Pennytel

Lost my phone, due to buy a new one anyway - Pennytel had me disconnected from old phone and reconnected to new phone within 24 hours. Great service. They also list called numbers on invoices - an absolute necessity for me. Show details ·  1

I used to love Pennytel and sent several customers their way. Since then they seem to have changed ownership several times and this has resulted in price rise after price rise. The last one was an absolute insult. The explanation for the rise was that they were either going to provide 5G (instead of the current 4G), or extra data. In my case it… Read more

wasn't the 5G, but extra data. The thing is I have NEVER used my allocated data and have accumulated something like 100GB in the bank. Do they think I'm st>pid? Add to that the constant changes in how to pay the bills. And the promised app has never eventuated. And the fact that if you raise a ticket they never come back to you in the promised time. Today I bit the bullet and voted with my feet. At least they ported my number to the new provider in a timely fashion.

Another price rise! I joined Pennytel so I’d have access to small amounts of data at a low price when I was not at home. One after the other Pennytel has increased the monthly fee and added more data which I don’t need. I’m now looking for an alternative. Show details

Satisfied! – I have been very happy with the service, coverage & price. I have had two mobile services with Pennytel for about 15 years. Never had an issue. I understand they use the Telstra wholesale network which is not the same coverage as the Telstra's own retail network but close. I have never encountered difficulties when calling them for support,… Read more ·  1

however these times have been minimal. It would be more convenient if they had a mobile app as they had previously.

Service excellent and stress free – I’ve been with pennytel for couple years now with our mobile phones two days ago ordered an internet connection one phone call and 10 mins is all it took day 2 I’m up and running with internet. service is brilliant Show reply

Love the fact it's on the Telstra network and the eSIM they provide. But I've had a couple billing issues e.g. bounced payments, automated payments randomly stopped working and then pentalties for missing payments, signup issues with them over the months and never really understood why. Never had this with anyone else, and could never really understand the explanation.

Poor customer service – Very poor customer service. I waited 8 hours for a call back from tech support recently as they were not able to take my call when I phoned. I had a simple request and was given incorrect information. Very disappointed. Will have to find an alternative company. Show details

avoid Pennytel – no issue until you try and canel the subscription. Then it is almost impossible and the costs keep coming. Avoid, terrible service, pushy and bullying behaviour. Show details

Don't do it! – I have been a client of pennytel since July 2018. For most of that time I have been a happy client. My account has always been paid a month ahead so I am always in credit. Up to the time they changed ownership and accounting systems, I have had no issues. However, whilst attempting to upgrade my 2 sim cards to 5g in June 2024, I found the… Read more

sales department hopeless and unhelpful! The sales guy had a poor understanding of English. As a result I went to another provider. I would have been happy to stay with pennytel at that time, if I had received better help from sales. It cost more to change providers, but it has proved more than worth the increase in my monthly payments.

After closing my account I have been billed with another months payment, even though the account was in credit. I contacted pennytel customer service to explain I was in credit a month ahead, twice. I had already paid for the month before cancelling my service. After three phone calls and several emails to Mikaela, (Customer Support Specialist) I have now been charged a late fee, while still in dispute with pennytel. I have paid the bogus monthly charge but will not pay added late charge. Frankly I found it worth paying a few dollars to get rid of these shonks.

I have previously recommended pennytel to a lot of friends and family. I am now telling everyone I know to get rid of this company as fast as possible!

I highly recommend to use another provider.

