Coles Mobile
Verified403 reviews
- Pre-Paid Sim Only
- ·
- Post-Paid Sim Only
Roaming to New Zealand no longer works, in the past (as of Oct 2025) would connect to NZ towers and receive text messages for free, now no longer connects, unless pay $25 per 30 days roaming, by contrast Amaysim roaming packs are good for 365 days
Wouldn't refund a mistaken purchase despite requesting it within hours of the purchase and not activating the Sim. Took them more than 2 business days to get back to me about my request.
DON’T BELIEVE COLES MOBILE HYPE: this could happen to you any time. Almost 6 months of satisfactory service, then my Coles Mobile plan using the Optus network became erratic, indeed mobile phone calls to and from my home became impossible about 90% of the time. Although my area continued to show Coles/Optus mobile coverage it seems the signal to… Read more
my place was placed in shadow; for this to happen there must have been something that changed the signal direction. I complained to Coles mobile, Optus and Telecommunications Ombudsman. Coles/Optus kept having me repeat the same resets, SIM replacement, etc tests ad Infinitim with the same results. At last Optus said they don’t guarantee cover to every household in their coverage area. BEWARE. Coles Mobile also doesn’t tell you that users get access to a portion of the Optus network so while you are paying less you are getting a lesser service too. Coles Mobile kept wanting me to opt out of Optus and let them off the hook. There is NOTHING in the Coles or Optus information that I have read that warns consumers of this aspect of Coles mobile service. I believe this is an example of a breach of contract which I entered into in good faith, but, it seems to me at any rate, Coles did not. The Telecommunications Ombudsman, after referring my complaint to Optus, does not seem to have had any more luck than me in resolving my situation.
Reviews with attachments
Bought SIM card and can’t activate it. Given the runaround. They won’t except email or password. Customer service was NO help. Coles gave me customer service number. They put me through to Optus was told card doesn’t exist and could go to Optus store,was told no they can’t help as card is not Optus.
I paid $25 for the international roaming pack for my Coles Mobile pre-paid service. When I switched on roaming on the iPhone when I arrived in China I immediately received a warning message that 50% of my roaming data had been used up, and a few seconds later a warning that 80% had been used up. In a panic I switched off the roaming. When I… Read more
returned to Australia today I called Coles Mobile to complain and they told me $25 only buys 50Mb of roaming data. The mere fact of turning on your phone in China will instantly burn up $25 of roaming data. They sent me the international roaming data report and this confirms I used up $25 worth of data in ZERO seconds. What an utter RIPOFF. I got absolutely nothing for my $25. Not even able to send one IM on WeChat, not a single phone call, nor visit a single web page. This is the greatest RIPOFF in the history of the telephone. $25 burned up in ZERO seconds.
Weak signal reception – I expected same optus coverage which is used by Coles and Amaysim I was using but extremely low signal at same spots such as home or work. I had no issue with amaysim for a year but lots of reception issues with coles mobile from day one. I could only be using 3g for half year. I just changed another provider and not recommend it at all!! Show details
- +1
Very bad day network – I connect one week ago for cheep and good network but it have 4G but the service was 3G and I tried to complain 3-4 time but they didn’t give any solution and tell me no any problems. But I shared there the screenshot of network bar and browsing which was very unusable. I tried conceive but the don’t trust on me and investigate always but the… Read more
result is zero for me I suffer data issue 3-4 time in a days. Always they told the towers in maintanance. In network bar always two or one bars comes in mobile. I don’t prefer to all this network anymore.
Data use up too fast – I have 4 phones in the family, all with Coles mobile, we have Wifi network at home and have Wifi network at work, only 4 minutes travelling time by car between home and work, and we hardly go out, we have been with Coles mobile for two years, we all noticed that the data used up very quickly, recently I have my phone rechagred in June, not even 3 months, I have used 195GB out of the 200GB already. I think it's time to change provider. Show details
Latest follow-ups
It seems that here in Australia every Mobile Network & all Virtual Mobile Network except Coles Mobile has eSim's available for their customers After contacting "Customer Service" this was the answer I was given by 1 of the operators "Sorry about… Read more
that, it is a feature we are looking to implement in the future. But so far we only provide physical sims." eSIM's are available world wide especially for tourists & those who need 2 services but only carry 1 handset like any modern Apple iPhone, Samsung, Google Pixel & most other if not all new models from all the brands. But not to worry Coles mobile are "Looking to implement sometime in the future" So in the meantime I'll stick to sending a carrier pigeon or sending smoke signals while Coles mobile catches up with the 21st century
Follow-up · Update 20 May 2026 - Nothing has changed, it appears thier carrier OPTUS has to share blame as they apparently refuse to make 4GB E-Sims & Coles are not ready to move up to 5G where an E-Sim should be available. It's all about money.
customer service is hopeless, waited on the phone for 45 minutes , I was thinking about changing service to coles but if this is there customer service its not worth the savings. Asked a few questions on if they could help me change to ensure I did not lose my number and basically got told look on our site. Show details
Follow-up · Didnt go ahead with the mobile plan, no confidence in coles customer service
Bought SIM for a portable mode. Has never worked (2 maths) as it looks like it's not activated. NO real support so wanting to cancel my sim.....AI agent useless. Ability to change account or cancel through website. useless. Need to ring them to… Read more
cancel as cannot see a way to do it via website. Pay a bit more and get some support with a different provider.
