Fido Prepaid - forgetting to refill.

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Originally Posted by littlefuzzbear

You do realize though that the same thing will happen with Virgin if you fail to renew by the expiration date you'll lose any balance you have. I really don't know why people are so surprised that their balance goes away if they don't add money by the expiration date. The terms of your account tell you that plus you get at least five days notifying you that your account will expire if you don't add money to it. Maybe people don't think that the company is serious about your losing built up minutes.

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Nobody is claiming ignorance to the "rules" of keeping your pre-paid minutes. It was one of those things that happened and I can accept that. My concern is that a company can be so inflexible to a good long time customer who has recommended Fido to others and never thought of switching until they were faced at starting at ground 0 again. I know Fido doesn't HAVE to return any minutes back but most companies do try to maintain some sort of customer satisfaction.

Say you purchased a GM car with a warranty for 100,000km. At 100,001km the engine dies. Would you just say to yourself, "Oh well it's 1km over, I better not even bother calling GM to see what they can do for me" Of course not. Legally GM could wash their hands of it and say "sorry but it's no longer within the warranty period" but you would hope that for the sake of keeping a customer satisfied and encouraging future business, that they would fix the problem.

Why change things? they work perfectly fine the way the are. If someone forgets thats their problem not Fido's. That is whay there is a msg everytime you place a call in the last 5 days before expiry.

And of course it will cost money for Fido or any company for that matter to change the system to deduct 10% or whatever for everyday that you are late.

If you guys want a new system for prepaid, then you have the option of either paying someone to write a new algothrythem for Vision21 or you can do it yourself.

I am sure that you either dont have the time or you dont care that much to write the code.

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Originally Posted by FuFu

Yeah, sadly you're missing my point entirely. I am fully aware that all carriers do this, and that it's in the agreement that a customer assumes the responsibility of refilling his/her account on time, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a different agreement in place to begin with. One, say, that doesn't wipe out an entire balance simply because you're a couple hours late on filling up.

Bread goes moldy, by the way. Try again?

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There is no prepaid account anywhere that won't require you to at least do something. You just have to take the responsibility to do what you have agreed to do or you pay the penalty. It's that simple. If you don't pay your monthly Fido bill they'll cut you off as well. You could forget about that too! Why should someone get special treatment just because she's had a few years of service?

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Originally Posted by didouche

like it was owed to them :lol:

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It was this type of attitude from the Fido rep that also encouraged her to look for an alternate company to do business with. :disappoin

BooHoo another prepaid customer bites the dust!

Do you think anyone really cares about the low source of revenue that prepaid generates?

For every one that leaves, ten more "vactioners" sign up. Wireless companies are in the business of pospaid for a reason; tell me why dont you see any fully independant prepaid only companies around then?

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Originally Posted by littlefuzzbear

Why should someone get special treatment just because she's had a few years of service?

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Companies do it all the time not because they have to but because they know that a satisfied customer will continue to do business with them. In this case it was Fido's choice not to offer any sort of goodwill and it was also my wife's choice to cease doing business with them.

Had Fido not been so stubborn and offered something back, lets say $10, that would have meant my wife wouldn't have switched providers since he had some airtime to use, and would continue to support Fido as a customer. Now, what are the chances she would recommend Fido to anyone? It costs a lot less for a company to retain an existing customer than it is to bring in a new customer. Perhaps you've never studied business before.

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Originally Posted by Spic

BooHoo another prepaid customer bites the dust!

Do you think anyone really cares about the low source of revenue that prepaid generates?

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Really? I don't know what you do for a living but are you telling me that your boss would be okay with you treating a customer poorly just because they don't spend as much as another customer? I'd like to see you try this while he watches. :cool:

Pre-paid does generate less revenue than post-paid but regardless, it is a revenue generator for the company. Eventually customers do migrate from pre to post due to lifestyle changes and will generally stick to the same company when they make the switch. If pre-paid wasn't worth their while, they would not offer it and companies like Virgin Mobile would not exist.

You don't know the first thing about running a successful business.

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Originally Posted by FuFu

Yeah, sadly you're missing my point entirely. I am fully aware that all carriers do this, and that it's in the agreement that a customer assumes the responsibility of refilling his/her account on time, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a different agreement in place to begin with. One, say, that doesn't wipe out an entire balance simply because you're a couple hours late on filling up.

Bread goes moldy, by the way. Try again?

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Well your entitled to your opinion. But companies are around to make money and there not alot of money in prepaid already. You would have people who buy 10$ cards and have them last 10 months. And every month you can only take a 1$ from the total as a penalty. Companies would have to raise the prices for the cards or the prices for the phones on prepaid would go up. Doesn't really sound too good to me...

And I was joking about the bread thing...

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Originally Posted by hu_guy

Companies do it all the time not because they have to but because they know that a satisfied customer will continue to do business with them. In this case it was Fido's choice not to offer any sort of goodwill and it was also my wife's choice to cease doing business with them.

