Account Suspension / Deactivation - Confusing System Information? Please help...

[Neutrinos]

Here is a brief summary of my situation:

My payment history shows the following 2 transactions.

October 27, 2015 (Auto Pay Automatic Top-Up) for plan $XX.

At this point, I noticed I had a positive $XX balance on my account - enough to cover the next month's billing.  So I turned off AutoPay.  Technically, October 27, 2015 is the last date that the system registers me as having "paid" with a credit card.

November 26, 2015 $XX (Debit) is subtracted automatically, my plan is renewed as expected and I am left with a $0.00 Balance.

December, 2015.  Sometime inside this month, I left the country for an extended hiatus of X months.  I deliberately did not pay for services and my account has gone into suspension.

Today, I logged into my account and was shown the following, expected message:

"Your account has been suspended. Make a payment to reactivate your current plan.
Suspended accounts are deactivated after 90 days if payment is not received. You will lose your phone number and service."

Strangely, just below that message is some account information:

Plan Expiry Date: Dec 25, 2015
Account Deactivation Date: Jan 25, 2016

The terminology and date is confusing me.

My question:  Is the deactivation date accurate?  Is it based on the last credit card payment on October 27th, 2015, or the amount debited from the positive account balance on November, 26, 2015, or is it truly 91 days from the Plan Expiry Date, on December 25th, 2015?

Is the Account Deactivation Date of Jan 25, 2016 just standard protocol? i.e. Will it update to February 2X, 2016 once my billing cycle starts again?

I absolutely cannot lose this number and plan - but at the same time, I don't like the feeling of paying for services that won't be used in the meantime.  

Can anyone give me a concrete answer as to the approximate date of my account, number and plan deletion?  

Will the deactivation take place on January 25, 2016 as the account info states, or does it take place sometime in late March as per the "Plan Expiry Date" of Dec 25, 2015?

[RODNEY2008]

so basiclly get new number and sim card then correct. after 90 days ? if cancelled. Thats what telus and koodo say cancelled not suspended cause that means other ways as well as a post paid account 24 months. 

[jp2]

An account gets suspended if a renewal payment isn't made. So if your plan ends on June 30th and you don't pay for the next month your account is suspended if you don't make a payment within 90 days of suspension to reactivate your account your account will be closed 

[RODNEY2008]

so I cant post new topic its greyed out anyhow a guy name Kevin said he was suspended and so on. I dont get how U can suspend prepaid accounts. I suggested him to go to CCTS and BBB if needed. Or try else were. I am new customer here and after reading this this makes me go hmmmm and my sim card here is new. I asked for air time nothing was done. Alll rest do give air time if new card and new numbers. Rodney: 

[Martin]

Hi @H_PM,

You're quite welcome.

Cheers!

[H_PM]

Hi @Shazia_K 

As suggested by you, I sent you a private message providing my PM phone number. Please check and reply on that.

[H_PM]

Thanks @Martin 

[Martin]

Hi @H_PM,

You're welcome.

For future reference, the Service Terms, which are a downloadable PDF, trumps everything that anyone says. It consists of terms and conditions legally binding on you, the consumer of wireless services, and Public Mobile, the provider of those services. It is your contract with Public Mobile every time that you renew your services.

I hope that the above further reassures you.

Cheers.

[Shazia_K]

Hey @H_PM,

Sure, Please look on the main page on the community, you should see a little envelope on the right side, that's the community inbox.

Thanks,

Shazia

[H_PM]

Thanks to Luddite, Martin and Shazia_K for your reply and reassurance of  suspension policy.

@Shazia_K 

please advise how do I send you a private message providing my PM phone number so that you can check the account status at your end.

[Shazia_K]

Hello @H_PM,

I understand your concern and I'm sorry if there is still a glitch in the system.

As our excellent oracle @Martin and @Luddite said, we did not make any changes to our 90 days account deactivation policy.

However, I would still want to look into your account, just to assure you and myself that everything is good on our side. Would you kindly send me your PM phone number via private message?

Thanks,

Shazia

[Martin]

Hi @H_PM,

Everything that @Luddite said is 100% correct. With regard to the 90-day rule, your account can be reactivated if payment is made within 90 days following plan expiry, with the first day of expiry being Day 1 of 90. On the 91st day, your plan and SIM card are deactivated, your self-serve account is deleted, your phone number is lost forever, and any monies in your account are permanently forfeited to Public Mobile.

Please note that temporary suspension of your account does exactly that, it suspends service to and from your phone. It does not, however, suspend the billing cycle, which is a common misunderstanding.

