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

[jackal68]

Like many here who are expressing their minds about the upcoming changes to the rewards that we have all enjoyed, I will also start looking to port my plans elsewhere.

Freedom seems to have some decent plans (very comparable to PM plans).  Has anyone one found other ones? 

[Soon-ex-PM-user]

welcome to the party !  Read up in some of the posts in this thread before editing your long rant 😂

[sa7375]

I signed up for PM on October 28, 2018 for the $10 plan. On May 13th 2022, an email message from PM rescinded that offer and asked me to move up to a $13 plan. I, instead, moved voluntarily up to the $15 plan. Now, in March 2024, in one fell swoop, PM rescinds all my 5 years of loyalty bonus, and the auto-pay discount.  And, so it does for the three accounts I introduced to PM.

Sadly, the trust has evaporated, and it will be increasingly difficult to believe what PM says or promises now.

[-Tim-]

This is a serious load of crap. I would bet every one of your loyal customers that have been with you for years as I have are going to lose out because of this. You are making a mistake so please reconsider.

[Wolfcore]

Yup to this.

For example, Freedom is PM's main competitor. They're always price-matching each other, or trying to beat each other out. Sure, Freedom runs on inferior towers, but this isn't as big of an issue as it used to be.

What freedom does have however, are actual humans that you can speak with, they offer "free" phone upgrades like the big guys (if that's your thing), trade in programs, etc. Their prices often beat PM as well. 

Without the old rewards program, PM isn't all that competitive. The amount of times I had to struggle with getting support from PM, or having login issues, or payment issues and accounts randomly being put on hold due to system errors, etc, is just not worth it if I'm not saving money.

Most people here don't even use the data from the higher plans either, they've only switched to them because PM kept offering more data for the same cost, so there was no reason not to. But the reality is, without the old rewards program, there are a ton of people who would save money by just going to another company and getting a plan with less data (because they don't use it anyway).

[Michael6666]

You're reasoning makes no sense. 

They clearly onboarded us with discounts into the future. Stay loyal 4 years? Get 4$ off a month. There was a cap at 5 but there was without a doubt a promise into the future for loyalty. 

[Xiaohu]

Only reason I'm staying with public mobile is the old reward system. Will move all my 4 accounts in next two months 

[Meow]

Of course your bill will go up. You will lose $1 for each year of loyalty and $2 for autopay (if you have one). Multiply that by 3 and I see $21 MORE every month (if all 3 people are 5 years with PM and have autopay).
If you have expensive plan you might benefit (a little) from 5% off from plan cost but not even close to $7 off/30 days.

[-Tim-]

Ya, I am really not onboard with this. I have been a customer for 5 years and I build up my credits to put towards my monthly bill. I currently have three accounts with you. One for me, one for my wife, and one for my daughter. If my bill goes up because of this I will be looking elsewhere for a better deal. This is definitely NOT cool!

[BeRad]

So much for loyalty! Been with PM since 2018 and have always been happy until today. I will be looking to port my number and take advantage of their offers after this blatant devaluation 

[canuckyyc]

That is exactly how public mobile was set up to work, you didn't need or never needed support, a community account needed to be created to "chat" on here. So they could be a long term customer who has never needed to chat or felt the need to interact on here.  

I rarely do it but my 4 accounts, 3 or 4 referrals are all going to look at this hard now. My $34 pays $28. The other $34 pays $24. The points system is not going to be close to that.  So you had loyal customers rewarded to push the service and sell the service and rewarded them for it then decide to pull the rug out from under them. The entire point of the system or rewards or points was due to the lower operating costs of not requiring a 24/7 call line etc. If that isnt the case, the pricing is no better than koodo/fido/fizz/freedom etc etc etc.  The PublicMobile brand is so unknown that even when I have a Telus EPP plan, they called to sell me a Telus phone plan and had no idea PublicMobile/Koodo/Telus  is the same company.

[ON4EKE_]

I totally agree. I referred seniors to PM and they in turn referred their kids and grandchildren, not only did they get an automated service, but referral credits to bring down their monthly bills automatically.

If PM goes ahead with this change, they'll be losing my business, my referrals and the cascade of their referrals.

Any recommendations on whether to file a complaint with CCTS or CRTC? 

[Boki]

---

@Soon-ex-PM-user wrote:

Thanks.  So is it ok to contact CCTS ?  or not recommend to contact CCTS according to you, Oracle ? 

---

Why would you contact cctc and whit what reason?
Private company can do whatever they want. Nobody promised you fantastic bonuses being thit publicmobile forever.

Business strategy changes. Great companies rise and fall. Remember Consumer Distributing? Future Shop? Reno Depot?

What are you going to say to cctc? public cjhanged rewards program from money to points? They are going to laugh at you and ask do yo uhave complain about their ser vice? are your calls cut off? not receiving all text? No? Then do not bother us...

