Did You Sign Up For Verizon's New Plan? Watch Your Bill. Please Read

[hookbill]

In a sense I'm cross posting here, but there is a good reason for it. Many of you are familiar with Verizon's new plan where they offer unlimited texting, data, and 450 minutes for 69.99. http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-news/95195-new-unlimited-plan-big-red.html

If you made the change during your current billing cycle what Verizon is doing is refunding your regular plan fee that you paid previously, then charging you for the new plan. This brings the bill up 20.00 higher then it should be.

I went over it with a Verizon rep and didn't quite get it. Then I looked at it again and I spotted what they didn't do. In the bill there is a talk and text discount of 20.00 for your billing month. What they failed to do was give you the 20.00 credit for the previous months billing that they are charging you for at the new rate!

So if your bill is higher then you think it should be go over it and see if they failed to discount your previous months bill at the new rate. I called and pointed it out to the rep who agreed with me and gave me the $20.00 discount.

Now I don't think this was done intentionally, I think it's just an error. Just look at your bill and if you are missing that extra discount call them and get it.

 

[EARL97850]

Good catch. Many people wouldn't dig deep enough into their bill to find the error and just write it off as normal charges.

Cya

 

[DF Smod]

Looks like I have another call to make Monday morning -

 

[MattyP]

Thanks for the heads up hookbill, I just checked my most recent bill which just came in...


Nationwide Talk & Text 450 12/02 - 01/01 (month in advance) $59.99
Email & Web for SMARTPHONE 12/02 - 01/01 $29.99
Talk & Text Plus Data $20 Disc 12/02 - 01/01 -$20.00
500 MSG Allowance + UNL IN MSG - Refund 11/02 - 12/01 -$10.00
10.00/mo / full month refunded

So does this mean next month my bill is going to be higher? I was paying $10.00 a month for unlimited VZW-VZW texting and 500 to other carrier texting, that appears to have been refunded, and now I'm on the new unlimited plan. Even if it is higher, at least I'm still saving $35.00 a month from before I changed to the new plan.

 

[lowboy]

Mine seems to be in order. If anything they did not charge me enough. Like I said earlier I will check it again next month.

 

[hookbill]

Thanks for the heads up hookbill, I just checked my most recent bill which just came in...


Nationwide Talk & Text 450 12/02 - 01/01 (month in advance) $59.99
Email & Web for SMARTPHONE 12/02 - 01/01 $29.99
Talk & Text Plus Data $20 Disc 12/02 - 01/01 -$20.00
500 MSG Allowance + UNL IN MSG - Refund 11/02 - 12/01 -$10.00
10.00/mo / full month refunded

So does this mean next month my bill is going to be higher? I was paying $10.00 a month for unlimited VZW-VZW texting and 500 to other carrier texting, that appears to have been refunded, and now I'm on the new unlimited plan. Even if it is higher, at least I'm still saving $35.00 a month from before I changed to the new plan.

Take a look at the line I bolded in your response. Now I'm not seeing in your bill where they credited your previous months bill and charged you the new rate for the previous month. It's in charging the new rate for your previous months bill where the error is. They did not include your 20.00 Talk & Text Plus Data discount when they billed you again for that month. That's where the money is missing. (I keep wanting to say rip off but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt). It took me a while to figure it out but that's what the problem was and why my bill was exactly 20.00 higher then it should have been.

 

[MattyP]

Thanks for the heads up hookbill, I just checked my most recent bill which just came in...


Nationwide Talk & Text 450 12/02 - 01/01 (month in advance) $59.99
Email & Web for SMARTPHONE 12/02 - 01/01 $29.99
Talk & Text Plus Data $20 Disc 12/02 - 01/01 -$20.00
500 MSG Allowance + UNL IN MSG - Refund 11/02 - 12/01 -$10.00
10.00/mo / full month refunded

So does this mean next month my bill is going to be higher? I was paying $10.00 a month for unlimited VZW-VZW texting and 500 to other carrier texting, that appears to have been refunded, and now I'm on the new unlimited plan. Even if it is higher, at least I'm still saving $35.00 a month from before I changed to the new plan.

