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

[ridgeline]

Back in February 2022 in the Introduction to Public Points announcement in the Community, there was the following post from a subscriber (killer23d) on 02-10-2022 @ 04:23 PM:

"I've just spoken with someone higher-up with Telus, the new point system currently is a "transition period". Although no solid timeline has been determined, eventually EVERYONE will be migrated over to the point system as an unified corporate strategy. PM Marketing team is fully aware of the disaster or should i say cluster-f ? But their goal is to move forward and will have better languages and notifications in the future to reduce confusion." Here is the link to the official post:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Introducing-Public-Points-Rewards/m-p/7...

In response to this subscriber, @J_PM from Public Mobile posted the following on 02-21-2022 @ 09:06 PM:

"Joining Public Points is optional. Our focus is to improve the new Rewards plan, rather than force people over. No plans to migrate customers into the new program." Here is the link to the official post:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Introducing-Public-Points-Rewards/m-p/7...

[hTideGnow]

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@edeepm wrote:

Have we all decided where we are switching to?

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HI @edeepm  

I decide to switch to  Public Points with Public Mobile

[SeniorCitizen]

Hey hey. Wait a minute. The “easy” rewards to make, of auto pay and loyalty have been taken away. 

l just wonder…..why was the referral left as is? 🥴🥴

Still $1 or 1 point a month for active numbers that we will no longer see the last 4 digits (on the new improved program, improved for who?). 
Still $10 bill credit for the new customer only. 
See any slant in the new rewards structure? 
Who remains with the same or better benefits? Evolve our products? 

So FIZZ has a $25 referral bonus for the active Fizz member and the one for the new member will be automatically applied towards the monthly payment of their respective plan provided that both members have an active plan at the time the new member has accumulated two months of service.

Remember the $25 or $30 PM RAF? For the referrer and referee. It was well intended but a flop. I can’t remember  all the of the fighting I had to do with my missing $5’s and it seemed that the CSA’s were instructed to not be obliging. The Fizz appears to be better managed?

Would  we see the RAF referral reward, along with the 1, or better yet 2 points per month, be enhanced permanently?

I keep records of each referral that I have by phone number. I have 3 accounts. I realize I can no longer track by specific customer but still can from totals only. 
Referrals lost since day one of each account is ……50% lost, 56% lost, 38% lost. Not great retention is it?

I can see with this upcoming change the losses will increase for a few reasons. 

1. Some legacy reward customers are going to leave in full or partially (if they have more than 1 account). 
2. Some legacy customers are going to downgrade their plans. 
3. Some legacy customers are going to stop working on referrals. 

I would not be surprised to see a downward slide of 10-15% (of my customer referral base). 

I don’t see any attempts at improving retention, do you? “If” retention improves I can see working harder for the referrals. 

Last point. 😀. Applying every month for rewards to be converted to dollars to your balance is a PITA. Is there an option at the customer level, to set up recurring transactions?

[keitha77]

This is garbage, I am paying for 4 accounts with Public Mobile, so this will be what pushes me to sign up with someone else.

[InternM010]

I really don't see how forcing people into the points system rewards loyalty and encourages customers to stay. Now I have more reason to shop around for the better deal. I think Public is going to lose a lot of customers going forward unless they can offer even cheaper plans than other providers to differentiate themselves. As it is, their plans are usually just competitive to the point that they match deals of other providers. I feel bad for students and low-income consumers who saw Public as a cheaper alternative to the big players in the market (which actually own these cheap spin-off companies/subsidiaries to begin with). Well, the future will tell, but I will be losing the only thing that kept me loyal to Public in the first place: rewards that actually had value! I think we can all agree that dollars off a bill have way more value than points for add-ons.  Bad decision Public. A real slap in the face to your oldest and loyal customers. 

[LiveLime]

I really don't think PM understands that the way they set up their company (no call center) to only set up your account online and to give referral discounts plus loyalty discounts. This is what built their mass of customers . You have to factor in all the younger people signing up the older generations with that model. Keeping the referral discounts in place will only keep a select few customers that have signed up enough to get free service.  For me personally I had 7 at one point and have been chipped away down to 3 over the years because of the bad deals you give current customers . 3 referrals isn't enough to keep me as a customer after this fiasco. I will certainly be switching everyone over to something else.

[Hollister]

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@Panorama wrote:

If I read your new plan right I lose my up to 5 dollars a month as a long time customer 12months x 5 is 60 and you give me 10 points once per year x 2 plans is 100 a year more for you. Even if it is 50 points for 5 years you still have taken 20 more from my accounts and what happens to Autopay?

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You get nothing for autopay. You will get points from 5% each month for the cost of your plan. However, you need to accumulate 15 points to redeem.

