New Pay As You Go Maximum Balance

[lmcjipo]

Had my prepaid phone off during the holidays and just turned it on today to receive the following text from Rogers:

Rogers service msg: Starting at the end of 2018, our prepaid services will have a maximum allowed balance of $150. Any balance above $150 will no longer be available as of end of 2018. We will be in touch with more information on how you can use your balance soon, but in the meantime you can continue to use your balance as normal. Questions? http://rogers.com/contactus

What are the options? The option that I think that they will do is to force those high balance users to go to postpaid. Unless they give me the option to get a new phone, there is no way that I would be able to use my balance or reduce it to under $150 before the end of 2018. The only other thing which would reduce my balance is for me to take options/services that I don't need (like data/SMS/addon services) that I don't need for the sake of just reducing my balance.

This seems ridiculous.

***EDITED LABELS***

[barndoor]

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@57 wrote:

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Just as an FYI, Using $100 of your balance was discussed over on Digital Home's website (Rogers PAYGo thread) around 2013. I received an e-mail on the topic then and have used that feature three times since then.  I can't link that thread right now, but it should be easy to find.  You're right that not many people are aware of the "feature".

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Any discussion on another website is irrelevant to this situation   IMO .   Did Rogers send you the Email as notification or was it a response to a query that you initiated ? 

I see @OLDYELLR  says he received a letter from Rogers informing him  ...so I guess  he was notified properly .  

Maybe the rest of us were to ....in my case maybe it got lost amongst the other Rogers marketing propaganda that  just goes directly into the wood stove .   

[alten1]

To say Rogers should have charged more for their pay as you go gives away age and also indicates financial obligations don't exist.

 Some of us have reached ten to thirty years past retirement and with the rising cost of everything other than pensions it becomes more difficult to live. So every dollar saved is a dollar earned. 

 Our phone is used for emergencies only and of course we hope we never have to use it and yes the carry over does increase. That is no reason why Rogers should be able to pocket the money.

 So I guess Rogers gets my carry over amount, but I will not be using any of their other services. 

 Ota antenna for my television viewing(20 bucks one time) will get me up to fifteen channels and a cb radio(100 bucks one time) and I'm set for years. 

 If more people protested in a certain way these big companies wouldn't be running your lives and wouldn't have their hand in your pocket daily. JMO

[strawberry1]

I'm on a limited income too.  Please contact the president's office at Rogers.  Start with the ordinary contact number.  Tell them you want a refund.  They will say no.  Ask to speak to a supervisor.  This person will say no, too.  Ask them to escalate your concern to management.  They must report it.  Management will help you.  Alternatively, you can contact management directly by mail: 

Attn: Office of the President
333 Bloor St. E
Toronto, ON M4W 1G9

on line: https://www.rogers.com/consumer/contactus/share-a-concern

In all, it might take a couple of weeks and lots of your time....but don't give up. 

[57]

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@barndoor wrote:

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 Did Rogers send you the Email as notification or was it a response to a query that you initiated ?

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Rogers sent it to me.  I had been with Rogers for about 4 years at the time and probably had a balance around $300.

[Tranjo]

Here in the response i got from CRTC:

In this case, if you are unable to resolve your issue with Rogers, and since your provider seems to be in violation of your contract, you may contact the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS). The CCTS is an independent organization dedicated to working with you and your service provider to resolve complaints relating to your services in a competitive environment. You may submit your complaint directly at https://ccts-cprst.ca/complaints/complaint-form

You may also contact them using the following methods:
• Online: http://www.ccts-cprst.ca
• By email: response@ccts-cprst.ca
• By telephone: Call, toll free, 1-888-221-1687
• By toll-free TTY: 1-877-782-2384
• By fax: 1-877-782-2924
• By mail: CCTS, P.O. Box 56067 - Minto Place RO, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 7Z1

[BS]

I think this response from the CRTC which directs you to work first with the provider and then go to CCTC, along with @strawberry1 's solution of how to work through the escalation process is the solution for dealing with this mess. once and for all - and yes, if the rebate of the amounts can be made to one customer, although this may not be the solution for all, it should be one of a range of fair responses available, but I suspect it will take a manager or Office of the President to get your own fair solution to this one.  Congrats to the two of you on your persistence to get your own individualized fair response or clarity on direction.

