*Updated Deal *
Enter in the coupon code, and get your initial starter pack of $20 credited back onto your account.
Offer only valid on the Pioneer Medium+
13, 1300, 1800 included
Entire $650, and $900 of Talk value is dedicated to Talk
6,000 Free Text - which includes national and international, SMS & MMS
2 GB Data
Monthly contract
Yes
What will happen when i reach the end of my included calls? I want to guard against overspend if possible.
We've put in an excess usage management tool : http://liveconnected.com.au/index.php/support/faqs/item/exce…
Still in Beta, but we're constantly developing it.
Good to know now that it is only a 'beta' version….when will it be final and actually work?
Overcharged on last months bill and still waiting for a reply from Live connected.
All well and good trying to encourage new customers, what about us from the early days?
Have all the billing issues been fixed yet?
They had some issues on Tuesday with incorrect notices.
http://www.facebook.com/liveconnected?sk=wall has the details (a few posts down from the top).
Lol assuming a person stays awake for 18 hours a day and sleeps for 6 hours…that'd mean:
6000/30 = 200 messages/day
200/18 = ~12 messages/hour
Which equates to a text every 5 mins! Jeez I don't know anyone who texts so much!
On second thoughts, they should've called this the "Shane Warne" plan ;)
You are obviously unaware of the texting-behaviour of teenage girls:
SMS1: Hey
SMS2: What's up?
SMS3: Watcha doin?
SMS4: OMGOSH REALLY?
…
SMS5: Watcha doin now?
5 SMS's in a 2 minute period x40 friends at a time = 200 SMS's in roughly 80 minutes.
6000 is therefore not enough. We need OVER 9000!!!
whatsapp solved those issues
Beware, you could end up looking like Warney if you take up this plan: thin as a rake and metrosexually attired!
As per camel and wala's posts below, I'd really suggest you people revoking your +s, and if you havent, start negging. No good to the community to promote such a dodgy service. Oh and for people to jump ship too =)
Excellent time to make a jump
Please bring back the $10.99 deal with $400 of calls and $400 to Live Connected plus 1Gb but WITH the 1300 and 1800 numbers again.
I think it is the "favorite" of Ozbargain and I suspect there are a lot of people waiting on the sidelines for it to reappear.
yeah i got the $10.99 deal but it was without 13,1300,1800 numbers.
Nice, I like the fact that 13, 1300, 1800 are included! TPG Charge ~$1 a minute for these OUTSIDE your cap.
they have updated all the pioneer plans as well 14.95 now 450 + 450 calls
do you have to pay to change from pioneer series 1 to series 2?
i just signed up on the series 1 plan a week ago! only difference i see is the $400 to $450 increase. i think it's $16 to change plans.
yep confirmed it is $16 to change
Just signed up to the Zen plan.
Thanks for putting this up. I've been looking around to escape out of TPG for a long long long time. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough! but all Good now. I hope liveconnected doesn't disappoint me.
which network is this service based on?
Optus.
Hi everyone - we'll check back in over the day.
But for any questions you have you might find this useful:
http://liveconnected.com.au/index.php/support/faqs
Very useful, is there one for what to do when your account is overcharged and your logged case will not be answered?
Rep seem to ignores your responses completely …
Yeah, unfortunately having to try posting on OzBargain as they will not respond to the cases I have logged with them…I apologise for this as I actually like the deals they offer though, but it seems to me that their system is less than it should be.
Getting any support from them directly, either by logging a case or via Facebook has been unsuccessful to date….this has been going on for weeks so far, pretty disappointing.
At least one other that I am aware of is in a similar situation, so I am unfortunately not alone.
Credit to the rep that has the balls to offer some help.
I find that hard to believe from my personal experiences. I've had a Pioneer Series 1 plan with them on my extra phone, and I've had to exchange at least 20 replies back and forth a fortnight ago on their logged cases area on their site. Replies have been within 24hrs, and to my surprise I even received responses on the saturday.
It's not hard to believe. I had a similar experience recently. And look below, there is another customer in the same boat.
20 replies? Wow, you must have had some issues with the service then?
Hi @flipstardirect, I would have felt the same way until now….problem is that this case seems to be one they don't want to have to deal with.
I have 2 cases logged 5/8, 13/8 and nothing back from them at all. Not he only one in the boat it seems, so at some point they better get their act together and at least have the courtesy to respond.
Previous cases have been dealt with in a time-frame that would be expected though, so I will wait and see.
Another on whirlpool too http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/user/405993 hope the boat is not filling too fast.
Hmmm, I see. Well I haven't had any real 'serious' issues (@camelgrass, I just had a faulty simcard, and another technical issue on my iphone), but I do see where you're coming from -> i.e. hopefully when something really serious comes around I hope I don't get given the run around of course.
