How we make Certified Pre-Owned Phones like-new!

[J_PM]

Hey Community, 

We received all your great questions about our Certified Pre-Owned Phones. Now we’d like to share a little more about our refurbishment process, so you can have complete confidence in your next phone. 

What do we check?

Battery Health 

We test the battery life and charge cycle of every device to ensure it meets TELUS functionality standards. If a battery fails any of our tests, we replace it with a new one.

Functionality 

We check the camera, screen, buttons and audio to ensure everything is working properly. 

Ready for Use 

Lastly, we do a factory reset and install the latest software before cleaning and repackaging. Your phone arrives ready to be used with a free SIM card. 

Every Certified Pre-Owned phone purchase comes with ultimate peace of mind

• 30 day money-back guarantee so you can return or exchange if you change your mind. 
• 1 year warranty that covers all manufacturers defects (excluding Physical/Liquid damage), starting from date of purchase. 
• Online phone purchases can easily be returned by mail. 

We also have some limited-time offers, so visit our Certified Pre-Owned Phone Catalog to save on your next phone. 

       - Public Mobile Team 

[esjliv]

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Glad you found this thread doulanonthedrive.

@J_PM maybe you can be of assistance for @doulaonthedrive, here is the related posted this customer explains issues they have been experiencing:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Serious-problems-with-returning-phone/m-p...

[doulaonthedrive]

I would have to disagree with the statement that "Online phone purchases can easily be returned by mail."

I have been trying to return a phone for almost 4 months. I was sent the wrong colour AND it's a defective phone (it randomly turns off while I'm using it).

I have been in communication with several agents who I have to re-explain everything to each time I follow up with them. I haven't even received a return package yet.

To add to all the frustration, I see that the phone that I purchased on June 5th is now nearly $200 less than what I paid for it!!

[consulting]

ya I was not keen on spending $400 on a used phone when my oldest daughter has a track record for breaking technology that is not based on iPhone. We did buy a couple of cheap phones but they lasted 1-2 weeks... just knock off phones off some website. I would have preferred to spend about $200 but the issue is a new iPhone is like $1200-$1500 so if it is 3yrs old then it likely still would sell for 6-800$ 
One of the issues is the inflating the price of the phones and then buying the cost in the contracts... no way a phone should cost 2x the price of a decent school laptop or a decent office laptop, 
prices are completely inflated and I am certain if they could not bundle phones in calling plans... if you HAD to buy the phone over the counter and the transaction was separate from the phone plan... no one would be getting the latest apple phones at $1200 and the price would be brought down to a market based price vs a bundled... aka hidden price. And then to have fixed pricing which is meant to keep the prices low vs inflated... it keeps all the profit inflated with no real option to discount older devices.
it is a broken process and manufactures and phone companies with no competition are the winners.

[consulting]

@SMax thanks for the heads up.
ya we never actually made it to the counter... the telus website said it would be supported and said the local location would be able to resolve it... but as per your comment I was concerned as well... so I printed off the message from the website so I would have the URL as well as the message in case I needed to show them... but I did wonder what the local tech would say when I actually passed over the phone to them as customer service really comes down to the person facing the customer not the ones hiding behind websites of "*should*" LOL

When I saw the telus site recognized the service contract that did give me some level of confidence though... I was concerned I would be stone-walled minute one. Again that does not prove anything... not until I get to your phase of passing the phone over to a live person 

I do wish there were PM representatives online more so they  could chime in and also provide support if you end up in a telus location and getting negative results. I know they do not want to answer the 99% of user issues which forum people can answer but they should be more accessible if there are real world issues like you had and if you needed a 'real receipt' then provide one to you or just tell you to ship the phone in prepaid return slip like amazon does and send you a replacement. sucks to be without a phone for 3-4 days but would be nice to have the back up vs a website for support. My father also has a PM phone and he is one of the customers who needs a live person to help... so previously he had a Bell phone and Bell dealt with the issues... since I recommended PM now I am the support person. So if PM had an escalation person online more frequently for issues or users who are stuck (message sitting idle too long or something) then maybe that would help drive confidence.

