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

[Jerrylai]

Definitely, I need to pay $9 per month in this new reward system. I’m looking for another company’s product now.

[RetiredGuy1]

@gweilo Loyalty rewards are gone and have been replaced by 10 points awarded on your anniversary date each year. So, for example, a 5+ year subscriber loses $60 a year ($5 each month) they used to get on the old program and now only get $10 a year (10 points) on the new program

[gweilo]

So, you are saying the years of loyalty rewards that I have accumulated are gone and we are all starting from 0 with the new program?

SW

[dabr]

@gweilo    Your loss will be loyalty (max $5) and $2 autopay, so going forward you will be paying $7+tax more each payment cycle.  You'll earn 5% back in points for any new money added to your account and another 10 points ($10) annual loyalty points.  Most customers on legacy rewards will lose $50+ each year vs the Points rewards.

I'm guessing you have 3 referrals based on the $10 mentioned which you will continue to earn and, for now, will be of equal value of 1 point = $1, except they will now be awarded in points and you will have to manually redeem any points value once you accumulate 15 points from the Rewards portal.

[Sundus]

I really thought that Public Mobile was above forcing loyal clients into an undesirable “reward” system that only undercuts the consumer. Where I once had $9/month in accumulated rewards that I earned through years of loyalty and referrals I will keep almost none. The 240gb bonus does nothing for me as I can’t possibly use it within the 150 days allotted. I used to recommend public to my family and friends but if they don’t revert this change I will have no pleasant things to say about them anymore.

[softech]

@gweilo with account migrated to Public Points, you will always be charged the full account at renewal.  Points will be added to your rewards account within 48 hours, 5% points and your friend referral points.  You can redeem 15 points for $15 bill credit whenever you have enough points.  I hope this addressed your question 

[gweilo]

Softect....its funny you did not address my first email concerning the increase of my monthly bill which would be $10+tax. My current bill shows an amount that does not include any point discounts, so please tell me what will my credit card be charged ?

An unhappy mistreated loyal customer.

SW

[Randolph]

Being forced to new program far as I am concerned was done in a **bleep**ty matter. way it is now my referals and loyality rewards feel a waste. instead of giving us a bunch of reward points equal to our past rewards you gave us some free extra data for a few months. i never use more than a gb a month so that special thanks you was worthless. being forced to new system we should also gotten options to choose from the deal offer to new activations only deals like $21/ month ($19 3month) 3gb 4g speed which far better than one we still have for many years. so far we got shafted in many ways

[RetiredGuy1]

@softech  Well, I’ll certainly agree that if some folks have been waiting for over 2 YEARS then, yeah, thats pretty slow. No doubt the frustration is compounded by the fact that the PM business model is based on self-service yet all the tools desired by users are not in place.

[Sylvestor]

As a senior on a limited income with 3 PM accounts (1 for me, spouse, and landline), we have an accumulated 10 YEARS OF LOYALTY and I am outraged with this announcement. Unfortunately with the significant loss of phone booths, we had to add for emergencies only, 2 mobile phones to our monthly expenses. And now doctor’s offices and FI’s also play a large part for the need of a mobile number. As a loyal PM customer, I have enjoyed paying a discounted rate and have worked very hard convincing friends and family for referrals as they too were convinced that the Telus backed PM was great value and they too solicited for their referrals. I worked so hard only to have the rug pulled from under my feet! So disappointing!

The $15 plan, with rewards, was perfect for us. The 2 mobile phones are rarely used and will have to reduce that expense by dropping one line or finding a lower overall cost by moving all 3 lines. The $2x3 auto pay loss plus the $4+$3+$3 loyalty loss along with the accelerated loss of referrals has begun. I am enraged and can’t stay due to the losses ….. another betrayal. An immediate rewards loss/cost of $16 plus a month, that’s equal to 1 $15 plan. 

