Welcome to Three and your new Bill Pay account! You might already be familiar with billing terms and the layout of a bill but if not, we've got you covered. Continue reading this guide if you would like to learn more about your very first bill and some billing terms that you might come across.
First things first, our plans (phone, broadband, SIM Only and add-ons) are pro-rata, which means that you are billed one month in advance. Your billing cycle date is the start of your billing month, and is not the first day that you sign up to Three Bill Pay, but three to six days later. This is also true for add-ons and insurance.
What does this mean for you?
It means your first bill will be higher than the cost of your plan (monthly price plan charge). You will be charged a portion amount for the first three to six days and your full monthly recurring charges for the month ahead (plan, add-on, insurance).
What will you see?
If you are receiving paper bills, don’t forget that some pages are printed on both sides. You can always opt-in for Online Billing to make things easier! Plus, you may have signed up for a summary bill, which will not include the full breakdown of your usage.
- Front page – Some of the usual suspects: bill period, account number, bill date, bill number, phone number, address and your TOTAL MONTHLY CHARGES.
- Second Page – A breakdown of the general layout of your bill
- Third page – Account level breakdown. This view can vary depending on how many subscribers are on your account.
- Fourth page – Full breakdown of monthly charges, including the plan, add-ons, insurance, and any once-off charges for the cost of your phone. (ex. VAT).
- Following pages – Shows your usage for calls, text, data, plus any out of allowance charges.
Do you have an example?
Yes we do! 😊
So, you've signed up for a 24-month contract on one of our plans (read about our plans here), decided to pay for a top-of-the-range phone, and you opted for insurance too 💪 Now, you have just received your first bill. Below is an example of the full breakdown of monthly charges. You can see the charges for the few days between signing up, and then the charges starting on your billing cycle date.
Here, you will also notice your "Inclusive Allowance" section. This shows your allowances and usage of these allowances for the previous month. In this example, the units granted are based on the portion of the month from February 1st to February 6th, so roughly one-sixth of your expected monthly units going forward.
Frequently used terms
- Total monthly charges: total cost for your plan, add-ons, insurance, and any once off charges.
- Billing Cycle date: the day your price plan and allowances start.
- Bill date: the day your bill is generated.
- Direct Debit date: 19 days after your bill date and when payment is due.
- Add-ons: when you’re in need of extra minutes, texts, data (read more here).
- Once off charges: phone charge, 3Pay, content subscription, non direct-debit fee.
- Paper billing charge: Changing from online billing to paper billing will result in a monthly charge of €3.49 being added to your monthly bill. If, for an accessibility requirement, you would prefer to receive a paper bill, then please contact Three Customer Care by calling 1913, or chat with our Messaging Team.
Watch our helpful tutorial video below, for a visual guide to setting up your direct debit:
Have a question or want to add a tip? Just ask the 3Community, and if you are new to the 3Community, remember to check out our blog on getting started 👇
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