Global PenfriendsReviews 42

If I could give them "0" stars, I would. I had an account for about a year, no problem, made some nice friends that I chatted with online. For no reason, they shut my account down. They asked for verification with a utility bill, which I sent; a picture of me holding a sign that said "GPF" which I sent and then suspended my account anyway and still took money out of my account for the monthly membership. They grilled me about my use of a second email (which was an updated email for the account), but apparently still didn't believe I was who I said I was even after I jumped through all their hoops to verify my identity. I wouldn't care except I lost all my messages from my online friends that I had been chatting with for months. I should have downloaded them, but I never thought they would just pull them off like that. They were quite nasty to me and I would never use their site again. Awful business and awful customer service.

I was logged in as a free member because I am a student but it wasn't a school-led program, so I didn't have the funding to pay for the Premium subscription. I'd say it's a good website only if you pay for the Premium, which in my opinion is overpriced for this website. If you don't pay for Premium and you message one member, you have to wait 12 HOURS before you can message another. There are also these virtual smiles things you can send to kinda "wave hello" at the person you would potentially message, and you have to wait 12 hours in between sending THOSE as well. It's a good site but the free version is not good. I feel like I can't ever actually message any of my PenPals because of the wait time which defeats the whole purpose of me using the site. NOT GOOD.

Being a person of color seems to be a red flag in and of itself for the white European admin staff of GPF. Ironically, I used to have an account with them which I paid for monthly (and for several years). Eventually I left for a few years when I didn't have the time to maintain a presence there.

Anyway, I recently tried to re-join the site only to find that this time they just deleted my profile after their "approval period" (which by the way they claim takes 8 to 10 hours but in my case took four days). As another reviewer mentioned, there was no explanation, no email, no request for further information to prove I was who I said I was. Just an arbitrary decision by a random individual, presumably based on their own personal prejudice.

Whoever runs this site now has clearly developed biases based on the color of one's skin. I'll take my monthly subscription and pay to join one of the competitors instead. Just be aware that if your face doesn't fit, your application will be denied.

I recently heard about team of journalists prepping a piece in which they're trying to root out racial bias online and who submitted the profile of a blonde female. It was totally fictitious yet readily approved by the GPF administrators. I think this says everything you need to know about the types of people running this site and in my opinion it's time they were called out on their practice of racial profiling.

Set up an account and used it for a couple of weeks. Now I cannot access the site. Would give it zero stars if allowed

Global Pen Friends has been an amazing website. Registering is super easy, you just insert a few questions about yourself (Interests, What You're Looking for in a Pen Pal, etc). I joined in 2020 during Covid, and met so many people. When life got back to "Normal," I stopped using it. Fast forward to 2023, I joined again, and have so many pen pals (About 8-10), and I'm still pen pals with one I met in 2020! Overall, I could say so many nice things about this website, but it would take too long! I definitely recommend joining, as it's a safe website with many amazing people! :)

I wish I had seen the reviews of this site earlier. I am a medical professional and was interested in making a Spanish speaking pen pal to improve my rusty Spanish. They ask you to set an age range of people you're open to communicating with, so since it's supposed to be for making friends in other countries and not fir dating or hookups, I set the range for 21 and older. (I am in my 40s.) Next thing I know, they are writing me back implying that it is "unsafe" to set the age limit to over 21. Say what? I dont know if they are trying to present it as a penpal/friends site but actually running a dating site, or what, but along with the other comments who said this site was racist, they seem to be shady and dishonest about the kind of site they are running. Very odd.

Fifteen years ago, I joined the Global Penfriends Penpal Club and found an extraordinary friend who has become an integral part of my life. Through handwritten letters exchanged by post, we shared everything about life, nurturing a deep and meaningful friendship.
Global Penfriends provided a genuine platform for forging connections and lasting friendships. From the very beginning, my pen pal, and I connected on a profound level. Through our letters, we discussed our dreams, fears, and triumphs, offering support and encouragement to one another.

The beauty of pen pal communication lies in the freedom to express oneself openly and without judgment. Despite the physical distance, our friendship flourished, untethered by appearances or societal expectations. We learned to truly listen and understand each other through our written words, cultivating an authentic bond.

Thanks to GPF, my penpals and I were brought together despite the distance. The club's commitment to privacy and safety fostered an environment of trust, enabling us to share our lives.

I have tried many different penpal sites in the past - now I stick to just this one.
I like that the club is focussed solely on International friendship rather than dating.

I recently tried to subscribe as a black man originally from Europe, but currently residing in Africa, filled a profile (photos included), was able to login to the site, then later in the day when I tried to login: "The email or password is incorrect. Note we have updated the site. All users login with their email now."
Tells you everything to know. They didn't sent me any notice they deleted my profile. This is disgusting to the highest degree. To treat people like dirt like that just because of their skin color. What they did in secret to me and many other black people for sure, everybody in the world should know about this and boycott them!

It was nice to find this beautiful penpal service. It was simple to register and create a profile. Although the profile was a tad on the long side.

I searched and found an amazing amount of penpals that matched my criteria - then i sent a few messages and before i knew it - i had penpals. Soooo easy.