My impression from the announcement  regarding the switch to new PM points was supposed to be better. But after reviewing, it is NOT. What happened to grandfathering vs taking a money grab?

Public Mobile, are you thinking that your steadfast position will blow over and once the dust settles that your ex legacy rewards customers will remain? I don’t think so, as a lot will stay but once they find an alternative option that suit their needs and pocket books, they will leave. In hindsight I just wish I paid a low cost per month and no gimmicky referral rewards to be enticed to. My personal challenge is get out of the addictive referral PYRAMID GAME immediately (meaning no more referrals from me) and reduce my costs to meet my needs elsewhere even if it means having 3 different mobile company arrangements. 

Your elimination of the loyalty rewards ALONE will cause a loss of LOYAL CUSTOMERS. 

[saturna]

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@softech wrote:

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@saturna wrote:

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It's clear that the 5 welcome points are just another bait and switch.

I "voluntarily" changed my account to points a week ago, after the last renewal with old rewards. Points balance: a big fat zero. 

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@saturna 

did you actually login to the My Rewars portal? https://myrewards.publicmobile.ca/

you have to login and check there once, (to accept the conditions), then you will see the 5 points within 48 hours

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Really no need for insinuating that I'm stupid.

10 days in, properly logged into rewards portal in incognito mode, screen shot from today (and have still not redeemed anything):

[softech]

@RetiredGuy1 for subscribers in Public Points,  they were never able to see the list or number of referrals. The only way to know is to wait for rewards point deposit time.

Again PM is aware of the demands for this and it is in their to-do list. It is not a secret things move slowly here, so we will have to wait 

[RetiredGuy1]

@softech  Perhaps you could clarify. Is the issue of referrals not showing up directly related to the transition of Legacy to Points accounts only? If so, glitches are understandable. But, if this is something that has not been in place for some Points accounts that could be as old as 28 months now then thats something entirely different.

[saturna]

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@softech wrote:

@saturna

Thanks, but no glasses needed for me. I see things clearly

As an Oracle, I have passed on the request to have referrals show up for Public Points subscribers as well like with the legacy rewards. PM has assured that it is on their to do list

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Enjoy the corporate kool-aid! I'm sure having a consumer-friendly, properly and consistently working payment system is on that list too. And has been for at least a decade.

You know, I also keep a list. It doesn't mean that I have intentions to cross off every single item, some of them are conveniently sliding to the bottom as I add more valuable things to the top...

[RetiredGuy1]

@marcnoel  Yes, you, me, and countless thousands of others determined it was better to stay on the legacy rewards. That doesn’t change the fact that PM deemed our loyalty to be worth one point for every month we were with them up to the day before the announcement of the forced migration. Did the value of our loyalty change overnight? It shouldn’t have but PM obviously thought so with an insulting substitute of only 5 welcome points.

[softech]

@saturna

Thanks, but no glasses needed for me. I see things clearly

As an Oracle, I have passed on the request to have referrals show up for Public Points subscribers as well like with the legacy rewards. PM has assured that it is on their to do list

[saturna]

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@softech wrote:

@gweilo 

no worrie, you didn't lose nything 

Rewards portal will no longer show the referrals you have with Public Points, it is not you don't have any, just it is not showing

you will see how many referrals you got when PM deposit the referral points 48 hours after renewal.  It is a design flaw with nee Public points and rewards portal.  PM will address the issue with future updates 

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It's amazing how rose tinted your glasses are. The points program has been active for more than 2 years. If they were serious about fixing it they would have done so by now. 

Not showing referral rewards is making sure that there is no easy way for the customer to keep track of active referrals, zero accountability and that they can just claim that "oh, so sorry, half of your friends must have left Public Mobile in the last month, we can't give you points if they don't have an active account!" Are you really going to spend your valuagle time to track all your referrals down to supply PM with a list of active PM accounts to prove that you deserve more RAF points?? This is intentional so that there's another avenue of not keeping promises.

