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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 77 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Consumers frequently complained about terrible customer support, extremely long waiting times, and frustrating automated phone bots that made resolving issues nearly impossible. Many people also mentioned unexpected billing errors, unannounced monthly charges, and difficult contract terms. However, some reviewers were happy with the cheap pricing and affordable plans offered by the provider. A few individuals also pointed out that certain interactions with staff members provided genuinely helpful assistance. Despite these occasional bright spots, the overwhelming consensus remains deeply negative due to persistent communication failures and poor reliability.

What people talk about most

Customer service

Clients share negative opinions on customer service, frequently struggling with unresponsive automated chat... See more

Service

Reviewers highlight negative aspects of service, reporting that phone plans and travel eSIMs frequently fail... See more

Price

Consumers find price to be ambiguous, with reviewers praising the cheap plans and good rates, while others... See more

Payment

Reviewers express deep dissatisfaction regarding payment issues, frequently reporting that funds were... See more

Customer communications

Customers felt deep dissatisfaction regarding customer communications, reporting that phone calls constantly... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Skinny as a provider are one of the cheapest but it really is counter productive when their app has major issues with loading and conectivity. I can never seem to load credit, update card info, renew... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Purchased 52 week plan. Have had difficulty porting number across. The online portal doesn't work. Unable to talk to someone the message always says you have contacted us after hours but it absolut... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The customer service is horrendous, and that's saying it lightly. I recently went to Melbourne and purchased the 3 day roaming plan which did not work the entire time I was away. I attempted to contac... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This company has been going downhill for the last three years I have been with them for 10 years but their customer service is terrible they don't return no calls. There customer service hours have re... See more


Company details

  1. Telecommunications Service Provider
  2. also in
  3. Cell Phone Store
  4. Internet Provider
  5. Internet Service Provider
  6. Mobile Network Operator
  7. Phone and Internet Service

Information provided by various external sources

Skinny does award winning prepay mobile at great prices across NZ, it's that simple. Find out more here today. Skinny is a division of Spark New Zealand.


Contact info

1.3

Bad

TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

512 reviews

5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

No history of asking for reviews

This company hasn't invited their customers, so reviews may not be representative

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1.3

All reviews

(512)

77 reviews in the last 12 months

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Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible Internet and Even Worse Customer Service

Very poor service overall. The internet connection drops regularly, making it unreliable for work or anything important. Communication with customer support is terrible — it’s almost impossible to get a straight answer. I’ve been trying to cancel my service, but getting hold of anyone is extremely difficult. Frustrating and unprofessional. Definitely would not recommend.

11 September 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

ai ads

stupid freaking ai ads. skinny is destroying the world.

7 September 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Don’t look after their existing customers.

I was with Skinny broadband for 6 years. Never missed a payment. The monthly fees went up and up. But I still paid. Then my modem stopped working. No power. I had to jump through hoops to get them to believe me. Then finally they apologised and said I can have a replacement if I paid $199 plus postage. Yet, if I were a new customer they’d give me one for free. $6000 in fees I have paid but I still have to buy a new modem off them. What a scam. Disgraceful. And I had to follow up three times to cancel my account. It was not easy.
I was informed that if I apply as a new customer the free modem will not apply to me unless I pay more for a pricier plan. How to treat and lose customers. I’d rather pay more in fees and get better service and support. But with their increasing fees the support and service was decreasing .
I totally agree with all the other reviews on customer service. However the last gentleman (Sept 3rd) seemed more helpful and empathetic.

2 September 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Money scammers

Money scammers - don’t allow tethering despite expensive prices to data binge but don’t give you the heads up beforehand. Had them run through my credit to open the app itself (5$ or so worth) just so I could apply a data binge??

Also remembering - in the middle of a city on the road outside a mall I had zero cell coverage! Can’t count the number of times friends on other plans have had service meanwhile skinny doesn’t work anywhere!

31 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Never received eSIM after payment and terrible customer service

I signed up (and paid) for an eSIM but never received anything. Contacted customer support and they said I should check my email again. Ignoring any other requests.
Days later they get back to me saying they have an outage for their eSIM sign up service.
No further information how they will resolve it.

22 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

WORST ADSL FOR PREMIUM $$$ $85

For years now all we can get is Skinny ADSL and we live only a stone throw to the town of Greymouth. They tell us we can have it for $60 for 6Mbps download and 1.2 Upload, but for about a year almost only got 0.73 Mbps upload, which changed to 0.83Mbps but many times running into only a few Kbps, then they increase it $65, then $70, $75, now $85 for the worst internet anyone could possibly have and should pay like $30 a month for, knowing we can't really download stuff or at times even watch decent anything, even Youtube clips were 360p sometimes 144p and sometimes couldn't watch anything. Modem would sometimes just shut down and restart on it's own too. We have two mobile plans with them too. Had a gutful for years now of being ripped off. THANKS SKINNY FOR RIPPING US OFF AND BLEADING US DRY FOR YEARS NOW

20 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Slower speeds than advertised

Slower speeds than advertised. Latest reading 68.2mb download 11.2mb upload. Ping 29ms. Packet loss 50% on Fibre!!!
Am paying for 1gb download and 500mb upload. Canceling account with Skinny and will never go back to them!!!

