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

[Knox1337]

Garbage change, everyone should switch away from telus. The only benefit to this change is their pockets. Time to find a different provider, any recommendations?

[PHenry]

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@GKPublic wrote:

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@CalvinW wrote:

The appeal with Public Mobile is the reward system, but in return we had to put up with the half baked customer support. Literally no number to call, and most attempts of contact are handled by bots. By the time we do get in contact with a representative, they reply with generic copy and paste answers. Why would we even go with Public Mobile now that reward system is gone?

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Oh man, you just reminded me of how messed up the backend with this company is.  Sometimes it's impossible to log in, sometimes the bot directs you to make a ticket and that doesn't work, so you have to come to the forums to find someone who has kindly linked a contact to a CS_Agent, then the agent doesn't know who you are, so you have to provide five pieces or information (account number, last three digits of your credit card, last payment date and amount).  What a hassle!  

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Excellent point... I thought the whole reason Public Mobile didn't have a customer service call center was because they were saving so much money by not hiring customer service reps, and passing those savings onto us through the Loyalty Rewards! Now instead they are just going to be pocketing the savings for themselves and continuing to give us lackluster customer service.

[Antonio_Almeida]

I have just filed complaint with CRTC, and everyone should absolutely do if you want changes.  
Dear Antonio Almeida,

The CCTS is accepting your complaint about Public Mobile. 

Next steps in our process:   

1. We have notified your service provider and asked them to contact you directly. They should work with you to resolve your complaint.  We expect you to also work with your provider. If you don’t work with your provider, we may close your complaint.
2. Your provider will let us know if your complaint isn’t resolved after 20 days. We will then work with both you and your provider to try help you resolve your complaint.   
3. If you and your service provider cannot agree on how the complaint should be resolved, we find out if they acted appropriately and reasonably in your case.  

For more information on our process, please see our website. 

[pm-smayer97]

Just checked Eastlink, I do not see this plan... where?

[Salvo1]

That's a perfect idea 😉😉😉😉😉 let's all do that 

[GKPublic]

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@CalvinW wrote:

The appeal with Public Mobile is the reward system, but in return we had to put up with the half baked customer support. Literally no number to call, and most attempts of contact are handled by bots. By the time we do get in contact with a representative, they reply with generic copy and paste answers. Why would we even go with Public Mobile now that reward system is gone?

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Oh man, you just reminded me of how messed up the backend with this company is.  Sometimes it's impossible to log in, sometimes the bot directs you to make a ticket and that doesn't work, so you have to come to the forums to find someone who has kindly linked a contact to a CS_Agent, then the agent doesn't know who you are, so you have to provide five pieces or information (account number, last three digits of your credit card, last payment date and amount).  What a hassle!  

[Michael6666]

 How can I refuse this poisoned gift of data? Please remove it from my account as I feel violated

[Th3MaTrIx]

Hello,

I’ve been with public mobile for over 7 years for my son, I had 11$ credit per month with referral and loyalty credit. This change against my will is giving me the opportunity to switch over to another company and get a better offer as I will add it as a second line. Thanks Public Mobile for letting me saving money and giving it so another company.

Don’t try to tell us its for our best, we're not that stupid.

[PHenry]

Well I hope Public Mobile doesn't expect its "loyal" customers to continue helping with questions on the forums anymore... what's the point?? At least before, you were getting money off your bill. Now you're just getting scammed.

Thanks Telus for completely desiccating a once lovely and unique provider.

[GKPublic]

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@DamnB wrote:

 Your policy was clear from the beginning and now you arbitrarily change it, putting back Public Mobile at a similar rate than other Canadian providers. With this decision,  you are definitely giving us a good reason to leave Public Mobile and change providers. 