[softech]

@gweilo 

no worrie, you didn't lose nything 

Rewards portal will no longer show the referrals you have with Public Points, it is not you don't have any, just it is not showing

you will see how many referrals you got when PM deposit the referral points 48 hours after renewal.  It is a design flaw with nee Public points and rewards portal.  PM will address the issue with future updates 

[gweilo]

In addition, to the switch to PM Points, my referral points have disappeared. As well, our tenure rewards have also disappeared. DISAPPOINTING!!

SW

[gweilo]

As a retiree and loyal PM customer, I have enjoyed paying a discounted rate. My impression from the articles regarding the switch to new PM points was that there would be minimal change to our current bill. I am enraged that I will be now paying an extra $10 plus tax on my future bills starting in May.

This is an outrageous money grab. You are going to lose a lot of loyal customers as a result of this. I for one will be switching to another carrier. THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT YOUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS!!

SW

[marcnoel]

When Points was first introduced, I was offered a bunch of points to switch from Rewards, but, after some calculating, determined it would be a better deal to stay with Rewards.  Anyway, if I have saved an extra $ 100.00+ in those 28 months, maybe that's a contributing factor to not receiving one point for every month I've been with PM.

[RetiredGuy1]

@hTideGnow  But your response did not address what @hairtothepie was saying whereas mine did. Context matters. Whatever, I’m not going to argue with you.

[hTideGnow]

hi @RetiredGuy1

you completely missed my point on my response.  Old rewards is old. I'm the back mirror.  Don't always look back the good old days.  Time to move on to see what is in front of us

I hope you got moved to the new points system already and will soon enjoy the points you have.  Enjoy 

[RetiredGuy1]

@hTideGnow  Your response to @hairtothepie misses the point he/she is making. He/she is talking about what they got for past loyalty while you are suggesting what may be in store in the future. As an 8-year subscriber, one point for every month with PM would have been around 96 points in his/her account right now instead of 10 points at his/her anniversary date some time this year. There is no way that’s anywhere near equal value for loyalty shown for the last 8 years.

[hTideGnow]

hi @hairtothepie you will get more points when your plan starts renewing.  Also, maybe 1 or 2 extra point from participating in the Community 

[fixin1]

@hairtothepie - The bonus data was extortion as @Chalupa_Batman said here: Upcoming Changes to our Old Rewards program

And if you are on an unlimited data plan, that would be the reason why it is incompatible. EXTORTION!!!

[hairtothepie]

8 years and all I got was  currently already expired 250 GB and 5 points.    🖕 PM

[Grinch]

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@softech wrote:

@Grinch 

1. Migration will be done in different batches.  Most of them should be done in a week

Thank you. 

2. If you have the full list of the referrals, you can confirm with the list PM agent has.  Please keep the referral phone number list.  At the moment, people on the Public Points system will not see the full list.  PM is aware of the difference and working on this, but no ETA

Yes have list  by month. I’m afraid to get a CSA involved. ☹️☹️

3. No, not that I am aware of.  Do you have a particular device unable to login?  It cannot login via the app or via the browser?  Try using different browser on the device or use Incognito mode

Yes  the iPad that I am using right now won’t log into one of my accounts. I have to use a different device. 
Will try private on safari. Thanks. 

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[terrywkw]

Has anyone received any follow up from the CCTS regarding their complaint? PM responded to the complaint but I have no heard back from the CCTS despite them saying they would be in touch. 

[softech]

@Grinch 

1. Migration will be done in different batches.  Most of them should be done in a week

2. If you have the full list of the referrals, you can confirm with the list PM agent has.  Please keep the referral phone number list.  At the moment, people on the Public Points system will not see the full list.  PM is aware of the difference and working on this, but no ETA

3. No, not that I am aware of.  Do you have a particular device unable to login?  It cannot login via the app or via the browser?  Try using different browser on the device or use Incognito mode