US roaming add-on

[RussL]

Okay.

I have US roaming bundle about to expire on two phones 1/2 way through vacation and tried to renew the same day as it expires. It didn't work!

I see in the forum that this experience is not unusual and is horrendous.

My solution will be to put data only add-on to one phone and text/talk bundle to other as soon as expired notice comes in. As these plans are different than original the help info indicate this will work.

The next problem comes to billing. My account has been debit'd the attempted plan purchase but service is not installed/available/provided.

Will this billing error be reconcilled automatically by the billing bot or do I need to solicit human intervention?

regards, Russ

[RussL]

@dust2dust 

@HALIMACS 

@hycm53 

Update for all.

The two phones are working seamlessly again. I waited until the account showed no local service but probably within the 24 hr window as the 3-part bundle was not available to purchase.

So I went with plan B which was US roam talk/text on the wife's phone and 250GB roam data on my phone.

Almost instant access after processing payment etc.

This arrangement works very well for us in the way we use the phones and is cheaper after all.

My cost was 10 bucks and her cost was 16 bucks, instead of the 40 bucks for the original arrangement (2 x 10 day, 3 part bundle)

[dust2dust]

As for the billing aspect, the money you thought you paid for the add-on is now just in your balance, right? So perhaps after another day you could use that money to re-buy an add-on. I think my method may have worked before on the old system but now with the new system I will be trying it out. Since I'm here. I think things changed with the new system. So I'll see. I know about the exact time I bought the add-on so that's my target.

But as I said, the key to talk is the 240 hours. The re-buy may very well be a new problem with the new system.

[RussL]

Thanks Halimacs,

I will wait until getting home in a bit more than a week to chase down a billing error if the bot doesn't correct things.

Cheers,

[RussL]

Thanks D2D,

It was by reading your reply to this subject in another thread that I decided with having 2 phones (wife & mine) here it could work this way without the 24 hr wait period.

Interestly enough she uses mostly text/talk and I mostly data so maybe we're onto something elegant too?

[hTideGnow]

HI @RussL 

I think the key is to buy a different roaming add-on.  So, what you said was doable.  On your setup, once they are expired, you then buy the add-ons on the other phones 

[dust2dust]

Timing is the key. I will be testing this next week myself.

The timing that I'll be trying is that after the exact 240 hours you can buy another talk add-on (or anytime not long after). Not the same one. Say you bought the 3-part talk add-on. After 240 hours you can buy the 2-part talk add-on or the one talk add-on.

I'm not sure about text. I will test that alone in yet another 10 days after I get back (wasting money).

Different data buckets can be bought throughout. But the same one needs to wait the extra 24 hours after the 240 hours.

The other option of course is to ask support to straighten it all out for you.

The re-buying is the problem. And I'm going to see for myself.

[HALIMACS]

2 things, @RussL 

1. yes, one of the glitches (among many 🙄) with US add-ons is the stupid "can't buy the same one until 24 hours past expiry" - it's just stupid
2. if the charge doesn't 'drop off' your payment card, meaning if the pending charge settles to an authorized one, definitely contact customer support to have them refund the charge.

To contact a Customer Support Agent, there are 2 methods:

1. Use the ticketing system for a faster response time. Click here and type Customer Support Agent, then select Contact Us, then select Other (or the topic that more closely matches your request).  Click the result which states Click here to submit a ticket and follow the prompts,  or, 
2. Send a private message to the Customer Support Agent by clicking here  You’ll need to be logged into your Community account for the link to work.

Watch for their response in your Community private mailbox which will be indicated by a number on the small envelope icon to the left of your Community avatar.

[hycm53]

@RussL When the first add-on expired, you have to wait 24 hours to buy the other add-on, especially for talk and text add-on I belief, otherwise wont' work.