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

[fixin]

@J_PM - Why won't your CCTS article about creating a ticket won't work? https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/mb/ccts

Spoiler

Just testing PM when they are going to change the ticket link there!

[Korth_]

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@Soon-ex-PM-user wrote:

Note that it costs PM a CCTS processing fee (about $140) for each approved application, regardless of the outcome.

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I wonder how many angry customers have $140 or more in Rewards each month ...

[Bilnok1]

No:

No more  $2 bonus for auto-pay.

All your loyality years are ignored, you have to wait 12 months to receive just 10 points = $10 after the 12 months end.

Good bye PM.

[fleety15]

Well I filed a complaint with CCTS. After sending a message to PM and they responded saying the same thing that compensation is data, and that the reward program is changing. With the nice customer service spin saying this is a great thing. Well least filing a complaint with CCTS I feel better knowing that if nothing comes from it, it will cost PM money do deal with the complaint. 

[hoyjoygang]

After speaking to @CS_Agent, it seems that Public Mobile has no interest in honouring the old reward value applied in the new program.

As their advertisement of the existing reward program got me and many others signed with Public Mobile, I just finished filing a complaint to CCTS

If you think it’s unfair practice from Public Mobile, use the link above to file a complaint.

Collective voices could change their view on loyalty and it would be hard for them to disrespect your hard earned rewards.

[Soon-ex-PM-user]

a quick tip from  RFD site:

BEFORE anyone files a CCTS complaint, be sure to get a response from PM about how they will handle your complaint. Otherwise, CCTS may reject your application.

Note that it costs PM a CCTS processing fee (about $140) for each approved application, regardless of the outcome.

[dannycdee]

Honestly absolutely disgusting way to treat your longstanding loyal customers. I save $48 per year on my plan because I have been here for four years, and you are effectively stripping that down to $10 a year I have to manually apply myself with some pittances I can earn along the way. Terrible service and I will tell everyone I know to boycott you.

[SeniorCitizen]

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@Tccchris1 wrote:

I’ve got 4 phone numbers with PB…all these numbers will be leaving to go with other providers unless the old rewards program stays. 

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And who has a solid system that can offer a good deal for 3 or more numbers?

[Tinop]

Spot on , extra data . How generous of them as they roll us over the coals. 

[Dandu31]

I've filled out a complaint with the CCTS about this, and I suggest you do the same.

I don't believe the new rewards are anywhere close to the 9$ I'm saving per month, and I use 10 of my 50 GBs per month. Free data doesn't do anything to me except make me mad because I'm paying for data I'll never use

[ubob]

"valued subscribers"? Nerfing the rewards program is just another example of shrinkflation. Dumping hard on your loyal customers is action that speaks way louder than words. Telus/Public Mobile solidifies itself as bottom rung of the telecom oligopoly.

[hTideGnow]

HI @Zahir_h 

I think everyone has a reason to leave and to go

I have enough friend referrals with other carriers do not have.  the 5% is still good.

I am savvy enough that I can manage my phone without much technical help.  And to be fair, all carriers have account issue.  Bell? nah.. Rogers?  I still remember than 2.5 days national outage.  🙂

[SherriL]

Welcome to Corporate Greed Unlimited (a Telus production). This is completely unacceptable and a trust has been broken. Those in the old program should be Grandfathered. If they don't, then Public Mobile does not value our loyalty. I agree that others in that the old Rewards Program was what made PM stand out among all of the other service providers. Many users and their referrals will jump ship because of this, my family included. PC Mobile, here I come...

[Zahir_h]

They should go to a company which actually has customer service for the same price as PM

[Haus973]

Forcing long term customers to log in every single month to utilize a fraction of the benefits they’ve previously enjoyed just seems like a terrible business decision in terms of customer retention.

Decreased convenience and increased prices. PM is essentially self-service, now we have another task to do?

I don’t want to switch. I’ve been with PM since 2016 and have been happy with the coverage and plans, but I’d really rather not have to set a monthly reminder to log-in to save a few dollars. Other companies offer low cost, high functionality plans without this extra step. Without my loyalty bonus, why should I stay?

[Dandu31]

This is BS. You're making my bill more expensive for a crappy program that I don't want. I don't want more data. I already have way too much data that I'll never use. How about lowering the **bleep** price and removing the throttling on YouTube? What's the point of having so much data if I can't even use it because I'm throttled?

How about enabling wifi calls? 

I was staying on PM because of the rewards giving me a cheaper bill. More data does nothing to me. Is this why we got a free 240GB for 150 days? Why does it have an expiry date? Why data? I don't need data. I need a cheap service!

[mojorising]

People have the power. Your frustration is legit but PM will march on with Public points.

I used my power and I'm now with Lucky Mobile. My brother, wife and son who are also with PM will soon join me. We will use referrals that will give us a credit of $5 a month for 10 months. Someone on here was nice enough to invite me for a referral and I will eventually receive $5 a month for 10 months, in a couple of months and so will they.

They will hear when people leave. It was a nice 5 years. I had no intention of ever leaving as I had no issues with the service, but this move was the last straw.

I hope all of you find a service that meets your needs, even if that means staying with PM. Don't waste your time waiting that PM will reverse their decision.

[Tx88]

It's bait and switch.

