A letter from Dave on the infamous $40 for 4GB price change

[Dave_M]

Hey Community,

I am writing to you today to let you know that we will not be moving forward with a price increase on the infamous “$40 for 4GB” plan ($120 90-day Province-Wide Talk + Text + 12GB Data), contrary to the SMS that customers on that plan received yesterday.

After sending out an offer to select customers, we heard your feedback loud and clear: we said no surprises, and we surprised you. While all good things must come to an end at some point – that point is not today. As a brand, we have always been proud of our transparency, and of our commitment to our customers. We are sincerely sorry for any frustration caused and we want you to know that this has been a learning experience for us all.

We have been reminded that you, our customers, are vocal and passionate. We’ve seen how much some of you love Public Mobile and we’ve also seen how many of you like the added value that our sister brand, Koodo, has to offer. To that end, we are happy to say that the Koodo offer that our Public customers on the “$40 for 4GB” plan received still remains available for anyone who wishes to take advantage of it.

Thank you for your continued support,

Dave

[89alucas]

Bur, the koodo deal is a good deal. But it's for sure inferior to the pm plan which we're on. Unless you're absolutely dying to make phone calls out of province of on a frequent basis, there is really no reason to switch. Pm offers the same data except it can be divided over 3 months. So if you only use 2 gb the first month you now have 10 gb for the remaining two months. On koodo, if you use only 2 gb in a month, then the next month you still only have 4 go to use. Another major difference, at least fore me, is that pm is prepaid. Koodo is post paid. So with public mobile, you pay for the service, then you use what you pay for. With koodo, if you're not careful you could easily get charges for going over data among other things I'm sure. And also, the biggest point,  pm plan is cheaper than koodo plan with the referrals and loyalty bonuses you can earn.  So I mean you could switch, and it's still a better deal than a lot of people in Canada have. But in my opinion, we have the best plan around.

[Timewasterninja]

Same here, that trust over the 1 year span of being with PM is long gone now. I've prepaid for February March and April, and will probably start looking for other options in the future. 

[mikeyferrer]

PM has lost my trust after this whole fiasco. Even in this blog post says that "all good things must come to an end" despite the promise that I signed to initially that the price would not go up. This blatant price gouging and is not acceptable.

Once the 10 gb for $60 deal pops up again from a competitor, I'm switching.

[RLBL]

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@Stormywrote:

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@dwharrisonwrote:

In addition to the reasons others have already given, the Koodo plan has a monthly data bucket, while our PM plans have a three month bucket.  This is more flexible, because if you go over 4GB in one month, it may not result in overages if the other two months in your bucket were under.  For example, I use far more data when on vacation than when living everyday life, and with PM, I’m really not worried about that usage.

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Don't forget that there are no overages with PM. You go over the 12 GB in less than 90 days, your data stops working unless you renew early or buy the 1 GB data add-on.

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There are no overages with Koodo either. You can go over, but if you explicitely choose to.  Your data stops if you do not allow it.

That is part of what "Shock Free" means

[Stormy]

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@dwharrisonwrote:

In addition to the reasons others have already given, the Koodo plan has a monthly data bucket, while our PM plans have a three month bucket.  This is more flexible, because if you go over 4GB in one month, it may not result in overages if the other two months in your bucket were under.  For example, I use far more data when on vacation than when living everyday life, and with PM, I’m really not worried about that usage.

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Don't forget that there are no overages with PM. You go over the 12 GB in less than 90 days, your data stops working unless you renew early or buy the 1 GB data add-on.

[wwg103]

Hi Korth, 

I don't know how to show your original question in my reply. 

The link is from the text message I received from PM. When I click the link, it brings me to PM community. 

[zhadj030]

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@everbirdwrote:

I feel more value in Koodo mobile plan now with 5G fast approaching. With all fuss now on pricing and focus on 3G, i wonder whether Public mobile offers 5G services at all. With $100 credit (Plus referrals) and Canada wide plan, I am jumping to Koodo offer on March 1st. YMMV

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Unfortunately that is just a false impression.

Only be loyal to your wallet, if you feel like Koodo's offer is good for you then go ahead and take it. 

As for 5G I believe that 5G is still far away. 

Also in my opinion it would be just ''speeds up to'' 5G (1gigabit per second) not 5 generation per say. It is basically LTE with Carrier aggregation (CA) (up to 4CA so far I believe). But lets be honest PM does not need 5G nor it is really interseting. in a saturday morning in Ottawa an old LG G4 can get up to 210 Mbps because  LTE +/ LTE-A (3CA) , so basically for me 5G will be LTE++.

