Localphone Reviews 167

Had used this app for years then stopped about 5 years ago. It's no longer on Google play store, the website is not responsive. They have gone downhill.

I have no confidence in this company and it looks very bad!

I have contacted Localphone with an issue with not being able to make a phone call. But after several emails, they solved the problem. Thank you

Staff used *my* calling credit to diagnose a technical problem, without my permission. They could have used my account, with their own money. But no. And when I asked why they did so, they had a mouth and closed my account. I've recommended friends to use LocalPhone, but this is a disgrace, as I've realised after this experience.

What a disgusting way to deal with your "valued" customers.

It is a scam. Paid 6 euros, requested a Danish phone no, give all my data, yet suddenly no access to my account. Avoid!

Luckily I only added 1 euro credit to try it out. Tried calling 2 UK landlines one just normal +44191 number and another +300 number and it just says Service Unavailable.

I don't think I can use the credit for anything. A total robbery!

Make sure you block any other payments from this company in case they try and take more money off your card.

I have been using localphone for several years, never really had any issues. I recently bought an incoming number which unfortunately did not work. I was unable to receive calls from local numbers. I asked for a refund, but got nowhere. It is clear to me that this company has no interest in customer service. My advice to anyone reading this review is to do yourself a favour and find an alternative company who offers a minimum level of customer service.

I have been using Localphone for over 12 years. Initially I used it as a number translation service, allowing me to dial a UK landline number (coming out of free minutes on my mobile) to dial relatives abroad (and be charged their low international dialling rates) at a time when the likes of Whatapp and Facetime calls were still to come.

More recently, since taking a full fibre broadband product, I use then to provide my VOIP landline and rent a local landline number from them for 90p per month, with calls on a pay-as-you go basis. Much, much cheaper than paying the likes of BT £20 per month just for a landline connection!

I have always found the service to be excellent. They are up front about the fact that if you top up by £10, you get charged £12 with £10 credit added to your account and then calls are debited from this credit per minute at the excluding-VAT rate. Simple for anyone who understands basic mathematics! (which some reviewers on here seem not to be able to grasp!!)

The sound quality is very good, calls connect reliably. There are the very occasional short down-times with the VOIP service but nothing on the internet has 100% up-time!

Overall, I'd highly recommend Localphone.

When you try to top up your account, they will charge your credit card immediately, but it takes several hours before they add the credit to your account. This means if you run low during a call, you’re out of luck because the top up won’t activate before you run out of credit. The SMS feature also doesn’t seem to work properly.

That being said, the call quality is decent, the rates are good, and the app is pretty good.

Fooling around customers indicates stupidity.
This localphone deduct VAT from your payment and claim a fake cost per minutes. I was told if you add one quid to your account we add another. They lied. When I paid £10 credit they removed 20% of it as VAT. This is unheard off. Are these people stupendously stupid to think all customers are naive to accept such twisted ways. It was much better to admit the actual cost per minute including the VAT they are claiming. The reduced rate they claim is not factual. In my view these people proved non trustworthy.

Once a great company. We used then for all of our overseas calls. Suddenly you couldn't make calls to China, now you can at 79p a minute!! Just not worth it anymore

Absolutely fine. Simple to use if you have half a brain. Charge up account, register your number then add numbers you want to call abroad. It gives you a separate pseudo number for each and you call directly from your own phone. A few simple steps and presto. Cheap international phone calls.

I have been a customer for several years and the service has been sketchy at best. In the last few weeks I have been unable to make local calls and despite forwarding them all the details they requested the issues were not resolved. My request for a refund of my remaining credit was refused.

