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Device balance is a lot higher than what I'm paying?

Firefly
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

I purchased my phone and set up my new contract through Best Buy back in late April. When I signed up, I got a discounted phone that was supposed to be around 15 dollars a month for the phone and 5GB for $50 a month with the special offer that they had with Fido at the time.

 

Looking at my device balance today, I noticed that it's a lot higher than what the total cost of the device would be adding up the 15 bucks a month (it should be only around $270 now in september, but its actually over $625). However, even with my current device balance and how much I'm paying, it still says I'll pay it off by April of 2022.


What exactly does this entail for me paying off this phone? I know it's supposed to be a discounted device, but the device balance is even higher than the cost of the phone regularly, and I'm certain I paid off my previous device balance before getting this new phone (as it was the end of my last 2 year contract). 

 

PS. Looking back at my bill, it says I get a credit sum. I'm guessing this is the discount from Best Buy?

3 REPLIES 3

Cawtau
Senior MVP Senior MVP
Senior MVP

Hello Firefly,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  I'm not sure of your exact promotion, however, it's likely the phone wasn't discounted. It's a common misconception that the monthly cost of the phone was reduced. However, that was technically not the case. The device cost shown on the website was calcuated after bill credit. The monthly cost of the phone remained the same but customers were getting a credit on their bill to offset the cost of the phone. 

 

  So your the cost of your phone wasn't ($15 x 24m = $360). The cost of the phone is still the before bill credit cost. It's difficult to explain without actual numbers. However, I've replied to some other posts with similar queries here and here.

 

  Your bill should show something similar:

Monthly plan $50

Monthly discount $XX

Subtotal: $50-$XX

Subtotal including taxes: ($50-$XX) plus taxes

Monthly Installment (including taxes): cost of phone before bill credit plus taxes

 

  I believe the credit sum you noted would be the monthly discount which calculates to the $15 per month cost. Since the phone was not actually discounted, that is likely the reason the remaining device balance is higher than you thought.

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers

 

 

 


Firefly
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

Ah, thank you! I couldn't find those examples you gave when I was looking through the fourms earlier.

 

I'm wondering that because that credit is technically making my phone bill cheaper, what does that entail if I want to pay off the device balance earlier? I understand now that the phone wasn't discounted but the bill techinally is, so would it be possible for me to pay off my device balance and still get the dicounted monthly bill, or do I need to continue with the current monthly payments until the 'plan' ends?

 

Thanks in advance again.

Hello again,

 

  My apologies, I'll try to link them again here and here.

 

  You can make additional payments towards your phone, though you should note that they would only reduce the amount owing and not the number of months remaining (unless you paid it off completely). Since the monthy credit is to offset the cost of the phone, I'm gussing you wouldn't continue to receive the credit if you had paid off your phone. However, since Fido has switched to their Payment Program, once your phone is paid off, you would no longer have any monthly installments for a device. Your monthly fees would only be for services.

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers