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***

[fiona59]

What do you make of the text sent on December 18?
This message is to let you know that you can continue to have a balance that exceeds $150. We have extended the time that you have to use your balance above $150 in order to continue to help you reduce your balance in a way that works for you. We'll keep you informed of any future changes.


Any ideas? Any further communications that I might have missed????

[Unusual_Glark]

Got the situation with my phone settled awhile ago. Even went back to my original plan and everything and able to use my balance to pay for the year. It's all good.

[57]

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@fiona59 wrote:
What do you make of the text sent on December 18?
This message is to let you know that you can continue to have a balance that exceeds $150. We have extended the time that you have to use your balance above $150 in order to continue to help you reduce your balance in a way that works for you. We'll keep you informed of any future changes.
Any ideas? Any further communications that I might have missed????

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What do you want to make of it?  It was discussed since that time.

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Pay-as-You-Go/New-Pay-As-You-Go-Maximum-Balance/m-p/436810#M29...

I haven't seen anything since, but it's only been a month so I didn't expect anything.  They did say they would keep us informed...  You might not hear anything more until the end of 2019...  Are you currently carrying a balance over $150?

[barndoor]

Or maybe the issue is even over  .If Rogers has  encouraged  those with high balances to switch  to other plans or make special arrangements to use their really high balance and put the fear of losing  a high balance into most other customers  ....they may have achieved their goal and  have no need to  pursue the issue  any more . 

[OLDYELLR]

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@fiona59 wrote:
What do you make of the text sent on December 18?
This message is to let you know that you can continue to have a balance that exceeds $150. We have extended the time that you have to use your balance above $150 in order to continue to help you reduce your balance in a way that works for you. We'll keep you informed of any future changes.


Any ideas? Any further communications that I might have missed????

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As I posted above, my balance is still $150.83, not $150.00. What is yours? I was hoping to hear from someone who had their excessive balance either cut to $150 or left alone.

[OLDYELLR]

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@barndoor wrote:

Or maybe the issue is even over  .If Rogers has  encouraged  those with high balances to switch  to other plans or make special arrangements to use their really high balance and put the fear of losing  a high balance into most other customers  ....they may have achieved their goal and  have no need to  pursue the issue  any more . 

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Yes! Maybe that was the purpose, coaxing customers with large balances to use them to switch to more profitable (for Rogers) plans. I don't actually believe Rogers could legally confiscate any balance amount over $150 because it's the customer's money, not theirs.

[frankb]

Did you ever get a follow up message.
Is this a topic for the CRTC to look into?

[OLDYELLR]

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@frankb wrote:
Did you ever get a follow up message.
Is this a topic for the CRTC to look into?

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My balance was under $150 when I renewed last September, using $100 from it. But if you go back in this thread you'll probably find customers who didn't lose whatever was over at the end of the year.

[57]

I used $100 late in 2018 to suspend payments for a year and to put my balance just below $150. I'm back on $10/month "auto-pay" in 2020 so I should be above $150 in a month or two.  It'll be interesting to see if I get any notices when that happens.  If I do, I can just use another $100...  I'll post here if I see anything.  I'm still on the grandfathered Anytime plan, which has worked well for me.

[57]

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@57 wrote:

I used $100 late in 2018 to suspend payments for a year and to put my balance just below $150. I'm back on $10/month "auto-pay" in 2020 so I should be above $150 in a month or two.  It'll be interesting to see if I get any notices when that happens.  If I do, I can just use another $100...  I'll post here if I see anything.  I'm still on the grandfathered Anytime plan, which has worked well for me.

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I now have a balance of $178.  I have not received any notice.  Once I reach $200 in about 3 months, I'll use the $100 suspend option again.

[57]

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@57 wrote:  I now have a balance of $178.  I have not received any notice.  Once I reach $200 in about 3 months, I'll use the $100 suspend option again.

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My balance went over $200 this month, so I called the PAYGo number and used $100 out of this balance to suspend payments for a year.  This is the fifth time I've done this, so my average cost for my PAYGo phone has been about $6/month over the past 12 years and I've still got a balance of just over $100 since I use my phone very little.  I just use it for the occasional emergency text or phone call.