I think you can PM an admin but I have not done it for some time,  That is one of my beefs is there is no easy 'how to page', everything is a search the site task. nice to have some of the escalation points documented especially when it comes to customer service and $

cheers

chris

[SMax]

I would be cautious about buying a phone this way again. Note that the warranty is only for one year.  I bought a phone this way but you do not get a regular receipt -the line item on your credit card bill does not say Public Mobile nor Telus so they will not accept this as your proof of purchase. In smaller centres, stores branded as Telus may not be actual Telus stores and so they will say they are not authorized to help. The volume buttons on my phone did not work so I took it to a Telus store in a small town. They opened the phone and noted that there was no connection from the buttons to the interior workings and that this should have been noticed before it was sent out. They also noticed the battery was loose but they said they could not fix it and I would have to take it to a Telus location in a bigger centre. I tried emailing PM about it but no response and I had searched their website for how to resolve it but there was no info at that time. Recently I received a PM newsletter saying that if there are any issues, to contact Telus. I contacted a Telus location in Vancouver as I planned a special trip there to get my phone issue handled. They said they could not help (and had no idea what I was talking about) but to go to a Mobile Clinic. I did this but again they had no idea that PM was referring clients there and also said that they could not help. As I did not have a receipt, I could not prove that I bought my phone through PM and they had also not heard that PM clients were being referred to them.  I talked to a nearby Telus store and they quoted me a price to fix it of twice what I paid for the phone. 

So as much as I love to support reuse, please be aware that the system is designed to avoid any responsibility should there be a problem. You will need to live in a large centre to even have a chance of getting a resolution and the response times seem designed to time out your warranty. Buyer beware.

[consulting]

We have bought 2x iPhone 8 PLUS from Public Mobile... probably about 3mths now? Both work great and battery life were over 80% and could not find any scratches or anything and they were listed as "good" vs great so I was concerned but really they look like new.
We had 1 we THOUGHT may have an issue - which I was concerned re the 1yr support but when we put in the ticket we punched in our IMEI code and poof it says it has a service contract enabled and to go to a tellus repair shop. We live in Fredericton (capital city but only 50K people) and I was concerned I would need to mail it to Montreal or Toronto... nope... "Regent mall" a local mall about 15min away which has a tellus outlet store. I figured they just sold plans there like the other kiosks.
Process was to 
- bring the phone in (website shows the locations and confirms you have a service plan)
- they look at it, if they can not fix it then they would send it away for a max of 5 days (not sure what happens after 5 days... I assume they just give you a replacement of "like or better"
- they give you a loaner phone so you are not out of contact (which this was my daughters phone... she is a teen... it is her life line apparently ... or so I am told)

So I was glad to see everything worked re the process. The issue my daughter had with her phone some how 'resolved itself' (home button was buzzing - online it says iPhone 8 Plus has a known issue where some of the home buttons are not 'screwed down in place' so not sure how it resolved itself)... 

I need a replacement phone as well... just waiting for some other paperwork to be processed and then I will be buying a Public Mobile phone as well.. Both my teen daughters love their phones... they had iPhone SEs previously so the 8PLUS was an upgrade for them in their perspective. 

[jimbobs]

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@boywithnoname wrote:

I can't speak to the CPO program from Public Mobile, but my partner and both their parents have bought Certified Pre-Owned phones from other places and have been happy with their new devices. Their new devices have been an upgrade from their old devices, and the cost was easy on the wallet. 

If you can definitely find a good deal on a CPO phone that is of interest to you, and it is done by a reputable company like Public or some other place, it is definitely worth considering.

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Agreed that CPO is good way to go but PM's prices and limited range are my concern.

