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

[leebs]

This is just another example of corporate greed.  Public Mobile knows their new rewards program is not as good as their old one.  Do they think we are that dumb to not figure that out?  And giving away free data has no value to me when I haven't even used the 1GB data bonuses from 2 years ago.  Why is Public Mobile alienating their most loyal customers?  I would have never thought of switching carriers and, in fact, have promoted Public Mobile to many people.  I would think this is valuable marketing for Public Mobile to have their most loyal customers promoting their business (i.e. word of mouth).  For the first time in 5 years, I have checked out the alternate carriers.  Stop this change Public Mobile; it's a bad idea!

[Marchibald56]

Or go to lucky mobile...

[Wolfcore]

This is the thing exactly. Most people are on plans that have enough data to support their usage. If not, they'd be buying addons constantly, which would make it not cost-effective to be on that plan. So the only reason why anybody would need this extra data, would either be if they were going on vacation somewhere and didn't have access to wifi. Otherwise, nobody NEEDS it.

They know this, but they're trying to gaslight us anyway. Pretending like it's some sort of generous offering to us, and we should all be happy and praise them.

[Gimli007]

lots of addons ( that dont expire) to go through before I touch the 240Gb BS addon.

[ShawnC13]

@Psygineer I moved my kids and parents to the $29/30GB plan it was open to all.  My kids plan was an upgrade and parents was a cost down grade but a data upgrade

[Public_Cust_17]

I'd say judging by the fact that you are replying to posts and just arguing PM's decision and attempting to justify their money grab that you are somehow biased and quite possibly a PM or Telus employee.  Regardless of what you say in their defence... this is an ignorant money grab on the most vulnerable of their customers!  😡

[hTideGnow]

hi @vlc2 most people agree it was better back then. But very sad none of those new players survived themselves in the end.  Public, Clearnet, Mobilicity, Wind Mobile all sold

[gzluwl]

Long time customer, sadly to see this happens. Will move out my 2 lines when the time comes.

[Psygineer]

Agree to disagree. I have seen plenty of plans in the price range of my mother's account that were far better for New Subscribers only, and not a single one ever went for existing members. I do watch carefully! Yes for the higher end plans that are a dime a dozen with other carriers those come to existing, but I am talking the bread and butter plans of old PM. Those for the seniors, students, and others that are living of a meager dime. Ex. the $25 1GB 3G plan (Existing) vs $24 4G 4GB plan (New). I have not seen any movement in the $2X range that benefits existing. If I missed one, please do share!

[traycer2]

Great, good to know!

[traycer2]

Thanks very much for the prompt response!

[vlc2]

Not happy at all .... so much for loyalty. PM was better before TELUS bought it out.

[Dunkman]

---

@traycer2 wrote:

I have multiple 1GB and 2GB bonus data packs built up over the years. They never expire. Now with the 240GB 150-day bonus data added, will it be the first one used if I go over my monthly allocation? That would make the most sense, but I can't find anywhere on PM's site about what order those packs will be consumed.

Thanks!

---

@traycer2 

Correct, this data bonus add on will be used before your older data add ons.  Confirmed by PM and by a few customers who already are using the bonus add on. 

[ShawnC13]

@Wolfcore that is great for those that provider will work for.  Just like anything starting out and building a client base they will offer promotions and incentives to grow as PM did, the only concern is that as the company grows and now that program they had originally to increase the customer base cost them more each year.

[Lolo_1234]

Many comments here saying that the expiring addon will be used first, no worries 🙂

[MrG3D]

Such a lame offer of 240GB.  I never even use all the data on my current plan.  I would never use 240GB in 150 days.  So thanks for nothing.  I do not agree to this change.  I used to have dual SIM and changed exclusively to PM only for my loyalty rewards.  I regularly have dropped and missed calls, but decided I could live with it for the benefit of the old reward program I still had.

I guarantee I will be looking for another more stable provider of this change goes through.

Again, although PM has already added the data to my account, do not perceive this at my acceptance.  It is absolutely of no value to me.  Do not change my reward program.

[Lolo_1234]

Thanks!

I have my own screenshot 🙂 – that was asked by cs_agent late yesterday evening. They removed it this morning afterwards.

[Gimli007]

oh and BTW - before anyone thinks I am new to the community.... im not.  PM just royally screwed up the community account transition and i appear basically net new.  Been around for 6+ years.

