Exciting changes to our brand and customer experience

[Dave_M]

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Hey Community,

We’ve got some exciting news to share with you!

As you may have noticed already (sorry – hard to hide this one :)) we’ve updated our look! From a new logo, new colours, to fresh, fun illustrations- we got a makeover. Why? Because, we’ve been on a journey since 2015, and we’ve learned a LOT along the way. Our recent research, suggested our brand identity didn’t accurately reflect our mission: Public Mobile is the wireless company with you in mind. We didn’t name ourselves Public Mobile by accident after all. Everything we do – from offering the most affordable phone plans in Canada on the largest network, to rewards that save you even more, to this online community run by passionate customers is with you in mind.

And so, this new design truly embodies the personal, unique, simple and community first approach that Public Mobile stands for.  We hope you like the changes as much as we do. But that’s not all, beyond the makeover, we’ve also been hard at work working on some new initiatives that we think you’ll be pretty stoked for and are a long time in the making:

1.     New ticketing resolution process – yes you read that right, it’s coming! More details to come this week (as this in itself warrants its own full Community post) but essentially, this process will make it faster + easier to track, manage, and resolve issues when submitting a ticket to our online Moderator team.

2.   System improvements  - over the coming weeks, we’re excited to bring through a variety of system improvements. First up is an improvement to our latency and reliability of our web portals, meaning faster loading speeds in Self-Serve and fewer occasions of activation issues related to timing out. We’re also doing some fat trimming and are saying goodbye to our build your own plan calculator. While we love the flexibility of our plan calculator, the tradeoff is the ability to reduce pressure on our systems, help the general upkeep of our portals, and simplify the plan purchasing experience for customers. We know some plans can only be accessed via the plan calculator today, we plan (pun intended ;)) to bring some of those options  back in the near future! Lastly, as you're likely aware, we transitioned to refer-a-friend codes a few weeks ago to better protect your privacy and make referring easy 🙂

We can’t wait to hear what you think about all this goodness and are thrilled to deliver initiatives like #1 and #2 to simplify and improve the customer experience. We know we have more to tackle and are absolutely committed to continuing to make wireless simple, uncomplicated and accessible to all Canadians. Why? Because you’re the public, we’re for you.

Sincerely,

Dave

[pm-smayer97]

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@mimmo wrote:

@Dave_M, @Alan_K   looking over the plan page,  I think the plans are misleading.  ie the $25 plan shows only 500 mb data but clicking on it it shows 500+500.  similar situation with the 15$ plan.

would it be more beneficial to have the total amount of ie 1gb or 500+500, or possibly have tabs 1 for plans with autopay and one without?

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Yes, so oversimplified ... poor marketing! 

Hammer, met thumbtack!

Now, baby gone with bathwater too!

[zxcvbnm]

The plans page doesn't provide enough information. I shouldn't need to click "plan details" before I can learn about important features.

For example, let's take the $35 plan. The plans page used to say:

$35

30-days

1 GB data at 3G speed

+ Bonus 500 MB with AutoPay

Unlimited talk Canada-wide

Unlimited international text

Now it simply says:

$35

1 GB

So many important details are hidden. I shouldn't have to hunt for them.

This also makes comparing plans more difficult. Before, all the important details for every plan were all visible on a single page. Now these details are split over eight pages. Vexing.

[SD08]

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@Squintz_2C wrote:

@mimmo  so how does this affect people who have 4g plans are we just left paying for 4g and only receiving 3g ?

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@Squintz_2C 

If you are on a 4g/LTE plan, you'll keep it as a grandfathered plan with the higher speed.

[Squintz_2C]

@mimmo  so how does this affect people who have 4g plans are we just left paying for 4g and only receiving 3g ?

[SD08]

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@stonechucker wrote:

I’m with @srlawren  and @will13am and @pm-smayer97, losing the plan builder is the worst.

Sure, I’m on the Fall Promo, and will most likely not require a province wide selection from this carrier, as if it continues to degrade, I will leave for better pastures when they appear.

I rarely call outside Ontario, I live and work in Ontario, and I call only locally when I’ve traveled to Quebec and Halifax prior to coming to Public Mobile.  Why should I pay for Canada Wide when I don’t require it?  I came here, and I recommended subscribers here for the options in the plan builder.  You’re closing what has brought so many here.  Also too bad that when you last changed the plan builder prices, there was no long any price savings on 90-day plans.  Everyone knows, you buy in bilk, stuff is cheaper than buying the same in single packages.

