Want to change plan at next billing, but postpone

[ottawa]

I hope this isn't too convoluted. A friend is on the $10 plan and wants to move to something more robust. I said it's easy, just pick a plan and tell it "next billing date". Simple enough, right? 🙂

The wrinkle is they will be going on vacation about a week before the billing date happens. If they weren't changing plans, they could just turn off autopay (or leave it on and use the lost/stolen button to suspend for a few weeks) and start it up when they get home. But if they do that in this situation, will the phone start up with the right (new) plan? And if they leave autopay turned on, does PM autobill the same day they use the lost-stolen technique to re-activate, or do they have to force a manual payment?

In case that's not clear, here are some arbitrary dates I hope will make it easier. The plan is to do this:

Aug 27: schedule change from $10 plan to $25 plan on "next billing date"

Aug 28: use lost/stolen technique to suspend line

Aug 29: go on vacation

Sep 4: billing date

Sep 15: use lost/stolen technique to unsuspend line

Will it automatically reactivate on the $25 plan on Sep 15? 

Thanks!

=aw

[NDesai]

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@mimmo wrote:

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@NDesai wrote:

@mimmo Have you experienced that yourself? AFAIK, that is not possible unless it was changed recently. 

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@NDesai@Is that not what I said, I have experienced a plan change active to suspended and also given a reply from mods saying it is possible.  This was a year ago so not really  recent.

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Good to know. Thanks for confirming.

[mimmo]

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@NDesai wrote:

@mimmo Have you experienced that yourself? AFAIK, that is not possible unless it was changed recently. 

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@NDesai@Is that not what I said, I have experienced a plan change active to suspended and also given a reply from mods saying it is possible.  This was a year ago so not really  recent.

[NDesai]

@mimmo Have you experienced that yourself? AFAIK, that is not possible unless it was changed recently. 

[mimmo]

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@NDesai wrote:

@ottawa @mimmo If you futuredate the plan change and have autopay disable, it will not renew to the new plan because plan is expired/suspended. 

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I thought I posted a reply to this but can't seem to find it.  Unless things have changed I was told and experienced plan changes going from a give to suspended.

Here is the reply from the mods.

Here's how it works - let's say that you currently have a 10 day plan activated (that will expire in a few days), and you future date a promo plan. If the funds are not available (or autopay is not enabled) upon the renewal, the new plan will not kick in - it will appear as suspended. Once the funds are added, the plan you selected should automatically renew.

If you want to save a spot for the 25$ promo plan for your mom, I do suggest that you activate a SIM card with a 10 day plan. You will then future date for the new plan to kick in - let it expire - and top up once you want to activate it. Keep in mind that you will have 90 days to top up after your plan is expired - before the account becomes deactivated.

[mimmo]

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@NDesai wrote:

@ottawa @mimmo If you futuredate the plan change and have autopay disable, it will not renew to the new plan because plan is expired/suspended. 

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@NDesai @ottawa@that is incorrect unless things have changed. The plan change has to  happen before the renewal else the system will not know how much money to take out

Edit this is an excerpt from a private message with mods.

‎04-25-2017 08:00 AM

Thank you for reaching out to me!

I understand that you have some questions regarding future dating a plan - and you've come to the right place for answers 

Here's how it works - let's say that you currently have a 10 day plan activated (that will expire in a few days), and you future date a promo plan. If the funds are not available (or autopay is not enabled) upon the renewal, the new plan will not kick in - it will appear as suspended. Once the funds are added, the plan you selected should automatically renew.

If you want to save a spot for the 25$ promo plan for your mom, I do suggest that you activate a SIM card with a 10 day plan. You will then future date for the new plan to kick in - let it expire - and top up once you want to activate it. Keep in mind that you will have 90 days to top up after your plan is expired - before the account becomes deactivated

[ottawa]

Thanks for the clarification. I was hoping they could have the new plan start when they come back, but it sounds like that will only work by involving the mods. Who have been great in the past for us BTW, but it's always nice to do things yourself when it's an option.

=aw

[NDesai]

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@ottawa wrote:

Thanks, but will it change the suspended plan from $10 to $25 plan? I would assume yes, that it checked for a plan change, changes to the $25 plan, checks for enough balance, sees there isn't enough, checks for autopay, sees it's disabled, and suspends the plan. That would seem the logical sequence of events.

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No, it will not change because when your plan goes to expired/suspended, it forgets about the futuredate plan change. If you have enough balance, the plan will automatically renew even if you disable autopay. So in this case, you can hit that lost/stolen phone option. But to change the plan, you will have to contact the mod.

[ottawa]

Thanks, but will it change the suspended plan from $10 to $25 plan? I would assume yes, that it checked for a plan change, changes to the $25 plan, checks for enough balance, sees there isn't enough, checks for autopay, sees it's disabled, and suspends the plan. That would seem the logical sequence of events.

My concern is it now sounds like they have a credit balance, in which case (if it's $25 or more) they would also need to do lost/stolen. And then the question is, is the sequence "check for plan change, change plan, check for lost/stolen", or is it "check for lost/stolen, check for plan change, change plan"? In the latter case they'll be sitting on suspended $10 plan and have to contact mods, in the former case they'd be sitting on suspended $25 plan and not have to contact mods.