[Wolfcore]

There are a few companies out there that do things differently though. For example, Fizz has made it part of their philosophy that all plans will be open to everybody. They also allow you to change plans at any time, and customize them at any time. There still exists a few telecom's who respect their subscribe base, but they are definitely few and far between.

[traycer2]

I have multiple 1GB and 2GB bonus data packs built up over the years. They never expire. Now with the 240GB 150-day bonus data added, will it be the first one used if I go over my monthly allocation? That would make the most sense, but I can't find anywhere on PM's site about what order those packs will be consumed.

Thanks!

[Gimli007]

I'll be brief.

1.  Ending a long term rewards program.  Especially one that was designed to help you grow and includes a "Loyalty" reward for remaining a customer through lots of ups and downs, is a PRICE INCREASE.  You can sugar coat all you want - but at the end of the day - to become and stay a customer is based on the service inclusive of all the provisions that go along with it.  Arbitrarily removing that part of the formula is a price increase.

2. who the hell needs 250gb of data that must be used in 150 days.  obviously a ploy to placate CCTS when they ask questions.

3.  Stop texting me about how great this transition is. Its not.  for anyone longer than 1 year.  Love to know your transition rate from legacy to new rewards back when you introduced it.

4.  Latest text today : "thank you for your loyalty"  Just stop thanking me for my loyalty - as you literally destroy your monthly loyalty thanks.

5. Manual redemption.... totally banking on people not logging into the pain in the ass eversafe method that is finiky at best.  no claim rewards - no pay rewards.

5. I suspect Telus is rolling the dice that people will stay vs not, and those that stay - wont claim rewards.  Its a risk - but 1-3 chance they go to koodo (telus) or telus themselves.

very disappointed... and upset.

[ShawnC13]

---

@Robbwell wrote:

The deal was that if we stayed with PM we would EARN rewards. We did so then they took away those rewards. It's like an arrangement where you get 2% towards a pension for every year worked then, years later they deny the pension you EARNED.

---

Usually in your collective agreement there wouldn't be wording of The employeer retains the right to change this agreement at anytime with 30 days written notice.

[Erskine99]

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Generally when a company changes a rewards program (especially from dollars to "points") to “better serve its customers” the only winner is the company. No matter how Public Mobile spins it as “more ways to earn and spend rewards, with greater flexibility” the new plan seems bad, at least for me and I suspect for everyone.

My example. With the old plan I was receiving a discount for autopay ($2 per month), a discount for 5 year loyalty ($5 per month), and a discount for a referral ($1 per month). $8 per month.

New plan gives me nothing for autopay, 5% of my bill ($2 per month) for points back, ($0.83 per month) for loyalty (anniversary points) , and I believe the referral amount is unchanged at $1 per month. That’s a total of $$3.83 per month.

This new and improved new plan costs me an additional $4.17 per month over what I was spending. How am I  better served by this? Oh, but the flexibility makes it so worth it! What, may I ask, is more flexible than my cash in my pocket?

Let’s do some math. If I am the average subscriber and Public Mobile has roughly 200,000 subscribers then this little Rewards Program “improvement” earns them about (200,000*$4.17*12) $10,008,000 per year.

This makes it better for the shareholders, I do not see where it is better for the customers.

If I’m wrong then please enlighten me. Show me how I am better off.

[hTideGnow]

hi @Lolo_1234 check the screenshot from others replies earlier in this thread 

[Lolo_1234]

So after asking questions to cs_agent in private messages, they asked me a screenshot of the text I was referring to (1 point/month for switching program), and now less than 12 hours later boom, the text is gone from their website... 

[hTideGnow]

hi @Robbwell they don't deny, they just change it to something else 😒

[ShawnC13]

@edeepm why do you even need to ask?  Hasn't it been pointed out many times that anyone on Legacy rewards, this will result in lower reward values.

[Robbwell]

The deal was that if we stayed with PM we would EARN rewards. We did so then they took away those rewards. It's like an arrangement where you get 2% towards a pension for every year worked then, years later they deny the pension you EARNED.

[ShawnC13]

For the longtime customers who say they have been stuck on a plan and all the good plans went to new customers only, that is not true.  Sure the plans started out that way but eventually they were opened up to all customers.  There are a lot of good plans out there right now with other providers and  are probably for new subscribers only as well, but they may not have the flexibility of PM with the 30 day plan/contract and you may get locked into a longer contract without the ability to react to better deals elsewhere.

[Wolfcore]

As of right now, the new point system is objectively worse, and I can't see them making changes any time soon. If they were going to, they would have spoken up already, as they're losing countless subscribers every minute that goes by.