Is there any relief for high cell phone bill?

[taylorcpa]

We just got our Verizon bill and it was more than double what it should be - DH went way over on his minutes. Is there any way I can change my plan retroactively? Or anything else I could do? Anyone BTDT?

Thanks!

 

[whois figment]

I had this happen once. I called and changed my plan to up the minutes and they waived all of the overage minutes from the previous month.

 

[here757]

call the company and ask.. u might be stuck with this bill but change the plan to prevent in the future!

alot of comapnies are going back to the UNPLAN!!

also changing the plan might lock u back into a year or two contract. so make sure you ask!

good luck

 

[ajw1117]

I know with do with Tmobile. this has happened to me before and they always let me change to a plan with more minutes retroactive and change back after the next month. I don't keep the new plan because we are usually under the minutes every month but every once in awhile go over.

 

[loveysbydesign]

We use Tracfone that way you are forced to only use as many minutes as you've paid for!

 

[dis4harley]

We use verizon and at the beginning of March my dad got sick and passed away at the end of March. Everything was so crazy that I never thought to check on minutes. The day my billing cycle started over I realized that we had went over by 1000 minutes. $472 in overage charges(not regular bill). I called and talked to 3 different people to try to get something done. I tried to change plan to let it cover retroactivly and they said they could not do it. They finally offered me $150 credit and said that was all they could do. It could not have come at a worse time.

 

[dfchelbay]

In a perfect world they should just bump you up to the next minute plan price for that particular month. If you pay for 700 minutes for $50 a month and you go over and use 1000 minutes, they should just charge you let's say $60 for the 1000 minute plan for that month, instead of a per minute overage fee...but that's just a fantasy of living in a perfect world.

Maybe one day one of them will come to their senses and actually do this.

 

[mom2faith]

I used to work for Sprint in the collections department.

This is one of the biggest scams there is out there as far as I am concerned - you go over in minutes and they charge you ridiculous rates and then put the onus on you - because you knew your minutes.

1. Call them and change your paln - if DH goes over in minutes one month he probably will do it again. Like PP said - it can be $50 for 500 min but onloy $10 more for 1000 mins depending onthe plan.

2. If you are current in you bill, offer to make a partial payment and see what they can do. If you are not current, then make a payment to get current and then phone and offer.

3. Be firm but do not freak out. Sometimes those phone answers can give credits at their discretion and if you phone with guns a blazing, they will not want to help you. Negotiate calmly and explain the situation.

4. When explaining the situation, do not make it a sob story, just be calm and firm. We have heard every sob story in the book - it gets annoying after a while - LOL!!

5. Go up the ladder. If the person who answers the phone does not help you, as for a supervisor. But be calm and not demanding.

Good Luck to you!!!

Amy

 

[disneyJMD]

I also have verizon, and one month my son had taken his cell phone without my knowledge and sent $300 in texts. We did not have unlimited texts anymore, since the phone had been taken away permanently. Verizon added the unlimited texts retroactivly to our lines, and then credited us back--it took me 4 phonecalls and a full month to have this done properly, but they did it (with hesitation though). I also had an issue with minutes one month, and I remember they had given us a credit, and bumped up our monthly minutes, however it was only partial credit given on the overage. I was satisfied with that because they technically did not have to help us out in any way. So, I know they will make adjustments retroactivly, but it takes some work to get it ironed out.

 

[rkandmjsmommy]

We just found out last night that my DD (who is not quite so darling anymore lol) had 1116 text messages this month...she is only allowed 250...needless to say we were sick to think how much our bill would be...I called verizon changed plans and they backdated it so we will have NO Overage charges, I literally wanted to kiss the girl...call and ask it cant hurt, good luck!!!

 

[BrettS]

I've never been with Verizon, but I've had this happen several times with Cingular (now AT&T) in the 7 or 8 years I've been with them. They've always been very good about reducing or even removing the overage charges for me.

As the PP said, it's best to be very nice to the person on the phone (they do hold all the cards after all) and I usually like to start out something like this...

"I have a big problem and I'm really hoping you can help me. We screwed up this month and went way over on our minutes and now our bill is $100 more than usual. If I go ahead and raise our plan to the next level is there any way that you can make it retroactive or reduce this overage charge for me?"

