1,317 reviews
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- Pre-Paid Sim Only (72)
- Post-Paid Sim Only (141)
- Post-Paid with Phone
Reviews
Save yourselves and don't spend a cent there
It must the most incompetent telco companies in Australia.Tried them as an alternative to Amaysim for my phone and access 'that Telstra reception'. What a mistake. The reception was terrible, and within 3 months (April 2023) I went back to Amaysim.
* In April 2023, I called them saying I wanted to close my account. The lady said yep allgood, thank you and goodbye.
* I went back to Amaysim straight that afternoon.
* Pennytel started sending some overdue invoices bills, but surely that was a mistake because my account had been closed and ... Read more
confirmed of such over the phone, so I didn't think much of it. * Fast forward December 2023 when the debt recovery notices started coming in for an overdue invoice (whatever that was for) for (brace yourself) $20.45. * Called Pennytel straight away to pay this $20.45 and close this freaking account - done, assured over the phone all is well - goodbye. * January 2024, ANOTHER invoice for $0.3 + recovery debt notices keeping on coming. AGAIN called to say sort you [Content Removed] please. [Name Removed] from 'Pennytel Client Experience' apologised for my unfortunate experience. I asked them to contact the debt recovery notice company and advise them that 1) my account was closed and 2) everything had been paid directly to Pennytel. * 15 January 2023: another email from the debt recovery notice company just came in.... Will my Pennytel account be finally closed and settled, 12 months after requesting so? Only time will tell.. Save yourselves, don't spend a freaking cent in this companyMostly reliable phone service and customer support
I have been on Pennytel's (now discontinued) 1GB postpaid plan for a few months now and the overall phone service has been sufficient, in that I have noticed no signal issues when using it. Customer service has also been timely and helpful with most phone calls being answered within 10 minutes. The automated message on the customer service line also informs you of your position in the queue, which I find much more transparent than phone lines without them.For the exceptions: recently I experienced a sudden service outage for 2-3 days where I … Read more · 2
was unable to receive any texts. If it was planned then I did not receive any notice of it. Fortunately it did not severely disrupt my daily activities but it had the potential to if the outage extended for a further period of time. There have also been exceptions to the customer service line where phone calls have had a wait time of more than 10 minutes, extending up to half an hour as an estimate. Fortunately these are rare. In terms of improvements I'd like to see, I would like for the customer portal to be modernised and for it to be hosted under Pennytel's own domain. It doesn't seem very professional to have it hosted on a different domain. I also would like for the 1GB postpaid plan to return as it was one of the cheapest wholesale Telstra plans out there at the time. Customers seeking wholesale Telstra plans must search elsewhere for value. Overall: the 1GB plan is fine for someone who is a light data user and has a preference for the wholesale Telstra network. People who fall outside of this category should seek other plans.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
Hi Phillip, Could you please send through your account number or mobile number so we can look into this for you? Thanks Pennytel
The absolute WORST!
Pennytel was great for a little while...BUT NOW THEY ARE THE WORST! The absolute epitome of dodgy telcoThey 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 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) ... Read morebut 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.
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 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 m... Read morey 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.Hi Freddy I apologise for the experience you had with Pennytel. Please provide us with contact number and we'll have our head of client experience contact you to discuss it further.
Billing
Send account payments out 3 weeks before it is due Show details · 3Good 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
Value for money certainly
Very cost effective even tho the system is second tier and can be a little slow.Having said that, Pennytel is great and uses Telstra infrastructure which is way more reliable than Optus in the country. Show details · 1
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 detailsthanks for taking the time Colin for your review, we will be sharing some exciting news soon regarding data banking.
No longer good value
Use to be good value, but not anymore. I will put up with call drop outs - happens all the time on long drives, and out of range 4g & 3g which happens because they are using the cheaper Telstra wholesale network. But the final straw was when they increased charges too far for me. Some executive thinks that charging customers for using their credit card is a good idea, this is not necessary. I have been with them for many years but had to leave because there are so many other providers offering better deals that include data banking which Pennytel does not. So sort your pricing and services out Pennytel and i might come back. Show detailsWorst teleco ever
For four months I have been trying to get my service disconnected with these clowns.All they do is keep taking money from my account and send me dead links to close the account.