Follow-up · Couldn't reach by phone at all. Sent email and got this response which means I'll need to proceed to Telecoms Ombudsman to progress: Hi XXXX, I hope this email finds you well. Unfortunately, as we have not identified any fault with the service, we are unable to process a refund at this time. Please note that the auto-recharge feature is a… Read more
Recent reviews
I attempted to switch from Telstra to Coles Mobile due to the rising costs with Telstra, however the experience has been extremely disappointing. Over a period of more than two weeks, my number was neither ported nor was there any clear acknowledgement that technical issues were preventing the process. From the outset, I encountered problems even… Read more
starting the application, as the SIM card provided consistently returned an error message. Despite multiple follow-ups, communication remained minimal and unhelpful.
Support availability is also a major concern. The limited hours, reduced availability over the Easter period, and early daily closures make it very difficult to resolve what should be straightforward issues. Mobile services operate 24/7, yet support is only available for a fraction of that time, which is clearly inadequate for a service of this nature.
At every stage, there has been a failure in communication and service delivery. This level of breakdown should disqualify any provider from presenting themselves as a legitimate telecommunications service. As a third-party provider, Coles Mobile appears unable to meet the basic expectations required to deliver a reliable mobile service and should seriously reconsider operating in this space.
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Completely useless. Nothing on the packaging says you must have an Australian issued debit or credit card to activate. I’m an Australian citizen resident in NZ and have a valid Wise card with $AUD plus credit card but could not activate. Have travelled around the world, no problem with EU and US sim cards. Coles and Optus are not being honest with consumers Show details
Very poor customer service when it comes to refunds. They take your money on the spot and if you want your own money back for something not quite right, then they say you have to go trough few different departments and takes 10 business days blah blah blah. Every time you call them they give you different answers. Going to stop buying at Coles. Show details
Bought a 30 day sim on special. No problem activating, more data than I'd ever use, except maybe if I streamed a lot of movies. However I wanted to discontinue after the month for other reasons. Tried their instructions to cancel (pre imposed) auto… Read more
recharge but the method they described is non existent. Tried online chat but abandoned that after ten frustrating minutes and then went to TIO who as usual got the ball rolling. Coles finally responded simply saying auto recharge must be done by phoning them, can't be done online. No explanation why, no apology, just an all round time wasting exercise, no doubt resulting in another month's bill for those who didn't perservere.
Follow-up · The original post omitted "cancellation of", should read "cancellation of auto recharge ....". My. Bad rating was solely in reference to the common practice nowadays of difficulty with cancellation of auto renewal and associated time wasting. Coles did ultimately disable the auto renew before renewal date and I was thus not charged for another month, but presumably only thanks to TIO attention.
I should have known better!!!!! I did read reviews of them but having used Optus (through Moose) before, and no problems (only switched trying to save $) I foolishly thought this would be ok. Bought 12 month Sim discounted....more fool me. After… Read more
about a month we have given up....why? Here is a summary....voice mail set up 3 times...finally worked. Call not ringing at time of call, but rang on our phone about 5 minutes later!!!!! But caller not there obviously. No record of missed calls appeared on phone. Unable to make calls more often than we could make calls The only redeeming feature was that when we called customer service, Lady we spoke with tried hard to help...did help get messages sorted, but nothing else. Other problems not worth boring you with. We burnt about $160 worth of service but it is SO BAD we just had to switch. Please.... whatever you do, no matter the special deal DO NOT USE COLES MOBILE. Mark.
Follow-up · Well....I have found that somehow the setting for WiFi calls was switched on....I have no idea how....Had to search the internet to find how to reset it. So I apologise to Coles mobile....we ended up with the same problem after switching back to Moose....now with wifi calls off, all is ok. Changed review to 3 star...hope that is fair....again... sorry to Coles mobile
Terrible provider no staff answering calls. Number porting online doesn't work and then when you call to sort it out there call centre is shut on weekdays when it should be open. Show details
Keep charging even though I have cancelled automatic recharge. I wanted to cancel the automatic recharge, but there is no way to do that unless I change my plan. However - as customer care later told me - changing the plan rules out cancelling the… Read more
automatic recharge, even if you select that option. This is not brough to your attention anywhere. Pure genious way of scamming you into continued payment. If there is anything more to this horror, the SIM card does not even work.
