Effective February 15th, changes are happening to Legacy/ Pioneer rate plans

[Brooke_C]

Hey Community,

We have some important information to share with our Legacy/Pioneer customers. As a reminder, Legacy/Pioneer customers are those who continue to have access to the call centre and are on one of the five plans listed below.

• $22 Province-Wide Talk
• $28 Canada-Wide Talk + Text
• $43 Canada-Wide Talk + Text + 1GB Data
• $48 Canadian & U.S. Talk + Text + 1GB Data
• $63 Canadian & U.S. Talk + Text + 2GB Data

As you know, Public Mobile has been on a journey to become an online-only brand and give Canadians control of their wireless spend. Along this journey, we will need to make some changes to adapt. To that end, effective February 15^th, 2018, all Legacy/Pioneer rate plans will increase in price. The reason for the price increase is simple: operating a call centre is expensive and, as the number of Legacy/Pioneer customers decreases, we lose the scale that has allowed us to operate it to date.

With that said, what we care about most is our customers and we want you to continue feeling good about your wireless choice, so we’ve worked with our sister brand, Koodo, to offer all Legacy/Pioneer customers a way to keep the same price. For a limited time, from January 10^th to February 9^th, 2018, Legacy/Pioneer customers can join Koodo with a similar rate plan that they have now with Public Mobile, at the same price they pay today. If you are a Legacy/Pioneer customer, you are eligible for this offer and you will be hearing from us over the next few days with details on how to take advantage of this deal.

If you are not a Legacy/Pioneer customer, this price increase and the above offer do not apply to you and you can continue enjoying your current plan.

To learn more, visit publicmobile.ca/serviceupdate.   

Thank you for your continued support as we evolve and change 

The Public Mobile Team

[kav2001c]

@srlawren the other fact I find interesting is nearly EVERYONE told the Legacy Plan guys "hey just go to Koodo you will like it"

I was feeling like that 1 guy in 12 Angry Men

Now that EVERYONE has the SAME offer wow

Look at how the ship has hit the fan!

[H3llscr3am]

I have the $120/12GB/90 day Promotional Plan, and it doesn't have Legacy call center or store privleges, but yet the text I recieved today still informs me that I'll suffer a 25% pricing increase next month, an additional $10/month. This goes against the promotional material for the same plan I signed up for, Here. Specifically the following statement: 

Things you need to know

• This is the only promotional plan during this period. No other plans are affected
• During the promo period, there will be two plans totaling $120: (1) the 6GB unlimited province-wide talk and global text plan and (2) the promotional plan, which has 12GB of data. Please be sure to choose the plan with twice as much data for the exact same price!
• 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. 

[kav2001c]

@srlawren or the buffer to let people decide IF they want to continue or port

It seems beyond dumb to prepay 90 days then port out to Koodo

The $100 credit says in terms it is ONLY for TAB (which makes sense otherwise open to abuse) so basically everyone is screwed in both add-ons and price plans

Hence the howling at the moon we see

My plan is (still) dirt cheap and even I am upset 

[srlawren]

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@kav2001cwrote:

Very shady that Public knew in advance the other changes coming Feb 15 but kept silent about it

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@kav2001c I only wish they'd given at least a week's buffer to avoid *some* of the confusion. They already had two things going on in parallel and now just as one of them is wrapping up the introduce this. You can see the confusion in this thread as people are now here venting about the 2016 Fall Promo increase, which has nothing to do with these Legacy plan changes (which were already having enough confusion if you read through this thread prior to earlier today)

[kav2001c]

Very shady that Public knew in advance the other changes coming Feb 15 but kept silent about it

[kingstonian]

Paid my 3 month fee just 2 weeks ago, will I be charged again ($20) for the remaining 2 months of this period??.

Dont feel like moving to Koodo and lose almost 2 months I paid for with PM.

Total bait and switch...

Will be filing a complaint for sure.

[Teedo]

Complaint filed with CCTS. This is your fault TELUS. 

[Jonovision]

The whole reason for PM existence is to move people to Koodo or Telus.  It is an entry point to the Telus brand, anything else is marketing speak.

[AK_41]

How do you know if you fall into the "Legacy'/Pioneer" category? I too, just today received a text notification that my $120/90 day plan will be increasing an additional $10.... therefore going forward I will have to pay $150/90 days now on?! That is a pretty steep increase and I am sure many other people on here can agree with me that this is really unfair for loyal customers to receive a notice like this. 

PM is also not offering any incentive to us either except by just telling us to switch carriers. Why do you insist us to switch to Koodo? Many people switched to PM from other carriers for a reason and now your making us to switch back or just remain here but charge us more money.... 

Regardless, of how PM is run, I think Telus is screwing with PM cusotmers. I thought the whole point of this PM carrier platform was to give customers a more cost effective alternative carrier instead of going with a Rogers, Bell, Fido etc. But with them increasing their price to $10 is a huge slap in the face for us customers. I would of thought PM would give some sort of incentive for the price increase but it came out as a flat out "nothing, just pay more or switch."  

Really disappointed in how they handled this and how their treating their customers this way. This will really make be think hard whether or not if I will likely to stay with such a carrier that does this. 

[Mimisis]

Is it going to change a price?

I have plan;

90days/Canada wide/3GB $126

[convolutionx]

Offer same plan eh?

My wife and I both earned $30 in rewards, making our plan the following:

$90 for 3 months:

12 GB data

unlim text and calling.

