which is supposed to roll over but sometimes does not. I check data roll over after paying for the next months service. They put a restriction on my phone so I run out of data early and have to pay more. This month same thing. Ran out at 5g and spent over an hour to get it straightened out. Usually have to this at work because I need the internet. Time lost is money lost.
they rip me off in more ways than one. They lie to you, service is bad and they tell you what you want to hear but never fix the real issue

Terrible customer service. I was asking for assistance through the chat and was met with Emanuel who did not bother explaining to me what he planned to do to help me. Merely made a small pop up show on my screen asking for my credit card information. He did not explain that he would correct the information that needed correction, didnt explain that I could continue my purchase through him, didnt explain how much I needed to indicate as payment. And when I asked him to explain he said, "What is it that you want me to explain?" and I immediately asked to be transferred to someone of higher position than him. Prea was able to help, but when I sent her this message

"I'd just like to point out that you will lose future customers if Emanuel continues to show lack of interest in assisting customers. He did not bother to explain anything. Explain if he would input the correct ICCID with the IMEI, he did not explain why I need to input my credit card information, he also did not explain how much I would have to indicate in "Payment amount" and when I asked him to explain, he played dumb. I would appreciate if more training would be given to him since he is speaking to a future customer. I can quickly cancel my purchase and tell others not to subscriber to Total Wireless. But I will not do so. I chose to speak to someone else instead to complete my purchase. I would like something to be done about this."

She completely ignored it.

Never referring this MVNO. Go use Ultra Mobile or Mint Mobile instead.

I've been a TracFone customer for years and decided to move to the related company Total Wireless for more data. We have four BYOD on Tracfone: two Samsung Galaxy S7s from Verizon, one unlocked Galaxy S8 and one IPhone XS Max. These are not phones we purchased from Tracfone, we only used them on Tracfone as BYOD.

As part of deciding which carrier to move to, I called Total Wireless and had them confirm the IMEI of the four phones we planned to move are compatible with their network and was told they are. I then purchased a new SIM card for each of the four phones.

On 07/27 I signed up online for the four line family plan. I added the Galaxy S8 to the plan with no issues. Then I tried to add the first Galaxy S7 and had an error so I called tech support. The technician spent nearly two hours on the phone with me trying to get it to register but was unable. He created an escalation ticket and asked me to call back in 24 hours, which I did. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the escalation tech today and she was unable to get it registered either. She put me on hold to enter her notes and escalate it again. I was disconnected while on hold so I called back and got another technician. This new technician continued trying to get the S7 to register on TW but was getting error codes.

At this point they said it looks like the phone really is not compatible and asked me if I wanted the S7 put back on Tracfone so I at least had service again. I agreed but when they tried, they said Tracfone would no longer accept the phone on their network, now saying it was not compatible. I was using this exact phone on Tracfone for several years and as recently as this morning. They said it can't go back to Tracfone and it won't register on Total Wireless. So now not only don't I have the phone on Total Wireless, I can't even get it back on Tracfone with my long-held cell phone number.

So in less than 24 hours of dealing with Total Wireless, two of the four phones they said are compatible are not compatible. One of these two phones is no longer even compatible with Tracfone. I lost all the minutes, data and texts remaining with Tracfone and I've lost my phone number. TW told me I just need to buy a new phone to use on their service. How about doing something about the S7 you bricked for me on Tracfone?

With the fiasco on the First S7 I did not trust them to move the second identical S7, nor my daughter's new IPhone XS Max.

I am now paying $100 a month for a four line family plan and two of the phones I was told would work, don't.

I tried contacting TW on FB but all they do is redirect me to their website, telling me to use the Chat feature. This feature does not work. And calling the same Customer Service number that just caused all of this grief? Right. Maybe I do need to try writing to their head office.

I'd advise staying far away from Total Wireless unless you want to a) lose your phone number, b) lose your existing phone service and not be able to activate the new phone service, c) basically brick your phone for their whole family of companies and d) end up with a 4 line family plan costing $100 that now only has one phone on it. I tried to cancel this new service today because of everything THEY caused to happen but they said no. NEVER EVER AGAIN.

