topic Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance. in Get Support

Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

DaveTicked — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:34:53 GMT

I think that I have finally submitted a ticket to get my account closed. If it is an option somewhere, it was not visible to me. Since PM forced me to set up a PM Community Account as well as my PM Account, just to contact them, as well as making me sign in a number of times during the process, I am using this opportunity to post about what a waste of my time this process has been.

PM should make closing the account a selectable option within a person's online account. This and the "Bot" were ridiculous.

Thank you for wasting my time PM.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

dabr — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:37:43 GMT

@DaveTicked You shouldn't need to contact support to close the account unless it's to remove a payment card?

Otherwise porting out the number will close the account or disable autopay and account will close after 90 days of suspension due to non payment.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

softech — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:39:32 GMT

@DaveTicked you don't need to submit ticket to close account, either login My Account or call *611 to disable Pre-authorized payment and PM won't be getting money on your next renewal. Accounts will then be suspended and will be closed 90 days later

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

DaveTicked — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:42:36 GMT

"Porting Out The Number"? = jargon. How about an option to just close the account? I did not see a "Porting" option either....although it might be there somewhere, whatever it means.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

LitlLdy — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:03:23 GMT

@DaveTicked wrote:
I think that I have finally submitted a ticket to get my account closed. If it is an option somewhere, it was not visible to me. Since PM forced me to set up a PM Community Account as well as my PM Account, just to contact them, as well as making me sign in a number of times during the process, I am using this opportunity to post about what a waste of my time this process has been.
PM should make closing the account a selectable option within a person's online account. This and the "Bot" were ridiculous.

Thank you for wasting my time PM.

@DaveTicked , Sign on to your “My Account” to make sure to disable autopay so you do not get charged. After 90 days of non payment your account gets permanently closed!

When a CSA replies back to the support ticket that you created ask them to remove your payment card to avoid being charged again.

Edit: Yes, it shouldn’t be this difficult to close one’s account from an “online support only” prepaid phone service provider!

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

Korth — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:45:40 GMT

This sort of feedback makes me a little unhappy. Somehow the customer, the system, or Public Mobile turned a routine request into a disappointing mess. (I don't personally see any reason to manually close an account, you can close the account by porting out, you can simply let the account expire from inactivity and nonpayment, you can remove your payment information, etc. But the option to close the account should be available, it should probably require deliberate verification but it shouldn't be hidden away behind a lengthy support ticket process.)

But I still promote this post because this sort of feedback is the only real way to encourage improvements. I've seen Public Mobile improve certain things before because of negative feedback.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

DaveTicked — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:51:54 GMT

This is a helpful "work around" to a really bad and convoluted system. Thanks, this is good advice. But PM does not get forgiveness.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

dabr — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:52:08 GMT

@Korth Unfortunately, PM did away with allowing us to remove our payment card from the account and now we need support to do that since the self serve account was updated last summer. We can disable autopay but there have been instances of customers still having charges go through after doing this, so I would definitely contact support to remove any payment card just in case.

Also PM has, unfortunately, chosen to ignore requests to give us back control of removing our payment cards ourselves so far.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

DaveTicked — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:53:38 GMT

Helpful advice, but PM does not get forgiveness.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

LitlLdy — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:56:37 GMT

@DaveTicked wrote:
This is a helpful "work around" to a really bad and convoluted system. Thanks, this is good advice. But PM does not get forgiveness.

@DaveTicked , I wish I could do more to help you but I am just a Customer. I’m sorry! 😕

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

LitlLdy — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:01:05 GMT

@dabr wrote:
@Korth Unfortunately, PM did away with allowing us to remove our payment card from the account and now we need support to do that since the self serve account was updated last summer. We can disable autopay but there have been instances of customers still having charges go through after doing this, so I would definitely contact support to remove any payment card just in case.

Also PM has, unfortunately, chosen to ignore requests to give us back control of removing our payment cards ourselves so far.

@dabr , I find it really frustrating & it makes 0 sense to me that they took the option away from us to manually remove our own payment cards from our own accounts that we pay for! It just causes many more support tickets to be created & in turn costing them more money!

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

DaveTicked — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:04:13 GMT

Sincere thanks LitlLdy. The main purpose of this post was to (hopefully) get Public Mobile's attention.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

dust2dust — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:08:15 GMT

On principle I agree with Korth. Wouldn't it be nice if Public promptly made changes to their system as suggestions happen. Not anything resembling a reality here though. Far from it.

So another option for others that might/may/would read this is to know when ones renewal date is and then pause the credit card at the credit card side. The payment will fail and then that's that. 90 days later, history.

Adding - oh and another option is to use a zero balance visa gift card. We can still change the card. Change to the gift card and payment fails and again that's that.

