Skinny auto renew plan

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Skinny auto renew plan

Lemming

73 posts

Master Geek

#312655 5-May-2024 09:25

Hello, We recently purchased a 4G tablet for my father while he is in hospital. Threw a skinny sim in and grabbed a $40 endless data plan. All worked well.

Earlier this week, I knew was due to roll over, so checked that the plan was set to auto renew, and loaded $40 on the account. Got a text to confirm that, but when the plan went to auto renew recieved a text saying not enough money to renew, and went back to standard rates. This happend while I wasn't there so missed. Then proceeded to chew through the $40 in a couple of days..

What is likely to have happened here ?? Im waiting on a facebook chat to talk to someone at Skinny as seems no real support out of week days, so thought would through up here to see if is a known issue ?

Surely the plan with endless data is current up to the point it renews ?

huckster

842 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3226602 5-May-2024 09:41

I have a similar issue with my MIL. She often sends MMS - TXT with pictures and they take $0.50 off the account and boom.

So it always has an extra few $s in the account.

Whether this happened to you, don't know.

If you can log in to the portal, you may be able to find such a charge.

Eva888

2428 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3226603 5-May-2024 09:44

This happens when the credit to top up the plan isn’t loaded before the renewal date. They always send a text telling you when it will renew and there’s not enough money in the account and that’s when you need to add credit.

If you add credit AFTER the cut off date it goes to expensive standard rates UNLESS you top up with credit PLUS again buy the plan you want. It’s a two step process, add credit, buy a plan.

In most hospitals he will have access to free wifi so make sure he is connected.

Lemming

73 posts

Master Geek

#3226604 5-May-2024 09:52

Credit was added a day before the date of renewal.. I'll have a scratch back and see if I can find a charge..

Eva888

2428 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3226606 5-May-2024 10:15

It should all be time stamped in the App when each step was taken and when the renewal messages were sent.

Lemming

73 posts

Master Geek

#3226609 5-May-2024 10:52

Looks like this was the culprit..

02/05/2024 at 03:15

3876

Message

$0.20

NZD

What is 3876 ? I dont believe it was an outgoing message / call ?

Lemming

73 posts

Master Geek

#3226611 5-May-2024 10:56

Nvm.. looks like I've been googled.. was a device verification text..On top of that, Skinny decided they wont talk to me about it as its my dads device lol..

Lesson learnt, I'll wait for the plan to expire before topping up / renewing.

Jase2985

13457 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3226621 5-May-2024 12:47

or just keep an extra $5 in there, or top up with an extra couple of dollars to make sure.

skinny make it harder to verify the person on the phone than a bank or insurance company does.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

huckster

842 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3226637 5-May-2024 14:27

I try to keep a few extra $'s on the MIL's phone.

There is probably a way to ensure it works every time with auto-topups and such if it gets below a certain balance. But I've not figured it out/spent time determining how to do it.

farcus

1554 posts

Uber Geek

#3226640 5-May-2024 14:41

huckster:

I try to keep a few extra $'s on the MIL's phone.

There is probably a way to ensure it works every time with auto-topups and such if it gets below a certain balance. But I've not figured it out/spent time determining how to do it.

Load a debit / credit card for the auto top ups. That way you can comfortably leave the account balance at $0 preventing unwanted charges

nicmair

244 posts

Master Geek

#3226702 5-May-2024 17:08

While I do like the Skinny services in general, I also find them the most frustrating to deal with when your name isn't on the account!!! lesson was learnt a while back when I created 4 Skinny mobile accounts in family members name, did ports and wife’s failed, (of course it had to be the wifes!) they would not talk to me, so handed phone wife, who was asked questions she had no ideas of the answers to, (as I had done the setup), without asking, so we had fun and games for a while just to prove the point...
To get Skinny to talk to you, just call them from the hospital, and get your Dad to say talk to my son, works a treat from then on.

Jase2985

13457 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3226739 5-May-2024 20:18

nicmair:

While I do like the Skinny services in general, I also find them the most frustrating to deal with when your name isn't on the account!!! lesson was learnt a while back when I created 4 Skinny mobile accounts in family members name, did ports and wife’s failed, (of course it had to be the wifes!) they would not talk to me, so handed phone wife, who was asked questions she had no ideas of the answers to, (as I had done the setup), without asking, so we had fun and games for a while just to prove the point...
To get Skinny to talk to you, just call them from the hospital, and get your Dad to say talk to my son, works a treat from then on.

Got a SIM for my 11-year-old and set it up, they wanted him on the phone to go through the verification to link it to my account.

You serious skinny?

outdoorsnz

674 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3226913 6-May-2024 11:15

nicmair:

While I do like the Skinny services in general, I also find them the most frustrating to deal with when your name isn't on the account!!! lesson was learnt a while back when I created 4 Skinny mobile accounts in family members name, did ports and wife’s failed, (of course it had to be the wifes!) they would not talk to me, so handed phone wife, who was asked questions she had no ideas of the answers to, (as I had done the setup), without asking, so we had fun and games for a while just to prove the point...
To get Skinny to talk to you, just call them from the hospital, and get your Dad to say talk to my son, works a treat from then on.

You could just do a online chat and answer the dob etc questions they will ask you to verify you are the correct person. But it pays to have a few dollars left over in the account to avoid top up issues due to voice mail charges.

nova

250 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#3227043 6-May-2024 15:04

To the OP, you should be able to use the "Set and Forget" payment option, this charges the payment method with the plan fee at renewal time

allan

2043 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3227147 6-May-2024 17:47

nova:

To the OP, you should be able to use the "Set and Forget" payment option, this charges the payment method with the plan fee at renewal time

^^^
This - but still a good idea to keep a few $ in the account balance to cover off things like voicemail access (not free on Skinny), premium SMS replies etc.