Is there a simple way to change my billing date?

[Endemoniada]

In theory I could pause my plan but I'd rather avoid that.

[George · Accepted solution]

Hi @Endemoniada there currently is not, this is something we have passed on in the past to our teams - the only way to do this right now is to pause your service, we understand this isn't ideal.

[JillWya_1870625]

Is the date set by start date or automatically set as 1st of each month?

[jassingh]

@JillWya_1870625 It's the date you `activated` the SIM - payment is taken on the same day of each month going forwards (unless that date doesn't exist in that respective month, it can get moved earlier).
Incase you're restarting your Smarty plan, it would be the day you turned on the auto-renewal. This is the 'billing cycle'.

This article should explain all you need:
 https://help.smarty.co.uk/en/articles/952716-how-billing-works-with-smarty  

[Geri]

If you wish to change your payment date, you have to turn off auto renew on your account. Simply log in to your online account then open:

1. Menu
2. Account settings
3. Payment Settings
4. Untick auto renew box.
5. Tick it back to active on e.g. 1st of each month. This will activate your SIM on 1st and payments would go on the same day henceforth.

[MSF]

@Geri True, that is one way, but it does leave you without any service until you get to the desired renewal date.

[Geri]

We tried above method as advised by Smarty. Activated new Smarty SIM on 30th May & immediately disabled auto renew. On 1st June am we enabled auto renew. Result is dashboard saying "Resets on 30th June" 🙂

[MSF]

@Geri So that means that your next plan will start when the old one finishes, right?

[Geri]

Dashboard saying "Resets on 30th June" Is vague. When on that day, 00:01 or 23:59? What is being Reset?
We enabled auto-renew on 1st June.
The dashboard is not giving a warm feeling that "Smarty will activate* the SIM on 1st and payments would go (out) on the same day (i.e. 1st) henceforth." as Step 5.
And it's odd that enabling auto-renew activates* a SIM when one needs to have activated the SIM in the first place to see the auto-renew choice. The SIM was already activated & presumably is only ever done once.

[Geri]

"Just to confirm, you've turned off the recurring payment option on your account.
Your plan is due to renew on 30-06-2023, so if you'd like to stay with us next month, you'll either have to turn recurring payment back on or submit payment details on or after 30-06-2023.
Thanks,
The SMARTY team"  30/05/2023, 06:03

[MSF]

@Geri  On the reset date, I believe that happens just after midnight at the start of that day.

[Juplika]

Well, I've had the same issues, and because of that I'm leaving Smarty for good.

[Juplika]

I've been having the same issues, and rely on services due to my health issues. So for this, I am leaving Smarty for good.

[MSF]

@Juplika Are you sure that any other network will let you change the start date of a monthly plan?

I'm not sure how they would do this without complicated accounting. Say that you normally start a plan on the 20th and then went to change to 1st for next month; they would then need to credit back a portion of the existing plan so that you could start afresh on the requested date - all quite complex and probably costly to do.

[UNiXMIT]

EE let’s you do this easily. 

[MSF]

@UNiXMIT I don't doubt what you say, but Smarty currently does not.

The only way is to let your plan finish with auto-renew turned off. Wait until desired start date and then buy the plan of your choice again and turn on auto-renew. The downside is that you may have some time without any service.

Also, if you leave it more than 6 months without purchasing a plan for any reason, your sim will be deactivated and the number lost

[UNiXMIT]

Thanks. I was just responding to your point “Are you sure that any other network will let you change the start date of a monthly plan?”. Hopefully Smarty will figure out how to change a date and charge accordingly. Thanks. 

[JJP2RidesAgain]

Yes, they do, I switched from EE to Smarty. 

However, as EE and Smarty are different companies, EE’s billing practices have nothing to do with Smarty.