has anyone have troubles trying to locate their phone when location has been turned off

If find my iPhone is OFF, then there is no mechanism to remotely track it. All you can is physically search for it yourself. Any remote tracking requires Find My be enabled.

If Find My Phone is off, you have to manually look for the phone.

Go to the last place you know you had the phone and begin looking there. If you can legally do it, post signs so if someone finds the phone, they will know how to contact you. Ask the police if someone has turned in the phone.