[Issue Resolved] Payment and activation bug

[Alan_K]

Hey Community,

Great news! We’re writing this update to let you know that our technical team has been successful in addressing two issues that have frequently been spotted in the Community. We want to extend a big thank you to you, our customers, for flagging these issues to us and keeping us on the ball. See below for details:

1. Enough funds but plan didn’t renew: The first is a bug that may occur when there are enough funds in a customer’s account but the payment is not taken. The common workaround is to make a manual $1 payment to the account to kickstart the payment being taken once again. A fix for this was deployed on September 18, 2019, and since then, no new cases have been flagged as we monitored for further instances.
2. Timeouts while activating a SIM: Second, as we became aware of an issue on our web portals which were causing newly activating customers to experience a timeout (and need to wait 50 minutes for their next attempt), we decided to improve our hardware capabilities during the month of August to October, which would help us handle additional traffic and demand. Thus far, the solution has been effective in dropping observed cases to zero since the week of September 30th.
3. Coming soon - a fix for the US Roaming Bug which affects customers returning to Canada after roaming in which they are unable to receive SMS’s. A fix for this is in the pipeline and we’ll be turning our immediate attention to this in the coming weeks!

We’re continuing to focus on ways to make your experience greater by improving the reliability of our systems, and we hope you’re as excited as us that these items are being taken off the to-do list one-by-one 🙂 . Let us know what you think down below!

-Public Mobile Community Team

[ajit]

I have tried add the dollar thing a few times . It says 'sweet your account is activated ' but then it is not. I have not had service all month. The person helping doesnt seem to understand this bug. How do I activate my phone? Alternatively it will say ' you have enough funds' 

[darlicious]

Thanks public mobile team and @Alan_K 

As someone who frequently experienced the time out session repeatedly with some activations the last time I knowingly had this issue was Sept 30th. Possibly on Oct 1st because I waited out of habit. That's great news and I'm sure more sign ups will occur during promo and flash sale limited time offerings.

[penasse]

Hey Cindi, GLAD TO HEAR THE MODS HERE are as per usual great.

I know it's a PITA every month for this to happen, but if you read on, I think this is the last month it will, (I know you said next month last chance and I hope they get it right simply because, LOOK at the responses, and a MOD fixed your problem, ya you were out of phone for  day...) as a former customer (yes peeps you read that right) I suggested this company because of "quality of signal and not just the signal that works the phone, the signal between people here, it's a place that where peeps just help...and I thought that was a good place for you to be!". As a former customer I was never un-happy with service, (my situation is a little different) I just found a better deal.

I fell I left you in good hands...just give it a chance to happen.

[SMNVP]

Excellent work!

[jono87]

I've PMd a moderator for assistance, thanks. I just dont think misleading stats should be posted.

[GinYVR]

@jono87You might want to make your own thread describing your issue in details.. What plan are you on? What phone are you using etc? Maybe we can help you figure out what's wrong.

[jono87]

#2 "Thus far, the solution has been effective in dropping observed cases to zero since the week of September 30th."

Nope. Happened to me few days ago. Still not connected....

[kenko9112]

The problem is I cannot use my phone to make a call

[kenko9112]

I can not use my phone to call even my account have enough money. Do I need to activate my phone

[hairbag1]

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@kenko9112 wrote:

The phone said what I dial is long distance but it is a local call

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Ignore the recorded message. You won't be billed for any long distance charges or overages.

Try adding a 1 ahead of area code to avoid hearing that annoying message.

[kenko9112]

The phone said what I dial is long distance but it is a local call

[pgermaine]

It’s great to see PM resolving theses issues to make itself a better and great value mobile provider!

[Korth]

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@cindi wrote:

DO THEY SELL VOUCHERS FOR THIS 1$?

Technically, no. PM Payment Vouchers come in a variety of odd increments. The smallest I've seen in-store was $13, the smallest I've seen mentioned online was $8.

Although my Shoppers Drug Mart always asked me to specify the exact dollar amount I intended to buy, instead of scanning PM bar codes they just entered an amount into some kind of payment/modem/printer machine. I suppose they could do $1 (or less). 

[AE_Collector]

Payment by 11:59 is a stock statement, it didn’t look at your scenario and determine that you need to add funds. If overnight tonight is your renewal, I would think you are good.

Terry

[cindi]

Ah! Wow, my account too!....NO REALLY it's my account!