Now I’m on my second complaint with the Telecommunications ombudsman to try and get this circus of a company to close my account. You get what you pay for with these clowns. Don’t use them! Show details
Tim we do apologise that you feel this way. Communication was through email to Pennytel. For the safety of each customer Pennytel account, security measures are in place to authenticate account holder... Read more
s and to ensure any online requests are from the account holder. Pennytel has taken your experience onboard, thank you for your feedbackPleasant to deal with
Started out well with good prices and a 10% discount on the mobile service when bundled with NBN. Unfortunately, two months in they jacked up the prices 9% on the mobile and 50% on the cheapest NBN service, and furthermore forgot to apply the bundling discount. So I took my NBN service elsewhere but stuck with Pennytel for the mobile. The Telstra network provides good coverage and the price is still moderate. The best part is they will answer the phone and respond promptly to emails, so you could do a lot worse. Show detailsJust noticed that the details at the bottom of this page (as at 28/10/22) claim mobile plans from $11 and NBN from $40/mo. but my understanding is that these are now $12 and $60 respectively.
not sure
Overall the service has been satisfactory to goodi have noticed the coverage in my shed for phone service is not quite as good Show details · 2
Unusable overseas - Predatory roaming charges!
If you are planning any international travel then I strongly recommend not going with Pennytel. You might think you can buy a local sim card overseas but the problem is you will require your Australian sim and roaming switched on to recieve any authentication codes you have setup for banking or other services (a very common requirement these days - and if you move your codes over to a local sim overseas you will still have to first do an authentication event with your Australian sim). While received messages are advertised as free pennytel will... Read more charge you $10AUD anyway for dubious 'data usage' detection, despite at these times having either your mobile data settings set to off or the penntel account roaming set to off. Pennytel support will cite data usage and then when you protest to support that this shouldn't be possible they will fail to provide evidence of any actual data usage except a timestamp of when it was detected (i.e. they wont tell me in bytes how much data was used, I suspect extremely little due to my mobile data being off on my Galaxy S9). While they refunded me for one bugged Pennytel account setting occurance, they refused to refund me for the other roaming occurances where I suspect a tiny amount of data was used. They also refused to charge me pro rata (i.e. Dollars per KB) for these charges when I asked them, probably because of how little 1s and 0s were actually transmitted. Update: my suspicions were confirmed when they admitted I had used only 1kb for each of these roaming packs. They falsely advertsise their roaming as having no sneaky fees. This is flagrant BS, don't fall for it.Hi Jarrod, thank you for your feedback. We will raise these concerns with our upstream provider regarding how the Roaming Day Packs are triggered. There was data usage on these dates, even though mini... Read more
mal, which triggered the Roaming Day Pack to be added as it is added as soon as any data usage is identified. There are no sneaky fees on our Roaming Day Packs. Upon reviewing your account activity, we can clearly see that you didn't use the Roaming Day Packs once they were activated. As such, we will be applying a credit to your account for the total amount of these Packs on the days where 1KB was used. Kind regards, Pennytel.Ripped off!
This business is terrible!I recently decided to stop using their service, but they still slugged me for the last phone bill.
CHEATS!
The took the amount out of my CC.
They have so far refused to reimburse me. Show details
Hi Soapy, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’d love to try and make this right. If you’... Read more
d like to connect further, we’ll work with you to try and find a solution. Thank you, The Pennytel Team 1300 232 888- Prev
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Details
About Pennytel
Pennytel is a mobile and NBN service provider that has been in operation since 2007 and has been offering low data plans in all Australian regions since 2013. Their mission is to give Australians mobile and NBN services that are simple to use, represent great value, and have great coverage.
Some features of Pennytel mobile plans include:
- SIM-only plans on the Telstra network.
- No lock-in contracts.
- Plans ranging from $10.99 to $69 a month, where you can choose between 1GB and 100GB of data.
Internet plans don’t have lock-in contracts either, and range from $39.99 a month for 100GB to $99 a month for unlimited data, large file sharing, and a typical evening speed of 100Mbps.
You can also bundle mobile and Internet plans for a discount.
Points of praise:
- Most reviewers found that changing to Pennytel from a different provider was a seamless, fuss-free experience.
- They also found that the network coverage and connection was reliable and didn’t drop out, with speeds meeting their needs and expectations.
- Reviewers appreciated the competitive prices of the plans available, saying that they represented great value for money. A few reviewers also noted that the lack of hidden costs made the plans even more appealing.
Category | Mobile Phone Service Providers |
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Network Used | Telstra |
International Roaming Offered | Yes |
Awards | 2023 |
Contact info for Pennytel
Mon | 9:00 am - 5:00 pm |
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Tue | 9:00 am - 5:00 pm |
Wed | 9:00 am - 5:00 pm |
Thu | 9:00 am - 5:00 pm |
Fri | 9:00 am - 5:00 pm |
Sat | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm |
Sun | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm |
- ABN: 92633474076
Extra Information
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Hi MarieC. Thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed review. We're sorry your experience didn't match your expectations. Your experience was extremely uncommon, but regardless was not goo... Read more
d enough and we apologise. Whilst we've not had a customer experience the same before, it has prompted us to have a good look at what happened to ensure we do better in the future.