Hey guys.
Long time reader, first time poster :)
I was looking for a new sim plan and found this one at Catch. It's $15 for a 54 GB plan, good for 90 days. It comes with free shipping, and the deal seems to be good for new users only ;)
Use Shopback for a 1% cash back. My transaction is not yet confirmed though (20 minutes).
It's Catch.
Plenty of discussion can be found in the original post of this deal: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/432849
The catch is that they hope you forget to disable it and get (profanity) by the recharge cost
Thank you all for the replies - I understand now.
I haven't been following mobile plans until recently.
beware that everytime you login, the Auto Recharge is automatically turned on, even if you've turned it off previously. don't trust me? give it a try.
Yep this is the case for the 90day bait. The disabling works for 30 day plans though.
Upon jumping into webchat the operator knows exactly about this issue and rectified it in 3 seconds. Begs the question whether this system error is intentionally left there
Thank you so much for this!
I just found out that happened to me. If I hadn't seen your post I would've been charged!
I had already disabled auto recharge three first time I logged in but it conveniently 'forgot' my preference. Sooo dodgy!
I'm inclined to report then to the tio
Wow that is sneaky.
I just ported to Kogan, $15, 90 days, 20gb per 30 days, so 60gb total and no auto recharge. Just disable once and it’s permanently disabled.
Much better
@cloudy: In case anyone else asks, here’s the link. 90 days 60 gbs 15 bucks
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/kogan-mobile-prepaid-voucher-co…
@cloudy: Thanks for the link cloudy, you just helped me and my wife save quite a few dollars on 2 vouchers. Strangely though I can't find that offer on Kogans website.
This is not true for my account. I deactivated auto-recharge after I signed up. Just logged into my account and auto-recharge is still turned off. And then to double check, I then logged out and then in again and still the same.
@tempura: No, I have a 54GB 90 day plan (same as the one in this deal). And I have had 4 of these same plans in the past year and never had a problem disabling the auto-recharge. In fact, I have never had any issues with 4G/data reception, making/receiving phone calls and porting in and out (last time it took only 10 minutes to transfer away from Catch to Telstra). I have been very happy with the service and will continue to use Catch.
i found waiting a few days for their system to catch up helps. Then when you untick auto recharge, you'll actually see a confirmation message. If you don't get the confirmation message, auto recharge will still be back on when you log in again.
i found waiting a few days for their system to catch up helps.
i waited for 3 weeks to a month and nothing caught up; no confirmation message either.
@tempura: so you tried unticking the box again at the 3 week point?
The confirmation message occurs on the web page when you untick the box. If there's no message, it doesn't matter how many times you click on the box, nothing will actually be updated. If i wait a few days and try this again later, the messages actually show up and my preferences are recorded this time.
I was worried after reading your post and checked my 90 day plan dashboard.
Auto recharge was NOT automatically enabled for me. I disabled the option when I signed up 1.5 months back and it stayed disabled so far.
So I guess, it happens for some account and not for all?
This did happen to me, however I called customer service and they refunded and cancelled it.
You are right though. With Kogan you have to setup auto recharge so there's no accident, with Catch it's automatically setup and you have to cancel it.
How come??
This happened to me this month and I online chatted with customer service.
They said I can't get the refund
Can I still contact them for the refund? I paid $90 for Catch mobile and the next day I already moved to Optus lol
@c550hunter: What happened was that they automatically recharged mine at 10PM on the night it about to be renewed. Technically, they should charge my credit card after the current expire i.e midnight. So I argued on that fact and they refunded without issue.
It also depends on the person you chatted to. I have had Kogan (Vodafone) refunded me when I didn't realised top up with new 365 days coupon means I lost my current plan remaining time (4 months left on Kogan). So yes, it depends on who you are dealing with too.
@Bigboomboom: I checked my text msg. They recharged mine at 9:33 pm.
I should talk to them again. Thanks for telling me!
