Canada Post Work Stoppage- SIM Order Process has Changed

[David_J]

Note: As of October 18, 2016 the below process is no longer in effect. To check out the new process, click here. 

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Hey Community,

As you know, in order to be prepared for the possibility of a Canada Post work stoppage, we made some changes to the SIM card ordering process. The change to charge customers $10 (with a rebate upon activation) for a SIM card was initiated by the strike possibility, however we discovered something very interesting. When the SIM cards were available without charge, only 60% were being activated after they were received. When we changed the process and started to charge and rebate the $10 for the SIM card, the percentage being activated increased significantly. There’s something to be said about having a bit of skin in the game which is why we have decided that, for now, we will continue to charge $10 per SIM with a rebate upon activation.

As a reminder, here is a summary of how the new process works:

• Order the SIM card online (as per the usual process).

• There will be a charge for courier shipping. However, the shipping charges will be rebated to the method of payment you used to pay the shipping charges. Please note that we now offer PayPal as a payment option.

• To request your rebate, email rebate@publicmobile.ca with your SIM order number and your Public Mobile phone number. We’ll issue your rebate to the same method of payment for the shipping charges within 7 days of the email being received.

For any other questions, please contact us here [https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help] or message one of our Public Mobile Moderators here on the Community.

Thanks!

Public Mobile Community team

[Kalla_A]

Hello @talkalot,

Public Mobile no longer has any physical retail stores or booths, but you can order our SIM cards online here.

If you need any assistance, don't hesitate to get in touch with me or other members of our Community.

Cheers

Kalla

[talkalot]

I was  wondeirng if anyone might be able to tell me where to purcahse a Public Mobile simcard in a store would like to get one asap. Thanks  Talkalot

[kav2001c]

Count me in the AWOL SIM cards @srlawren

I have been involved in a bitter fight for years with our worthless local Canada Post service

And worse there is one neighbour that CP keeps swapping mail with (I have yet to figure out how, different address, different postal code, and a good 3 blocks apart). Yet like clockwork I get his mail & he gets ours no matter how many tickets I open with them.

[srlawren]

@Korth I think what @makkahn28 is referring to is that sometimes people order SIM cards here and they never arrive, and they have to order a second or even third in order to actually receive theirs.  I've seen... probably a half dozen or more of these threads in my time here.  

[Korth]

Canada Post is reliable enough in the long run.  And it's typically the least costly option for letter-sized packages (which might contain SIM cards).  It just has sporadic strikes and stoppages.

I do agree that the post office is an embarassingly inefficient waste of tax dollars.  I don't agree that it should be abolished - it's not obsolete yet because so much of the real world still runs on paper.  I think it should be privatized, let it be run as a business instead of as an institution, lean corporate predators must be held accountable for minimum standards of quality but are also far more innovative, agile, and responsive than glacially monolithic government structures.

[makkahn28]

You know, if Can-Post is not that reliable, perhaps PM should consider Purolator, UPS or DHL or CanPar as delivery service, and as long as fees are not as steep, perhaps sticking with this from now on

[kav2001c]

This is basically a yearly thing

In years since the union took over there have been 20 work stoppages

I think 4 years is longest they ever went without any issue

Good riddance to public mail service, waste of our taxes

[imm1304]

Hi @Korth!

I was under the impression that PM sim cards are shipped free of charge across Canada via regular mail.  

And under this unusual circumstances of a Canadapost outage, currenlty you can get them shipped via Purolator and the shipping charge is refunded once you activate your new sim card and email PM to let them know as per instructions.  So, its free still.  Where are you paying the $10.50?

[Korth]

I'm hesitant to say this after being somewhat critical in this thread, but (otherwise free) PM SIM cards can be purchased online at amazon.ca and ebay.ca.  There's always people out there trying to make a buck on anything they can.

But it might turn out that purchase+shipping costs from one of these vendors is still cheaper than PM's shipping charges.  I live in Chilliwack BC and could pay PM $10.50 to ship a "free" PM SIM card or I could pay $2.75 shipping on a "$4.95" PM SIM card purchased from a vendor on amazon.ca.

So perhaps a good option for some, depending on location.

Although I think it might be smarter to just wait out the Canada Post strike (and continue using some less desirable cellular service for one month), if that's an option.  They've gone on strike several times before, and they've never gone past about three weeks - it only takes a week or so before a *lot* of heavy pressure from government, financial, and service industries is aimed at resolving strike issues quickly and smoothly because none of them dares to risk serious disruptions in their collection of monthly revenues and budgets.

[Luddite]

@David_J Thanks for the update.

[David_J]

@Luddite Yes, we're looking to rebate customers the SIM shipping charges who activate their SIM cards.

Thanks for the suggestion - we'll take a look at the SIM order page regarding a banner.

[David_J]

@NDesai

Yes, by emailing us an existing customer who needs a replacement SIM can get the shipping charges rebated.

[NDesai]

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@Luddite wrote:

@David_J Just to be clear: the rebate for shipping costs will only be processed AFTER the SIM is activated? If so, better have a bold banner on the order page.

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With that in mind, what if someone wants another sim due to phone lost or phone change or sim error?

I guess emailing your reason would be enough to get refund ? 

[Luddite]

@David_J Just to be clear: the rebate for shipping costs will only be processed AFTER the SIM is activated? If so, better have a bold banner on the order page.

[David_J]

Hello @imm1304 and @NDesai 

We added PayPal as an additional payment method for the SIM shipping charges as we wanted to provide as much flexibility as possible during the strike period.

For the Activation and Self Serve portals, we can definitely take it away and look at adding PayPal to provide that same level of flexibility.

Thanks for pushing the idea forward. 

[imm1304]

Thank you for this announcement.  Great to see proactive measure in the best interest of customer service.  

Is Paypal being worked into the system as a generally accepted method of payment or will it be limited to the sim orders only?  

[NDesai]

I was wondering about this as well. I am glad you guys worked out another way to ship the sim card for time being. 

And PayPal, awesome but if you can put that into self-serve 🙂