The Unofficial 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless Canada Consumer Page 
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11:29 am
SO just added a $15 voucher to their offerings. It has a 30 day expiry - hopefully not a sign of things to come. Airtime is charged at 25 cents/minute.
This voucher *only* makes sense if you're unable to scrape together the money for $25 airtime with a year expiry date.
And, honestly, if you use $15 of airtime per month you're better off buying a $75 card. It'll last you 6 months and you save 20% on the airtime costs by "investing" $75 (it's like getting two free months a year). That's smart purchasing.
11:47 am
October 21, 2008
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On the official Speakout page where they announced the new $15 card they invite customers to share their thoughts about the new card by emailing askspeakout@7-11.com.
As soon as I'm done this post, I'll be sending them my thoughts - such as how moving away from a 365-day expiration period is a mistake. I invite everyone on this forum to share their opinions with speakout as well.
1:38 pm
April 14, 2009
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The only thing keeping my 3 SO phones to 7-11 is the 365-day expiry... nothing else! As soon as the 365-day expiry is gone, my 7-11 SpeakOuts are gone!!
Hopefully, the $15 voucher is, like mentioned above, not a sign of things to come, nor a bait and switch after getting many customers over the years... and hopefully, too, the Speakout "share your thoughts" is not just a typical, stereo-type big business and big government false pretenses of concern and care.. with our thoughts ending up into the dumpster as soon as received.
I will still "share my thoughts" with 7-11 in the link above, but I'm very, very, cynical... "share" always used psychologically by arrogant businesses and arrogant Prime Ministers and Presidents just to soften the blow, to pull wool over our eyes... with totally NO regard for our thoughts.
But, let's wait and see... don't want to get too far ahead of myself.
But SpeakOut had done it before... increasing our rates after widening their customer base... let's see what they do now... I still have my options in Petro-Can (for now, if they stick to their present rates and expiry) and Virgin and others.
3:20 pm
March 31, 2007
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I can't imagine that maintaining the $15 / 30-day voucher is much work for them, so I figure it's a low-effort way for them to reach a broader audience. I don't mind if they want to have an offering more similar to the big players... as long as they keep the 365-day offerings.
3:23 pm
October 21, 2008
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One other thing we can do to show Speakout what we think of the new $15/30day card is to not buy it.
You can't fault Speakout for trying something different, while at the same time not changing the current offering. Maybe some people have complained about the minimum top-up being $25? So, Speakout offers something new.
If no one buys the new $15/30day card, then Speakout will learn how important the 365day expiry time is. If tons of people buy the card, then they'll learn the opposite.
(To be honest, the $15/30day card is pretty useless for anyone wanting to use the phone for more than 1 month. If you require the phone for 1 month and a day, you'll be better off getting the $25 card.)
3:26 pm
March 31, 2007
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I wonder how the expiry will work. If you added a $25 voucher yesterday (expiry 365 days), then add a $15 voucher today, when will that total of $40 expire? 364 days later? 30 days later? The later of the existing expiry date or today + 30 days?
3:54 pm
I just came over to SO this week (April 27) from PCM because they changed their rate and airtime expiry about a month ago.
I am definitely very sensitive this new $15 with 30 days. I have emailed them with my feeling.
4:32 pm
-this is just the first step down the hill towards to discontinue the 365 expiry time
-they are testing the waters to see how people would react
-their explanation for the NEED for this card makes absolutely no sense at all, why would someone who "spend little & talk fast" buy this $15/30 day card ?
-get ready people, say good-bye for the 365 days expiry time, and say hello to 30 days !
5:52 pm
April 14, 2009
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Reading 7-11's ad on the $15 voucher makes me roll my eyes and shake my head !!
http://speakout7eleven.ca/
Who are 7-11 kidding?? Would ANY of us be that moronic and say "We don't need 365 days"?? especially when the rate is still 25 cents a minute for the 30-day expiry? ... IF IT'S TRUE that someone have said, "We don't need 365 days" (like the 7-11 ad says), then it is expected that the 30-day rate would be something like 10 cents a min and that would make a whole lotta sense...definitely NOT otherwise.
"spend small and talk fast" at the EXACT SAME RATE of 25 cents/min BUT LOSE 335 days expiry..????.. can't figure that one out!!
Gee, give me a break, 7-11!! You're insulting us... insulting our intelligence... insulting our loyalty.
Is that what we get for being loyal customers???... what kind of cheap ad agency did you hire to do that kind of ad?
You're ad speaks like a politician!! ... the loser-type politician!!
6:02 pm
Seems insane of SO to tempt people into Fido KOODO contracts.
6:39 pm
October 14, 2008
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I emailed them as well. I think this is absolute garbage, and told them so. As "guest" has said, they are just testing the waters to see if people will accept this short expiry date. It's just a smokescreen. They are trying to say people don't want a 365 day expiry! Who the heck would say that? Why would it be better refilling once a month, when you could be refilling once a year? If you were to refill once a month, it would cost $180 for the year.