@c550hunter: Go to TIO and you will get the refund, Catch will get a $200+ fine from TIO.
https://www.tio.com.au/making-a-complaint
@Cheeper: Update…they refused to give me the refund because it was the past.
It was a whole mess tbh. Optus took 6 days to port my number and during that time I was thinking they prob won't transfer my number and I already paid that freaking $89. So I used in those 6 days.
Do you think I still have my standpoint
If I port out before 90 days, I don't get charged right?
I'll set a reminder in 80 days then.
Just buy the sim using prepaid visa/mastercard from the coles/woolies deal
@lgacb08: I better avoid, so many comments about poor service, reception, difficulty to port, I'm avoiding this.
Even if you recharge, $30 pm for 18GB is hardly (profanity). I did once, I just rode it out.
Maybe this?
"Active Club Catch membership required."
That's a $6.50 per month subscription.
This is the "Catch" - "$15 for first 90 days and after initial purchase, recharges $89."
You will never receive the SIM. When you call th3y will ask you to wait for 8 days. After 8 days of not receiving it when you back back they will offer you a refund.
It’s been this price for a long time now.
Yes…
Yep, I thought there was an active thread too. I bought mine about two weeks ago and am pretty sure I found it on ozB
I switched to Catch when it was $4.90 for 90days 54GB last time and I can't wait to switch to another
They are slow, and sometimes disconnects, not on the train, but in the middle of a shopping center
It's not about optus, I used amaysim, they are also optus and I am happy with them
It's just catch, will never use them again
Also porting out from them is a pain, at least 2 days
Also porting out from them is a pain, at least 2 days°
this is so true and i was one of the Guinea Pig. CatchConnect to Kogan was my scenario, what's yours?
Last week took me 5 days to port from Catch Connect to Telstra. Didn't help the first port request was rejected because Catch Connect didn't have my DOB on file.
@OzLocutus: Are they not required to have proper ID when you first signed up? Trying to figure out how this could happen in the first place.
@CoronavirusVaccine: Indeed, I gave that information when I switched to them, so don't ask my why they didn't have it stored.
@OzLocutus: Sigh - another example of poor IT systems. Corporates have very little incentives to rectify their systems when it works to their advantage
Unfortunately I have the same exact experience.
Me too. I thought Optus is good so I joined but this reception thing is driving me nuts. I literally have to go out in the open or stick my head on the window to talk. But isnt this MVNO should be the exactly the same as if you were on Optus?!?
Important to know if your 3G reception was marginal before on Optus and your phone was using Voice over LTE or Voice over wifi.
Both these features don't work with Catch as they are an MVNO.
Therefore call quality could be worse.
In people who don't have VoLTE or VoWIFI, the reception would be identical.
Can confirm. Purchased the 30 days plan previously for $4.95 with the $5 cash back and wasn't happy with the connection at all.
i can confirm, they just use parts of optus networks, thats why. my phone disconnects all the time
Anyone know the latest activation date?
30 days from purchase.
A bit off topic but does anyone know of any good 365 prepaid plans? Seems like all the good deals from a few months ago are gone =/
Boost mobile.
How long to activate?
One month of purchase.
Also sign up to free trial of catch membership to get 9gb extra data (I know it's on the link just not mentioned on the title or post).
I am 6 months into a 12 month Catch Connect SIM only plan. Horrendous reception, poor call quality and internet speeds are below 0.5Mbps whether indoors or outdoors (Melbourne, western suburbs), in the train, in malls or out and about. Complained to Catch by providing a detailed summary of my observations and a screenshot of their "coverage" map showing my home address as having excellent/great speeds but in reality crap. They replied saying they are aware coverage is poor. That's it!
Does your phone support band 28? My indoor speed is slow as it always gets attached to band 28,but just outside of my home, I got speeds upto 275Mbps as it uses other bands
iPhone 8. So yes, it does support band 28.
Never had any issues in Sydney, Brisbane or Gold Coast. The internet speeds are usually good, never noticed any drop offs.
