For the past many years my average monthly mobile telephone bill would be in the region of Rs.800.00 Many people that I know said that this was what they were paying too and so I had accepted that as part of my monthly outflow.
Two months ago I had an occasion to travel with a couple of good friends who also used the same service provider that I used and while exchanging notes I discovered that they were paying much less than I was while their usage as I could see was much higher than mine. They could not explain to me what different plan they were using and I kept my thoughts to myself.
On returning home, I consulted my daughter in law Manjiree as to how this vast difference could be and she having handled similar problems in her corporate life charged off to the local outlet of my service provider and discovered that I was using a package that was far too high for my use and that I could change it to a lower one for the next billing cycle.
She duly arranged for the downsizing, if one could call it, last month going through quite a process for that, and I got my first bill since the change over yesterday. If anything, with the addition of whatsapp usage with much higher traffic during the last month, the usage should have been much higher than earlier months.
Even I was in for a big surprise as the bill came to under a third of what I had been paying earlier despite no reduction in my pattern of usage.
This brings me to the question as to whether the service provider should have taken the initiative to point out that I was in a wrong plan or whether the principle of caveat emptor applies.
WOW.
can you imagine the money they’re making off people who don’t question it!
i hate talking on the phone. so my service is as basic as it gets!
I pay $48 for a land line.
i’m on my nephew’s family plan for long distance with my cell phone.
i get so many minutes a month. i pay her (reve`) $140 for the year.
i never use up my minutes and they roll over to her. so it’s good for me
and for her!
my cable tv service and internet are included in my rent in these apts!
so i’m a pretty happy camper.
i’m glad you got yours worked out. how sweet of manjiree to get right on it! talk about great service!!! 🙂
tammy j recently posted..yada yada yada. yes again!
Manjiree too has a family plan and I was quite tempted to get on to it but decided not to after I got the plan changed and the bill came down.
Good for you, I hate being gouged by these bottom feeders who take such advantage. Now you can buy even more movies 🙂
XO
WWW
wisewebwoman recently posted..Sometimes
Yes, the savings will give me around three DVDs or may be a couple of books.
Phone bills here are pretty much all bundled these days. In fact mine is .01 – a penny – per month as part of my cable/Internet service bundle. But that “home phone” will rarely be used as I have a mobile phone. So – simply stated – the phone companies created a new way to keep their billings up – clever fellows that they are. My outlay for both combined is $45.
shackman recently posted..Family size LBC post
I have two landlines too which are rarely used and cost me peanuts. The main one in the mobile one where I had the problem. The three service providers are different.
This makes me want to go check my phone plan — I wonder if I’m paying too much.
jo(e) recently posted..Fall weekend in the mountains
I would, if I were you.
I had the phone company call me up once and convince me to switch to a better plan. A month later my wife gave me an earful about why we were paying so much more. Comparing your experience to mine, the only way to avoid being abused is to have a conscientious female looking after these things.
Looney recently posted..A formal statement of The Doctrine of Errancy
Couldn’t agree more.
I converted your 800.00 RS to NZ$18.22
I don’t think there are any deals this low per month in NZ! Even prepay works on a minimum of $20.00 a time…
However, we have package deals which include all kinds of things – sometimes through another provider that has nothing to do with communications i.e. a power company….
I would not have been able to understand the packages on offer and the language used and so sought Manjiree’s help. I am glad that I did.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda…not likely!
Mother recently posted..5 Things I Want the Pink Ribbon to Stand For
Can you hear me laugh?
Hi Rummy,
Yes, they should inform clients of cheaper packages (to prevent them from shifting to other service providers) but they don’t, unfortunately. And it’s the same everywhere.
For communications companies alone, I’m going to adapt a Stephen King’s quote: the trust of the innocent is the profiteer’s most useful tool.
Cheers
Max Coutinho recently posted..Dangerous Company Policies: Fraternisation Bans & Absence of Dress Codes
There you go! But they don’t and that is my beef.