Check your SPOT bill

Laser Dude · Jul 24, 2017

If you are like me and don't pay close attention to your automated payments from SPOT, you might want to check it. I checked my account, found 2 months ago I had a $52 credit. How do you have a $52 credit when it's automated, I'm not sure. Then I notice last month my bill went to $32 a month. This past month, it was $28 a month. That's a lot more than the $14.99 a month than I expected. I bumped up my messages so I expected that cost, which was a couple dollars.

However, when logged into your account, you cannot see any service options. You have to call them. I called, the guy says the only way to change services is to call them. He says he will have to check with a supervisor. He comes back, tells me that his supervisor said my bill would go down $4.99 a month by removing the Extreme Tracking. My bill says Extreme Tracking is $14.99 a month. So I cancel my $14.99 additional service and my bill drops $4.99 a month? I don't understand. Neither did he, and he said he'd have to ask his supervisor again. He came back and said his Supervisor told him that I should just look at my next bill and call back if there is a problem.

Wow.....I hope their tracking services for emergencies is more rock solid than their billing and customer service.

Mr_Canoehead · Jul 24, 2017

There is a lot of flexibility in the their rates as well. I sent them an email informing them that I was intending to cancel at the end of my contract. They called me back the next day and offered a large discount when I told them I was going to DeLorme.

BakerBoy · Jul 25, 2017

I dropped SPOT service Sept 2016 and now use Life360.com. I know that SPOT's key advantage is transmitting directly to satellites, not relying on cellular signals as Life360 or other phone-based apps do, but now almost a year later I'm satisfied with my decision.

My post on another forum explaining my decision Sept 2016 is copied here, and may help others contemplating what to do with their SPOT service:

I've a number of growing/nagging issues with SPOT that I'd put up with in prior years: 1) I can't manage my account (stop service through the website), 2) the customer has to know to go look for the upcoming billing (no notification) with only a few days before it charges, and 3) price increases, especially given my lesser and lesser use of their service and given that my wife never checks my tracker (if she wonders, she calls or texts).

My bill was finally posted online (in my SPOT account; not actively provided via email or snail mail) to be $177.93, due in 3 days. The total was made from $149.99 for a year of tracking/service, $17.95 for the year's Search and Rescue coverage, and the new $9.99 'Network Maintenance'.

So after my being unable to change or delete my credit card number online, or change/cancel service myself, I had enough. So I called and cancelled today.

The customer service rep offered to reduce the total amount , and I said 'if you can get it below $100 total, I'd stay on. She said she wasn't authorized to provide that rate, and she didn't tell me what the lowest rate she was allowed to offer.

The call was 7am Denver (9am Louisiana) and took 16 minutes live with the customer service rep to cancel--she was busy creating all kinds of tickets and computer actions, and waiting for her system to respond (she was frustrated by it). She was very polite and is in the US--I was pleased with her and it was good to see that they use local call centers rather than farming that out overseas.

When I commented that I don't approve of their billing practices and my not being able to control their charges to MY credit card, she responded with the company line that "it is a safety device, so we automatically bill" ... which reinforced my resolve to cancel given that corporate practice (ie, feeble rationalization IMO). It is quite practical to allow the customer to be notified and enter a card number every year if they so choose to continue, or for the customer to choose to allow the credit card number to be retained to allow perpetual billing.

So, for whatever that's worth to others considering to stay with or go away from SPOT...

Geezer · Jul 25, 2017

I dropped SPOT a while back for similar reasons to the ones stated by others. Last week I got an email from them offering a 50 percent discount if I reinstated. It appears to me that they are using a similar business model to what the cable companies use and bill customers for as much as they can get and then offer temporary discounts to customers who take the time to complain. By retaining your credit card number and automatically billing you they are taking advantage of the fact that many people don't pay attention.

Laser Dude · Jul 25, 2017

Two things I'm positive of, (1), I didn't agree to $14.99 more a month for Extreme Tracking. I believe it was $4.99 a month more, so that should have put me at about $19-20 a month, which I was cool with, and (2), I never authorized them to be overpaid by $50+ dollars. If I setup an automatically charge on my debit card for $19.99 a month, how do I end up with a $52 credit? You had to charge me at some point and taken the money out of my account. How'd your automated payment system take the extra money?

In my opinion, my bill should have always been about $20 a month. However, in May it was $32 and in June it was $28. Where are these random numbers coming from? Not very professional looking to me. If I look at my bank account, I see no record of overpaying them. I just magically got a credit some how. At the same time they gave me a $14.99 increase in price.

Very odd from systems that should be automated.