A Letter From Dave: Reflecting on our journey together + Introducing our 5 Days of Giving!

[Dave_M]

Hi Community,

This December, we are celebrating 5 years since we embarked on a journey to redefine how wireless service is delivered to Canadians. We started down this path with the goal of giving Canadians control over their wireless spend. 

Central to the journey was the belief that if we did things differently and we saved on costs, we could pass off those savings to our customers as a result. This is how our online support model, and our beloved Community, came to be. At the time, I was told over and over again that this was a crazy idea; it would never work. Yet here we are, 5 years later.

I want to sincerely thank you for supporting our crazy ideas and playing a part in making Public Mobile what it is today. We could not have done it without you. Of course, we still have lots of room to make things even better, and we’re excited about incorporating your ideas in 2019 and beyond. In particular, this is the wish list of things you’ve asked us to focus on next and that we are passionately working on:

1. Faster Moderator response times
2. An improved ticket submission process
3. Additional goodness from SIMon The Bot 

To thank you for being on this journey with us, we thought we’d have our own Public Mobile Advent Calendar and give away gifts everyday. But, in true #LessforLess spirit, we’re going to keep it to 5 days only because 25 would get very expensive. 🙂

With that said, we’re going to be holding a contest everyday from December 10 to 14 to get your holidays off to a great start! Each day, we’ll be announcing 5 winners. Make sure you come back on Dec 10th and check back every day next week!

Good luck!

Sincerely,

Dave

Contest:

Day 5 of 5

‘Tis the season to be jolly! Carolling aside, we hope that our deals are also music to your ears. To help you enjoy all sorts of music, enter for a chance to win 1 of 5 BassPal SoundRo X3 Portable Bluetooth Speakers, please share with us your favourite holiday tunes. Entrants must be an existing Public Mobile customer; please read Contest Rules for more details. Well, today wraps up our 5-day advent calendar. If you didn’t win anything,have no fear- we still have something for you! Get $20 for Free When You Sign Up for KOHO with the Code PUBLICMOBILE (until February 14) The holiday season is a lot of great things, but cheap isn’t one of them! That’s why Public Mobile has partnered with KOHO to help you accelerate your savings and earn a little free money too. KOHO is a financial tech company whose mission it is to make finances simple and transparent. They offer a slick reloadable Visa card and an integrated app. Get real-time insights into your money, automate your savings goals, and earn instant cash-back on all your purchases. KOHO is also free, because paying bank fees is so 2018. Download the app now to get $20 when you join KOHO with the promo code PUBLICMOBILE. The Public Mobile promotional code is available to the first 1000 customers. Offer only available for Public Mobile customers. Let’s break it down, step-by-step:   1. Download the KOHO app and sign up with the promo code PUBLICMOBILE   2. Add funds to your KOHO account and make your first purchase   3. You don’t have to wait for your physical card to arrive. Shop online instantly by creating a virtual card in the app!   4. Once you make your first purchase, $20 will instantly be added to your KOHO account KOHO is backed by some of Canada’s leading investors, and your funds are held securely by Peoples Trust.

Contest Rules: 

Spoiler

Public Mobile Holiday Contest

CONTEST RULES

1.        HOW TO ENTER & ELIGIBILITY

No Purchase Necessary.  To enter entrants must share a response on the Public Mobile Community post sharing their favourite holiday tune(s).

Only one entry per entrant accepted.  No other form of participation is accepted.  In the event of a dispute on the entrant identity, the person who is the holder of the email address specified on the online form will be deemed to be the entrant.

If your entry contains a person, other than the entrant, by entering the contest, you state that you have obtained consent from everyone in the photo. If your photo contains a minor (under the age of 18) parental or legal guardian consent is required.

Contest runs December 14, 2018 only from 9:00AM to 11:59PM ET.

An Entry will be considered void and removed from the Community post if it contains subject matter that, in the opinion of the contest administrators, may violate community standards or is otherwise of questionable taste.

To be eligible, an entrant must be an existing Public Mobile customer and entry must be received on or before end of contest closing date and time. Entrants must be a Canadian resident who are 13 years of age or older and must be a member of the Public Mobile online Community. Contest not open to employees of TELUS Corporation, its affiliated companies or subsidiaries, its sales agents, its advertising and promotional agencies, and members with whom they are domiciled.  By accepting these Contest Rules, entrants agree that any and all liability related to this contest by TELUS is limited to the value of the Prize(s) as defined hereinafter.

2.      THE PRIZE

There will be five (5) prizes awarded in total.  Winner will receive the following prize:

-1 of 5 BassPal SoundRo X3 Portable Bluetooth Speakers (approx retail value $44.99)

Prize must be accepted as awarded and with no substitutions, is not transferable unless set out in the Contest Rules and cannot be exchanged with Public Mobile or cash. Public Mobile reserves the right to substitute the Prize with a Prize of equivalent value if such prize becomes unavailable for any reason.  The chances of winning are dependent upon the total number of eligible entries received.