Used to be good - not anymore! – I have been with Pennytel for years and haven’t had an issue until about the last 6 months where I barely get any service in built up areas outside of my home. I tolerated it as I spend more time working from home on wifi calling (utilising another provider) rather than out of the home UNTIL I needed medical attention outside of my jobs and ALL… Read more

the calls were failing and not connecting. Most of the time I can only access 3G and only rarely 4G (iPhone 14 pro) so with 3G switching off soon I called up to enquire about what has changed in the network as to why their share of bandwidth is beyond terrible and I can’t maintain a decent service. I wanted to know what my options were when 3G switches off considering the above. Well- we are now up to #15 contact on the same stupid thing and I now get so frustrated at the thought of them. Taking me through troubleshooting of my phone, telling me there is no problem then telling me there is a wide outage with NO info, then saying there isn’t. It’s a joke and it was a simple general question. Their call centre operators have no active listening skills it’s so laughable since they are outsourced. My last contact was yesterday. I had to put up with listening to an operators rooster in the background of the call while he again ignored what I was saying- trying to explain that my whole neighbourhood referred each other years ago to Pennytel as part of their “refer a friend” campaign and we are all talking confirming we have have limited service..and the operators response when I asked for proof of this on/off again outage…”fine, don’t believe me then”. What type of language is this to a reasonable requested that has taken 15 calls with no resolution in site? Speak to your engineering team, pun point my tower and either confirm or deny that you no longer have the wholesale share that you once did! Simple! Then I can take my neighbours and move on! I reckon the rooster could have done a better job. Appalling….and STILL unresolved. I’m going to the telco ombudsman next week, enough is enough. I haven’t moved to another provider as yet as I will still have the same question.

Unable to get account balance for final bill - Online portal not working – I live in Melbourne. I tried the Pennytel esim alongside my Vodafone sim card. I read that the Telstra wholesale network isn't different from the retail one in metropolitan areas. I could see the Vodafone signal strength and Pennytel signal strength side by side on my phone at all times. With few exceptions, in most places the Vodafone signal was… Read more

stronger and no where near what I would expect from a Telstra network. I only got 5G+ on the Vodafone network and never on Pennytel.

I then terminated my account. So time to sort out my final bill. They sent me a "reminder" that was in ambiguous language about whether or not the bill was paid and had no clearly defined current account balance. To find out for sure and get the final account balance to be paid, I attempted to use the Online Portal to view it and pay the final balance.

Upon logging in, they wanted to send a verification code to my email. I clicked send on 3 different occasions on 3 different days. Alas, no verification code so unable to log in to view the balance so I could then pay it.

4 days later I got an "overdue balance" notification. It said that a "late payment fee" was payable without specifying the amount of that fee or the total amount to be paid. How can I work out the final balance from that? I tried once again to log in to find out the actual final balance amongst all of this ambigious communication. Again, the verification code does not reach my email.

In the end, I had to call them to get this resolved. The first I waited 11 minutes and had not moved from position 5 in the queue, the second I requested a callback. They waived the late fee, but still not the best experience.

WHAT HAS GONE WRONG – *Don't send out invoices any more? Raise the price without informing the customer? Something has changed, can no longer use the web site? Not the same old Pennytel. Show details

The absolute WORST! – Pennytel was great for a little while...BUT NOW THEY ARE THE WORST! The absolute epitome of dodgy telco They double billed me twice! . ..then they didn't charge the direct debit that was set up and charged me.$10 late fee three times!! They have changed their platform which is now something out if the 80s that is clunky and analogue type...you… Read more

can't change your plan on your account.. So I changed provider and port was delayed...so pennytel charged me for a full month!! I spoke to them and they said they would pro rata the bill ( for 4 days) but they lied...and so my account was overdrawn by unexpected debit and I was charged over draw fee!! What a nightmare! I have spent time on the phone to their incompetent team at least once every billing cycle for the past 6 months.

Cheap rates, exploitative fees – Just another one of ProductReview's paid-for 4-star telecom companies full of hidden fees and apathetic support. Pennytel is, on the surface, a simple and straightforward service. However, the hidden fears appear quietly, and increase exponentially - I've had to pay at least double the cost of my actual plan, in the years I've been with Pennytel.… Read more

The company frequently changes bill cycles, which help cause missed payments (which are always met with fees). They ignore requests to close accounts, and continue charging; They routinely provide misleading and incorrect bill information, and false payment reports.

Pennytel has also ignored three separate requests to close my account, over multiple weeks, and instead kept billing me. I managed to succeed a fourth time after sending a page full of profanities.

