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

[SMALLBLOCK1]

Brutal!! 😡

[Salvo1]

This new point thing I hope it's a early April Fool's joke !!!!

[ShawnC13]

@fixin we can hope gut I don't think they will be reversing this decision.

[ShawnC13]

@happycamper I am not sure any consumer regulatory power can say much.  Public mobile is giving notice and they aren't bound to offer a rewards system.  I am sure somewhere in the small print it says can change with notice of posting in the community.  That is how price changes were listed that they only needed to post the price change on the plans page 30 days prior to the effective date and that is all that was needed.  PM being a no contract based system is great for consumers not being locked it but I think benefits them as well with flexibility that after 30 days notice they could be making more money with price changes.

[Burdwood]

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@happycamper wrote:

Having said that, I have tons of add ons that were free so will have to carefully compare before making any changes....I have been customer for 5 + years.

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With all the stunts they are pulling right now, you will probably not get to use the oh so generous limited time bonus data until all your non-expiring is gone.  

We have kept several $10 $13 as emergency phones for less fortunate aquaintances. Some can't afford to keep a roof over their head, every penny in their pocket counts. Oh hey, lets hit them with a doubled cell phone bill!

[dabr]

@happycamper   Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the first time that PM has left it's customers in confusion due to sloppy miscommunications or not removing all of the information from the different platforms.  However, take a screenshot and argue your point (totally valid IMO) that they give you that credit as shown in your Account.  Good luck!

[ShawnC13]

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@Korth_ wrote:

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@ShawnC13 wrote:
To me that is crazy why would I want to give up more money to someone else to try and prove a point?

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It's an emotional response. But not an irrational one.

People have left Public Mobile before when Public Mobile broke the trust. If they broke the trust before - again and again and again - then it would be irrational not to expect them to break the trust again.

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@Korth_ yes understandable but until it financially doesn't make sense for me to be with PM I can't justify spending more of my money to prove a point to Telus.  I should have started with great to see you around still!

[happycamper]

this info is still  inside my account right now - which I took a pic of ....so I think they may have an issue here

[hairbag1]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

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@hTideGnow wrote:

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@BeeBeeb wrote:

Theres literally no point in us staying anymore, is there?

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HI @BeeBeeb 

actually quite the opposite.  There's literally POINTS to stay. Public Points  🤣😅😄

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At least someone's trying to be humorous about this ...  @hTideGnow 

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What's the point in carrying this discussion further ?  🤣

[fixin]

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@happycamper wrote:

WOW...just got the email....not very impressed with this forced conversion...first thing I did was go into my account and take screen shots of most of pages...for example if you go into the public points page within your account, it talks about converting to Public points and what it means to you....so if you convert say, right now...you will get 1 point for every month you have been with PR and then the 10 points on anniversary.  Plus for referrals it says I can earn up to 4 points for my referrals each month (i have 4 referrals on acct) .   Are we better to convert right now with documentary evidence on account to make a good argument to CRTC.

Also, I'm not sure what CRTC or other  Consumer regulatory powers would have to say about a forced conversion to a very obvious downgraded plan that will cost consumers much more...and then trying to change some Public rewards rules just before the forced conversion....pretty low on PM's (read Telus) part.

Having said that, I have tons of add ons that were free so will have to carefully compare before making any changes....I have been customer for 5 + years.

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I say wait till they force you to do it. They may cancel the change because of backlash.

[dabr]

@happycamper   PM removed the option to convert to points with the one-time credit of 1 point/each month with PM one day before this announcement.  You will not get any benefit by transferring to points before the mandatory date now.

[ninjastar]

"I understand why people are upset but comments about actually paying more everywhere just so true doesn't get their money?!?! To me that is crazy why would I want to give up more money to someone else to try and prove a point?"

That's right. That's what I said. I will pay $1 more elsewhere for proper service and appreciation. Loyalty is earned. I don't care about the hike. I care about the efforts I earned and now are being stripped away. It was the wrong way to do it. This just tells me that there is a financial issue and possibly a sell off for a new buyer. 

[Korth_]

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@none21 wrote:

This is terrible news just another way Public Mobile is trying to screw over loyal clients that have helped build them up over the years.

I suggest everyone file a complaint with CCTS and hopefully Telus will get the message not to screw over their loyal clients.

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Public Mobile messed up once before in a way that caused thousands, ten thousands of subscribers to sign a petition to the CCTS.

The first and only time such a thing ever happened to the CCTS. They chided the petitioners for circumventing their normal protocols and made it clear that such petitions would not be entertained again.

It turned out that Public Mobile got a taste of bad press and backed off before it could get a lot more bad press. So the subscribers won even though the CCTS didn't really get involved.

But it's pretty clear that if you want to make a complaint to the CCTS then you've got to follow their procedure. The first step is to attempt communication and resolution directly with the provider. Only when this fails can you proceed further. If you don't follow the CCTS rules then the CCTS will ignore your complaint.

[happycamper]

WOW...just got the email....not very impressed with this forced conversion...first thing I did was go into my account and take screen shots of most of pages...for example if you go into the public points page within your account, it talks about converting to Public points and what it means to you....so if you convert say, right now...you will get 1 point for every month you have been with PR and then the 10 points on anniversary.  Plus for referrals it says I can earn up to 4 points for my referrals each month (i have 4 referrals on acct) .   Are we better to convert right now with documentary evidence on account to make a good argument to CRTC.

