topic Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee in Get Support

Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

Elle — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 20:04:21 GMT

Hello there

here's hoping a Public Mobile Mod sees this, but I was wondering if it was normal to charge $80 for Activating the SIM card? I went to a guy in my city who's store was listed as an OFFICIAL Public Mobile store on Google Maps because I wanted to try a new phone company. I got there and he does indeed say he's a Public Mobile store, even has the logo in the back. So he sets it up and comes to a total of $210. $120 for the 3-month plan, and then the voucer (sim card?), then the activation fee of $80. If there is no activation fee, should I get my money back? How would I do it? Legal action? I mean it would be fraud wouldn't it, if he's pretending to be YOU charging a non-existent fee right?

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

imm1304 — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 22:01:41 GMT

Hi @Elle!

I am afraid I have bad news for you. PM is selfserve based online-only mobile service provider. There are no authorised dealers activating on behalf of PM and as such, there are no activation fees. Also, $80 is way too much and I have never heard of such steep activation fees for mobile service.

For future, you can purchase PM sim cards from Walmart, Wow-mobile, and K-mobile locations across the country for $10+tax and then go to https://activate.publicmobile.ca and sign up within 10 minutes.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

Exanas — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 22:04:29 GMT

I bought my sim card for $10 at Walmart, then inserted my sim and activated my account in 10 mins once I was home. It seems sort of sketchy that he charged that much.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

NDesai — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 22:06:45 GMT

Go back to him and ask for money back.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

mimmo — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 22:48:57 GMT

There is always the social media option if the store is unwilling to return the fee, but part of me says you agreed to pay / paid the activation fee, so unless they charged you telling you only after the activation you might be out of luck.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

NDesai — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 23:52:55 GMT

@mimmo wrote:
There is always the social media option if the store is unwilling to return the fee, but part of me says you agreed to pay / paid the activation fee, so unless they charged you telling you only after the activation you might be out of luck.

It is just wrong to do. If we figure out that many other local shops selling vouchers take advantage of customers by charging additional fees for no reason, i am willing to take this matter to PM to remove all local shops. Retail stores like SDM, CT, may be Walmart in the future, and some gas stations should be enough.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

imm1304 — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 00:06:16 GMT

It is morally wrong to do this but probably legal to sell service for a fee.

The best we can do is spread awareness so no more unsuspecting customers are taken advantage of.

It would be nice if @Elle can name and shame them here for all to see.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

mimmo — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 00:06:09 GMT

@NDesai i do agree with you. But not being at the transaction i do not know what how the agreement was made. If thet agree ahead of time to pay fee x then i dont know what recourse the op has.

But that was also why I mentioned social media maybe others would share their experiences and we can see how many others were "scammed"

I also think the OP should maybe contact a mod/ higher up(Brooke?) with the store details , and how they found the store in question. Maybe PM can take some actions.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

mimmo — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 00:10:03 GMT

@imm1304 wrote:

It would be nice if @Elle can name and shame them here for all to see.

Would that go against the code of conduct of the community?

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

imm1304 — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 00:35:22 GMT

No harm in naming a probable scammer with the best interest of the PM community at heart. I am sure its allowed 🙂

@mimmo wrote:
@imm1304 wrote:

It would be nice if @Elle can name and shame them here for all to see.
Would that go against the code of conduct of the community?

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

frenette — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 00:37:00 GMT

@Elle - I sure hope you reported this rip-off artist to the police.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

Wonder_why — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 02:01:13 GMT

@frenette wrote:
@Elle - I sure hope you reported this rip-off artist to the police.

I don't think is a rip off, he/she provide services, to activated the services and told him/her the fee $80 and agreed to pay.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

mtfolks — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 02:03:58 GMT

This sucks. Sorry you got scammed.

I there’s no question both the poster and PM could go after him. I’d definitely let the mods know as PM would likely take action to shut this person down as they are claiming to be associated with PM and definitely bare not. I think this is the most likely recourse.

As for the poster, I think submitting a complaint to the police isn’t a bad idea as it is clearly a scam but I don’t know how much they would be able to do. You could likely pursue legal action but for $80 it probably doesn’t make much sense.

Unfortunately, I think your money is gone. Hopefully PM/the police can make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Oh, and if they set up your account make sure you change your password, watch your credit card, etc. This person is clearly not trustworthy IMO.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

mtfolks — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 02:08:41 GMT

@Wonder_why Disagree. They claimed to be associated with PM and used that to build trust and make money. That’s a scam. Had they been honest the poster may not have chosen to use their “service”.

Charging a fee in and of itself wouldn’t be a problem, tho. You shouldn’t need to take advantage of people to make money.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

ute1978 — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 02:18:12 GMT

@mimmo wrote:
Maybe PM can take some actions.

I think PM must take action in this case.

Such a rip off!

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

Wonder_why — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 02:34:34 GMT

Let see Elle will disclosed store name and address of the store associate with PM or Elle BS

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

dna2016 — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 03:46:24 GMT

Hi @Elle,

Sorry to hear about this, but considering PM is all about lower costs i'm surprised you didn't question this retailer beofre making the purchase. I'm even surprised activation fees still exist. I know back in the day companies like Rogers and Bell would charge a $35 activation fee, but $80, that should have had your eyebrows raised. Unless you got a phone from them at a great price, then I would go back there (with the paperwork/receipt) and ask for a refund. I don't think taking legal action is worth the hassle for $80. But I do recommend you talk to them first, see what they say. If they refuse to provide any type of refund or store credit, then ask to speak to their manager. If that doesn't work then let them know you'll go to the press, that usually does the trick.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

computergeek541 — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 05:45:27 GMT

There is no such thing as an "official Public Mobile store". The person can offer you a service as activating the service for you and charge whatever he wants, and if you agreed to that price, you're out of luck. That is covered under basic Canadian contract law. This is all assuming of course that hte seller didn't misrepresent himself or otherwise commit some form of fraud. Charging a fee for something isn't illegal. But that person can't say he is running a "Public Mobile store", as quite honestly, they don't exist. If questioned, I'm certain that person will say what was said was "they are an authorized seller of Public Mobile sim cards" or something similar. Unless there is some type of agreement between the store and Public Mobile specifically preventing such fees, the store could really charge whatever they wish.

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

Jencho — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 11:49:54 GMT

I would go back to the store $80 is a lot of money. Ask him why did he charge you $80?

Re: Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

bryclops — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 16:52:51 GMT

Please provide the nearest intersection and city this store is located if you don't want to snitch, lol. We will do the rest of the homework.