I have literally had my new phone for 3 days now and cant even get it activated or put time on it. I have called multiple times to get it fixed and have been using my friends minutes up to be on the phone for a half and hour or more and they still cannot activate it. Now I have to try to call back on again in 24 hours with a reference number and hope I can use someone else's phone to do it. This ridiculous. Why does your system have so many errors. I dont even begin to know what to do. I cant a Ford another phone. This one was $60. Now I'm stuck with no phone. I have an I'll mother that I need to be able to answer when her doctors contact me and I dont have any way to contact either one of my jobs when I need to. I could not be more pissed. I better be getting a response from someone immediately. I will tell people not to use your service as often as I can

After utilizing an iPhone Xr for over 4 months, it suddenly quits working at the end of a billing cycle. I'm told by a help chat representative that it's impossible that I've been using this phone. Huh? After about 1.5 hours of her checking and re-checking she assures me she is correct. Huh? I have been using it with no changes. I ask for a supervisor. After over 45 minutes, no one materializes and she tells me they will call me. Huh? My phone doesn't work, that's the problem... She tells me basically that she's sorry her information does not show my phone being compatible, after basically arguing that I haven't been using that phone and I just got it. Huh? Now I have an $800 phone that I bought for TW use, that they say cannot be used with their service. I'm flabbergasted, what have I been doing for over 4 months? I'm not sure where to turn, but the FCC and my home state attorney general's office comes to mind. In addition, maybe a news channel or two? This occurred on 11 July 2019 & I have no copies of chat or invoices I've paid. It's never been a problem until this morning.

Full disclosure of device specifications is required before purchase if you want to maintain a good customer relationship! The "issue" i'm complaining about isn't total wireless' "fault" except they should put everything about a phone & the operating system "for" total wireless devices on their website! If i'd known what I know now after having purchased the samsung galaxy s7 from them I never would have bought it! For some incredibly stupid reason, samsung and/or android decided to totally remove the ability to assign individual message notification tones to contacts (or apps for that matter)! The only purpose for taking any functionality away is to screw over & anger consumers! There's only 1 notification setting & it's used for everything - app notifications & contact messages - so you have to look at it to see what or who exactly is notifying you! This is not a "feature" - it's a purposefully introduced bug! An exceedingly poor decision that needs to be rectified fast! I will never buy another phone from total wireless unless they can guarantee me that I will have contact notification functionality & if that means I have to go to another company, I will. I am not a happy customer! >: (

Your company allowed my number to be ported to Metro PCS without my permission. Talked to customer service representative Mary (510504), she was very rude and unhelpful. Would like my number back and the money I paid for this months service.

Someone impersonated me and done this without my permission. I would like to get my number back. They said they were "escalating" it but I just get the run around every time I call. This is the most unhelpful and dishonest company I've ever dealt with. They do not value their customers whatsoever.

I bought a prepaid card time ago, to make international calls.
It is clearly set it in my account that I have $13.54 to make calls. For some reason, the application to make international calls does not work, I contacted the technical service, to fix this but still not working.

I gave up and request them a refund of my money, they deny to do it, I requested a reason and they said, the card was purchased 2 months ago!. So Even when they were able to see that I have the money in my account I can't get my money back!
I ask the customer service to send me an email, with the reasons why they deny to refund my money and the answer was, I can not send you an email or letter.

This company is making profits offering a service that they are NOT providing. They have a lack of customer service. They are the worst.

