Upcoming Changes to our Old Rewards Program

[J_PM]

Hey Community,

We have an important announcement to share with our subscribers who are currently enrolled in our old Rewards program.

We’re making changes to our rewards program and are sharing how these changes impact some of our subscribers. Starting in May, we’ll be retiring our old Rewards program and moving all subscribers to our Public Points™ program. 

We launched the Public Points™ program in January 2022 to provide our subscribers with more ways to earn and spend rewards, with greater flexibility. As part of our commitment to continuously evolve our products and services, it's time to retire our old Rewards program and shift our focus on enhancing our Points program.

To show our appreciation for your continued loyalty, subscribers on our old Rewards program will receive a special thank you. We'll send you a text message when it has been added to your account by March 31st. 

We’re excited to continue providing you, our valued subscribers, more opportunities to earn and spend rewards with Public Points™ moving forward.

To learn more about your move to Public Points, check out our FAQ here.

The Public Mobile Team

[Godzillaz]

Thats exactly why it matters... 99.9%+ of us dont need any extra data

They are removing $$$$ for this (in other words this data you dont need will COST you money... and then to add insult to injury the data expires once you dont use it)

[eJonavin]

Does it matter?. Presumably we’re all already on plans that fits our needs. The temporary data could be unlimited and it won’t matter.

[Godzillaz]

Not only are we losing $$$$ now but check out the FAQ

Our "bonus" reward for losing hundreds of dollars? They will give us a data bonus. That expires in less than a year.

[mikasik2]

So we can't even automatically apply points to our bill?

edteid by comptuergeek541: inappropriate language removed

[Godzillaz]

Public PREFERS points because vast majority of people never redeem them

Esp for older / younger / non-english crowds

A -$1 credit comes off your bill every month and most people never login to check

A +1 point goes on and needs to login, check balance, and remember to redeem. My strong guess is that points will most likely expire after a long enough time (if not yet watch, its coming)

[Kel_varnsen]

Well this is super annoying. I was on the old system and getting $14 of rewards credits each month. It made it super easy to budget when my phone bill was the same $11 a month each month. Plus it was always hilarious when other providers/telemarketers would call me and I told them I was only paying that much. It shut them down super fast.

Also it is not at all clear what you can get for points. I get that it is a $1 bill credit but other than that it is not clear. I found a link to a points catalog but the link is dead. Can you get any good add ons and how much do they cost?

[Godzillaz]

Sighs

Most likely this entire thread is a CCTS complaint just waiting to happen

As we do not receive invoices they have no way of notifying subscribers on bill before change

As we may not be primary user of phone (eg pay bill but give phone to parent or child) they have no was of notifying subscribers via text

As we may have our lines in suspended status or nonpayment status or simply not reading forums for a few months they have no way of notifying...

I cant see how this ends well. People tend to revolt when they lose money and EVERY one of the legacy subscribers was offered (and declined) switching over to new system years ago

[DisappointedWTH]

Why does Public Mobile not publicly state how much money, on average, that each loyal customer will be losing because of this rollover? Why are they trying to frame this like a good thing for me? I've worked out the math and all this does it increase my monthly bill significantly.

Count me out on this one, man. Gonna have to start shopping around again after so many years.

What a disappointment.

[sa7375]

PM! No, you never offered price matching, but please consider adding to your plans something matching Freedom Mobile's offer of  $119 for unlimited talk & text + 15 GB Data for a yearly plan. 

Managing 3 accounts for my family, and losing $7 just for my own account per month, the Freedom Mobile's offer looks attractive, and the next best alternative to my current subscription of $15 a month at PM.

So, please take away all my frills of autopay, loyalty, refer-a-friend etc., and let us start afresh at $119 a year plan. Off the cuff, I offer you my 3 accounts on this plan. Being with you since 2018, I would not just like, but love to continue. Please consider, and consider seriously. 

[mikasik2]

Remember when PM tried to make everyone on the 12GB / 90 Day plan to switch to Koodo?

Pepperidge Farm remembers..

[kylewm]

Yikes! This sounds like a PR nightmare. As a new customer, I never got to experience the rewards system, so this change doesn’t really affect me

[DeaB4]

I have a fairly inexpensive plan, but it will be about 32 percent for me. Total trash.

[szeng123]

A special thank you gift that expires after 150 days? What an amazing gift to your loyal customers.....

[ShawnC13]

The  comment was probably very sarcastic, or it doesn't affect this person.

[computergeek541]

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@ean wrote:

Great news

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Great news?  This annoucement is very bad for long time customers who are on the old rewards system.  The end result is customers paying more for the same service.

