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

[colleeno]

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@Knockali5 wrote:

Everybody in my family has received data but me.  240 GB was promised but only 5 to 30 GB was added to their accounts.  

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It depends what plan you are on. It is 5gb for the $15 plan, 30gb for $25 plan and 240gb for higher priced plans. If you downgrade to a lower priced plan, you will lose the Bonus data.

[golfball]

@Knockali5  Have any of you downgraded plans? If you do the data bonus may be smaller than 240GB or removed from your account. 240GB bonus is only offered to the highest priced plans.

[Knockali5]

Everybody in my family has received data but me.  240 GB was promised but only 5 to 30 GB was added to their accounts.  

[HALIMACS]

I don’t consider this off-topic at all.

I believe there have been some off-topic comments on this thread, but I also know there’s been flexibility exercised on this thread, so why not continue it?

[RetiredGuy1]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

Wouldn’t it be great if all companies sought advice and guidance from their customer base before making changes?

It wouldn’t surprise me if some companies may have tried this, and when they received vast differences/scales of replies, and realized they would not please the majority of them, they found the exercise to be less than helpful.

And to be honest, I’m not sure what’s worse. Asking for feedback and getting lots of it, and then not accepting most of it -OR- just doing it without any prior knowledge. Sure, some would feel they’ve had the chance to express their opinions, but many likely others would feel that their opinions were not listened to or heard.

It likely wouldn’t have made a hill of beans of a difference in their actions.

Still… It’s a good thought.

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@HALIMACS  Thanks for taking the time to compose a well thought out response that considers different aspects of a subject. I agree with what you’re saying and I was just trying to suggest a means for PM to avoid future fiascos. Also, the proverb “nothing ventured, nothing gained” came to mind. But, enough already - these ideas are off-topic 😉

[Wolfcore]

To be honest, sounds like it was most likely just an issue with your APN settings, and it not being configured correctly. I don't know your location or anything else, but even if you weren't in an area with 3G access, the Galaxy Note 9 has VoLTE, so it should have worked regardless. It could have been a mixture of your apn settings, or VoLTE not being enabled, etc. But yeah, that particular phone (and most phones made within the last 5 years or so), should have no issue. As long as they support the proper frequencies of course.

[RetiredGuy1]

@ShawnC13 

Unless my posts are the exception out of almost 3,600 now, I don’t appreciate being singled out based on your opinion. You have stated in previous posts that what you post is just your opinion after all. If you feel there are others, perhaps you could be so kind as to enlighten us all with the specific parameters which you consider on-topic and off-topic. Thanks.

[HALIMACS]

Wouldn’t it be great if all companies sought advice and guidance from their customer base before making changes?

It wouldn’t surprise me if some companies may have tried this, and when they received vast differences/scales of replies, and realized they would not please the majority of them, they found the exercise to be less than helpful.

And to be honest, I’m not sure what’s worse. Asking for feedback and getting lots of it, and then not accepting most of it -OR- just doing it without any prior knowledge. Sure, some would feel they’ve had the chance to express their opinions, but many likely others would feel that their opinions were not listened to or heard.

It likely wouldn’t have made a hill of beans of a difference in their actions.

Still… It’s a good thought.

[marcnoel]

If you decide on Fizz, check that your phone is compatible.  My Galaxy Note 9 worked for calls and texts, but not data.

[marcnoel]

You may already be aware of this, but, if you're switching to Fizz or Freedom, check that your phone is compatible.  My Galaxy Note 9 was okay for calls and texts, but I couldn't get data to work on Fizz.

[RetiredGuy1]

@IanP 

That was my line of thinking to avoid a similar fiasco for any future changes but I’ve been told that is off-topic 

[RetiredGuy1]

@Wolfcore 

I don’t dispute what you’re saying. I was simply suggesting the use of polls as a communication tool and not necessarily expecting any commitments.

[RetiredGuy1]

@ShawnC13 

Okay, excuse me then. I’ll stop trying to offer ideas or suggestions to find a way to help ease the very negative impact on those being forced into something they don’t want. There is apparently no room for someone to be open-minded. I’ll go back to complaining about what PM is doing and how awful it is like everybody else. 

[IanP]

Would it not of been a better approach for PM if they had informed us of the change but asked for feedback on solutions to make there planned change acceptable, instead of garnering the ire of most (not all). This could of been done in several ways not just announcement and letting us vent.

[Wolfcore]

Haha yeah, most likely won't happen. That's why places like Fizz look really interesting right now. They have rollover data, data sharing, and appear to have an even better rewards program overall than the old PM system. I'm in their native coverage area most of the time, so I'll definitely be considering them. Them, or Freedom, because their yearly plans are unbeatable.

[SeniorCitizen]

That won't happen..    Remember .... one number, one account, one email address. 

[IanP]

I for one would like the shared data. We have 2 plans in our house both 30gb. I would then downgrade one plan to the cheapest availbe this would negate any loyalty credits we would lose.

That is why it probably won't happen!

[HALIMACS]

A high volume of CCTS complaints, in of itself, isn’t as damaging (other than financially for the cost of such) on the regulated company than a formal CCTS decision/order made against the company’s actions.

The CCTS, like all regulatory bodies, are funded by the companies whom they regulate.

Proceeding with one is, by no means, being suggested as a waste of time by my above comments.

