It's a contract with monthly fees

I have used this network for years now. My problems started before month end of June when load shedding started and lost coverage so I removedmy sim card since it was not working and I needed to make alternative arrangements until its sorted. I had sent their support an email about that and got no response. July started and I paid my bill like usual but I did not use the Sim card for the rest of July since I still had data I had purchased due to due the network issue. Now I just got a bill for the month of July which I didn't use the sim card. When I contact support and after waiting 2 long someone picked up and they told me that I should have cancelled because it's a contract and Month-Month like it used 2 be. I do not mind paying my account for a service I did not get but will they refund me the amount I used on the alternative because of not having network that month. I joined Rain under the assumption that there will be no contracts or bundles, no monthly fees, and data will not expires they had advertised so I'm not happy by not being informed of the changes in our agreement and how will I explain to the people I had recommended and app**** the service for.