Friday, October 26, 2007

I made a mistake

In an effort to adjust to a decrease in child tax credits, etc. etc. etc., we are going through our expenses and re-budgeting.

About a year ago we switched to a cell phone from SaskTel and we moved to a $25  per month plan with them, less than we had with our old company. Well, lately I've been looking at the minutes we've been using with the cell phone, and they range from 10 minutes one month, to 30 in another month. We use it mostly to be reachable to family members and it's great for that. But my plan allows for 150 weekday minutes, evenings and weekends free.

So, obviously I am over minuted.

Then I check my mobility bill and see that they tack on a $6.95 administrative fee, a 411 fee, a 911 fee, and every minute long distance to or from the phone cost an extra .25, and pst and gst taxes. Sheesh, most bills are $35 to $40! For 10 or 20 minutes a month!!

So, if you are still following me, I might as well be buying swamp land in Florida on a monthly basis!

I found out that President's Choice offers me a phone that charges .20 cents a minute, anytime. Thats like $2 for ten minutes, $6 for thirty. Even if you add the extra long distance fees it's still a HUGE savings.

To buy my way out of my contract costs $10 a month for the two year plan, and because I use SaskTel for my home phone and internet, they usually take another $10 off each month so that if I quit them, my costs go up $20 a month.

I feel a bit like I'm in a bad relationship I can't get out of. I can't even say "It's not you, it's me" because it isn't me, it's them!

But of course it is me. I decided to sign with them, I decided to give them a chance. And I made a mistake.

I may have to bite it, suck it up, and learn from my mistake. I just don't want to make another mistake, and get another bad deal.

I think I mostly hate feeling like I've been duped.

But at least I'm learning. Slow but sure, I'm learning.

6 comments:

  1. Here is an idea. Switch over to webcall.ca for your home phone. Carol and I have been using it for a year. You can get a Prince Albert phone number, it costs $15.95 a month, you can call about a dozen cities in Canada for free, and you get caller id, voice mail etc... The service is from Sasktel and it works really well. It isn't as completely reliable as the regular phone service but it works perfectly the vast majority of the time.

    Plus did you know you can sue the cell companies for than 6.95 administration fee? sign up for the class action law suit!
    http://www.merchantlaw.com/cellular.html

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  2. I did a little digging. PC Mobile's coverage in Saskatchewan is analog and not digital. Unless you keep your phone turned off except to make a call you are probably better off avoiding the service. With analog coverage your battery will run out in 8 or 12 hours.

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  3. Hey, thanks LT.

    Maybe i won't go from the frying pan into the fire.

    and i heard about that law suit. It's tempting!

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  4. $10/mo ld plan on sask tel gets you $.10/min even and weekends. Its what we did for Meagan and U of S. Now do you know who Lindy is?

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  5. ld plan on sask mob not sask tel

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