topic Re: Re-activation problems in Get Support

Re-activation problems

pm-smayer97 — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 11:27:53 GMT

Discovered another wrinkle in the re-activation process of suspended accounts (aka 'on hold'). This is on top of the problem of accounts NOT automatically re-activating that are suspended.

First note that my account was marked as STOLEN via self-serve. So account was manually suspended.

We already know that the RE-ACTIVATE button does not work at all (at least never for me). So the work-around solution is to make a $1 payment, then the account is supposed to re-activate. I have done this in the past and it worked ok. THIS TIME IT WOULD NOT!

Instead, when I tried to make a payment, the tax would not calculate AND the (Submit) button would NOT work... I tried using Chrome AND Firefox to make sure it was not a browswer issue.

It turns out that the only way I could make this work is to FIRST go to 'Plans & Add-ons', click the 'Lost/Stolen Phone' tab then clck the (Resume Service) button. THEN and ONLY THEN could I make an extra payment for $1 to re-activate the account.

(I brought this to the attention of PM...hopefully they will fix this too).

Hope this helps someone.

Re: Re-activation problems

Tav — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 13:06:22 GMT

I don't know about anyone else but this sounds more like an intentional feature than a bug to me.

Why would you wanna pay if your phone was lost/stolen? I get that the service will eventually close out and you could lose your number after a certain amount of days but most people would have a sorted out a new phone by then I would think.

Re: Re-activation problems

mh1983 — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 13:37:49 GMT

I agree. I figure that setting would intentionally freeze the account.

Re: Re-activation problems

CalgaryBen — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 14:01:42 GMT

Thanks for the heads-up, @pm-smayer97. Seems we need a big flow chart as part of the PM User's Guide!

Another wrinkle to be aware of (may only affect you if your account lapsed/expired) is that the AutoPay Reward may no longer occur, despite being enrolled in AutoPay (and the Automatic Top-Up transactions showing up in the history), and despite AutoPay Reward ($2) showing up in the rewards summary page.

Example: My son's $10/30 day was on an auto-pay cycle renewal for June 2, July 2, August 1, August 31, September 1, etc. Like clockwork, AutoPay Reward would kick in on renewal date, followed by Automatic Top-Up an hour or two later, and then plan renewal an hour or two after that. However, in mid-August, I suspended his phone since he lost it. We found his phone in November, so I added funds and the Resumed Service on November 7. There was no AutoPay Reward (and I didn't expect one, of course). On December 7, there was an Automatic Top-Up (full $10, no AutoPay Reward) followed by plan renewal. Same with January 6. I got the Mods to provide $2+$2 adjustment, and I think I've fixed the issue through the Self-Serve portal by un-enrolling and then re-enrolling (Payment -> Make a Payment -> Manage AutoPay -> Remove AutoPay -> Wait -> SIGN UP FOR AUTOPAY -> Wait -> Sign up For AutoPay). We'll see what happens on Feb 5!

Re: Re-activation problems

MoreYummy — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 14:05:13 GMT

Have you try the auto bot? Play with it and see if it will give you direction or for fun.

Re: Re-activation problems

will13am — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 15:46:45 GMT

@pm-smayer97, thanks for sharing the experience with the community. I use the lost phone feature also to suspend a couple of accounts. Recently, I attempted to restore the service to both by reporting the phone was found. In one of the accounts, simply reporting the phone was found, logging out and then loggin back in restarted the account. Auto pay was always enabled during the suspension, thus the reason to use lost phone to suspend the account. I did not have to click the re-activate button. On the other account account, nothing happened. I tried clicking the re-activation button and there was no response. I tried toggling the lost phone/found phone feature and still no change. I tried to top up $1 and the top up was rejected. In the end, I had to seek help. The online portal being what it is, outcomes can still be very YMMV.

Re: Re-activation problems

pm-smayer97 — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 19:41:58 GMT

@CalgaryBen wrote:
Thanks for the heads-up, @pm-smayer97. Seems we need a big flow chart as part of the PM User's Guide!

Another wrinkle to be aware of (may only affect you if your account lapsed/expired) is that the AutoPay Reward may no longer occur, despite being enrolled in AutoPay (and the Automatic Top-Up transactions showing up in the history), and despite AutoPay Reward ($2) showing up in the rewards summary page.

Example: My son's $10/30 day was on an auto-pay cycle renewal for June 2, July 2, August 1, August 31, September 1, etc. Like clockwork, AutoPay Reward would kick in on renewal date, followed by Automatic Top-Up an hour or two later, and then plan renewal an hour or two after that. However, in mid-August, I suspended his phone since he lost it. We found his phone in November, so I added funds and the Resumed Service on November 7. There was no AutoPay Reward (and I didn't expect one, of course). On December 7, there was an Automatic Top-Up (full $10, no AutoPay Reward) followed by plan renewal. Same with January 6. I got the Mods to provide $2+$2 adjustment, and I think I've fixed the issue through the Self-Serve portal by un-enrolling and then re-enrolling (Payment -> Make a Payment -> Manage AutoPay -> Remove AutoPay -> Wait -> SIGN UP FOR AUTOPAY -> Wait -> Sign up For AutoPay). We'll see what happens on Feb 5!

