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Upcoming Changes to our Old Rewards Program

J_PM
Public Mobile
Public Mobile

Hey Community,

We have an important announcement to share with our subscribers who are currently enrolled in our old Rewards program.

We’re making changes to our rewards program and are sharing how these changes impact some of our subscribers. Starting in May, we’ll be retiring our old Rewards program and moving all subscribers to our Public Points™ program. 

We launched the Public Points™ program in January 2022 to provide our subscribers with more ways to earn and spend rewards, with greater flexibility. As part of our commitment to continuously evolve our products and services, it's time to retire our old Rewards program and shift our focus on enhancing our Points program.

To show our appreciation for your continued loyalty, subscribers on our old Rewards program will receive a special thank you. We'll send you a text message when it has been added to your account by March 31st. 

We’re excited to continue providing you, our valued subscribers, more opportunities to earn and spend rewards with Public Points™ moving forward.

To learn more about your move to Public Points, check out our FAQ here.

The Public Mobile Team

5,469 REPLIES 5,469

Soon-ex-PM-user
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

What is the issue with you?  Calling out newbie accounts ?  Just because many of the long term PM users are now created new accounts to express our dissatisfaction and you don't like it?  

As the paying consumers we have the right to complain whether you like it or not.   Unfortunately there are not many ways we can express except go  the current forum and this thread. 

ninjastar
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

PM does NOT offer roaming anymore on their $34 plan it was deleted. 

 

 

ninjastar
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

I find it very suspicious that a full email or text notification has not reached many. I had four accounts and did not receive a single notification about the changes. Only way I found out is through Reddit. Is this to prevent a mass exodus? Imagine how many subscribers don't even know... 

 HI @Insignia 

yes, in your case, it is pretty much unaffected.  The points from friend referral will still cumulate on your rewards account.  You probably get 7 less points per month from autopay and loyalty, but it wouldn't matter to you.  If you can keep those referrals, I see you will have free service forever, or at least 10+ years.  Enjoy 

@Insignia 

Your bill payment will take available funds first, then charge your credit card.  With the transition to points, your referral points will accumulate every 30 days in your rewards account.  As mentioned, you will need to transfer every 15 points to $15 bill credit (ie. available funds).  I do not believe that there is a cap on accumulating points.  

@danielj 

Unfortunately, the special bonus of a data add on is not appealing for most legacy customers.  However, according to PM staff, this data add on will still work with customers on unlimited data plans.  Once your regular data runs out, this add on should kick in and you should receive regular speed data (not the very slow throttled data).  The time limit of 150 days and the inability to downgrade plans with the bonus data add on makes it even less appealing. We still have until May for the official change to happen.  Hopefully, PM management will offer something better to legacy customers. 

Insignia
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

thankyou yes i at one time had a maximum of 190 never paid my bill since 2019 🙂 referrals did the other line is 34 dollar plan around 55 referrals for that extra amount is accumulated on both lines like 1700 dollars on the 40 dollars 135 referrals and around 110 dollars on the 34 dollars us Canada plan in my account but i think the referrals are going to drop 135 worst case could go down to 75 il still good 55 could go down to 35 still bearable but people would leave and look for something better like for a person with say 5 years loyalty 2 years autopayment discount and say 3 referrals its still 10 dollars off which is gone down to what 3  dollars in an instant people are going to head to freedom they have the financial backing now and are growing fast they have customer support physical you can talk to sell subsidized phone have a proper store so i am anticipating a significant drop in the people who are going to leave public after May anyways i can still stretch it not thqt i am happy with the forced removal to the new rewards point for everyone 


@ridgeline wrote:

@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards


That's a very good point.  I logged in to my account to confirm and the GST was being calculated against the discounted price and not the full price of the plan.  Now we will be paying more in GST each month as well.


HI @ridgeline 

on the other hand, on the month you redeem for $15 bill credit, you will pay  less tax on that $15

 

ridgeline
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards


That's a very good point.  I logged in to my account to confirm and the GST was being calculated against the discounted price and not the full price of the plan.  Now we will be paying more in GST each month as well.


@fixin wrote:

@hTideGnow wrote:

@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards


HI @mikasik2 

it's Canada, tax on everything  🙂


I live in AB, so 5% tax + the 5% give back is just losing the tax.


@fixin , wow! That’s a huge difference from NB! I pay 15% tax!

EdN
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

AFAIK referrals are unaffected by the change to the points reward program 


@danielj wrote:

 

I do hope the "enhancing our Points program" element does get clarified sooner than latter.


HI @danielj 

I hope we can redeem for other gift cards.  Telus points can redeem for amazon gc and couple more brands

hi @Insignia 

people with referrals would stay with  Public Points.  So, if someone has 135 referrals (do you?) they will get 135 points every month.  Just need to redeem 15 points for $15 bill credti on rewards site

 

danielj
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

This is not much of announcement. On some level we expected the possibility of the previous program retirement.

