ADD-ON packages are advertised as being valid for a period of 30-days but in practice they become virtually unusable as soon as the current billing period expires.
This is because they are always applied After the current months allowance.
This is fair and correct for the month in which the add-on is purchased but is grossly unfair when it rolls over to the next billing period.
I can only use any of the remaining addon allowance if I use ALL of my monthly allowance prior to the expiration date of the addon and if I do achieve that my remaining allowance will plummet to zero when the addon does expire risking unexpected out-of-plan usage charges or forcing me to purchase yet another addon to cover the remainder of the month.
The correct and fair approach would be to treat the rollover of an addon the same as a data rollover and to use it prior to using the current months allowance.
This would allow me to use all of the remaining allowance and still have the whole of the current months allowance to use after the add-on has been used up or expired.
The simple rule should be that the allowance (add-on, data rollover, monthly allowance) with the earliest expiry time should be used first. This would allow users to gain the maximum benefit from all their allowances,
Add-on rollover policy unfair to users
Userlevel 2
Userlevel 6
+6
Hello @MymsMan ,
Welcome to the iD Community and thanks for contacting us with your feedback.
Add-ons, as you've confirmed, are used when all of the current data has been used up.
Prematurely purchasing an add-on/recurring add-on will just mean these are added to a side pot of data and when you've run out, they will kick in.
If the normal data isn't used and refreshes, you would risk losing your add-ons as there is a 30-day timer on this.
We don't support rollover for add-ons as this isn't part of your inclusive data but an additional amount you've purchased.
However, I can see from your point that you just want to make the most of your allowances.
If you have got a recurring add-on and this is not being used up fully, perhaps you can consider monitoring your data and only purchasing one-off add-ons if/when required.
I will pass this on as feedback internally.
Mohammed
Welcome to the iD Community and thanks for contacting us with your feedback.
Add-ons, as you've confirmed, are used when all of the current data has been used up.
Prematurely purchasing an add-on/recurring add-on will just mean these are added to a side pot of data and when you've run out, they will kick in.
If the normal data isn't used and refreshes, you would risk losing your add-ons as there is a 30-day timer on this.
We don't support rollover for add-ons as this isn't part of your inclusive data but an additional amount you've purchased.
However, I can see from your point that you just want to make the most of your allowances.
If you have got a recurring add-on and this is not being used up fully, perhaps you can consider monitoring your data and only purchasing one-off add-ons if/when required.
I will pass this on as feedback internally.
Mohammed
Userlevel 2
Let me explain my situation in more detail,
I have a 500MB monthly data allowance which is normally more than adequate but I went away on a two week holiday with limited wif-fi access that spanned my billing date (20th) so on the 12th I purchased a 500MB data addon since I didn't know exactly how much data I would use but that it should be adequate to cover the remainder of my holiday.
My June bill shows that I had only used 150Mb of the add-on leaving, I thought, 349MB to cover the rest of the holiday.
I was therefore shocked to check my id online account to find that my current monthly data use is supposedly 441.82MB, far in excess of what I was expecting based on my previous months usage, and far in excess of the 292MB being reported by my phone's statistics.
Even worse all of this usage has been taken from my currents months usage and none from the remaining add-on data.
If I had a rollover of normal data allowance that would have been used up first so it was only logical to expect that the unused portion of the add-on would be used prior to the new months data allowance.
It was only after discovering it wasn't working as expected that I explored the FAQs and discovered Id's perverse and unfair add-on usage policy, it was not made clear on the add-ons purchase page where it just says they last a month rather than more honestly saying that effectively they only last until the end of the billing period.
As it stands I face having no data allowance at all left for the 8 days after the add-on expires on the 12th rather than having more than enough to last until the end of the billing period.
This is grossly unfair
(I don't have any recurring add-ons - they seem particularly bad value for money)
I have a 500MB monthly data allowance which is normally more than adequate but I went away on a two week holiday with limited wif-fi access that spanned my billing date (20th) so on the 12th I purchased a 500MB data addon since I didn't know exactly how much data I would use but that it should be adequate to cover the remainder of my holiday.
My June bill shows that I had only used 150Mb of the add-on leaving, I thought, 349MB to cover the rest of the holiday.
I was therefore shocked to check my id online account to find that my current monthly data use is supposedly 441.82MB, far in excess of what I was expecting based on my previous months usage, and far in excess of the 292MB being reported by my phone's statistics.
Even worse all of this usage has been taken from my currents months usage and none from the remaining add-on data.
If I had a rollover of normal data allowance that would have been used up first so it was only logical to expect that the unused portion of the add-on would be used prior to the new months data allowance.
It was only after discovering it wasn't working as expected that I explored the FAQs and discovered Id's perverse and unfair add-on usage policy, it was not made clear on the add-ons purchase page where it just says they last a month rather than more honestly saying that effectively they only last until the end of the billing period.
