[NEW]: Voucher Availability at Select Retailers

[Ck_PM]

Hi Community,

We wanted to let you know about a recent change to how Public Mobile vouchers can be purchased.

There have been some recent changes to where Public Mobile vouchers can be purchased. As a result, a few retail locations no longer offer Public Mobile vouchers.

To help avoid any confusion, we’ve updated our Payment Voucher page to reflect our current list of retail partners that continue to sell Public Mobile vouchers.

The following retailers no longer offer Public Mobile vouchers:

• 7-Eleven
• Couche-Tard (Mac’s)
• Jean Coutu
• London Drugs
• Metro
• Petro-Canada
• Proxim
• Shell
• Walmart
• Esso

If you’re looking to purchase a voucher, please check our updated retail partner list before visiting a store to make sure they’re still offering Public Mobile vouchers.

You can also keep your subscription active automatically with Auto Top-Up, the most convenient and reliable way to make payments.

• Works with both credit and debit cards
• Keeps your account running smoothly without needing to buy vouchers
• You can set it up anytime through the Public Mobile app or My Account online

We understand this change may cause some inconvenience, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to review other options to make buying vouchers as simple as possible.

— The Public Mobile Team

[Nezgar]

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@Ethan_Clark3456 wrote:

Thanks for the update! Good to know which stores no longer carry Public Mobile vouchers. Using Auto Top-Up seems like the easiest way to keep the account active without hassle.

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Yes I agree auto top-up is easiest and is still my fallback, but I use vouchers when I can to take advantage of increased cashback on my credit card for purchases made at gas stations and grocery stores. There are a number that offer at least 4%-5% back in these categories. Sometimes more with promotions.

[Ethan_Clark3456]

Thanks for the update! Good to know which stores no longer carry Public Mobile vouchers. Using Auto Top-Up seems like the easiest way to keep the account active without hassle.

[Vincent_Shaw]

Public Mobile vouchers are no longer available at several retailers, including 7-Eleven, Walmart, Shell, Metro, London Drugs, and others.

To avoid frustration, check the updated retail partner list before heading to a store. For convenience, you can also use Auto Top-Up via the Public Mobile app or My Account to keep your subscription active automatically.

[Nezgar]

Tested today at Shell (In Regina, SK) where I have always purchased my vouchers in the past.. and indeed it declined on the POS after tapping the credit card payment. The clerk struggled for a few moments to figure out how to refund it to the credit card after... Too bad.

[jay_jay3]

Success at Superstore, Vouchers at Customer support today. So never tried Canadian Tire or Shoppers.

[DennyCrane]

Interesting, that was my experience at 7-11 as well. This thread confirmed 7-11 was off the system, but the stores you visited should still be able to sell them. This implies a much bigger issue by the sounds of it.

[Gnicki]

I went to Canadian Tire, Sobeys, and then Shoppers to top up. They all had the vouchers to scan. But once I made the purchases they were instantly voided and I got a refund. Because I was tired of running around, I decided to do the worst way which is Recharge.com. I successfully bought one voucher but then no other ones would go though, even after trying over a couple days. I contacted my bank, no trouble on their end. I finally successfully "purchased" one today but immediately got a message that the voucher I bought is no longer in stock! And 12 hours later I have not received a refund or any message from Recharge.com. What a mess.

[Dunkman]

@jay_jay3 

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@jay_jay3 wrote:

so where in camrose Alberta can buy voucher? Tried like 4 stores.

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Looks like there is a Shoppers Drug Mart in Camrose.  Ask the cashier for cell phone payment vouchers and they should grab a stack of payment cards (for different mobile companies). Scan the ones for PM payment voucher. Different denominations.  Some cashiers don't know about Public mobile, so just ask them if they sell payment vouchers for different mobile companies like Telus, koodo and then they should be able to find PM vouchers. 

Yes, prepaid credit card do work with Public mobile also. 

[DennyCrane]

Do you have any of these stores: https://share.google/6tSr6D8BWDuXKduuV

[jay_jay3]

Does prepaid credit card work?

[jay_jay3]

so where in camrose Alberta can buy voucher? Tried like 4 stores.

[AaronW89]

It’s a rental machine that you get paid for having in your business… 

[barnacle_baby]

Well this explains why I had a hard time trying to purchase a voucher. I had to add my credit card back on my account.

[Bastian_Vaughan]

When I was living in Germany we were able to get voucher/top ups at the ATM and through the banking app. That was the most convenient way for most. 

[DennyCrane]

They don't sell vouchers directly because it's costly to setup and maintain the POS systems that are required to generate the voucher pin numbers. It makes more financial sense to outsource it to a company who specializes in it, as they're able to scale it by selling vouchers for multiple prepaid carriers.

[samsunga31]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

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@samsunga31 wrote:

I just don't understand why you can't just purchase vouchers from the Public Mobile website. Makes zero sense. 