Follow-up · Customer Care basically said that “sorry, this is how it works, end of story”. It is very hard to cancel this plan, but now it would appear that I could stop the automatic recharging. Now that the recharging is stopped, I just let this sim card expire, I do not waste time on trying to cancel it.
Activation Page doesn't work – I paid upfront for 365 days plan and I am currently trying to activate but their website is under maintenance. When I look at other comments on this page then there are many who had same issue so basically coles activation page doesn't work and had long-term maintenance issue. Now my current number will be off today and i can't activate coles… Read more
number tonight such a terrible service.
so many small mobile retail provided has better website then coles..... stay away from coles if you want to buy mobile. i had Woolworth mobile and activation was smooth without any trouble and i also get 10% discount on grocery if i stay with woolworths. it was wrong choice to go to coles for international coles, now i can't have my existing number with me and won't get 10% discount on grocery as well.
stay away from coles mobile.
Awful customer service. Online chat were useless and told me a supervisor would call back. He never did. They cut off my prepaid service with no notice which is illegal. Claimed ‘oh you haven’t recharged in 90 days’. Website is a pain to search through too. Not that cheap thesedays either. Avoid them. Really slow online chats too. I think the chat person was dealing with 10 other chats Show details
Call waiting didn't work and was required for my work which made the service unusable. Refused a refund and tech support was hopeless. Kept repeating it was my handset even though I had just left Telstra and call waiting worked fine. Will not use anything Coles anymore. Show details
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My partner only needs the number for short term and wanting to stop using the number but it's extremely hard to turn off auto recharge. Can't find this option on their app or web portal. Contacted support via online chat, they said it's turned off. Then I found no where on the app or web portal to say auto recharge is on or off. Show details
Useless online support who follow up every text with 'is there anything else you need for now', basically just trying to get rid of you instead of actually help you. I finally opted to transfer my number to a new provider, shameless coles mobile disconnected my service as soon as my new provider sent out the transfer request despite i prepaid my… Read more
monthly payment and i still have at least 10 days until expiry.
dont even mention the international roaming package, complete rip-off
honestly avoid this provider!
The service was decent speed - and cheap - to start with. But now I am nearing the end of my contract the speeds have dropped to a crawl (4-5Mb/s download and less than 1Mb/s upload!!) which is a joke on my new Motorola 5G phone. Coles service… Read more
hotline is great at providing obvious solutions that most people will have already tried (resets, SIM removal and replace) but it makes no difference at all. This product is just a slooooow service. They said they would do a test and get back to me about two weeks ago - but nothing. NOT recommended; I used to get better speeds on my dial up modem in 2005. I shall not be renewing my contract.
Follow-up · I checked with Coles about renewing with a discount and instead they almost doubled the price from $140 to $240! Customer loyalty doesn't mean much to them apparently. I have started an account with More now - cheaper and much more consistent speed :)
One of the worst Sims you can have. Altho you run on Optus, I believe their service priority is the lowest. You hardly ever get coverage in the house, unable to make calls even when there is 1-2 bars and keeps saying number busy when other Sims can contact, no issues. Very poor service reliability even in Sydney CBD Show details
An excellent service with Aus-based help. It was a seamless port from my previous provider. Very happy with this Coles plan, Optus coverage and helpful customer service. +++ Show details
Disgraceful service from Coles Mobile. Their customer service is useless and are either non-responsive or might take 3-4, if not, more, business days to respond via email. The mobile data is a joke! My 14 year old daughters phone is connected to home Wi-Fi or my mobile phone hotspot, yet, Coles is telling me she is using data from their plan.… Read more
Impossible. Further, the data usage report provided to me by Coles after I queried the usage, lists incredibly high data usage at 2:30am / 3:00am which is impossible as I hold my daughters mobile over night and it remains connected to my home Wi-Fi.
Coles Mobile is a RORT!!! DO NOT USE THEM! I will be reporting Coles Mobile to the Consumer And Business Services. Coles are absolutely pathetic and lack any ethics.
My daughter is 16 years old and skiing interstate. She lost her phone so I bought a new sim & a friend was going to loan her an old phone. BUT Cole’s won’t transport the number. We need to wait up to 8 days for them the send us a special SIM card via the post and we live in a regional area. Could take longer. I asked them as a goodwill gesture to… Read more
connect the $2 sim I bought w a $10-20 credit so she had phone access, nope, they wouldn’t,T do it. Friday afternoon, 3 calls wouldn’t escalate to a supervisor, was hung up on twice. Never again. Lodged a complaint with ombudsman but it won’t help in time. That Cole’s wouldn’t connect a child who lost their phone whilst away from their parents is appalling. Never again. Steer clear
Worst customer service. My sim number showed invalid and it will take 48 hours for them to answer me . Disapppinting as i have to recharge phone again with other service Show details
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