Hi Waladare, I am in the same boat as you. Maintain the rage I say until a staisfactory response is received. Cheers, Steven
Cheers, sorry to hear that….have you logged a case with them/have they replied?
Yes, logged the case Tuesday morning so (just) outside the 48 hour promised turn-around and no reply. Still, it is a big bill for excess useage which I can't understand because they were meant to "bar me" once I went past $20 excess.
This time they can't pass the buck to Optus.
Now they are saying the Excess Usage Management feature is only in "beta" stage, even though they've been actively promoting it as a wonderful feature of their plans for the last month. It looks as though they are trying to wriggle out of responsibility for their own failure once again.
What about international calls. Is that included in the cap?
do they automatically debit your credit card?
I think so.
Yes they do.
Yes, they do. Even before you have the opportunity to review the bill/statement.
If you haven't got valid credit card details saved to your account or the card is declined, they automatically bar your service from making calls until payment is made. They don't even warn you or give you an opportunity to pay, they simply bar your service instantly.
Sucks more so when the 'Beta' excess usage management feature doesn't stop you at $20 and at the end of the month over $300 is debited from your account.
Lucky in one way that there was enough in the account or I would have been hit with additional fees too.
dont like those kind of transactions…
$650 calls included… what a crock.
Why don't you increase your call rate even further, from $0.9 (OMFG!) up to $9 per minute?
Then you could advertise $6500 worth of calls included, and it would be even more of a bargain!
Oh no, wait… :-/
Geez mate, sshhhh….looks like you will be crossed off their xmas card list like me:)
I reckon the included texts are charged at 50c now too.
Well if you ever exceed your limit, you'll soon see why their rate is 90c per minute :p
Isn't 90c / min plus 35c flagfall the usual rate nowadays?
It'll be a lot easier when companies are forced to standardize all these costs.
All the carriers do that: quote ridiculous inclusions that look good. Worse still the rate differs from plan to plan. And sometimes it's quoted per 30 seconds, sometimes per minute. It's all to confuse the customer.
90c is the normal rate per minute …
BNET has an article about this issue
http://ct.bnet.com/clicks?t=977745808-df5b94cb12d924e406b9e4…
But I agree, those values are promotional purpose only, instead of paying 30$ for 30$ call credit charging at 9c per minute, they are giving you 300$ call credit charging at 90c per min when you pay $30.
Pay $30 get $30 isn't as attractive as pay $30 and get $300 "value"
What does "Flagfall" mean?!
Connection fee
cost to connect a call
what it costs for those monkeys at the telephone exchange to connect your call
"but just to be safe the handset has to support 2100/900 MHz." If my phone supports 900 but not 2100, will it still work? thanks
I think you guys should allow those of us on series 1 to upgrade to series 2 with no $16 fee, just like you automatically upgraded us to pioneer series 1 from discovery series 5!
so stupid! These people expect to sell their products on ozbargain, but just give people chance to show how poor their products are.
Viva web2.0
They've got a great reputation for good prices on OzBargain, so it's obviously working.
Good prices mean nothing if it means poor service delivery and customer service.
i'm waiting to sign up on lcfail.com.au
Products are fine, the system they use seems to have flaws though and until they address them they will continue to get negative feedback.
But yes, I commented my concerns on the last deal they advertised.. http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/50783 .. and their response has been the same, nothing. I do want to see LC to continue to offer more/better plans, but tat the moment seem to duck for cover when something goes wrong.
Please Live Connected, man up and put up your side of the story, please.
Have you tried the TIO and Whirlpool?
Can anyone please clear monthly contract? How many months contract?
Its a one month contract. If you want to leave you need to give them one billing month's notice or you will be charged for the next month's minimum bill when you port out.
Considering that'll usually only be $15 for most people, not much of a penalty. :p
Perfect. Saved me 20$ from going to the zen series :D
Are international calls included?
How is data counted (the included allowance)
Is it per kb or per 10mb like optus?
My usage meter shows that 1 KB usage is charged as 1 KB.
Had some 3&4 KB usage that is charged at 3&4 KB, so seems it is charged for what is used.
Will current Pioneer Medium Series 1 users be automatically upgraded to Series 2 with more included calls for the same price?
LOL, I just received this email 1 hour ago from LC. They have decided to cancel my service "as per s13.2 of our terms & conditions."
"If the agreement is a non fixed-‐length agreement, we may cancel the service at any time by giving you at least 30 days notice."
http://upload.ozbargain.com/2011/08/18/6527_terms_and_condit…
Dear XXXXX,
Please consider this your 30 days notice for cancellation of your service (xxxxxxxxxx), as per s13.2 of our terms & conditions.