The site appears very safe. It has its own messaging system. I was looking for traditional penpals, so after a few weeks i just checked with my penpals if they would be interested swapping postal addresses. Its been fantastic. I just bought a bunch of penpal stationery - so now i can't wait to send off some more beautiful letters by post.

A good example of a site that does one thing really well. If you want penpals for international friendship, its perfect. Its funny but it seems the only negative reviews for this club are from men that probably tried to use the site for dating :) Good work Global Penfriends for providing a family friendly and safe place to meet penpals.

I have been penpalling for my whole life and was happy to discover Global Penfriends about a decade ago.
The site was recently refreshed and its made my favourite site, even better!

I am usually a basic member but occasionally i will upgrade when i need to find new penpals. The basic offering is pretty good, you get to make a new contact every 12 hours and once you have made a contact - you can converse with them as much as you like.

The site is safe and i don't receive spam or middle aged men looking for a partner - i have set up my profile to ensure only females contact me - so perhaps this helps!

I have encouraged my grand children to check it out also - they love it also and have started sending real letters by post! It is so fantastic to see. With all the distractions of todays world - there is hope for our younger generation to find some quality communications.

Anyhow - i just love having penpals and was happy to share this wonderful site with others.

I have been a member for over 7 months, and have yet to make a single friend. This site only allows you to send one message a day without paying. If you find someone you are interested in messaging, they will be randomly blocked, and then they will say "consider upgrading." GPF may not be as bad as Penpalworld, but its still pretty bad. No one wants to be your friend or learn a foreign language. The site is full of young women in their early 20's hoping to find a foreign prince charming, and full of dirty old perverts and scam artists. What a waste of time!

They make it hard to be a free member and enjoy any services. They find ways to pressure you into paying which doesn't feel worth it. You'll find someone's profile that looks interesting, you'll go to write them and it'll say "20% of profiles are randomly blocked, please upgrade for unlimited access." But it seems like far more than 20% of profiles are blocked. Their interest isn't really in facilitating penpal friendships but just in getting paying subscribers. They should be more upfront about that and not tease users with the idea of a free site.

First of all, I saw an article somewhere that said perhaps you could find a potential date on a penpal site. The first time I was signed up with this site, I tried doing just that. I had no problem with any administrator telling me otherwise. I was looking for a "potential" date but I wanted to make some friends. I know it's not a dating site but I didn't think I was doing any harm by putting the word "date" in my profile. What I came across was several, and I mean SEVERAL fake profiles of people that I had seen on other dating apps, so I knew they were all fake. I believe I complained to the company about this and of course, they did nothing. ----- Now, the second time I signed up, I guess I must have put the word date again because this time, they just went ahead and removed my entire profile without even telling me. Unbelievable. It would have been nice to inform me first before doing so, so that I could have just removed the word date. They didn't have to remove my profile like that but oh well, guess what? They're not hurting me by doing so. They just did me a FAVOR because I just read other reviews about how other people have also come across several fake scammers on that site as well. ---- Very very nasty behavior of the site administrators. ---- Oh, and the only reason I went back on this site in the first place was because I thought that maybe it would be different this time. I guess I was wrong. Never again would I even want to use this site; even if they asked me to come back on it. Obviously, they were not professional. Period.

I have been using Global Penfriends for 12 years and thought I would submit a review to ensure others could benefit from the platform as I have over the years.

Firstly let me say that this club runs a tight ship - by that I mean that they do not tolerate scammers and fraudsters. I like that! I like that they go to the trouble to ensure that they have a clean platform for all to use. Along with the tight ship, comes some rules and regulations - I happen to like that also, but could understand that some people may find this. Difficult - especially those middle age men looking for a date instead of a penpal. Remember this club is strictly for international friendship!

The site offers a free membership, but you also have the option to upgrade. The free option is very good but as i said prior - it is regulated. I have tried both options and found the upgraded membership to be very reasonable also.

The site offer cultural keepsakes and information about countries as you scroll through profiles. Its a great way to learn and has made me quite a wealth of information over the years. People think I am well travelled - Don't tell them that the secret was being on Global Penfriends.

Go forth and try it out. A genuine club dedicated to providing a safe platform.

I sent in an application for my daughter in August 2021 and we have yet to hear anything. So much for my daughter having a pen pal from this site. Do not waste your money.

The facade here: real people, real connectivity
60% or more are fake profiles or dead accounts
Contacted say 30 potential hopefuls, maybe 1 response. You can see some people actually visited your profile but said nothing? Either they're treating this like it's a dating website or they're simply fake profiles giving you fake visits to your actual profile, which is pretty damned weird.
Their ultimate goal is to monetize but they try to religiously ensure you and others like you don't actually hook up unless you pay $$. I get it, but they don't actually know how to w/o being stupid or doing it all wrong (which feels like a scam ultimately and it pretty much is).
All the incentives to pay for a VIP account aren't actually any incentive at all.

Global Penfriend rejected my membership because I included the following in part of my profile "I just joined the site and currently do not have credits for sending mail but once I do I plan to mail frequently. For now I can only send a smile."

I like GPF because it is very easy to make friends and the ones that I do make are super nice. It is just the only site I would recommend to make friends abroad