Saving Money on AT&T Service Post Facto

My iPhone was bought hastily in September, but in the short amount of time I have owned my phone it has become indispensable to me. It follows me like my shadow and I utilise my apps with great precision often joking with my friends and children saying "I have an APP for that." What I did not realise when I purchased my phone is that I had the $75 worth of phone services plus the data plan. I incorrectly thought that I had the unlimited plan. Fortunately enough my bill for the first month fell within the restricted minutes of 1350. The next month I was shocked when presented with a bill for $460. I went over my 1350 minute limit by 320 minutes @ .35 per minute for in, and out bound calls. I tried to change my behavior and make fewer calls during peak times and more during the free times which are 9p - 6a. Unfortunately for me I did a bang up job, but for AT&T revenue rather than cost savings for me. The latest bill came in at a whopping $650.

I finally got serious and checked the website and saw that for an additional $20 I would have UNLIMITED voice service. I contacted AT&T and said that I wanted to understand why they do not alert people to a better plan when it is obvious that the end-user would save money. Clearly I know the answer, but it had to be asked. So I was generously passed onto someone who really did make my day. She said that since I had upgraded my service plan to unlimited calls the night before, that she would arrange for a WHOPPING credit of nearly $500. Was I happy with her? You bet I was. The funny part is that she was not surprised by the call and clearly deals with lots of people making the same call and request.

So the lesson for those of you with AT&T service, and perhaps other providers, is to call the company if you go way over your allocation and see whether they can work something out. Since I do not happen to have a spare $500 just sitting around, it was a good call, actually a great call.