Charged for Picture Messages with $10 Prepaid Talk & Text Plan

[unun4848]

Hi. I have the $10 Talk & Text plan and it states:

50 Canadian/U.S. and international text, picture,and video messaging.

But when I send a picture, I am charged 0.50, even though I am still below the 50 limit.

Have not been able to contact support today.

**Labels Added**

[RogersYasmine · Accepted solution]

Hello @unun4848,

Your situation does sound quite concerning from a billing standpoint. No one likes to receive erroneous usage charges. 😒

I had some other members of our Community express some confusion about picture/video messages in a separate prepaid thread. From my understanding, the following message types are not included in the plan and will be charged at applicable rates if used:

 
-Sent/received premium texts (alerts, messages related to content and promotions)
-Sent international texts/picture/video messages
-Sent/received text/picture/video/IM/email (as applicable) while roaming 

To go to this thread (and my post specifically), please click HERE.

I actually pulled this information from the Terms & Conditions section of the Prepaid Plans page on Rogers.com. To see the Terms & Conditions, please click the little "3" located in the Messaging column.

Feel free to also reach out to our Prepaid Team for any further clarification, or step into any of our Rogers branded locations and they'll be happy to assist. To reach them by telephone please dial: 1(800)575-9090, available Monday-Friday from 8 am to 9 pm (EST).

If you do have an opportunity to speak to someone from our Prepaid Team, please feel free to update the Community with the result.

Kind regards!

RogersLaura

[barndoor]

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@RogersYasmine wrote:

I actually pulled this information from the Terms & Conditions section of the Prepaid Plans page on Rogers.com. To see the Terms & Conditions, please click the little "3" located in the Messaging column.

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@unun4848 I think  what you  need to look at on the page being referred to is that regular pay as you go charges apply .   With regular pay as you go I believe incoming picture messages are free but outgoing are assessed the $.50 charge.  Why they won't make the pricing a little less ambiguous I have no idea  .... perfectly obvious why they do it that way though .   

@RogersYasmine ...we often ad  in the secret  option 4 option 4 option 1 code along with the paygo  phone number so  that customers can more easily navigate their way to a CSR  when using the pay go phone menu. 
  

[barndoor]

This topic  brings up a couple more questions  .... according to the pay per use page  you  are not on a plan you are charged for both incoming and outgoing texts   ....so does that mean  that with the $10  talk and text plan  you get 50  sent texts  or 50 texts whether sent or received ... no where do I see clarification of this point  . 

As well it would seem that with regular pay per use you pay $.50 to send a pic message  but nothing to receive one ?? Seems strange when you have to pay to receive a regular text message .

No where can I find any explanation why  @unun4848 is being charged  $.50 for a sent pic message when it sounds like it should be included in the monthly plan  IF  the 50 text limit  has not been exceeded It makes no sense that the pay per use rates should apply until the limits of the plan are exceeded. Why are the terms of the plan  not clarified in print? 

Hopefully @unun4848 has phoned in and  will come back with the results.

[barndoor]

Hey @OLDYELLR  and @57 ....I know you don't use your phone for anything but emergencies... but would you mind sharing what you pay for what ? 

We have a $5 texting plan on an anytime plan and pay nothing but that for our in and out texting . We have received pic messages   I believe at no charge and  sent one a long time ago at  $.50  I think it was .   Of course the record of transactions move out of MYROGERS so fast that who has time to keep track of  them anyway. 

The more I think about it .... they say picture messages are included in the $10 a month plan  ....so why the $.50 cent charge ? According to the fine print the only thing that would change that is  if you were roaming  ...

Is there no member of the "paygo team " that is allowed to post here ? 

From what has been stated here in the past ...only certain Rogers stores will have anything to do with pay as you go ,will they not ? I know the one I stopped at a couple years ago wouldn't deal with anything payas you go . 

[OLDYELLR]

I was given a Rogers cellphone as a gift years ago that had a $25 prepaid plan good for a month. I did not use it very much and lent it to my son, who was looking for a job at the time, topping it up as needed.  The phone got lost or stolen at some point. A year(?) later I received a letter from Rogers that they were switching everything to GSM and would send me a new phone, a Nokia 2610, because the old one would not work anymore. I still didn't use it very much, but at least discovered there was a $100/year prepaid voucher available, so it would cost me $8.33/month (plus tax)  instead of $25.  This is all presuming I don't use up my balance. I then learned I could use my accumulated carried over balance to renew for another year once I had over $100. This is the original "talk anytime" plan, which is no longer offered. Incoming and outgoing local calls cost me 35¢/minute and texts 30¢. Long distance charges apply to calls, but I don't know the rate. There is also a monthly charge of 75¢ for 911 service. As for receiving texts with pictures, my old Nokia 2610 would sent me a URL where I could view and download the picture, but the LG-E410B I have now doesn't do that and I have to turn on data to see the picture at 50¢ a crack.

That's about all I can tell you unless you have other questions. This is probably of little use to people who never had, or have left the grandfathered "talk anytime" plan. I would not say I use my cellphone "just" for emergencies, I just don't use it all the time. It's turned off when I'm home and not using it because I have a landline. I also use some apps on my home WiFi.

[57]

My situation is similar to that of @OLDYELLR :

- Started with Rogers PAYGo ten years ago.

