Paying Monthly Bill From Cash Balance?

[ben7337]

I was just wondering how paying the monthly bill from a cash balance works for people, e.g. all those people who get their top ups from callingmart, how do you pay the monthly bill at the right time? Do you just have money in the account and they take it automatically at the end of the due date, or do I need to call them to restart the month The pay now button is a top up now button currently, so I can't pay a bill, and last time I tried that I still had to call in to get things to work properly. If anyone has any recommendations let me know.

[TCAT]

Roll the dice.... I supposedly have $25 sitting in an "Advance Payment Account", that they say will automatically pay my January payment. It doesn't show up on line, it came from a CC payment I made when I switched to the $25 plan. I only show a $1.45 balance, but they say my next payment will be paid from this mysterious Advance account... I'm waiting for January to see what happens. Supposedly you can deposit as much as you like and bills are paid automatically... just not sure where the funds go... they don't always show up in your balance. I plan on adding a $25 TU card mid January if all goes well.

[ONE80ONEDAY]

I buy $30 TU cards every month to make sure I have extra in case something screwy happens when the month renews. Just make sure you keep an eye out for random charges.

[HallOfPromise]

I just top-up and pay in advance (Pay Now button) so they don't overcharge me at the end of the month.

However, you do have to keep an eye on another problem out there with resetting your month, which happened to me once. I lost my data connection when my second month kicked in and I had to call in to reset my month.

As for when my third month kicked in, all was fine and did not need to call in. Seems to be a random game of roulette. I am still opting to pay in advance so I don't have to keep it on my mind as much. I would love to set up the auto pay, but the taxes and fees they, for some reason, add on changed my mind with that.

[ben7337]

I'm not talking about using a credit card, as the results in them getting to tax me, and I refuse to let them have any of my debit/credit cards because I have heard of double, triple, and even quadruple billing from them and have seen firsthand how incompetent their customer service representatives are at being able to help.

What I am asking, is if I topped up my account with a TOP UP CARD, how do I pay the bill? Will they automatically take it out at the end of the day my bill is due?

I ask because last month they billed me 15 cents at midnight on the day my bill was due, and then in the morning I was being charged for every single txt message and had no internet. Calling in and forcing my month to restart, even though I had paid my monthly bill shortly after midnight (clicked the PAY NOW button), was the only solution. This month however I did not receive that 15 cent xtras fee, nor did I lose internet until an hour or so ago. I don't really NEED the internet right now, but I am wondering if they will just take the money from my online account, (I have 34.55 and only need 25) or do I need to call them to make them take the payment. In other words, how do I go from topping up my account, to actually paying the bill?

[ben7337]

But doesn't that mean you are getting less than a full month of service each month, and each month your due date moves back one day? My first time paying a monthly renewal failed miserably. Maybe 40 mins after midnight EST time I clicked the "pay now" button. The next morning they showed I had made a monthly payment charge, and it was paid the day before, and their call centers had been open for well over 4 hrs, so they had the required time to process my renewal but they didn't. I lost internet and was billed for every txt that morning until I called in and forced the woman to reset my month, and she really didn't understand what a txt or the internet were, because all she could think was "you still have 30 mins on your account, are you sure you want to restart the month and lose those minutes?" She didn't grasp that I had no internet on my phone and was being billed for every txt even when I told her.

[Devcomm]

Once you add a top up PIN to your account, that money is added as a credit to your account. Then at midnight of the day AFTER your billing date, it will be charged.

For example, my billing date is the 13th, so at 12 am on the 14th they will charge my account, removing the $25 credit and resetting the cycle. The issue comes in when for some reason there is a gap between your renewal date and your account being charged. It's hit or miss it seems as my 2nd month I was charged 15 cents and had to call to get it corrected, it was pretty hassle free though. This month I had no issues whatsoever. The only thing I did differently between the 2 months was wait longer before topping up. The first time I had the $25 credit sitting there for about a week, the 2nd I entered the PIN on the 12th.

[ben7337]

Just got a txt saying I will have a new month at midnight from virgin mobile, weird, does that normally happen or is that new?

[primetechv2]

That's... a known thing. (Bug? Not sure.) They tend to come at 8:00PM the night before.

[HallOfPromise]

But doesn't that mean you are getting less than a full month of service each month, and each month your due date moves back one day? My first time paying a monthly renewal failed miserably. Maybe 40 mins after midnight EST time I clicked the "pay now" button. The next morning they showed I had made a monthly payment charge, and it was paid the day before, and their call centers had been open for well over 4 hrs, so they had the required time to process my renewal but they didn't. I lost internet and was billed for every txt that morning until I called in and forced the woman to reset my month, and she really didn't understand what a txt or the internet were, because all she could think was "you still have 30 mins on your account, are you sure you want to restart the month and lose those minutes?" She didn't grasp that I had no internet on my phone and was being billed for every txt even when I told her.

If this is referring to my post, hitting the Pay Now button does NOT start a new month early. By paying now you are simply paying for your next month early. You will still have the same due date. I do this simply because once you pay in advance, that month is paid for, no if, ands or buts. In other words, they can't take any funds away from it because the service is already paid for.

Starting a month early, which is something different, is a feature they have if you run out of minutes early. However, this feature has gone hidden or removed from the website for some odd reason. But I heard somewhere on these boards that if you call in you can still use this feature if you ask.