I went over my data limit last month by .01 GB or 10 MB. When my plan was automatically "updated", as is their new policy, I went online to check my account and see how much I went over - my plan is for .5 GB each month and the total was .51 GB. This happened on the last day of my billing cycle, October 9th. I contacted CC customer service, received a reply, rechecked my usage online and verified it as .51 GB. Sent another email to CC (below) and asked why, if they have a buffer (they do, which is good) why am I being charged? Their answer is below my email.
Gregory Ritz
Oct 11, 16:57 PDT
This is what it shows on my account for data usage from 9/10/16 to 10/9/16 (direct from my account information on the site):
Data Usage โ 0.51 used of 1.50 GB (this was cut/pasted from their website)
From what I see this would 510 MB based on the conversion from .51 GB to MB.
Can you explain where you come up with the 522 MB figure?
Gregory Ritz
Joshua B. (Consumer Cellular)
Oct 12, 08:00 PDT
Hello Gregory Ritz,
Thank you for your reply. I apologize for the continued confusion caused by this situation. I have attempted to contact you by phone, but I was unable to reach you. I have reviewed your usages and can confirm a total of 522MB, or 0.52GB, was used in this billing cycle. Unfortunately, it appears the total usage amount on your online account may not have updated properly, meaning it is showing a lower usage than it should. However, when adding together all of your usages for the previous billing cycle, the total usage does come to 522MB. If you would like to review this, your usages can be viewed individually through your online account at my.consumercellular.com.
Bottom line, the data listed on their website directly tied to your usage is evidently inaccurate and cannot be taken as gospel, and only the CC customer service has the correct information. Folks, it's "only" $10, but the comparison is startling - say you fill up your car with gas which normally is $30 but today, for whatever reason, it takes $30.50 - so now you must pay $40, even though you only got $30.50 worth of gas! Would you go back to that station?? The telephone companies are playing us with their "data usage" tactics. When you pay for internet access at home, you oay for speed, not quantity. The telephone companies now give us thousands of free minutes, but compensate by quantifying the data you use! Please voice your displeasure at this tactic. They can make it fair by charging you for what you actually use (WOW...WHAT A CONCEPT!) or giving you options for overages that do NOT push your bill higher because their system cannot add.