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

[Snaggles]

Let's take into consideration that if you enjoy a service you stay with it and the amount that they charge now is an instant compensation for what we were supposed to get "huge credits" it helps build their back accounts on those who were most vulnerable.  When people have something that is a good thing and there is a price gap it could've have been I paid for a cell phone from a company, unlocked it and brought it to PM but the options at the time were to just buy from PM as they had us limited to phones on what we could have in the first place.  We are not winning by any means and this has to stop.

[kav2001c]

@Snaggles they gave huge credits though

Many of the phones were half price or better, free SIM cards and 3 months of free service (90 days!)

In most cases clients gained not lost money

---

@Snaggleswrote:

---

For having to purchase a phone also to start with the Telus takeover was a scheme itself, just as bad as Apple with their batteries.  For the fact that I was left in limbo this month for the increase I paid it but I will be seeking other services with another company because Koodoo is not a company I would like to be with either.

[Snaggles]

In regards to this, there should have been a formal message go out instead of an online update when we paid our bills this month.  I am getting very displeased of continuous increases when there is no customer service.  Basically we pay for a payment and get nothing in return.  We also have no increase in data which makes it pretty pathetic and vying to get customers to switch to eliminate this all together is pathetic also as to state operating a call center.  I will be looking at removing services altogether as when I had originally signed on my plan was $23 a month, including long distance to the States and within Canada.  For having to purchase a phone also to start with the Telus takeover was a scheme itself, just as bad as Apple with their batteries.  For the fact that I was left in limbo this month for the increase I paid it but I will be seeking other services with another company because Koodoo is not a company I would like to be with either.

[hnisha]

Ur right..... but the plans on Public Mobile itself was excellent and cheaper too with this increase. And you have the option to get rewards and decrease that bill even more. 

[Luddite]

@sunghlei You can see rewards here: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/rewards

When you pick 90 day plan, the base cost is $60 not 3x22. Look here: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/promotions/20unlimitedtalk

[sunghlei]

ooops sorry... you are right 66-6-9= $51 provided that there is a 3$ discount per 30 days.

[sunghlei]

Where on the site does it say that there's a 3$ loyalty discount? Also,

isn't it 66-6-9= $57 since it seems like the plan without auto pay is 22$ per 30 days.

[Luddite]

@sunghlei It will be even less if he switches because he will be eligible for Rewards - $2 autopay plus $3 loyalty. So, if you convert him to 90 day plan the cost for 90 days will be 60-6-9= $51! Sweet deal since you are there to help him as needed here in the forum.

[NDesai]

---

@sunghleiwrote:

My father had the 19$ plan that was increased to 22$ a while back. I handle his cell payments and totally missed the offers to switch to Koodo. Anyway, this month, it increased to 25$. My question is, how come his plan increased from 22$ to 25$ per 30 days when there is a current identical package at 20$(22$ without auto pay) available? My father does not use text messaging.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/promotions/20unlimitedtalk

---

Those are legacy plans that still have access to a call center. To eliminate the cost of the call center, PM is trying to move pioneer users to new PM plans. The new PM plans do not have access to a call center, but support is provided through this community only. 

[sunghlei]

My father had the 19$ plan that was increased to 22$ a while back. I handle his cell payments and totally missed the offers to switch to Koodo. Anyway, this month, it increased to 25$. My question is, how come his plan increased from 22$ to 25$ per 30 days when there is a current identical package at 20$(22$ without auto pay) available? My father does not use text messaging.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/promotions/20unlimitedtalk

[computergeek541]

---

@RodgerBwrote:

I haven't had call center access for a long time, why is my monthly being increased? Rodger B

---

If you don't have access to talking to customer service via *611, then you aren't on a legacy/pioneer plan and this annoucement doesn't apply to you.

[RodgerB]

I haven't had call center access for a long time, why is my monthly being increased? Rodger B

[yulai]

I pay for 2 phones for family members with language barriers so I don't carry the phones with me to see text messages that come from the company. I did not receive any messages to my registered email accounts about this so I've now only found out about the rate increase from my credit card bill. What is the phone number of the call center so that I can either switch to a lower-rate plan or find out more information about switching to Koodo since it is now after the Feb 9 offer period? I don't understand why no information was emailed to me about this significant change.

[kav2001c]

In general postpaid is more profitable. Even on identical plans.

All kinds of reasons.

Extra use when you need it in a month for overage charges

Guarantee revenue every month (unlike Public where we skip a monthly payment when out of town)

Hardware Tab / contract - cancel costs and due to inertia many will never bother change provider

More upsell opportunities (eg iPhone visual voicemail, call forwarding, data blocks)

[danielj]

Sending customer over to Koodo, I would expect would in the long run be due to profitability of the group of companies owned by Telus (including Telus, Koodo and Public Mobile). Reduce rewards, more scale and more controll with contracts all contrubiting elements to help increase profits and are more associated with Koodo than with Public Mobile.

At times the future of Public Mobile is questionable but with Fredom Mobile, Public Mobile, Chatr and with Bell launching Lucky Mobile, we the customer would hope that they Cell Phone Service/Network Providers would get the message that there is enough of customer looking for more affordable and/or bigger more service/value packages to keep attempting to remain competitive for our business.