The escalation process is a pain and time consuming, but in general, it works.

Bruce

[lmcjipo]

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@strawberry1 wrote:

I have a substantial balance on my pay go service.  I contacted the media and was immediately put in touch with the president's office.  A rep there promised to refund the balance above $150 and extended the expiry date.  Contact the media or escalate the situation to the president's office.  They should help anyone who will lose a balance at the end of 2018.  Please pass this info on to everyone.  OLDYELLR are you there?

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That's great! I hope you actually do get your cheque for the excess. In my ~60 minute call with the person from the Office of the President, she played "hard ball" and suggested a refund even though prepaid doesn't offer refunds.  She first offered a refund of a pro-rated $100 top up based on the months remaining. By close to the end of our heated conversation, she mentioned refunding the entire balance which I told her I would only agree to that if she allowed me to port out my number since I know that if a complete refund is done, the account would be closed/locked and porting would not be possible. She placed me on hold and when she returned, she mentioned that she would go for my suggestion which I believe was fair to both Rogers and myself considering I switched to postpaid.

During her "hard ball" tactics, she mentioned that the "buck stops here with the Office of the President". I told her that it didn't since I also filed a complaint with the CCTS.

I somewhat wished I would have held out to get my excess but went to postpaid and I'm fairly satisfied with what I got even though it means that I need to change my calling habits and use my cellphone more to really get any benefit from postpaid. As long as the unadvertised postpaid plan that I'm on remains in effect, I will have an "unlimited voice/text" postpaid service for over/around 4 years.

I was told (not sure if it is true) that I can "cash out" (or get an off contract phone) after being with Rogers postpaid for over 90 days. I'll probably take the "safer" route and exhaust my balance which was transferred to postpaid

[Sarcee]

Hi, I'm in the same boat with a relatively high balance. My expiry date is Feb 7, 2018. I don't want to add another $100. just to renew. I use less than $10.00 worth of minutes per month. What are my options?

Can I renew for another year by paying a lower amount? Perhaps a $10.00 /month top up?

Can I switch to the talk and text plan? If so, how?

[OLDYELLR]

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@Sarcee wrote:

Hi, I'm in the same boat with a relatively high balance. My expiry date is Feb 7, 2018. I don't want to add another $100. just to renew. I use less than $10.00 worth of minutes per month. What are my options?

Can I renew for another year by paying a lower amount? Perhaps a $10.00 /month top up?

Can I switch to the talk and text plan? If so, how?

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Call the PayGo number (1-800-575-9090) and ask to renew using $100 from your balance. Or, if you want to change plans, ask for that using money from your balance. Just remember that if you're on the original talk any time plan, there's no going back. If you want to keep the plan you must as, or else you will get switched to a $10/month plan in March.

[alten1]

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and I did phone the pay as you go number 1-800-575-9090 and after trying a few suggestions for different areas of Rogers reception, I did get through to a very good fellow who took a 100.00 from my overage and let me use the phone for another year. He also said that they would not take any overage over 150.00 next year. He added that if I did not use the phone and there was still a surplus of money,  that I could use it again to cover my phone for the following year. So as I mentioned in another post, my phone is used for emergencies only, so the time should not go away and neither should your money. Anyhow I'm am happy with my conclusion and hopefully everyone else will have a successful ending. Good luck and thanks and god bless

[Sarcee]

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@OLDYELLR wrote:

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@Sarcee wrote:

Hi, I'm in the same boat with a relatively high balance. My expiry date is Feb 7, 2018. I don't want to add another $100. just to renew. I use less than $10.00 worth of minutes per month. What are my options?

Can I renew for another year by paying a lower amount? Perhaps a $10.00 /month top up?