[boywithnoname]

I can't speak to the CPO program from Public Mobile, but my partner and both their parents have bought Certified Pre-Owned phones from other places and have been happy with their new devices. Their new devices have been an upgrade from their old devices, and the cost was easy on the wallet. 

If you can definitely find a good deal on a CPO phone that is of interest to you, and it is done by a reputable company like Public or some other place, it is definitely worth considering.

[jimbobs]

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@Bubba wrote:

they need more phones.

but I'm a cheapskate and will not spend $500 on a phone ...

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Definitely need new phones.  And they should focus on models at low to mid tier prices.  But get reasonably up to date models like Samsung Galaxy A, Pixel 4A, etc. 

This has nothing to do with being a cheapskate. It's all about buying a good phone at a good price.  Call it sensible, appropriate, smart, frugal even.

[Bubba]

they need more phones.

but I'm a cheapskate and will not spend $500 on a phone that will go flying out of hands in a parking lot or go face down on concrete when I slip and fall on ice in winter (bizzare as it sounds but it happened....woke up, was late, ran out of the house with the first shoes I saw and it had a almost smooth spongy sole ...summer shoes)

[jimbobs]

Have to wonder how serious PM is about this.  At present, there are a total of 7 devices available through the program: 5 Apple, 1 Android and 1 flip phone.  The only Android, the Galaxy S10, dates from 2019 and will receive only one more software update.  Why are there so few devices available and why are they so old?  It seems like PM is making a lot of assumptions about their customers and how much they're will to pay for a phone.

[softech]

@psymplelife   and on top of that, you get a full year warranty, so it is same warranty as a brand new phone

Also, no worry about history of the phone, many posts here about they got the phone via private sell but eventually got blacklisted and not usable 

[psymplelife]

Thanks for the information! I'm in the market for a CPO (Samsung Galaxy S10) and it's good to know that they come with a 30 day money-back guarantee!

That gives me peace of mind! 🤗

[Drspaz1978]

i wish to buy a samsung galaxy note 10+ , the 12gb ram by 256gb storage variety of any colour, actually been waiting for something like that, renewed, to hit the store for the renewed price thats everywhere of 400-499$ CAD all dependant of the quality of the refurbishment, thats my wish anyways, ty for reading 🙂

[gormingull]

I bought one and it was perfect. A brand new phone as far as I could tell...likely a phone someone used for a day or two and just didn't like. or maybe just old stock.  I'd certainly buy another from PM if this comes to harm

[softech]

@Emabean   It is in fact better than buying from someone you don't know as you are buying directly from Public Mobile.

The good thing for buying here is the warranty and refund policy.  You have 30 days for full refund if you do not like it.  If you decide to keep it but something goes wrong later, you have full warranty for a year.   So, the refund and warranty policy is as good as buying a new phone.

Yes, do not buy used phone via private sell, there are many problem with blacklisted phone or the quality of the phone.  Buy CPO phones from PM is better and less to worry, 

[Emabean]

Has anyone owned one of these that could give a review of their experience? I’d be nervous to buy a used phone from a someone I don’t know… 

[computergeek541]

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@softech wrote:

And also the peace of mind,  no worry about getting blacklisted phone like the risk from private sell

Unfortuantely, the risk of that happening with one of these device still isn't zero. For example, someone could have previously purchased this phone, and then had a carrier add it to the national list of phones reported as lost or stolen.  I don't understand why someone would do that (possibly for insurance reasons), but it's still a possibility.  However, if that happens, Telus would have to fix this by replacing the device.

[softech]

thanks @J_PM   

Great info.

The best part of this CPO program is the warranty, it is as good a warranty as any new phone you get.    And also the peace of mind,  no worry about getting blacklisted phone like the risk from private sell

It would be better if it has a bigger selection of phones   🙂

[esjliv]

Thanks for information on the refurbishment process @J_PM .

Will this information be tagged or linked in the Get Help Articles as well?

Here: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/certified-pre-owned-phones

or, in the phone buying section?