Why am I charged a month in advance, for a simple change in my data plan?

[robereg]

Why am I charged a month in advance, for a simple change in my data plan -- from 10gb to 20gb?  On my last bill, I was refunded $80 for the 10gb plan, and charged $140 for my new 20gb plan.  That I understand.  But why am I charged another $140 for an advanced payment on that 20gb plan?  (In the end, I'm being asked to pay $200 for last month, even though the 20gb plan is only $140.)  I'm not a new customer -- been one for 20 years.

[Weth]

Every bill is payment in advance of the next month, plus any extra fees for the usage in the last month. Your are not being charged $200 for the month.

The refund of $80 is the price you paid last month for the 10 GB plan you switched and did not use.  Instead you had 20 GB for that month in the past and so you are charged $140 to make up for the previous month where you changed from 10 GB to 20 GB.

Then on that same bill is the charge you would have gotten anyway for $140 for the next months 20GB

It all adds up, no extra charges. The key to understanding is that every bill is for the next month, not the month that already went by.

[robereg]

Thanks for the response, Weth, but I still don't understand. You said that I would have gotten a charge for $140, anyway.  That's not true.  I paid the $140, already (instead of the $80).  Why am I forced to pay the next month, in advance?  Per the Verizon rep I chatted with, that extra $60 I have to pay ($140+$140-$80=$200, or $60 above the $140 I paid for the 20gb plan) for last month is a one-time charge that I will never get back.

This is from my bill:

Account Monthly Charges

Previous Plan MORE EVERY UNL Tlk TXT 10GB Refund 03/04 - 04/03 -80.00 $80.00 per month / full month refunded

New Plan MORE EVERY UNL TLK&TXT 20GB 03/04 - 04/03 140.00 $140.00 per month / full month on new plan

Month in Advance MORE EVERY UNL TLK&TXT 20GB 04/04 - 05/03 140.00

I never have that "Month in Advance" charge.  I only incurred it, because I increased my GBs.  That is an net extra charge of $60.  Where does that $60 go?

[rcschnoor]

Every bill you have ever paid to Verizon is for a month in advance.

It is now 4/7 and you are receiving a bill for service from 4/4 thru 5/3. Is this the normal time you receive your bill? If so, that means you received a bill for a month of service(3/4 thru 4/3) for your old data plan of 10 GB a month ago, or approximately on 3/6. This means you received a bill for service from 3/4 thru 4/3 on 3/6. How is THAT not being billed for a month in advance when you are now complaining about being billed a month in advance for service from 4/4 thru 5/3 on 4/6. It is the EXACT SAME.

[rcschnoor · Accepted solution]

Let's break this down a bit more.

robereg wrote:

This is from my bill:

Account Monthly Charges

Previous Plan MORE EVERY UNL Tlk TXT 10GB Refund 03/04 - 04/03 -80.00 $80.00 per month / full month refunded

Verizon is refunding your ENTIRE payment for data for the month from 3/4 thru 4/3 for your old data allowance rate of $80 for 10 GB. You paid this LAST MONTH, IN ADVANCE meaning you have NOW not yet paid for that month of service since the full amount has now been refunded to you.

robereg wrote:

New Plan MORE EVERY UNL TLK&TXT 20GB 03/04 - 04/03 140.00 $140.00 per month / full month on new plan

Verizon is NOW charging you for the month of service from 3/4 thru 4/3 at your new data allowance rate of $140 for 20 GB. So you have paid a NET of $140 TOTAL for last month's data allowance of 20 GB.

You are now even for the past month. Now on to Verizon's normal billing cycle for this month.

robereg wrote:

Month in Advance MORE EVERY UNL TLK&TXT 20GB 04/04 - 05/03 140.00

Verizon is charging you a month in advance($140) for your 20 GB data allowance. Next month's bill which you will receive on or around 5/6 will be for service from 5/4 thru 6/3. Look at last month's bill you received on or around 3/6. It will be for service from 3/4 thru 4/3. The month before that which you received on or around 2/6 was for service from 2/4 thru 3/3. This bill is no different except you were refunded for last month's amount for your old data allowance and charged the new rate since you changed your allowance mid-month and back dated it to the beginning of the billing cycle so you would have use of the full allowance as to avoid data overages, I assume.

