Beware of SMARTY. Be smarter.

HaroldWhistler

There are a lot of good MNVOs with good customer service, rolling contracts and good account management systems (online or on an app). Using the MSE comparison tool has been great getting deals for Lebara (Vodafone).

I would caution people using Smarty though. On initial inspection, Smarty has "good" reviews online, but looking at the bad reviews confirmed the experience I recently had and after asking around what other friends have had as well.

On the face of it, their prices seem good and they use the Three network. I was going to use them as a temporary network and got an Unlimited SIM to also use for Data in a Mifi.

After ordering and activating the SIM, I was going to bring over my number from my old provider. I ended up getting busy at work, so got delayed to do that on their website. Mercifully I didn't. For low and behold just two days later, Smarty just "paused" my SIM without any reason given. The SIM doesn't work (no service).

When you go on the account page, it simply states your plan has been paused. There is no explanation whatsoever given. You can try to talk to their so called customer service which appears to be an utterly useless set of chat agents based in India who lack basic manners, reading skills, critical thinking ability and take what feels like decades to reply (with the reply not even relevant to what you asked). It is not a Live chat, but instead some weird messaging service. There isn't a number to call. 

I hadn't even used that SIM yet to make calls. Nor the other SIM (the one with Unlimited Data). Basically they can just pause for whatever reason. You prepay. The only way to get a refund is to talk to the afforementioned asinine messaging system which is pathetic that it is enough to drive someone to drink. 

Looking at the Smarty reviews in detail afterward (the bad reviews), you can see many other people have also had this problem. Some have been worse off having transferred their number over and now their number is stuck with Smarty. Others had their SIM paused whilst on holiday. According to those reviews, they were told that in some way some Term had been broken (though no specific Term was stated).

I ended up writing off the amount I had paid and just removed the payment method so they cannot keep charging me. 

I have never experienced such an appalling act by any other mobile provider. Lyca Mobile for instance have a confusing Transfer your number Form and I have had some bad customer service from Vodafone in the past, but never had my SIM just deactivated. Thank heavens I didn't move my actual mobile number over. I ended up moving to giffgaff using the MSE comparison tool and then got a Lebara SIM for Unlimited Data for my Mifi.

I know there are some who have had good experiences with Smarty on here. In the past (a long time back) I remember using them as a temporary additional SIM and didn't have this problem. But such an act of just pausing the plan with no specific explanation, no refund, no recourse is completely unacceptable and I would argue makes them no better than a thief.

chanz4

been with them for a few years, several lines any issues they have sorted on the chat

matelodave

Smarty has been working for me over the past three years or so. Number transferred without any problems. Same with my wife who transferred over a couple of months ago.

Dunno about their customer service as I've never had to use it.

liggerz87

I wonder if the sim card you picked up had expired if you got the packaging you could check 
What happens if you buy an out of date sim is it gets activated then after a while they will deactivate it

patricia1066

Use chargeback to get a refund. 

HaroldWhistler

chanz4 said:

been with them for a few years, several lines any issues they have sorted on the chat

Once used them as a temporary SIM, but after this, wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Upon closer inspection of their reviews on various websites and going into the negative reviews, it looks like this type of "pausing" is not rare at all. No reasons given and a truly dreadful customer chat based in India which is utterly useless. 

matelodave said:

Smarty has been working for me over the past three years or so. Number transferred without any problems. Same with my wife who transferred over a couple of months ago.

Dunno about their customer service as I've never had to use it.

I had used them previously as had a friend as a temporary SIM without a problem. However, Smarty's recent appalling actions are completely unacceptable and akin to robbery. Just "pausing" a plan (in this case multiple plans) with zero reason given before the SIM is even used. An absolute joke. When I looked further into their reviews, this has happened to many people by the looks of things, meaning it is by no means rare. Customer service is truly awful (non existent) as per the post. As bad as the likes of Vodafone, O2, EE etc can be, I have never heard of them actually halting a service like that and at least they have someone literate to talk to. 

patricia1066 said:

Use chargeback to get a refund. 

I removed the payment method and cut my losses. It will otherwise be a case of going in circles since it's classed as prepaid and from what I understand they will try to cite "conditions" without specifying anything. By the looks of their negative reviews, others have had this problem as well. No reason is given for the so called "pausing." The customer service agents at Smarty are frankly 10,000% rude, incompetent and useless. 

liggerz87 said:

I wonder if the sim card you picked up had expired if you got the packaging you could check 
What happens if you buy an out of date sim is it gets activated then after a while they will deactivate it

I don't think so as the SIM got activated fine at the start with the correct number etc according to the confirmation e-mail. When you order online, Smarty dispatch a new SIM with your chosen product attached to it. Mercifully I hadn't transferred my old number from my network yet otherwise I'd end up with no working phone or my number stuck with these scoundrels. This was just them suspending the SIM cards without any reason given shortly after my order and activation (and having been charged). 

Bottom line is that if you don't have reliability or certainty that a network will provide the service you pay for, then said network cannot be relied upon.