I should have paid more attention, I know. When I bought my new mobile 'phone earlier this year I topped it up with a £20 Pay As You Go voucher, thinking that would last me quite a long time.
Being hard of hearing I don't use the 'phone for calls, only for its camera and for web access via free WiFi. It is also handy to contact people via text messages if I am out and about without internet access.
I had been periodically checking my balance and still had £19.60 left - I don't text very much as you can tell.
Last weekend I needed to text P to arrange for him to come and collect me after a walk with the girls but for some reason it wouldn't send anything. When I eventually reached home and logged into my account it showed I had no balance so was unable to make any calls. What happened to my £19.60???
I hadn't read the small print. Any Pay As You Go top-up only lasts 90 days then expires.
Lesson learnt. I have now added £5, the minimum amount and made a note on my calendar to use it up before it goes AWOL.
You must be made of money JayCee! Throwing it away like that while children are starving in distant lands.
ReplyDeleteMrs Bountiful, that's me.
DeleteThat is so annoying. I don't know why these phone companies do that. My elderly mum used to have a mobile just for emergencies in case her landline was not working, which meant she never used it and we too fell victim to small print. They would periodically cut off her number, if we did not make any calls, meaning we had to reregister. In the end, I used to make a call out with it once a month, just to keep it limping along.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, mine is the same. If you don't make a call within a specified time period your account expires. I have to remember to use it once in a while.
DeleteI thought I had about sixty Euros in credit and they took the lot. I didn't read the small print either! I always say they should give you five Euros credit for emergency phone calls or so you can phone some one to top you up if you have no pennies.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have a pennies Northsider? Sorry to hear that mate.
DeleteWe have Penney's the Irish Primark YP.
Delete60 euros! I thought £20 was bad enough !!
DeleteWhy are they allowed to do that? I get cross over things like that. Still lesson learned.
ReplyDeleteWe had a top up phone but my eldest son gave us one for Christmas and pays the monthly bill, I can't tell you how useful this is and how grateful we are to him.
Briony
x
What a generous son you have x
DeletePhone companies (and others) get away with these kind of (legal?) scams on both sides of the Pond.
ReplyDeleteIt's how they make their profits I suppose
DeleteSounds like just the sort of thing I would do.
ReplyDeleteI am going to write a reminder on my wall calendat to use it before I lose it
DeleteI have pay-as-you-go on my old Nokis (yes I am a true dinosaur, lol) and only use it for texting occasionally and the rare time I need to make a call. Don't have a contract and whatever I top it up with stays on the 'phone. I recently put £20 on it because I was convinced I was low in credit, (I always like to keep it to at least £10 in credit just in case there is an emergency where I will need to use it), but my total is now £34. So it will be a while before I need to put any more on.
ReplyDeleteYou are lucky that yours doesn't expire.
DeleteThey'll get you any way they can! When our contract runs out every few years they never warn us that we have to renogiate and its not till a huge bill comes in one month that we realise what happens.
ReplyDeleteThey leave it down to us to remember
DeleteWhat a rip off! Does that apply only to vouchers or to top-ups you've paid for. Which company is it with? I'm with O2 and have to top up once every 999 days or I lose the number and any remaining balance, so I top it up 2-yearly and make a diary note to do so. £10 usually lasts me 2 years. There is also a regular usage requirement but a weekly balance text from the bank sees to that.
ReplyDeleteI am with Manx Telecom. The only other supplier available over here is Sure (Cable & Wireless). Not much to choose between them these days.
DeleteAnother dinosaur here - I don`t have a cell phone but it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage without one. I will try to hold out a bit longer, listening to all the tales of woe!
ReplyDeleteNo point in having one if you don't need it!
DeleteHaha Jay, your useage is so like mine. I've had my phone account suspended twice when I haven't used it in yonks. I think that's a 90 day thing too.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Mary x.
Must try harder! x
DeleteSimilar contracts down here also. Well publicised though......all to be used within 30/60/90 days in large print. Some pre pays have 365 days but higher call rates. Most roll over unused balances. It's still a minefield if you're not with it. I haven't heard off any with a must be used regularly clause though.
ReplyDeleteMine's only used ocassionally.....never online because it's too complicated to turn wifi on and remember to turn it off - it uses cash trying to find a signal, which I discovered when I forgot to turn that bit off!!
kept seeing the ba
Yes, a pain but I keep it for emergencies and I also used my mobile phone to access the internet when on holiday. Not much use for that nowadays!
DeleteWhat a swizz!
ReplyDeletexxx
Yup!
Delete