Two strikes for AT&T today: no unlimited iPad plan and no notice before renewal
One of the nice things about the original offer of wireless with the iPad was the ability to choose between two plans: $14.99 for 250 MB or $29.99 for unlimited. While the plans are about to change and the unlimited option is going away, one thing that AT&T is still planning to offer is notification of when your plan is running low.
The above is something I was counting on and also the reason I was surprised to receive a notification last night that my plan had been auto-renewed. According to the notification, my plan is automatically renewed every 30 days, and I'm authorizing AT&T to charge my credit or debit card for my initial and any subsequent iPad Plan. The only way to avoid the charge is to cancel the service at least one day prior to my next scheduled payment. I somehow missed that in the fine-print, but even that wasn't the part that got me.
After receiving the "Automatic Data Plan Renewal Notice" at 11:58PM last night (June 1st), today at 1:23PM I received the "AT&T Plan Nearly Out of Data" one (see below).
Shouldn't I have received the "nearly out of data" one before the auto-renewal one? Especially since it's telling me that my next auto-renew date is 06-02-2010? It definitely seems like that's the way things should have worked.
At any rate, I don't really have an issue with it this time around, but given the canceling of the unlimited plan, there are a number of things that are odd with this whole situation. First, the auto renew notice makes mention of an unlimited plan. Second, I technically have a right to cancel since I should have received the "nearly out of data" notice at least the day before the auto-renew date came along.
This whole experience reminds me of when iJustine unboxed her 300 page iPhone bill--a problem that AT&T rectified soon after.
We'll see how this whole AT&T offering then not offering unlimited iPad data plans pans out, not to mention that I hope they get the timing of their notifications straightened out. Otherwise, the company is going to have an overflowing customer service line soon.