[Zech]

Same here. Just checked my usage, I only use 3GB for 3 months. I just don't get it why PM sent their own customers to Koodo? 

[shartomjam]

---

@Zechwrote:

I just received a message from Koodo said I can have 4GB for $45 a month. I thought it was like a fake message? So I came to the community. Well, looks like a lot of things going on here. What should I do?

---

I received this message as well.  I don't need any more data and factoring in PM rewards, this is not a deal I am going to take.  This is the second offer I have received in the past couple of weeks so I am not sure what the future is for PM.  It doesn't look too promising.

[Zech]

I just received a message from Koodo said I can have 4GB for $45 a month. I thought it was like a fake message? So I came to the community. Well, looks like a lot of things going on here. What should I do?

[Brooke_C]

Thanks all! I will look into this and provide an update.

[kav2001c]

@srlawren you should have tagged Brooke in post as well

Thnx

[srlawren]

---

@kav2001cwrote:

Can't really show the change since it is now gone....

---

@kav2001c , @Brooke_C FYI--here's what it used to look like:

 (that was taken in Jan 2017)

And now:

[kav2001c]

@Brooke_C the plan change line? It is no longer there just a blank.

Originally it said something like Fall Promo then it changed to Expired

Now when I look the line is not there anymore

Can't really show the change since it is now gone....

[anickdes]

True, but obviously, most conversations are in english here.

[srlawren]

---

@anickdeswrote:

Call center was easier for me because I could received services in french. I can manage english, but many can't. The plan just seem to make PM deseappear because it is not as lucrative. The way it is done is not respectful to loyal clients of PM.

---

You can get service in French here in the community as well.  The moderator team (the PM support employees) are based out of Montreal and are bi-lingual.  Also, you can browse the community in French by clicking the Francais button near the top on the Community home page, or just click here:  https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Communaut%C3%A9-Public-Mobile/ct-p/Public_Mobile_Comm...

[anickdes]

That argument about the cost of maintening call center for PM is BS. I called today to change my plan (was kind of forced to by PM) and the call back I had to fix my line was coming from Koodo.

I did not get this 5$ loyalty reward.

Call center was easier for me because I could received services in french. I can manage english, but many can't. The plan just seem to make PM deseappear because it is not as lucrative. The way it is done is not respectful to loyal clients of PM.

[anickdes]

I switched to the new plans and lost access to the call center. How come I did not get this 5$ discount?

It was never advertized anyway. My previous plan was augmented of a few dollars, than supposed to be augmented 5 dollars tomorrow.

Each time, I was offered to pass to koodo, with nothing offered from PM. The new phone for free offer was BS, as I would simply have paid it over several months, and it was not possible to get exactly the same plan.

Not happy about all this!

[Korth]

---

@Civic_Ewrote:

Post paid is always guarantee that you will pay the money. If not they can report it to your credit history. Why do you think PM gives incentives for Autopay?

---

PM is strictly prepaid.  You can't ever be overcharged or exceed the usage allocations on your plan because once you reach the maximum threshold or your balance reaches zero then you're cut off, you used all the service you paid for and can't extend it without prepaying for more.  There is never any condition where you "owe" PM money, you can never walk away with any "unpaid" balance.

Clearly the credit card number has some value to PM (or Telus), enough for them to pay an ongoing $2/month to keep it updated on their books.  I think in part this is a "guaranteed" revenue thing - AutoPay means you'll keep being a paying customer until you state otherwise, AutoPay means a lot less hassles for customers which also means a lot less hassles for PM's customer support staff, it's all win-win.  But I think it's also sold to data brokers, credit trackers, financial, and marketing agencies.  A credit card number is a solid way to legally confirm identity of an online subscriber who is otherwise essentially "anonymous".

[Civic_E]

---

@Litvinau_Awrote:

I just made a switch today! So, Everything is unlimited regarding minutes and text(international). Even if you run out of data, you can still send pictures. Koodo works when you travel vs PM that doesn't. 

You'll be on a regular month-to-month plan with an option to have a small or medium TAB!!! Yes, you can pick up a new phone with paying only up to +15/month extra - If you want to.

Regarding $15 for the sim, just tell the koodo kiosk that you talked to koodo customer service and they said you'll be eligible for a free sim! Worked with me 🙂 

PS: even koodo is confused why telus is doing all these bs changes, at the end of the day - the same big boss gets the money.

Cheers!

---

Post paid is always guarantee that you will pay the money. If not they can report it to your credit history. Why do you think PM gives incentives for Autopay? Same idea. The phones they give on small TAB are overstocked phones from Koodo/Telus which means they are getting extra $15 from you to clear their inventory!

So once you move to Koodo they know for a fact that you will upgrade your device at some point. Just like a credit company giving you a credit....they know at some point you will have to pay interest!

[Brooke_C]

@kav2001c, can you please share a screenshot of what you are referring to/ seeing? Note: make sure that no personal information is showing. Thanks a bunch!

[rohith_reddi]

is the plans changed  for me its is not changed