17 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

30% cost increase with 0 benefits

Had a email stating that my broadband bill would have a 30% increase in price with absolutely 0 difference in the service. I reached out using their terrible customer support system and was told that the cost increase is due to my service being upgraded...even though they stated in the email that no changes would happen to my service (no speed increase etc) I realise they delay their responses in the customer chat, hoping I would give up, they use word play to try and confuse their customers. Overall really disappointing. 30% increase is actually insane. Do not recommend.

15 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I called skinny customer service…

I called skinny customer service because I had trouble switching my mobile number from a different provider to skinny and I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Lynard. This individual is an absolute gem- he was friendly, accomodating, and incredibly patient. He took extra time and care to help me understand the issue and he smashed it with kindness and efficiency. It’s obvious he’s an amazing human being and he represents the company exceptionally well. I wish him all the best in life. Thank you skinny for hiring such an awesome team member.

14 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Switched companies because they jacked…

Switched companies because they jacked the prices up yet again. They continued to charge me for over a month despite no lo longer receiving there services, refused to refund citing I didnt personally apply to have the account closed. Off to the disputes tribunal

10 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I had my service canceled

I had my service canceled on 30 July 2025 every though I paid on the 30 July 2025 SKINNY MOBILE (3)AUCKLAND $40.00 (copied from my bank statement)
for 2 days no phone, I rang them and had to wait on hold, I am a disabled person and rely on my phone but the were like we understand but did nothing. I'm not even sure I'm going to get a refund.

1 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Complete scammers

Complete scammers! I tried to cancel my plan but they said it wasn’t within the timeframe needed. Super bad system. I would not recommend them to anyone! Stay away.

27 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

After a price increase I moved to…

After a price increase I moved to another company. I had comms with Skinny that weren’t clear, they ended up charging me a full month for one day of service. They now won’t get back to me. A shame as I’ve been a customer for years

22 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Beware! They charge a month in advance and refuse to provide refund if you cancel service

They charge you a month in advance. If you sign up with them on the 1st of the month and decide to cancel their service any time after the 1st of the month, you will be charged for the entire month and they will not provide a refund for any unused service time. My account renewed on the 2nd of every month, for the month ahead. I moved house on the 10th and cancelled they're service leaving around 3 weeks of the month already paid for but the service not required. When I asked if I would be reimbursed I was told that's not Skinny's policy. They're reasoning was, I should have cancelled before my billing date. That would have meant I would have been without broadband from the 2nd until the 10th. I find this totally unreasonable. There is no reason why Skinny can not reimburse its customers, this is simply a way of generating revenue by unfair practices. I wonder just how much money this company has taken from its customers in similar circumstances over the years while not providing any service, I would suggest it would be rather substantial. If your going to charge a month in advance Skinny, then do the right thing and refund for unused service time like other providers do.

15 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Would give 0 if I could

Would give 0 if I could. Internet kept dropping off and devices getting kicked off modem. Tried to resolve with tech support - didn't get a response to 2 enquiries via messenger chat, then made an official complaint via their process on the website - didn't get a response. When I finally went to close the account they claimed they assumed fault had been rectified as I hadn't informed them within 30 days that the fault still existed

9 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Fibre 500? More like zero. Unstable and frustrating.

I’ve had to restart my modem for over 30 minutes two days in a row just to get basic internet access. What’s the point of paying for Fibre 500 if the connection constantly drops out?

When I contacted support, I was told this is normal and that other providers have dropouts too. That’s just not true—we were on Fibre 300 with our previous provider and never had any issues like this.

Skinny’s Fibre 500 is unreliable and clearly not worth the price. To make things worse, the customer service is dismissive and slow. I’ve lodged complaints and either get no follow-up or copy-paste responses that don’t help. It feels like no one takes accountability or actually cares about fixing the problem.

Absolutely fed up. I’m actively looking to switch providers. Don’t waste your time with this one.

10 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Poor service, comms

Poor service
Joined a month ago for wireless broadband, was told I'd get the first 2 months free.
Got charged for first month, they didn't pick it up, I did.
Went through the annoying chat bot and got a refund.
Month 2 it has happened again.
Really annoying waste of my time trying to communicate with bots.

1 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

THE AI USE

Useless for one thing (based off of user experience) but also THE AI USE absolutely horrible, how about you grow a pair and hire real people and not steal their jobs??? You have a 1.3 rating for a reason Skinny..

29 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Had been a long term client but they…

Had been a long term client but they increased their prices and I looked at moving to another company. At this request there was no communication between myself, skinny or 2 degrees. Skinny cut my contract before 2 degrees had picked it up and still charged me the $85 for the month. I tried Facebook messenger as that's their fastest response time. Definitely not as 24 hours later they still haven't replied.

27 June 2025
Unprompted review

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