The Corner Penthouse

SafeLink Wireless, the government-supported Lifeline service of TracFone Wireless, a Verizon company, provides free cell phones to low-income Americans. I have had a free cell phone from Safelink since 2016. For the first six years, they saddled me with an outdated basic flip-phone from the early 2000s. In 2022, once the old network that the phone (barely) ran on was no longer around, Safelink was forced to give me a modern Internet-enabled Android "smart phone". For the most part, I have had no problems with this Alcatel TCL A3X... until today.

It was today, April 14, 2025, that I noticed that the back of my phone is bulging out in the middle. Since it's not a large bulge, it's not easy to capture in a photo, but it's quite obvious in person - especially when you feel the back. I probably never noticed it before because it was slowing bulging over time.


Knowing this bulge was not a good sign, I did a quick search online and found out that it is a swollen battery inside, which could cause a fire if not dealt with.


Since I don't want a fire hazard in my pocket any longer, I called up Safeline Customer Service at 1-800-378-1684. After going through the dumb automated system in order to reach technical support, I was connected to Alka - that may not be the correct spelling of his name - a male employee of a call center that was clearly in India. (Verizon makes enough money that it should use American call centers for American customers.) Due to his Indian accent, it wasn't easy to understand everything he said, but I understood enough to know that I was going to get screwed.

My BS Meter started going off when he asked to send a code via text message to the cell phone so he could "determine if I was eligible for a replacement phone". This phone is a potential FIRE HAZARD; why would there even NEED to be a determination of eligibility for it to be replaced?!? Common sense, and the safety of your customers, says that you replace it ASAP! I guess no one told Safelink/Tracfone/Verizon this. Also, considering that most online sources recommend NOT USING THE PHONE WITH THE SWOLLEN BATTERY INSIDE, it was incredulous that he would want me to turn the phone on so he could send a text message to it.

Not surprisingly, given the header of this article, Alka determined that I WAS NOT ELIGIBLE TO HAVE THIS POTENTIAL FIRE HAZARD PHONE REPLACED! I tried to argue the point with him, but given that he spoke with a thick Indian accent, and I did not, I think my point was lost in translation. He kept trying to blame "limited funds from the government" on why he could not replace this potential fire hazard. Sorry, but I know that Verizon is a MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR corporation with more than enough money to replace a cheap cell phone. The government can't be blamed for this.

His only suggestion was to have my free phone plan transferred to a new device. I'm sure he would have been happy to sell me a new device, but I should not have to PAY to replace a DEFECTIVE FIRE HAZARD phone that the company who gave it to me should replace. In essence, according to Alka, Safelink's stance is that it will give me the free phone plan, but not a safe phone to use it with. Kind of ironic that the company is named Safelink.

Since Safelink/Tracfone/Verizon will not do the right thing, I have three options.

1. Do as the Safelink representative said: Buy a new device and have the free phone plan transferred over to it. I might have an old unlocked Consumer Cellular phone I could use - I had to sign up with Consumer Cellular from 2019 to 2022 when the crappy outdated flip phone that Safelink saddled me with frequently did not work - but this phone is a better model, so I would prefer to keep using it.

2. Buy a new battery and replace it myself. This video by Evanation shows how to do it, using this TLP043F1 Replacement Battery with prying tools that is priced at $20 on Amazon (sold by Baoran, shipped by Amazon). Although Evanation makes it look easy, I tried to pry the back cover off, and just could not do it. I do not think I would be able to do it myself.

3. Find a phone repair shop and pay them to replace the battery. The only local shop I know of is Phone Computer Repair Inc. at 126 Brooklyn Avenue in Valley Stream. I went in there and was told that it would cost about $60 for them to replace the battery, and it could take a week as they would have to special order the battery. YIKES! Either of the other two options would be cheaper.

I really wish I didn't even have to consider these options, as Safelink/Tracfone/Verizon should just replace the phone - or at least the battery - no questions asked. Given that a swollen battery is a potential fire hazard, it's the right thing to do.

[UPDATE - 4/15/2025]
Right after I published this article, I thought it would be a good idea to contact an executive at Safelink's Tracfone's parent company, Verizon, to try to get a positive resolution to this matter. Surprisingly, Verizon actually has public e-mail forms for several of the executives on the Executive Bios page. I opted to go straight to the top, and used the form for Hans Vestberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Now, I didn't for one minute think that messages sent through this form would actually be seen by Mr. Vestberg, but I knew that my message would be seen by someone much higher up than a Safelink rep in an Indian call center. Instantly, I received a "Thank you for contacting Verizon" confirmation e-mail which stated that "a member of our Executive team will be in contact with you".

While that hasn't happened, it does seem like my message resulted in a positive outcome. I received a surprise phone call today at 2:51pm Eastern from Tracfone Wireless (1-800-353-1842). It was Kathleen calling to tell me that she received my "escalation request" and that they will be replacing my swollen battery phone as a "one time courtesy". The new phone should arrive in 3 to 5 business days and that when I get it, I should call them to transfer the account/plan over to it.

While I don't think that replacing a fire hazard phone should be considered a "courtesy", I am absolutely thrilled that I was able to, quickly, get a positive resolution to this matter. Thank you to whomever at Verizon saw my message to Mr. Vestberg and got in touch with Safelink's parent company Tracfone to get me this outcome.

[UPDATE - 4/18/2025]
I received the replacement phone today via UPS and to my surprise, it's not the same phone. Instead of the TCL A3X, I was sent a reconditioned Blu View 4 (B135DL) manufactured in July 2023 (assuming the date on the back is a manufacturing date).


The specs on the official site seem to indicate that the Blu View 4 is slightly better than the TCL A3X, so no complaints here.