Changing plan when coming out of inactivity

[ottawa]

I'm trying to help 2 people who have their plans inactive (non-payment, plus "reported lost"). Of course they'll be on autopay.

Are they like to encounter trouble when they turn off "reported lost" and make a payment? I recall there used to be issues coming out of inactivity even without a plan change. Should they anticipate needing a few days for mods to fix their lines, as in the past?

One is on $40/4.5GB and would like to change to $40/5GB. This one isn't urgent, and they're okay with 4.5GB the first month, if it avoids needing the mods (no offense to the mods). They would just reactivate on 4.5GB and immediately book a change to 5GB effective next renewal, if it can be all self-serve. If they have to wait for the mods, they would like to get the 5GB right away.

The other is trickier, they're on $30/500MB and of course want to switch to $25/1GB right away (both for more data, and for cheaper rate). Can this be done self-serve, or does it require the mods (for that matter, can the mods reactivate on a new plan?).

Thanks!

=aw

[ottawa]

I'm still not 100% sure what the self-serve solution would be, but one of the mods has changed and reactivated both lines. No Rewards this month, she said the Rewards start on month 2.

It was great to have <1hr response times. That makes an online support model work much better. 🙂

=aw

[ottawa]

Thank you. I'm happy to report that as of an hour ago, response time was 30min exactly. 🙂

The answer I got was to take it out of suspension first. Since that contradicts what I thought, I've written back to make sure I described the issue accurately. Worst case is they'll be stuck paying $5 too much for 500MB too little, for the first month.

=aw

[Lieux]

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@ottawa wrote:

Thanks, I thought of that but didn't want to try anything else as I was writing to the mods (which I've done).

Can anyone comment on current mods' response time? If they're swamped again and slow, I'll keep trying things, but if they're normally responding within 24 hours, I'll wait.

Worst case, I can reactivate this line for them on the $30/500 plan and then schedule a change, it would be too bad because the autopay 500MB is so much more significant on this one.

Inactivity date was Jan 14, drop-dead (literally) date is Apr 14 (Sunday). 😞

=aw

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The waiting time is usually up to 48 hours.

[ottawa]

Thanks, I thought of that but didn't want to try anything else as I was writing to the mods (which I've done).

Can anyone comment on current mods' response time? If they're swamped again and slow, I'll keep trying things, but if they're normally responding within 24 hours, I'll wait.

Worst case, I can reactivate this line for them on the $30/500 plan and then schedule a change, it would be too bad because the autopay 500MB is so much more significant on this one.

Inactivity date was Jan 14, drop-dead (literally) date is Apr 14 (Sunday). 😞

=aw

[geopublic]

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@ottawa wrote:

So I'm trying to reactivate (after 80 days) the one that's $30/500MB, the idea being to first "change plan" and select the $25/(500+500), then take off the "lost/stolen". They have a credit balance of >$25 so at that point it should charge and reactivate.

When I click on "change now", I get this error on a pink background: "An error occured and we were unable to change your plan."

Any idea how to fix this, or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

=aw

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Instead of change now what happens if you select change on next renewal date? By the way what is the Payment Due date on the main screen?

[ottawa]

So I'm trying to reactivate (after 80 days) the one that's $30/500MB, the idea being to first "change plan" and select the $25/(500+500), then take off the "lost/stolen". They have a credit balance of >$25 so at that point it should charge and reactivate.

When I click on "change now", I get this error on a pink background: "An error occured and we were unable to change your plan."

Any idea how to fix this, or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

=aw

[sandpublic]

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@ottawa wrote:

Thank you. So no worry about losing their credit balance when changing the plan (i.e. the warning is about being partway through a month, which doesn't apply in this case since both are suspended ~8 weeks)?

Also, the KB article seems based on immediately bringing them out of suspension. Can they change plan now to the newer plans, but then not reactivate for a couple more weeks? I'm trying to get them locked in on the newer better plans now, even though they're not ready to start using the phones for another 2 weeks.

Thanks!

=aw

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Honestly I don't think you have to worry about these plains going away in a couple of weeks. Looks like they are going to be regular plans.

