Globe: To Renew or Not to Renew

In a couple of weeks, my two-year contract with Globe will end. During that time, I will have to make a choice between renewing the contract and get the reward phone for being a loyal customer, or I can lose the number and go back to being a prepaid customer.

I tried weighing my options, if I renew the All-consumable plan that I signed up for two years ago, I will most likely get a new phone, keep paying PhP 999 every month, and call and text anybody as long as I don't go beyond the credit limit given to me. Plus, with the plan I got, I get 6 hours worth of free surfing and some free texts to other networks.

Now if I go back to prepaid, I will lose my number, lose the 6 hours worth of free surfing, and I won't be able to call or text anybody anytime if I don't get myself prepaid credits. But get this, with Globe's GoSakto promo, basically I can get myself 500 minutes for calling Globe and TM subscribers and 1000 text messages to all networks, and that'll last me 30 days too.

Here's a screenshot from Globe's GoSakto page.


Based on my previous bills, I consume approximately only 88 minutes of voice calls, and 513 text messages to all networks.

Here's a summary of my Feb-Mar bill. Globe updated their billing system and I got a really nice surprise with it.

Click to enlarge
Yes, that's actually PhP36,000 worth of KB browsing charges, I got charged a little over  PhP 2,000 for 20MB worth of data and P34,000 for 200MB. Globe says the charges are valid, but I definitely thought I was using the six hours worth of free surfing every month that I got for signing up.

This conversation definitely disappointed me.

Click to enlarge
Really? I've been paying PhP 999.00 (plus extra for data charges) for the past 23 months thinking my freebies were fully activated and now I find out A MONTH BEFORE my contract's due to renew that they only gave me three hours? I think I need those extra charges taken off or those hours credited to my account. I missed out on 23 x 3 = 69 free hours, dammit!

Now, I'm not the type to blow up on customer service, since I came from that too. Thing is, Globe's billing system is not real-time and people usually have to guess how much they owe Globe so they could pay on time. I assumed I wasn't going beyond my monthly 6 hours so I would pay PhP 1,000 every month.

Click to enlarge
Here's what I'm supposed to be paying for February-March.
But I'll have to pay this.
I was really thinking about renewing the contract and getting the Blackberry Z10, but I guess I got bigger problems than getting another smartphone.

My conclusion:

I will be terminating my contract, whether or not it's time. I'll just pay the termination fee. I'm not uber upset that I want to terminate the contract because of the lost 69 hours. I'm terminating the contract because:

  1. I get too many ads on my postpaid number, only God and Globe knows how those ads actually found my number. It's not even random because my prepaid number hardly get any ads, so I'm guessing their targets are postpaid customers.
  2. I have a waaaay better deal with Globe's GoSakto promo.
  3. Globe's 3G sucks in my area. It's kinda unfair that I get charged so much and I can barely load a page on my phone. Huh.
  4. Credit card companies want their customers to have landline phones, even if their requirement is to have either a landline phone or a postpaid cellphone account.
  5. As the latest bill reflected, I am not responsible enough to keep myself from going beyond my credit limit. Going back to prepaid is the best way to keep my finances in check.



Comments

  1. veronizAugust 3, 2013 at 9:23 AM

    You're doing the right decision Wil! And nganong a month before raman pd tawn cla nagpahibaw oe?

    Btw, di dy pwd mu wait nlang ka until nxt month to terminate pra you won't have to pay the termination fee? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownAugust 3, 2013 at 10:13 AM

      Yup, I waited until the contract terminated, but I still have to pay the bill daw, which by the way I'm still waiting for the final bill, which I hope won't have to come anymore. I was advised that it will come three weeks after termination of services, but still no bill :D

      Delete

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