[robereg]

Thank you very much for your help.  What you're saying makes sense, but as I look at my bill, online, I see the following, below.  (Disregard the $250 charge; that was just credited back to me, after I was erroneously charged a disconnection fee.  And yes, I regretfully paid my previous bill late; hence, the $5 late fee.) 

When I look at the bill summary below, it looks as if I'm being charged $350.51 -- with a due date of April 28 -- for service from March 4 to April 3.  Normally, my monthly bill is i that $227 neighborhood.  Imagine my surprise, when I got a bill for $350, when I simply made a $60 upgrade to my data plan.

Bill Period: March 04, 2015 - April 03, 2015

NEED-TO-KNOW INFORMATION | EXPLANATION OF CHARGES

Previous Balance

$477.53

Payments - Thank You	-$227.53

Balance Forward (due immediately)

$250.00

Account Charges and Credits
Includes Late Fee of $5.00	$5.00

Monthly Charges   Important Monthly access charges for new accounts or existing accounts with recent plan changes may reflect a prorated (partial) month's access in addition to charges for your next month of service. Your next month's bill should be closer to what you were expecting provided there are no changes to your account. For more information, Go to Charges by Line.

$270.00

Equipment Charges Includes equipment related charges that were billed to the account at the time of purchase. Equipment includes devices, phones, and accessories.

$54.98

Verizon Wireless' Surcharges and Other Charges & Credits Verizon Wireless Surcharges - Includes charges to recover or help defray costs of taxes and of governmental charges and fees imposed on us by the government. Other Charges and Credits - includes charges for products and services, and credits owing. More Information

$12.64

Taxes, Governmental Surcharges & Fees Includes sales, excise and other taxes and governmental surcharges and fees that we are required by law to bill customers. More Information

$7.89

Total Current Charges Due by April 28, 2015 Includes all charges for your current billing period March 04, 2015 - April 03, 2015. It does not include past due charges or payments posting to the account after the billing period.

$350.51

[robereg]

That all said, rschnoor, if I lower my data plan back down to the $80/10gb plan, today, will I receive a $60 credit on my next bill?  That is: Refund $140 for the old 20gb plan, plus $80 for the new 10gb plan, which would result in a net credit of $60.

[Weth]

The problem with your thinking is you added $60 to your plan last month just completed, and another $60 to your plan for the month coming up. Remember you are always paying for the month coming up. So your bill will be expected to be $120 higher for 1 month, and then $60 higher for every month after that.

[robereg]

Thanks, again, Weth.  So I just changed my plan back to the $80/10gb plan.  Will I get a $60 credit on my next bill?  Can I expect my bill to be $120 lower for 1 month?

[rcschnoor]

robereg wrote:

Thanks, again, Weth.  So I just changed my plan back to the $80/10gb plan.  Will I get a $60 credit on my next bill?  Can I expect my bill to be $120 lower for 1 month?

I would check your account as I doubt you were able to do so. The $80/10 GB plan was promotional and reverted back to the normal $100/10 GB plan in February. Verizon did not take that rate away from anyone, but since you changed your allowance from 10 GB to 20 GB you lost the promotional rate. When you switched back, it is unlikely you were able to get the $80/10 GB rate back, but instead are now on the $100/10 GB allowance.

Additionally, you would only get the credit on your next bill IF you make the switch back in the middle of the billing cycle and had the change backdated to the beginning of the billing cycle. Verizon tries to steer people away from "lowering" their data allowance mid month as it tends to cause overages due to pro-rating, etc..., and instead steer people towards having any changes in allowance to a lower tier take place at the beginning of the next billing cycle. Yes, they will allow people to lower their allowance mid-cycle, but keep an eye out for overages.