3.      THE DRAW

A random draw for the Prize will take place at the Public Mobile office located at 25 York Street, Toronto, Ontario the day following the close of the contest (on or about 9:00am ET). Selected entrants will be notified on the Public Mobile Community. If the selected entrant cannot be reached within two (2) business days, or if the selected entrant does not meet any of the contest requirements, another entrant will be selected from the remaining eligible entries.

In order to win, the selected entrant must correctly answer unaided a mathematical skill-testing question and will be required to sign a standard release form.  If the selected entrant is under the age of majority in his/her province of residence, his/her parent or legal guardian must read and accept these Contest Rules.  Failure to answer the skill-testing question correctly, comply with the Contest Rules or sign and return the release form within two (2) days of receipt will result in disqualification and another entry will be selected until the Prize is awarded. Prize will be delivered to a Canadian address of the winner’s choice within (7) business days after prize has been awarded.

4.      PRIVACY

By entering the contest, entrants consent to the use of their names, city of residence, photograph, voice and/or image for publicity purposes in all media used by Public Mobile, without payment or compensation.  Entrants agree to TELUS’ use of the entrants’ personal information that may include contacting you regarding limited time offers, promotional offers and/or surveys. Full details are as described in Public Mobiles’ privacy policy located at publicmobile.ca/termsofservice.

5.      OTHER

All entries become the property of Public Mobile. Public Mobile assumes no responsibility for lost, damaged or misdirected entries during the contest period, for any problems or technical malfunction of any online systems, servers, access providers, computer equipment, software and failure of any e-mail or entry to be received by Public Mobile on account of technical problems, traffic congestion on the Internet or at any web site or failure of handset or mobile web browser. Public Mobile reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, cancel or suspend this contest without prior notice. Entries are subject to verification and will be declared invalid if they are mechanically reproduced, forged, falsified, altered, tampered with, not in accordance with Community standards or unlawful in any way. Entries submitted by unauthorized means will be disqualified. In the event that it has been determined that an entry has been made in an manner not sanctioned by these rules and/or an entrant has submitted more than the number of entries permitted by these rules, the entrant and all of his/her entries will be disqualified.  Entrants agree to abide by the contest rules and the decisions of the contest judges, which are final. This contest is subject to all applicable laws and regulations.

Winners:

Spoiler

12/10 ($50 Account Credit): Willaug56, bradman20012, @hultman, Vicky1313, Iorieux

12/11 (PM Swag Bag): lat34hat34, slash407, shartomjam, SD08, mcs11 

12/12 (Die Hard Blu-Ray Collection): @socialcocoon, Sphero, Adrian03, feedo, Sidewinder200

12/13 (Amazon Fire TV Stick): Canadaknows, ooakosiryan, 6500K, eizzor, francis26 

12/14 (BassPro Bluetooth Speaker): @Someone_here, @itchyfeet01, @ty_89, @ntoulany, @MacMe

[ShawnC13]

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@Alan_K wrote:

Hi everyone, Day 1 of our 5 Days of Giving is a go! Loving the responses so far  

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@Alan_K, for me my best Holliday deal was when I was 12 (so a long time ago)  I had wanted to start golfing so my grandma said she would buy my golf clubs for christmas but we saw that they were going to be on sale for Boxing day.  They were Regular $249.99 on sale for $199.99 so she gave me the money to go and get them on Boxing day and when I took them up to the register (department store no longer in Canada and there are a lot of those now) they clubs rang in at $1.99.  The cashier didn't say anything so I paid and made my way out of the store.  So now I have all this extra cash do I tell grandma or keep it.  I told her the "deal" and how much they cost and she let me keep the remainder of the cash!!

[stonechucker]

My best holiday deal was last year, late December, when Spotify Canada offered a one-year $99.90 premium subscription, saving me 2 monthly payments.

I'm looking for this again, or something better this year!

[RobertQc]

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@Dave_M wrote:

Contest:

Day 1 of 5

At Public Mobile, we love great deals- that’s why we got rid of all the bells and whistles to save our customers money. We know our customers are really good at finding ways to save money too. For a chance to win 1 of 5 one-time $50 Public Mobile account credits, share with us the best holiday deal you’ve ever gotten! Entrants must be an existing Public Mobile customer; please read Contest Rules for more details.

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@Dave_MLast year at Cristmas from Bestbuy a Sharp Roku 65" 4K for $799!! It was $700 off... $1499 down to $799

[inasten]

I got a 42" tv by standing in line early in the mornning about 5 years ago. It has since been replaced with a 65", but I was very happy with the deal I got.

