Safaricom recently announced a couple of changes to how Post Pay works. And those changes are the reason I’ve moved back to being a Prepaid Customer. The changes are as follows:
- Unused minutes will no longer roll over, they are only valid for 30 days
- If you don’t renew your subscription, unused data will expire
When Post Pay was revamped in 2020, I did a couple of articles explaining the new subscription, and why it was the best deal to hop on to. The fact that you could pay a monthly fee, and keep all your resources even if unused, was a killer way to get customers always using your network.
Over the period I’ve been on Post Pay there are months where I’ve accumulated lots of resources to a point I’ve stopped auto-renewal (of the plan) so as to use them up. It was that assurance that I always have data and minutes that kept me paying.
Before that revamp in 2020, I only mostly used my Safaricom line for calls, and M-Pesa. For data, I relied on my fixed home fibre, and deals from other telcos while traveling. Post Pay fixed that by having me give Safaricom a monthly fee, while I used my resources any time I felt like doing so.
The company promised these resources would never expire. (Well, if you have any unused non-expiry resources, those are set to expire in 90 days, according to this tweet from the company).
The shift now makes Post Pay less exciting. Why pay a monthly fee for resources I am sure I will not use up? Also, why pay for resources that expire?
How to quit Post Pay:
- Dial *200#
- Find Option 13
- Pay up your current bill, either with your deposit, with M-Pesa or both.
- Wait for up to 24hrs for confirmation messages of your line being moved back to PrePaid
- You should receive your deposit within 48hrs
Way forward after Post Pay:
The thing that kept me on Post Pay as I’ve said is the assurance that I always have minutes to call, and data to browse. Now that I cannot keep the minutes, and need to constantly renew to keep the data, I might as well only purchase minutes and data when I need to.
I still have my Faiba 4G line, which I guess I will go back to relying on when not using home fibre. And since no one can be relied on fast connections across parts of the country, I am sure every now and then I will be purchasing Safaricom bundles when in need.
For calls, I guess I will figure it out after my current minutes expire or get used up. The rate at which I need to make calls has reduced nevertheless, so it’ll be fine.
I left Postpay in January for the same reasons. I still had my wife on Postpay because she usually exhausts her resources but now that I want to take her out as well, Safaricom seems to have made it harder to leave Postpay so that they lock you in.
I am also quitting this month, it is now a raw deal. To make it worse, after delaying paying as I usually do, they not only disconnected my line to outgoing calls (acceptable), they also blocked my line to incoming calls. That for me was the deal breaker.
Luck you, you are quitting by choice for me I didn’t choose to leave postpaid but instead, I got a text letting me know that my Prepaid Transfer has been transferred as requested.
Totally agree. Customer experience is sadly declining at Safaricom. The USSD code 44410# for data conversion for postpaid customers changed one day in December 2022 with no forewarning or notification. Awful service.
I was wondering how comes I got no airtime, no bundles,no WhatsApp. This article answers mi. I will also go back to prepay pronto. Thanks.
I am on my way to exit postpay this Dec, no one wants such a deal, I also caught off guard with unused minutes
Also done that…i hope they’ll think about the step they’ve made
Yea,no network is reliable in its policies.Safaricom enjoying monopoly gives them the annoying liberty to change goal posts & tweet about it . What about the Bonga points changes recently,and the list is endless.
We stopped using Safaricom internet long time and calls, we hop for calls to Airtel and for internet to Telkom, now them they get mpesa. It’s only that we haven’t gotten a better option ya mpesa