Payment due by 11:59....and no auto take from available funds, without adding a buck?

DO THEY SELL VOUCHERS FOR THIS 1$?

Can a get a mod fix please?

[penasse]

So a "pat on the back" to get me to add an additional 1$ to kickstart your bug on payment?

My friend has a payment due tomorrow (I told her to go Public) last month was a "Carlos save" a mod who went way above and beyond.

I am embarressed I suggested this company to her, told her to buy a prepaid card and use a old phone to remain anonymous...now you require another "bug fix" on the payment?

BTW she threw out her old "voucher" but 31$ remains on account...so she has to buy more for a company that is so dysfunctional it cannot allow it's own customers to make payments from their own account(funds available) for their next month? Can we not "Carlos this"!!!!!????

FIX THE BUG...THEN KNOW YOU DESERVE A PAT ON THE BACK!!!

[DL888]

Good stuffs and good to see PM is roaming the forum looking at feedback to continuously improve.

[computergeek541]

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@Brucew wrote:

You will need to private message the community moderator and they will help. They are prompt and courteous! Public mobile is the best!

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Community members would be bettered served by using the automated SIMon chat window to open a ticket with the moderators. It cuts back on time required to verifty the customer's identity. Also, tickets using this method are given a slightly higher priority.

[Poogzley]

@Alan_K I really appreciate Public Mobiles efforts to improve their service!

[Brucew]

You will need to private message the community moderator and they will help. They are prompt and courteous! Public mobile is the best!

[jimbrosburrito]

I am having that same issue please help!!?!!!

[XionBunny]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

@XionBunny 

You just missed the double play of the bonus $10/$10 referral (making it $20/$10 total) and the RBCREWARDS $10 off a $40 plan (or higher) for 6 months that also came with a 5Gb add on! The RBC part ended Sept 30.

Terry

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I didn't want to basically give my current service provider free cash so ive been waiting till I was closer to my renewal date.

[Brucew]

Yes, my account seems to be straitened out now and phone service is restored. And thank you all for the work that you do! Fantastic service, [now that I understand the way to get help] and great price! Keep going, you guys!

[Alan_K]

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@Brucew wrote:

Sorry tec people.

That "activation bug" has resurfaced with a vengeance. Two phone plans out of three in our house came down with this pesky bug and we temporarily lost cell phone service this month, in spite of paying our accounts 6 days early. Please keep working. We appreciate your help with this. Also. I'm not sure how to make a $1.00 payment/account to reset the system...so we can have the system acknowledge our payment. How does that work, exactly? Anyway, keep working and best wishes.

Question...Are we causing any harm by paying our accounts early each month?

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To answer your last question, there is no harm in doing that to ensure available funds are there.

Has the issue been resolved already with a Moderator?  

[AE_Collector]

@XionBunny 

You just missed the double play of the bonus $10/$10 referral (making it $20/$10 total) and the RBCREWARDS $10 off a $40 plan (or higher) for 6 months that also came with a 5Gb add on! The RBC part ended Sept 30.

Terry

[XionBunny]

Good timing as im looking to return here sooner than i planned, just waiting for a good deal to make the migration easier, there are a few network features on this provider that i miss so much so im willing to forgo the slow unlimited data from the horse shoe brand.

[Korth]

I'm impressed. PM is fixing bugs, solving problems. 

And I'll continue to be impressed if PM continues to fix one or two things each maintenance cycle.

[GinYVR]

@BrucewIt sounds like you need to contact the moderators with your issue if it is recurring.

To pay $1 go to  your selfserve, click on Make Payment, select Make One Time Payment.. and in the drop down box select Other Amount and put in $1.

Paying early shouldn't affect your account. It means it puts in $ before your renewal date.

[Brucew]

Sorry tec people.

That "activation bug" has resurfaced with a vengeance. Two phone plans out of three in our house came down with this pesky bug and we temporarily lost cell phone service this month, in spite of paying our accounts 6 days early. Please keep working. We appreciate your help with this. Also. I'm not sure how to make a $1.00 payment/account to reset the system...so we can have the system acknowledge our payment. How does that work, exactly? Anyway, keep working and best wishes.

Question...Are we causing any harm by paying our accounts early each month?

[cellphoneuser1]

Thanks for updating us but these problems shouldn't be happening.  It's better to prevent problems than to react to them.