Bad experience with travelsimdirect WARNING

acookie on 21/03/2016 - 22:21
Last edited 21/03/2016 - 22:25

Hi all

I am not sure if we are allowed to share our negative experiences on the forum like this, but i have to vent on this one.

I ordered 2 h20 sims from TSD MONTHS ago for our upcoming usa trip (we leave this thursday). Its Monday night and i got an email from them saying the sim cards are faulty and that they will not work. There is no contingency plan and i think its too risky to order another sim and risk it not arriving in time.

PLEASE DO NOT USE TSD, I WISH I LISTENED TO SOMEONE ON THE FORUM.

Has anyone used the woolworths travel sim? Is it worth it?

Are there any other alternatives? I could go to tmobile once in the US.

Thanks

Travel

Related Stores

Travel Sims Direct
Travel Sims Direct

Comments

  • neil on 21/03/2016 - 22:56
    +1

    There is a company selling sims in Melbourne and Sydney airport. Grabbed a T-Mobile sim from them before heading overseas. Not as cheap as TSD though.

    I actually bought a sim from TSD last time but lost it before my trip. That's how I found the guys in the airport.

    • acookie on 22/03/2016 - 00:08

      Thanks Neil. I am flying out of perth though. I will keep a look out at the airport here and when i land in chicago

  • Randxyz123 on 22/03/2016 - 00:01

    Did they refund the money?

    Anyway when you get to the US go for a walk and find a Best Buy and get a sim there. (Where are you going?)

    I'd recommend AT&T's unlimited plan but T-Mobile might have other better options.

    • acookie on 22/03/2016 - 00:05

      We are going to chicago first. Can you get at&t prepaid sim cards from best buy?

      Previously when we went to the usa we got tmobile and the data speed wasnt great - i think we were getting edge.

      • Randxyz123 on 22/03/2016 - 00:34

        Try Best Buy first. I think they do otherwise there is a AT&T store on every other street corner!

        At least it'll force you to go for a walk when you arrive instead of flopping on your bed and going to sleep.

        I haven't used t-Mobile personally but I've heard their data speeds are rubbish.

        • neil on 22/03/2016 - 00:42

          T-Mobile is fairly good in cities but their 4G network tends to not work well with non-US version phones. Wife has the International version and I have the Chinese Version of the One Plus One. My data speed was slow at times where as she was connected to LTE with good speeds. International version has 4G on Band 4 which is what T-Mobile was on.

      • [Deactivated] on 22/03/2016 - 19:55

        Just go to an AT&T store

  • ESEMCE on 22/03/2016 - 08:19
    +1

    Isn't this good service?
    I'd be much happier to get the heads up that there's a problem before I travel than find out there's a problem whilst travelling!
    It's not ideal, but after refunding you, what more can they do if you "think it's too risky to order another sim and risk it not arriving in time"?

    • acookie on 22/03/2016 - 09:56

      Well i actually emailed them last week to confirm they could activate my sim. I never heard back from them until yesterday when they said their sim cards were faulty.

  • dasher86 on 22/03/2016 - 09:29

    if you're only travelling to one country it's easier just to get a sim card when you land there.

    You pick a local sim card up at most international airports as soon as you arrive.

  • acookie on 22/03/2016 - 10:54

    Thanks for the advice all.

    I called an at&t store in chicago and they said its all good to get a prepaid from them.

    Re airport sim card: unfortunately the airport i am landing in does not have any stores for sim cards.

    • [Deactivated] on 22/03/2016 - 12:20

      Yeah, you can get an AT&T under their Go Phone plans. Reasonable included calls and data for the money.

  • [Deactivated] on 22/03/2016 - 12:18

    Here is my experience with TSD.

    I ordered a USA simcard last minute and the person said they should arrive on time, this was over the Australia Day long weekend.
    Sadly the simcard did not arrive until the day after I left. Australia Post is partially to blame as they took longer than normal to deliver the package.

    Mostly my fault for leaving it until the second to last day.

    However, positive outcome is that TSD refunded my money in full. Happy days! Really good communication, very understanding and zero hassle getting my money back.
    I would happily recommend them to others.

    My only takeaway is do not leave ordering your sim card until the day before you leave.

    • acookie on 22/03/2016 - 14:18

      It is good that you had a good experience with them.

      My issue is that i ordered my card in January so its been two months and i communicated with them last week about sim activation but they never got back to me. So my situation has been quite disappointing.

      In addition, they have flagged the faulty sim cards 2 days before i leave making me have to work out contingent plans. It is not a good position to be put in.

  • Baysew on 22/03/2016 - 17:47

    Has anyone used the woolworths travel sim? Is it worth it?

    Yes, seemed reasonably priced, very convenient to buy,( just pop in to Supermarket), all sorted before trip and worked OK

    • neil on 22/03/2016 - 17:50

      They have a notice on their site:

      We are currently experiencing service quality issues within the USA. This is resulting in no Voice, Text or Data service for customers using the service within the USA only. This will have NO impact on your service in any other country. We currently do not have an estimated resolution time, however we will keep you updated via this website

      Wonder what's going on?

      It says they use T-Mobile & AT&T in the US. Did you notice which network you were on most of the time? Wonder how it chooses between the two.

  • anna10 on 23/03/2016 - 05:25

    I bought a US 1 month sim from them recently, about 2 weeks ago from a deal they posted here. Has anyone heard from them to say that this issue is affecting those sims? I have not had any emails about it. I can understand that sometimes these things happen.

    The issue for TSD now is the vital issue of communicating with their customers. I don't want to be as unprepared as they left the OP in. I would be understanding if this happened, but only if they let me know in time to get either a new sim from them or, someone else and, a fast full refund.

  • Store RepTravelSIMSDirect @ Travel Sims Direct on 26/04/2016 - 18:04

    Hey guys, sorry just noticed this. Would have replied earlier.

    Sorry again OP, what had happened was h2o went through massive changes in the USA and overnight made thousands of prepaid sims obsolete (not because we sell these in advance obvious it effects us more than normal retailers within the USA). We have a number of sims for USA for this reason and offered a higher value card as a replacement.

    With that said understand the frustration, wish we could of done more! But we will always take care of anyone during these very rare occurrences, whether it be better value replacements or quick refunds! Whatever they wish.

  • anna10 on 26/04/2016 - 18:19

    So, are the sims we bought OK to go? I leave for a month next week. I got a T Mobile.

  • anna10 on 07/05/2016 - 01:20

    As a follow up to my message to which I did not get a reply from TID, I am now in the US and have made about 15 minutes of calls on an "unlimited" plan and T Mobile is now telling me I have no credit.

    Hopefully TID will respond to my private contact on thier website. Not much I can do as I am at Travel Sims Direct's mercy.

    If they can sort this out - and I will accept a full refund immediately, I will report back. Otherwise….

  • dirtykent on 27/11/2016 - 08:02

    Avoid this dodgy company at all costs. Still waiting on my refund! Express post delivery was several days late, activation instructions weren't provided and been more than a week since they said refund would be issued. I've messaged several times on Facebook but haven't heard a thing. Never using them again. Invoice ID: WC-5853

    If you buy a US SIM card, go to an AT&T store and they'll set you up with 6GB for $60USD and unlimited calls/messaging. These con artists charge twice as much without any customer service whatsoever.

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