$10 talk and text plan - extra fees?

[Edera]

I have just re-activated my account after being out of the country. I used my credit to pay for the $10 pre-paid plan. I received an SMS confirming this was paid. When I tried to use the phone, I received another SMS which said that my balance was zero. I called customer service (in the Philippines) and was told that the reason was that I had not paid the $1.00 fee for 911 services (though I have now seen elsewhere that it is .75 cents). I asked why I was not told this by the first customer service agent and why I hadn't just been asked to pay. He had no answer. He said he would take care of it for me and I received an SMS confirming my account had been refilled. I tried to use the phone today and I received a message that now my balance .25 cents. I called customer service again and was told that the reason is that I must maintain a balance of at least .45 cents at all times, although this is not mandatory. I again asked why I had not been told this and she stated that it is not required because credit cards do not allow for cents to be added to a charge. After this surreal conversation, she said that she had added .75 to my account and that provided I don't use it, I should be fine. Could someone please confirm what this is about and if it is a policy, why are the customer service agents not noting this or able to explain it?

[Edera]

Thanks for your response Nick.

I was wondering, since I am away for 7-8 months of the year, if I put credit on the phone, will it still be there when I get back?

I'm also curious, I don't mind paying $10.75 each month, but I'm a bit confused about how much extra I need to pay each month. The last customer service agent I spoke to placed .45 cents on my account and said this is a minimum I need to maintain. But I've just received another message that my balance is again at 0 - even though I'm still well within my talk and text limit for the month and didn't use that .45 for anything.

In addition to the $10.75 a month, is there another fee being charged?

Thank you.

[FidoCharles]

It's our pleasure @Edera .

For the credit, would it be to activate your services? The validity period would depend on the amount, you can check the duration here.

For your other question, the plan is $10.75/month due to the 911 fee (75¢) as @FidoNick mentioned. It would be the only fee being charged, but other fees can apply (shown in the "Details" of the plan) :

• Call Forwarding: 35¢/min rate applies. Long distance and/or roaming fees will also apply as applicable.
• Voicemail: 35¢/min rate applies. Long distance and/or roaming fees will also apply as applicable.
• Additional local anytime minutes: 35¢/min.
• Texts sent to a Canadian or US cell phone number: 30¢/additional text.
• Texts sent to an international cell phone number: 35¢/additional text.
• Texts sent from the US: 75¢/text.
• Picture and video texts sent from Canada to a Canadian cell phone number or any email address: 50¢/recipient/message.
• Picture and video texts sent from Canada to the US or select international destination cell phone numbers: 75¢/recipient/message.
• Directory assistance: $2.50/call and local per minute rate

I hope this helps!

[Edera]

Hi Charles,

Thanks for your message.

I would be adding additional credit based on the recommendation made by Nick. I just want to make sure that I don't leave too much credit on the account before my departure for 7-8 months in case there are automatic monthly deductions - even if I am away (as is the case with some plans in Europe).

Thanks again.

[FidoNick · Accepted solution]

Hey @Edera!

The $10 prepaid plan is $10.75 per month due to the 911 fee. You can see all the pricing here. 

Based on what you've mentioned it seems that we've been covering the 75 cents for you. Going forward, you'd have to do a $20 top up. The way it'll work is that $10.75 will pay for your plan. You'll then have $9.25 left and you can keep topping up $10 going forward (as the 75 cents will be taken from what's left of that $9.25)

Once it gets to a point where the $0.75 won't be covered anymore, then you'd have to top up $20 again.

I hope that helps