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

[ComicCuriosity]

As a long-term Public Mobile user, and echoing the sentiments of many others, I’m extremely disappointed by this decision. This marks my fifth year utilizing your service. Public's primary allure was its credits, but now that they won't be offered anymore, nothing is differentiating Public from other providers with better plans available.

It’s time to start exploring alternatives. I might finally give Freedom a try, as they offer $19 for 1 GB and $24 for 4 GB on 4G.

I've heard their coverage has improved significantly, especially in the GTA. How is their reception in high-rise condos? Has anyone used them recently?

[Grinch]

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@ninjastar wrote:

But many are signing up based on the previously advertised $34 package. It's a bait and switch deal. I don't know anyone who needs 75gb unless you live in your car. 

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Oh. So 75gb is way to charge more for something that won’t be fully used? Geee that’s like buying 1gb speed internet from Telus when 75 speed works just fine. Hmmmmmm similar method of getting less value  by paying more and not be able to use it to its potential. Like buying a 4 litre jug of milk and throwing it out when 1 litre would have done the job. 

[Kevlar44]

Are you people ever going to inform your customers about the scam you're pulling? I only know about this because of reddit and I can only imagine there are thousands of people who will be pissed that dont know yet. I hope you all come to your senses because after May, and maybe June so i can use my now meager amount of points up, i will be gone if this decision stays the same.

I also can't believe despite the punch in the gut they wont even credit loyalty with a bonus of 1 point per month like they were before. What really pisses me off os loyalty is capped at 5 dollars and was a major selling point for signing up. I could deal with it if they got rid of autopay, though it would suck, or capped loyalty to whatever people have now but the loyalty bonus being stolen from us full on is just so unethical. They told us we didnt have to worry when they brought in points but yet here we are. The loyalty pays is a longterm commitment given it takes literally years to accumulate, thats why advertising it as a longterm benefit and taking it away is so scummy. 

Oligopolies are ruining this country and this is just another example of how powerless consumers are because of it. No real competition means we get lied to and gouged. I will unfortunately be forced to exercise the little power i have and boycott Telus.

[kyle12]

Does anyone have the original text of the announcement? I notice they took out the part about this change being beneficial to customers. At least they acknowledge it's detrimental to the loyal customers

[hTideGnow]

yeah @hkjhkj if I predict correctly, you will get $1 or even $2 for your great participation on this thread.  Still in time before Legacy rewards change over to Points.   Enjoy.

[hTideGnow]

hi @ninjastar you might not understand the system well

if they sign up for $34, they will get it and keep it

of existing customers scheduled a plan change , they will get it comes renewal time 

[ninjastar]

But many are signing up based on the previously advertised $34 package. It's a bait and switch deal. I don't know anyone who needs 75gb unless you live in your car. 

[Wolfcore]

Exactly this. I have 15 people in my referral circle, and not a single one of them have received any notification about this rewards program ending. A few of them have received the text about the free data, but that text doesn't mention the rewards program ending. You can definitely tell that they put a lot of thought into planning this, and tried to find a way to quell the outrage that they knew would be coming.

Even the fact that they are making the switch all the way in May (when they could easily do it immediately), is strategic. They hope that by then the outrage will die down, and it'll go smoother. I think it'll have even worse of an effect though. Now, competitors have 3 months or so to try and lure all of their disgruntled customers in. It actually gives PM users a lot of time to search for a new home. I know me personally, I have time now to go and talk to these 15 people, buy new sim cards, work out when I can help them make the switch, etc. 

Guess we'll see how it goes. Fizz looks super attractive to me right now, because it feels like the old PM, where the customer comes first. Just looking at how broad their rewards program is, and how you can completely customize your plan, is very appealing to me.

[Dunkman]

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@ninjastar wrote:

I find it very suspicious that a full email or text notification has not reached many. I had four accounts and did not receive a single notification about the changes. Only way I found out is through Reddit. Is this to prevent a mass exodus? Imagine how many subscribers don't even know... 

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@ninjastar 

Out of my four accounts, only 2 received text message.  No emails so far.  A post was made on the oracle forum for an update of the emails, but no response over the weekend. 

It is unlikely to be deliberate.  Public mobile was planning to send out the emails in batches.  However, like the website, Public mobile often encounters technical glitches.  Supposedly, Public mobile technical team is quite small in number.  

Hopefully, all legacy customers should receive either email or text by early next week.  Things often don't happen over the weekend with Public mobile. 

[hTideGnow]

HI @ninjastar 

yes, that $34 Canada-US plan is gone but they have $39 and $40. 