Most people genuinely do like to help others and if you start out asking for help I've found that they often try to go above and beyond to help you. If you start out putting them on the defensive then they won't be nearly as helpful.

Also, no matter what the reason for the overage, technically it was your fault... I mean you could have checked your minutes partway through the month or whatever... and by admitting flat out that it was your fault and that you screwed up, and by offering to pay some money toward upgrading your plan I think it tells them that you're not just out to get something for nothing or to take advantage of the company. Plus, by raising your plan it shows that you are taking steps to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

Then, if it really was a fluke you can call back in a month or two and lower you plan again... paying for a higher plan for a couple of months will probably be much cheaper than paying for all those overage minutes right now.

HTH,
Brett

 

[ceecee]

We use Tracfone that way you are forced to only use as many minutes as you've paid for!

 

[mookie]

I had this happen once. I called and changed my plan to up the minutes and they waived all of the overage minutes from the previous month.

I just did this earlier this week because my DH used his cell for long conference calls. We were over $400 in overages, but instead, we bumped up $20 to the next plan and they waived them for us.

 

[Huff]

I changed my plan with Sprint. We now have two phones with unlimited data, texting and 1500 minutes shared between us. However, with Sprint those 1500 minutes only apply when calling land lines. Calling any other cell phone, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile etc. does not count and is thus unlimited. I use my phone like crazy but calling land lines is rare these days. At the end of last month we used 1900 minutes total but statement showed 1425 minutes remaining. That means we made 75 minutes to land lines, the rest to cell phones. Package price is $129/month with 3rd or 4th lines costing an additional $20/month. We do get a corporate discount of $30/month so that helps.

 

[DawnM]

I have Sprint but I have never heard of a plan that allowed you to call any other cell phone and it wouldn't count against your minutes. What plan is that?

We went over 2 months ago but we have such a great plan that I will just pay the overage and try not to have it happen again.

Dawn

I changed my plan with Sprint. We now have two phones with unlimited data, texting and 1500 minutes shared between us. However, with Sprint those 1500 minutes only apply when calling land lines. Calling any other cell phone, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile etc. does not count and is thus unlimited. I use my phone like crazy but calling land lines is rare these days. At the end of last month we used 1900 minutes total but statement showed 1425 minutes remaining. That means we made 75 minutes to land lines, the rest to cell phones. Package price is $129/month with 3rd or 4th lines costing an additional $20/month. We do get a corporate discount of $30/month so that helps.

 

[C*Beans]

I had Verizon for years and they were very good at working with me once when I had an outrageous bill. They changed my plan and backdated it.

Having said that, our regular monthly bill was still very high (at least $165/month for 3 lines), and we ended up switching to MetroPCS a few months ago. DH travels around FL for his job and he has had the same reception quality as verizon. We pay $35/month per line for unlimited calling, text and web. Web is a little slow, but a nice bonus since only one line had it before. Anyways, just a thought.

 

[Huff]

I have Sprint but I have never heard of a plan that allowed you to call any other cell phone and it wouldn't count against your minutes. What plan is that?

I have the Everything Data Family with Any Mobile, Anytime included. For $129/month for two phones it includes 1500 minutes (land line calls), unlimited cell phone calls, unlimited texting, unlimited messaging and unlimited internet. It costs $20 to add another phone to share the same plan.

The only limitation is that I can't add a phone to the plan without internet, say for kids. Well, I can, but still gotta pay the $20 instead of the usual $10 for non-data phones.

 

[alissagiadagreen]

Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill. ... Please let me know if there is a way that I can go to Haiti and help in ..... For instance

 

[disneychrista]

We just found out last night that my DD (who is not quite so darling anymore lol) had 1116 text messages this month...she is only allowed 250...!!!

I found out quick with teens you can get away with less minutes and unlimited texting. They rarely TALK on the phone. But they text all day long.

 

[pamjb]

The Verizon plan we have, we can add 10 NON-VERIZON telephone numbers that do not count against our monthly minutes. The 10 numbers gets split between the 4 phones we have on our plan. It has made a big difference in the number of monthly minutes we use.
And my 2 kids rarely use any minutes. The oldest has finally figured out if he picks a girlfriend with Verizon, it doesn't count towards his minutes. The youngest just texts.....over 10000 in a month. And yes that is 4 zeroes.