Misleading sale price on phone

[khal_gordo]

Hi,

I just bought the iPhone 6S for my daughter at what is currently advertised as "$4.99/month" for 24 months, taxes extra.  By all appearances, the price of the phone is $120 plus tax, so $135.60.  But it turns out, once the agreement arrived, that the taxes are not on the sale price of the phone but on the full listed price of $625, which let's face it is a hugely inflated price for a phone that was selling for $300 for a long time at Costco.  So in the end, the phone is actually costing $120 plus $81.25 in taxes, so over $200, or almost 50% more than I thought I was paying.

My daughter's in love with the thing so I can't return it, but I want to point out to Fido that this is really misleading advertising on the website, and should be made much clearer instead of being hidden behind a "bill credit".  Especially when there's such a huge difference between the listed "full price" and the sale price, which makes for a huge difference in taxes.  I've been a happy customer for many years and have a few different lines with Fido, and this is the first time I've felt actively misled and been annoyed enough to consider moving my other lines somewhere else (can't pull the iPhone line out or I'll get dinged the $625...).

[Cawtau]

Hello Khal_gordo,

  Welcome to the community!

  Are you sure you're actually paid taxes on the full cost of the device? Fido recently switched to a new financed payment program model. Rather than have the device costs incorporated into the plan costs (subsidised plans), they are now separated. Since switching models, the financing of devices appears differently on your bill (see here). While you are charged the total cost of the device plus taxes, you should also be credited back the financed and promotion portions which would also include taxes. So you haven't actually paid taxes on the monthly installments yet. They were credited back with the financed amount. Once your monthly bill is generated, you'll pay taxes on services as well as that portion of the finance amount.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[khal_gordo]

From the agreement, it doesn't look like the promotion portion credited back includes taxes.  In the summary of monthly fees, along with the plan fee there's a Financing Program Monthly Payment of $29.42, which is ($625 + $81.08 tax) / 24 months.  Then under Promotions and Discounts, there's a Payment Program Promotion of $21.05, which is ($625 full price / 24 months) - $4.99, i.e. the difference between the before-tax full price and the sale price.  The payment seems to include tax, but the promotion amount does not.

So it sure looks to me like I'll be paying $29.42 - $21.05 = $8.37 per month, whereas if it were just the tax on $4.99 it would be $5.64.

[FidoPhilippe]

Hey @khal_gordo! Philippe here. I hope you're doing well.

To fully confirm what you were charged (taxes and all) and what you will be charged in future, we'd have to take a look at your account. You can contact us here for that or you can request a PM from the community.

We'll be happy to break that all down with you!