SOS: I received my first invoice, now how do I figure it out what it all means?

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Are you subscribed to a Videotron Mobility, Residential Internet, illico TV, or Home Phone service? If so, then this article is for you! If you’re subscribed to Helix services, you will receive another invoice. Please consult the article Understanding my Helix invoice.

There’s a lot of information on that first invoice, so it’s completely normal to have questions, such as why is the total amount higher than I expected? Rest assured—you’re definitely not paying double!

To help make things a little clearer for you, we’ve put together a short article that will help you make sense of your first invoice.

Everything you need to know about your first invoice 

ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE: Because your telecommunication services are billed one month in advance, your first invoice includes two months of service—the first month and the following one.

Unless you opted for a payment method other than monthly, or if you neglected to pay a month, this is the only time you’ll have to pay two months on the same invoice.

PURCHASE OF DEVICES: If you purchased any devices, such as a cellphone, your first invoice will include the cost of such purchases.  

How to read your invoice

Notice first the three columns, for three important types of information:

• ON THE LEFT – WHEN: This indicates the current billing period, including all the days for which you are being charged.

If you modify your services in the middle of the month, you’ll see the date of the change here. You’ll also see in the right column that you are billed on a prorated basis for the number of remaining days.  Prorata, Pro-whata?

• IN THE CENTRE – WHAT: Here, you’ll find all the details of your products, services, and purchases.

On the first page, under Invoice Summary, you’ll see a quick overview of your services. On the following pages, you’ll find all the details of your plans, including their names and what they include. You’ll also see pay-per-use charges, such as movie rentals.

• ON THE RIGHT – HOW MUCH: Here, you’ll see your service costs for the billing cycle in question.

When there are no charges to the right of an element, it’s because it is either already included in your plan, or because it is simply not billable. You might even see negative amounts—these would be applicable credits or rebates.

And the last few pages...

If you are subscribed to a Mobility or Home Phone service, here is where you’ll see a detailed account of all the calls made (including long-distance) and services used during the month in question. For a Mobility service, you’ll also see the details of your text messages and data usage.   

If you are subscribed to our Residential Internet service, please note that you will not see a detailed description of your data usage. You will only see your data usage if you have gone over your monthly limit. However, you don’t have to wait for your invoice to see how much data you’ve used. Simply log in to your Customer Centre and keep track that way.

Speaking of invoices . . . have you signed up for online billing yet? 

On top of being the environmentally friendly thing to do, when you sign up for online billing via the Customer Centre, you get access to your past 36 months of billing records. We really encourage you to switch to online billing!

In a nutshell

• Your first invoice includes two months of services, as well as any devices purchased by you.
• The first page is an overview, the following pages include your plan details, and the last few pages give a detailed description of the services used, for any excess usage.
• If ever you’re wondering about an invoice total, head to the Billing Period. It might just be a case of prorated billing.

Got more questions? Feel free to leave us your questions or comments. We’ll get back to you shortly!  

You can also consult our Support section on the Videotron invoice.