by Tina
(Florence, KY USA)
Check update here: Redeemed for the moment.
I purchased a phone for my son in March. Being used to the traditional phone companies I thought you paid your monthly amount of the plan of your choosing. I chose the 25.00 plan for my 11 year old. On second month I added his 25.00 minute card bought at Krogers, a week and half later added 20.00 as his phone said minutes were up. Not thinking added another 20.00 30 minutes later because his phone still wasn't working and I thought I must've added the previous payment wrong.
2 days later I contacted customer service and was advised because My original payment for April was one day late I was charged for all his Web charges for past two weeks. I advised I was new customer and was not familiar and asked to have the additional 70.00 credited back to my card or left as credit on account for future months.
Was told by customer service that because they were used mind you only because I didn't know I had to manually re-choose the monthly plan I chose the month before that I could either be credited back the money and phone be suspended or accept a larger plan to use up the additional money. Was informed that credits could not stay on accounts for future months.
I understand terms and conditions and know I should've been more diligent on reading every single word but mistakes happen and typically companies want to keep their patrons. Apparently I wireless does not feel that way as they were very quickly to add It was clearly noted in terms and conditions and I should've know the rules.
I will stick with the big phone companies in future as they have shown much more appreciation toward their customers.
---------------------
Hi Tina,
Yeah, it's tough because kids want/need to be connected. My daughter's been reading the Dork Diaries blog on the Nintendo DS these days. However, we, as parents, have to limit the costs.
Another option would be to go to a purely prepaid account such as Straight Talk's $30 plan or which tell you right on the phone, how many minutes and data you have left for the month. Otherwise, there's the plan targeted at kids, called Kajeet which creates a set of virtual wallets that you can check online and know what your spending. Plus you can control usage to certain times, days, etc.
Regards,
sb (admin)