When I discontinue my Rogers $20 plan, will I get back one month Rogers charged in advance?

[drogo123n]

I am currently on $20/month pay as you go plan.  I am going to switch to another provider.  When I signed up $20/month plan on May 1, Rogers charged me twice: one for the current month and one for the next month in advanced.  I know this becaue I my credit card bill shows two $20 + tax bills being charged on my credit card on the same day.  I read in the Forum, the reason is Rogers charge one month in advance.  If I discontinue my plan at the end of this month, will I get the advanced month $20 + tax back?

[barndoor]

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@drogo123n wrote:

I am currently on $20/month pay as you go plan.  I am going to switch to another provider.  When I signed up $20/month plan on May 1, Rogers charged me twice: one for the current month and one for the next month in advanced.  I know this becaue I my credit card bill shows two $20 + tax bills being charged on my credit card on the same day.  I read in the Forum, the reason is Rogers charge one month in advance.  If I discontinue my plan at the end of this month, will I get the advanced month $20 + tax back?

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I think you have been misled somewhere along the line .  A pay as you go plan is just that ...pay as you go . There should  not be an advance payment .  

That said ...it would not surprise me in the slightest if they took twenty dollars to cover the plan  and took an additional twenty for any extras that may be incurred since ten dollar vouchers apparently can't be used for pay go plans, only the basic talk anytime. Unless you confront them you won't likely get your money back .... I left for another provider leaving a twenty dollar balance from an expired plan (not pay as you go) and I saw nothing ....but I was so glad to be gone I didn't bother fighting for it .

Maybe someone actually from paygo could respond here to clarify how this works since it seems to come up fairly often ??  

@drogo123n please come back and tell us how it turns out for you ? And judging from my  past history here you will likely need to call them and talk to a CSR . 

[barndoor]

It may be in your best interest financially to ask them if you pay another$ 60  ..maybe $70 since we are half way through May ...can you switch back  to the $100 voucher and talk anytime plan  ? Maybe add one of the little text packages if you text a bit .  They would get to  keep you a little longer and depending on your use maybe that plan would last you for 6 months with no additional funds added ....at that point you can leave with a zero balance if you still want to .  

[drogo123n]

I am planning to switch to PetroCan AnyTime Plan.  I have even ordered the SIM card.  It is in the mail.  Their rates are cheaper than Rogers and I don't have to put up with these plan fees + extra charges nonsense.  What I don't like the most is when I switched to $20/month plan, the receipt said $20+tax.  I never got the impression and Rogers rep never told me my credit card will be charged for another $20+tax.  Why do Rogers need to charge an extra month?  Didn't $20 plan covers both texting and 50 minutes of call time?  Perhaps this is common practice to charge a month in advanced but this is not right.  Unfortunately, I may have to keep my Rogers account active in order to keep my phone number when I switch to PetroCan next month.  I will likely loose my $20 + tax. 

[barndoor]

Please call and ask any  way (I know I sound like a broken record but the # is  1 800 575 9090  press 4 press 4 and then 1 to get to a CSR).  And let us know  which way it goes . Your experience will warn others .

Yes ... Petro Canada  currently has  it's prepaid  unlimited texting and 100 Canada wide minutes on  for $16.50 a month,  all in .  It  has been working great for me ! $100 card lasts me 6 months  and no more long distance .

Taking my number with me was no problem  seems to me it took longer than I expected to make the transfer .... but just a few hours I think . If I recall correctly  they checked beforehand to see that the phone was unlocked and would transfer without issue . 

[drogo123n]

Yikes.  I bought my phone from Rogers.  I read somewhere Rogers will charge $50 to unlock it.  This is really a final kick in the teeth.  What a rip off!  It is downright blackmail.  I might as well just buy a new phone.

I will call Rogers tomorrow to find out about the extra month of charges. 

[barndoor]

I talked to  a friend about the unlock and why it seemed to work for me  and he said  the reason I didn't have an issue was because  going to Petro Canada you are still on the Rogers system  so  the unlock is not needed ... at least on the older phones .  So you might be  in luck @drogo123n  !   

Now if someone can just explain  why PC can offer better rates than Rogers on their own system  ??  I imagine there is some technical reason  but for me so far the reception  has been just as good at less cost  ...so I don't really care ....just thankful I made the change . 

[drogo123n]

I called Rogers.  I am sure I called this number before but I hung up after hearing "visit us on our website or write to us".  The impression you get is that is it.  There were no mention of "select this option to talk to a representative..." or "stay on the line...".  The message "all our representatives are busy..." only came much later after a few minutes.  So stay on the line.  I waited about 20 minutes.

Regarding being charged twice:  the support guy said it is possible the extra $20 was for a voucher because I did not have auto top up setup.  Since I did not ask for it, this was done without my knowledge.  In fact, at Rogers store, I "OK" only $20+tax on my credit card transaction.  I asked why my receipt only show $20.  He said the voucher is separate.  He asked me to call again with the receipt and there is a 14 digit code that will tell him more.  My advice is CHECK YOUR CREDIT CARD STATEMENT each month.  Better yet, check it each time you use your credit card.  He said there will be no refund.  Since I told him about unlocking my phone, he suggested I add $30 more to make it $50 and use it to pay for the unlocking.

Regarding $15 plan: yes the $15 plan only covers unlimited texting.  There are NO talking minutes.  You have to add extra money in order to make calls.  Rogers advertise the $15 plan as Talk & Text plan, this seems misleading advertising to me.

Comparing Rogers basic Talk plan and PetroCan AnyTime plan, with Rogers you are paying 180% more for call per minute and 300% more for texting.  That's quite obvious to me which one to choose.

[barndoor]

@drogo123n may I suggest ... call Petro Canada and see if your particular phone needs to be unlocked  to use on their system .   If yes,  then the Rogers suggestion sounds reasonable to add the $30 for the unlock . If you don't need to get it unlocked  ...at the end of the twenty dollar plan month, change back to " talk and text anytime" and just go till you use up your last $20  if Rogers won't refund it anyway    and then call Petro Canada to do the switch .

Thank you  for sharing your experience with us so far , sorry it has been so frustrating .