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11:41 pm
March 15, 2008
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I think you guys are over-reacting. If you take SO's explanation at face value, all they're saying is that some customers prefer to top-up $15 at a time rather than in larger increments. I'd imagine that in this economy there are people for whom coming up with $25 or more might be a hardship.
As SO asks, if you don't like this option or if you're concerned that the 365 expiry on larger amounts of airtime may be at risk, then e-mail them your concerns. Also be sure to remind them that in the next few months they'll have new competition from the likes of Yak/Globalive and Videotron, as well as Bell and Telus.
There are also people who don't want to risk much money in airtime because they don't know how long the carrier will stay in business. Case-in-point, United Mobile, a global SIM provider just went broke as of a week or so ago. It appears I lost about US$40 in airtime. That's not a big deal for me, however, some UM customers lost many times as much in airtime. I can imagine that anyone who's had such an experience might want to put up as little money as possible.
Note: I have no reason to believe that SO is in any trouble or that 7-11 wouldn't compensate us if SO went broke, but that's not the point. It's that (a) yes, this sort of thing can happen and has happened, and (b) not everyone is so trusting as I am.
4:41 am
January 18, 2009
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I wrote indicating no problem with the $15 but should any other amounts change from 365 they WILL lose a customer.
9:06 am
October 14, 2008
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Personally, I do not think we are over-reacting, and especially what I said. Petro Canada Mobility are owned by Ztar Mobile as well, and did the same thing with that company. I had a feeling they would do the same with Speak Out. We can all believe what we want to believe, but I would not be surprised if the lower amount top-ups get bumped to a 6 month expiry by the end of the year or sooner.
10:50 am
Anything less than 365 for me and I go back to subscription
2:19 pm
I also emailed askspeakout@7-11.com telling 7-11 the only reason I'm with SO is the 365 day expiration.
Everyone reading this forum, if you care about the potential change to existing vouchers, please spend a minute or two to send an email to SO.
2:19 pm
I spoke to speakout customer service regarding expiry time. They said that if you load a $15 voucher, all of your minutes will expire in 30 days. So that means even if you have $10 left over from a previous $25/50/75 etc voucher, you're 365 day expiry is canceled and all minutes must be used in 30 days.
8:05 pm
October 16, 2008
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Hey everyone. I like to think that we (the users of this wonderful website) are the reason why 7-11 is getting so much cellphone business. So I think it is our duty to remind 7-11 that consumers are a fickle bunch, and that we will explain to them why we buy their product.
They don't really need a marketing company doing expensive market research, organizing focus groups, or the rest of that tedious garbage. Just ask us what we think and we will tell them what works and what doesn't.
If not, then we can vote with our money and buy what is best for ourselves.
I sent my email to 7-11 explaining that they will lose my business if they no longer offer the 365 day expiry.
So I say let's have more competition in the business! Keep those guys at Telus and Bell honest by buying Speakout. And keep 7-11 honest by looking seriously at any new competitors. And if you haven't done so already, ditch the Petro Canada phones.
9:55 am
Has anyone found out if the "longer of the 2 expiry's" rule from other carriers is true here too??
Someone mentioned it on page 1, but no-one ever replied or discussed it further..
So if you already have say 10 months left, and you add a $15 topup, do you get to keep your 10 months, or do end up with only 1 month??
I would imagine this is the same here??? if so this would be a good option for alot of ppl..
With Rogers prepaid, if you had a 1 yr card, and add a 30-day card at some point before hitting $0.00 you keep your longer expiry.. I may try it, I need to buy airtime anyways.. not a big deal, if it only gets me 1 month, then next month I'll buy $25 and be good for the rest of summer.. I use about $10/mo anyways, so not a big deal if I wind up having to buy another card next month too..
I will write back with what I find, when I buy my topup in the next couple days.
10:52 am
March 15, 2008
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Has anyone found out if the "longer of the 2 expiry's" rule from other carriers is true here too?? Someone mentioned it on page 1, but no-one ever replied or discussed it further.
Read Johanna, two posts up.
12:20 pm
Johanna said:
...if you load a $15 voucher, all of your minutes will expire in 30 days. ... you're 365 day expiry is canceled and all minutes must be used in 30 days.
If that's what SO is going to do, it's totally insane.
1:12 pm
starter said:
Johanna said:
...if you load a $15 voucher, all of your minutes will expire in 30 days. ... you're 365 day expiry is canceled and all minutes must be used in 30 days.
If that's what SO is going to do, it's totally insane.
No, it's completely logical. If they allowed you to keep the longer expiry time, users would simply buy a $25 voucher to get a year of service and then top up with $15 vouchers whenever they need more airtime. This way, SO provides incentive to buy the original vouchers.
The solution is simple: Don't use the $15 voucher. Easy and painless. 🙂
2:09 pm
October 14, 2008
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starter said:
I also emailed askspeakout@7-11.com telling 7-11 the only reason I'm with SO is the 365 day expiration.
Everyone reading this forum, if you care about the potential change to existing vouchers, please spend a minute or two to send an email to SO.
I totally agree with this. We need everyone email Speak Out, and let their voices be heard.
3:54 pm
March 15, 2008
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We need everyone email Speak Out, and let their voices be heard.