[golfball]

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@ridgeline wrote:

It surprises me that after several days now of seeing mounting frustration being expressed across the Community, Reddit, RedFlagDeals, and Twitter, that Public has not taken any action to rescind this program change or at least sweeten the offer being made to legacy subscribers.  Does Public (and parent Telus) not realize that by breaking trust in this way, not only will they lose long-term subscribers that may have several lines with them, subscribers may also look at cancelling other Telus home services like internet, TV, home phone and security?

This is the law of unintended consequences at work. 

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They're probably doing it on purpose. They want to upset lower paying customers so they leave and they have a higher ARPU (average revenue per user) for their financial reporting. But ARPU isn't everything, this could really harm the brand and I'm not sure they realize this.

[Panorama]

If I read your new plan right I lose my up to 5 dollars a month as a long time customer 12months x 5 is 60 and you give me 10 points once per year x 2 plans is 100 a year more for you. Even if it is 50 points for 5 years you still have taken 20 more from my accounts and what happens to Autopay?

[Panorama]

Have to love the way this change is put out there to us. What a great thing you are doing for us, while in reality you just want to take more money and give us less. I have 2 accounts and will start shopping.

[fillione]

@bsquared2 I couldn't agree more!

[dannycdee]

I get that of course they are legally able to do anything they want, but as others have said why mislead us so much? PM literally went out of their way to emphasize that the points system is optional for existing customers many times:

[bsquared2]

As a long-time Public Mobile customer who has referred many new customers to the business, I'm not happy with this decision.  I understand that PM, like any other company,  is entitled to make policy change decisions and raise prices but my issues are twofold: 

1) It's frustrating that in multiple communications about the loyalty program, PM was adamant that converting to the new points program was a choice.  It would have been better to leave the door open to change instead of saying that no one would be forced into the new program.

2) If this change was necessary, at least make the bonus gift data have NO expiry date.  Having it expire after 150 days adds insult to injury.  Also, please don't present this as something that is beneficial for us.  If we wanted to switch to the new points program, we would have done so two years ago.  Anyone who was on the old loyalty program, was on there for a reason: it saved them money. 

I hope PM will reconsider this decision or at least find some way to soften the blow to its many long-time loyal and faithful customers.

[Grinch]

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@ily wrote:

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@danielj wrote:

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.

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I think they meant enhancing the Points program for them. The Points Program is more valuable to them. They just couldn't care less about their loyal customers.

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Telus in general is no longer respecting their customers. And yes, I can give many examples. 

[Grinch]

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@Nikkk wrote:

Honestly, the old loyalty rewards were the only reason to stay with PM.  Once those are gone its a level playing field with all other carriers since you have nothing to loose by switching anymore.  And since welcome offers are invariably better than loyalty offers I guess we shall see how this shakes out.  PM, you should really consider throwing your existing users a bone here or you might not have any left when the other carriers realize this.  And no, points are dumb.  I can't  believe I have to manually go and cash out my (way less) points and this is being touted as being better.

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True, so very true (in regards to nothing to lose by changing carriers). Like milk being the same price at every store. The one thing I will miss is all the add ons that expire when used up, that allows me to call almost any where in  the world! Cool! The other big loss is the data add ons that now expire. And even with Canada wide calling  I couldn’t tell you last time we have called outside  of our local dialling area. But is nice to be there.

When PM keeps taking away, like Telus as well   …..  the customers will eventually have a breaking point …. and the time has come. 

Does any other provider have non expiry add ons? 

I am first planning* on going back to a lower cost VoIP plan for land line. I think I can do for less than what we paid for VoIP before. And will set it up to ring/forward to  both of our cell phones like before.  What happens is land line and both cell phones ring …. first one answers..the other 2 stop ringing. <= answer cell phone reduces the VoIP cost. 
*Once I see my rewards erode and having to pay more per month. And yes, our land line runs off of a SIM card. 

[Nikkk]

Honestly, the old loyalty rewards were the only reason to stay with PM.  Once those are gone its a level playing field with all other carriers since you have nothing to loose by switching anymore.  And since welcome offers are invariably better than loyalty offers I guess we shall see how this shakes out.  PM, you should really consider throwing your existing users a bone here or you might not have any left when the other carriers realize this.  And no, points are dumb.  I can't  believe I have to manually go and cash out my (way less) points and this is being touted as being better.

[Hollister]

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@edeepm wrote:

Congrats to Public Mobile on 1,300 angry posts! Is this a new record?

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big post here:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/CONTEST-NOW-CLOSED-Win-a-100-Amazon-gif...

[ABDad]

Public Mobile is really going downhill. It may be time to leave.

[ABDad]

We're going to look at Fizz Mobile. Seems to be pretty competitive here in BC.