If you need proof that you have 90 days to reactivate an account, download and read the PDF titled "Service Terms", which was authored by a lawyer. The service terms trump what any person says about terms and conditions.

Last but not least, my account has nothing comparable to what you posted in bold. I believe, though I could be wrong, that only suspended accounts have said caveats.

FYI.

[Luddite]

@H_PM There has been no change in the 90 day "rule". Howevr, you will need support from one of our Moderators; @Kalla_A @Mary_M @Shazia_K If you have no response from PM within 24 hours let us know.

Hang in there; your repair is on the way.

BTW: it is better to begin a new thread in the appropriate area rather than add to an existing one.

[H_PM]

@Jeremy_M

I have a very similar situation as reported in this thread by @Neutrinos way back in Jan 2016.

I am currently using a Grandfather plan and due to some personal reasons, I would not be using the service for 90 days and therefore opted for temporary suspension of the account. But when I login today, I received the same Confusing System Information regarding Account Suspension / Deactivati​on.

The TOP the message says “Your account has been suspended. Make a payment to reactivate your current plan. Suspended accounts are deactivated after 90 days if payment is not received. You will lose your phone number and service.”

The above is an expected message. However, the below message is again confusing as before

Plan Expiry Date: Apr 4, 2016

Account Deactivation Date: May 5, 2016

I am surprised (and nervous at the same time) that even after your acceptance of this being a “BUG”, Public Mobile could not fix this system glitch in more than 2 1/2 months.

Now I need a reconfirmation from Public Mobile that this is still a system glitch/BUG and there is no policy change of 91 days account suspension. This reassurance will bring back the confidence of the community members at large, who are receiving the similar kind of confusing messages everyday

[Jeremy_M]

@Neutrinos

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and thank you for your patience!

@Martinis 100% accurate with his response. This is a system glitch that we are working on, and there is no need to worry about losing your number. 

The only way of losing your phone number is if you pass the 91-day mark since your last payment renewal date.

I hope this helps?

Jeremy

[yads]

Kind of figured that. Definitely one of the bugs PM has to address.

[Martin]

Hi @yads,

When you renew your plan at 12:01 am, it's normal for your account to have "status: expired" and *611 to state "account suspended" until 7:00 am or so even though you have service.

FYI.

[yads]

---

@7789849803 wrote:

Actually, I noticed this 30 day deactivation date on my account during renewal time as well (in the time that my plan had expired).

Maybe @Martin can shed some light on this?

---

@7789849803 so my activation date is today and my account also says that it is expired. I have autopay on, however. My service is also still working. Is this a glitch?

[Martin]

Hi @Neutrinos,

You're most welcome!

Cheers.

[Martin]

Hi @Neutrinos,

In the realm of possibility, everything is possible, including a retiring PM employee hijacking your account. Is it probable? No!

The Service Terms are a binding contract on PM and its customers. If your account were arbitrarily taken from you, that would be breach of agreement as there is no provision to do that. You would therefore have a cause of action against Public Mobile Holdings Inc. That said, the company is not in the business of violating the agreement that its lawyers wrote. If a disgruntled employee did hijack your account and number, I have no doubt that PM would rectify the situation with haste.

Once again, is it probable? NO!

FYI.

[imm1304]

Hi @Neutrinos!

I am sure your grandfathered plan is saving you a lot of money every month.  And you are saying that you want to be absolutely sure that you keep your number.  So, its fair enough that you would want definitive answer and I hope that the PM support will respond to you soon.  

To give you a bit more reassurance:  Martin is right, to the best of my knowledge the 90-day policy is what PM goes by.  

[Martin]

Hi @Neutrinos,

As you know, it's your money and, if spending it ahead of time buys you peace of mind, go for it.

Cheers.

[Neutrinos]

@Martin  Well, since my personal situation involves the absolute need to keep a vanity number and a diamond of a plan, it may be a matter of too little too late.  

On the slight off-chance that we're all mistaken about a display glitch, the computer system may automatically purge my account / number / plan.  At that point, no amount of communicating with customer service can reverse those changes.

If I don't receive a concrete answer from PM staff before the 24th, I may just go ahead and pony up the cash for one month's service and reinstate my account, and write off the expense as being a guinea pig.  

That would be the safest strategy, and buy me at least another 60 days (renew on January 24th, 2106, leave it active until February ~2X, let it expire and possibly display a new glitch deactivation date as March  ~2X.)   

I would then monitor the forums, following plan renewal to see if 1) other users are posting about similar discrepancies about a deactivation date listed 30 days from Plan Expiry, 2) any users are actually losing their numbers and plans after 30 days, and 3) Public Mobile fixes the display glitch.

