Pinwheel Kids PhonesReviews of pinwheel.com

Nightmare! We decided after seeing the watch we didn’t want it and decided on going with Bark phone much better deal on their new watch and the monthly service charge. We painstaking went through Un imaginary hoops to return the phone! CS was horrid! But we finally got it sent off in early January. I was supposed to get a refund in about a month. It is now the end of February! Today I called them over and over just got continuous no answers and left my phone number to no avail! I will update and give them a higher rating if this is resolved by tomorrow. Otherwise it’s off to the bank and Knoxville TV complaint dept!

I am very disappointed with the customer service I have received from Pinwheel. The phones are reconditioned, which I was not aware of, and the phone they sent us (for GBP 269!) started glitching within 1 month of use. I reported this,but as there were problems with the apps and the location etc, this was not focused on. By month 3 of use, the phone had broken completely, with the front becoming separate from the main body - presumably this was the reason for the glitching. Pinwheel have denied any responsibility, have ignored UK law which states that they must repair or refund faulty goods, and have not bothered to respond to my emails asking them to repair or refund, baring the odd generic email they send me saying they are contacting their 'supervisors'. The only thing they suggested was that I buy another phone in their sale! I even emailed one of the CEOs but he never responded. So whilst the idea is good, paying GBP269 for a faulty device which was in use (not successfully due to the glitching) for approximately 90 days, and to flout UK laws, is definitely not good. I am left substantially out of pocket, with a faulty, unusable device and even if I had it fixed at my own expense, it would still be unusable with the pinwheel softwear loaded on it. I would avoid this company like the plague unless you want to waste on defective goods and appaling, possibly illegal customer service.

We are supporters of @SASM Smartphone Free Childhood, and I am a family doctor who treats children with anxiety, so we were genuinely excited to find a phone that aligned with our values. Unfortunately, the device supplied as part of our subscription stopped working within one month of normal use. We contacted support to request a repair or replacement and were very clear that we did not want the service cancelled — the issue was with the device, not the platform. Despite this, our service was cut off against our request, leaving our 12-year-old with a phone running an operating system we cannot easily remove — exactly what we were trying to avoid. We were also told that taking photos at a children’s Christmas show might count as “misuse”, even though the device was never examined. The customer service team have ghosted us since they unilaterally terminated our caregiver accounts and even when we were in contact I had to prompt all communication. We wanted to support this company and its mission, but based on this experience, I would urge parents to be cautious. Basically I am considering referring them to Ofcom.

What went wrong? The watches are faulty and don't work. The watches have a tray for the dim card and the watch cycles between service, no service and no SIM card. We went through two watches and neither would work. My kid couldn't even use it. What's worse? The customer service. The phone just rings u til someone picks up, they make you jump through hoops to troubleshoot and then MORE hoops to get it returned. Run away from here and get the Gizmo watch from Verizon.

Absolutely horrible customer service. We cancelled and our account was deleted, but we continued to be charged every month. We called, emailed, contacted them every way we could and were told we never cancelled, and couldn’t because our account was deleted. No offer of refund. Horrible customer service, not worth the headache, find another provider like Gabb

Great idea but the software is so glitchy that it does not work reliably and as a result may be dangerous. The phone was returned per their instructions but since it was sent back I have been completely ghosted. No refund, no communications. They have ignored multiple emails requesting updates on the refund. Unfortunately I am now having to report the transaction to my bank as a fraud. Basically, avoid.

Had pinwheel for 2 months but doing anything other than vanilla pinwheel is impossible. I tried to add WhatsApp, but after 1.5 hours it just wasn't working. Tried to turn on Google play store, which eventually worked, but couldn't download anything, no matter what I did in the caregiver app. If I tried to do these things on my regular adult phone it would take 10 seconds, but was impossible on a pinwheel. Eventually I rang pinwheel and asked them to factory reset the phone so we could start again. It took 90 mins on the phone with customer care (who were very patient) and they went up and down every alley and they found issues at every step. Eventually we got it factory reset and I cancelled the subscription. For context, everything (the phone, the pinwheel operating system, the lot) all came from pinwheel, so I didn't screw it up by doing something myself. Lastly, calling the customer care line cost me £1.68 per minute (from the UK to USA), so the 90 mins call cost me £151...which would have just bought me a new phone. This might work fine in the USA but it doesn't work for me in the uk. FYI I had the Samsung A16 phone from pinwheel.

Good in theory, terrible execution. The app is glitchy, not always showing my kid’s GPS location which is frankly the main reason I bought the watch. I’ve had it for three months and it stopped allowing me to call my son about 1 month in. This fix was taking the SIM card out and putting it back again which I apparently have to do every two weeks. My son tried to call me and the call failed and then he wasn’t able to call anyone on his list which scared him. The screen is set too large for the phone so some buttons are nearly unreachable while I’m going in and trouble setting. Good idea, if it works. Great user interface and app - if it works. I do not recommend buying this watch until they work out the issues. Recommend waiting a year or so.