Any way to stop nagging messages every time account tops $100?

[MsBarrows]

I don't have a credit card so I pay for my phone service through topping up the account balance on my phone at intervals, and having my monthly Nationwide Talk-and-Text $15 set up to draw from that balance. A few times now I've been just over $100 total on the balance (because $100 covers 6.67 months of service), and have then been faced with nagging messages about the balance until the next payment went out. It's extremely annoying, because it doesn't just happen at the point that I do the top up, it continues nagging at intervals until the next payment is withdrawn and the balance drops again. And it's not like I can look at my current balance and then top up to exactly $100, because there's only fixed top up amounts allowed.

I just topped up on Monday (four days ago) while I was handy to a post office, and am now at a balance less than a couple dollars above $100. I've already been told twice in that time to have a monthly plan - WHICH I ALREADY DO - and that I'll be forcibly given a plan if the balance ever tops out over $150 (which is extremely unlikely because I don't put in that much money).

Should this auto-nag feature not at least be checking whether or not the account in question HAS a plan before nagging them? My only other guess is that since I initially signed up for the Talk & Text $100 prepaid plan (only to discover, once I was elsewhere in the province for a few weeks, that it was for local minutes only... wtf...) that my account is incorrectly flagged as still being on that style of plan, rather than being on a monthly one. In which case who do I need to contact to get that fixed? Because I tried phone support last time this happened, and they were unable to do anything, witness me getting messages again this week (with most of a month still to go before the next regular withdrawal... argh...).

[polecat]

@MsBarrows  There is no long distance on basic prepaid plans. Ld is an ad on that you have put money to it. Have your $30 monthly paid from your bank automaticaly. No card needed. Then you will have to put money  on account for ld. I have $100/365 ---data shut off ---- i put $ 50 on that account to cover the ld 2 years ago. There is $ 39 left on the account it stays on the account from one top up for the $100/365 one year to the next The messages you get are computor generated. You best get a hold of billing only they can change the account. Tip i top up the 365 account and yes each time you are on a new 365 term you loose a few cents because you are on a new account. The sales people can't help you.

[polecat]

@MsBarrows  Every time you up it is a new 30 day term.  I do my 365 ----5 days before end of term the phone is dead on day 366 Your term end changes every year. But the balance stays on the account year after year. We use the texting rarely long distance.

[MsBarrows]

I believe you are misunderstanding my situation. I was originally signed up for the talk & text $100/365 but switched to the national talk & text $15 when I found out it was local calls only (and am still, years later, annoyed at the waste of money the $100 was). I have been on the $15 monthly plan ever since. I am aware that the messages are computer generated, but clearly they are either improperly set up (not checking for whether or not the account already has a monthly plan) or my account is incorrectly flagged due to starting out on the other plan. I was not speaking to sales people to try and get it fixed; I was on the phone with technical support. Thanks for trying, but your answer is addressing the wrong things 🙂

[polecat]

@MsBarrows We don't use ld only  text when on the road. The little #3 on $15 add says at the end says taxs --ld---xtra air time ---pay per use---  are extra.  I guess after you have use up the package minutes before that happens.  So $100 is  better buy for me because we have no need to use ld . I read it as extra seperate from the $15 month. All ld is on house phone cell safety on road only. $500 for 5 years better than $900 for our needs. Sometimes wording in adds is misleading at first  glance

[MsBarrows]

Yeah, I barely use the phone either, I went without a cell phone for years when my previous one died shortly after moving back home with my aging dad, who had a land line. After he died we decided to do away with the land line since I barely used it and my brother has an iphone. Mostly I just have it to be reachable and for emergency use, texting, two factor authentication, and the very rare time I actually need to make a voice call. I do go visit family elsewhere in the province occasionally, and then it can see a lot of use in a month. Annoyingly that counts as long distance since I'm out of my home area, so the $100/365 plan wasn't really any use to me once I found that out. Otherwise it would have been perfect for how little I usually use a phone.

[Olivdowhun]

Solidarity with you. It's like constant reminders of balance, like a perpetual squirrel in a wheel. I don't know how they do things in their program, but why can't they just understand that I have a monthly plan? Every time the bill approaches, this circus begins. Recently, I even considered pay by phone, although real money is more familiar to me. It seems convenient, and when I wanted to play, I read review that everyone is switching to this option now. But even if there's automatic payment, I'm not sure the messages will disappear. Maybe they should add an option to turn off these notifications for those with a monthly plan. That would be reasonable, wouldn't it?