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Long Distance Charges Dispute

skaur11999
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

I have been with FIDO for more than 2 years now and have been referring all my friends. Recently, I referred two of my friends. 
I have been a very happy FIDO customer UNTIL FIDO charged me for international calls.

FIDO gave me 1000 international minutes "free" per month for the phone line. 

When I signed for the Fido plan, I don't remember the agent mentioning the expiry date which was 2 years ago.
My plan perk ended on Sept 29th. Fido did not send me any notifications or text emails. As a human being, I need somebody to remember me.
Most importantly, they did not block international calls from the backend and started charging me with the rate of $0.95

I have used 215 international minutes for the last two months.
As a result, FIDO charged me the rate of $0.95 minutes. It jacked my bill with an additional $431.67 for two months.
While FIDO has an international package with $5 a month which charges $0.03 minutes for international.
In summary, after the perk ended the rate they charged was 32 times higher.

I did not check my bill because I referred my 2 friends and was supposed to get 2 months of free service.

I was hardly paying $28 per month. Bottom line, I am an international student and broke. I couldn't afford a data plan. How does fido expect me to say that amount?

Moreover, it's an issue at Fido's end.

I have already customer service multiple times. Spoke to the manager then he transferred me to collections saying they will cancel my charges but they said it's the manager's job. I have already spent hours dealing with customer service with no help.

Can I expect somebody to pay attention to my case? Does Fido care for its customers?

10 REPLIES 10

Nikki9
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

Charged for long distance for calls I didn't even make over 200 dollars said to Texas I live in Canada unless my 13 year old di but who he be calling at a radio station 

Hi @Nikki9,

 

Welcome to the Community.

 

I'm sad to hear you have had unexpected long-distance charges on your bill. I would stongly recommend going through your phone's usage to see what calls were made over the past months.

If you still need any help after this, you're welcome to contact us over the methods shown here and we'll be happy to take a look.

 

Hope this helps. 



terriw61
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

The same thing happened to me. I had  125 free minutes to Australia then all of a sudden, I didn't. Next I'm getting $400 and $300 bills which I cannot afford on my Disability Support. I'm pissed and so is my family in Australia.  

KAPABLE-K
MVP MVP
MVP

Hello @skaur11999,

 

Welcome to the community!

 

Sorry to hear you did not understand how the promotion works, most promotions have an end date, and when a promotion is coming to an end Fido notify us on our invoice of any upcoming changes at least 3 months ahead of time.

 

If you look at your invoice details for the last 4 months you will see the notification, please see here to learn how to save/print your invoice details.

 

Fido would not block us from calling any numbers unless you call and ask them to put a block on making international calls.

 

Since you made the calls the charges would be valid and you would be responsible for the payment if you can not make the payment in full you can set up a payment arrangement, see here for more information.



terriw61
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

That's BS! I read all my messages from FIDO and never was I warned that my "special deal" was about to expire. During Covid, we're all acutely award of how we can stay in touch with family abroad. I would've taken notice of this instantly. I was not notified, in fact I as lead to believe it was to relieve Covid anxiety and help FIDO customers stay in touch 🤬  We're even more restricted, Covid is still a pandemic so why retract or end a deal that is a deal of compassion for your customers. This just adds insult to injury when you flat out refuse to assist your clients with reduced international rates. Have a heart, your pockets are full 

terriw61
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

FIDO should let their CUSTOMERS know when they no longer have free long distance. A warning the previous month would be a nice courtesy! 

skaur11999
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Fido message for payment every month but they can't send message for promotion expiry?

There are thousands of people with the same situation. I feel sad for everyone including me.

It's so easy for companies to charge us ridiculously without knowing that we have families to feed. 

skaur11999
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

In this busy world, do you read your invoice line by line? I don't. It was not even highlighted. When there is a text message for a payment reminder then why there isn't any text for promotion end? Is this called a business? Why calls are not blocked? So that customers them unknowingly that they will be charged ridiculously. If I need international calls then I will ask for a plan.

 

Why Fido doesn't accept fault on their end?

 

Also, I would like to hear your thoughts on concerns which you missed below:

Fido did not send me any notifications or text emails. As a human being, I need somebody to remember me.
Most importantly, they did not block international calls from the backend and started charging me with the rate of $0.95

I have used 215 international minutes for the last two months.
As a result, FIDO charged me the rate of $0.95 minutes. It jacked my bill with an additional $431.67 for two months.
While FIDO has an international package with $5 a month which charges $0.03 minutes for international.
In summary, after the perk ended the rate they charged was 32 times higher.

Hello Skaur11999,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  Sorry to hear you've unknowingly incurred addititional long-distance charges on your account. I understand that you might not have been aware of your excess usage. While Fido does not provide notifications for additional long-distance usage they do provide a means of monitoring call usage (ie My Account app). 

 


@skaur11999 wrote:...In this busy world, do you read your invoice line by line? I don't....

  I understand most people lead busy lives. However, it has always been the customers' responsibility to monitor their own usage and bills:

 

   It is not necessary to cap voice or text messaging service charges since the use of these services is generally well understood and managed by consumers. ~ The Wireless Code; point 127

 

...it considers that a requirement to provide usage notifications or usage monitoring tools is not the best solution to prevent bill shock. ~ point 124

 

  Most providers in North America won't block long-distance or International calls unless requested to do so by customers (you should note that it is not possible to block calls to International locations which use the same '+1' Country code). Occasional long-distance callers might not wish to purchase an additional plan if it's only for a few calls. If the providers in your home Country do block International calls by default, then it's unfortunate you weren't aware of how the providers work in Canada. I understand it's frustrating to note -- after the fact -- that those charges could have been much less if you had a long-distance calling add-on. Unfortunately, if the calls are already on the system, it isn't possible to retroactively append an account with an add-on.

 

  In addition, it's not any company's responsibility to remind their customers of bill payment dates, promotion end dates, etc. Again, I understand that people can get busy and might be forgetful of things. That's why daily planners and calendars are big business. Personally, I'm really bad at remembering those type of dates. To help me, I put all of those dates on my digital calendar. You might need to find a method which works for you.

 

  I understand this is a difficult time and being a student makes receiving such a bill even more distressing. If you're unable to make full payment on the bill, you might consider arranging a payment schedule. To make an arrangement, you'll need to contact the credit operations team. It should be mentioned that a payment arrangement might not be available in all situations.

 

  If you would like to add the Preferred International rate add-on for future calls, you would need to you would need to contact customer service. In addition, they can also be contacted via Live Chat, Facebook, or Twitter. Those methods can be accessed via the contact page posted above.

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers


skaur11999
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Thank you for explaining Fido policies.

However, all of your statements lack customer care. Instead of repeating Fido policies, please focus on rectifying your system. This issue is not isolated to me only. I see thousands forum on the same concern.

I expected some justice here which was not served.

Thank you for mentioning your social  media handles. It would be great to spread awareness to everyone currently with Fido or planning to be with so that they don't end up in my situation which was totally company's fault.