Find a cheaper plan in seconds- Switch in minutes

PureTalk reviews: Read 158 customer service ratings

Check out what customers are saying about PureTalk

PureTalk logo
PureTalk
2.2 (158)
Starting at
$20 /mo
View Plans
Savings Alert: Cheaper plans available starting at $10/mo - Compare Cheap Plans
Customer Reviews 2.2
158 PureTalk reviews
5 29
4 15
3 10
2 16
1 88

Is PureTalk phone service any good?

Don't Use PureTalk!!!!

Two days ago we woke up to phones not having talk service. You cannot connect PureTalk Customer Service via chat and without talk service, I had to download a wifi calling app to find out 3 of our 4 cell phones were "too old" for their technology. My phone is the oldest at only 3 years old (Samsung Note9). After sitting on hold for over 20min the only help they could offer was to refer me to purchase 3 new phones. Sorry, I am not giving up my Note for a burner type phone and I am not paying over $2,000 every couple of years for new phones because you think they are too old. We can spend $100 more per month and go with a different carrier and it would take over 16 years to spend that $2,000. We decided to change our service to another cell carrier who would accept our phones. PureTalk was suppose to have our 4 phones ported over by 1pm (approx 20hrs after we signed up for the new service). It is now 5hrs later, 3 dropped calls at 30min on hold each and still not resolved. Also, they refused to refund the prepaid balance as we were only 7 days into our month. Don't use PureTalk!!!!

This company is going through some Major issues

Major issues related to removing 3G system. Phones must have 4G 5G capabilities. I found it does not fix issues. They will work with their phones not other carriers...nope I have their phone...galaxy A12 from them, still has on and off issues. Brother has (Verizon) 5G still has same issues...works then pupa`s. Make sure your phone software is up-to-date, settings...general manage...mobile networks..reset.. shut dow,down,...restart check data, calls, & txt. Should have "puretalk" when calling

Use PureTalk if you never use your phone.

I've spent hrs waiting on hold for Customer Service., and issues are not resolved. I'm going back to AT&T, but apparently can't keep my old number, because PureTalk can' t release it. And it order to finally cancel my service with PureTalk I have to call Customer Service again and wait who knows how long to just to let them know I'm done. Ridiculous!

THE WORST COMPANY EVER.

I've been a Pure Talk customer for a number of years with no problems. Even customer service, the rare times I needed it, was decent. Now, it's like it's another company - a HORRIBLE one. With the 5G upgrade, got a new phone that wouldn't work, apparently a bad SIM card (I see a lot of similar complaints here), and being on hold for customer support for HOURS - yes, literally, HOURS. And then, no real help. Managed to get a supervisor who promised to help me and she doesn't even bother to reply to emails she ASKED to to send to let her know when I was home and she was supposed to call me to help. So they are liars too. Went with a friend to T-Mobile to pick up her phone and their manager got my Pure Talk phone working in 20 minutes. This is after a solid WEEK of trying to get ANYONE from Pure Talk on the phone. I can't believe how bad they suck. I plan to change to T-Mobile.

Pure Talk is Pure...well you know what

We joined Pure Talk six weeks ago. My service was dropped on Monday. Had a 3G phone that was supposed to be supported under 5G. Wrong! No email notification of service disruption. Was on hold for hours and finally had to order a new phone. Guaranteed two day FedEx delivery. Never showed up. I was on hold for 5 hours today. Pure Talk rep said it was shipped. Lie. FedEx tracking showed a label was only created this morning. Just waited 2 hours and the rep said it was picked up for shipment. FedEx confirmed that was a lie. I was hung up three times today. I will be firing them. Don't even waste your time. They will answer new customer inquiries within a minute. However, they have abandoned their 3G customer base in my view. Buyers beware!

Smoke signals better signal

Terrible internet, terrible hotspot. Can’t FaceTime.

Worth the money

With 3G shutdown customer service is swamped. But Camille was able to help me get my son's phone to work when I was in the truck 200 miles away. She was very helpful patient and knowledgeable. I am somewhat hard of hearing that she was very pleasant and easy to understand. I really really appreciated her help

Long wait times on phone for customer service.