[Alan_K]

Hi everyone, Day 1 of our 5 Days of Giving is a go! Loving the responses so far  

[guoki]

I look forward to the faster response too 

[srlawren]

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@Poogzley wrote:

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I can still dream, can't I?

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@Poogzley of course you can!  I notice you've been here for about a month and a half.  I'm just giving you the widsom (FWIW) of my 3.25 years in the community.  You're asking for a couple of frills that are highly unlikely to be implemented at this low-cost, no-frills, 3rd tier provider any time in the forseeable future.  I will happily eat my words should either of these two things get delivered in the 2019 calendar year--but it''s just not going to happen.  

[Poogzley]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@Poogzley wrote:

The ability to have data rollover and gift data to other users would be a welcomed addition for 2019

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@Poogzley while many would surely enjoy these features, and you're of course welcome to voice your support for them, I'm going to try to temper your expectations and suggest that you do not hold your breath while waiting for these features to come to Public Mobile.  I don't think you'd like the outcome if you did.

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I can still dream, can't I?

[srlawren]

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@Poogzley wrote:

The ability to have data rollover and gift data to other users would be a welcomed addition for 2019

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@Poogzley while many would surely enjoy these features, and you're of course welcome to voice your support for them, I'm going to try to temper your expectations and suggest that you do not hold your breath while waiting for these features to come to Public Mobile.  I don't think you'd like the outcome if you did.

[Poogzley]

The ability to have data rollover and gift data to other users would be a welcomed addition for 2019

[danielj]

5 Days of Giving instead of 25 Days because it cost to much. No to mention it would be to late for 25 days. They are not even doing it Dec 20 to 24 or Dec 17 to 21. Why are they doing it at all and not saving even more money and passing on the additional savings onto us, the customers or using that money on the support or other system upgrades.

The brought up themselves that their original business plan was more of the no frills for lower customer cost business model. Why do the keep diverting from that? With the summer day pop up concerts things, 5 days of giving, and the increased Radio, YouTube and TV Commercials. Benefiting the few. There is still room to cut advertising dollars and invest in better systems, support and more affordable plans. There is still plenty of room to inprove. Public Mobile wants to reward the community members and loyal customers, listen to the system upgrades they request and increase the community and loyalty rewards.

[srlawren]

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@kselmak wrote:

maybe wouldn't be a bad idea to have unlimited incoming addon for 50 minutes or data only plans

just a thought

ps: i just joined recently and i'm pretty impressed i think i'm here to stay:o)

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@kselmak welcome!  You can already get a data-only plan using the plan builder tool.  However, single-service plans at Public Mobile tend to be rather expensive; plans get cheaper as you bundle in the second service, and even more so when you bundle in the 3rd.  

As for add-ons for unlimited incoming, unfortunately that's not offered.  You can however use the 200 min for $8 and 400 min for $15 long distance add-ons to augment your 50 min allocation on the $10 plan.  This isn't exactly what you're asking for since it's neither incoming-specific nor unmetered, but it's something.  

Beyond that you may want to look at stepping up to unlimited provincial talk and unlimited texting for $25, or unlimited canada-wide talk and unlimited texting for $35 BUT, because of the bundling disounts I mentioned, if you need unlimited canada-wide talk, you're better to also add 500mb of "3G"-speed (throttled LTE) data, brining the plan down to $30.  

[krzcnck]

haven't been with PM for too long, i must admit i joined cause of the chance of migrating to Koodo but i love it here so far and will stay, brought my husband along for the ride, i don't think he even notices we are on 3G when he surfs, for everyday surfing it is fine.  been trying to convert family so i can get the referrals but they enjoy paying their overprice cell bills with very little data!!  

[BarryS]

@Dave_M This is great news. I gave up a 10 gb, $60/month, 4g LTE plan to come to public mobile. Not because I couldn’t afford it, but because it really didn’t reflect my needs.   I’m not a big streamer, gamer, facebooker, etc., so your plans at about half the price match my needs perfectly. Working well so far. The community concept works better than any customer service rep model, so any additional improvements are welcomed!

[Wonder_why]

@Dave_M Wow ! Where have you been ?

Awesome keep them coimng 

[6500K]

Thanks for the encouraging words @Dave_M - always nice to hear from th eleader of a group.

I agree with @Anonymous in fixing up the quality of the system so that there are no glitches.  Of the 5-6 activations I was involved with, only one of them had a glitch.  After a couple of weeks and at least 10 messages it was finally fixed properly.  I mentioned to the agent that we can estimate the total cost of this one glitch in terms of employee time spent in salary dollars.  And if you have stats to sum up you can analyze where the support dollars are going and make an informed decision of where to put the budget to maximize the business.

