Email Notification for Suspend Status

[Catherine_T]

Hey Community,

We’ve noticed that many of our customers are looking for more notifications related to account suspension. Starting Friday, August 28th, 2020, customers whose accounts have remained in suspended status for 3 days will now receive an email notification to make sure they are aware.

What will the email include?

• A notice that your account is in suspend status
• An explanation of what happens if your account stays in suspend status
• Instructions on how to make a payment and reactivate your account 

We hope you find this additional notification helpful! 

- The Public Mobile Team

[darlicious]

@bluejaywpg 

You certainly know now but the text message telling you your payment method failed is your notice. It's presumptive that with a prepaid service if your payment fails do does your service.

[bluejaywpg]

But do customers get notifications BEFORE the account is suspended?  And do customers also get notifications WHEN the account is suspended that actually say the service is suspended?  Because, by itself, that makes no sense to wait 3 days.  If it's in addition to other existing notifications, then it makes sense.

I say this because my service was suspended after a single auto payment attempt failed, & then I received a text that the payment failed but it didn't mention that I had also lost service, which I had no idea about until a member of the community asked after I posted about it.  The reason was not my fault (I had funds available, nothing like payment info had changed) & it was not clear to me if it was PM's fault or my financial institution's fault.  The moderators resolved the issue, thankfully.  I had to pay with a different method temporarily - that worked.

What PM was at fault for was having a system set up so poorly that if something went wrong with the payment no matter whose fault it is, the customer lost service & didn't know it.  I asked the moderators to forward my complaint about that to management & they said they did.  Now hopefully PM is working to fix this gaping hole.  A notification 3 days after suspending service certainly doesn't fix this problem by itself.

[darlicious]

@Lauremartie 

You may want to purchase a voucher and use that to pay for your plan and reactivate your account. It may take a couple of days to get your credit card out of this verification quagmire that's been happening lately. Vouchers can be purchased at London drugs (out west), SDM, Shell stations, Mobil stations,TMS at RCSS etc....these retailers have instant top ups or vouchers that can be loaded onto your account immediately thru self serve or 611. Ask at other retailers as some vouchers can take up to 24 hrs to become valid. See the voucher catalogue for reference....

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Paying-for-your-service/Voucher-Catalogue/m-p/479165#...

[pm-smayer97]

Just keep in mind that moderators cannot re-activate an account that has been inactive for more than 90 days, as the account will automatically be closed permanently.

[gblackma]

@Lauremartie  You may reactivate a suspended account online or by calling 611.
Via your account online
1. If you have already registered, or will first register, a credit card, go to step 2. OR deposit a voucher for at least your plan cost and go to step 3.
2. Go to the payment tab, select single payment and  amount due.
3. Select the reactivate account button.
4. Restart your phone.
or Using 611 to make your payment: ( you need your 4 digit pin to buy an add on)
1. press 1 to make payment
2. press 2 credit card ( or 1 voucher)
3. press 1 amount due.
4. Restart your phone.

If this fails contact the moderators and ask them to apply payment and reactivate your service for you. 

There are 2 ways to contact the Moderator Team:

• Faster response- Get help with your account the easy way by starting a conversation with our virtual assistant, SIMon. It’ll take you to relevant help articles, or if it’s something more urgent, it can help you submit a ticket to the Moderator Team. Click here to get started.
• Slower- Alternatively, you can send a private message to the Moderators by clicking here. You’ll need to be logged in to your Community account for the link to work.

Once connected to Simon, you will be asked to log in again with your community user name and password.  Please do, this allows you to continue and send your message.
- Check your private message sent box (click on the envelope top right of your screen) to make sure the message was sent.

- Keep an eye on the envelope top right of your screen.  The mods answer will show up there.  When it does, you will be asked to verify your self service account, with your password and login. Doing so allows the process to continue. Stay safe. 