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You got that right!  The loyalty bonus kept us loyal, as was intended.  It made us "sticky" customers, meaning we stuck around.  We could casually see that sure, Fido, or PC Mobile, or Lucky, had similar plans, but we had a $5 per month rebate that made the competitors uncompetitive.   Now that I find myself having to buy new Public SIM cards for my family so I can qualify them for "new accounts only", and now this removal of loyalty bonuses, my esteem for Public and Telus has gone down the drain.  Now I can look at the competitors and rub my chin and say "Yes, this is better."

[Wolfcore]

They know very well that most people don't use anywhere near their available data. They just think people are stupid, and that they'll see this large number of 240gb, and jump for joy, praising them for the generosity. 

Sadly for them, most people see through this nonsense. They also see through their promotion of this rewards program being better than the old one. The gaslighting is next level, but I guess their hope is that if they can trick a few people into falling for this, it's better than nothing.

[rachelwalker]

did you ever hear anything

[AnnoyedByPublic]

Frustratingly there’s a banner for a $29 plan at the top of this forum but when I click it it is for new activations only??? So you guys tricked me into getting a more expensive plan a while back and not dropping down will be worse than if I was a new sub?

[Hillbilies]

I'm not impressed with the changes at all, I will be missing out on  26$ a year in savings alone just with my loyalty after 4 years. Glad to see so many others hate the idea too. Hopefully you will reconsider this decision.

[CalvinW]

The appeal with Public Mobile is the reward system, but in return we had to put up with the half baked customer support. Literally no number to call, and most attempts of contact are handled by bots. By the time we do get in contact with a representative, they reply with generic copy and paste answers. Why would we even go with Public Mobile now that reward system is gone? Literally just a couple weeks back, they dropped MMS support for my 5 year old phone and customer support did nothing to help aside from telling me to get a new phone. Guess this is the final straw. 

[Strutin]

Yep, my cost will effectively double without the loyalty and other discounts- I've got a couple numbers I'll have to park on a 7/11 sim.. or maybe some pay as you go/ by the minute thing. It's too bad, Public was reliable and economical 😞

[MeiNi]

I got an announcement via text today informing me the rewards program will change to points system. The "appreciation for continued loyalty" is bonus data of 240GB for 150 days.

This was so ridiculous that I got a good laugh out of it. With my plan, I have enough data that I don't even use 10% of it every month. I believe very few people ever reached the limit of their data plan.

What is the point of giving us something that we'll never use or benefit from, then expire, as "appreciation"? I guess it's just saying that the continued loyalty isn't really that important after all.

[Soon-ex-PM-user]

#Telus #PublicMobile new motto is Paying us more to get the same and less service 

[Antonio_Almeida]

Disappointed and I will more than likely move on elsewhere.  The new rewards nowhere near of those in the old program.  Bearing in mind that this is a rewards program, would the CRTC have any say on this?

[Alawski]

Ya, pretty much like all the long-time members, this change is horrible. I have 4 accounts all earning good discounts and those will essentially disappear. And the added hassle of having to go into the account to redeem the points! No thanks. PM was solid in its simplicity and value for money. That feels like it’s completely disappearing…which means I’ll be disappearing with my accounts as well. 

[Chalupa_Batman]

Hello.

As per the rules of the CCTS, I must reach out to you and inform you that I fully disagree with the discontinuation of the Legacy Rewards program. 

The reason I disagree is because I had a plan that I was more than happy to have for the rest of my life. $25 5GB of data with unlimited talk and text Canada wide with options to purchase US addons. I upgraded to the $34 50GB with unlimited talk and text Canada/US plan solely because I had that $6 buffer which will be $7 as of March 17th 2024. $2 for pre paid and $5 for loyalty. I switched to this plan once again because I had that buffer. Public Mobile knew a head of time before I switched over that they were going to discontinue the Legacy Rewards. This Legacy Rewards discontinuation did not happen overnight. To me, this was premediated, unscrupulous and dishonest of Telus/Public Mobile to do. If Public Mobile informed me this was going to happen one week after I changed to this plan, I would not have switched over. I would have stayed on that $25 5GB plan. 

