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

Dave_M
Retraité / Retired
Retraité / Retired

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

809 REPLIES 809

Lg85
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

@chriskikswrote:


I just paid for my 3 month cycle at the end of January before all of this happened. I am worried that the price will jump $10 and I won't be able to find a comparable plan for the same price so I want to hop onto the Koodo offer. Do you know if there's any way to get a refund or something mid way through my 3-month period so I don't have to pay for 2 plans at the same time? 


Unfortunately you cannot get a refund for prepaid plans. This was probably the reason why Koodo is providing the $100 bill credit to compensate you for the Public Mobile plan. 

chriskiks
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

@Dave_Mwrote:

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


I just paid for my 3 month cycle at the end of January before all of this happened. I am worried that the price will jump $10 and I won't be able to find a comparable plan for the same price so I want to hop onto the Koodo offer. Do you know if there's any way to get a refund or something mid way through my 3-month period so I don't have to pay for 2 plans at the same time? 

SD08
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité


@will13amwrote:

 

Why the personal attacks?  Just because he is telling the truth about Freedom?

Actually, I don't believe it was a personal attack, though it might appear that way because of the tagging.  To put the exchange in context, Rockdaddy wrote that Freedom's network sucks, and kav2001c replied:

 

@kav2001c wrote:

@Rockdaddy22 sucks like a hoover



I'm pretty sure kav2001c was not saying that Rockdaddy sucks, but was simply agreeing that Freedom sucks and adding emphasis.  It might have been clearer if it were written like this (my edit in bold):

@kav2001c wrote:

@Rockdaddy22 It sucks like a hoover


Tagging can be dangerous, lol  Smiley LOL

harisrocks
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

@torontokriswrote:

@harisrockswrote:

Hi Dave,

I am on $135 90 day plan and would like to grab the offer of moving to koodo on $40 4GB plan.

But I have recieved the message of $45 2GB plan for Koodo (which already exists on Koodo).

Can you help please?


Since your plan is different from the $120/4GB you have been given a different offer. However you can at least try at a kiosk or online using the code GOKOODO404GB and your PM phone number. OThers were successful online by using the code.


I tried that online already, not valid for my phone number. 😞

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@torontokriswrote:

@harisrockswrote:

Hi Dave,

I am on $135 90 day plan and would like to grab the offer of moving to koodo on $40 4GB plan.

But I have recieved the message of $45 2GB plan for Koodo (which already exists on Koodo).

Can you help please?


Since your plan is different from the $120/4GB you have been given a different offer. However you can at least try at a kiosk or online using the code GOKOODO404GB and your PM phone number. OThers were successful online by using the code.


I didn’t realize the we’re sending out offers for those plans. 

torontokris
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

@harisrockswrote:

Hi Dave,

I am on $135 90 day plan and would like to grab the offer of moving to koodo on $40 4GB plan.

But I have recieved the message of $45 2GB plan for Koodo (which already exists on Koodo).

Can you help please?


Since your plan is different from the $120/4GB you have been given a different offer. However you can at least try at a kiosk or online using the code GOKOODO404GB and your PM phone number. OThers were successful online by using the code.

harisrocks
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Hi Dave,

I am on $135 90 day plan and would like to grab the offer of moving to koodo on $40 4GB plan.

But I have recieved the message of $45 2GB plan for Koodo (which already exists on Koodo).

Can you help please?

casperr
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

If the offer was at least 5gb/6gb for $40, I bet a lot of people are going to switch without this much complaints. 

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

Is Hoover the name of your mom? Sorry I’m just confused. 


@kav2001cwrote:

@Rockdaddy22 sucks like a hoover

 


Why the personal attacks?  Just because he is telling the truth about Freedom?

 

@Rockdaddy22 

 

 

YES the Freedom network sucks like a hoover

 

My goodness Cat LOL

 

@Howald111 10GB plan has no roaming though

If you head to US you get billed extra

Not same plan

 

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@kav2001cwrote:

@Rockdaddy22 the reason everyone keeps looking at Freedom is the price

I mean cmon $35 gets you an unlimited roaming North America plan with 8GB data

That is awfully tempting (and +$15 gives you an iPhone8 for $50 + taxes)

 


I get it, but the network sucks in my opinion. 