I also don't really see a need for a specific close account function when it's a pre-pay service. You don't pay, you don't get service. For many places, if you're not active and doing anything with their service then they close the account out anyway. adding - as we see with post-90 days.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

LitlLdy — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:10:42 GMT

@DaveTicked wrote:
Sincere thanks LitlLdy. The main purpose of this post was to (hopefully) get Public Mobile's attention.

@DaveTicked , I understand. Thank you for sharing your feedback about the experiences you’ve had with Public Mobile.
It is unlikely that any of Public Mobile’s Employees will see these posts but we as Customers do & will along with potential Customers looking to sign up with Public Mobile! So, it’s important to share our experiences with each other so we can make decisions on whether or not we want to stay / sign up with Public Mobile!

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

Korth — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:39:03 GMT

@dust2dust wrote:
On principle I agree with Korth. Wouldn't it be nice if Public promptly made changes to their system as suggestions happen ...

Wouldn't it be nice indeed. But I never said anything about promptly. Most problems are not addressed or even openly acknowledged until a significant number of customers have complained and are threatening to leave or have even already left. Sometimes the loudest, angriest, rudest voices are heard more clearly than any others. I could also list a few changes which have been oft-discussed, oft-requested, oft-demanded yet which have never been implemented and have even conspicuously failed to ever be mentioned by Public Mobile. Things directed at them and unanswered, unnoticed, ignored so many times that their lack of response can only be seen as deliberate. A tacit outline of topics they don't want to discuss, of problems they don't care to fix, of features they already decided to not implement.

Still, problems have been addressed, issues have been fixed, improvements have been made. Sometimes a step down instead of a step up. the Public Mobile I'm with today is not the Public Mobile I signed up with years ago. Our feedback and suggestions are not really wanted, needed, or heeded anymore, the old "Idea Lab" is long gone. Yet many individual and overall improvements have gradually taken hold because failing to implement them would've lost subscribers, lose revenue, damage the brand. Because Public Mobile chose to respond to negative customer feedback. It's not perfect but it's gotten better before so I still hope it'll get better again.

And all other commentary about Public Mobile aside ... it's still (in my opinion) a better deal than I'd find anywhere else. The other carriers all cost more, are almost as bad in some details, and are even worse in others.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

DaveTicked — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:32:43 GMT

Thanks for all the replies. I think that I did eventually get a ticket opened, although so far the only communication was from a "Mario" who required me to verify my account again; for about the 8th time so far. I am not sure if "Mario" is actually a person or another bot. I was not aware of *611. However I had set this phone up for an elderly person's emergency use and I do not have access to the actual phone.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

LitlLdy — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:41:11 GMT

@Korth wrote:
@dust2dust wrote:
On principle I agree with Korth. Wouldn't it be nice if Public promptly made changes to their system as suggestions happen ...
Wouldn't it be nice indeed. But I never said anything about promptly. Most problems are not addressed or even openly acknowledged until a significant number of customers have complained and are threatening to leave or have even already left. Sometimes the loudest, angriest, rudest voices are heard more clearly than any others. I could also list a few changes which have been oft-discussed, oft-requested, oft-demanded yet which have never been implemented and have even conspicuously failed to ever be mentioned by Public Mobile. Things directed at them and unanswered, unnoticed, ignored so many times that their lack of response can only be seen as deliberate.

Still, problems have been addressed, issues have been fixed, improvements have been made. Sometimes a step down instead of a step up. the Public Mobile I'm with today is not the Public Mobile I signed up with years ago. Yet many individual and overall improvements have gradually taken hold. Because Public Mobile chose to respond to negative customer feedback. It's not perfect but it's gotten better before so I still hope it'll get better again.

And all other commentary about Public Mobile aside ... it's still (in my opinion) a better deal than I'd find anywhere else. The other carriers all cost more, are almost as bad in some details, and are even worse in others.

“Sometimes the loudest, angriest, rudest voices are heard more clearly than any others.”

@Korth , Unfortunately though sometimes they’re also banned from the Community or their posts are removed! Censorship!

I personally have a long wish list here that needs fixed/addressed!

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

dust2dust — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:46:52 GMT

Mario would be real as long as the username is CS_Agent. It sounds like you did the private message method and not the formal ticket process.

Another path into the dial-in system is 1-855-4pu-blic as long as you know the phone number. You can do a few things if you have the 4 digit account pin and a few that don't need the pin.

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

DaveTicked — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 20:05:06 GMT

Thanks for that. I looked for a phone number but could not find one. That is very helpful. Again, something that should be obvious and easy to find!

Re: Closing the account is a time consuming nuisance.

Korth — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 20:17:54 GMT

@DaveTicked wrote:
I looked for a phone number but could not find one. That is very helpful. Again, something that should be obvious and easy to find!

... yes, you would think a phone company would have a support phone number ... and that they'd put it somewhere obvious, like, say, maybe on their main homepage or in their support chatbot greeting text ...