I've been with PT for a month. We've had issues with service dropping intermittently and today we can't use voice service, but texts are working. When I reached out via Messenger on FB, I was told to reset the APN , the second time since switching. The first time, it was so that texts with pics would come through and send. I reset the APN as instructed - no change. Then I was told to check for system updates. Phones are updated. Still can't use voice.

I wish I could give zero stars.

Waited a minimum of 30 minutes each day for seven days.. I’m done.. god knows how I’m going to cancel.. they have my money, and I have not been able to sign up my new phone as the person wrote my email address down wrong, after confirming the correct mail.. very frustrated.. don’t touch this company.. They are useless.. I have wasted a total of five hours waiting for a human.. Can’t go online, because they say my email is invalid.. and they keep harping on about 3 G being down.. I have 5g

ABSOLUTELY WORST COMPANY! NO CUSTOMER SERVICE.

After receiving the phone Monday, and finding out the SIM card was not working, phoned numerous times, asking for someone to call me back, spending time just waiting for someone to answer, and sending text. Five days later, STILL WAITING. USELESS CUSTOMER SERVICE. Thanks, I'll go back to my former carrier, who really wasn't all that bad now that I have hindsight!

Unethical business practices

I have been a Pure Talk customer for over 5 years and never had an issue with their service. In January I decided to take advantage of a promotion they sent me for $250 off a new phone. I selected the phone I wanted. To receive the full $250 discount, I had to finance through them and agree to stay a customer for 2 years. The discount was supposed to be credited to my account in 3 payments starting a month after the phone was activated. A little over a month after activating the phone, I contacted Pure Talk to see when I would see the first credit to my account. I was told that I didn't use the promotion. They have stopped responding to my requests for information regarding this. At this point I feel trapped in a 2 year commitment with a company that reneges on its promises to customers and is over all very unethical in their business practices.

Phone stopped working, Sends SMS but voice fails

Their tech support does not know anything. They claim that the iphone 6 and 6s dont work, but ATT says they do

I've been on hold now for 6 hours!!!!

I'm a new customer and last month I ran out of my 60 gb's of data. Have no WiFi where we live so instead of it slowing down, it actually stopped completely so I ordered another phone to add to my account so this won't keep happening and I'll have another 60 gb's to use. They sent me a new Sim card. My phone arrived today and all I want to do is activate this new phone. They will have to give me another phone# for the new phone. I'm not tech savvy at all so didn';t think I could do this online. Someone has picked up the phone several times and acted like they couldn't hear me and disconnected the phone. Not surprised to see all the bad reviews!!!

poor service

I tried pure talk for 3 days and it didn't work as advertised so I returned everything for what I thought was a full refund. 3 weeks later I get the phone sent back to me. I call pure talk again and find out that there is a scratch on the back of the phone and now I have to buy it for full price. There is absolutely no scratch on the back of the phone. Yes they were cheaper than my other cellular service but I would never ever try their cell service again not even if you paid me.

AWFUL, AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE

AWFUL, AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE. THE TECH DEPARTMENT IS A JOKE, NO HELP. IF YOU HAVE ANY TYPE OF PROBLEM YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. ONE STAR IS TOO MANY. I SPENT OVER FOUR AND HALF (4.5) AND SIX{6} PHONE CALLS TO GET A REPLACEMENT SIM CARD. AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE. WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY! AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE!

No hotspots with Android phones

I like their prices but Android phones are "not compatible" with their system for using hotspots or bluetooth. Customer service said they didnt know if this was being worked on or not. And, since some of us have to get new phones due to 5G supposedly coming along in Feb, they dont offer any discounts to their customers on their phones other than their regular prices or discounts with the larger packages. That sure builds loyalty - NOT.

Phone service is unreliable.

Continually get no cell service for voice calls. Tech support has nothing else to offer. Never had that issue with Verizon, our previous carrier. Its not only about money - when you need to make a call, you want to know the service is there.