The $40 is a very good one with 75GB data

many upset about loyalty bonus, but plan wise, those plans around $40 are still cheap plans , especially with the 5% off

[Soon-ex-PM-user]

What is the issue with you?  Calling out newbie accounts ?  Just because many of the long term PM users are now created new accounts to express our dissatisfaction and you don't like it?  

As the paying consumers we have the right to complain whether you like it or not.   Unfortunately there are not many ways we can express except go  the current forum and this thread. 

[ninjastar]

PM does NOT offer roaming anymore on their $34 plan it was deleted. 

[ninjastar]

I find it very suspicious that a full email or text notification has not reached many. I had four accounts and did not receive a single notification about the changes. Only way I found out is through Reddit. Is this to prevent a mass exodus? Imagine how many subscribers don't even know... 

[hTideGnow]

 HI @Insignia 

yes, in your case, it is pretty much unaffected.  The points from friend referral will still cumulate on your rewards account.  You probably get 7 less points per month from autopay and loyalty, but it wouldn't matter to you.  If you can keep those referrals, I see you will have free service forever, or at least 10+ years.  Enjoy 

[Dunkman]

@Insignia 

Your bill payment will take available funds first, then charge your credit card.  With the transition to points, your referral points will accumulate every 30 days in your rewards account.  As mentioned, you will need to transfer every 15 points to $15 bill credit (ie. available funds).  I do not believe that there is a cap on accumulating points.  

@danielj 

Unfortunately, the special bonus of a data add on is not appealing for most legacy customers.  However, according to PM staff, this data add on will still work with customers on unlimited data plans.  Once your regular data runs out, this add on should kick in and you should receive regular speed data (not the very slow throttled data).  The time limit of 150 days and the inability to downgrade plans with the bonus data add on makes it even less appealing. We still have until May for the official change to happen.  Hopefully, PM management will offer something better to legacy customers. 

[Insignia]

thankyou yes i at one time had a maximum of 190 never paid my bill since 2019 🙂 referrals did the other line is 34 dollar plan around 55 referrals for that extra amount is accumulated on both lines like 1700 dollars on the 40 dollars 135 referrals and around 110 dollars on the 34 dollars us Canada plan in my account but i think the referrals are going to drop 135 worst case could go down to 75 il still good 55 could go down to 35 still bearable but people would leave and look for something better like for a person with say 5 years loyalty 2 years autopayment discount and say 3 referrals its still 10 dollars off which is gone down to what 3  dollars in an instant people are going to head to freedom they have the financial backing now and are growing fast they have customer support physical you can talk to sell subsidized phone have a proper store so i am anticipating a significant drop in the people who are going to leave public after May anyways i can still stretch it not thqt i am happy with the forced removal to the new rewards point for everyone 

[hTideGnow]

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@ridgeline wrote:

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@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards

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That's a very good point.  I logged in to my account to confirm and the GST was being calculated against the discounted price and not the full price of the plan.  Now we will be paying more in GST each month as well.

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HI @ridgeline 

on the other hand, on the month you redeem for $15 bill credit, you will pay  less tax on that $15

[ridgeline]

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@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards

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That's a very good point.  I logged in to my account to confirm and the GST was being calculated against the discounted price and not the full price of the plan.  Now we will be paying more in GST each month as well.

[LitlLdy]

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@fixin wrote:

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@hTideGnow wrote:

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@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards

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HI @mikasik2 

it's Canada, tax on everything  🙂

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I live in AB, so 5% tax + the 5% give back is just losing the tax.

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@fixin , wow! That’s a huge difference from NB! I pay 15% tax!

[EdN]

AFAIK referrals are unaffected by the change to the points reward program 

[hTideGnow]

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@danielj wrote:

I do hope the "enhancing our Points program" element does get clarified sooner than latter.

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HI @danielj 

I hope we can redeem for other gift cards.  Telus points can redeem for amazon gc and couple more brands

[hTideGnow]

hi @Insignia 

people with referrals would stay with  Public Points.  So, if someone has 135 referrals (do you?) they will get 135 points every month.  Just need to redeem 15 points for $15 bill credti on rewards site

[danielj]

This is not much of announcement. On some level we expected the possibility of the previous program retirement.

But the say we "will receive a special thank you." But not indicate what it is. Either indicating it will be something "custom" per account likely determined on unclear, inconsistent basis, be something of little or no value or both.

Those that got push to the "unlimited" 5G plans with the "unlimited" at lower speeds, can't utilize thrown in data addons at the faster speeds. Data addons to those customer would not be of much value.