But the say we "will receive a special thank you." But not indicate what it is. Either indicating it will be something "custom" per account likely determined on unclear, inconsistent basis, be something of little or no value or both.

Those that got push to the "unlimited" 5G plans with the "unlimited" at lower speeds, can't utilize thrown in data addons at the faster speeds. Data addons to those customer would not be of much value.

If we don't use long distance either due to countries of interest are not covered by Public Mobiles Long-Distance add-on or for other reasons. Than those addons are not of much value either.

... well great news appears the special bonus will be extra data. Useless those those with and stay with "unlimited data." Any plan without "unlimited data" usually expected to be one "of lower value" and trigger removing the extra data. ... Thanks for nothing Public Mobile.

They also mentioned "enhancing our Points program." Without any details on those enhancements. When ever I ever I looked into the current Point Program would not be as valuable as the Old loyalty program that is being retired.

On average with the old program would expect $10 of savings per 30 day plans or $30 of savings with 120 day plans. ($5 of the max out Loyalty Pays, $2 of auto pay and $3 of refer a friend per 30 day period). On average about $120 per months. Without spending dependence.

With the current reward program being points valued at $10 per year max for loyalty, $3 of points per 30 days for refer a friend. With 5% back on spending. With a $34 per 30 days of $102 per 120 day plan would estimate $66.40 of points per year. With cash flow of redeeming them an extra customer step that would typically expect to work in Public Mobiles favour.

I do hope the "enhancing our Points program" does bring the value proposition of the loyalty program does at least matches the "old"/"retiring" loyalty program if not improves upon it.

This does overall upset me and a lot of other customers. I would be tempted to leave over it, but the Promotional plan I do have does seem to be competitive enough that I would find something overall better. But maybe switch to some that roughly matches like Fido.

I do hope the "enhancing our Points program" element does get clarified sooner than latter.

Insignia
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

can some one tell me about the referrals like if someone has  referrals for example 135 referrals will those referrals still help wipe out someone`s total 40 dollar plan payment and what happens to the remaining amount of referrals that are not used to adjust the bill forget the 2 dollars loyalty and 5 years 7 dollars discount what happens to the referrals can they be still used to pay the amount you owe to public and secondly if you have say 2000 dollars in your account already accumulated just for example they will 1st use that money to pay for your bill like take money out of that will these referrals still be accumulating as dollar amount somewhere ? there is no customer service where i could call so i am asking this question . i know whatever i need to do wont be automatic ill have to select it manually to do it but what happens to the referrals accumulated by some one and do they keep accumulating or is there a cap on there usage while paying your bill thank you

Grinch
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@hTideGnow wrote:

@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards


HI @mikasik2 

it's Canada, tax on everything  🙂


You missed the point. 

fixin
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

@hTideGnow wrote:

@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards


HI @mikasik2 

it's Canada, tax on everything  🙂


I live in AB, so 5% tax + the 5% give back is just losing the tax.


@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards


HI @mikasik2 

it's Canada, tax on everything  🙂

mikasik2
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards

eJonavin
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

They aren’t even competitive with their mother brand Telus.you can get $10/yr with 100mins + 500min + 1GB/month bonus.  That’s an option for the $15 plan if you want to stay in the Telus family.

But at this point I am recommending people at least consider Freedom if their network works for them. I’ve moved three previously PM/Koodo lines to Freedom already and the experience has been good. YMMV.

 

Stelawrat
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Robotron2084 wrote:

I’m horrible math. 

With my earned Loyalty, Autopay and referral credits, my monthly plan cost drops from $40 to $32. With this new “points system” will my monthly plan fee be the same, or can I expect it to increase, and if so, by how much?


Since your plan cost drops by $8, then I know you have reductions for $5 loyalty, $2 autopay & $1 referral.  The loyalty & autopay bonuses will end, replaced by a points system, where 1 point = $1. 

Sometime beginning in May, every month you will receive 2 points (5% x $40.) + 1 point (1 referral) meaning your monthly bill will be $40. & you will have accumulated 3 points. 

Once per year on your anniversary date, you will be credited with 10 points, bringing your total to 46 points.

So once per year, you can use your points to offset your payment for that month. The following month, you'll be paying $40 again & you'll have 6 points left over. 

Alternatively, you can log in after 5 months, when you'll have earned 15 points, and use those to put towards your bill for that month, leaving you with a balance to pay by credit card, of $25. 

The following month, your bill would be $40. & your points balance would be 3.

NB - If your referral leaves, then you lose that referral point, losing 12 points for the year. If you downgrade your account, then the 5% reduction would be reduced as well. For example if you choose a $30 plan, then your points would be reduced from 2 per month to 1.5 points, losing 6 points for the year. Sorry.    


@Robotron2084 wrote:

I’m horrible math. 

