Avoiding Cell Phone Bill Shock
Is there anyone who can confidently say that not once have they received a cell phone bill and said to themselves "What? I didn't sign for THIS!"? I do believe most of us have been in this situation at least once. What's worse, while sometimes you can sort of see it coming, other times you're totally blindsided. The goal of this article is to help you keep your bill in check. Here's what to look out for.
1. Going over you allotted quota. I don't have any statistics, but I feel comfortable saying that is your bill comes to an unusually high amount, then four times out of five it's because you exceeded either your minutes, text messages, or Internet usage limit, or any combination thereof. What makes this so costly is that, compared to your "normal" rates (which are the ones within your plan), overage rates are almost crazy high. The only silver lining to this is that your bill will clearly state exactly what it is you went over on and will total your overage charges apart from your normal bill.
How to take control of this: move to a higher tier minutes plan and/or sign up for unlimited text/Internet. At first this piece of advice might sound counter-intuitive, but there's no doubt that, unless you move to a plan that's considerably higher than what you currently have, going over will cost you more than the new plan. If you don't want to (or can't afford to) move to a more expensive plan, then track how much you're using your included cell phone services. If you realize there's a risk of you going over, exercise some self-control and stop using that service. It's not easy, but it's not complicated.
2. Third Party Subscriptions. You've probably seen their commercials on TV. These subscription providers are known for their shady business practices, but they never seem to go away no matter how many complaints and lawsuits are filed against them. Their offerings can range from a "free ringtone of the month" club to "horoscope of the day", to a "naughty picture of the day". Theoretically, you can only subscribe by sending a text message to an advertised number or by visiting their website and entering your information there. Yet, they seem to have this knack for appearing on people's bills out of nowhere, which is made easier by the fact that they're not always required to inform you of the new subscription. So be sure to analyze the "direct bill" portion of your bill, because that's where their charges will be listed.
Not too long ago, AT&T settled a class action suit about this business practice. From then on, they've agreed to notify their customers (by text message) every time there's a new subscription that's being added to their account. Actually, technically it's not a notification, but more of a call to action: if the customer doesn't reply to the text, the mentioned subscription can't be added to his/her account. The other carriers should definitely follow suit.
3. One-time fees. Lastly, one-time fees might be the culprit for your higher cell phone bill. These are typically non-recurring fees, and include activation fees, re-activation fees, upgrade fees, or non-payment fees. Companies will usually not rescind the fees stemming from an account suspension for an unpaid bill. Rarely ever do these fees get waived or credited, although you can definitely ask if there are any discounts you might be eligible for, such as an employee discount. Alternatively, you can attempt sweet-talking customer service into waiving the fee. How accommodating they are will depend largely on how long you've been a customer and by your bill-paying record.
Strategy. Depending on your habits, there are a lot of options you can use to curb your use of cell phone services. If you talk a lot in the early evening, it might be worth it to pay a little extra for early night and weekend minutes. Skype, Vonage, MagicJack, T-Mobile, and so many others offer phone service that uses your existing Internet broadband connection, saving you minutes when you're at home. Also, you should always ask for discounts. We're talked about employee discounts, but if you are a student, ask if the university that you go to gets a discount. If you are retired, ask if the company you retired from gets one. If you're self-employed, put the account under your business's name. As long as you can prove that you use it for business purposes, you'll be eligible for a business discount.
If you're unable to pay your bill in one payment, try calling your carrier's customer service department to try and arrange a payment scheme so that your service doesn't get disconnected. Of course, if you haven't been paying on time, they will be less lenient with you: a good bill-paying record never hurt anyone. In any case, as you can see, keeping your cell phone bill under control is possible with a little discipline and creativity.
1. Going over you allotted quota. I don't have any statistics, but I feel comfortable saying that is your bill comes to an unusually high amount, then four times out of five it's because you exceeded either your minutes, text messages, or Internet usage limit, or any combination thereof. What makes this so costly is that, compared to your "normal" rates (which are the ones within your plan), overage rates are almost crazy high. The only silver lining to this is that your bill will clearly state exactly what it is you went over on and will total your overage charges apart from your normal bill.
How to take control of this: move to a higher tier minutes plan and/or sign up for unlimited text/Internet. At first this piece of advice might sound counter-intuitive, but there's no doubt that, unless you move to a plan that's considerably higher than what you currently have, going over will cost you more than the new plan. If you don't want to (or can't afford to) move to a more expensive plan, then track how much you're using your included cell phone services. If you realize there's a risk of you going over, exercise some self-control and stop using that service. It's not easy, but it's not complicated.
2. Third Party Subscriptions. You've probably seen their commercials on TV. These subscription providers are known for their shady business practices, but they never seem to go away no matter how many complaints and lawsuits are filed against them. Their offerings can range from a "free ringtone of the month" club to "horoscope of the day", to a "naughty picture of the day". Theoretically, you can only subscribe by sending a text message to an advertised number or by visiting their website and entering your information there. Yet, they seem to have this knack for appearing on people's bills out of nowhere, which is made easier by the fact that they're not always required to inform you of the new subscription. So be sure to analyze the "direct bill" portion of your bill, because that's where their charges will be listed.
Not too long ago, AT&T settled a class action suit about this business practice. From then on, they've agreed to notify their customers (by text message) every time there's a new subscription that's being added to their account. Actually, technically it's not a notification, but more of a call to action: if the customer doesn't reply to the text, the mentioned subscription can't be added to his/her account. The other carriers should definitely follow suit.
3. One-time fees. Lastly, one-time fees might be the culprit for your higher cell phone bill. These are typically non-recurring fees, and include activation fees, re-activation fees, upgrade fees, or non-payment fees. Companies will usually not rescind the fees stemming from an account suspension for an unpaid bill. Rarely ever do these fees get waived or credited, although you can definitely ask if there are any discounts you might be eligible for, such as an employee discount. Alternatively, you can attempt sweet-talking customer service into waiving the fee. How accommodating they are will depend largely on how long you've been a customer and by your bill-paying record.
Strategy. Depending on your habits, there are a lot of options you can use to curb your use of cell phone services. If you talk a lot in the early evening, it might be worth it to pay a little extra for early night and weekend minutes. Skype, Vonage, MagicJack, T-Mobile, and so many others offer phone service that uses your existing Internet broadband connection, saving you minutes when you're at home. Also, you should always ask for discounts. We're talked about employee discounts, but if you are a student, ask if the university that you go to gets a discount. If you are retired, ask if the company you retired from gets one. If you're self-employed, put the account under your business's name. As long as you can prove that you use it for business purposes, you'll be eligible for a business discount.
If you're unable to pay your bill in one payment, try calling your carrier's customer service department to try and arrange a payment scheme so that your service doesn't get disconnected. Of course, if you haven't been paying on time, they will be less lenient with you: a good bill-paying record never hurt anyone. In any case, as you can see, keeping your cell phone bill under control is possible with a little discipline and creativity.
About the Author:
You can find plenty of ways you can keep both your home phone bill and your mobile phone bill under control. Learn more about ways to reduce your phone bill by dropping by Reduce Phone Bill.
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10:29 AM
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