As it stands I face having no data allowance at all left for the 8 days after the add-on expires on the 12th rather than having more than enough to last until the end of the billing period.
This is grossly unfair
(I don't have any recurring add-ons - they seem particularly bad value for money)
Userlevel 6
+6
Hello @MymsMan
Thanks for clarifying this for us.
Whilst I can completely understand where you're coming from, our FAQ's do make you aware of this which can be easily found if you did want more information on how add-ons work.
I have, as advised above, ensured that your feedback was sent across to be taken on board.
Is this the first time you've purchased an add-on for your account?
Mohammed
Thanks for clarifying this for us.
Whilst I can completely understand where you're coming from, our FAQ's do make you aware of this which can be easily found if you did want more information on how add-ons work.
I have, as advised above, ensured that your feedback was sent across to be taken on board.
Is this the first time you've purchased an add-on for your account?
Mohammed
Userlevel 2
Is this the first time you've purchased an add-on for your account?
Mohammed
Yes, it is my first and hopefully last add-on purchase.
I intend to upgrade to a package that supports data roll-over which should avoid the need for add-ons in the future. I assume that I can choose any of the plans listed on the 'Change my plan' list
Thanks for listening to the feed back
I happened to look at the mobile pages of my land line supplier PlusNet and for their equivalent of add-ons they say
BOLT-ONS
Having a busy month? We have a range of bolt-ons available so you can top-up your allowance until your next plan refresh date
This is a more accurate and less confusing way of describing how add-ons actually works in practice,
The problem with add-ons is that it is difficult to predict how much extra allowance you will need and to buy sufficient but not too much that can't be used and is wasted.
An alternative way of handling add-ons would be to remove the expiry date and allow the add-on allowance to be a long lasting reserve that can be used as and when needed to protect against accidentally exceeding an allowance an incurring out-of-plan charges
Userlevel 6
+6
Hello @MymsMan ,
If you change over to a new plan, you should see that the new plans advise during plan change of what features are included. It should list Data Rollover included in this.
If you to change tariffs to a plan that includes Data Rollover, you need to be on the plan for at least 30-days before this kicks in.
I have PM'ed you with some information, can you take a look at this?
Mohammed
If you change over to a new plan, you should see that the new plans advise during plan change of what features are included. It should list Data Rollover included in this.
If you to change tariffs to a plan that includes Data Rollover, you need to be on the plan for at least 30-days before this kicks in.
I have PM'ed you with some information, can you take a look at this?
Mohammed
Userlevel 2
On the 2nd of
I was therefore shocked to check my id online account to find that my current monthly data use is supposedly 441.82MB, far in excess of what I was expecting based on my previous months usage, and far in excess of the 292MB being reported by my phone's statistics.
Nearly two weeks ago when I started this thread my usage for the month was reported as 441MB which gradually increased to 471MB over the period,
Today I was therefore surprised to see that my usage now show as
You've already used: 331.66MB
A decrease of 140MB
How is this possible?
Both figures are from the web browser using my home wifi connection and so are not subject to the 50MB additional usage reported by the mobile App when using mobile data.
Users rely on receiving accurate usage data to allow them to plan if and when they need to purchase add-on packages
Nearly two weeks ago when I started this thread my usage for the month was reported as 441MB which gradually increased to 471MB over the period,
Today I was therefore surprised to see that my usage now show as
You've already used: 331.66MB
A decrease of 140MB
How is this possible?
Both figures are from the web browser using my home wifi connection and so are not subject to the 50MB additional usage reported by the mobile App when using mobile data.
Users rely on receiving accurate usage data to allow them to plan if and when they need to purchase add-on packages
Userlevel 6
+6
Hello @MymsMan ,
We can advise of dates and times of usage (which will also be shown on your itemised bills).
We cannot confirm what this was used for.
Message us via the links provided in PM for us to look at your account further.
Mohammed
We can advise of dates and times of usage (which will also be shown on your itemised bills).
We cannot confirm what this was used for.
Message us via the links provided in PM for us to look at your account further.
Mohammed
11 months later, no change, no taking it on board. Have just come across a new boost thingy which sounds like your suggestion with a 36 month expiration. Add ons are not clear in the FAQ's. Why would we going looking for clarity on something that should be straightforward? I purchased 1gb add on last month because I was at work without WiFi. For the last 2 weeks, I have been under the impression that I needed to use all my data from the add on before the expiration. NAEVELY not realising that they were effectively steeling my allowance for this month. I have paid for all my data and I should be given the chance to use it. I hope ID does see this as even a year down the line, they are still treating their customers unfairly. It does not seem to be regulated and something needs to be done about it. I now have no data for the next 17 days, a 60p charge for apparently going into my capped limit, and oh yeah, 474mb is going to be stolen at midnight tomorrow! Really not happy. I have 3 phones with ID. I am going to have to change this. It beggars belief.
Add ons are shocking. If you buy one, you get conned into a vicious cycle of needing another one. Not me!!!
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