Upcoming Changes to our Old Rewards Program

[J_PM]

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

[JennalynnFlesch]

To let everyone on Legacy know, in the article by PM here; https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/move-to-public-points  they say we will NOT lose our rewards from the old program.  Here is the snipet from the article; 

'Any credits earned up to May, 2024 will remain on your account and be applied to your future bills'!!!!!  This clearly states that any rewards you currently have MUST BE HONORED!

LET'S HOLD THEM TO THIS!  

[RetiredGuy1]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

hi @Hollister but you cannot deny price really comes down , and down a lot. $35 used to be just 3GB and now it gives you Canada-US plan for 20GB or so

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But price is not really coming down - its that perceived value is going up. PM, like all telecoms, use ARPU (average revenue per user) as the key metric. So, they change plans by adding more data at the same price points. I say “perceived” because people jump at the chance of feeling they’re getting more for the same cost. In reality, most users don’t use all the data allotted and all telecoms know this. Its no coincidence the two 4G plans ($24/4G and $29/20GB) are not available to existing users right now. You’re either stuck at 5G with at least 50GB or downgrade to 3G plans. Without a 5G capable phone but still wanting relatively good data speeds, neither option appeals to me and I suspect many others as well.

[marcnoel]

In 2018, with PM, you could get 4 GB for $ 40.00/month.  Now, you can get 50 GB plus unlimited throttled for $ 34.00.  Offerings have gone up, and prices have gone down.

Fizz, for example, has a $ 34.00 50 GB 4G plan (not unlimited throttled).  Independent of the Beta test half-price offer right now, which can disappear any time, it would take almost 27 months to earn $ 1.00 off per month there (you have to spend $ 900.00 to reach that level, which I assume is pre-taxes).  Staying with PM, and getting $ 10.00 a year plus $ 1.70/month back, with no referrals, you'd save ~$ 68.00 in that time.  No matter where you go from PM, you will still have to start at the bottom.  If you can get something for referrals immediately, all the better, but, as stated before, if you go to another carrier, and then encounter reception or coverage problems, the referrals may not thank you.

[Public_Cust_17]

I love the quote by Entwistle.. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/telecom-ceos-appear-before-federal-committee-tell-mps-prices-are-coming-... 

I'm planning on sending the following to said committee but won't hold my breath.

To: The Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (E-mail: INDU@parl.gc.ca)

Subject: Effective price increase caused by the cancellation of customer rewards

After reading today (March 18, 2024) on BNN Bloomberg the results of a meeting between your committee and the Telecom CEO’s where “Entwistle said he was confident Canadians would see price declines but could not discuss specifics about price setting.” I would like to point out that the Telus low-cost flanker brand Public Mobile has just announced the cancellation of their “legacy rewards” plans for existing customers that joined prior to a new rewards system being implemented. It was stated at the introduction of the new rewards system that legacy customers were not required to join and could remain on their existing rewards program.

The CRTC mandates that there be low-cost and occasional-use wireless service plans and the Public Mobile lower cost plans will be hit the worse with effective price increases up to $7 month ($2 for auto-pay and maximum $5 loyalty) rewards to be replaced by the new rewards which offer a 5% of the bill reward and a yearly points equivalent of $10. For the most vulnerable (seniors and financially burdened) of the customers on the low-cost plans and specifically on the lowest cost plan @$15/30 days this will have a net effect of increasing their yearly costs by up to $65/yr before taxes ($7x12 less $0.75*12+$10). This is equivalent to a price increase of 67% once both reward systems have been taken into consideration.

I would like to point out that this is a blatant cash grab on these most vulnerable customers and would like to have you question Mr. Entwistle regarding the decision about this change. Although the plan price has not changed the effective cost is going to see a dramatic change with this removal of the legacy rewards systems that built the pre-paid providers customer base.

I thank you in advance for your attention to my submission and look forward to hearing any news regarding the outcome of such questions.

Kind Regards,

My name and email to be here

The following information regarding the legacy rewards system has recently been removed from the Public Mobiles website.

[jimbobs2023]

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@Cellguy wrote:

All I can see is my monthly bill increasing. If your points program was any good, everyone would have switched by now. Now you are forcing this program on everyone.

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Which makes me suspect that this is all about getting rid of low revenue accounts. Their bottom line appears to be "we're switching and that's it. Take it or leave, we don't really care".  They appear to be completely ignoring the harm done to the Telus brand, never mind Public Mobile and Koodoo.

[Public_Cust_17]

@Handy1  do you have a better quality version of the legacy Loyalty Rewards picture?

[_ToxicFire_]

wow this thread had blown up haha. The new points system is crap i have new lines on it and dislike it alot. What public mobile should do if they must keep the new point system is keep loyalty going so every year thats another point per month. auto pay 2 points each month OR even 1 point per month on auto pay.

Loyalty should not just be thrown away. Honestly my new lines are on the new point system and i knew then when opening them up this year HOWEVER losing it on other accounts sucks and instead of staying with just a couple accounts ill move all 4.

[Cellguy]

All I can see is my monthly bill increasing. If your points program was any good, everyone would have switched by now. Now you are forcing this program on everyone.

