Using Fido Dollars in the province of Quebec

[lmcjipo]

One of the provisions of Bill 60 in the province of Quebec for people who opt for a phone subsidy is that the maximum ECF can only be the subsidy obtained on the phone.

Now, would the following work?

My current grandfathered plan (unlimited data) isn't eligible for me to use Fido dollars for hardware and I have no plans on changing it.

Can I add a new phone line to my account, agree to a 2 or 3 year voice & data contract, use the existing Fido dollars on my account on the new phone line to get a new phone, pay the $25 hardware upgrade fee, cancel this new phone line after 2 months and then pay for the 2-3 year phone subsidy price as the ECF? or will I also have to pay the Fido dollars as part of the ECF?

For example (excluding taxes for simplicity and using the current price of the Galaxy Nexus as the phone):
1) Get Galaxy Nexus on a new phone line on my existing Fido account at the 3 year contract price of $130 (subsidy of $470)
2) Use $130 Fido dollars so that the Galaxy Nexus is $0.00
3) Pay $25 for hardware upgrade fee
4) Cancel the new second line on my existing Fido account during the 2nd month and pay back $470 (which means that I get the Galaxy Nexus for $470+25 instead of $600).
5) Pay for the month's usage as well.

[Bad Liar]

you'd be able to do that, but the only way to use your Fido Dollars on a new line is if you order it from customer service. If you pick it up in stores, you'd have to pay there and it will not be charged to the account.

[lmcjipo]

you'd be able to do that, but the only way to use your Fido Dollars on a new line is if you order it from customer service. If you pick it up in stores, you'd have to pay there and it will not be charged to the account.

Thanks for the confirmation that what I was wondering is possible.

I did some more calculations and at least for the Galaxy Nexus at the current Fido prices, it isn't worth it because of the hardware upgrade cost, the new activation cost, and the month's usage costs (even though I would actually use the new line for the month in terms of calls/data/SMS).

However, I will probably need a new monthly plan at some point so will use my existing Fido dollars at that time (unless additional restrictions are placed on using Fido dollars that makes what I want to do no longer possible).

Can you just confirm that in Quebec, for people who opt for a phone subsidy?:
ECF + DECF <= subsidy of the phone.
The agreement contract regarding cancelling mentions ECF and then mentions DECF as being separate so I just want to make sure that the ECF added to the DECF must be less than or equal to the subsidy obtained from the phone.

[Fritz Z24]

For Samsung Galaxy Nexus:

ECF= $75.00
DECF= $365.00

...

... you just confirm that in Quebec, for people who opt for a phone subsidy?: ECF + DECF

[FidoCedrik]

Hi lmcjipo,

My name is Cédrik from Fido's Social Media team.

Can you just confirm that in Quebec, for people who opt for a phone subsidy?:
ECF + DECF <= subsidy of the phone.
The agreement contract regarding cancelling mentions ECF and then mentions DECF as being separate so I just want to make sure that the ECF added to the DECF must be less than or equal to the subsidy obtained from the phone.

When you get a smartphone, as you know, you get a discount on the Voice part of the agreement and another discount towards the Data part of the agreement. The cancellation fee cannot be higher than these two combined.

The calculation is done the following way:

Voice agreement
Total subsidy received on the Voice agreement, divided by agreement term (24 or 36 months) multiplied by how many months are left to the agreement

Data agreement
Total subsidy received on the Data agreement, divided by agreement term (24 or 36 months) multiplied by how many months are left to the agreement

Add both totals, add taxes, and you got your total cancellation fee.

If we take an example:

You purchase a Mototola RAZR on a 3-year Voice and Data agreement. The phone is currently sold for $100 on a 3-year term and $525 at full retail price. You decide to cancel the agreement after 11 months of service.

Voice subsidy: $150.00
Data subsidy: $275.00
Total subsidy: $425.00

Voice cancellation fee: ($150.00 ÷ 36 months) x 25 = $104.16
Data cancellation fee: ($275.00 ÷ 36 months) x 25 = $190.97
Total cancellation fee: $104.16 + $190.97 = $295.13

Also, I wish to confirm that the FidoDollars are not part of the subsidy. As such, you will not be charged them back if you are to cancel the agreement earlier than planned.

I hope this clarifies!

[WorldIRC]

Great response Cedrik!

[lmcjipo]

Great response Cedrik!

+1

It was a very good and detailed answer. Thanks FidoCedrik for the detailed/clear response.

[WorldIRC]

Cedrik and Chloe are the best of the Soc. Media team in the Facebook Fido group as well. They try their best not to sound scripted.