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@stonechucker 

Totally agree that the plan builder should have been kept, as it provided customers with customizable options to fit individual needs.  Public Mobile should live up to their own words shown on the plans page, shunted down near the bottom as if it were an afterthought: "Because you shouldn’t be charged for frills you didn’t want in the first place. Public Mobile gives you Canada’s largest mobile network for the lowest possible price." Not only should the plan builder have been kept, but the prices for each component kept as low as possible, with discounts for the longer 90-day plans to give customers maximum savings.  Now, there aren't even LTE options anymore.

By the way, someone forgot to remove the "Create your own" plan link at the bottom of the plans page. Unfortunately, it just takes us back to the same plans page. For a second, it gave me false hope that the plan builder was still available.  

[sunflowershine]

It will be helping for the change #1 for customer service improvement. Will wait for the details of the system update later then. 

[computergeek541]

Interestingly, the background color of the Community looks more scaled back on my laptop/more white on my laptop.  I think it's actually looks better more washed out.  On my cell phone screen, it looks more saturated, a with a yellowish tint that I don't like.

[Anonymous]

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@makkahn28 wrote:

I just hope that my Current Plan and My Mother's still ratains Full LTE

I think that this new Policy is completely Unacceptable, and I hope PM listens to what PPL have to say, and not ignore what PPL wish for

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Just like how all the plans seems to work around here...once you're in one then you keep it. Don't fret. It only matters if you change. No going back.

[makkahn28]

I am on a 90 Day plan as well as my Mother.

It's very important and more cost efficient than the standard 30 Day

PM is in my opinion on the Wrong path

[makkahn28]

I just hope that my Current Plan and My Mother's still ratains Full LTE

I think that this new Policy is completely Unacceptable, and I hope PM listens to what PPL have to say, and not ignore what PPL wish for

[AE_Collector]

As mentioned by others, I won’t miss the Plan Builder either as the prebuilt plans were always the best deals for me. I can understand the desire to eliminate that entire process to streamline things around here. This also ends the 90 day plans which helps streamline things as well as ending confusion. Hopefully a more complete range of 30 day plans will be launched soon ... like there used to be. I suspect that for now with the hotter competition at the big name providers, LTE speeds will be provided at TELUS. 

Terry

[makkahn28]

That's sad. PM shouldn't chuck out things like Full 4G LTE, or Build your plans, I feel that IF PM only competes with Chatr, then PM becomes irrelevant.

Cheaper does NOT always mean better.

It may be the exact Opposite

[mimmo]

@Squintz_2C  yes full lte is no longer, I believe we may see it some time again in the future as a promo or something but there is no guatenttee. if you need full lte telus would rather see you join Koodo or telus.   PM is strictly competing with chatr and lucky so it is offering similar style speeds and plans as they are.

I really don't know why people say they lost options, the plans on the builder were often more costly than the pre-made plans. And people often did not understand the concept of 90 days plans. Lte plans were priced similarly to Koodo,  and I bet few people chose anything other than Canada talk +text +xgb.  The only outlier was the provincial talk only plan which was retired officially but not in the plan builder. 

[Squintz_2C]

correct me if I am wrong but since the create your own plan calculator has been removed I have seen no options(except the 1 GB data only) for data at 4g speeds just 3g speed is this no longer an option for public mobile customers or am just not seeing the option?

I'm really hoping this is not a move to push the customer over to the Telus parent company as i have been a huge fan of public since 2016 but if there is no 4G option kind of hard to recommend it to people especially considering the capabilities and demand of some of the current device and services available.

[zhadj030]

Have not logged in for a while, so all the changes are kind of overwhelming, and will take some time to get adjusted to it. Most people already mentionned few problems with fonts, colors and hyperlinks.

Also I will assume that is temporary to apply those changes.

Also  As someone from the fall promo will be very hard for me to see that the plan builder is gone, it was one of the main reasons I was talking about it when refering to public mobile, as it offers all the freedom one would want to have in choosing their plans.

[PaulaCuthbertso]

@Dave_M   So how the hell are we suppose to pay our bill if self serve is down and so is calling the 611 number?  My phone service has been off for 2 days because I haven't been able to pay the darn bill cause your website is down and I cant even call in with my credit card either cause that is down to.  THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!  VERY UNHAPPY CUSTOMER RIGHT HERE

[Anonymous]

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@VanZem wrote:

What’s with $2 autopay? Is it discontinued as it is not mentioned in the plans anymore?