Your service will be terminated on 19/09/2011.
If you intend to retain the above mobile number, we recommend porting the number at least 7 days prior to the target termination date, (19/09/2011). This is to ensure your number is not lost to you.
If you fail to port the number prior to service cancellation, we will not accept liability for not being able to retain your number.
You will be required to pay the final bill and any outstanding charges.
We wish you the best for the future.
Kind regards,
Customer Care
Live Connected
Crappy eh, got the same one. My ex has got the boot too, just for being associated with me it appears….had no excess usage problem either.
The important thing to note for those that remain with LC and do not want to suffer excess usage charges, read on:
"Excess usage management has always been provided on a best effort basis. We rely on Optus to provide the records on which we manage excess. If there’s an outage or delay in records being submitted to us, we may not pick up the excess in time. We keep this, and the usage meter as accurate as possible."
"As far as we are aware, we are the only post-paid provider that attempts to provide excess usage management and do so with the above in mind. As a customer it is also up to you to maintain a degree of responsibility for your own service."
Importantly:
"As it has been shown that excess usage occasionally can build quickly past the ‘bar me’ option of $20.00 we cannot guarantee that we will always stop your service in time."
Finally:
"We have closed this case and would love your feedback on our performance."
Food for thought guys, hope our cases help you with your choice of provider…like I have said previously, the plans themselves are fine.
Edit: Hey @camelgrass, any idea where to go to from LC?
Absolutely discraceful customer service! Unbeleiveable…
Grow up LC =(
That's awful! I suggest anyone experiencing a problem with LC excess usage charges should log a fault with the TIO, that way they at least get hit with the $50 TIO charge. And LC, grow the eff up, and stop acting like children - canceling someone's service is a surefire way to create a bad PR - and I say this as someone that was seriously considering switching to you, until reading what people are upset about (and I can understand why, I would be too), and the way you didn't address the issue at all, and then terminated their service. Sounds like a bullet dodged.
Is the 6000 text messages excluded from the $650 call credit?
ie: if I sent 6000 txts but made 0 calls I'd still have my full 650 call credit right?
isn't that obvious?
I just got my gf on the $29/month Pioneer plan which seems to no longer exist now. This plan looks better for her and is $9 less. Win/Win.
Yes looking at it again now it is obvious, it was a rush post as I was rushing out the door my bad :)
Yeah, watch out guys. Be very careful what you say about LiveConnected on OzBargain.
I recommend only issuing favourable and positive comments regarding their service, otherwise you are at real risk of having your service cancelled with absolutely no explanation whatsoever.
They should have dealt with us in-house rather than ignoring us to the point that it was brought into the public forum.
Advertising the excess usage management feature the way they have can only lead to customers believing that they are insured against excessive usage bills. Nowhere, apart from the "beta' description used by the rep in an earlier post is it made clear that this feature should not be trusted.
What on earth?
Did you do anything "wrong" camelgrass, from the companies point of view or was it totally random and unexplained?
Credit card get refused or heaps of excess or…anything?!?
No, my credit card was not declined and I have no outstanding fees on my account.
The only "wrong" thing that occurred was that on 2 occasions LC billed me for excess usage (charged straight to my credit card minid you). They finally admitted that on both occasions they were at fault.
All I did was alert users on OzBargain to the potential pitfalls of the LiveConnected service. They gave me ABSOLUTELY no reason or warning before the sudden cancellation of my service.
I suspect they were able to identify my LiveConnected account by certain details I revealed on OzBargain.
Oh I see "troublemaker". I know your type…. (lol)
Actually that doesn't make a bit of sense to me.
Surely an identified regular poster on Ozbargain, or any forum with high exposure is a valuable asset or liability as the case may be.
There is an old advertising truism…. each pissed off customer that walks away with a negative experience influences at least eight potential sales…. well they used to say that before intermcnet. These days its obviously exponentially more. This forum gets massive exposure.
So in terms of a smart move from their point of view….. ah not.
Updated with LiveConnected's "reasoning" for my service cancellation, see my comment:
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/51131#comment-564249
as someone who only has the highest praise to sing of live connected, i dont think they'll be missing either of you, camelgrass or waladare. good luck finding any plan that is as good value as what they offer.
excess usage is easy to avoid if you are responsible with your phone. they have plans including the zen series for incredibly high amounts of phone usage, and make it easy to change up to the next plan if you find yourself going over.
usage meter delays arent unique to live connected - this has always been the case no matter what carrier i use (and i have had contracts on 3, vodafone and telstra). obviously if you are close to maxing your credit you dont go and make a 36 hour phone call or send a thousand text messages.
