Upgrading Texting Plan with backdating

[juss]

Hello, I have a question regarding my text message plan.  I'm currently on the Unlimited In/500 Other Messages and have exceeded my monthly allowance by 250+.  I want to upgrade my plan to the Unlimited/1500 other messages.  My billing cycle ends on December 4th.  I've read that people have called in to customer service and had Verizon backdate the plan for the whole month.  My first question is am would I still be able to backdate the plan for this month?  My other question is should I upgrade my plan first on the internet (I cant seem to find a way to backdate the plan on the internet) through My Verizon and then call in and have them backdate the plan or should I upgrade the plan while talking on the phone with the representative?  I really don't want to see a huge bill come in and am wondering whats the best way to insure that I wont incur overage charges.  Thanks for the help!!

[cstrait001]

Yes, Customer Care can backdate your text plan if you call them by the 4th to the $15 1500 out of network messaging plan. They do this all day and quite happily for you If you want to go back to the $10 plan, they can even future date the change to take affect on the 5th, the first day of your billing cycle, so you don't have to call back in.

To answer your second question, no, you don't upgrade your plan online and then call in. Care will take care of everything for you. It's not your plan, per se, that needs upgraded, it's your messaging feature.

[juss]

Ok so I upgraded the messaging feature throught the My Verizon over the Internet to the Unlimited/1500 Out of Network.  When I did this there was no option to backdate or no place to set the effective date of the plan.  That afternoon I checked My Verizon page and it said that my monthly allowance was still 500 other messages.  Later that night when I checked it said it was up to the 1500.  I decided to call in the day after I did the upgrade and make sure everything was backdated and this led to loads of confusion.  I had exceeded my monthly amout during the last billing cycle that had already ended (from Oct. 5 to Nov.4).  First the lady thought I wanted to backdate it to that billing period and said I couldn't do it (which isnt what I wanted in the first place-I had already paid for those overages).  Then I finally got it through that I wanted to backdate it to the start of my current billing period which runs from November 5-December 4.  She still wasnt sure she could do this but she went to check and came back and said she could.  However she said I would be charged twice, which didn't make sense.  At first she made it sound like I would be charged for upgrading my messaging feature over the Internet and charged again for having her backdate it which makes no sense to me.  Then later she said that I would be charged twice for it but that I would receive a ten dollar credit for the deletion of the old messaging plan, and I would be charged two fifteen dollar amounts for the addition of the new plan (as I took it I will be charged for this current month and the next month).  So actually my bill will be ten dollars higher this month then normal if this is how I'm being charged.  I get what she meant but how she explained it got me confused.  I'm thinking I will call in again today to see if I can get someone else explain it.  Thanks for any help

[cstrait001]

How confusing! But it shouldn't have been that way. Sorry to hear about your experience. 

FYI, currently My Verizon doesn't give you option of backdating feature changes like messaging plans. Feature changes can only be done online on the effective date it's added. You must call customer care to backdate features. Plan changes, however, can be backdated online.

From what you related, she was able to backdate your plan from the $10 500/Unlimited M2M Messaging Plan to the $15 1500/Unlimited M2M Messaging Plan for the current billing cycle.

Since VZW bills in advance, on your Nov 4 invoice you were already billed $10 for your messaging plan from Nov 5 to Dec 4. Since she backdated the $15 plan for you, on your next invoice, Dec 4, you will see a refund of $10 from Nov 5 to Dec 4 and then a charge of $15 from Nov 5 to Dec 4 (thus a $5 increase over last month's bill), and you will be billed a month in advance for $15 from Dec 5 to Jan 4.

By backdating the plan to Nov 5, the feature change that you did online will be wiped out on the next bill. It will be as if it never happened, so don't sweat it.

Hope that clears it up.