Subscribe Feed (RSS)Most of my readers out there probably pay for a decent cell phone plan with unlimited calling or minutes that carry over from month to month. However, for those of you are a cheap like me and have an inexpensive basic calling plan this tip is for you.
This month I ended up on the road for three weeks. Much of this travel was unexpected. Since we were visiting with family and friends the trip required alot of cell phone communication to set up visits, catch up with old friends, etc. I was shocked to open my mail box and find a bill for almost six times the amount that I usually pay! Doing some web research I discovered that previous to the bill being sent out, I could have purchased Sprint overage relief minutes for $25 per 100 minutes. I found a customer service e-mail, did some fancy typing, and accomplished the impossible. Sprint retroactively sold me overage relief minutes and the bill was greatly reduced.
Here are the lessons learned from this experience:
- Keep track of your minutes…Sprint offers ways you can do this using your phone or on line.
- Know your cell companies policy about purchasing extra minutes. I had never heard that this was an option.
- Take advantage of free local phone calls if offered by your hotel. (This would have saved me a bundle!)
- Be persistant with cell phone company personnel. The first representative I talked to told me the only solution would be to upgrade to a significantly more expensive plan.
Hope you are having a great summer full of family adventure. Keeping track of cell phone use can save you money that can go to hotel rooms or ice cream instead!
Happy Trails,
Bridget
Tags: Cell Phone, Overage Relief Minutes, Sprint
We have a TracPhone because we’re cheap too(and when we both lost our jobs we lost our fancy phones that were paid for by our companies) and use the phone only in poor weather and/or for travel out of the area. We discovered while our daughter was in D.C. that is was cheaper for her to text(3 texts per min) than to call. So she kept us updated by texting our e-mail and kept actual calls to less than 10 min. In her 5 day trip she used less than 30 min.
Perfect timing – you just reminded me to call ATT to turn off my international plan for my last trip! Geez, they really nail you if you don’t watch out! Thanks Bridget!