Take a look at the line I bolded in your response. Now I'm not seeing in your bill where they credited your previous months bill and charged you the new rate for the previous month. It's in charging the new rate for your previous months bill where the error is. They did not include your 20.00 Talk & Text Plus Data discount when they billed you again for that month. That's where the money is missing. (I keep wanting to say rip off but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt). It took me a while to figure it out but that's what the problem was and why my bill was exactly 20.00 higher then it should have been.

I was switched to the new plan on 11/10/2010, my bill usually comes in on the first of the month, so I'm confused. Should they have credited me for October as well? Or just for November's bill, which I was already in? My most recent bill was definitely alot less than it was before, by about $35.00. So it appears to me they credited me for the month I was in, which was November...but like I said I'm confused LOL

 

[hookbill]

I was switched to the new plan on 11/10/2010, my bill usually comes in on the first of the month, so I'm confused. Should they have credited me for October as well? Or just for November's bill, which I was already in? My most recent bill was definitely alot less than it was before, by about $35.00. So it appears to me they credited me for the month I was in, which was November...but like I said I'm confused LOL

OK I'll try this again. This may not apply to everybody, it kind of depends when you signed up for the new plan. If you paid Novembers bill and it was the same as you usually pay then the following is going to happen:

1. You will be refunded your basic charge. In my case that's 39.99.
2. You will be credited for any text messaging that you paid for. In my case that's 5.00.
3. They will bill you for both November and December at 59.99.
Now stay with me because this is where it gets tricky.
4. They will charge you for data for the month of December. That's 29.99.
5. They do not refund data from November.
6. For the month of December you get a 20.00 credit for data and text. They should also apply this same credit to your November bill. If you don't see it there, then they owe you $20.00. Call regular customer service and get your $20.00 credit.

That's about as basic as I can make it, considering the way their billing works.

 

[MattyP]

I was switched to the new plan on 11/10/2010, my bill usually comes in on the first of the month, so I'm confused. Should they have credited me for October as well? Or just for November's bill, which I was already in? My most recent bill was definitely alot less than it was before, by about $35.00. So it appears to me they credited me for the month I was in, which was November...but like I said I'm confused LOL

OK I'll try this again. This may not apply to everybody, it kind of depends when you signed up for the new plan. If you paid Novembers bill and it was the same as you usually pay then the following is going to happen:

1. You will be refunded your basic charge. In my case that's 39.99.
2. You will be credited for any text messaging that you paid for. In my case that's 5.00.
3. They will bill you for both November and December at 59.99.
Now stay with me because this is where it gets tricky.
4. They will charge you for data for the month of December. That's 29.99.
5. They do not refund data from November.
6. For the month of December you get a 20.00 credit for data and text. They should also apply this same credit to your November bill. If you don't see it there, then they owe you $20.00. Call regular customer service and get your $20.00 credit.

That's about as basic as I can make it, considering the way their billing works.

Ok cool, thanks for the heads up anyway. I'll just check my bill next month, but for this month it was $35.00 less, just like it was supposed to be.

 

[dankarlinski]

thanks! i already noticed it and called big red on it. they noticed the mistake and refunded me right away. but this is a good thing to watch

 

[porkbrains]

Always always always watch your bill when changing plans.. It is a wonky billing system and it frequently makes errors. I got the smartphones talk free plan (Girlfriend had EnV3 and wanted an Incredible, added a line for the Incredible ($9.99 off) and basically bypassed the upgrade process, as the cost for additional line is a wash. ), but when I got my bill, they had both charged for and refunded the $7.66 for the previous month's usage (Just refunding the $7.66 would have been correct per the Smartphones Talk Free promo), as well as the $9.99 month in advance. You really need to pull out both bills and cross-reference the math with plan changes, just to be sure it all adds up.

It's really confusing when they charge for the current month and the future month on the same bill with refunds all over the place. Be vigilant!

Unrelated, we also took the plunge and turned off texting, using google voice only. I'm completely satisfied with it, I can email and FB any pics I wanna send. GV has some work in its future, but saving $30/mo is totally worth it. Anyone who is fussy that they didn't get the Unlimited Data plan (and is reading this thread to feel vindicated) can get pretty close with this method.