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Keep scrolling. The rewards are all still there.

You might be thinking of the bonus data with autopay. Click on the plan and those details are shown.

As pointed out earlier, it seems odd that the marketing department wouldn't want to say that up front as it used to. Oh well. They make more than I do.

[justinbeaudoin]

Auto pay $2 mentioned on the main page. Just scroll down to see the list of rewards. 

[VanZem]

What’s with $2 autopay? Is it discontinued as it is not mentioned in the plans anymore?

[justinbeaudoin]

Every time I build my plan it worked out to be way more expensive than the ready made ones. 

[mimmo]

@Dave_M, @Alan_K   looking over the plan page,  I think the plans are misleading.  ie the $25 plan shows only 500 mb data but clicking on it it shows 500+500.  similar situation with the 15$ plan.

would it be more beneficial to have the total amount of ie 1gb or 500+500, or possibly have tabs 1 for plans with autopay and one without?

[mimmo]

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@zfx wrote:

Waiting for My Account page to be changed as well 

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hopefully a moble friendly version.

[zfx]

Waiting for My Account page to be changed as well 

[MelonEatsPhone]

Since we now have this new logo “Public” are we planning to change our carrier name to just “Public” too?

I remember back in the day when I was with Virgin Mobile they also just changed to “Virgin” to shorten the carrier name on phone screen. I think just “Public” instead of “Public Mobile” will look EXTRA cool. See example below:

[makkahn28]

@Dave_M , @stonechucker , @CS_Agent , I think PM needs to have CERTAIN icons Colour Coded for those who maybe Colour Impaired, Visually impaired

Also, The Build your plans is one that I think PM should KEEP, NOT Discard

The Ticket system that PM is rolling out seems to be a Viable answer to the Root cause of PM'S resolution issues

Also, PM needs to also focus on Elimination of Glitches when they appear.

Also, PM needs to Update the options to make better decisions and selection more enjoyable experience.

The Refer a Friend system has some solid footing. 

Now IF ONLY PM can eventually offer more to the intriguing eye?

[computergeek541]

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@stonechucker wrote:

Here is another issue with lack of contrasting colours.  This is an embarrassment that visually impaired folks with limited vision can not see light text on slight less light background.  At regular zoom, I couldn’t even see the hyperlink.  I zoomed in to find the link when someone mentioned it to me.

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@stonechucker , I see that you agree with me about that. It doesn't look as bad when zoomed in, but at regular size, it seems horrible on the eyes to me.

It also does that after you make a post. It says "Success!  Click here to go yo your post" using that same color scheme.

[pm-smayer97]

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@mimmo wrote:

@stonechucker  im pretty sure Canada wide and provincial costed the same in plan builder on 3g plans can't remember full lte. 

Also iirc  picking 3 item was always cheaper than 2. And pre-made plans were cheaper than plan builder aswell. 

If the focus has been on pre-built what's the point of a almost hidden feature, thaT few used since the advent of pre-made.

Yes 90 day plans but 30 day pre-built were cheaper. Yes full lte, but I'm guessing there has not been much purchases compared to 3g. Plus full lte is now a reason to upgrade to Koodo. 

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NO it was very inconsistent. Sometimes PW vs CW were the same, sometimes different. Picking 3 was mostly always cheaper but there were exceptions, and some plans are not available outside the plan-builder, as already acknowledged by Dave.

And it is true that 90-day and LTE left much to be desired because of the way pricing was in the last year or so. 

But as I have pointed out several times, the problem was that the plan builder was not being updated effectively so building your own identical plan as the pre-built always came out more expensive... that is what made it useless and confusing. But all that would be needed is to make the whole experience simpler and consistent. BUT there were plans you could build you could not get any other way, at reasonable prices.

Seems like management did not feel it was worth the effort BUT I still see value in the plan builder... it was one of the attractions for me... called flexibility to change as my needs change over time. Maybe they have something better planned; if so, they should have rolled it out simultaneously...this way leave a LOT of questions and concerns.

[stonechucker]

Here is another issue with lack of contrasting colours.  This is an embarrassment that visually impaired folks with limited vision can not see light text on slight less light background.  At regular zoom, I couldn’t even see the hyperlink.  I zoomed in to find the link when someone mentioned it to me.

[GinYVR]

@ryanlavoieIt is not working right now.. probably need to wait. Also you might want to blur out some of your personal identifiable information from your screenshot.

[ryanlavoie]

why can I go in my sefserv its not loading need help