$3 monthly charge on bill for a nano sim?

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Loismustdye

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#154376 26-Oct-2014 09:58

Checked my spark account bill today, and noticed there is a $3 monthly charge for a nano sim/mobile number that I don't use.
I have an iPhone 5s from 7 months ago on 24 months int free on the account, and a nano sim came with it. That sim has been given to my wife to use in my old iPhone 5. She has ported her old number onto this card (prepay) whilst I have kept my old nano sim.
My question is: should there be a monthly charge for a spark number(that isn't being used)/nano sim that came with the phone? And if there should how do I go about getting this charge canceled as the number it comes with is not in use.
There is an associated 15 free minutes on that phone number, but as this number is effectively deactivated due to my wife's number being ported onto it it doesn't get used.

Any ideas?
Cheers

michaelmurfy

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#1162290 26-Oct-2014 10:13

It'll be an "OneBill" SIM, whilst Spark stated at first they were not charging for these they then changed their mind mid last year to start charging. If you've used it for deferred payments you'll find that it states in the T&C's the deferred payments is supposed to be loaded against the number that the device is going to be used with. If you've "cheated the system" by creating a OneBill plan and loading the deferred payments against that then really you should be using that SIM in the iPhone 5S as per your T&C's.

Just think of it as if you had loaded the deferred payments against the number used with the phone you wouldn't be in this scenario and it'll be really "interest free" but now you're having to pay for a plan you don't use :)

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Loismustdye

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#1162314 26-Oct-2014 11:56

thanks for the reply.

When I got the phone i stated clearly it was for the existing Combined account that consisted of my pre-existing mobile plan, and landline/Broadband account.

When I view the bill now I see the deferred payment is loaded against the unused number and not the pre-existing mobile account/number.

So am I stuck forever paying $3 a month for a non-existant phone number on a nano-sim thats been reassigned?
Or does it stop when the 24 months (or when I pay off) are up?
Or do I need to get a blank nanosim for my wife for her prepay account to be transferred over onto to effectively make the nano sim "unused"?

Its only $3 which in the scheme of things is neither here or there, but I'm more concerned about having a perpetual charge on my account of $3 a month for something that doesnt really exist.

Loismustdye

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#1162316 26-Oct-2014 11:59

I've had the interest free thing on my account once or twice before this with my existing home account and mobile and not had the additional charge even when I had to get a nano-sim for the previous iphone 5.

michaelmurfy

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#1162318 26-Oct-2014 12:03

You can disconnect it however it'll charge the full amount to you.

Stu

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#1162337 26-Oct-2014 12:25

The $3 charge has only been around for a few months. They give you 15 minutes of calls for that $3. Only got one number on OneBill now but that might go too as it's just a SIM for data when we go away at Christmas and the 15 minutes of calling is of no use to me.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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Loismustdye

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#1162338 26-Oct-2014 12:30

Ok, thanks for that.
Cheers

kharris

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#1163784 28-Oct-2014 17:12

My partner has the same thing on her account but does not use the SIM (she wanted to keep her original number). Does anyone know when the $3 charge will stop? Presumably it wont go on for ever?

Kirk

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Stu

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#1163803 28-Oct-2014 17:23

The $3 charge is for the privilege of having the number on OneBill. The charge will stay until you either move to prepay or on account, port to another provider or disconnect the number.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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kharris

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#1163805 28-Oct-2014 17:27

BigHammer: The $3 charge is for the privilege of having the number on OneBill. The charge will stay until you either move to prepay or on account, port to another provider or disconnect the number.

Ok so presumably once she has paid off the phone in full we can disconnect the number with no charge.

Kirk

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#1163812 28-Oct-2014 17:32

Absolutely. Once there's nothing owing on the account there'd be no reason I could think of that you couldn't cancel.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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kharris

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#1163816 28-Oct-2014 17:38

BigHammer: Absolutely. Once there's nothing owing on the account there'd be no reason I could think of that you couldn't cancel.

Wonderful, thanks.

Kirk

jnimmo

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#1164099 29-Oct-2014 08:28

I had this too and believed it to be a breach of contract, so wrote in a complaint and they fixed it kindly.
Maybe this situation was different though, we had ordered an iPhone from the online store, then found that the local Telecom store had one in stock. So cancelled the online order, but apparently it takes a while for it to process or something so they couldn't do the deferred payment on the correct number.

gjen

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#1169975 6-Nov-2014 13:11

I did this with when the Iphone 4S came out and got 12 months deferred payment - no issues... no monthly sim charge as I was using an exisiting corp account. Then did the same when 5s came out in 2013 and no charge.. then noticed this $3 charge around Oct/Nov 2013.. Tried talking to Spark but no luck.. Not sure on the T&C's but like you say you feel out of pocket and annoyed that you have to pay $66 over 24mths to have a phone interest free. You might get 15m of calls but I didn't need it. Would rather contribute those minutes to a charities's mobile plan...