Howald111
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Actually it’s the bring your phone 50 dollar plan:

1. Unlimited Canada and US calling

2. Unlimited Global texting

3. 10 Gigs monthly data (with no cap)

Shutdown
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Howald111 make sure your wife uses an app like hangout dialer or fongo for calling otherwise she will be charged money on that plan since call isn't included in the data plan. If she uses hangout dialer make sure she verifies her number then it shows her number on outgoing calls.

Howald111
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thx....good to know.


@Howald111wrote:

How do you get the secret plans?


1- Beg call centre reps (ymmv)

2- Drive to a store that offers them (usually border towns, Niagara, Cornwall, etc)

 

Howald111
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

How do you get the secret plans?

@Ben you can get any of the plans (advertised on website or the secret plans) with current promo (which is 25% off for life) so long as base price is $40+

 

The iPhone8 promo has been going strong for a while, at least since Christmas season

 

 

Ben
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Freedom's network worke fine for me when I lived in Toronto, unfortunately I moved up north out of their home zone, otherwise I'd probably still be with them.

 

Can you really get 8gb for $35? I don't see anything like that on their website.

@Rockdaddy22 the reason everyone keeps looking at Freedom is the price

I mean cmon $35 gets you an unlimited roaming North America plan with 8GB data

That is awfully tempting (and +$15 gives you an iPhone8 for $50 + taxes)

 

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@Howald111wrote:

"While all good things must come to an end at some point – that point is not today"

 

I can't explain how frustraiting this public relations dissaster was.  The fact that Public has decided to fraudulantly misrepresent it's plan is beyound annoying, espesially considering I left a relitively good deal to switch my family over a year ago.  Because I can't trust the rates to remain predictable I've started switching my family members to alternate non-Telus plans.  Freedom currently has a Five gig plan for 40 that I'm going to be switching my son to, and I'm going to switch to their 10gig plan for 50 in the coming weeks.  I just switched my wife over to the 10 gig plan earlier tonight. It's unfortunate Public needed to pull this stunt, because it just lost itself 3 customers.


If Freedom has a decent network I’d consider it, but as is, it’s pretty useless. 

Howald111
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

"While all good things must come to an end at some point – that point is not today"

 

I can't explain how frustraiting this public relations dissaster was.  The fact that Public has decided to fraudulantly misrepresent it's plan is beyound annoying, espesially considering I left a relitively good deal to switch my family over a year ago.  Because I can't trust the rates to remain predictable I've started switching my family members to alternate non-Telus plans.  Freedom currently has a Five gig plan for 40 that I'm going to be switching my son to, and I'm going to switch to their 10gig plan for 50 in the coming weeks.  I just switched my wife over to the 10 gig plan earlier tonight. It's unfortunate Public needed to pull this stunt, because it just lost itself 3 customers.

Would only be true if

1- number of users remained constant or decreased

2- speed of data remained constant or decreased

3- infrastructure never wore out / broke / required upgrades

 

In a vacuum yes data is cheaper

In real world there are more variables (even a Public employee should theoretically be getting raises every year to at least match inflation & taxes for land or rental fees for towers always increase)

 

@Ben


@Benwrote:

I thought as technology progresses, data is supposed to become MORE affordable. Not less.

 

I don't understand why we still pay so much for such low bandwidth caps in 2018.


 

Ben
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I thought as technology progresses, data is supposed to become MORE affordable. Not less.

 

I don't understand why we still pay so much for such low bandwidth caps in 2018.

Willow536
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

The plan change would have been a better pill to swallow had you all given us an incentive to stay. an extra 30$ with no change to my data plan at all. Had it of been an extra gig per month would of been bearable. 150$ for 15 gigs!

jt17g
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Thanks for the update, i'm gonna stay with pm as long as the price is same 🙂 

dna2016
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Kattz I'm definitely not working for PM, nor would I ever work for a telecommunications company again, I had my time working for one of the big 3 when wireless communications was starting to take off in the mid 2000's.  Just saying out of all my wireless experiences since then, PM offers something specifically what customers are always asking for, and that's a break off their bill.  I don't know any other company out there that gives you money towards your bill without you having to yell and scream for it.  