Useless customer service

They do have good rates on plans, but if anything goes wrong with your service, they blame it on your phone's capabilities and give up trying to trouble shoot. My phone worked just fine with their old SIM card, but they told me it was old and need a new one for the Feb 2022 network shift so sent me a new one. After I installed it, my wifi calling and VoLTE options disappears. I called and sat on hold for an hour (4 times) for them to keep telling me the APN setting must not be right, then updating settings, resetting phone and having to call back and sit on hold again because this is my only phone. They wouldn't give me the direct number to tech support and wouldn't agree to call me back because they were so busy with the change over (4th call the regular customer service rep finally agreed to give it to me 1-800-768-4360 because I was so irate at the call sit on hold transfer sit on hold process) I am now going to cancel my service and go with another carrier that can make their claimed services work.

PureTalk does not take care of their customers

The phone PureTalk sent me didn't work right and I had to keep calling them to get new APN settings that were supposed to fix the problem. None of their new settings worked and they finally told me to send it back for replacement. I sent it back right away but they never sent me a new phone and I had to call repeatedly to find out where it was. They couldn't get it right and I had to cancel when I was getting close to the end of the second month because they were still charging me monthly for service without a phone. I'm glad I did before they charged me for another month because they flat out refused to refund me for the time I was without a phone and I have been fighting for months to get my money back. After the bad review I left with BBB they finally refunded me for one month but they refuse to pay the rest. Now they keep saying I'm not eligible for a refund because I am outside of the 30 day guarantee. I sent the phone back within the first 2 weeks, including the week I waited for them to send a return label. So they kept my phone until it was too late to get my money back and blamed me for not canceling soon enough. Shame on me for being patient with them. I highly recommend going to a different phone carrier. These people are liars and thieves. Don't believe the nice apologetic response they will write below this review, they do not care about my problem and they will do the same to you. They have NO intentions of making this right and I am going to keep telling people about it. Please stay away from PureTalk.

Calls dropped, texts won’t send/receive, Nodata

After two months of trying to work with customer service, phone calls dropping mid call, phone calls won’t even go through, data won’t work, texts won’t send or come through.....I’m done!!! I really liked the price....especially with five lines in our family.....but the hassle is not worth it. Literally have talked to all their tech support agents, no resolution. LOONNGGG wait times before even speaking to anyone. I feel like ANY cell service would be better than this! Not worth the headache! If you are considering PureTalk.....beware! The one star ratings are VERY true!

Cut your phone bill by up to $600/yr
Find a cheaper plan in seconds
Same coverage - switch instantly

Best cell phone carriers in 2024

Rank Carrier Avg. rating Network(s) Price
1st Reach Mobile reviews 4.5 T-Mobile $20-45/mo
2nd US Mobile reviews 4.2 Verizon & T-Mobile $5-50/mo
3rd Tello reviews 4.1 T-Mobile $8-25/mo
4th Twigby reviews 4 Verizon $5-35/mo
5th Lycamobile reviews 3.9 T-Mobile $19-59/mo
6th Straight Talk reviews 3.8 T-Mobile, AT&T & Verizon $35-65/mo
7th Ultra Mobile reviews 3.4 T-Mobile $13-49/mo
8th Mint Mobile reviews 3.3 T-Mobile $15-30/mo
9th Good2Go Mobile reviews 3.3 AT&T & T-Mobile $5-45/mo
10th Red Pocket reviews 2.8 AT&T, T-Mobile & Verizon $8-30/mo

PureTalk guides

See all PureTalk guides
PureTalk Prepaid eSIM Plans
3 min read
Jan 23, 2024
Best PureTalk plans in March 2024
5 min read
Jan 14, 2024
PureTalk Coverage Map
3 min read
Jan 02, 2024
How much could you save?
Calculate your savings now
Same coverage - cut your bill by up to $600/yr
Women floating over network logos
Find a cheaper plan in seconds
Switch in minutes