@sheytoon has an excellent topic about it all here

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/LTE-network-fundamentals/td-p/130581

[Korth]

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@wwg103wrote:

BTW, does anyone noticed that the link in the text shows http://Koo.do/CommunityUpdate 

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That's a weird-looking link.  And impossible to lookup on the /whois databases, no registered owner.  Where did it come from?

[computer]

Thanks PM we're a thing again. 
Next time have a "snickers" before sending me a breakup text.

Thanks
K

[kav2001c]

@lindseyc prior business relation with Public (Telus) allows them to share your info to Koodo

You already agreed to that in terms

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@lindseycwrote:

Did anyone else get a call from their local Koodo store? 

They called my cell phone on Friday at 7:21pm to offer me the same "deal." Just for the record I have never had contact with this store (or Koodo) and I am also on the Do Not Call list. Since I have no prior business relationship with Koodo they just violated the list. 

I am actually more mad about the call then I am about the price change. This is just one bad business decision after another. 

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[kav2001c]

@Litvinau_A it won't happen

In past more than enough threads about how system prevents them from adding rewards for things like loyalty etc

You need to file with CCTS to get old plan back but I am skeptical it will be ever the same

[wwg103]

Even I am glad that PM reacted quickly to cancel this moving koodo thing due to customer outrage. However, I think there is huge brand damage upon the brand under Telus umbrella including Telus. I was Telus customer for many years before I switched to PM. I think Telus is better than Rogers and Bell due to my personal experience with Telus. However, this incident definitely put Telus in worst. 

While fido which is under Rogers is offering its customer a free 12 months data plan if you want to cancel you data plan and compare with what PM or Telus tried to do with customers. I don't understand why Telus/PM so rush to push its customer away? And I don't trust Koodo aslo since it is also uner Telus. Who know when price increasing will be after we switch to Koodo?

Telus and it subsidiary brands definitely lost brand loyalty from us. I would think this is bad business decision for the purpose of gain more revenue. 

BTW, does anyone noticed that the link in the text shows http://Koo.do/CommunityUpdate

what that means? Koodo and PM will be merged into one? 

[DmcDohko]

Proud of the PM community... keep standing up tall and fighting for what is right and fair for the customers!

Telus/PM have done some serious damage to their networks with this incident... hope they've learned from this and improve and start giving more rather than taking away and degrading the wireless community.

After all of this, if they decide to shutdown PM one day, I have no interest in giving my money back to any companies under the Telus umbrella and nor should anyone else... unless they make it right and offer something that is actually better rather than the pricier scam they are still trying to offer with Koodo.

[Litvinau_A]

@CS_Agent @Dave_M Kindly make a post about how people can switch back from Koodo and get their rewards,loyalty, and add-ons back, PLUS a compensation for all the non-sense you caused! 

I'm a wheelchair user who had to drag his ass to the nearest( not so accessible) Koodo store to switch to this plan yesterday! The reason most people are with PM is because of affordable pricing. As a person with disabilities and having a set income from ODSP, I  can't afford extra $.

Ps: i never use my wheelchair situation as an excuse, but this had to be said! You need to know that PM works with variety of clients and need to act accordingly. 

[CS_Agent]

@W0507636, Hello, Thank you for your contacting us. All our apologies for the inconvenience this situation might have cause you. To learn more about this matter, please kindly visit this link: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/A-letter-from-Dave-on-the-infamous-40-for... . Hopefully this help ease your frustration. Thank you!  

[everbird]

I feel more value in Koodo mobile plan now with 5G fast approaching. With all fuss now on pricing and focus on 3G, i wonder whether Public mobile offers 5G services at all. With $100 credit (Plus referrals) and Canada wide plan, I am jumping to Koodo offer on March 1st. YMMV

[Michael77]

Crazy times at PM. 

[dwharrison]

In addition to the reasons others have already given, the Koodo plan has a monthly data bucket, while our PM plans have a three month bucket.  This is more flexible, because if you go over 4GB in one month, it may not result in overages if the other two months in your bucket were under.  For example, I use far more data when on vacation than when living everyday life, and with PM, I’m really not worried about that usage.

[Sergey]

Telus only will try to push out us one by one, step by step

Many have already moved to Kodoo

We become less

AFter PM will offfer again

And again many of us will move

Then again

IN the end, Telus will do it what they want

The End

[torontokris]

Message @CS_Agent and see if they can do anything for you

[methyl]

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@tbrunnerwrote:

That first text gave little time to make that change So I switched to Koodo yesterday and was not happy about it. How do I switch back now?