I did that yesterday. Vote early. Vote often 😉
3:06 am
That doesn't really make any sense either. If they wanted to control usage, what's stopping them from coming out with a $15 card with 365 day expiry? Or even better, a $10 card with 365 day expiry?? That's what SO has in the US! You'd still have to buy a refill every month if the child uses up the $15 in less than a month. Sounds like they hired someone who dropped out of their marketing class!
mudskipper said:
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.
12:08 pm
April 23, 2009
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I firmly believe Airtime should be legislated same as gift cards. We've paid money to the company and deserve to receive the service we paid for... No expiry date, ever. Having a company take our money and expire all or some of the amount before it's used is predatory and criminal. Wake up CRTC and recognize this disgraceful business practice for what it is, a cheap money grab that victimizes the consumer ... yeah, fat chance huh...
/rant
1:16 pm
lazyacer said:
I firmly believe Airtime should be legislated same as gift cards. We've paid money to the company and deserve to receive the service we paid for... No expiry date, ever. Having a company take our money and expire all or some of the amount before it's used is predatory and criminal. Wake up CRTC and recognize this disgraceful business practice for what it is, a cheap money grab that victimizes the consumer ... yeah, fat chance huh...
/rant
No expiry??? Man you are asking too much.
2:25 pm
October 21, 2008
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Sure it can happen. You know what else will happen? Companies will increase their monthly fee to make up for it, so EVERYONE will get screwed.
Hypothetically, there would be little difference if a $15 airtime card had a 365 day expiry or no expiry, since the $.99/mth 911 fee would eat it up in 15 months.
lazyacer, when will you realize that everything is a give and take? If customers want additional service (like unlimited expiry dates for airtime cards) then they'll have to give up something in return (like paying more money).
Compared to what else is out there, Speakout is a pretty sweet deal for their customers. Paying a minimum of $25/yr (smallest airtime card that lasts 365 days) for a Canadian phone number and cellular service is really inexpensive compared to other Canadian companies.
(For some reason, it's a lot more expensive to get and maintain a Canadian phone number compared to other countries. Don't know why, call up CRTC if you care to find out)
Even the least expensive VOIP service I've been able to find with a Canadian phone number costs me a minimum of $25 US per year.
6:25 pm
April 23, 2009
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Big Ang said:
the $.99/mth 911 fee would eat it up in 15 months.
that is correct and would be perfectly legit
lazyacer, when will you realize that everything is a give and take? If customers want additional service (like unlimited expiry dates for airtime cards) then they'll have to give up something in return (like paying more money).
um i realize give and take means you pay for something you expect to get something in return.. airtime does not have a shelf life and it doesn't go bad after some artificial date.
since they made it law that gift cards cannot expire they have grown huge because consumer confidence is boosted. Your argument is not logical that they would increase prices because without an expiry it's still your money. (25c/min is 25c/min).
* it's just an opinion and i'm not railing against SO. all airtime providers need to stop this practice. monthly fees should rollover if not used... the whole "use it or lose it" mentality is wrong!
8:26 pm
March 15, 2008
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um i realize give and take means you pay for something you expect to get something in return.. airtime does not have a shelf life and it doesn't go bad after some artificial date.
1. SO's and their carrier have other costs beyond just airtime, including the cost of your phone number, the cost of maintaining your account, the cost of 911 service, etc. Perhaps they can recover those costs entirely from the monthly 911 fee. Perhaps not.
2. You also assume that the airtime they buy from Rogers lasts forever. That may not be the case since presumably Rogers doesn't want them to "bank" airtime indefinitely either.
10:29 pm
Lazyacer is PERFECTLY RIGHT
when he says....
I firmly believe Airtime should be legislated same as gift cards. We've paid money to the company and deserve to receive the service we paid for... No expiry date, ever. Having a company take our money and expire all or some of the amount before it's used is predatory and criminal. Wake up CRTC and recognize this disgraceful business practice for what it is, a cheap money grab that victimizes the consumer .....
So don't feel sorry and don't be fooled by all the sob stories of bankruptcies of big companies or companies need more money to operate... Even when we use the cheapest cell phone company here in Canada and/or the USA, we are paying more than DOUBLE compared to almost all the other countries in the world. And yet the cell phone companies in other countries are making millions $$. The COMPANIES here ALSO make millions $$ BUT the owners and execs are just GREEDY for MORE!!
Bankruptcies of big companies are engineered to make the executives and the owners RICHER by many more million $$!!! The is a big difference between the COMPANY and the EXECUTIVES and OWNERS!!! After gouging their customers, they engineer their own bankruptcies to gouge us a SECOND TIME as taxpayers getting govt bailouts and stimulus package $$.
20-yr or 30-yr workers lose their pension savings and people who bought shares in the companies lose ALL their money. Where did all the $$ go? THey go to all the execs over a few 3 or 4 years period... even to the CEO who says his smokescreen salary is only $1 a year!! BUT what he did not mention is he gets millions $$ more in perks, travel expenses, living expenses, personal executive jets, blah blah the list NEVER ends!! and even when they get government bailout and stimulus $$, they also use the govt $$ to pay themselves BONUSES of hundreds of million $$ more!! You have read the news in websites or on newspapers, you have heard the TV and radio and you know all the company $$ goes to them leaving NOTHING for the company to carry on its business!!!
So DON'T BE FOOLED.... LAZYACER IS RIGHT!!!