They make you "earn" stuff like loyalty and referrals then take it away once it's time for Public Mobile to pay up.

Yeah Public Mobile can claim they can make changes whenever they want, but this loyalty thing was a deal both parties accepted. We kept our deal by staying and referring, but once it's their turn they refuse to hold their end of the bargain.

Any other business except Canadian telecoms would be held accountable.

[Spindy64]

I have been with PB since 2014, promoted & supported many friends & family. I was basically the phone tech for my parents…not the easiest thing to do let me tell you. The Community & forums are not the easiest for seniors to navigate. I spent many hours helping them out & they are happy with their choice. I earned rewards for my work, that has helped my never ending tight budget.  

The rewards & locked in phone plans make PB a stand out. Your bait & switch in 2018 to change the phone plans blew up in your face.  You came to your senses & grandfathered those phone plans. This latest fiasco with the rewards program is looking like your going down the same path of 2018. I’m very disappointed & disgruntled in this latest decision to move to this dumb/bad idea of a points program. How could PB & its executives think this is a good idea? I want to be grandfathered in…pure & simple. I didn’t switch to the points plan in the past & have zero desire to switch in the future. 
 
PB can sell this points plan to all the new customers….& anyone I refer know this is what they sign up for. 

[Wolfcore]

Honestly, not much longer. A lot of these companies have already begun programming AI to handle not only most of their online live chat, but also phone calls as well. I was on a support call the other day, and it took me a few minutes before I was able to realize that it wasn't a human. It sounded so realistic and I was only able to figure it out when I started asking non-traditional questions lol

[hTideGnow]

HI @GKPublic 

yes, it's good at least PM is keeping the Community rewards

and @Korth_ , i think Oracles here have been doing great job

[GKPublic]

Hopefully the most helpful community members keep getting discounts. This is a great forum for getting answers, where else would people go? 

[Korth_]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

I honestly can't see them rolling this back.  I hope I am wrong but I doubt it.  When this happened those customers were only getting $2 in loyalty now they are getting $5 which is costing PM more and if they are like me am on a cheaper plan than when I started on that plan.

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I wonder when Public Mobile (Telus) will decide that $20 per Oracle is cutting too deeply into their profits ...

[Dunkman]

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@Shan_Bhai wrote:

So, the $2 autopay reward has been removed, and the 6 years of loyalty for $6 is no longer available. You now receive a $1 discount through loyalty inn points. Additionally, there used to be a $1 discount for referrals. Is that referral discount also gone?
Due to inadequate customer support and subpar infrastructure allocation by Public Mobile, I’ve decided to switch providers within a month. When I reached out to them to enable VoLTE, they lacked the expertise to do so. Interestingly, when I tested my phone on Freedom Mobile, it worked flawlessly.

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@Shan_Bhai 

Yes, with the migration to points system, you will lose $2/month autopay and $5/month loyalty.  They will be replaced with 5% back on your plan cost and 10 loyalty points/1 year (anniversary date).  

The friends referral rewards remain intact.  one friend referred equates to one point/30 day cycle as long as friend stays with Public mobile.  

Yes, the VoLTE whitelist with Public mobile is limited to certain phones and is frustrating for customers who own phones outside the list.    

[Zahir_h]

When PM stated there were no plans to make a change to the old reward system back in 2022, there was no disclaimer or anything added saying subject to change/cancellation.   As this forum is the main way for PM to communicate with us and for us to communicate with them, their messaging without and disclosures can be be seen as them agreeing to not make future changes..  it's not that strong of a case, but a case can still be made to have a CCTS claim opened, and to get our voices heard, and cause financial costs to Telus/Pm for their scummy behavior 

[golfball]

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@Michael6666 wrote:

CCTS is the way to go.

Structure the request as a change to the original agreement where the discounts were progressive.

They promised 5$ off per month after 5 years and then pulled it away for some after not even reaching 5 years. Clear bait and switch if you ask me. It was a discount program that attracted many of us. 

I also asked for 50$ credit if there is no way the discounts will be reinstated.

At least it will give me a few months of credit if anything.

Public mobile, don't make forward looking promises! It's a disgusting business practice and my CCTS will hopefully, at minimum, cost you some time, money and effort to compensate my loss. 

My future provider, fizz, actually refers to never increasing plan rates in their contract as long as I don't change plan, now that's a refreshing way to do business. 

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That's an interesting point. We were told the loyalty reward would go up to $5 after 5 years as long as we stayed with PM. But my loyalty credit is only at $4 and now will never get to 5. Is that not false advertising?

[Rikusk]

What a shame, I love the old system. I will also be moving to  PC Mobile when this change goes into effect. My other family member who is on the new point system has to apply her (lower) discount every month and it gets super annoying. 

[sswilson1]

PC Mobile must be loving this. Received the PM text notification early this afternoon, had migrated my number over to PC Mobile before 5PM.

Bye, Bye PM. (Although I will admit it was good while it lasted)

[Zahir_h]

Complaint are being accepted by CCTS already.  Will there be an outcome in our favour, likely not, but we need to have our voices heard, and additional costs / fees imposed to Telus for this scummy behavior.  These cases will cause financial costs to Telus which they rightfully deserve 

[onewaypiano]

goodbye PM. 

I wasn't even able to receive verification texts outside US and Canada anyway.

and with this nerf, time to leave