topic Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals in Announcements

A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

Dave_M — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 22:07:32 GMT

Hey Community,

As we enter the final month of the year (and decade!) I wanted to take the time to reflect on what a year it’s been. I also wanted to thank you all for another great year. Public Mobile could not be where it is today without you, our customers.

We kicked off the year focused on your wishlist from 2018:

Faster Moderator response times
Improved ticketing process
Additional goodness from SIMon

Since last year, we’ve beefed up our Community support and brought response times down from days to minutes, getting you connected to Moderators faster. Our virtual assistant SIMon is also now better equipped to support you: SIMon has resolved 70% of all issues without needing a Moderator, and houses our new streamlined ticketing process, which helps you get better and faster support. All this progress wouldn’t be possible without you, our passionate Community. Thank you to those who have helped us identify these issues, test our systems, and provide feedback. While this progress is good, our journey is far from over. I encourage you to continue to provide feedback to help us build a better service for you.

We recognize that you are at the heart of everything we do, which is why we’ve refocused our brand promise. Our new motto “we’re for you” isn’t just for looks, we want to make sure you’re at the center of our systems, promotions, and even campaigns. We’ve been putting that into action, from free data giveaways to our #PublicMobilePDA campaign, where we broadcast the things you love on billboards across Canada!

But 2019 wasn’t all rosy. Earlier this year many of you experienced issues with your service because, frankly, our systems just weren’t good enough. In August, we made significant improvements to ensure that this didn’t happen again. Part of this required removing our Build Your Own Plan Calculator. This wasn’t an easy decision, and we know that many of you enjoyed the flexibility of the calculator. We’ve heard that feedback and are planning to introduce some enhancements to our plans in the coming year because of it. At the end of the day, having reliable service is just table stakes, and we want to make Public Mobile the best it can be for you. We have made improvements over the last year, but we’re not done yet.

As we continue to focus on our customers and what you want, in 2020 we’re focusing on a wishlist of things you have asked for:

A simpler and mobile-friendly self serve experience
Promotions and programs that benefit you, our valued customers
Continuing to ensure that our systems are best-in-class and improving the experience you have when you need to get help
An enhanced Community that is easier to use and more engaging

As we work on this wishlist in the new year, we want to do so with more transparency. Our goal is to keep you more informed on the decisions we make and why we make them.

But, before we kick of 2020, I want to take a moment to sincerely thank you for being a loyal Public Mobile customers and a valued member of the Community. Last year, we were #LessForLess, but now we’re for you. As December is the season of giving, we wanted to show you (in addition to telling you) how much we appreciate all you do. Make sure to check back on the Community this coming Wednesday, December 4th for a special announcement about some free gifts coming your way.

Sincerely,

Dave

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

Triguy — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 20:59:19 GMT

Good to know that PM is continuing to improve service and plans for 2020.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

smp99 — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:06:09 GMT

Unlimited data plan(s) ?

I still recommend PM to my friends.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

will13am — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:22:37 GMT

I wonder if "simpler and mobile-friendly self serve experience" means mobile app? "Promotions and programs that benefit you, our valued customers" must include existing customers more often than in the past. Things like augmented data, allowing existing accounts to get some of the deals that new activations get (free SIM card excepted) would be a great show of inclusiveness in the "our valued customers" adjective. On enhanced community, what can I say, "we're here for you Public Mobile".

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

ChuckYeah — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:22:42 GMT

@Dave_M great write up. I love to hear these updates as sometimes I feel lost in the process. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Looking forward to the thank you promos too.

I have one thing for you to consider. I wonder if you could set up an ideas forum of some type. Seeing the same concerns over and over is not productive in my opinion. If there was a place where people could send their concerns, like maybe @Ideas_Team and a thread where they could be posted, we could all see the ideas that were being floated and perhaps weigh in.

Sure unlimited plans would be great, and an app and the use of prepaid credit cards for auto-pay and many other things, but unless it's something PM can reasonably provide, there's not much sense talking about it.

Anyway, just an idea for more productive communication between PM and the PM community.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

Luddite — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:27:00 GMT

@smp99 wrote:
Unlimited data plan(s) ?

Never for me! These always seem to involve brutally restricted speeds, so more "regular" data is better.

BTW: Here's Dave navigating some of the rough seas we experienced last year.

The good ship "PM Adventure".

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

SD08 — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:27:14 GMT

Thanks for the update, Dave. I would say the best and most noticeable improvement this year has been support response times, and I for one appreciate it, since I had to avail myself of moderator assistance a few times this year. Keep working at those improvements, PM.