I have been a customer of Localphone since 2012. I used this service to call my parents in Germany. Service was fine and I paid less than a cent per minute. In 2022, price went up to 33 cents a minute. According to Localphone this was due to Dt. Telekom's change of letting other providers make cheap phone calls. I emailed Localphone and got a quick response regarding the situation. The rep told me that Localphone is in negotiations with Dt. Telekom to obtain better rates. The rep asked me if I can hold out rather than cancel the account. I did but nothing happened in over a year. My elderly parents have passed away since and I no longer need this service. Upon my email request to refund me the balance of $23, I got a response that balances are not refunded beyond 90 days. This has truly annoyed me because had I've been told about this policy in the original email, I would have canceled the account immediately. Perhaps the intent was to string me along, so my balance would become unrefundable per Localphone's policy. This is not customer service friendly at all!
UPDATE:
I contacted the email given in the reply. Mark immediately responded. He told me that a $10 refund has been initiated to my credit card. The remainder would be refunded to my PayPal account because my cc details were apparently outdated. The $10 have already showed up on my cc. Thank you! Now waiting on PayPal credit...
2nd UPDATE:
Despite having supplied info of my PayPal account, Localphone has not refunded as promised the remaining $13.10. What I don't understand is that $10 were refunded to my (only) credit card but for the remainder was not refunded because my cc details were outdated??? So far no credit to PayPal. It was obviously an empty promise. No more response from them. Not cool at all renewing on a written promise!
UPDATE: 1/1/2024
Despite the comment to credit my Chase cc with the remainder of $13.10, I have not received anything. Frankly, if they were willing, this could have been taken care of a long time ago. What actions do I have to take to get my money back? I'm seriously considering to take this further, despite the small amount. It's now become a matter of principle for me. The promises were made in writing (email), so I think I have a good case.

UPDATE: 2/19/2024
I have patiently waited for the refund of $13.10, since my last update over a month ago, so I can close my account. The promise to run my Chase cc as sent by Mark was not fulfilled. I have my doubts that they can refuse reimbursement of paid and cleared funds after just 90 days. Had they reimbursed immediately after my review, I would have favorably adjusted the rating. At this point, I am seriously investigating to launch an official complaint and/or legal action. This is now a matter of principle for me.

FINAL UPDATE 4/21/2024:
Despite the promises to refund me to my one and only credit card nothing happened. No surprise here. I grudgingly made a last phone call to reduce the $13.10 balance, so I would at leat get something back. At 33 cent per minute it was not a bargain. Even calling from my mobile phone without a plan is only 25 cents/minute.
This development is unfortunate and could have been avoided. I was a happy customer for 10 years. I understand that regulations from countries can change. However, don't pin this on loyal customers, beg them to stay then tell them they forfeit a refund because it's outside the 90 day window. Most of all, don't make promises that you can't/won't keep .

I have sent neumorous messages that you cleared my approxm $27 that was sitting in my account. That is theft per your company called Localphone.com. Insent you my acct#n and explanation that Indidnt use your service for a long time. Why did you steal my balance that was sitting there?!! I asked for a response and Im being ignored. Stay away from this company. You will be next.!!

Update----
In response to your reply I never stated I did not want the service or that I was unwilling to provide the documents. I simply asked why you needed a copy of my passport and several proof of address and how you would handle this data/who you would provide it to. You never responded to this you simply closed my account. I never asked for a refund just what your intentions were with my data before I sent you literal copies of my passport. FYI a quick search against the ICO website shows you are not registered with them, which is a legal requirement for processing such data. This whole thing has been a bizarre waste of my time. I now have actually gone with another provider and surprisingly they haven't asked for this incredibly sensitivity information.

I'd probably avoid these people. I did try to ask them why they were asking for multiple proof of address and Passport/ID card when they aren't regulated by the correct authorities to handle that data and they couldn't give me a reason or tell me who was asking them to collect this information in the first place. I guess the silver lining is that they decided to cancel my account and refunded my money rather than answer the question 🤷‍♂️

Quite reliable and it is easy to use the auto top up feature where if balance falls under £3 it topup automatically and sends you email.
Recommended.

Worst company ever, struggling to get back my deposit that they took without adding it to my account.
Keep away from them

one more update after I got the below reply , I already contacted the support two times , and forwarded my request to you two times before writing review

Do not trust this company. Mark assisted me to retrieve back the service in May 2023. I had around USD9+ in my account for the past 6 years. Just 2 months after getting back the service, they zero out my account without me even making a single call.

I prepaid a small amount to test and am, sorely disappointed. Impossible to call an Android phone because Localphone.com is recognized as spammer and Android ignores the call. Landlines success less than 50 percent. Useless service.