[Kfckoko]

Looks like this is the end of the "PM Train" where we keep those we referred up to date with PM's latest and greatest offers.  I'm sure we're all going to find better value elsewhere now.

[Keico]

bad move PM. I will consider to other company if you change the old reward system.

[Timetripper]

Same here. I've built up a fair stash of both minutes and data over the last few years and will have to abandon them all when I move on to a new carrier. Just as a matter of principle I'm not willing to stick around what with the new points system being like a two day old stale donut and jacking my monthly bill up to almost double what it was with the old rewards system. To add insult to injury, a PM popup just hijacked my reply to your post and I had to start all over again. Definitely done with this whole lame organization. From there lame pop ups for likes on a post to the back stabbing new points system I won't miss any of this dogs breakfast that PM has become. It truly is a sad day for PM how some overpaid desk jockeys can torpedo a once viable carrier into oblivion in one fell swoop. Mic drop. 

[llq]

Sounds like PM is  putting the squeeze on us and trying to make it sound like it's better to move off the old rewards program. I didnt move to the points program when it was introduced for a reason. I will need to shop around and avoid the Telus brand. And how would I use more than 200GB of data in 5 months when i barely touched the Christmas data bundles that were handed out in the past...

[Mapleleafer]

This is a very bad move that Public Mobile will regret.  They are losing 3 legacy customers from my immediate family who also brought in a lot more family and friends via recommendation.  They will all be leaving now as well.

Without your old rewards system for us, there are a lot of better options out there.

I will also be filing a complaint with the CRTC and recommend everyone else does who was on the old rewards system.

This was complete smoke and mirrors from Public and it will be a shade of its former self.  They still have time to reverse this decision and I think it's in their best interest if they want to even stay above water after the fallout of this if they go through with it.

[EricinQc]

No. No, thank you. Not interested and not accepting this change.

I was not shopping around as I was a satisfied customer.

Do you want me to keep doing business with you? Your call.

[little_C]

I am so disappointed in Public Mobile. Before this, I had no hesitation recommending Public Mobile to friends looking to switch carriers. Now I can't see staying with a company that has no regard for customer loyalty, let alone recommending them. The "bonus" data that expires in 5 months is just a slap in the face.

[geeloo]

Folks,

PM had to walk back on a proposed price increase back in 2018 because enough people complained and got tons on negative publicity.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/A-letter-from-Dave-on-the-infamous-40-f...

Maybe customers can still win out like last time?

[yelopage]

My response to this reward program change: I will port out my 4 lines from PM from the day I am moved to the new reward system.

[gates59]

I have been a long time subscriber but will be leaving now. What a joke. You will loose a lot of people because of this. 

[ON4EKE_]

I don't feel like a valued customer with this change. The bonus data means nothing! I was given extra data with a 30day expiry date a few months ago and I didn't even make a dent. I can barely use the 250MB on my $15/month plan. With the loyalty credits, autopayment, and referral bonuses, I was paying $3/month. After the change, my monthly bill increases 5x and will have to manually apply these points towards my bill... how is that showing you value loyal customers by making the process more convoluted? Not to mention being penalized for being a loyal customer.

All my referrals are seniors who needed my active involvement just to sign up for PM to replace their landlines.  Have you thought about those loyal customers who rely on automated services and predictable bills who aren't well versed with technology?

[public_999]

I upgraded from a $15 plan to a $40 plan a few days ago.  I just received the email and I'm only getting 5 gigs!!  Typical Public Mobile rollout!

[d3rdonnergott]

Didn't even know about Fizz. Thanks for the post! Probably going to try it out.

[emil579]

This is incredibly disappointing. The new points program very obviously does not allow subscribers to save as much money and looks terrible. We can't even use the "bonus" data. I'd like a $50 credit since that's approximately how much I'll be missing out on per year being forced into the new program. CCTS complaint here we come. 

[PopcornHead]

If you are going to file a CCTS complaint make sure you take the time to submit a ticket to a Customer Service Agent first to try and see what Public will do to try and resolve the issue. As part of the CCTS complaint process is you have to contact the provider first to give them a reasonable opportunity to resolve the conflict. Also, the more feedback they get directly and overwhelmed agents, hopefully more they realized they did not make a good choice.

https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/lessons-from-the-public-mobile-price-increase/

[Bryan5]

I’ve never even used the community section but this new change is so ridiculous I had to make my username to comment on this. 

I used maybe 5gb of my 40gb per month. 240gb as a “gift” that expires in 5 months in my situation is like saying “were giving you more air to breathe for 5 months and after that we’re going to take it back but were charging you 5 extra dollars per month indefinitely!!!” 

I held back on so many great Boxing Day offers from other carriers because I’ve had no issues with PM. Will be switching carriers ASAP.

[architect]

Time for me to move on to another provider 👎