cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Phone paid Fido still charging

Bev67
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

 I bought an Iphone and financed it with Fido. The phone was paid for Sept/2021. I expected to be notified, as I was with the last phone I purchased with Fido, but the loyalty department says that this is not done any more.  Fido owes me approx $600. credit for over charging for the phone. The loyalty department says that this is the Fido policy. This is theft and poor business practice. I've been dealing with Fido for years and can't believe this. Please advise.

12 REPLIES 12

Bev67
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Hi Anthony, I've already been to the link you suggested and have been directed to the  loyalty program manager. But he didn't know what do do. So what you're saying is that " the plan was changed so this doesn't happen" to cutomers like myself who have been caught in the middle. However, although Fido has 'corrected the problem' now, you refuse to reimburse the approx $600. taken unjustifiably because of your error. AND to add further insult, that had I not called Fido about another matter, I would still be continuing to be over charged. Yes, I WOULD like to discuss this further. Please direct me to a live human - not a general link. Thank you.

Hey @Bev67! That's certainly not the way we want you to feel!
You can contact us through one of our channels, we're available over the phone, Live Chat, or on Social media, and we'll be happy to review the situation with you.



Bev67
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

I repeat. I went through those chanels and I get the same runaround. The fact is that everyone is saying it's 'the system' and that's the way it is. There must be someone who can recify 'the system'. If I've  over paid for my cell phone for over a year and you don't credit me accordingly this is theft and I intend to take action. 

Hello again,

 


@Bev67 wrote:

... If I've  over paid for my cell phone for over a year .... 


  I understand it's not what you want to hear, but as previously explained, you did not over pay your cell phone for a year. Since your plan was subsidised, you continued to pay for a subsidised plan. That is not a system issue. You might just consider that semantics, however, that is the type of agreement you entered into. You chose to get your device with a subsidised plan.

 

  With any contract, it would be the customers' responsibility to monitor their own contract details. Therefore, it would have been your responsibility to keep track of your contract end-date and to have switched to a BYOP plan, if that is what you wanted. That said, Fido would have informed you that your contract end-date was nearing via your bills.

 

Again, not what you wanted to hear, but hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers

 


Bev67
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Hi. You are missing the point! Fido took more than $600 of my money for a service I did not receive. I purchased a phone on the installment plan. My purchased represented a fixed number of payments at a fixed rate. I fullfilled my obligation. During this period, I spoke to Fido more than once about different issues, and never once did anyone from Fido mention that the phone was paid in full. The system kept invoicing me.  It makes no difference why I overpaid Fido, or for what reason. Fido deposited my money and never notified me of the overpayment. In any book this practice of overbilling is faudulant and suject to penalties. Had I underpaid, the plan would have been disconnected and Fido's collection department put into force. Fido cannot claim that possession is the law of the land. Nope! It does not work that way.  I expect full restitution for the overpayment. Either you return the funds, or credit my current plan for the overpayment.  Understand that I made an overpayment. It was an error. This does not give Fido the authority to keep these funds.  Fido cannot take payments for which no service was rendered. I await your credit and further reply. Please govern yourselves accordingly. Thanks. 

Hello again,

 


@Bev67 wrote:

...Fido took more than $600 of my money for a service I did not receive. .... 


  I'm sorry, but you seem to be missing the point. You keep separating services and device cost. As previously stated, the subsidised plans incorporate both services and device cost. They are inseparable. By continuing with that subsidised plan, your phone services would have continued so you did receive services. Whether those services includes subsidy towards a device does not matter since it is a part of the plan. As mentioned, you would have needed to switch to a BYOP plan if you wanted to change to a plan without subsidy.

 

  I understand  you have already discussed the matter with customer service. If they have already provided you their position on the matter, I don't think laying out your expectations here will change that. This forum is community-driven and not a venue for customer services. If you wish to take further action, that would be entirely up to you.  However, I don't know if the outcome would be in your favour. The issue with subsidised plans is not new. People would have tried to escalate matters with varying results. That's probably one of the reasons Fido switched to their financed Payment Program in recent years.

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers

 

 


Bev67
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

I have already been to customer service. Fortunately I called Fido about a data question and it was customer service who, alerted me that I was paying too much for the plan.  She adjusted it and I'm thankful to her for that, or I would still be paying too much. However, I'm should be credited for the 1year that I've been paying, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. If I don't get restitution I intend to carry this issue further. 

Hello again,

 

  Glad to hear you have now switched your plan to one without subsidy. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any credit amount to get back. As already explained, the subsidy amount is not separate from plan costs. As such, you were paying for a subsidised plan for that year, not a plan plus financed amount. While a certain amount of a subsidised plan went towards a device, it is not possible to determine how much of the plan cost that would be. That is the nature of the subsidised plan model.

 

Not what you wanted to hear, but hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers

 


Cawtau
Senior MVP Senior MVP
Senior MVP

Hello Bev67,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  Sorry to hear you did not fully understand your contract details. From what you note, it sounds like you have a subsidised plan. For a while, any mobile providers used a subsidised model for their contract devices. This model is different from a tab or financed model or the more recently available leasing model (ie Upfront Edge etc).

 

  With the subsidised plan model, the cost of devices was incorporated into the cost of plans (ie Small, Medium, Large, etc). You should note that Fido has recently switched from their old subsidy model to a financed Payment Program. With the new model, the cost of devices is separate from the cost of plans. Since the costs are separate, you would no longer have a monthly finance charge once you have paid-off the balance of the phone. However, as far as I am aware, the Payment Program didn't arrive until after you started your contract (see here).

 

  While there may have been some overlap between the two programs, it sounds like your plan was subsidised. If your plan is a subsidised plan, your monthly billing would not automatically be reduced once you have paid the balance of the phone (see here). It is not possible to simply remove the subsidy from those older plans so you would have needed to have switched to a BYOP plan -- one without subsidy. However, you should note that the details of the new plans may not be the same as your current plan. If you did not switch plans, you would not automatically get a new cellphone. In order to finance another device, you would also need to switch to a new plan as the old subsidised plans are not compatible with the new financed model.

 

  You should note that this forum is community-driven and not intended as a venue for customer services. If you would like to discuss your plan, 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

 


Bev67
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

As I mentioned, I went to customer support and they were excellent. They alerted me to the problem and immediately changed plans. I understood the agreement. However, I should have been notified by Fido that my phone has been paid off (or coming to an end) and that I should switch plans. (Particularly if there was an overlap in your system) Tracking over payment should NOT be the customer's responsibility. That been said, Fido took a year of overpayment (approx. $600.) and seems that there is no intent of reimbursing the money. Please contact me if you're open to discussing a solution. As a long time customer (check your files) I am very disappointed in your unjust business practices.

brglover
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

This happened to me too... no notification of any kind, and Fido happily kept taking money for a phone that was already paid off.  I'm curently in dialogue with a customer support representative, and if no amends can be made, I'll be leaving Fido after being a loyal customer for over 12 years.  

Hello @Bev67,

 

I'm sad to learn that no changes were made to your plan for quite some time after your term was completed. 

 

@Cawtau covered basically all the points necessary.

 

One of the reasons our new financing model was introduced was to make sure situations like yours don't happen again as once your phone is paid for, the financing portion of your charges is automatically removed from your account so you simply pay for your monthly services afterwards.

 

As for your plan changing immediately after your term ended, we won't have the option to do so. It is stated in our terms that we cannot change your plan without your consent. There has to be a request made from the customer for any change to take place. 

 

If you wish to discuss your account futher, you're welcome to reach out using the methods shown here