[ean]

Great news

[Alex102]

Looks like my public mobile plan is being canceled 

[fixin]

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@nick_dv wrote:

hello PM! your loyal customers will boycott you! Like a Virgin! Like a Lucky mobile Virgin! Freedom! PM will go down in a Fizz! Let's keep the Chatr Up. Koooooodo everybody!!!

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I was with Virgin and they sucked. Didn't give me a good plan for my second line and they cried wolf after that. Chatr has international pay per use roaming. Lucky Mobile doesn't even have roaming in the USA or international. Freedom is well respected for prices, but their service sucked(s) - a friend told me that about freedom and how they are bad service.

[golfball]

It doesn't affect new customers at the moment, but now I'm afraid that if this goes over well they will get rid of points too.

[jasoni]

Well, that's incredibly disappointing. This was the one thing that made PM more appealing than the other budget providers.

[ShawnC13]

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@Casperr0426 wrote:

I just moved one of my lines from Freedom Mobile to public Mobile two weeks ago lol. Oh well, I will definitely move it back again to Freedom Mobile. Goodbye Public Mobile. 

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@Casperr0426, this has no affect on your line at all.  This is for people who signed up prior to the Points system.

[Abhishek8]

Could've at least gave more points to compensate for the loss, instead of temporary data that the majority won't or can't even use. The people with unlimited data plans essentially get nothing

[nick_dv]

I'm pretty sure the marketing people from Bell, Rogers etc will add a tab on their website saying "SPECIAL PLANS WHEN TRANSFERRING FROM PM 🙂

[nick_dv]

hello PM! your loyal customers will boycott you! Like a Virgin! Like a Lucky mobile Virgin! Freedom! PM will go down in a Fizz! Let's keep the Chatr Up. Koooooodo everybody!!!

[DennyCrane]

@Casperr0426 If you just opened the account two weeks ago, you're on the new points system already (i.e. this change doesn't apply to you).

[Casperr0426]

I just moved one of my lines from Freedom Mobile to public Mobile two weeks ago lol. Oh well, I will definitely move it back again to Freedom Mobile. Goodbye Public Mobile. 

[Grinch]

I guess a lot of us oldies knew eventually the day would come. It seems to be the Telus way of improving profit. 
For the new rewards I guess the loses are loyalty and autopay? Will review the new program. I have pretty much stepped away from the community posts and will continue to do so. Disappointing for sure and depending on impact on loyalty/remaining for all 3 accounts, it will be an easier decision find suitable alternatives. And will there be a forced 4G plan from the $15 3G plan, yet to happen? A lot of low income folks will be impacted on this change. ☹️☹️

edit: I wonder how many Old Rewards customers intentionally moved over to the new rewards. Very few, a small amount or lots of customers. 

[carsonb]

Since anyone on the old rewards system has some years of loyalty, I think this is universally a downgrade in discounts for every subscriber? So how could anyone being moved to this new rewards system be happy?

It’s frustrating to read this. I don’t want a one-off data allotment, I want to save money off every bill. I don’t even use all the data I have, let alone all the old data credits I’ve piled up. Can I sell those back to you?

edit: I’m calculating how much my plan will increase based on 5% back, my referrals, and 10 points a year. It’s about $10, so now I know to shop for a plan with any other provider up to $10 more than my current plan. Since I’m out that money staying with this provider anyway. You don’t show me loyalty, I’ll do the same.

Edit: I see I was forced to Public Points. I'm out. Good luck everyone!

[LizfromCanada]

Oh I'm fully aware - I'm saying the significant lack of Bravo shows just how unhappy people are - the sugarcoating hasn't worked on anyone! Trust me, I'm paying 25% more for my plan going forward (if I decide to stay and assuming my referrals do too) I know why people are mad.

[Kevlar44]

It's been a good run but I guess all things come to an end. I would have stayed with this company forever but I won't be scammed. I signed up largely because of the promise of "loyalty pays" and now all my loyalty is getting me is a worse phone bill. Us tenured customers had done a lot of good via word of mouth and for me it was because I felt I had been treated honestly and found good value. The value is still competitive but the trust has been broken and I know I'll be looking elsewhere. When the reward program ends I already know who I'll be transitioning my wife's phone plan to, as it comes with a desirable perk that's only good for one of us, and soon I'm sure I'll find something good for myself too. Also the gift of expirable data I'll never have any use for is a slap in the face as is the framing of the new reward program as being better for us as consumers. It's far worse and the consolation is worthless, but as I've seen honesty isn't a part of the story PM is telling anymore. A sad day to say the least. I honestly wonder if Telus is intentionally trying to tank it's "government mandated competition" that it owns because they don't want PM to be too desirable to do business with.