Problems with overage charges and making account changes on line

Question

I have quite a bit of history involving my attempts to resolve the problem of catching my account before it goes over the minutes allowed and making the changes on line (to cut down on call volume) to change my account to raise the minutes allowed for that billing cycle.  I was given one reason why it didn't work the first time (I didn't print out my confimation proving I made the changes - bit the bullet and paid those charges) and so the second time wanting to avoid the problem from the first time I made sure I printed out my confirmation.  The confirmation had an effective date of change of 07/19/2012 the day I was informed I was nearing my allowed minutes.  There were only 4 or 5 maximum days left in that billing cycle so I wanted to nip the problem in the bud and make the changes to my account to be made "that" day.  My confirmation said the changes were effective 07/19/2012.  In plently of time before that billing cycle ended.  Again I was told I did something wrong.  This time I'm holding my confirmation in my hand even as the person is telling me again I did it wrong.  The purpose Verizon wants it's customers to use the available on-line option is to cut down on their call volume.  I didn't go to school to get the knowledge apparantly needed to perform these particular tasks in a manner that is acceptable to Verizon.  Has anyone else had problems with trying to fix their problems themselves using Verizons "helpfull" on-line choice?

Answer 1

I have an explanation for you by what was meant by "you did it wrong."
When you make a change effective the date you are requesting it and not at the start or end of your billing cycle, your minute usage for that month is pro-rated.
For example, you say you made a change, because you were nearing your allowance limit, on 7/19/2012 and wanted it effective that day with 5 days left in the billing cycle. Lets assume that your allowance is 700 minutes/month and you were at 675 minutes for that month(still under your monthly allowance). If you make a change effective with 5 days left in your billing cycle to the 1400 minute/month allowance, your allowance for the 1st 25 days of your cycle will have been pro-rated to (25/30) * 700 = 583 minutes. This would mean you would have already had an overage of 92 minutes for the 1st 25 days of the month. Additionally, you would have a pro-rated allowance to use the last 5 days of (5/30) * 1400 = 233 minutes. This is how the pro-rating works when you make a change effective during the middle of your billing cycle.
What you need to do next time to avoid these overage charges is to make the change effective at the beginning of your current billing cycle. So if you had made the change on 7/19/2012, but your billing cycle ended on 7/24/2012(5 days later), you should have made the change effective at the beginning of your current billing cycle, or 6/24/2012. This is called backdating the change. In this instance, you would have received a credit on you account for the cost of the 700 minute plan and been charged the full amount for the 1400 minute plan on your next bill, which I believe is a net additional charge of $10 and you would have had the use of 1400 minutes for throughout the entire month. In this example, you would not have had any overage with your 675 minutes during the 1st 25 days of your cycle and would have been able to use 725 minutes over the last 5 days of your billing cycle. This is much better than the overage charge you would receive with 92 overage minutes @ $0.45/minute = $41.40.
I hope this explains it.