Rip Off: Adding airtime resets service period
by yank dechain
The policy regarding your expiration date on your prepaid airtime is to subtract any time you have left when you add additional airtime. Any unused minutes will roll over but not expiration time forcing you to either use them or let them pile up.
I contacted I-wireless regarding this and they politely explained to me that this information is on the back of airtime cards. They could not however explain to me why this information is not disclosed before or during the purchase of the phone or the service. An airtime card is not required when the initial purchase is transacted. This information is purposely withheld and you do not find out until you have already purchased their phone, which can't be used with any other service, and activated their service, which lures you in with free minutes to get started.
In my opinion, the act of purposely not disclosing this information prior to the purchase is perpetrating fraud upon the consumer.
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Hi Y,
I, too, had a hard time finding this information out on the I-Wireless site. Other plans such as Straight Talk All You Need plan and the Net10 750-minute 30 day plan also reset their expiration time when you add airtime, but they do disclose it clearly. Straight Talk has a way of scheduling your refills even if you buy your airtime card early so that you don't lost any days of service.
Other plans such as TracFone and the pay as you go type NET10 plans do add the additional days to your service period, so it rolls over when you add airtime.
Regards,
sb (admin)