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Sunday, February 8, 2009
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 your allotted quota. This is the major culprit. If you get your bill and it's uncharacteristically high, most of the time it's because you went over your limit whether in minutes, text messages, or Internet use or a combination of those. The problem with going over your limit is that the charges are ridiculously high compared to what your rate is for the services within your limit. Fortunately, you bill will not bundle everything together: you will get the detail what you went over on and you will be able to see exactly what your overage charges are.
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. There seems to be no way of getting rid of the companies that sell those subscriptions, no matter how many complaints and lawsuits are filed against them. Their subscriptions services offer anything from a "free ringtone of the month" to a "horoscope of the day" to a "sexy wallpaper picture of the day". In theory, the only ways to subscribe to those services is to send them a text to a number they give you, or to log on to their website and enter your cell phone number there. Of course, if it were always like that, things would be simple; the problem is that they have a tendency to appear out of nowhere on customers' bills. In the end, pay close attention to the "direct bill" portion of your bill because that's where you'll be able to eventually spot them.
AT&T settled a class action suit involving those mysterious subscriptions. They are now under the obligation of notifying their customers by text message to ask if they want to have the subscription added to their account. If the customer doesn't reply, then the subscription can't be added. Other carriers should take this as an example.
3. One-time fees. The final cause for a higher than usual bill is those fees that typically are a one-time affair. such as activation (or re-activation) fees, upgrade fees, or non-payment fees. Cell phone companies (and utilities companies for that matter) do not miss the opportunity to charge a hefty re-activation fee in order to get service turned back on after the account has been suspended because of a past due bill that the customer failed to pay for. Those fees will rarely ever get waived or credited back to your account, but you can ask for discounts. Ask about discounts or waived fees for employees of the company you work for. You can also wing it and try and ask nicely to have the fee waived/credited back. This will be a lot easier if you've been a customer for a few years and have a good record of paying your bill on time.
Strategy. Analyze your personal habits to come up with your very own money-saving solution. If you do the bulk of your talking in the early evening, consider paying a couple dollars more for early night and weekend minutes. If you're home a lot and have high speed internet, sign up for a Voice Over IP phone service, there are plenty of them from phone companies, cable companies, cell phone companies (T-Mobile @ Home), specific providers (Vonage, Skype, MagicJack); this can save you a lot of minutes. And like I said before, you should never be ashamed of asking for a discount: student discount, senior discount, employee discount, business discount. It all helps shave a few dollars off that bill.
In case the bill is really high or you're really in a bind, there's always the option of calling customer service and making payment arrangements with the company. Just like I mentioned earlier, if you're a good customer, they will try and work out something with you. As you can see, with a little research, and with some discipline thrown in for good measure, you can definitely find more than one way to lower your phone bill.
1. Going over your allotted quota. This is the major culprit. If you get your bill and it's uncharacteristically high, most of the time it's because you went over your limit whether in minutes, text messages, or Internet use or a combination of those. The problem with going over your limit is that the charges are ridiculously high compared to what your rate is for the services within your limit. Fortunately, you bill will not bundle everything together: you will get the detail what you went over on and you will be able to see exactly what your overage charges are.
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. There seems to be no way of getting rid of the companies that sell those subscriptions, no matter how many complaints and lawsuits are filed against them. Their subscriptions services offer anything from a "free ringtone of the month" to a "horoscope of the day" to a "sexy wallpaper picture of the day". In theory, the only ways to subscribe to those services is to send them a text to a number they give you, or to log on to their website and enter your cell phone number there. Of course, if it were always like that, things would be simple; the problem is that they have a tendency to appear out of nowhere on customers' bills. In the end, pay close attention to the "direct bill" portion of your bill because that's where you'll be able to eventually spot them.
AT&T settled a class action suit involving those mysterious subscriptions. They are now under the obligation of notifying their customers by text message to ask if they want to have the subscription added to their account. If the customer doesn't reply, then the subscription can't be added. Other carriers should take this as an example.
3. One-time fees. The final cause for a higher than usual bill is those fees that typically are a one-time affair. such as activation (or re-activation) fees, upgrade fees, or non-payment fees. Cell phone companies (and utilities companies for that matter) do not miss the opportunity to charge a hefty re-activation fee in order to get service turned back on after the account has been suspended because of a past due bill that the customer failed to pay for. Those fees will rarely ever get waived or credited back to your account, but you can ask for discounts. Ask about discounts or waived fees for employees of the company you work for. You can also wing it and try and ask nicely to have the fee waived/credited back. This will be a lot easier if you've been a customer for a few years and have a good record of paying your bill on time.
Strategy. Analyze your personal habits to come up with your very own money-saving solution. If you do the bulk of your talking in the early evening, consider paying a couple dollars more for early night and weekend minutes. If you're home a lot and have high speed internet, sign up for a Voice Over IP phone service, there are plenty of them from phone companies, cable companies, cell phone companies (T-Mobile @ Home), specific providers (Vonage, Skype, MagicJack); this can save you a lot of minutes. And like I said before, you should never be ashamed of asking for a discount: student discount, senior discount, employee discount, business discount. It all helps shave a few dollars off that bill.
In case the bill is really high or you're really in a bind, there's always the option of calling customer service and making payment arrangements with the company. Just like I mentioned earlier, if you're a good customer, they will try and work out something with you. As you can see, with a little research, and with some discipline thrown in for good measure, you can definitely find more than one way to lower your phone bill.
About the Author:
There are several ways you can keep both your residentialphone bill and your mobile phone bill in check. Educate yourself about ways to reduce your phone bill by dropping by Reduce Phone Bill.
posted by Credit Counseling at
11:04 AM
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