anyway, live connected, i love you, please never ban me because i can't see myself ever moving to another provider. i have also moved most of my close friends over to LC so it would suck to be banned lol :p
sorry but no business cares about the die-hard fans who love them no matter what is offered. business by nature are bullies and they only care about the middle-ground..much like politics really
might i also add that live connected's excess usage system that is being implemented IS NOT REPLICATED BY ANY OF THE MAJOR NETWORKS. this is a huge boon for people who can't handle their cap levels.
one only needs to go see the numerous threads on whirlpool where asshats incur huge overage fees on all of the 'big 3' networks and then whinge about the ultimate fact that they cant handle their own spending.
the only true option to never incur overage fees is prepaid. that is a genuine, viable option and one that i recommend people who can't handle their spending take up.
signing out now - still love you live connected :) (and no, i don't work for them)
Don't worry, they will never cancel your service since you have nothing but continuous praise for them (LC can't handle constructive criticism from their customers).
I disagree with your comments regarding the usage meter. I have extensive experience using 3 Mobile, Vodafone, PennyTel and amaysim. Their call record usage portals are far more reliable compared to LC.
Regarding excess usage, I have NEVER, EVER gone over the LiveConnected cap. The fact is, I was twice charged excess usage (billed straight to my credit card mind you), and both times it was a mistake by LiveConnected.
still love you live connected
You better continue to say that many, many, many times into the future, lest they cancel your service.
I voiced my concerns based on the fact that LC wouldn't respond via the only means they provide.
The excess usage protection, now in 'beta' should not be relied upon, and you should manage your usage accordingly. Remember though, one of the reasons that I was glad this feature was enabled was for peace of mind….that no matter who got their hands on my mobile, $20 then being barred would be the penalty.
For those OzBargainers that have looked here today, be happy going to Live Connected and getting good deals, but go away better prepared for what may happen if something does go wrong and the safety net doesn't catch you.
Long live Live Connected….sadly I am now Live Disconnected. Cheers.
I used to love LC….but…I've lost that loving feeling and now it's gone, gone, gone (a wooawooa wo)
I got two mid month usage emails from LC this month. One saying I've used $60, the other saying I've used over $200.
Maybe I should just take the average of them..?
I opened a support ticket with LiveConnected to ask why my service was cancelled. This is their response:
Based on your previous case history, we believe we may not be the best service provider for you.
I suggest that this be a warning to other (potential) LiveConnected customers. Your service may be cancelled at any time, and for no reason at all.
You are being amazingly level-headed and reasonable about this Camel, old son. That is just appalling treatment.
I would be dropping verbal ass-bombs all over them.
Yeah, I feel like doing that!!
At the end the day there's not much I can do about it—except vote negative for every single forthcoming Liveconnected posting on OzBargain and continue to warn users of potential issues with the LiveConnected service.
Actually, it makes the decision "to stay or not to stay" much easier for me ;).
No worries.
Well I look forward to reading your comments in every Live Connected post from now until eternity!
Sorry you got caught in the train wreck camelgrass.
No worries, still thinking of who to port to. Will keep you updated. Any ideas?
Not yet, will be looking around tonight…will keep you up to date though.
Regarding your above comment "I have NEVER, EVER gone over the LiveConnected cap". What did you mean exactly? Did LC somehow charge you for calls u didnt make or something?
Also I heard tpg have delay with their usage charges for about 2 days as well =/
There was 2 instances of excess usage charges on my account.
The first one was a billing mistake by LC. This occurred when the first 2 days of the following month were included in the monthly bill and as such I was charged excess usage.
The second one occurred as a result of LC migrating my service to a new plan 5 days into the billing cycle when in fact I had asked them to do it at the beginning of the month (and as they had promised to do). As a result I was charged excess usage based on their pro-rate system, ie. excess usage based on my usage for the first 5 days of the month. Again, a mistake by LC.
After a protracted length of time (I had to initiate contact on a number of occasions to get a resolution) both issues were finally resolved and LC admitted responsiblity.
I don't have a problem with a 48 hr delay in usage records. The problem is that the delay is often much longer than this and sometimes the usage portal is down altogether. In saying that, it seems that for the last week call and data records have been updated quite regularly and all is running smooth. But it's all too little, too late for me ;).
Wow i am very sorry to hear that. did u end up getting a refund for your unjust excess charge? sorry if u mentioned it b4 already.
The first excess charge, yes, it was credited back to my credit card. They have said that they will credit my LiveConnected account regarding the other charge, but I won't know for sure until my next statement.
THAT support ticket drew a quick response ;)
HAHA, yes! I think their response arrived within an hour or two of me lodging the support ticket. They must have me on a special (black) list that they monitor frequently.
is that 6,000 text messages a month?