I haven't been following this $40 for 4GB issue so not sure how many complaints came out of it, but regardless, I'm just saying it's still a good sign that someone from PM is actually apologizing and trying to provide a solution.  In my time working with one of the big 3,  for approximately 7 years,  not once have I ever seen them, or any of them for that matter, actually provide an apology with a solution attached (even if it's temporary).  That's still better than nothing.  

Anyways, maybe I'm just one of the lucky clients who's never had an issue nor a concern with my service, pricing, and coverage, but so far PM is winning in my books when I compare to the competition.  If another company offers credit options towards reducing my bill, and provide good coverage and plans, then I'm definitely all ears.

Clefort88
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I am still very in love with PM service, support and price structure. ($50 for 6GBs for months now) 

However it is nice to see that PM listens and is actively speaking to the general populous regarding the concerns. 

 

Nothing but praise from this customer! 

canucks4life
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

FYI just filed a CCTS complaint on a different issue with my home Internet service noticed the below article.

 

https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/lessons-from-the-public-mobile-price-increase/

 

How to file a complaint with the CCTS the right way

Last week’s events involving a price increase from Public Mobile and the customers of its $40/4GB and $120/12 GB plan were very instructive. Customers said that Public Mobile had promised not to raise the price of these plans for as long as they subscribed to the plan. So consumers felt angry and misled, and used their collective voices to effect change.

 

They did this primarily by sharing their views on social media.  And they also leveraged the legitimate recourse available to them through the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS).  In the day and a half before Public Mobile changed course, consumers had filed over 1,600 complaints with the CCTS about this issue, using our secure online interactive questionnaire.  Public Mobile was well aware that its customers were contacting us en masse.

 

A recent article entitled “How to File a CCTS Complaint Over Public Mobile’s $40/4GB Price Increase” on iphoneincanada.ca , repeated advice from a social media user about how to file a complaint online with the CCTS. While the intent in doing so was to assist consumers, the advice provided actually had the potential to hurt consumers.  Here’s why.

 

The advice that was posted on how to complain to the CCTS consisted of a link to the CCTS complaints page, followed by:

Select Contract
Select Wireless
When did you become aware? February 15, 2018
Select Public Mobile
Select Personal
Answer: YES that you have tried to resolve this with the company
Answer: NO that there are no other organizations which have the authority to compensate a customer for losses currently helping you to resolve this complaint.

You can answer with the following or change it as follows:

Please provide the details of your complaint. Please ensure that you describe, in as much detail as possible, the steps you took to resolve the issue with your service provider and your service provider’s response. *

My plan provided me with 12gb of data for for $120/every 3 months. They are increasing my bill to $150/3 months starting March 20th. This is inconsistent and not what was promised when the advertisement indicated the following “If you have signed up for the promotional plan, you will be able to keep it after the promo period, as long as you are an active customer. This means that, as long as you are an active customer on this plan, your plan price will remain at $120, even after your initial 90 days. No surprises”.

 

When consumers have a complaint about their telecom or TV service, their first communication must always be to their provider, not to the CCTS.  Our Procedural Code requires that a consumer must have given the provider a “reasonable opportunity” to resolve the complaint before the CCTS can accept it.  The person who posted the advice knew this, and that’s why (s)he told readers to “Answer: YES that you have tried to resolve this with the company”.  A little harmless gaming of the system, right?  Well, not really.  Here’s why.

 

The CCTS staff might have accepted all of these complaints – at least at first.  Next, we would have sent them to an escalated complaint-handling unit at the service provider.  The service provider would have then objected to the CCTS accepting most of these complaints, because it had not had an opportunity to resolve them first with the customer. We would have then been required to notify all of these customers that we could not accept their complaint until they first gave the provider an opportunity to resolve it.  So consumers would have experienced needless delays, and all of this would have consumed hundreds of hours of CCTS staff time, diverting our resources from helping consumers who had tried to resolve their problems directly with their provider before filing complaints with us.

 

So…lessons learned

Consumers do have a voice.  Social media can be an effective tool for organizing those voices and effecting change.  And telecom and TV customers have effective recourse with the CCTS for unresolved complaints, using an accessible and efficient online application.  But first they must give their service provider the chance to fix the problem — it often suffices to resolve the issue.

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