Ah YES! AutoPay has failed for me 100% of the time when trying to re-activate after a suspended account...because Auto-Reactivate has not worked 😕

So this too is problematic and I have had to get mods to make adjustments each time.

Re: Re-activation problems

pm-smayer97 — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 19:48:06 GMT

@Tav wrote:
I don't know about anyone else but this sounds more like an intentional feature than a bug to me.

Why would you wanna pay if your phone was lost/stolen? I get that the service will eventually close out and you could lose your number after a certain amount of days but most people would have a sorted out a new phone by then I would think.
@mh1983 wrote:
I agree. I figure that setting would intentionally freeze the account.

The better way would at the very least instruct the user to first mark the phone as found and then to re-activate it but ideally, it should do both in one step if a user is trying to re-activate...why else would they be trying to re-activate? There is no other good reason.

BUT bottom line is that based on other comments too, the system fails to allow self-reactivation for other reasons, so this is far more complex a problem...

Bottom line... PM needs to fix this self-serve feature. After all, this is mostly a self-serve product.

Re: Re-activation problems

pm-smayer97 — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 19:53:36 GMT

@will13am wrote:
@pm-smayer97, thanks for sharing the experience with the community. I use the lost phone feature also to suspend a couple of accounts. Recently, I attempted to restore the service to both by reporting the phone was found. In one of the accounts, simply reporting the phone was found, logging out and then loggin back in restarted the account. Auto pay was always enabled during the suspension, thus the reason to use lost phone to suspend the account. I did not have to click the re-activate button. On the other account account, nothing happened. I tried clicking the re-activation button and there was no response. I tried toggling the lost phone/found phone feature and still no change. I tried to top up $1 and the top up was rejected. In the end, I had to seek help. The online portal being what it is, outcomes can still be very YMMV.

That is the same reason I used the lost/stolen feature.

Sad to see that this is a far more complex and unpredictable problem that there is not even a reliable consistent work-around.

None of this bodes well for a supposed self-serve product.

I have 11 accounts I manage at the moment and have good reasons to use this feature a lot but have consistently run into problems with it. I do hope PM finds and implements a solid fix to this feature.

Thanks for sharing.

Re: Re-activation problems

pm-smayer97 — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 20:00:23 GMT

@CalgaryBen wrote:
Thanks for the heads-up, @pm-smayer97. Seems we need a big flow chart as part of the PM User's Guide!
...

There was no AutoPay Reward (and I didn't expect one, of course).
...

Yes, a big flow chart indeed!

As for the AutoPay issue, I would disagree... what if you mark your phone lost/stolen for just a day or two? why should a user lose the AutoPay reward if they are still signed up?

No this is a glitch, plain and simple, IMHO, just like the rest of the Lost/Stolen / Re-activation features.

Again, hope PM finds and fixes all these related problems.

Re: Re-activation problems

CalgaryBen — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 20:21:21 GMT

@pm-smayer97 wrote:
@CalgaryBen wrote:
There was no AutoPay Reward (and I didn't expect one, of course).
As for the AutoPay issue, I would disagree... what if you mark your phone lost/stolen for just a day or two? why should a user lose the AutoPay reward if they are still signed up?

No this is a glitch, plain and simple, IMHO, just like the rest of the Lost/Stolen / Re-activation features.

Again, hope PM finds and fixes all these related problems.

As far as the AutoPay Reward... I agree -- if you do the suspend/resume while still inside of the current cycle (e.g. 30-day), then the AutoPay and Reward should continue to happen as if you never suspended. I haven't tested/validated this use case yet, and assumed it does work as expected? That's not what you've observed?

In my case, I suspended an account and then the plan expired. After expiry, I then resumed it (upon recovering the lost phone). I didn't feel entitled to the $2 Reward when I manually added funds and resumed service (although I wouldn't have declined it, either!!). Since the system said I was (still) registered for AutoPay, I didn't think anything further of it, but then noticed AutoPay kicked in 30 days later, but the AutoPay Reward disappeared despite what the portal/Overview suggested. These Rewards, I did feel entitled to get back -- and did via Mods, of course.

You have a point, though... I think (but may be corrected) the same principle applies to new sign-ups... while activating your new SIM, you choose your plan (e.g. $10/30 day), add your credit card, and get charged the full $10+tax. You'll then find a $2 AutoPay Reward added to your account right then, and then ~30 days later when its time to renew, you'll see another $2 AutoPay Reward, and ultimately be charged $6 on your first renewal.

So I guess I could bug the Mods for another $2. But I'll just call it a spilled coffee and be done. So many things broken and need fixing... what is the avenue for reporting these? There's a ticketing system supposedly in the works... hopefully that will serve the need. There used to be a "Public Lab" with a virtual feedback/suggestion box, but that's gone...

Re: Re-activation problems

Suk — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 03:31:01 GMT

Wow, I have been struggling to re-activate my account for 2 days!!!

Who would have guessed the re-activate button does not work.

Thank god someone put the details but why Public Mobile doesn't fix the button.

Thanks for the instruction.