We have been doing business with Total Wireless for over a year and have four lines for our family. Shortly after we started with Total Wireless through Walmart services, we received a text stating that our monthly bill of $100 per month would be reduced by $5.00 if we allowed automatic draft. We authorized automatic drafts on our debit card that very day. We have had it coming out regularly with no paper or electronic bills ever since. Initially it was taken out the first of every month but more recently it has been coming out on the 26th or 27th of every month with the last bill dated 12/27/18. Today is the 26th of January. You can imagine our surprise and frustration when our phones were not in service except to call Total Wireless reaching a recording which asked if we wanted to reactivate our plan using a service plan or an credit card. Naturally we opted to talk to a customer service person. However, of the two "customer service" representatives, neither of which could speak English plainly, both kept telling us they had no record of automatic payments ever having been set up. Asking for a manager appeared to be out of the question. The first representative hung up on us and the second, when I asked him to please listen to what I had to say, began a loud beeping noise in my hear until I hung up. The only way we were able to resolve this problem was to pay for a reconnection. Our concern, right now, is that the automatic deduction will come out later today or tomorrow causing us to pay the same bill twice. My husband went to Walmart to get this handled but this was the only way they would allow it to be handled. We were given assurances that we would not be billed twice. We will wait and see. If we are and it produces an overdraft, I expect Total Wireless to be responsible for that fee. I cannot understand how this could happen after at least one year of automatic authorizations. We have recommended Total Wireless to countless other friends and relatives. At this point, we highly regret having done so! The service we have had has been remarkably wonderful up until this time. How sad that an apparent lack of good record keeping, caused such a bad taste at this time!

i bought a phone, and then i got a 30- day plan for unlimited talk and text card. i activated it correctly, made an account on your app, and it worked great for 2 days. then stopped. if i tried to make a call i got "you are unauthorized to use this cellular service", and then couldn't send text messages anymore. and my imessage won't activate now. i called support for the last 17 days, and never got one answer until today. i explained what was going on, and a worker in customer support said, "the problem is on our side, somehow the system messed up." so i simply said "okay, is there a way i can get my money back since my 30 days is over in a week or can i get another 30 days for free; since i didn't get the service i paid for bc of your system?" and he honestly goes, "i'm so sorry for the inconvenience, but no, if you want service you must pay for another 30-day" simply said okay and hung up. i basically got my money wasted for a mistake in the companies system, and i can't get my money back or even get the days of service i never got, but had already paid for? but i can totally get service if i pay another 30 something dollars, when i didn't get the service from the first time. i'm truly enraged that a company, would 1. not answer customer support for 17 days. 2. inform me it's their fault, but do nothing to help me. and 3. act as though they didn't care about the issue they've caused me. i hope someone sees this, and helps fix the problem, bc i'm so upset with how it was dealt with. i don't enjoy having my money taken for a service, and not receiving said service, and basically being told "our fault, but you have to deal with it so bye". i currently would not recommend Total Wireless to anyone.

I have been a customer with Total Wireless for some time. I have purchased at least 6 phones in the past year. Some of these phones were quite expensive. I have had alot of issues with the phones themselves. I purchased a Motorola G6 as recently as 3 months ago for over $200. I had issues with it and it is now broke.I purchased two Motorola e5's a couple weeks ago. One to replace my fiance's phone in the two device plan. One so i would have a phone until i could replace the G6 which is the phone I originally wanted. I had so many issues out of that one i had to exchange it. Im all out of money to buy more phones from Total Wireless and i called and this one activated and plan put on and the representative tells me there is nothing that can be done about the G6 ..I dont even mind paying for it at a discounted rate but can you guys not honor my consumer loyalty and the sheer amount of money and misfortune I have spent and experienced in my time as a customer? I am only asking that you help me afford to replace your defective but expensive phone that is now a loss to me! Please help me come to a resolve! Other than this I have been pleased with the service. Thank you for your time...

I brought a new customer to their service with the plan to do a joint service plan with them. I had two weeks left on my service and called to transfer my service to the family plan. I was told I would lose my 2 weeks of service. This is not acceptable to me as I have a small income. They refused to give me any kind of a credit or refund. I spoke to some supervisors with no success. Some companies give a gift card or something for referrals, but apparently Total Wireless doesn't. It feels like I am being penalized for bringing them a new customer. I waited the 2 weeks, but was then not able to log into my account to cancel the auto-refill. I called the next day when it was supposed to renew, but the charge was already pending according to my bank. A customer service rep. said it was completed, not pending, which is not true. I told them that it was not supposed to auto-renew. They knew I had been trying to transfer service for 2 weeks and that I hadn't been able to login in last night, but that didn't matter to them. They refused to help me and gave me a phone number to call, but they wouldn't help me either. I was told I have service for another month on my individual plan. This is NOT customer service!