I do understand your insistence that PM *MUST* provide users with 30 days' notice prior to any changes in pricing or service terms, but there's a subtle difference.  What we're discussing is technically automated on a system-wide basis and happening in the back-end.  The effects are also applied to accounts that are not exactly in "good standing."  

I actually at one point had another account with PM after the transition.  It was attached to X@gmail.com and a phone number.  I forgot to jot down the account number associated with the account.  After porting out, the entire account was unceremoniously expunged from PM's system. No amount of communication with customer service could allow me to reaccess the old account, to retrieve plan details, the old account number, or recover my old email address to associate it with my current plan and the same phone number (re-ported back in to another existing account and causing numerous glitches for months on end.)  So I don't have much faith in PM's communication of clear consequences for actions.  

i.e. Also, on the topic of "good standing,"... Hypothetically speaking, can't PM also take away my plan for non-payment and hiatus?  (Not that there's any precedent for this action.)  Would I have much recourse in a court of law?   

Thank you again, though, truly.  I've taken your measured responses into consideration.

[Martin]

Hi @Neutrinos,

You're quite welcome. Thanks for seeking clarification.

I strongly suggest that you communicate with customer assistance only if you encounter a problem.

Asking them about a glitch without a problem in hand may very well result in a futile exercise.

Food for thought.

[Martin]

Hi 778,

You're welcome. Thank you for asking for clarification.

Cheers.

[Neutrinos]

@7789849803  Thank you for your contributions to this thread, and sheddling light on the matter with your related, personal anecdotes.  I appreciate it!

@Martin  Thank you for the clarifcation and your time and effort in the replies.  Since my Doomsday is happening in less than a week, I am still worried because I have a near vanity number similar to "234-5555" and an awesome plan that was quite difficult to acquire (all the stars were lined up for me back in the day.)  I will follow up with an email to customer service to see if they can confirm the glitch.  Thanks again!

[Martin]

Hi @Neutrinos,

There is NO new policy in effect. As I stated above, according to PM's Service Terms, any change in terms, including prices, must be displayed on the plan's page at least 30 days prior to the intended change. There has been NO display of change to date.

As far as losing your number, that would happen only if you went 91 days after your plan expires. Until then, your number is YOURS.

In terms of being locked out of your account, that may happen if a glitch occurs. If so, send a webmail to customer assistance with your account and personal identifiers so that they won't need to request them from you. If customer assistance fails to unlock your account within 48 consecutive hours, inform this community. The community manager or a moderator will then be notified of your situation, who will initiate contact and work with you until your problem is resolved.

I hope that this reply has allayed your concerns somewhat.

[7789849803]

Thanks for your response, @Martin. Good to know that this is a bug and that I can safely ignore the incorrect deactivation date, should I ever need to leave the plan expired for a duration of time.

Given how there are so many other bugs relatively easier to fix than this, that have gone unresolved for months now, I'm not sure it even makes sense to report this to anyone.

[Martin · Accepted solution]

Hi 778,

Thank you for the information provided.

In all cases, the deactivation date is 91 days from plan expiry.

The displaying of 30 days is a glitch. Further, according the PM's Service Terms, any change in terms, including price, must be displayed on the plan's page at least 30 days prior to a change.

FYI.

[Neutrinos]

30 day plan.  

Multiple posters in the forums have stated that complete account deactivation occurs on the 91st day after Plan Expiry.  However the system info is showing me a "deactivation" date of January 25th, 2016.

This is exactly 30 days from my Plan Expiry date (December 25th, 2015) and also roughly 3 months from my last credit card autopay "payment" on October 27, 2015 (but that could just be a coincidence.)

 I'm trying to ascertain whether A) The system provided deactivation date will roll over to February 25, 2016 and I can make a payment in late March 2016 based on Plan Expiry of December 25, 2015 or if B) I will be locked out of my account and lose my plan and number as of January 26th, 2016. 

Since we are now well into 2016, my worst fear is that this is some new policy change.

Thank you in advance for your help in this matter...

[7789849803]

@Martin: I'm not sure if being on a 30 or 90 day plan affects the time between expiry and deactivation. However, in my case, I was previously on a 90 day plan, and had requested a change to another 90 day plan on renewal. This plan change didn't happen as planned, and my account was caught in limbo for a few hours. During this time (when my plan was expired), I noticed that my account was set to be deactivated in another 30 days from then.

Hope this helps clarify the situation and my question. Do you think this 30 day deactivation date is a bug in PM's system, or has their deactivation policy changed recently (or for some but not all accounts)?