[Lauremartie]

Good afternoon @Catherine_T 

My account has been suspended since September 1st and I have enough found on my credit card but the transaction can not be completed because they are unable to verify my credit card information.

I called my bank they said there's no problem on their side everything is perfect .

Could you please help me

Thank you 

[carlaspapa]

I love the reminder to top up my account just before my renewal that way I always check and I haven't had it auto-pay failure or missed a Payment yet although I did cut it close one night with 5 minutes to spare. If there's a text message that goes out telling you your payment has failed and your account in suspension the next day with the other rewards are applied text. Great not that I want to test that out or anything.

[zblackma]

Thank you @Catherine_T  a 3 day payment failure message in case you missed the fact that you did not get a Payment Thankyou message and your account is now suspended.

[makkahn28]

That is very useful, and about time

Also, what about receiving a quick text as well that says A/C is in suspension as well

[dac13]

Great to be notified via email but I agree with the others that 3 days may be a bit late...sooner the better.  Email is also good if account is suspended so you won't be able to access text messages etc.

[kselmak]

There was a recent announcement that there will be text for failed renewal. 

I don't know why there would be need for the email the same day, I think the sms suffices

I think this is a great second reminder, it's not too naggy it doesn't scream 'where's the money' you cannot claim it's a spam. 

And I personally like that idea of a friendly reminder about a week ago that the final day is approaching, I don't think it's too much either

[kselmak]

Yes that a great idea @pm-smayer97 

90 days is a long time to keep in mind something you don't use. Calendar reminder is nice, but a week or 3 days before would be great.

I would suggest a week, because if you need help from moderators and the response time happens to be more than 48 hours, it may be lost opportunity for both sides

[pm-smayer97]

What would actually be even more useful is a notification 3 days before the account becomes deactivated if it is already suspend and on hold. So this should be another one to be added. This seems more critical since if you miss the cut off date you lose your entire account, tel # and any funds, addons etc, with no way to recover them.

Losing your service for a few days is an inconvenience for sure but it does not compare to losing your entire plan, etc.

[geopublic]

Hopefully the Auto-Pay renewal bug gets resolved soon so that this stop gap measure will not be required.

[darlicious]

@mimmo 

If it is its not a good one but will help grandma notice her low use $10 account is suspended. So there's that....

[mimmo]

I agree most people will want to know immediately about suspension and most will know day 1 they have no service and if they want they will re activate 

I think this is more of a marketing tool /gimic trying to encourage people to come back to pm.

[darlicious]

@Catherine_T 

I guess this is helpful? Most customers come here upset at about the day of renewal asking why they didn't recieve any notice that their plan was suspended. Three days seems too little too late. I think the email should go out the same time the SMS text goes out at noon et. They can't recieve the text if they are suspended so the email should be sent then......if your enabling this feature it shouldn't be hard to move it to the day of suspension.

[Rose25]

Thank you for sending this notification! 

[kselmak]

@Catherine_T 

Great news and great improvement. We had lots of people coming here in panic. I'm assuming the day of suspention the sms goes out, then the 3rd day this email. I believe that is sufficient as you don't want to spam people either

[will13am]

Earlier notification would even be better.  Better late than never I suppose.  

[Luddite]

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@gblackma wrote:

Thanks @Catherine_T this makes sense. While you  are here could you please explain the rationale behind withdrawing the new  port protection emails. The one that required customer's answering yes to allow the port? Appreciate the answer. Stay safe Have a great weekend. 

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Believe it's an industry wide initiative; bit like getting google and apple to cooperate.

[Dunkman]

Thanks for the improvement.  Might be more helpful to have the email the first day of suspension.  If the customer is unaware, might be missing some important phone calls or texts

[gblackma]

Thanks @Catherine_T this makes sense. While you  are here could you please explain the rationale behind withdrawing the new  port protection emails. The one that required customer's answering yes to allow the port? Appreciate the answer. Stay safe Have a great weekend.