Atrocious speeds in Sydney CBD and when on the train. I get that moving at high speeds impacts 4g speeds but it should at least be able to maintain a 3g connection (I believe my phone does have all the required bands). Will be trying out Boost once my catch plan expires.
Which line? Between Redfern and Strathfield almost all carriers struggle - I've been with a few (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and their MVNOs) and it's mostly the same with Telstra being better, but far from good.
Yep, it's between Strathfield and Central :(
Thanks for the heads up that Telstra also struggles. We'll have to wait till 5G or I may have to invest in a better 4g dedicated modem/hotspot perhaps.
I switch between this and Kogen $15 for 90 days. It comes around $5 a month for me. I have been doing it from the last 9 months.
Things to do if you waht to do the same:
I am doing the samw, but with cashback and coupons, it is around $3 per month :D
How early do you port out or do you wait until the end or at expiry?
Better to start at lest 1 week beforehand to overcome unexpected issues, don't port in weekends, as we are already paying a really low price, we should not be too greedy :D
Do you need to sign up with new emails each time you buy a SIM from Catch/Kogan? Been interested in doing this. Porting in and out every month is too much, but every 3 months I can deal with.
No your number with both Catch and Kogan expires after about a month of inactivity and you can use the same email. It's the number that determines if you're a new customer not your email
I've been switching between the 2 with these 90 day new customer deals for just under a year.
No real issues porting in either direction. Only delay was when I started the port on a Friday afternoon, they don't process ports on weekend and it didnt happen till Monday morning.
Are you saying you change phone numbers every three months?
@CaptainCoolio: no I'm not - keeping the same number each time.
If you're with Kogan/Catch and port away they remove your number from their billing/account system after approx 30 days of inactivity (in my experience at least - have tried unsuccessfully to get the official time period but customer service know nothing).
Once your number is gone from their system you can port back again a week before your 90 day plan expires using one of these new customer codes.
New number on their system = New Customer.
The one thing that might not work with Catch is the Cashback. Catch uses 1 master account with your email as the login to manage all your numbers. So even as your numbers expire with them your email login remains. For previous Cashbacks I was told the creation of a new email account was the trigger for cash back.
Last time there was a 12 dollars cash back off this pprice. And my track came a few days later and was as 0.75 only. Ticket was raised and it is still being investigated. So good luck with cash back on this one. By all mean it is good price even without cash back. Catch Connect is a virtual provider of Optus.
I got the cashback with out an issue
Same with me. Sale was tracked, but didn't get any cashback from Shopback. Raised a ticket and 0.75 was added as a track. Investigation in progress and still waiting for the full $12 to be tracked and added.
Add me to the list where Catch and Amaysim cashback was not tracked (one via SB and other via CR). Both are useless when it comes to tracking and paying cashback on these deals.
I ordered a card previously but have forgotten to activate it within the 30 days from purchase. How strict are they at enforcing the bonus data poster 30 days. Not going to bother with them, if I don't get that data.
Activating after 30 days just means you get whatever the current offer is, if it changed from when you ordered. Not sure what you mean about bonus data?
Thanks for that.
How long does it take for the SIM to arrive?
Just ordered last Friday, arrived today Tuesday so pretty quick compared to Kogan Sim.
pretty sure it has always been at this price
Yep, I bought it two months ago for this price
I am a bit confused. Looks like I can only perchase 1 sim card? But it says 5 services per account under the description… And, can I buy 2 solim cards? Need one for my hubby too
I logged out then was able to buy another with the same account (login after hitting purchase button)
Cheers. I'll give it a go
If hubby has an email address then order one in his name using his address. It's free to create an email address with google or yahoo if he does not have one.
with all the negative feedback on the quality above, I better avoid this one and stick to amaysim
Good call.
Login today, found out my 365days 80GB plan been updated to 150GB. Nice :-)
How?
Can you tell us how this happened?
Why is this such lowly priced?
What is the catch? (Besides the aforementioned "new users".)