Need help understanding the prorated portion of the bill
Would someone please explain to me why I end up paying 2 months worth of service in the first month?
I just added my little brother to my plan on the 14th of October, and received my bill (bill cycle ends on the 12th) and I had to pay another 19.35 to the 20.00, for a total of 39.35 for the service alone. Why?? I understand that there is a prorated portion, but I didn't know it was for nearly the entire amount.
I just added my little brother to my plan on the 14th of October, and received my bill (bill cycle ends on the 12th) and I had to pay another 19.35 to the 20.00, for a total of 39.35 for the service alone. Why?? I understand that there is a prorated portion, but I didn't know it was for nearly the entire amount.
...
Whenever you make a change on your service you should always do before or on your billing date. If you had added your brother to your account on the 11th you would have had only 1 days worth of prorated billing. Because there was almost a full month from the time you added the line to your account you were charged for almost a full month and 1 full month.
...
😎 ....right... you should only change your plan on our bill date... anything else to estimate what you will be looking at as far as charges, the proration goes as follows:
you take number of minutes you have on your plan and divide by 30 days, same for montly access, then you times it by the number of days you were actually on that plan, that is the first half of the proration. then you do the same for the new plan, but times it by the number of days you will be on it till your next bill date. then add them both together and you will get the estimate of your monthly acess and minutes available for that bill....
you take number of minutes you have on your plan and divide by 30 days, same for montly access, then you times it by the number of days you were actually on that plan, that is the first half of the proration. then you do the same for the new plan, but times it by the number of days you will be on it till your next bill date. then add them both together and you will get the estimate of your monthly acess and minutes available for that bill....
...
Saying that a customer should only change on their billing cycle is a very lazy way out of properly explaining pro-ration. Any representative can tell you an estimate of whether you'd be over or under your minutes if you change mid-bill cycle, the billing difference, and how many remaining minutes you'd have.
In fact, if you're moving your calling plan down on minutes because you have a higher plan than you use, it's almost always correct to move down mid-bill cycle, as you wind up netting a credit back to your account for the difference in price between the higher and lower services when you switch.
In the case of the above poster, you're always billed a month in advance. Sure, you could have waited until the end of the month, but y...
(continues)
In fact, if you're moving your calling plan down on minutes because you have a higher plan than you use, it's almost always correct to move down mid-bill cycle, as you wind up netting a credit back to your account for the difference in price between the higher and lower services when you switch.
In the case of the above poster, you're always billed a month in advance. Sure, you could have waited until the end of the month, but y...
(continues)
...
We Rep for Nextel in a Partners market... They do not bill a month in advance. It has always eluded me that the consumers at large pay a month in advance... isn't it really a pre-paid service then? And if so why the harsh credit scores? Nextel prefers we only change a plan at the end of the billing cycle... and frankly when explained to the customer at the point of established service they know it and are OK with it... Besides it prevents us from dissecting more confusing bills with people who generally don't get it.
It is what it is.
It is what it is.
...
Well, apparently, the girl that handled my email question from VZW didn't get it either because she issued back a credit for the 19.35 charged to my current bill and I will see that credit on next months bill. Quite frankly, I don't understand why there's even a need for proration when the second line is using my plan minutes and not their own. But oh well, if the credit does indeed get issued I won't complain because they didn't explain the prorated charges at the time of activation.
...
The proration is helping you. Since you started the service on that line in the middle of the month you are only paying part of the $20 for that first month. You don't wanna pay the full $20 when you are only getting a half month. The full $20 you are paying is for the full next month of service. You are always paid a month ahead.
...
You must have added him like right after the 12th of your last month. You then had a prorated month from the day you added him until the 12th of this month, and then a full month from like the 13th of this month to the 12th of next month. Billing is always a month ahead.
...
The reason why you were charged almost 2 months worth of access fees because, you were charged from the day you activated your brother's line (10/14)to the end of your next bill cycle (11/12) which came to 28 days plus the normal month in advance. To figure out how they came to $19.35 is divide the monthly access fee ($20.00) by the days in the month (30) you get your daily rate and then multiply tha, by the number of days from the date of activation to the end of you bill cycle in this case 28 days. Something very important you have to understand as well is when you have a prorated bill, is that when your access fees are prorated you must remember that your minutes are prorated as well.
If its feasible, always try to make any changes o...
(continues)
If its feasible, always try to make any changes o...
(continues)
...
Thank you all for the insight. I just wish they would've told us this when we activated his line. I understand how it works now, you guys are the best 🙂 if only the the rep I spoke to yesterday would have told me that then I wouldn't have gotten all mad...lol. I'll just be thankful that they waived the 15.00 activation fee for him and move on with life after paying this huge bill 😎.
...
So if we're on a 1000 anytime minute plan (the N/W, IN, Nite don't count), how many minutes would we have now? I was told that the minutes wouldn't be affected because the primary line isn't new. After reviewing my bill, I noticed that no minutes were prorated...so will this affect this new bill cycle period? From 11/13-12/12?
Thanks
Thanks
...
Your primary line wouldn't be affected if there were no changes made to it. Is that plan available as a share plan though? As long as their were no changes made to the primary line there won't be any prorated charges or minutes for it.
...
I have a 1000 minutes plan, plus all the N/W, IN, and Nite minutes for free...and I've had this plan for a while now, but just added my brother last month. So according to the bill, the plan stays the same, but it is now a family share plan since I've added an extra line. Now why is there a prorated charge for the new line and not my line? I thought it was only for a new plan or change minutes 😕
...
Actually both of you will probably have prorated charges in that case. Even though you're basically still on the same plan, your price plan was changed from a non share version to a share version. You should end up paying exactly the same as you normally would though. The new line is also going to be prorated. It will be prorated for the first partial month of service and then charged the next full month to get it back in the normal cycle.
...
Ah. But the bill only charged the proration to his line and not mine. My portion of the bill (49.99) never changed, however, they tacked on the 19.35 to the 20.00 on his. And I was also told that my minutes would not be affected by the additional line.
...
Your minutes wouldn't be affected.. and if your line was prorated it should have equaled your same 49.99. It may be done differently in different areas with different billing systems. The new line is always going to be prorated unless you happen to add it or make a change right on your billing cycle.
...