[ShawnC13]

@RetiredGuy1 This thread isn't about shaping the rewards/points system it is announcement to the Change of them.  This Announcement thread isn't a catch-all.  I think there has been a lot of leeway in the discussion that has happened but it doesn't mean there will be a free-for-all.

[mc931]

You are less likely to get rejected if you have them help you over the phone - although when I did that with a complaint about another provider, their system issued me an incorrect complaint number and my complaint got lost, I had to do it over. Their process is slow, too. Still worth doing though, IMO.

As a side note, if you are looking at new providers in SK - don’t bother with Lum. They issue numbers with routing issues and I’m still identifying people/organizations (the first of which was the entire SK Health authority) who couldn’t call my number. They don’t take any responsibility for the problem either.

[jimbobs2023]

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@Geekedout wrote:

Yes! I seen a few people saying that the CCTS wouldn't accept our complaints for some reason or another, but that doesn't seem to be the case!  

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I think anyone who has filed a CCTS complaint knows how difficult it is.  I am sure that many complainants miss a critical field or two which caused the complaint to be rejected.  However, many complaints have also been accepted.  Mine is presently under review. Regardless, the volume of complaints to the CCTS, accepted or rejected, is in itself a statement and will be reflected in their reports.  A high volume of complaints reflects poorly on PM and Telus. 

[Wolfcore]

Yes. We're constantly innovating to enhance our rewards program. Stay tuned for new features, contests, and more redemption options coming soon.

The reason why they are vague like this, is so that they don't have to commit to anything. It gives them a way out. It's also used as bait in an attempt to keep people from leaving, due to the removal of the legacy rewards. If they were to say for example, that one of their upcoming enhancements would be shared data, consumers would make up their minds on the spot "meh, I don't care about shared data, I'm leaving". But if you keep it vague like they did, you keep the consumer guessing, and you give them hope of something great coming. This is enough to convince some people to stick around, sadly. 

[Dunkman]

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@SeniorCitizen wrote:

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@Joe_Crushy wrote:

I'm just not happy with the promises and now changes that are coming to PM, the loss of auto pay, referrals limit to 6, loyalty rewards monthly and the bonus 240gb of data with a six month cap for most people is irrelevant because of the 30gb or higher plans. It's just all about $$ in the end. I'm really hoping people complain and wake up and calculate the extra cost over a year of service with PM now compared to May 1 2024.

Just trying to be a voice. 

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Only 6 referrals per account?

o Where can I confirm that?

o What happens to current accounts with more than 6? 

One other point. When you get a referral the referee gets $10 bill credit. Why not just get 10 points? 

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@SeniorCitizen 

Customers have can more referral friends than six.  I think that OP looked at his own rewards page and likely has 6 friend referrals and the page was indicated that he/she would continue to get 6 referral points per month.  

The $10 bonus for referrals is a one time bonus for new customers who used a friend referral code.  Traditionally, it was meant to cover the cost of the physical SIM card and seem separate from the monthly legacy or points rewards.   I believe that new customers still have to sign up for the points rewards program.   

[RetiredGuy1]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

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@G_Pomzz wrote:

Is it possible to do a poll on here, like on Twitter? 

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@G_Pomzz if it is on topic but I don't see a poll that would be on topic

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@ShawnC13 

I disagree. There are several aspects that could help shape how the Points program could look moving forward. The linked FAQ in the announcement includes:

Are there any new benefits or features being introduced with Public Points™?

Yes. We're constantly innovating to enhance our rewards program. Stay tuned for new features, contests, and more redemption options coming soon.

————-

Polls could be structured to gauge the level of interest in new features (roll-over data, data sharing, wifi calling, etc. - this is not an exhaustive list), or how much interest there really is in contests, and solicit ideas for more redemption options as well. I’d like to believe that PM is open to consider what clients really want when considering future enhancements.

I do agree there is no point in polling how satisfied people are with the forced migration to the Points program. That message has come through loud and clear in here.

[dmc69]

I'm currently looking at Fizz. They have their beta test right now. 

[mc931]

I did the math when they first introduced public points and knew I’d never want to change. I was just about to refer a friend and now I’m not going to - I don’t like being treated this way as a customer so I’m not going to recommend them anymore, and I’m going to start looking elsewhere for my own plan. If I’m going to have to pay more anyway, I might as well go somewhere else.

[jtennyuk]

Definitely everyone should do this, I did.

[dmc69]

FWIW - I filed a complaint with the CCTS. I may just be one guy but perhaps if CCTS sees enough of this, it'll move the needle. 

[dudesbot]

Hi,

Just to let anyone know who's wondering if they can have this pointless add-on removed. The answer, according to support is no. We'll have to sit back and watch the timer go by, or change plan/service. We're stuck with this "special thank you" referenced above.

[SeniorCitizen]

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@Joe_Crushy wrote:

I'm just not happy with the promises and now changes that are coming to PM, the loss of auto pay, referrals limit to 6, loyalty rewards monthly and the bonus 240gb of data with a six month cap for most people is irrelevant because of the 30gb or higher plans. It's just all about $$ in the end. I'm really hoping people complain and wake up and calculate the extra cost over a year of service with PM now compared to May 1 2024.

Just trying to be a voice. 

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Only 6 referrals per account?

o Where can I confirm that?

o What happens to current accounts with more than 6? 

One other point. When you get a referral the referee gets $10 bill credit. Why not just get 10 points?