Overused free international call minutes!

[Ashish5]

Hi,

 I just got to know today that i have gone beyond the free 1000 mins allotted to me. I have received absolutely no notification for this and i was under impression that my calls will be stopped once I reach 1000 mins threshold.

I am going through a very bad phase right now. My dad is sick with Covid and he is physically handicapped. There is no one to take care for him over there. As such I had to make calls to ensure his well being. He is old and alone and i don't really know what to do than call him to keep company.

This is already taking a toll on my mental health and if i have to pay for this huge mistake it surely will push me into depression. I would definitely need medical assistance myself. 

Please help me. My bill is not generated yet. If i knew that something like this would have happened I would have taken an add-on plan. This has never happened to me before. My payments have always been on time. 

Need guidance and support!

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello Ashish5,

  Welcome to the community!

  Sorry to hear of your situation.

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@Ashish5 wrote:

...I have received absolutely no notification for this and i was under impression that my calls will be stopped once I reach 1000 mins threshold...

  It is unfortunate you assumed your long-distance calling would stop once your promotion minutes had been used. Most providers would not block International calls unless requested by the customers (Note that it is not possible to block International calls with the same +1 Country code). I understand that you might not have been aware of your long-distance excess usage. 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

  While Fido does not provide notifications for long-distance or additional long-distance usage, they do provide a means of monitoring call usage (ie My Account app). 

  Generally, if the calls are already on the system, it isn't possible to retroactively append an account with an add-on. That said, since your bill hasn't yet been generated, you might consider contacting customer service to see whether the addition of the Preferred International rate add-on might also include those calls you had already made. In addition, they can also be contacted via Live Chat, Facebook, or Twitter. Those methods can be accessed via the contact page posted above.

  Unfortunately, if the addition of the add-on does not include those past calls, you will be responsible for them as you did make those calls. I understand this is a difficult time given your situation and 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.

  It should also be mentioned that those 1000 International minutes are a promotional offer and not likely to be available on your account indefinitely. If you were not initially informed of any end-date, it would be provided on your bills a couple of months prior to expiry.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers