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Woke up to a surprise $2700 bill today

  • 9 January 2021
  • 7 replies
  • 235 views
S

Got a text message from Koodo in the morning that my bill for last month is $2700. I was surprised as I had been keeping an eye on my usage via Koodo website and had been to Koodo stores 3 times to check my eligibility to upgrade my phone and no one noticed anything out of order. 

 

When I login to my account it shows 3 pie charts one for Date, one for Messaging and one for Airtime. There wasn’t any for long distance calls and this is why I didn’t spot it. Amount Due also showed $0 the entire time.

 

It took a bit of digging in my usage to find out that the charge was for calls that I made to my family in US around Christmas time as we cant travel due to restrictions. I had 1000 Minutes but I was under the impression that I would get notifications if my minutes ran out or if my bill goes over a certain amount same as is the case with Data & Roaming. Even after getting the bill it was not easy to spot where the charge comes from.

 

Lost my job few months ago due to Covid and was hoping for a better year in 2021 and its not a great start. 

 

 

7 replies

M
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Got a text message from Koodo in the morning that my bill for last month is $2700. I was surprised as I had been keeping an eye on my usage via Koodo website and had been to Koodo stores 3 times to check my eligibility to upgrade my phone and no one noticed anything out of order. 

 

When I login to my account it shows 3 pie charts one for Date, one for Messaging and one for Airtime. There wasn’t any for long distance calls and this is why I didn’t spot it. Amount Due also showed $0 the entire time.

 

It took a bit of digging in my usage to find out that the charge was for calls that I made to my family in US around Christmas time as we cant travel due to restrictions. I had 1000 Minutes but I was under the impression that I would get notifications if my minutes ran out or if my bill goes over a certain amount same as is the case with Data & Roaming. Even after getting the bill it was not easy to spot where the charge comes from.

 

Lost my job few months ago due to Covid and was hoping for a better year in 2021 and its not a great start. 

Unfortunately, Koodo doesn’t have a usage meter indicator on the Self Serve account to keep track of your international minutes. I’ve posted this as an Idea a few months ago, but none of the Koodo reps have gotten back to me so far. If you give some feedback, maybe they will do something about it. 

 

R
Badge +4

Got a text message from Koodo in the morning that my bill for last month is $2700. I was surprised as I had been keeping an eye on my usage via Koodo website and had been to Koodo stores 3 times to check my eligibility to upgrade my phone and no one noticed anything out of order. 

 

When I login to my account it shows 3 pie charts one for Date, one for Messaging and one for Airtime. There wasn’t any for long distance calls and this is why I didn’t spot it. Amount Due also showed $0 the entire time.

 

It took a bit of digging in my usage to find out that the charge was for calls that I made to my family in US around Christmas time as we cant travel due to restrictions. I had 1000 Minutes but I was under the impression that I would get notifications if my minutes ran out or if my bill goes over a certain amount same as is the case with Data & Roaming. Even after getting the bill it was not easy to spot where the charge comes from.

 

Lost my job few months ago due to Covid and was hoping for a better year in 2021 and its not a great start. 

 

I think the next step is to schedule a callback with Koodo Assist (koodo.com/chat) or send a private message to Koodo via Facebook Messenger or a direct message via Twitter to see what options are available to you. 

https://www.facebook.com/Koodo or https://twitter.com/koodo

Mayumi
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

You mentioned that "I had 1000 Minutes but I was under the impression that I would get notifications ..."

You are aware of 1000min which about 16 hours of talk time.  But, $2700 overage means you went over more than 5000 min (over 80 hours) tho... 

No carrier gives you warning for minutes.  And if you logged in self serve to check your usage, it should show you any overage when it occurred. I know it's covid and holiday time, but if you checked it much sooner it could be prevented.  ( you mentioned you couldn't spot LD calls, but it always warning sign for overage)

I would be shocked if I received this amount of bill too especially with the conditions we are in.    And I would call in for help as Milkyway and Rikkster suggested. I don't know how much they can help, but, I know they will try their best to help you. 

S

You mentioned that "I had 1000 Minutes but I was under the impression that I would get notifications ..."

You are aware of 1000min which about 16 hours of talk time.  But, $2700 overage means you went over more than 5000 min (over 80 hours) tho... 

No carrier gives you warning for minutes.  And if you logged in self serve to check your usage, it should show you any overage when it occurred. I know it's covid and holiday time, but if you checked it much sooner it could be prevented.  ( you mentioned you couldn't spot LD calls, but it always warning sign for overage)

I would be shocked if I received this amount of bill too especially with the conditions we are in.    And I would call in for help as Milkyway and Rikkster suggested. I don't know how much they can help, but, I know they will try their best to help you. 


I was logging into my account pretty often cause my usage was heavy during that time especially the data so I was keeping an eye on my usage and added a data add a on twice but there was no warning for the calls only for the data. The LD usage limited completely left my mind but one usage indicator or alert or notification would have prevented this.
 

Anyway thank-you for your advice, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll probably have to return the phone that I upgraded to with Koodo few days ago because I won’t be able to afford it after this. It’s a very unpleasant experience but apparently it’s very common in Canada regardless of provider. Overall my experience with Koodo has been much more positive compared to Other providers but I still feel a bit disappointed

Sophia
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

You should definitely consider upgrading your plan to an in market plan (they all offer unlimited calling now) or add the $2 unlimited add-on. Hope you get it sorted… a $2700 bill is no fun.

S

You should definitely consider upgrading your plan to an in market plan (they all offer unlimited calling now) or add the $2 unlimited add-on. Hope you get it sorted… a $2700 bill is no fun.

 

Telus offers unlimited US calling and 20gb for $95 (I believe they haven’t updated this plan since 2 years ago I was selling the same plan as a door to door Telus salesman). Telus plans are generally better than other providers in Western Canada so that’s probably the best we have for now.

My brother in US offered to create another line for me under his account with Sprint with unlimited US, Can, Mex calling and no data overcharges at a fraction of the cost here. I think its worth it so one can have a peace of mind and not worry about making a small mistake with a big price.

Sophia
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

I missed that it was US calling. Yes in that case Telus is probably even better, I don’t think Koodo offers anything like that for the USA.

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