=aw

[NDesai]

@ottawa @mimmo If you futuredate the plan change and have autopay disable, it will not renew to the new plan because plan is expired/suspended. 

[ottawa]

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@NDesai wrote:

@ottawa I don't think Lost/stolen phone function pauses the plan in any way. I think it just disables services but the plan continues. This however might behave differently if renewal date is coming up and i do not exactly know what happens. All i know is that plan change is not allowed if the account status is expired/suspended. Best thing to do is to disable AutoPay now and then when they return, contact the mod team to have the plan changed.

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For sure the lost/stolen function won't stop the existing plan from running out. That's a given and not a concern. In the past (and I thought there was also a sticky) I remember it being recommended when you wanted to make sure autopay didn't charge you even if you disabled it (perhaps too close to renewal date). My idea was that my friends could schedule the change and the lost/stolen function would stop it from kicking in until they were ready to use it. In the past I paid my grandfathered plan manually, to make sure it didn't renew when I didn't need it (there was no autopay discount on that plan, but it would have been more convenient to autopay).

I'd prefer they not contact the mod team, both because that means a delay for my friends, and because the mod team is busy.

Thanks!

=aw

[ottawa]

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@stonechucker wrote:

I would just schedule the change now, and let it renew automatically.  Does your friend also cancel heat, water, electricity, cable and any other services when they go on vacation for a couple weeks?

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As mimmo_L said, it's an option so why waste the money? I don't know exactly how long they're gone, my example of 2-3 weeks was for clarity.

To your question, in effect yes. They don't "cancel" those services but they do suspend those they can (which is the correct analogy to not paying for PM for a few weeks). Not cable because they can't (2mo minimum I think), but they do turn down the furnace (in winter), shut off the hot water tank, unplug always-on devices like TV (but not PVR since it serves a function while they're away), etc. 

This is one of the compelling selling features of PM for me, and that's kept me off the Koodo transfer offers, if I'm away for an extended period I don't fund my PM account (so I can calculate my "$40/4.5GB" plan as costing about $380/yr after autopay and 2mo unpaid, vs $480/yr for Koodo $40/mo). This is the first year I've been on autopay so I may have to do the lost/stolen thing, or turn off autopay.

To the others who recommended leaving it on $10/mo and contacting the mods on return, I would resist telling my friends to contact mods for something that could have been done themselves, the mods are busy enough as it is.

Thanks everyone.

=aw

[ottawa]

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@mimmo wrote:

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futuredate and disable autopay that is all that need to be done here and then add funds when they return.   unless i misread the orriginal post.  

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No, you have it right. I guess if they futuredate then the plan will change even with autopay disabled. I have to make sure they don't have a credit balance though. In that case they'd need to suspend the service with lost/stolen right?

=aw

[mimmo]

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@stonechucker wrote:

I would just schedule the change now, and let it renew automatically.  Does your friend also cancel heat, water, electricity, cable and any other services when they go on vacation for a couple weeks?

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Its an opton that is available to PM so why not take advantage of it.  its not as if the phone is going to work while away anyways. futuredate and disable autopay that is all that need to be done here and then add funds when they return.   unless i misread the orriginal post.  

[stonechucker]

I would just schedule the change now, and let it renew automatically.  Does your friend also cancel heat, water, electricity, cable and any other services when they go on vacation for a couple weeks?

[smp99]

I would just keep the $10 plan active while away, let it renew automatically. It's only an $8 charge after auto-pay for 30 days. Even Koodo seasonal hold is $15 month.

Then when (s)he returns, pick a new plan and have it start immediately. Mods would never get involved, which is worth something given the current state and you would never be without service

[mimmo]

@ottawa you have right idea disable autopay and futuredateing the plan change.

When they come back then add funds and they will have the new plan.

The only time you need to use the lost /stolen option is if you had more available funds and didn't want to renew the plan.  That would stop the renewal from going through.

[NDesai]

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@drmartin wrote:

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@NDesai wrote:

@ottawa I don't think Lost/stolen phone function pauses the plan in any way. I think it just disables services but the plan continues. This however might behave differently if renewal date is coming up and i do not exactly know what happens. All i know is that plan change is not allowed if the account status is expired/suspended. Best thing to do is to disable AutoPay now and then when they return, contact the mod team to have the plan changed.

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Aren't the mod team currently quite backlogged though, taking around a week to respond?

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They are and no idea what the situation will be after a few weeks, but your friend can reach out to them a little early to have it ready before he/she gets back from vacation. 

[drmartin]

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@NDesai wrote:

@ottawa I don't think Lost/stolen phone function pauses the plan in any way. I think it just disables services but the plan continues. This however might behave differently if renewal date is coming up and i do not exactly know what happens. All i know is that plan change is not allowed if the account status is expired/suspended. Best thing to do is to disable AutoPay now and then when they return, contact the mod team to have the plan changed.

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Aren't the mod team currently quite backlogged though, taking around a week to respond?

[NDesai]

@ottawa I don't think Lost/stolen phone function pauses the plan in any way. I think it just disables services but the plan continues. This however might behave differently if renewal date is coming up and i do not exactly know what happens. All i know is that plan change is not allowed if the account status is expired/suspended. Best thing to do is to disable AutoPay now and then when they return, contact the mod team to have the plan changed.