Looking forward to the announcement coming later this week.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:30:25 GMT

@ChuckYeah : You can use prepaid credit card gift cards to satisfy the autopay reward. (although I still haven't done an actual autopay from it due to balances)

Other payment options would be good ie. Paypal. They can take Paypal for the SIM, why not service?

Before my time here (maybe yours) there used to a Lab ideas suggestions kinda category.

@smp99 : And maybe $5 for 500 texts in/out kinda like the minutes add-on. Although with the demise of the $10 plan...that's kinda moot now. But there are likely still many on the $10 plan.

Severely throttled data doesn't interest me.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

MoreYummy — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:31:56 GMT

so what's your plan for 2020?

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

maurice — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:43:03 GMT

You can count me in as a member who would like to see the return of a Build Your Own Plan Calculator. I have been less than happy about finding out after using Build Your Own Plan for opening an account, that less than a week later the option to do so again for another one had just magically disappeared.

So to see an enhanced version of such a plan and some improved transparency when making these kind of changes is something we can all look forward to. I hope it happens.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

popping — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:45:36 GMT

Great work for 2019 and looking forward for more improvement.

Also looking forward for free gift in couple of days. Who said PM does not taking care of their customers.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

Korth — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:51:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Severely throttled data doesn't interest me.

I assume you're referring to throttled speeds on "unlimited" data.

I don't see much issue with the idea... since you'd have to use all your unthrottled limited data before the throttled "unlimited" data kicks in. If you want more data then buy more data, everybody in Canada sells data for roughly the same prices, too many people complain because their favourite carrier doesn't give big fast useful data away for free.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

Luddite — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 21:55:45 GMT

@Anonymous I'm pretty sure Paypal is accepted for SIMs because it's not PM fulfilling the orders but a third party.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

MitchRuns — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 22:03:06 GMT

I am also heavily in the camp wanting unlimited throttled data after reaching our cap. It is one of the only things that will keep me as a customer long term. I'd like the sense of security knowing I can access essential info or google maps after my data runs out.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 22:06:20 GMT

@Korth wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Severely throttled data doesn't interest me.
I assume you're referring to throttled speeds on "unlimited" data.
I don't see much issue with the idea... since you'd have to use all your unthrottled limited data before the throttled "unlimited" data kicks in. If you want more data then buy more data, everybody in Canada sells data for roughly the same prices, too many people complain because their favourite carrier doesn't give big fast useful data away for free.

I'm not one of those complainers. People used to complain about 3 year contracts too. This made no sense to me either. Y'wanna new phone? Well you can't plant a silicon wafer and expect it to bear cellphone fruit. Y'gotta pay for it one way or another.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

computergeek541 — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 22:19:12 GMT

@Dave_M wrote:
Make sure to check back on the Community this coming Wednesday, December 4th for a special announcement about some free gifts coming your way.

Let me take one wild guess: a 12 days of Christmas giveway contest? This really is a guess. I don't know anything about what's coming on Wednesday.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

Staliger — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 22:39:01 GMT

Happy to see that PM is growing and improving. Let's make 2020 a great year!

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

sheytoon — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 23:20:40 GMT

@Dave_M, please prioritize VoLTE launch on Public Mobile.

As you may or may not know, Bell and Telus are deploying new sites with LTE only. Your customers in these areas will see full bars on their phones, but will not be able to make any calls.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

smp99 — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 23:26:32 GMT

Re Moderator wait times. Over the past year I have had to contact the mods about 5 or 6 times for various family/friends. Max response time was 3 hours. So yeah, improved.

Re: A Letter from Dave: Looking back on 2019 and our 2020 goals

will13am — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 00:40:42 GMT

@ChuckYeah wrote:
@Dave_M great write up. I love to hear these updates as sometimes I feel lost in the process. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Looking forward to the thank you promos too.

I have one thing for you to consider. I wonder if you could set up an ideas forum of some type. Seeing the same concerns over and over is not productive in my opinion. If there was a place where people could send their concerns, like maybe @Ideas_Team and a thread where they could be posted, we could all see the ideas that were being floated and perhaps weigh in.

Sure unlimited plans would be great, and an app and the use of prepaid credit cards for auto-pay and many other things, but unless it's something PM can reasonably provide, there's not much sense talking about it.

Anyway, just an idea for more productive communication between PM and the PM community.

Back in the day, there was a labs forum intended for this very purpose. There were some great ideas put forward. Alas, there was no appetite to keep up with the suggestions and labs was disbanded. Perhaps there is a place for it today.