I've heard that it is better to renew manually.

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Nihilistic1 wrote:

I tried to sign up for auto renewal of my data package to avoid forgetting to renew before the expiration date and losing my rolled over balance. The expiration date is on the 20th, but the auto renewal scheduled itself for the 21st.

1. Would I lose my balance if I relied on the auto renewal?
2. Is your balance lost if you pay on the actual expiration date?
3. Do you have to renew the day before?

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As ilikewireless said, it is suggested to renew manually.  I do so.

Answers:

1. Probably.  The site suggests exactly that.
2. There is the 00:00 hour versus the 24:00 hour expiry question, which is not documented anywhere.  Not willing to test and lose my accrued balance, so better safe than sorry.
3. Yes, probably.  This is what I do, and as the data feature package has rollover balance there is no penalty to renew one day before, anyway..At most you only "lose" one day on each 30-day cycle but that is noise.

I set my calendar on my phone and desktop to remind me on the 29th day, so I cannot be remiss and lose my balance.

 

Hope that helps.

Although auto renewal can be a convenient way to renew your phone automatically, I would also suggest to renew your data package manually. Just be sure to remember the date, or, as OnlytheShadowKnows suggested, make a calendar date of when to refill again so that you do not forget.

Here are the particulars re: exactly when a feature package expires from at&t's website GoPhone plan terms information:

 

Feature Packages: Packages are available for 30 days, as long as your account balance is not expired. Balance expiration is determined by date associated with your refill denomination. If your account balance expires before the 30th day of the feature package, the package cannot be used (and the remaining time on the package will continue to run) unless you refill your account during the remaining days of the package period. The day you add the package is counted as a full day and counts towards the 30 days. Package expires at 12 am Central Time on day 30. After 30-day package expires or package is depleted, usage will be charged according to your underlying rate plan.

 

(from http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-plans/pyg-cell-phone-plans.jsp?_requestid=... )

 

As others have stated as well - I renew manually also.  I used the auto feature renewal for months without any issue (and never lost my rollover even though the renewal happened the day following the expiration date); but I had problems with the auto-renewal not functioning at all one month, and so I don't trust it.  I also use the phone calendar date "reminder" method.

Besides the disturbing part of the renew date occuring the day after expiry, I've also experienced the auto-renew setting spontaneously disappearing (and thus losing my balance), so I don't trust it any more and renew manually.

 

Graham

I talked to an AT&T customer service rep. via dialing 611, and she confirmed that the data balance will continue to roll over as long as a refill is made on the actual expiration date (or before). However, she did caution that it's probably better to refill the day before, in case of their system being down, or your internet service going down, or other problems that might prevent the refill in time.

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Nihilistic1 wrote:

I talked to an AT&T customer service rep. via dialing 611, and she confirmed that the data balance will continue to roll over as long as a refill is made on the actual expiration date (or before). However, she did caution that it's probably better to refill the day before, in case of their system being down, or your internet service going down, or other problems that might prevent the refill in time.

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The rep was right; an unused portion of a data package will roll over as long as it is renewed before the expiration date. You spoke with a knowledgeable and informative rep, it seems.

I just thought I would add to the thread. I have been using the auto renewal for data for several months without a problem. Well, today it didn't renew and I had to do it manually with customer service. I didn't lose anything and the new data was added immediately. As I have been warned, "do it manually". Now I will!

Beware Go Phone Data Plan customers. My Go Phone Data Plan that has been auto-renewing for the last 3 months stopped renewing automatically on the 4th month and I lost all my rollover data. After speaking with two customer service agents and a supervisor (Glenda, operator # GD258Y), I was told that the system is setup this way and it's the responsibility of the customer to be aware of this and manually renew on the 4th month (November 20, 2011 to be specific). However, the supervisor could not point me to any documentation that states this. It sounds like AT&T is trying to make a few bucks and increase bandwidth. Some MBA graduate from one of our finest business schools cooked up another good one. Well, I learned my lesson...renew manually.  P.S. My messaging plan has been renewing automatically for years. Although, one does not equate the other.

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vepluma wrote:

...Beware Go Phone Data Plan customers. My Go Phone Data Plan that has been auto-renewing for the last 3 months stopped renewing automatically on the 4th month and I lost all my rollover data. After speaking with two customer service agents and a supervisor (Glenda, operator # GD258Y), I was told that the system is setup this way and it's the responsibility of the customer to be aware of this and manually renew on the 4th month (November 20, 2011 to be specific). However, the supervisor could not point me to any documentation that states this...

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So, you lost all your previous data that should have been rolled over? Of course this does not make sense. What further steps are you going to take, other than renewing manually?

 

As you can see in my previous post when my data did not renew on time, I called and had no poblem having my account brought up to date. Later the same day, I saw the same additional amount had been applied automatically to my account, which was referenced as the scheduled automatic renewal. I did not complain that now I had two equal additions of data to my account, since I felt I probably had either called too soon or there was a delay in their system.

 

I hope you pursue this further and please post your results.

 wdsnls

 

Any suggestions? I already tried to reason with to 2 customer service agents and 1 supervisor (Glenda, operator # GD258Y),who said there was nothing she could after the data package expired. I realized her story was bogus when both customer service agents, on separate calls, said they would take care of it. Then while I was on hold with the first agent, the supervisor told them the system only renews data packages for 2 months and on the 3rd month it stops. When I called back a few minutes later, I asked for the supervisor and Glenda said the system only renews for 3 months and stops on the 4th month. That's when I got angry and asked for her name and operator ID and told her I was going to file a complaint.  However, I'm not sure if it's worth the effort. Hence, this post. Thanks for your reply!

@vepluma: Please follow up and file a complaint, for the good of the community.  It is frustrating when customer service agents make up an answer that seems to fit the facts of the moment, rather than consider the possibility that their company's systems are fallible.  But I cut them some slack because customer service agents are judged (and ultimately fired) on the basis of how many calls they complete per hour, not how good their information is.  The supervisor is a different story.  It is totally unacceptable for a supervisor to make up an answer.  Please follow up and let us know what happens.

I have a theory why data package auto-renewal seems to fail people after a few months.  I, too, had an auto-renewal on Nov. 20 that came too late to roll over my accumulated data balance.  I looked into my account history and noticed that my auto-renewal has been occurring on the same day (the 20th) every month.  Come a month with 31 days (in this case, October), combined with the fact that the renewal date counts as the first day, and my 30-day package was history by the time the auto-renewal happened.  I suspect there may be a 1-day grace period built in to the package rollover expiration, to cut down on customer complaints, but the combination of starting the clock on the renewal day with the 30-day feature/31-day month mismatch, eats the grace day  plus one more.

 

Just a theory.

 

BTW, when I called customer service I was fortunate to have been connected with an agent who took my complaint seriously and credited me $5.  I had only about 20 mb in the bank when I lost it, so I accepted the $ as a reasonable compromise.  Then I went online and cancelled my auto-renewal.

I also lost my balance in November after at least 3 months of successful auto-renewal. That time I figured it must have been my fault so I bought another 500MB. That my balance disappeared again this morning.

 

AT&T should fix this. I cannot understand their rulebook, but it seems like it's deliberately trying to catch out their customers. They send a text reminder, which of course I forgot. They immediately erase the account history so that you cannot figure out what happened.

 

Back in March, I complained to the FCC about this thinly disguised scam. After a lot of work I got a refund and a letter.

 

They agreed that "it could be confusing". But what part of "auto-renewal" don't they  understand?

 

I have now lost over 800MB in total.