- Purchased an inexpensive Flip Phone - I believe it was about $100.  That phone is now in our vehicle without the SIM for emergencies after I got the iPhone (see below)

- I'm still on the grandfathered "Anytime" plan.

- Use phone mostly for emergency phone calls, so it sits at home most times.

- In 2018 we acquired an iPhone 5S for free from a friend and inserted the SIM from the Flip phone

- Do occasional iMessages (free) and an emergency text if needed - $0.30 per.

- Use iPhone when I travel with Google Offline maps (when away from WiFi) and Google Maps when on WiFi.

- Local calls for me are $0.50/minute.

- I'm on Auto-top-up $10/mo.  The balance rolls over at the end of the month.

- Whenever my balance is high enough I "pay"  $100 to suspend my Auto-top-ups for a year, so my average cost for the phone is about $6/mo.

- I have not texted with pictures.

[barndoor]

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@OLDYELLR wrote:

This is probably of little use to people who never had, or have left the grandfathered "talk anytime" plan.

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Thanks

As I understand it  if a customer  exceeds the plan that they are on  then the regular pay go rates would apply .So if  @unun4848 were to exceed 50 texts , the regular paygo rates of $.30 per incoming and $.30 per sent would presumably apply for the rest of the month or until any account balance is used up .  

  Old yeller must be paying according to his old plan rates and  I assume  57 wasn't on one of the old plans or just didn't call to remind them  that he was .  I have called twice to remind them what plan we are on  but they just put it back up to the $.50 a minute  after a couple months so I just gave up ....we only make a phone call every couple months anyway.

As this pertains to  @unun4848 ' s question  there seems to be a bit of variability as to how the charges are applied ....I wonder if pricing  for pic messages has as much to do with phone settings as anything  because according to what I read of  the Rogers information @OLDYELLR should not have paid to RECEIVE a pic message ...a charge only applies when they are sent . 

@OLDYELLR ....just to clarify : do you pay $.30 per incoming and $.30 per outgoing text ?

[57]

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@barndoor wrote:

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I assume  57 wasn't on one of the old plans or just didn't call to remind them  that he was .  I have called twice to remind them what plan we are on  but they just put it back up to the $.50 a minute  after a couple months so I just gave up ....we only make a phone call every couple months anyway.

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I was on one of the old plans, which, I believe stated as low as $0.25.  I just never realized that you could ask to remain at that amount charged.  As you say, it matters so little if you only make a few phone calls per year.

[OLDYELLR]

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@barndoor wrote:

@OLDYELLR ....just to clarify : do you pay $.30 per incoming and $.30 per outgoing text ?

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Yes. Except for texts from Rogers, which are free, as are spam texts I forward to 7026.

[barndoor]

I assumed that with the ten dollar plan the 50 free texts were sent messages since it is a plan and that is the way the add on plans work (free incoming )  ....but according to the CSR it is fifty text transactions  meaning incoming texts are included in the "fifty" .   If you are within your  "50" allotment there is no charge for picture messages. No $.50 charge . 

Thanks Rogers  for the clarity in your written offering  !!!   

[barndoor]

Another question then .... if I receive  a picture message  does it count as a received text ??  In the fine print for pay as you go users  there is no charge for an incoming picture message ...does that  mean that it should not be counted as part of the "50" transactions ??  

[57]

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@OLDYELLR wrote:

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Yes. Except for texts from Rogers, which are free, as are spam texts I forward to 7026.

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Are you saying that you are automatically credited for the spam message if you forward it to "SPAM" (7726), or are you saying you bring it up with a CSR the next time you talk to them?

[OLDYELLR]

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@57 wrote:

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@OLDYELLR wrote:

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Yes. Except for texts from Rogers, which are free, as are spam texts I forward to 7026.

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Are you saying that you are automatically credited for the spam message if you forward it to "SPAM" (7726), or are you saying you bring it up with a CSR the next time you talk to them?

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Not exactly, although it has happened. I don't bother contacting Rogers concerning them anymore, just forward them to SPAM. Sometimes I get them when I turn on my phone after it's been off for a few days.  I've also received the same spam text 3 times in rapid succession, but only one appeared on my transactions.

[RogersZia]

Hi @barndoor,

The current $10 Talk & Text plan comes with 50 Canadian, US and International SMS or MMS (sent and received). So a received text or picture/video message would be deducted from the 50 allotted messages as well.

Hope this helps!

RogersZia

[barndoor]

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@RogersZia wrote:

Hi @barndoor,

The current $10 Talk & Text plan comes with 50 Canadian, US and International SMS or MMS (sent and received). So a received text or picture/video message would be deducted from the 50 allotted messages as well.

Hope this helps!

RogersZia

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Thank you very much for the clarification  @RogersZia

But I do have to ask why ?  In the "pay per use rates" which, according to the fine print  apply to this plan , a received picture message is specifically "no charge "  so why is it counted in this plan as any other $.30 text ?

[RogersZia]

Good morning @barndoor,

All the plans listed include charges/overages for both sent and received messages (text, picture and video). Regular pay-per-use rates will apply if the balance in your account is too low to cover your plan’s recurring monthly service fee.

RogersZia

[barndoor]

Yes  .... @RogersZia  you're right of course.  That was a question for management  that is never going to be answered here .