[ottawa]

Thank you. So no worry about losing their credit balance when changing the plan (i.e. the warning is about being partway through a month, which doesn't apply in this case since both are suspended ~8 weeks)?

Also, the KB article seems based on immediately bringing them out of suspension. Can they change plan now to the newer plans, but then not reactivate for a couple more weeks? I'm trying to get them locked in on the newer better plans now, even though they're not ready to start using the phones for another 2 weeks.

Thanks!

=aw

[Luddite]

@ottawa  As they both wish new plans just select Change Plan immediately and each will be charged the difference between Available Funds and the plan cost. Autopay does not reactivate when your plan is suspended; first retart requires a manual payment which should happen when Change Plan is effected. Reboot the phone after payment; allow a couple of hours for the system to reset.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/Self-Serve-Account-Management/ta-p/245...

[ottawa]

I will confirm this with the mods, but on further reflection I suspect the wording 

"Any payments you've made on your current plan cannot be applied towards your new plan."

refers to the loss of part-month when you do an immediate change mid-cycle. (The "next renewal" button is grayed out, I guess because there's no billing cycle on a suspended line).

Make sense?

=aw

[ottawa]

Thank you, that's very helpful especially the linked announcement.

They've be suspended for about 8 weeks and want to reactivate in about 2 weeks. Is it safe to change the plan now, but not reactivate for a while? The announcement seems to assume the plan change is happening at the time of reactivation, which isn't always the case.

[added: I just did a dry run on one, and one of the warnings is "IMPORTANT: Before proceeding, please note that:

• The change will take effect immediately.
• Any payments you've made on your current plan cannot be applied towards your new plan."

They have a credit balance, surely that doesn't mean they lose the credit balance!? I"m not clear what "any payments you've made on your current plan" and where the money goes.

Thanks!

=aw

[Anonymous]

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@ottawa wrote:

Thank you all. Yes they're both <90 days inactive. We went in and checked their accounts. Both are still on autopay ($2 discount showing), does that mean as soon as they report it "found" it will bill? Or does the first one have to be done manually?

I see (and saw) the Change Plan button. I'm thinking it's safe to change their plans today, while leaving them "lost", in case these new plans are a temporary offering. Then in a couple of weeks, report them "found", and they'll autobill at the new rate?

I'll recommend they allow a week before the phones work, in case they have to contact mods. They'll still be <90 days of course.

=aw

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If the plan term has NOT expired then it'll just pick up and finish the term. I'm not sure about the change plan inside this time frame. Maybe it's the same as any suspension.

I think from suspend to resume with autopay after expiry it'll renew.

I think in suspend after expiry and change plan with autopay then resume it'll renew with the new plan.

This announcement is silent on autopay though.

Edit: See Luddite reply below.

[ottawa]

Thank you all. Yes they're both <90 days inactive. We went in and checked their accounts. Both are still on autopay ($2 discount showing), does that mean as soon as they report it "found" it will bill? Or does the first one have to be done manually?

I see (and saw) the Change Plan button. I'm thinking it's safe to change their plans today, while leaving them "lost", in case these new plans are a temporary offering. Then in a couple of weeks, report them "found", and they'll autobill at the new rate?

I'll recommend they allow a week before the phones work, in case they have to contact mods. They'll still be <90 days of course.

=aw

[sandpublic]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 @ottawa 

Are they both less than 90 days since they got "lost"?

If they're on autopay then upon "finding" the phone it will take a payment from the autopay and renew.

Plans are changeable while in suspend status. Then find it and it should go to autopay.

Or just manually put money in via cc or voucher and change plan and then find.

That's my understanding.

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If it's less that 90 days you should be able to do it online. Remove the lost/stolen change the plan and setup auto-pay.

[Anonymous]

 @ottawa 

Are they both less than 90 days since they got "lost"?

If they're on autopay then upon "finding" the phone it will take a payment from the autopay and renew.

Plans are changeable while in suspend status. Then find it and it should go to autopay.

Or just manually put money in via cc or voucher and change plan and then find.

That's my understanding.