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

[Langui]

I am extremely unhappy with the changes that Public Mobile is making to their rewards and Loyalty program. I believe it amounts to breach of contract. It has doubled the cost of my plan..  So many broken promises, we put our trust in companies and encourage our friends to join their plan only to have everything taken away. 

At the least, submit a complaint to the CCTS.  I have. Here is the link https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/for-consumers/complaints/complaint-form/

[guddoge]

I agree with others. The pubic points program is much worse than the old one way of getting discounts for loyalty and autopay. I'll be losing at least $53 per year in savings compared to the old way, which worked great and was automatic. There's really little to practically no advantage with public points.

[Tk10]

I have been a loyal customer for years and gotten money taken off my bill every single month. This change in "rewards" has now taken away most of my rewards and my monthly bill has increased by $8 a month. That is almost $100 a year more on my phone bill. Now I need to "earn" points and then go into my account to maybe get some money off my next bill at some point. Very dissatisfied.

[jhhead]

Thanks for the advice. 

Emailed CCTS back and hopefully something comes out of this. 

That sucks they still completed the conversation for you with the complaint still open. 

[Lucster]

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@jhhead wrote:

Has anyone got an update or anything useful from a CCTS complaint?

I submitted a CCTS complaint accepted April 23 and have yet to hear anything at all from either Public Mobile or CCTS since. 

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Contact CCTS today because Public Mobile had 20 days (until May 13th) to "resolve" your complaint.  If it isn't resolved in the first 20 days, then CCTS gets involved. 

My complaint was accepted on May 2nd so Public Mobile has until May 22 however, I haven't heard from them yet and they already switched me to the new reward program which I understood were not allow to due to ongoing complaint resolution process.  

[jhhead]

Also I wonder when the final forced changes will take place since today May 15 is 30 days after my April 15 text notification of change.

Still holding out hope something good will happen... 

[jhhead]

Has anyone got an update or anything useful from a CCTS complaint?

I submitted a CCTS complaint accepted April 23 and have yet to hear anything at all from either Public Mobile or CCTS since. 

[on2wheels]

You should port your number to a new provider before you cancel your plan here, unless you want a new number.

[SeniorCitizen]

@ziggyp31 

I understand your concern to not leave that information behind. Try a prepaid MasterCard. And it can be exhausted as well. And possibly an expired one will work too. 

[ziggyp31]

Hi everyone....Sorry, I asked this before but how do I end my subscription? Just remove my credit card and let the payment bounce? There must be a cleaner way to do it than that? Is there a way to easily end my subscription?

[Bp327]

My bill seems to have gone up 47%

[yvandas]

I am on the $25 / month plan for unlimited Canada wide calling and 1 GB of data.  Before being switched over to  the Points rewards, my monthly bill was $25 - $2 (for auto pay) - $3 (for loyalty) - $7 (for referrals) = $13 + $1.69 (HST) ie a monthly bill of $14.69.  Now that I have been switched to the new Points rewards system, my equivalent monthly bill now looks like this: $25 + $3.25 (HST) - $1.25 (points for auto pay) - $0.83 (points for loyalty) - $7.00 (points for referrals) = $19.17.  So my bill has gone up by $4.48 ($19.17 - $14.69) which is a 30.5% increase.  Not quite what clients would expect when being moved to the Public Points program which is supposed to provide "more ways to earn and spend rewards, with greater flexibility".  PM had a great rewards system going which put them above all competition.  Too bad they had to put an end to it.  A big mistake as far as I am concerned.

[fixin1]

@Yatti4201 - If it is $29 plan and you upgrade it to 40GB like what @Stonechucker1 said, you won't lose your 240GB bonus as it is costing $29/month and you upgraded from 20GB to 40GB.

[Stonechucker1]

@Yatti4201 , it sounds like you've lost your rewards because public mobile has canceled all Legacy plans with those larger dollar values of rewards. If you want 40 GB of data on the 29th dollar plan you can safely schedule your plan change for your next renewal and you will continue to pay the $29 every month.

[Yatti4201]

4g $29 now for 40gb so they are slowly trying to bribe me but I don't want to lose the bonus data etc so am not switching anything from the $29 20gb just offerred (I was previously on a 3 month cycle). I had to pay $16 of the $29 on my last bill even though indicator was I had banked enough previously so there is that possibility that they pulled my rewards dollar early? May 15 was suppose to be my actual transition (not before) date. I am to lazy to check or figure it out. I did leave screenshots previously. Burning data and doing a nice test for Telus before half of us leave.