Are you saying Koodo is offering a plan with 4 GB data/unlim text+call for $30 a month?

No of course not.

WHERE IS THE SAME PLAN THAT I HAVE CURRENTLY. YOU'RE ROBBING US BLIND WITH THIS TERRIBLE INCREASE!

[kwong]

Why am I getting that update even though i'm not a Legacy/Pioneer customer? How do I know if I'm one. I have never heard of this call centre that you speak of? Please let me know.

[Mimisis]

I had got text today about increase my plan from 12GB/90days $40 to $50. $10 increase!!!

Yes, I can move to koodo SAME $40 plan.

Really? Same? 

How about reword? Auto pay, refer friends, and loyalty? I don't think it's same. And who knows koodo keep a plan same price, how long? A few months? if I'm lucky. I bet Koodo will change a price soon like PM.

And this is the most important my question.

I just renewed my 90 days contract.

My contact should have until May. But PM will change a price in March, means middle of the contract.

WHAT IS A CONTRACT???

I (Castner) can't break a contract but  campany can anytime??? 

I'm really dispointed.

[andrewsund]

I’ll be filing a complaint with the CCTS shortly. I advise everyone else to as well.

[lyme45]

I have the same problem. Just pre-paid a few days a go!!! Now what?

[jgotfried]

Agreed. I was told the $120/4GB plan was mine for life. No increases. 

[CalvinW]

What's new, PM just playing all of us like it's no big deal

[loner01]

Same here. When I signed up the 12gb/120 dollar plan last year there was a statement saying the price will not change for active customers. Why is the pricing going up now?

[MC1]

I also just had my plan renew 3 days ago. Will Public Mobile be refunding the remaining time left on my 90-day after March 15? I would also accept extending the Koodo "offer" till my next plan renewal in May.

This move is not pushing me to Koodo so much as it is pushing me to Bell and Rogers sub-brands.

[janbearr]

So, if I have 2 months worth of data plan left, does that remaining balance get carried over to Koodo? Do I get a monetary refund?

[jgotfried]

If I change to Koodo will I still get discounted for the autopay and the other customers I recommended?

[alannasonfire]

Why did I get a text message saying my bill was raising $10/month when I’m not one of the pioneer customers. I have the 4g/$40.... not fair 

[ChrisKarv]

Hey public mobile! I love your service but just got a text saying my

plan is going up and to switch to Koodo... I just renewed my subscription with you guys, if I switch do I get a partial refund or something? Seems like you want me to go to koodo which I have no problem doing but I just renewed like a few days ago... thanks in advance 

[Korth]

Yes, the Big Three (Big Four) oligopoly does maintain noncompetive prices, I agree Canada is woefully sad in this regard when compared to other developed nations.

But on the bright side, the big thing they monetize is mobile data.  Basic talk and text stuff is pretty cheap - maybe it does cost more than foreign competitors, but paying maybe $25/month isn't a terrible hardship.  So don't use mobile data, get wired internet.

And buy your device - own it outright - don't finance it ("it's not financing, it's a tab") through some contract ("which we don't call a contract") that inflates your monthly bill and assesses penalties ("which aren't penalties") whenever it's time to replace the lost/stolen/broken/dead/obsolete device or it's time to move on to a better deal.

[scottl]

wow.

I feel I misled people I recommended Public Mobile to.

My 90-day prepayment was on the 10th.

On the 15th I get a message my rate will go up starting March 20 - less than half way through the period I've already prepaid for.

I don't know that's legal - it's certainly not common.

All this less than 15 months into becoming a customer (which took a week).

"legacy" in 15 months is weird.

If I change to Koodo (same owners) I'll get $100 but I'd have to change less than halfway into what I've already paid for.

I guess that's a good deal ($40ish) - if I time it right.

but so weird.

[Jonovision]

It's unfortunate and disappointing.  This oligopoly in the telecommunication sector is very frustrating.  I haven't been hit yet but i know it's coming.  Telus has even stated that the main purpose of Public Mobile is to move people to Koodo and Telus with their post paid plans.  To force a raise in price (with discounts the koodo plan is still an increase) and offer a cheaper price on their post paid company is shallow and leaves a bad taste.  Let the telecommunications nightmare continue in Canada.  Good luck everyone, I will continue to try and survive one of the most expensive rates in the world :).

[LNcellMobile]

Thank you everyone for taking time to answer my question - very much appreciate  🙂 Happy Valentine's Day to you all. 🙂 

[wetcoaster]

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@Greenwaldwrote:

 if i wanted the same canada wide calling i would pay 37$ instead of 28 and thats without the non existing call centre, i've been bombarded with publicmobile text to switch to koodo for 2 years now. Just rename public mobile too Koodo Mobile 

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@Greenwald

If you switch to an in-market plan with Public Mobile you will be eligible for rewards.

Have a look at my post here for the price table: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Effective-February-15th-changes-are-hap...

[wetcoaster]

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@claude1960wrote:

@LNcellMobile

They are 2 distinct company, don't dream on it. It's gone.

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@LNcellMobile, @claude1960

As always, there are no refunds for unused parts of your currently active plan.

However, the FAQs (https://publicmobile.ca/en/on/serviceupdate) for the Legacy plan switch to Koodo clearly support @srlawren's statement above: up to $300 of account balance can be transferred as part of the switch.

Close up:

[claude1960]

@LNcellMobile

They are 2 distinct company, don't dream on it. It's gone.