[zhadj030]

Just when it looked like PM will be back to it's glory days, it does this. The worst part is, somehow we felt something might happen, I just never thought it would be this bad. Way to treat people who stayed as long as possible. PM main advantage was the rewards, take that away, when what worth does PM have now?

[ily]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

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@ily wrote:

And you don't see a problem with that? Do we really wanna start playing word games here? They know how to be precise and to the point, leaving no room for interpretation. Here's an excerpt from the FAQ: "Starting May 2024, we’ll be retiring our old Rewards program and moving all subscribers to our Public Points™ program" (emphasis mine). They didn't say "we may be retiring ... and moving subscribers ..." now, did they?

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@ily all I am doing is pointing out what will be used in any CCTS case.  I have been opposed to this decision and have been vocal about it. 

I am not sure why there is anger towards me when all I am doing is pointing out what will be used against any claim filed.  I don't agree with the decision at all but expected it to eventually happen.  Just because I have posted information from the website and do hold the position of an Oracle doesn't mean I am supporting this decision. 

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I apologize. I didn't mean to offend or attack you. Your statement sounded like you were defending them and I got carried away.

To your point though, this word game business of being vague when it suits them just adds insult to injury.

[fixin]

@Hollister - Yes, they need to do that. PM still has a Rewards system, but it is different from the Legacy Rewards 😕

[fixin]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

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@ily wrote:

And you don't see a problem with that? Do we really wanna start playing word games here? They know how to be precise and to the point, leaving no room for interpretation. Here's an excerpt from the FAQ: "Starting May 2024, we’ll be retiring our old Rewards program and moving all subscribers to our Public Points™ program" (emphasis mine). They didn't say "we may be retiring ... and moving subscribers ..." now, did they?

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@ily all I am doing is pointing out what will be used in any CCTS case.  I have been opposed to this decision and have been vocal about it. 

I am not sure why there is anger towards me when all I am doing is pointing out what will be used against any claim filed.  I don't agree with the decision at all but expected it to eventually happen.  Just because I have posted information from the website and do hold the position of an Oracle doesn't mean I am supporting this decision. 

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Yes, Oracles are still PM Customers that know Public Mobile's up's and down's.

They have learned the community rules and can change peoples posts to not include private information like phone numbers, or when the thread is getting out of hand.

Oracles cannot be influenced from PM because they have their own decision.

[ShawnC13]

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@ily wrote:

And you don't see a problem with that? Do we really wanna start playing word games here? They know how to be precise and to the point, leaving no room for interpretation. Here's an excerpt from the FAQ: "Starting May 2024, we’ll be retiring our old Rewards program and moving all subscribers to our Public Points™ program" (emphasis mine). They didn't say "we may be retiring ... and moving subscribers ..." now, did they?

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@ily all I am doing is pointing out what will be used in any CCTS case.  I have been opposed to this decision and have been vocal about it. 

I am not sure why there is anger towards me when all I am doing is pointing out what will be used against any claim filed.  I don't agree with the decision at all but expected it to eventually happen.  Just because I have posted information from the website and do hold the position of an Oracle doesn't mean I am supporting this decision. 

[Hollister]

@ridgeline 

The telecom companies don’t care about Loyalty anymore. If you look at where the best deals are they  are for new activations and not for existing customers. As PM customers are leaving their spots will be filled by Rogers/Bell customers. It sucks….we need more competition in the mobility industry. 

[sheila8]

Between Public Mobile and Telus, affordability becomes more elusive every day. I just purchased a streaming box. I might stay with Public Mobile because I don't see a cheaper alternative, but I'm sure I can make it up in savings on my Telus bill. 

[ily]

And you don't see a problem with that? Do we really wanna start playing word games here? They know how to be precise and to the point, leaving no room for interpretation. Here's an excerpt from the FAQ: "Starting May 2024, we’ll be retiring our old Rewards program and moving all subscribers to our Public Points™ program" (emphasis mine). They didn't say "we may be retiring ... and moving subscribers ..." now, did they?

[mikasik2]

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@edeepm wrote:

I got 240gb for 150 days too but I'm leaving Public on May 1st. Any idea how to burn through 240gb of data beforr May 1st?

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Maybe everyone can band together and DDOS their least favorite phone company

[ridgeline]

It surprises me that after several days now of seeing mounting frustration being expressed across the Community, Reddit, RedFlagDeals, and Twitter, that Public has not taken any action to rescind this program change or at least sweeten the offer being made to legacy subscribers.  Does Public (and parent Telus) not realize that by breaking trust in this way, not only will they lose long-term subscribers that may have several lines with them, subscribers may also look at cancelling other Telus home services like internet, TV, home phone and security?

This is the law of unintended consequences at work. 

[car62]

I really think public mobile are making a big mistake up until now I always promoting pm but not now I am looking at options to bad