Can I switch to the talk and text plan? If so, how?

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Call the PayGo number (1-800-575-9090) and ask to renew using $100 from your balance. Or, if you want to change plans, ask for that using money from your balance. Just remember that if you're on the original talk any time plan, there's no going back. If you want to keep the plan you must as, or else you will get switched to a $10/month plan in March.

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Thanks. My current balance is $87.00 If I top up again this year, I will have $187.00 which I don't really want to carry forward. Last year I carried about $230 forward (the accumulation of previous years).

I'm on the Talk All Day plan. Is that what you are referring to?  And what does 'there's no going back' mean? Are people not allowed to switch plans and go back to a previous plan?

[barndoor]

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@Sarcee wrote:

I'm on the Talk All Day plan. Is that what you are referring to?  And what does 'there's no going back' mean? Are people not allowed to switch plans and go back to a previous plan?

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The Talk All Day plan changed to the Talk Anytime plan and then became extinct about 4 months ago .  because it was a long term plan you can still use it and if you call in and request it, they will continue it for you  but if you leave the plan for some reason ,there will be no coming back because it no longer exists for anyone other than those who are currently using it .  

If you want to stay on it you need to call and make the request to stay on that plan or they will automatically switch you to the $10 a month plan the first of March  . 

[Sarcee]

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@barndoor wrote:

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@Sarcee wrote:

I'm on the Talk All Day plan. Is that what you are referring to?  And what does 'there's no going back' mean? Are people not allowed to switch plans and go back to a previous plan?

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The Talk All Day plan changed to the Talk Anytime plan and then became extinct about 4 months ago .  because it was a long term plan you can still use it and if you call in and request it, they will continue it for you  but if you leave the plan for some reason ,there will be no coming back because it no longer exists for anyone other than those who are currently using it .  

If you want to stay on it you need to call and make the request to stay on that plan or they will automatically switch you to the $10 a month plan the first of March  . 

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So there are officially no more Pay As You Go prepaid voucher plans (except for people currently on one)?  I never received any notification of this.

[barndoor]

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@alten1 wrote:

 He also said that they would not take any overage over 150.00 next year. 

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Just looking for a little clarification on this point.  They have changed their mind and now they are not taking away any overage /balance over $150 ?  Or they will not  accept any overage in excess of $150 ?

[barndoor]

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@Sarcee wrote:

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So there are officially no more Pay As You Go prepaid voucher plans (except for people currently on one)?  I never received any notification of this.

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I'm pretty sure you can still use the prepaid vouchers and use, say a 100 voucher  but it will only last for ten months max  It's just that for new customers the cheapest plan is $10 a month .There will be no more  true pay as you go plan that goes by the minute or the text used .  

If you call in and ask you can supposedly continue with your current plan .

Join the club of receiving no notice.   I believe there are other companies that still have them  just not any of the big three at least.

[Sarcee]

Thanks. I'm not necessarily attached to my current prepaid voucher plans, I think a $10.00 month plan might actually be better for me.

So from the above, I'd be interested in the $10.00 month Talk & Text plan. It's from the Rogers Wireless website. In my current PAYG voucher plan I'm paying 50 cents per minute for in/out calls, and 30 cents per SMS.  With the $10.00 T&T plan it looks like it's only 30 cents per minute for in/out calls. Is this up to date and correct? 

If so, it looks like a better deal for my needs, since right now I'm prepaying for everything (calls, texts, etc) at regular premium rates. No free minutes or texts at all. In fact, when I started my current voucher plan in 2011, the call rate was 25 cents per minute. So it's doubled in only 6 years!  The only thing about switching plans is that overall, the yearly cost will be $120.00 compared to my current $100.00. But then there are 50 free minutes and 50 free texts per month.  So, a little higher cost in actual dollars, but I could use my phone a bit more for free.

Do you happen to know if those 50 free call minutes would roll over to the next month if I don't use them all?