Also, I'm not sure what CRTC or other  Consumer regulatory powers would have to say about a forced conversion to a very obvious downgraded plan that will cost consumers much more...and then trying to change some Public rewards rules just before the forced conversion....pretty low on PM's (read Telus) part.

Having said that, I have tons of add ons that were free so will have to carefully compare before making any changes....I have been customer for 5 + years.

[pm-smayer97]

And to deal with that confusion, PM has removed that option.... 😞

[dabr]

@MajorTalent   It was an one-time credit of 1 point/per month with PM for electing to transfer to the new points system for anyone on legacy rewards.  That option was conveniently removed a day before this announcement.

[none21]

This is terrible news just another way Public Mobile is trying to screw over loyal clients that have helped build them up over the years.

I suggest everyone file a complaint with CCTS and hopefully Telus will get the message not to screw over their loyal clients.

[MajorTalent]

@golffan I saw this too and it confused me... Earning 1 point per month since May 2014 means 12 months x 10 years - so are we supposed to get 120pts monthly, yearly or as a one time deal for being switched to the points rewarding system?

It's not very clear without showing what the first note is referencing, any thoughts or clarification that anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated 

[pm-smayer97]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

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@hTideGnow wrote:

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@BeeBeeb wrote:

Theres literally no point in us staying anymore, is there?

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HI @BeeBeeb 

actually quite the opposite.  There's literally POINTS to stay. Public Points  🤣😅😄

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At least someone's trying to be humorous about this ...  @hTideGnow 

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But what is the point? LOL

[Korth_]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:
To me that is crazy why would I want to give up more money to someone else to try and prove a point?

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It's an emotional response. But not an irrational one.

People have left Public Mobile before when Public Mobile broke the trust. If they broke the trust before - again and again and again - then it would be irrational not to expect them to break the trust again.

[dabr]

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@Korth_ wrote:

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@dabr wrote:

Hmm...interesting that this thread with over 15000+ views and over 400 replies doesn't appear in the "Trending Topics" section.   I wonder why...

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Also interesting that (until a few hours ago) it conspicuously received exactly 0 Bravos.

And just look at the user tags being added under the original post, lol.

I'm betting that the Oracles are going to have an eye-rolling unhappy chore dealing with all the fallout this annoucement will cause. Assuming they don't join the angry exodus away from Public Mobile.

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@Korth_   Lol... I didn't notice those tags before.  I'm not even sure how they can be added to another person's post/thread...

[HALIMACS]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

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@BeeBeeb wrote:

Theres literally no point in us staying anymore, is there?

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HI @BeeBeeb 

actually quite the opposite.  There's literally POINTS to stay. Public Points  🤣😅😄

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At least someone's trying to be humorous about this ...  @hTideGnow 

[dynamo1]

Please reverse decision Public Mobile!!  

[Soon-ex-PM-user]

💯agreed.  I actually stay with Teksavvy internet for 10+ years now because they treat their customers with respect.  

Despite their rates are higher than the rest of the Internet providers out there, I still stay with Teksavvy (with 2 lines) 

[ShawnC13]

@Soon-ex-PM-user are you referring to me as a PM Shiller?  At the time of the original post it was so true, when information changed I made sure that it got edited.  I have moved family and friends away from PM when I have found better deals that work them and brought them back if something better was here.  For me and my families needs PM is still offering the best plans that suit those needs.  Am I happy with this change, no but we all knew it would eventually come.   I understand why people are upset but comments about actually paying more everywhere just so Telus doesn't get their money?!?!  To me that is crazy why would I want to give up more money to someone else to try and prove a point?  Sure the numbers leaving may add up a bit, but PM is still setting many new customers and they have never experienced the legacy rewards so as far as pricing it still must be pretty good compared to what else is out there

Edited to add: my plan was covered by the rewards and the hard work in referring people, I do expect to lose some of the referrals for sure. Will have to see where it will end up after this settles down and see who is left on the referral list

[publicnickname]

Had to set this up to post just for this.  Never needed the post here before since everything worked fine, but I feel the need to express my disappointment.

Didn't receive an email or text, heard about this horrible plan from a friend.  If they don't change course, I'll definitely be looking around for a new provider, and will bring as many with me as I can.

Currently on the 15$ plan with 2$ auto pay, 5$ loyalty, and 4$ for referred friends.  So at 4$ per month, my bill will roughly triple.  I realize they're probably happy to lose me as a customer, but I'm hoping there's enough angry people that PM will give their heads a shake.

[mischt70]

People like you here ( maybe even you!) helped me out numerous times answering mundane questions, it was sort of the reputation of PM, no real customer service, but people will help you out. It will be interesting to see if things change...

[rachelwalker]

very sneaky indeed.  deceptive 😞

[ninjastar]

I assume you're speaking to my comments. I, like others, built the customer base here over many years. This is like taking my car to my loyal mechanic and getting a call about my car falling off the hoist and they won't take responsibility. Will I move on to another shop for better customer service and more importantly, honesty? The answer is yes. Every... Single... Time. 

[kb_mv]

@mischt70 Agreed. What will be interesting is the community helpers. I saved a fair number of dollars over the years by helping out with questions on the board. I certainly don't have much incentive to carry on with it though. Wonder how many others will go the same way.