u/CobraChickenNuggets

My daughter (10 years old) has a cellphone which I pay for, and recently she's been needing a bit more data when we're out during summer adventures.

We have auto-pay set up, and it deducted a payment just yesterday for her current plan.

We made the change to her plan today, expecting standard pro-rating practices to apply, and for us to just have to pay the difference for the upgrade. At no point during the transaction was it made clear, that the amount already paid for this billing cycle would become forfeited, and the full amount deducted for the new plan.

They basically stole $21.47.

I tried to deal with customer service through chat, which must be AI based on how the conversation went, as they absolutely refused to give me a reference number or their name for the chat, so I can communicate my dissatisfaction with their lack of customer service skills to their manager. The entire conversation, felt like them just copying and pasting information instead of dealing with the issue directly.

This experience, along with several issues we've had with their services and their app, has made us completely distrust their service, and the parent company Bell Canada.

Going to be reporting this to the CRTC, and I suggest everyone else who is having issues as well, do the same, as we desperately need real competition within the Canadian market, instead of being stuck dealing with the big three monopolies.

With the vast majority of us living either paycheck to paycheck, or close to it, I wanted to provide a bit of life advice which I've been following since the pandemic:

Always stock powdered milk in your pantry.

I was reminded of why I do it this morning, when I needed milk for my morning coffee, and for my cereal.

We're out of our regular milk, money is a bit tight cause we had some extra bills at the end of last month, and I don't want to dip into our reserves, when I might need it for gas. In the past this would have created a dilemma, but instead, 2 cups of cold water, 1/2 cup of powdered milk, and I have skim milk for today and tomorrow.

While it costs a little bit more than regular milk, where it saves you money is during times like this, cause it's shelf stable for years, and always there when you need it.

Doesn't go to waste either, if you bake, as it's great to add to bread dough to make a softer crumb.