[hTideGnow]

hi @Hollister but you cannot deny price really comes down , and down a lot. $35 used to be just 3GB and now it gives you Canada-US plan for 20GB or so

[Hollister]

Wireless prices are going down, telecom CEOs insist to MPs

https://globalnews.ca/news/10367756/bell-rogers-telus-ceos-wireless-pricing-committee/

[PCIrish]

"right trick"??  Freudian slip, me thinks!!🤣

[byebye]

Yup, you’re probably right. They’re more or less just profiting off of people who aren’t going to check the changes right away and hope they can siphon out some money off of the brand that was built over the years. Very greasy of them 

[PCIrish]

Well said!  I couldn't have put that more clearly.  However, I still stand by my hypothesis that the plan is to eventually shutter and do away with Public Mobile completely.  So sad!  The poor customer service reps won't even hear the "bullet' coming!

[byebye]

look up freedom mobile. better data and cheaper than what we’re paying. can’t believe they’re just throwing away so many customers like this 🤡

[hTideGnow]

HI @byebye 

yes , on one like this .  I am paying $7 more for each account I have  😞

[byebye]

Meant raising my bill $5 a month* 5/year would maybe be forgivable but this is not 

[byebye]

So I’m a loyal customer for over 5 years with payments never late, and I’m supposed to be excited because I’m going to be paying an extra $59 a year on my bill? How does that even benefit me when you’re not grandfathering in any kind of permanent data bonus or SOMETHING? Oh boy, 30GB of data that expires in 5 months. How generous, how useful for someone like me who only ever needed 1GB a month anyway. This bonus is useless to me. Such a slap in the face that at the same time you’re giving new activations a $24/mo plan with 4G speeds and free SIM when years ago I paid $25 and the cost of a SIM just to get 3G speed! I guess I’d have nothing to lose but all my bonuses accrued from promotions etc. to start a new account and have 4G service with a lower price than what I pay now, going forward. Yeah, that’s certainly not a shady incentive at all. What a joke. Going to cancel everything and burn all of my bonuses up just out of spite. Whoever thought this was a good idea is highly regarded. Wish I could say I’ll miss this company, but for having basically no customer service or frills it always seemed fair to have the loyalty and auto renew discounts. Now you have all this flashy UI and an app and whatever else and that justifies effectively raising my bill $5 a year? For a service where nothings changed for me and it just draws from my bank every month? K

[Wolfcore]

You can, but they have some of the worst customer service in the business. We put up with it because of the cheap plans, but now that the old rewards are gone, the cost isn't worth the quality anymore. I sent a message to CS Agents on Wednesday, and in a couple days it'll be a week, and still no response back yet.

[hTideGnow]

HI @K-froze 

contact PM directly means open ticket or message with them, not email or calls

[K-froze]

Wait, you can actually contact PM directly? I thought that wasn't a thing (it wasn't when I signed up in 2019)

[Public_Cust_17]

@computergeek541  wow, I wish I had known that before I setup a new one.. 🙄

[Eister]

Yes, I did exactly that.  No problem, even after I had temporarily created a new name. 

[kyle12]

I have my plan set to change to the $15 plan at renewal to use up the leftover bonus data and minutes from previous holidays freebies. That expiring data is absolutely useless to me so not actually losing anything

[hTideGnow]

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@kyle12 wrote:

Was previously posted that many of the promotional plans are now open to existing customers. Except for the 2 cheapest ones, crazy how that happens

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HI @kyle12 

at least they are on the right trick

But a reminder for everyone, downgrading the plan might loss the bonus 150 days addon

[kyle12]

Was previously posted that many of the promotional plans are now open to existing customers. Except for the 2 cheapest ones, crazy how that happens

Didn't think my previous post had posted, hence the duplicate

[kyle12]

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@Aehmttw wrote:

Ooooo and reading these offers I just saw today. It looks like these specials are not just for new customers! Anyone that doesn't want to switch, cause it can be a hassle, lookie! the 34-dollar plan? It matches the 45-dollar plan I have now, that I pay 39 dollars for with the discounts. That seems really good! Hope that helps too! 

https://publicmobile.ca/en/on/plans?network=PROMOTION

Except for the $29 and $24 plans. Crazy coincidence that it's only the lower priced plans that are available to new activations only

[RetiredGuy1]

Sadly, that only used to be true. Nowadays a single donut costs more than a dollar

[hTideGnow]

HI @K-froze basically yes.  But you can only redeem for $15  after you collected 15 points

[HALIMACS]

Agree , dumb (& gullible, trusting, & naive)

 They, like politicians, bank on it routinely.

[kb_mv]

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@K-froze wrote:

Great, so my current bill discount of $6 per month ($2 autopay, $4 loyalty) will be:

> 5% on $34 = 1.7 points per month (assuming you can only use whole points)
> 10 anniversary points every 12 months
= $2 discount per month, which I will have to MANUALLY use instead of it being automatically deducted.

I'm only making this post because I need to in order to submit my CCTS complaint. This is how you treat customers who have been with PM for years? All because someone in a corner office thinks they're not making enough money. I WILL be shopping around for a new provider. It's the principle of the matter.

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@K-froze Why would posting on a public forum be needed to file a complaint with CCTS? Are you sure it's not communication between you and PM customer service that is required ie: a ticket or private message?