Please accept this as my official complaint. 

CC: @CS_Agent @Chalupa_Batman 

[BenjaminClassic]

Any one know of some cheap planes from others carriers 

[Handy1]

I think the customers that have enough friend refferals should drop plans to one that cost them zero $ and the existing customers that do pay jump ship . So PM is left with just those customers with free plans and watch them go belly up ..  be like a situation like game spot had  few years ago . That would be the ultimate back fire for public mobile . And see them whine and complain about their poor decision to rob loyal customers 

[AnnoyedByPublic]

How do we even get through to a human to complain? Every link takes me to the bot. Does this count as an attempt to communicate?

[DamnB]

Taking advantage of loyal customers will have its own repercussions, the only reason most old customer stayed with Public Mobile over the years was the loyalty rewards you are now taking away from us. Your policy was clear from the beginning and now you arbitrarily change it, putting back Public Mobile at a similar rate than other Canadian providers. With this decision,  you are definitely giving us a good reason to leave Public Mobile and change providers. Hope you will find good incentives (not just Point programs)  to keep paying customers as myself here and not filing complaints, otherwise we'll be switching providers, including all our referrals . 

[Korth_]

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@Chalupa_Batman wrote:

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@mikasik2 wrote:

Complain to CCTS https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/for-consumers/complaints/complaint-form/

Complain to CRTC https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/contact/question.htm (not as easy)

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So according to the CCTS complaint form, you must inform Public Mobile about your concerns. They will not take the complaint if you don't. Two options I guess qualify. 1. Posting here on the forum which is considered "contact" since this is an official Public Mobile website. 2. Sending a message to a CS Agent. Now, I know option #2 will tie them up, however, if you wish to file a complaint with the CCTS you must do this. And take a screen shot as proof. I understand folks here will say don't do that as it will tie their hands to help others. However, this MUST be done in order to file a complaint. Just remember, they did this to themselves. 

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Just get a support ticket. With your complaint. And Public Mobile's response (or lack of response) before the deadline.

This is what you need to screenshot.

[sersonz]

5 year customer. Will be leaving when this change takes effect. Shameful behavior by Public Mobile, hope they change course

[Stelawrat]

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@Zahir_h wrote:

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/2024/03/06/public-mobile-end-rewards-program-may/

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/public-mobile-retiring-their-old-rewards-program-may-2024-2679876/

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Redflag at 10 pages & counting...

[Korth_]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Swing and miss. The only reason I am still here is the savings I get from the loyalty of being on the rewards vs the points. With the difference moving forward. I might as well go with the cheaper company that has a number to call.

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A number to call. A human to talk to. A store to go to. A place you can walk into with your problem and walk out of with your problem solved.

The original reason Public Mobile could pass on savings (low prices and REWARDS) to subscribers was that they didn't have to pay for stores, kiosks, sales staff, etc. "The phone company without a phone number", "No frills", and "Less for Less".

We still don't get the "frills" but now we also won't get the savings.

There is no reason to stay. Public Mobile doesn't offer anything better than competitors.

[mikasik2]

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@Chalupa_Batman wrote:

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@mikasik2 wrote:

Complain to CCTS https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/for-consumers/complaints/complaint-form/

Complain to CRTC https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/contact/question.htm (not as easy)

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So according to the CCTS complaint form, you must inform Public Mobile about your concerns. They will not take the complaint if you don't. Two options I guess qualify. 1. Posting here on the forum which is considered "contact" since this is an official Public Mobile website. 2. Sending a message to a CS Agent. Now, I know option #2 will tie them up, however, if you wish to file a complaint with the CCTS you must do this. And take a screen shot as proof. I understand folks here will say don't do that as it will tie their hands to help others. However, this MUST be done in order to file a complaint. Just remember, they did this to themselves. 

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I just said I posted my complaint on the official PM forums and it was accepted.  Wouldn't hurt to open a ticket though!