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long distance chages

Akash7
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

Hi, I got the same issue. I have 1000 international minutes, but I called on the UAE number to cancel my flight because I tested positive and I have to quarantine myself. I thought those minutes are going to count in the international call, but they count in long-distance calls and they charged me almost $230 extra. they did not inform me when I was making those calls so I called them to reduce. they said we can not help you with this. They did not inform me when I was making those calls by text that these minutes are chargeable on a long-distance call based.

I am frustrated and feel helpless. please can you help me with this how-to reduce my bill amount?

1 REPLY 1

Cawtau
Senior MVP Senior MVP
Senior MVP

Hello Akash7,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  Sorry to hear of your situation and that you've incurred unexpected long-distance charges. It's unfortunate you were not aware of the details of that particular 1000 International minute promotion. Those included minutes are only for the long-distance portion on calls to certain Countries. You can view the included Countries here. Unfortunately, the UAE is not one of the included Countries. If you regularly call the UAE, Fido does offer a Perferred International rate Add-on (see here, under Long Distance). 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.

 

  I understand that you might not have been aware those calls were not included. 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 usage they do provide a means of monitoring call usage (ie My Account app).

 

  In addition, 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.

 

  I understand this is a difficult time 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.

 

  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