cell phone providers taking your balance

[citygirl]

I previously had a contract with movistar and if I exceeded my monthly contract minutes, I was charged at the excess rate. I don't think you are allowed to buy the "extra minutes" where you get 2 or 3x the value of the card that you put on. Those are for pay as you go numbers.

In fact, I once went to pay my bill at a movistar store but didn't have the bill with me. I gave them the cash and they accidentally gave me "credit" for that number as opposed to applying it against the bill. So even though I had paid them and had a "credit", my phone was shut off for non-payment. I went right back to the store the next day, they confirmed that the credit was useless with a phone under contract and refunded my money (which I handed right back to them so they could apply it to the bill).

I'm wondering if that is part of the issue here - you were buying these credits that couldn't be used on the phone. I believe they do expire after a certain amount of time.

A verbal discussion is not a legal way to end the contract - it has to be done in writing.

I'm not sure how good your Spanish is but I would go in to the movistar store and speak with them directly to see if you can resolve.

 

[bebero]

I have citizenship in the US and a lifetime visa in Europe, but cannot access even some BBC stations on line.. they do not allow access to people viewing their site in argentina,, same in the US with some political and news sites.

I don't see ho these two facts are related (your visa/citizenship and what you can't access)

All networks do that. You can't access some BBC stations from the US either, and you can't see some latin content in the US. It has to do with networks and when they sell their programming internationally, not with what visa has the person trying to watch (?)

 

[ndcj]

For all prepaid cell services in Argentina (and in most of the world, really), there is usually an expiry date for credit. Movistar is 30 days since your last recharge. It even tells you what the expiry date is when you add the credit.

The same also applies to Movistar's "Control" plans, which are basically like a contracted prepaid with better call rates. This is the type of plan you had if you can add credit. You pay a fee per month, get $X worth of credit to use, and if you don't use it, it goes away and the next month starts. If you exceed the credit, you can recharge and that recharge has a 30 day expiry.

When you move and want a number in a different area code, you don't need to make a new contract, you can just call and change to a new number in the area code you want. Also, this is Argentina. When you want to cancel a service, always get the person who you spoke to's name, as well as a numero de reclamo or numero de tramite.

Like the other posters suggested, both your cell phone and land line are super expensive ways to call internationally anyway. At the least, you'd do well to use a international calling card from your landline, even better is to add some credit to Skype to be able to make calls -- it's a fraction of the cost and the credit doesn't expire.

If neither of these work for you, then you should try and get your land line unblocked for international calling. You may have a problem with a credit default listed in Veraz or something that is preventing them from allowing you to run up a big bill (maybe the unpaid Movistar account, remember Movistar & Telefonica are the same company) -- you should ask them why you can't have international calling. Telefonica has a very low bar to extending credit on landlines.

 

[ndcj]

Another thing about the cancellation. You should go to one of Movistar's oficinas comerciales (not an agent or representative) and write your complaint briefly and concisely in their libro de quejas. If your Spanish isn't great, get someone to write it down for you to copy into the book.

It should be concise, basically "I canceled X service on Y date at office Z with person 1. They said it would be cancelled from Y date but I received three more bills. Please cancel these bills.". They will write to you within I think 14 days with a response. If you don't like the response, you can open a reclamo with the CNC in person or by mail. See here:

http://www.cnc.gov.ar/tramites/tramitedetalle.asp?codigo_tramite=1800#1

The tramite with the CNC you need is a reclamo de Telefonía Móvil por gestiones administrativas - Incumplimiento de solicitud de baja. They take up to three months to respond, but they seem to be reasonably effective. They won't take a complaint without you first having exhausted the complaints procedure of the carrier, which is why you should you need to write in their libro de quejas.

 

[mjackson1946]

I brought a magicjack in the US and brought with me. For $20 a year i make unlimited calls to the US. Really is a savings for me

 

[Ashley]

The 30 day expiry date is pretty normal here though I agree, it can leave you in a difficult spot. My old phone was a pay as you go one with no plan (ie, I had to buy however much credit I wanted from a kiosco) and this year, I noticed that the 30 day thing was reduced to 20 days (Claro). It did tell you though when you bought the credit so I'd check it isn't in the small print of the terms and conditions of your plan.