I tried transferring from Verizon to Total Wireless (opening a new account). I did everything Total Wireless said and NOTHING is working now. Both the old Verizon account and new one are not functioning. My old account is no longer functional and I can not contact them because my phone account NO LONGER WORKS ! They were supposed to provide a call back (after 3 hours). They have NOT.

My wife (an hour away) is currently speaking with them while I have to communicate with her via. facebook. Total nonsense. They say "the system" failed to transfer". Sounds like a poorly run operation.

When I bought this phone from Dollar general it didn't. Work. I called total wireless and dollar general. They wouldn't take it back. I neeed a phone I paid for please.i still have in box been ready to send back. It's been a month I'm sick of waiting. I would just like another one and I'll send this one back since the store doesn't take phones back. Or refund my money for the phone and plan I didn't use ..you shouldn't. Sell your phones in dollar general no more.Its unfair and they are rude there anyway I'd rather go pay more for something and go to Walmart please replace this phone and thank u

4 days ago I went to change my number on my total wireless phone I called 611 I speak to somebody Verizon and I went to change my number I want to turn my phone back on and I was left with no phone service I had to go to my neighbor's house I spent on the phone 3 hours calling Verizon and Totally Wireless to get my phone back on I had no phone I am a disabled adult I have medical issues I need a phone that works in case I need to call somebody medically I had to call Verizon to get my old phone turned back on and then I went to call to wireless to try to troubleshoot my phone for 3 days I kept on explaining to everybody that I live out in the boonies that I'm not near a store they kept on trying me to do wireless I have no way of being to connect to the internet finally I had to drive down to the store I lost all my contacts I lost my pictures and I got the phone to able to work when I asked who Wireless to give me 10 days are the four days back I have called I have had customer service Representatives hang up on me telling me that they're not willing to do that they can only do it for 30 days and then this was not good enough reason in my eyes it was good enough reason I have spent time in my car gas trying to get my phone was resolved issues and true Wireless has also lied about the phone calls that I made saying that I had service when I had no service at all my mom and my boyfriend were trying to get a contact with me they were very worried because it could not and it's all because true Wireless would not help me

Im tired of teller marketer's calling
If this dose not stop im going to see what legal action can be taken on them calling about student loan . I'm
63 yr old i have cancer in both an ive had two massive hearts attacks an this extra stress from these phone call can cause me to have another can you put a block on any teller marketer's from calling this number
Thank you. Paul ueding

I told Total Wireless from the moment I bought my phone that I can only pay on the 3rd of each month or later, but they continually keep changing my due date to the 2nd of the month. I don't care if there are 31 days in a month, my payment date should always be on the 3rd of the month or later. Otherwise, I will have to go without service for 2 days to change the damn due date. They suck!

My data on my account is showing we have 0.00mb out of 15 GB and we have 2 weeks remaining. I had bought extra wifi last month because I used my hotspot when we had no wifi at work for two days last month. It is showing on my account we are using the remaining wifi left from the extra I bought. We did not get our 15GB this month and the person I chatted with said there was nothing he could do. My son and I are always on wifi so we don't go through 15 GB data a month except for last month when I used it for work. So I am being ripped off data all because I bought extra data last month and I am not happy at all about this. Attached are screenshots from both of our phones showing how much data we have used in June and some of that data was from our last months period. I am hoping this will be fixed and we will get our 15 GB for the month and the carried over data I bought to be replaced in case in the future I may need it again. This is 100% not right! My phone number on the account is [protected] and I spoke with the person on chat today 6/21/18