[Weth]

robereg wrote:

That all said, rschnoor, if I lower my data plan back down to the $80/10gb plan, today, will I receive a $60 credit on my next bill?  That is: Refund $140 for the old 20gb plan, plus $80 for the new 10gb plan, which would result in a net credit of $60.

If you lowered your plan back to 10 GB, your bill would show

-$140 credit for 20 GB paid for already but not used

+$80 charge for 10 GB for previous month used instead of 20 GB

+80 for charge of 10 GB for month in advance (this is the usual monthly charge)

So you would pay only $20 for data for that month's bill instead of $80.

[robereg]

Weth and rscnoor, you just answered my question in a fraction of the time I spent chatting about this with a Verizon rep, yesterday.  I understand that we're billed a month in advance, but when I saw a new charge on my bill labeled a "Month in Advance" charge, I assumed it was an additional or redundant charge, since that categorization has never been on any of my previous bills.

Alrighty then!  Upward and Onward! 

Thanks for your help.

[Weth]

robereg wrote:

Why am I forced to pay the next month, in advance?

You always pay the month in advance. You just need to adjust for the higher data plan for the previous month.

You keep thinking your bill is for the services you already used. But it is not, your bill is always paying for services coming up the next month. Then you need to adjust for anything that was changed the month prior that you already paid for in advance last month.

[cmbh4d]

Well, im a returning customer and as far as my first bill goes, the different bill cycle dates on all the bills they have on my account i accessed online go back as far a May 11th on one and June 6th on another and a other july 6th, so im so dang confused, i have no idea whats right. I picked up the sim card on July 6th, didnt install and activated till 7/9/19, and was told my first bill would come in 3 weeks with 2 weeks till due date. All garbage. I had the first bill posted a few days after i acticated my BYOF service dated 6/6/19 to 7/5/19 and ive viewed numerous bills online and the more i view, the more i get confused. In all my dealings with service companies, ive never seen such a mess concerning making changes to your service options and/or billing cycle concerning changing the billing start date to have the end date so the bill is due when i have the money coming in to pay it on time plus ive worked with billing systems and i dont knkw what their dont and how their bill processing system works or if the billing staff are using it correctly, but im going to be on the phone a while to get the true facts and get them to send me the complete billing history that produced all these different bills with different cycle start and end dates with charges and and credits. Totally crazy.

[cmbh4d]

I believe they have went down hill in more than one way since i had their service about two years ago. Maybe more later, but it seems to me their hoodwinking people into service options without clear information which apps come with your plan and which are trials that youll be charge when the trial ends, and what trials they enroll you in ay their date of activation, plus download the myverison app downloads some other apps with full functionality and you can blindly stumble into a trial period or billable application service, so be ware what you get into. And the mobile app is not a true mobile app, it simply links you to myverison.com under the verizon.com web site. My observations and analysis of my experience using it from where i suddenly am out or the myverison app on my smart phone and on verison.com self purchase menu. Watch their tricks of the the trade closely.

[Advance-Billing-Dept]

The answer is because Verizon can. It’s somewhere in the small print that you (and me) marked as accept so you can continue. It’s called advanced billing not prepaid. Someone missed their calling he/she should be a fiction writer.
If you are paying for service that you still haven’t used it’s called PREPAYMENT. 
OK?

Stop creating terms that already exists. 
i know that Merriam-Webster people should be happy. It gives them a reason to print new edition of the thesaurus.

If you have prepaid - you pay before you service start

If you have real billing - you have a month of service at the end of which bill is generated and then you have 20 days to pay. So about 50 days from the start of the service.

VERIZON ADVANCE BILLING - you will get a bill generated at the moment your number is ported. Which is due in 20 days but if you choose automatic payment you can’t schedule it for the last day. It has to be 3 days in advance. So in reality you get 17 days to pay from the start of the service.

And then everything is ADJUSTED next “bill”

Hmmm. OK

Everyone wants to get his money in advance right?