[Yatti4201]

1 point per month means 15 months before you can redeem if not earning them on other items versus being able to redeem immediately in cash. 

[marcnoel]

Rewards are not impossible to redeem.  You just have to wait until you accumulate 15, then apply them to your account.  My wife has 9.75 currently.  By the time her plan re-news (~85 days), she will have accumulated another 3 - 6.75 points (depending on which plan is chosen at the time, and including referrals).  That will be as much as 16.5 points, which can then be applied to her account toward future payment.

[Yatti4201]

and the rewards are much harder if not impossible to redeem. Versus cash. This reminds me of the TD Basic Savings account years ago (no idea what they name them now). It paid so little that even if you had the maximum allowed (before you qualified into a better savings account/tier) that you would never produce interest in the amount the bank was required to produce a T5 saving them all that time in money. It was a junk holder account. Even today I bet it pays very very little. Fraud/Scam? Maybe not but unethical? Likely. Then again there is "competition" for your cash lol.

[Jaycitos]

Chated with an agent and he told me my bill wasn't raised.... when I specificaly lost my 5 dollars of loyalty wich means i have to buy a different voucher in a different tax bracket he says my bill is the same with rewards and such. But I am now paying more for the same plan of 1gb (with regular add ons) and ntn more.

[Lisa20]

I've been with Public Mobile since it's inception in 2010. I stuck around when they merged with Telus. I stuck around when they made a rather large jump in pricing. I stuck around when they took away my unlimited US calling. I stuck around when they closed all stores. I stuck around when we were forced to come here to address any issues. I stuck around when they charged extra random amounts to my account. I don't know if I feel like sticking around any longer. I understand that loyalty is disappearing in the world. I have long stopped giving referrals for PM. I don't feel they provide actual customer service anymore. I love the community, but the company has no care in the world for any of it's subscribers. Just because something is legal for a company doesn't mean it's ethical or in the interest of it's customers. This is not an opportunity for loyal customers. This is a downgrade yet again. Best of luck to others who are searching for new providers.

[Irina_O]

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@Chiranjiv wrote:

At least with phone companies, we are in control.

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That would have been true if there was any real competition.  The unfortunate truth is that we have an oligopoly of three colluding players who have the CRTC as their lapdog.

[Shafe]

A tad disappointing…but certainly to be expected…that Telus would package a nearly 50% rate increase in a “new rewards” program.  As a senior on a fixed income, I am grateful for a Public’s low rate, but discontinuing a “loyalty” program by covering it as some new rewards program is not only disloyal but also very deceitful. True colors!!!

[MaritimeFlo]

I just did some calculations. My bill has increased by $7 as a result of this change. That's $84 per year. But in each year, I'm only going to earn approximately $20 worth of points.

They can't possibly believe that we wouldn't notice this.

[SeniorCitizen]

I would assume your points will show up a day before or the day of your payment. Just like when your rewards dollars showed up. Thus your May payment will likely be full price. Unless you can squeak in there the day before and convert to cash. Telus will have a huge infusion of funds!

[gweilo]

Its amazing that you made a decision to increase your monthly fees without ensuring the the system is tracking and depositing the points properly.

As of today, I do not have my referral points deposited to my account. 

When will this happen....

[Chiranjiv]

HI:

How many of us stayed at the same job with the same company? We quit and or let go. Others may be miserable at their current jobs. What is loyalty. You spend your whole life working, only to be informed that you are no longer required. At least with phone companies, we are in control. Unlike jobs, there are multiple offers at equivalent and or cheaper prices. Take a moment to indulge in some shopping and trials. Some esims are free and can be installed on the same phone with physical sim. Try out some and post it. Hey guys, who here miss Mobilicity!!

[Chiranjiv]

Hi Guys:

I may be upsetting a lot of you guys by saying that by repeating how we lost rewards in every post is not going to achieve anything. Can we just move on... because ranting about the past when there is no solution is not good for your mental health. PM is prepaid and any increase in your bill is justifiable as per the company. It's their offer and we don't have to take it. If you don't like it, there are other choices.  Market will decide with their wallets. Infact, this is capitalism that we enjoy every day. Please find solutions rather than complaining about things you cannot change. 

[Patrick_PM]

So now that the old rewards program is gone, one of my account's monthly payment has gone up to $16.95 from $10.17.

Yet Public Mobile describes the new Points Reward program as "sweeter". I have not seen how the new Points Reward program can be described as "sweeter".

Well perhaps from Public Mobile and Telus' perspective it may be "sweeter".