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Bummer 

[tbrunner]

That first text gave little time to make that change So I switched to Koodo yesterday and was not happy about it. How do I switch back now?

[jstnbrks87]

It's shady business. If a company offers a plan and promises the rate of the plan will always remain the same it should stay the same. Public Mobile threatened to increase the plan if users did not switch to Koodo and that is fundamentally what was wrong here. Some people may think it's a better deal I personally do not. I save $22 each bill cycle on loyalty credits and I don't want to move to Koodo and risk another price increase in a year or some other way for a company to bully their customers.

[Luddite]

@Charanth182 Sorry for the long delay - flu/chills/aches was distracting. As far as which moderator to message, it really makes no difference. Messages to the Moderator_Team and to individual moderators are delivered to a common pool for triage and distribution to whoever is available.

[kevin_camera]

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@Burwrote:

Can someone clarify for me why everyone is so concerned about this? The koodo deal is the same price but with Canada wide calling instead of province wide, so it seems like a good deal. I'm thinking of making the switch, but I feel like I must be missing something....

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@Bur

A few things:

- for me, there was less than 30 days to find another offer due to the billing cycle, forcing people with 90 day prepaid plans to switch in 30 days is asking them forfiet their money

- some of us have autopay credits, loyalty credits and referral credits.  Plans are actually less than $40/month

[lindseyc]

Did anyone else get a call from their local Koodo store? 

They called my cell phone on Friday at 7:21pm to offer me the same "deal." Just for the record I have never had contact with this store (or Koodo) and I am also on the Do Not Call list. Since I have no prior business relationship with Koodo they just violated the list. 

I am actually more mad about the call then I am about the price change. This is just one bad business decision after another. 

[will13am]

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@Burwrote:

Can someone clarify for me why everyone is so concerned about this? The koodo deal is the same price but with Canada wide calling instead of province wide, so it seems like a good deal. I'm thinking of making the switch, but I feel like I must be missing something....

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The base plans looks very similar, but there are huge difference in the details.  First and foremost, we would be put into a post paid plan.  It may not be a big deal for some but could be prohibitive for others.  Some may not qualify on the credit check.  With prepaid, there's never any bill shock, not so with post paid.  Koodo charges $70 for one gig of overage!  We can get a gig of non expiring data for $30.  The Public Mobile model provides all sorts of rewards to offset the base price, Koodo doesn't have anything.  You correctly point out Canada wide calling vs province wide calling.  We get call forwarding and with Koodo, it is available at a cost.  These are just a few differences I can think of off the top of my head.  Now you see why we didn't want to be forced to leave this service?  BTW, I price Canada wide calling at $0.00 because I can make calls to North America for free.  Do some research, there are ways.  

[MVP]

So, I have a few  curious questions.

First, how many "Fall2016" promo (and related ppl on 12GB/$40 plans,  like FM immigrants 🙂 ) is out there in total?

Some ppl on RFD cite the figure of 2500 complaints to CCTS over the last two days.

Which means Fall2016 bunch could be easily 10K or 20K head count! 

Wow! Quite a force!

Secondly, how much this base eroded because of the last  "2-days war" 🙂 ?

How many of our comrades perished in the battlefield an had their souls taken by the evil woodo koodo spirits?

Third, was the  "price increase" text  sent to all of the Fall2016promo bunch, or just to some of us? If  to some of us only, should one expect such "divide et impera" tactics in the future , where PM would try to genocide Fall2016promo bunch in small batches?  🙂

[Halfdome]

People are so upset because of the large price increase,  the loss of referal credits, autopay credits, loyalty credits and being told that the price wouldn't increase.  The offer to move to Koodo is a fair price,  it is just forcing us to leave public or pay more.  One great thing about prepaid is that you know what your paying in advance.  Just yesterday I received a bill from Koodo for 27.00 in long distance charges when the plan had canada wide calling.  No explanation,  but it took 20 min on the phone to sort it out.  

[crtowns]

@Bur

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@Burwrote:

Can someone clarify for me why everyone is so concerned about this? The koodo deal is the same price but with Canada wide calling instead of province wide, so it seems like a good deal. I'm thinking of making the switch, but I feel like I must be missing something....

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I’m not affected but my understanding is that the following reasons are the main issues for people:

-significant 25% price increase if they don’t move on a plan that was promised to never change

-announcement was sent days after renewals of 90 day plans with only one month to move so they will loose 2/3 of find balance

-any rewards people have built don’t go with them 

-extra cost of sim card

-uncertainty about how long Koodo will keep that price before increasing it 

-strategy of big 3 to buy up smaller companies then increase rates to make you come to the big 3. Removing any and all real competition from the market.