Had Fido not been so stubborn and offered something back, lets say $10, that would have meant my wife wouldn't have switched providers since he had some airtime to use, and would continue to support Fido as a customer. Now, what are the chances she would recommend Fido to anyone? It costs a lot less for a company to retain an existing customer than it is to bring in a new customer. Perhaps you've never studied business before.

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Would she have really have stayed? You just said yourself your saving alot more on Virgin... Besides everything worked out well right? No need to dwell on the past. You lost the balance Fido didn't give it back your happy elsewhere...

How complicated is "If you refill on time, you keep your balance, if you don't, balance will be gone."? I don't see any grey area here. I don't know why one would want to ask for balance back simply because they didn't refill on time. There are consequences if you didn't follow the rules. If you're late, you're late. A company can reimburse you with a credit as a good will gesture, but it is not a must, they don't have to do it. This is business, not charity. If the 5 days of warning isn't enough for you, you can write a few post-it notes, stick it in your car, wallet, credit card, or whatever.

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Originally Posted by MimicZ

Would she have really have stayed?

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If she had a balance to use, of course should would have used it, then refilled it next time it was due and then continue the cycle. It would have cost Fido nothing (she had lost $45 already because she was 1 day late) but since there was now no balance, it allowed her to shop around and see what else was being offered in pre-paid from other companies. You're correct that things have worked out better (for her) but not from Fido's perspective.

Assuming $10 minimum refills:
1 year = $120
5 years = $600

This is not a large amount to Fido when it is 1 customer, but we all know she is not the only person who has decided to leave Fido because of poor customer service. When you add up all these lost customers and the fact that they now act as anti-Fido ambassadors, there is a significant loss of revenue for Fido.

My point in all these discussions is not to claim ignorance to their pre-paid agreements, we are fully aware of them. My point is that a company can be flexible and reasonable with some of their policies which in the end will increase customer satisfaction and also increase the company's profitability.

The tone I have seen in this thread is Since it was the customer's problem, screw'em. That is fine when you are a monopoly but with conmpetition, you need to be responsible or risk losing in the end.

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Originally Posted by evolution921

How complicated is "If you refill on time, you keep your balance, if you don't, balance will be gone."? I don't see any grey area here. I don't know why one would want to ask for balance back simply because they didn't refill on time. There are consequences if you didn't follow the rules. If you're late, you're late. A company can reimburse you with a credit as a good will gesture, but it is not a must, they don't have to do it. This is business, not charity. If the 5 days of warning isn't enough for you, you can write a few post-it notes, stick it in your car, wallet, credit card, or whatever.

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There is no complexity to refilling a phone on time but sometimes you forget since people do have lives to live, life situations occur or maybe the phone wasn't used in the last few days before a refill was needed. As I've mentioned in other posts, one shouldn't expect to get the credit back but for good business, companies should allow some flexibility.

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Originally Posted by hu_guy

There is no complexity to refilling a phone on time but sometimes you forget since people do have lives to live, life situations occur or maybe the phone wasn't used in the last few days before a refill was needed. As I've mentioned in other posts, one shouldn't expect to get the credit back but for good business, companies should allow some flexibility.

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Two points: Firstly I think fido should do more to remind you that your balance is expiring such as send you a text message a day or two before. And I also think that offering $10 / 30 days is ridiculous, $100-300 / with 10-12 months expiry and variable rates would be way more resonable.

Secondly, I know it is unpleasant to lose your balance, but it has happened to everyone. On the other hand just think how much money are post-paid users wasting: with all the system access, voicemail, CID fees and other crap they charge you. For the few months I've been on monthly plan I could not beleive how much they were charging me. The advertised plan was $25 but my bill was 60 bucks... and I used roughly 350 evening minutes out of 1000. Exactly twice as much as I was paying for the very same thing on prepaid. I switched back to prepaid as soon as I could.

So personally I wouldn't complain too much if I forget to refill once and they don't refund my balance as it was, afterall, my fault. Of course it is unpleasant but considering how much money I was wasting while on post-paid it is still not that much. :D

the option to change airtime announcement text message notification is availble through Andrea, it just doesn't work.

it's still a matter of personal responsiblity. consumer reason, is just cheaper. Longer expiration periods doesn't make an individual any more responsible for recharging the account, it only delays it.

FuFu is a Noob . Fido has had automatic refills available for quite a while now. If the customer doesnt use that option its his problem.

AND, even though with the new Voice Recognition system refilling a prepaid fido account is annoying, but still, it shouldnt take over 5 minutes. So if someone doesnt have 5 minutes to do a refill, then loses $20, thats their fault.

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Originally Posted by icq2000b

Fido has had automatic refills available for quite a while now. If the customer doesnt use that option its his problem.

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Fido does *not* have automatic refill. "Instant refill" is not automatic refill. Virgin, Bell, Telus, and Rogers all have automatic refill, but Fido does not.

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Originally Posted by hu_guy

For no additional money she received a Virgin phone where her balances now last 90 days instead of 30 and it will automatically refill. She was previously filling up for $10 for 30 days and now pays $15 for 3 months.

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I was mistaken. Her Virgin account lasts for 120 days with a $15 fill-up. That works out to less than $4 per month.