With my earned Loyalty, Autopay and referral credits, my monthly plan cost drops from $40 to $32. With this new “points system” will my monthly plan fee be the same, or can I expect it to increase, and if so, by how much?


@Robotron2084 

You will unfortunately lose monthly loyalty and autopay rewards.  

Initially, your monthly bill will go  back to $40 + taxes. 

With the points,  you will get 3 friend referral points/month (assuming you are 5 year + customer)

5% back on the $40 plan - 2 points/month (equivalent to autopay)

Once a year on your anniversary date of sign in - you will receive 10 loyalty points

You will need to manually convert 15 points for $15 bill credit. 

Most legacy customers will be paying more with these changes.  

HI @Robotron2084 

will go up for sure 😞

fist, you will need to pay $40 in full every time but earn the saving back in points

you will get 5% back form $40, so 2 points for that.  Luckily that offset the $2 autopay discount

But the loyalty discount will be replaced by only 10 points every year.  So, roughly 0.8 points a month

but luckily, if you have friend referrals, you will earn it the same, except in points

and one thing, you need to collect to 15 points before you can redeem for $15 bill credit

Filou123
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Well, I'm not too thrilled having to go around shopping for another provider ... that's the worst part for me, as I don't have tons of free time to do so. But what PM just did is a breach of trust and I don't see myself getting the value I used to get.

Robotron2084
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

I’m horrible math. 

With my earned Loyalty, Autopay and referral credits, my monthly plan cost drops from $40 to $32. With this new “points system” will my monthly plan fee be the same, or can I expect it to increase, and if so, by how much?

EslyReniery
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Horrible. This was the reason I wanted to have my whole family of four with PM. Now, I will look for a new provider. PM joins the other greedy companies that have changed their rewards program to increase their profits.

JukeboxRomeo
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

This is a betrayal of your long time customers with significant financial consequences. My mobile plan cost will increase by at least 20% with this change, and destroys the incentives that Public Mobile promised to  me as a customer.

Leela3
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Friendly reminder. For anyone wishing to file a complaint with CCTS you must go through PM first. You will have to provide proof that you attempted and were unable to reach a resolution with PM. This step can't be skipped. We have until May so there's still time!

Sylvestor
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Wow. A couple of friends called me about this yesterday. How many other customers are uninformed about this?

They both, also, advised they are leaving. This  hurts my reputation for recommending Public Mobile to them and also hurts my referral rewards. 

1. I will no longer give referrals or a free SIM to friends and family. 
2. I can see leaving, as I have other options through work. 

Grinch
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

So disappointing.  Was on the tipping point with Telus. I know I will be slowly but surely moving away from Telus in it’s entirety. 

Stelawrat
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Caniss wrote:

Telus is upgrading their 5G network and getting rid of the cheaper Huawei gear, which is going to cost a lot of money $$$.

TELUS to supercharge its 5G network using Samsung’s vRAN 3.0 and Open RAN solutions – improving performance, energy efficiency and flexibility for future enhancements.

TELUS’ bold approach to embrace a multi-vendor Open RAN brownfield deployment leverages other ecosystem collaborations as well. Cloud infrastructure will be provided by Wind River, tapping the company’s experience in real-time operating systems and cloud-native, distributed edge platforms. Additionally, Hewlett Packard Enterprise will deliver HPE ProLiant DL110 Gen11 servers featuring 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor with Intel vRAN Boost, that are workload optimized for Open RAN while being open and flexible, providing the foundation for a Distributed Unit (DU).

https://www.telus.com/en/about/news-and-events/media-releases/telus-partners-with-samsung-to-build-c...

 

 


Interesting read, especially as it indicates they've already completed testing & that implementation begins mid-2024. That's relatively soon after the full transition to the points system.

Also, the way it's described, from Telus' pov, it will be cost effective & an almost effortless deployment. They don't have to, but hopefully, this means they'll pass on some savings to their customers as a result of this improvement to their own bottom line. 

"The companies have extensively tested both the vRAN and Open RAN rollout in select Canadian markets with excellent results, validating the telco-grade performance and reliability of multi-vendor Open RAN technology, powered by Samsung’s vRAN solutions. Commercial deployment will begin in the first half of this year and a large-scale network rollout is expected to begin mid-2024.

For this expanded collaboration, Samsung will deliver its versatile vRAN software and proven Open RAN compliant solutions, including its 64T64R Massive MIMO radios, as well as the support for third-party radio integration. Samsung’s solutions include its latest vRAN 3.0 for 4G and 5G, which features enhanced capabilities for improved energy savings, optimized performance and intelligent automation via Samsung’s Service Management and Orchestration (SMO). Samsung’s AI-based SMO will help TELUS accelerate vRAN rollouts at scale by enabling automated deployment of thousands of network sites simultaneously. It will also provide TELUS with a comprehensive set of capabilities for end-to-end automation for multi-party solutions, enabling easier deployment, operation and optimization of their network."

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