If you are a pensioner, stay well away: There is no better example of a company that would prey on older folks. If you ignore this advice, you'll soon see what I mean.

Don't buy into the paid reviews - There's more to Pennytel than first appears.

Excellent technical support – 6.30am yesterday found that we had no landline connection to the internet. Tried the usual "fixes" with no luck. Used my mobile to check NBN and nothing was reported for my area. Rang Pennytel Technical section and got through straight away. Took them 3-4 minutes to check the line and informed me that there was a NBN technical issue in my area… Read more ·  1

and gave me an estimated fix time. The NBN was not back up when I went to bed but I had received 2 calls during the day to see how things were progressing. This morning the service was back up. At approximately 10.30am I received a call from Joe, Technician, to see if everything was ok. Thats service!

NO COVERAGE,NO CUSTOMER SERVICE – For past 6 weeks had no coverage but they still charge us for no service and no coverage. When I called them they couldn’t get it through there thick heads that it was a coverage problem not a phone problem like they were saying.No Customer Service. Had to go to another provider that can give us coverage and had no problems . Would not recommend this company to anyone

Changed billing cycle and ignore my request for a pro rated refund and would not entertain my request – - They changed the billing cycle and did not communicate to customer upfront-customer service is really bad now - Would not let me terminate with pro rata rate when they can charge us pro rated rate - Porting to another service now

Takes your money without asking you, billed hundreds of dollars at a time – At any point there could be a "System malfunction error" that will charge you upwards of $200 out of your account, putting you into the negatives through direct debit. I've experienced this error nearly 5 times, no compensation, I am only a student and I go into negatives every single time. They do not care whatsoever. One point they held my $219… Read more

for over a week, and after I called nearly 15 times demanding it back (since it wasn't my fault) they called me on a private number and told me the money was transferred, then hung up. Despite saying my account was taken off "Direct Debit", they still continued to take money out of my account. I can't imagine how many elderly people are losing hundreds of dollars without their knowledge due to this ridiculous "error" that clearly seems like they are getting away with it. It isn't uncommon like they say either, I've met plenty of people that have had the same thing. Their customer service is useless, I mean it is unbearable to talk to anyone there as they degrade you and talk down to you. Stay as far away from this piece of trash service provider.

Garbage – Called them up to cancel a plan i didnt want and got a new one but they cancelled my plan randomly ran by people with little to NO experience. Absolute SCAM Show details

Professionalism to the Highest Standard – Thank you very much to all for your professional communication and help during my phone problem over the past 2-3 weeks. Show reply

Same price as 12 months ago love it! – Added on an extra phone, 3 now and still same price plans no secret changes to gb allowance and no extra data charges been really happy with service as we’re rural and we get good reception thanks. Show details ·  1

Good Value .. Helpful Support – Had a Rockey Start signing up phones for family use. Ensure when first signing up and asked who is using the phone, they mean who is responsible for the phone. Once signed up you can manage multiple phones on the account. After a few iterations of support I found a helpful agent and sorted our account out. I find the plans and coverage to be superb, and even better with Wifi Calling now working with the Telstra network. Show details ·  1

Great package for pensioners on a budget – Have been using the 1GB XS mobile plan for several months. It's very cost efficient when you only need to use a small amount of data away from the home. The mobile coverage is very good. Customer service is exceptional. Show details ·  1

Perfect for us – The cost factor was our main reason for joining Pennytel for both our mobile phones. The change over was very easy and communication when necessary has been spot on. Have been using our plan for a few months now with no issues at all. It's also nice to able to call (when needed) and get a real person to talk to without a huge waiting time. Great… Read more ·  1

phone reliability on a recent car trip from Brisbane to Adelaide. Super happy since joining Pennytel especially using the Seniors plan.

Quick activation – Mobile SIM activation took only 10 minutes. After several months there are no issues although the phone is on a Seniors plan and only ever used in one location for voice only. The lack of data bank and rollover prevents me from moving my other devices to Pennytel. Show details