Personally, I have a gut feeling that fixing the infrastructure should drastically reduce support costs overall.  Having a good "public face" helps somewhat but I think this would just be a band-aid solution.

Go PM go!

[Alanfind]

I posted in this thread because found it difficult navigating to post my question.

[mimmo]

@Alanfind not sure why you posted in this thread. Typically there are no refunds. 

[kselmak]

hmmm i don't know about lucky and chatr, but i have hard time convincing my family off of wind (freedom) specially the one on unlimited incoming

maybe wouldn't be a bad idea to have unlimited incoming addon for 50 minutes or data only plans

just a thought

ps: i just joined recently and i'm pretty impressed i think i'm here to stay:o)

[Alanfind]

I thought I removed auto pay on my account. In October my number did not renew and had to go online and manually pay . That was the last month I needed the phone as I was leaving the country for 6 months. I just noticed auto pay was still on when I saw a payment on my visa for November service. I have since turned autopay off, but would like to be credited for November since I haven’t used phone number. Thank you.

[NDesai]

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@will13am wrote: 

@NDesai, I know it amounts to banging my head against a wall, I decided to mention LTE plans here.  You can second the suggestion.  

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Definitely, i just hope they forget about Lucky and Chatr. Just let them hang in there themselves with their own tier. PM can easily create their own tier. Lucky is still new so they should be the one to follow and price match PM. But for some reason it goes the other way around. I hope 2019 changes this. 

[Willaug56]

Congrats on your five year anniverasry, I too was blindly paying month after month to ma bell for nothing really, but then I came across PM a couple months ago and with a quick transition everything has been fine looking forward to 2019 and maybe some different phone plans  

[srlawren]

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@will13am wrote:

Happy birthday Public Mobile, many happy returns!  I don't need to see anything fancy in 2019, just bring back the Public Mobile of 2017 when moderator response time was around 1 to 2 hours and the promotions were envied by the competition and not competitive responses.  Let's not go back to the dark ages with bandwidth throttling.  Apart from being a "competitive response", it does not help the bottom line by promoting the sale of overpriced full speed plans!  Does Public Mobile really want to win the race to the bottom?  

@NDesai, I know it amounts to banging my head against a wall, I decided to mention LTE plans here.  You can second the suggestion.  

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@will13am I see @NDesai hasn't made it here yet so let me step up and second.  If I could bravo this post multiple times, I surely would.  

[phillbardy]

Thanks 

[will13am]

Happy birthday Public Mobile, many happy returns!  I don't need to see anything fancy in 2019, just bring back the Public Mobile of 2017 when moderator response time was around 1 to 2 hours and the promotions were envied by the competition and not competitive responses.  Let's not go back to the dark ages with bandwidth throttling.  Apart from being a "competitive response", it does not help the bottom line by promoting the sale of overpriced full speed plans!  Does Public Mobile really want to win the race to the bottom?  

@NDesai, I know it amounts to banging my head against a wall, I decided to mention LTE plans here.  You can second the suggestion.  

[Jurri_jr]

Hope its me 

[Jurri_jr]

Me live the mobile connections 

[Carld123]

👍

[Anonymous]

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@Dave_M wrote:In particular, this is the wish list of things you’ve asked us to focus on next and that we are passionately working on:

1. Faster Moderator response times
2. An improved ticket submission process
3. Additional goodness from SIMon The Bot 

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 @Dave_M:

Congrats on 5 years!

I may as well go ahead and add my 2 cents here.

With all things remaining as is, faster moderator times would lead to increased costs. Less for less.

A ticketing system would cost money to implement leading to increased costs. Less for less.

Adding anything else to the Bot would lead to increased costs. Less for less.

The first two would not be needed if the system worked seamlessly and reliably. A reliably functioning system would lead to those faster response times due to less problems arising from a flaky, unreliable system thereby saving money on paying for any more moderators which would lead to no real need for an expensive ticketing system.

In reality, all people need is to know that their complaint was registered by way of some kind of automated acknowledgment. Not a ticketing system, just a reply saying we have received your input. What happens now is complete radio silence. Submit a comment...nothing. An inexpensive automated reply of canned text is all that's needed. Like calling somewhere and being put on hold...do we like dead air wondering "um are you still there?" or some crappy sappy hold musak. I'd take the musak over silence any time.

Fix the problem at the source: the self-serve system. All problems and costs start there. And really focus on when the SIM is being activated and when the money is taken. The SIM is a one-time thing and the money is where the real sensitivity is...and rightfully so. When people perceive they're being ripped off, they're not happy.

Looking forward to the contest. I hope saying anything towards negativity doesn't "negate" the chances of winning 🙂

Thanks

[stonechucker]

I keep seeing bravos coming in on my open letter from the summer.  I’m glad to see the direction of focus for 2019.  I’m hoping this doesn’t fall apart.