[BS]

It looks like, based upon the various reports here, that Rogers is living up to the described innovative approaches to end-to-end customer experience, by having individual discussions and solutions, and clarity in the consequences of each decision.  Now for them to figure out how to best communicate changes to the users that doesn't lead to the confusion that went on for a number of weeks, before we get to this point.

They still have to figure out the communication one because there will still be people who have not been communicated to via text message only, or no current contacts, so that they know that things are changing, and that they are advised to call in and discuss their needs and wishes of how to deal with their existing plans and balances.

It appears that there are alternatives available and that people can walk away satisfied with the outcomes.

Glad to see it moving this direction.

Best wishes to all as you figure out your direction that best meets your current needs.  That is what the wireless code is all about on the primary level is making our needs very clear, understanding our terms and contracts and working together as provider and customer to reasonable solutions and choices.

Bruce

[OLDYELLR]

Whatever works for you.  In my case $100/year and using accumulated balance to renew is the most economical.

[barndoor]

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Sarcee wrote: 

So from the above, I'd be interested in the $10.00 month Talk & Text plan. It's from the Rogers Wireless website. In my current PAYG voucher plan I'm paying 50 cents per minute for in/out calls, and 30 cents per SMS.  With the $10.00 T&T plan it looks like it's only 30 cents per minute for in/out calls. Is this up to date and correct? 

If so, it looks like a better deal for my needs, since right now I'm prepaying for everything (calls, texts, etc) at regular premium rates. No free minutes or texts at all. In fact, when I started my current voucher plan in 2011, the call rate was 25 cents per minute. So it's doubled in only 6 years!  The only thing about switching plans is that overall, the yearly cost will be $120.00 compared to my current $100.00. But then there are 50 free minutes and 50 free texts per month.  So, a little higher cost in actual dollars, but I could use my phone a bit more for free.

Do you happen to know if those 50 free call minutes would roll over to the next month if I don't use them all?

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Only you can decide what works best for you but something to consider . Regarding your current plan , a couple people here have reported noticing that they were paying the  $.50 cents a minute when it says $.25 on their  My Rogers page ... they called in and asked what was going on and Rogers staff apparently  changed the pricing back to the original $.25 .  that might make a difference for you . 

I agree if you only use your phone for emergency use there is no cheaper way to go than sticking with the old  plan. In our case we only text with the phone so have the $5 texting ad on  and  have a good balance left over at the end of the year . If you want to use your phone a little  more though, the ten dollar plan definitely gets you more  minutes and texts  at a better price.  

I can't say absolutely  that you can't roll over unused minutes but I would be very very surprised if they would do that. 

[Sarcee]

Thanks. That's odd because I do remember getting text notifications from Rogers about rate increases. My profile still says 25 cents as well though. So maybe I will check into that avenue of getting it reduced back down.

I'm a bit confused about the phone numbers. Are there separate numbers for my account inquiries, and for switching?

The phone number mentioned here on the forum is: 1-800-575-9090. The number on the Rogers website listed for switching plans is: 1-855-654-2244

[barndoor]

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@Sarcee wrote:

Thanks. That's odd because I do remember getting text notifications from Rogers about rate increases. My profile still says 25 cents as well though. So maybe I will check into that avenue of getting it reduced back down.

I'm a bit confused about the phone numbers. Are there separate numbers for my account inquiries, and for switching?

The phone number mentioned here on the forum is: 1-800-575-9090. The number on the Rogers website listed for switching plans is: 1-855-654-2244

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If I recall correctly the notification was more of a general thing and would apply more to new customers starting on that plan . You may even want to suggest a credit for money you have spent at the wrong  pay scale . 

Either will get you where you want to go.  For the 1 800 575 9090 number  press 4  then 4 then 1  to get to a CSR  on the new number they have made it FAR easier to get to a CSR .  You call and select prepaid /2  and they get you a CSR right off the bat .  Why they can't make it easier to get to a CSR on the 9090 number is beyond me ...if you don't have the magic 441 shortcut  it can be very frustrating . 

Good luck and please let us know how it goes for you .