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I don't see the point of buying voucher on PM site.  If people can make a payment on their account, there is no need to buy voucher.  It's sort of duplicate for no advantage

Also, vouchers are not sold by the company directly.  They rely on some third part POS system, which sells voucher of different types for different companies.   It would be a lot of work to develop something to sell its own voucher and just its own.  With PM having a simple system, they surely won't waste the effort to develop this

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I tend to disagree. People can purchase vouchers as gifts for others or to help others who may not have enough funds to purchase a plan that month. I just don't understand why they let all these business earn a fee for selling their voucher when they could earn the fee themselves. Just a difference of opinions.

[hTideGnow]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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Many people pay for the services of family members or Public Mobile customers might borrow money by having a  friend occasionally top up a Public Mobile account.  Topping up a Public Mobile account should be available as a one time payment (but it isn't) and it shouldn't require the need to save a credit card in the Public Mobile account.

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HI @computergeek541 

I agree with the part about the ability to pay with any credit card.  That would be a one time top up using different forms of payment instead of designing a system to sell Voucher

[computergeek541]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

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@samsunga31 wrote:

I just don't understand why you can't just purchase vouchers from the Public Mobile website. Makes zero sense. 

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I don't see the point of buying voucher on PM site.  If people can make a payment on their account, there is no need to buy voucher.  It's sort of duplicate for no advantage

Also, vouchers are not sold by the company directly.  They rely on some third part POS system, which sells voucher of different type for different companies.   It would be a lot of work to develop something to sell its own voucher and just its own.  With PM having a simply system, they surely won't waste the effort to develop this

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Many people pay for the services of family members or Public Mobile customers might borrow money by having a  friend occasionally top up a Public Mobile account.  Topping up a Public Mobile account should be available as a one time payment (but it isn't) and it shouldn't require the need to save a credit card in the Public Mobile account.

[hTideGnow]

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@samsunga31 wrote:

I just don't understand why you can't just purchase vouchers from the Public Mobile website. Makes zero sense. 

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I don't see the point of buying voucher on PM site.  If people can make a payment on their account, there is no need to buy voucher.  It's sort of duplicate for no advantage

Also, vouchers are not sold by the company directly.  They rely on some third part POS system, which sells voucher of different types for different companies.   It would be a lot of work to develop something to sell its own voucher and just its own.  With PM having a simple system, they surely won't waste the effort to develop this

[DennyCrane]

Interesting. I've always purchased at 7-11, and it's not a physical card; they just find it on the POS system and ask me what denomination I want and then the code prints on a receipt. They also have cards on the gift card rack to scan, but they don't need it, and I think all it does is bring up the denomination prompt on their screen.

But it's very odd because they can still enter it into their system, try to charge me, but then it declines the Public Mobile voucher portion and refunds that part of the portion back to my credit card.

[Dunkman]

@DennyCrane 

From PM staff,  it was the payment voucher company that decided not to offer PM payment vouchers.  It was not Public mobile's decision and PM staff were unaware of these changes until recently.  

For other community members, from my experience (mostly at Shoppers), store clerks often don't know that Public mobile is a mobile carrier.  I always ask first if the store sells mobile carrier (ie. Telus) payment vouchers. They will get their stack of payment voucher cards for various mobile companies. Each card has a specific denomination.  Then I ask the clerk to find the PM payment cards and they do scan the specific card and then pay afterwards. 

There are also online merchants like muskbird.com, ding.com and recharge.com.  Unfortunately, they all charge service fees. Muskbird charges the lower fees (especially if customer use either debit card, etransfer). 

[DennyCrane]

Why? Twice at 7-11 (tonight, and earlier this week) they tried to sell me a card, rang the credit card transaction through, but the Public Mobile card declined. It takes a pre auth on my credit card for the amount of the voucher, but it comes off before it finalizes the charge (a few days later).

Why are you reducing where you can buy vouchers?

[samsunga31]

I just don't understand why you can't just purchase vouchers from the Public Mobile website. Makes zero sense. 

[slusagm]

Thanks.  

I think Walmart has not been selling PM vouchers for some time 

[Sansan]

Are theses merchants aware of the changes?

I went to Canadaian Tire to purchase today and they had no idea what a Public Mobile voucher was.

I then went to Shell and they processed the transaction. The purchase was approved to my cc, but the person gave me a receipt and it showed voucher activation declined.  They tried to tell me it was approved and I had to ask for the management who realized it was declined and proceeded to refund my cc. I have to wait a few days for the refund to show up.

I went to a Shoppers Drug Mart were it was approved successfully. 

If these merchants no longer sell the vouchers, why are they still in the store?

Better education is needed for each merchants.

[Yummy]

Great to Know! Thank you for an updated list of voucher retailers.