If we don't use long distance either due to countries of interest are not covered by Public Mobiles Long-Distance add-on or for other reasons. Than those addons are not of much value either.

... well great news appears the special bonus will be extra data. Useless those those with and stay with "unlimited data." Any plan without "unlimited data" usually expected to be one "of lower value" and trigger removing the extra data. ... Thanks for nothing Public Mobile.

They also mentioned "enhancing our Points program." Without any details on those enhancements. When ever I ever I looked into the current Point Program would not be as valuable as the Old loyalty program that is being retired.

On average with the old program would expect $10 of savings per 30 day plans or $30 of savings with 120 day plans. ($5 of the max out Loyalty Pays, $2 of auto pay and $3 of refer a friend per 30 day period). On average about $120 per months. Without spending dependence.

With the current reward program being points valued at $10 per year max for loyalty, $3 of points per 30 days for refer a friend. With 5% back on spending. With a $34 per 30 days of $102 per 120 day plan would estimate $66.40 of points per year. With cash flow of redeeming them an extra customer step that would typically expect to work in Public Mobiles favour.

I do hope the "enhancing our Points program" does bring the value proposition of the loyalty program does at least matches the "old"/"retiring" loyalty program if not improves upon it.

This does overall upset me and a lot of other customers. I would be tempted to leave over it, but the Promotional plan I do have does seem to be competitive enough that I would find something overall better. But maybe switch to some that roughly matches like Fido.

I do hope the "enhancing our Points program" element does get clarified sooner than latter.

[Insignia]

can some one tell me about the referrals like if someone has  referrals for example 135 referrals will those referrals still help wipe out someone`s total 40 dollar plan payment and what happens to the remaining amount of referrals that are not used to adjust the bill forget the 2 dollars loyalty and 5 years 7 dollars discount what happens to the referrals can they be still used to pay the amount you owe to public and secondly if you have say 2000 dollars in your account already accumulated just for example they will 1st use that money to pay for your bill like take money out of that will these referrals still be accumulating as dollar amount somewhere ? there is no customer service where i could call so i am asking this question . i know whatever i need to do wont be automatic ill have to select it manually to do it but what happens to the referrals accumulated by some one and do they keep accumulating or is there a cap on there usage while paying your bill thank you

[Grinch]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

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@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards

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HI @mikasik2 

it's Canada, tax on everything  🙂

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You missed the point. 

[fixin]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

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@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards

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HI @mikasik2 

it's Canada, tax on everything  🙂

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I live in AB, so 5% tax + the 5% give back is just losing the tax.

[hTideGnow]

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@mikasik2 wrote:

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards

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HI @mikasik2 

it's Canada, tax on everything  🙂

[mikasik2]

I love how we will soon have to pay tax on the equivalent of our lost rewards

[eJonavin]

They aren’t even competitive with their mother brand Telus.you can get $10/yr with 100mins + 500min + 1GB/month bonus.  That’s an option for the $15 plan if you want to stay in the Telus family.

But at this point I am recommending people at least consider Freedom if their network works for them. I’ve moved three previously PM/Koodo lines to Freedom already and the experience has been good. YMMV.

[Stelawrat]

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@Robotron2084 wrote:

I’m horrible math. 

With my earned Loyalty, Autopay and referral credits, my monthly plan cost drops from $40 to $32. With this new “points system” will my monthly plan fee be the same, or can I expect it to increase, and if so, by how much?

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Since your plan cost drops by $8, then I know you have reductions for $5 loyalty, $2 autopay & $1 referral.  The loyalty & autopay bonuses will end, replaced by a points system, where 1 point = $1. 

Sometime beginning in May, every month you will receive 2 points (5% x $40.) + 1 point (1 referral) meaning your monthly bill will be $40. & you will have accumulated 3 points. 

Once per year on your anniversary date, you will be credited with 10 points, bringing your total to 46 points.

So once per year, you can use your points to offset your payment for that month. The following month, you'll be paying $40 again & you'll have 6 points left over. 

Alternatively, you can log in after 5 months, when you'll have earned 15 points, and use those to put towards your bill for that month, leaving you with a balance to pay by credit card, of $25. 

The following month, your bill would be $40. & your points balance would be 3.

NB - If your referral leaves, then you lose that referral point, losing 12 points for the year. If you downgrade your account, then the 5% reduction would be reduced as well. For example if you choose a $30 plan, then your points would be reduced from 2 per month to 1.5 points, losing 6 points for the year. Sorry.