Worst part is, it’s probably even MORE my fault than I indicate above.
I have AT&T’s pay as you go cel phone plan, which suits me very well considering how little I use it. I very quickly found out that over-the-phone and text messages came in to recharge my account very quickly, sometimes almost a month before expiration. I realized that this was a scam to make me pay into it more often than I needed to, so I started tuning them out.
Well, this time, they apparently were coming in an actual timely fashion, because it DID expire, and $16 worth of minutes are now gone.
I have Virgin, and I can set up an automatic payment of the minimum ($20 every three months, or if my balance goes below $5). Also, it lets me renew after expiration without losing my minutes. (Within a month, I think.)
'Course, I don’t even use it that much. I have about 11 hours of minutes built up over two years.
My gripe is that it didn’t work in Canada, and the one I got in Canada doesn’t work down here. Which is how I found out about the grace period.
I guess now is as good a time as any for you to learn a fundamental truth: Cell carriers hate you. Not you personally of course; they hate everyone with approximately equal passion.
Some providers hate you more than others, of course. Here in Canada, Ted Rogers is nourished exclusively by our anger and frustration. He hates us all to a rather impressive degree, and I am certain he’d love nothing more than to see us burn slowly in the fiery pits of his own private (but well-connected) hell were in not for the fact that this would effectively end our contractual obligations with him.
Germany and Denmark also have providers that hate them with explosive rage.
Frankly, AT&T is downright friendly by comparison – but make no mistake: They still hate you.