6:51 pm
iamdrumming said:
They are trying to say people don't want a 365 day expiry! Who the heck would say that?
Well, they're simply offering the same kind of deal as the competition - a lower purchase price with short expiry. People are lousy at math, and many people typically equate $10 or $15 top-up cards with "less expensive." This pricing strategy allows the company to sell to people who would otherwise look elsewhere.
The proliferation of competing prepaid packages with 30 or 60 day expiry dates strongly suggests that there's a profitable pool of less-educated consumers out there who either don't know about SO's long expiry time or don't realize how much money they're wasting. If SO can attract some of them as customers, it'll strengthen their bottom line while letting others subsidize our extremely cheap service.
7:00 pm
October 14, 2008
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I see right through this smokescreen they are pulling. Mark my words. Soon the $25 or $50 airtime vouchers will have an expiry date of 6 months. This is complete garbage, and yes, it pi$$es me off. Why would running to 7-Eleven each and every month to fill up on airtime, be better that filling up once a year?
7:10 pm
I don't like the new $15 top up either but I can come up with 2 possible scenerios where they'd be useful.
- You're a parent and you give your child a SO phone for 'emergency' use. By using the $15 top-ups, you can better control their usage.
- You don't live in Canada and you're up here on vacation/visiting and you just need a phone for the time that you're up here. This is a cheapest scenerio.
However in the latter case, I think it would be even smarter if 7-11 just started selling SIMs alone or maybe a SIM card with the $15 top-up. That way if you are truly a visitor, it's cheapest way to get cell service in Canada. Plus SO could use it as a cheap way for anyone to try out SO. Then if you like it (who wouldn't?), then you keep the SIM and start buying the long expiry top-ups.
I've voiced my displeasure about the $15 top-ups to SO as well. Grr....
7:51 pm
April 14, 2009
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Giving your child a $15 card PER MONTH for emergency use? ... making a total of $180.00/year??? I don't think so.
How about giving your child a $25, 365-day expiry card for emergency use? ... making a total of only $25 PER YEAR strictly for emergency use?... waaay better control of usage, too!
"Cheapest scenario" for visitors, you still need to buy an SO phone, a SIM card and a $15 voucher for 100 MINUTES per month.
How about cheapest scenario of buying a used phone online (Kijiji, Bargain Finder etc), and paying only $5 more=$20 only (prepaid, no contract) for 200 MINUTES per month?
I'm still a 7-11 customer with 3 SO phones... BUT I might go that 200 mins way with Virgin Mobile if it looks like 7-11 is going down that slippery slope and ultimately leaving the 365-day expiry only for the $100 voucher.
7:58 pm
April 14, 2009
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How about Real Canadian Superstore's 20 cents per minute compared to 7-11's 25 cents per min?
That's why I like 7-11's 365-day expiry... or else the 20 cents per minutes sounds sweet.
8:28 pm
October 15, 2008
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Ok, maybe "emergency use" is the wrong term to use here. Certainly it could be used in that scenerio but I meant it to be more like a monthly "cell phone" allowance. "Here's a cell phone but we'll only put a $15 balance on it per month. Once you use it, that's all you get." Considering I've seen 14 y.o. kids with Blackberrys, I can't imagine what they/their parents are paying for data plans so this is a pretty good compromise.
If you give them a $25 or $100 balance, they could burn through it in as little (or as much) time as they wanted and you wouldn't really have any control over it. What are you going to do? Tell them "Here's a cell phone with a $100 balance. Use it until it runs out." Good luck. How long do you think would that last?
9:26 pm
April 14, 2009
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Nothing personal in all my posts... just bottom lines, the real deals and looking through smokescreens...
And the bottom line here for kids with cell phones is instilling disciplines or letting them learn self-control.
Without self-control and saying, "Here's a $15 card for a month".. what are you going to do when he/she burns through it in 1 day or 2 days or 3 days???
Having self-control, how about telling a kid, "Here's a $25 card for 6 months?" or 4 months or 3 months (whatever the parent decides)... more flexibility... more flexible costs... like $50 or $75 or $100 for a year instead of $15 per month totalling $180 per year? Like, wow, huge difference.
9:48 pm
April 14, 2009
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Hopefully, no one here is in 7-11 SpeakOut's Ad Agency's Damage Control Unit.
The only control that is going to be effective is NOT going to be in words BUT ONLY in action... that is, in letting all the other rates and expiry days stay exactly the same (not for just a few more weeks or a few more months!!)... 20 cents per min for the $100 and the $75 cards and the rest at 25 cents per min AND ALL with 365-day expiry except for the $15 cards.
Then there will be no damage.
Then the $15, 30-day expiry card will be taken strictly as a business strategy to widen the customer base... and no insult, intentionally or unintentionally, will be taken.