I think I used to have that automatic refill thing with Fido. I had to fill up a form and send them info about my bank account and each time that my acount was down to $5 it will automatically fill with a $30. They use to need a special sim card for that or something I think. Now I simply buy a $10 on their site and refill my account when I feel like it since the automatic thing wasn't necessary cause I don't use it much. I already have another phone with a plan and that prepaid phone was for business only. Anyway the instant refill is pretty neat since if my expiry date is near I can go to the site to add money instead of going to a CIBC ATM or to a store that sell those cards.

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Originally Posted by shion

Anyway the instant refill is pretty neat since if my expiry date is near I can go to the site to add money instead of going to a CIBC ATM or to a store that sell those cards.

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Instant refill is nowhere as convenient as autorefill that's available on Rogers/Bell/Virgin.

Smart prepaid Fido clients have to ask why Fido doesn't have this feature? Why isn't Fido willing to provide this feature for them?
These are the questions some are not willing to answer.

Why don't you guys compare it to LD Prepaid cards? I have one (for US use, MCI), that expires 2 years after 1st use, and that is only a few dollars worth of credit on it. Milk and bread could expire, but you can still extend its usefulness if you freeze the milk and bread if you want to. You cannot freeze the prepaid Fido, can you? If you live in Europe, a prepaid mobile phone card doesn't expire, and requires usage once per 6 months.

My friend just changed her mom's Fido prepaid account to her name, so she could use a credit card to fill up. I thought it was automatically, but someone here said Fido doesn't have automatic refill? I'll check w/ my friend on that.

I am not saying that they should get their money back, because it's in the terms (even it sucks). I'm saying that they shouldn't get their money back because of the analogies presented, then they are not good enough reasons, as these are "apples and oranges".

The reason for the short expiration time (30 days for the minimum spending per month), is that the providers will get your money regardless how little you use. This is not always the case though, this is only because providers are getting greedier over time. Years ago, my friend was on BC Tel Mobility on a prepaid program, and he can keep his credit for 6 months or a year. Only in recent years, that this 30 day expiration was put into the terms.

A local Fido dealer gives the customer a card, with all the vital information written on it, including the next expiration date, the phone number, the initial credit after the refill etc. Of course, they only give it to you if you buy your refill card there, but this helps the customer to know the expiration date easily.

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Originally Posted by Fortissimo

Europe, a prepaid mobile phone card doesn't expire, and requires usage once per 6 months.

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You're generalizing. All European prepaid "pay as you go" accounts do not work that way. Others require that you add money to them by the end of a year or they will expire such as Vodafone.

Hey geekgirl it not possible yet you cant set up instafill to reset money in your account at the end of your expiry date that's telus not fido.btw im a csr at fido

hey cellphone are meant for responsible individual not little irresponsible kid manage your time like responsible adults.HA! btw didouche are you a csr as well

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Originally Posted by deadz74

Hey geekgirl it not possible yet you cant set up instafill to reset money in your account at the end of your expiry date that's telus not fido.btw im a csr at fido

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You may want to re-read my posts before youstart disagreeing with them. ;)
Yes, you can transfer your prepaid balance (over $5) to a monthly plan, no Fido does not offer automatic refills now but we may in the future since we have the same platform as Rogers for prepaid.

Ohh, I'm a csr too ;)

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Originally Posted by geekgirl

Yes, you can transfer your prepaid balance (over $5) to a monthly plan, no Fido does not offer automatic refills now but we may in the future since we have the same platform as Rogers for prepaid.

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I seriously doubt Rogers will bring automatic refills to Fido. If Rogers has no qualms about charging Fido clients for inadvertedly using the expanded network then it's less likely they would introduce auto refill for their benefit. Just like their idiotic plan to raise US roaming and LD rates. It would take a heavy loss of clients before Teddy drops his stupid ideas and annoys the whole Fido customer base.

Here's a tip for you guys leaving Fido: Speak to a CSR manager before you close your account. A parting shot to one of the CSR managers might get the upper management's attention.

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Originally Posted by MethodMan

Here's a tip for you guys leaving Fido: Speak to a CSR manager before you close your account. A parting shot to one of the CSR managers might get the upper management's attention.

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Didn't work and a manager is "not available". One can call you back but they didn't.

I lost about 400$ about a year ago, it was 2 minutes past midnight before I realized I needed to refill. Nobody's fault but the customer's. You snooze you lose.

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Originally Posted by EcKs13

I lost about 400$ about a year ago, it was 2 minutes past midnight before I realized I needed to refill. Nobody's fault but the customer's. You snooze you lose.

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Did you even try to call customer service or did you accept your mistake?

Isn't it my mistake? I was late, not them. Pre-paid users should know that refilling your account by a certain time is part of the ToS. The phone company holds no resposibility for the customer's fault.

no! it's the company's responsibliity to remind, recharge, and reimburse you! call Fido Services, ask to speak to a supervisor, call "retentions" and threaten to cancel, demand a free phone, write to the Office of the President, and while you're at it the Prime Minister! In fact have them write it for yoU! That's customer service!
:rolleyes:

:haveadrin: thank-you for taking personal responsibility like an adult.