These are exactly the sort of small time manual interventions that make me nuts. Getting someone non english speaking with a script makes me double nuts.
When I looked at the cheap phone options, as soon as I saw the "we'll automatically autobill every xx months and roll your minutes over from month to month/quarter to quarter/whatever...I just saw a series of problems waiting to happen.
Cell business profitability relies in a larger part on paid for minutes expiring unused. Pretty much the same model as gift cards.
Hence, one could expect they'll build as many switchbacks, pieces of fine print, catches and "whoopsies" to get your minutes to expire unused. The more transactions involved, the more opportunity for something to go wrong.
Still, nothing beats the conversation I had with a directv guy from india about the fact that they autobilled me a day late, then added a late fee, then autobilled me for that. Took me about 15 minutes to get him to understand that the lateness was caused by directv not billing my card on time, not anything I had a hand in. :
Okay, maybe the conversation I had with the comcast guy from india about how they also failed to autobill me because their system doesnt always work, then charged me a late fee, and then charged me a reactivation fee for my cable modem, and then a reactivation fee for the cable tv box I dont have, to use with the cable tv service I dont subscribe to.