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

[Rionn]

This is garbage.

they have slowly been changing my old plan, I have less capability than before and am now spending nearly twice what I was originally.

I think I’m done with public.

The old points program and how it impacted my cell phone bill was a badge of honor.

now after all these years they basically reset everything and I might as well go somewhere else. No incentive anymore.

[SeniorCitizen]

@marcnoel 

Just my 2 cents worth. Everyone has different needs and shopping for a reliable and trustworthy solution can be tedious. BUT from my point, FIZZ is a fizzle…..nothing attractive at all. Too expensive for a third tier option. Yet Freedom does have some appeal. Both owned by Quebecor and assume both run in same networks. 

[marcnoel]

I tried Fizz, but data didn't work with my phone. Rollover data and data gifting are wonderful ideas, but, gifting works only if there's someone to send it to; otherwise, it's not applicable. The other thing is a paradox - if you are using so much data that you would need rolled-over data, you wouldn't have any data rolled over anyway, and, if your data rolls over, then, you're obviously not using your monthly allotment. Granted, there may be times usage widely fluctuates, so having access to rolled data would be useful.

My point is, keeping in mind the foregoing, Fizz might seem like a dealy-wealy, but, currently, you can get 20 GB for $ 25.00. Looking at the Rewards structure, you would have to pay full price for three years before you started getting $ 1.00 off per month. There would be data perks added to your plan within those three years, but that helps only if you need it. In comparison, you would have already gotten $ 75.00 off in three years with PM, with no referrals.

[marcnoel]

You should see 5% from any payment made while on Points, you will get 10 points on your anniversary date, and, if you had any referrals, the dashboard says it can take up to 30 days for past referrals to appear.  It may be too early to see much, if anything, now.

[sheytoon]

I got a response that CCTS has rejected PM's objection.

[HG6]

I am very disappointed with the new reward program. I lost all the discounts and paid almost 30% more on the new bill, not happy at all. 

[Worrisome0995]

Wow, that was a SERIOUS downgrade from the previous reward program. I'm now paying like 30-40% more than I was last month. I guess being a loyal PM customer no longer pays.

I've been abroad for some time, but chose to continue paying monthly so I'd still have my rewards upon my return. Now it's time to either cancel or move to Fizz if I just want to keep my number. And to remember this so I don't make the mistake of coming back to PM when I return...

[nimnum]

Ah ok. Well, that's considerably worse than the $10 off per month I was receiving before. That's very disappointing. That wasn't made very clear during this transition.

[fixin1]

@nimnum - From automatically depositing within My Account for the next month? Yes

The Loyalty and autopay rewards are the only ones gone while all of the refer a friend are staying with 1 point per referral and community rewards.

Also there is a new 5% back from your plan in points monthly. Also 5 welcome points as a one time thing.

You can redeem points for a $15 bill credit for 15 points, along with add-ons that are slightly cheaper, and promo offers.

[nimnum]

Am I understanding this correctly, that all the loyalty, referral, etc discounts have been removed?

[marcnoel]

Good luck with that.

[Mahmoodkh]

Never trust TELUS or any of its subsidiaries. After almost 6 years with Public Mobile and recommending it to my friends without any referral incentives, I feel betrayed. I'm now looking for another provider with a better reputation that I can trust.

[jhhead]

Got the following email update from my CCTS complaint:

"Thank you for contacting the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS). The CCTS is an independent agency with a mandate to receive, facilitate the resolution of, and, if necessary, resolve eligible customer complaints relating to certain retail telecommunications and retail residential subscription television services.

We acknowledge receipt of your  e-mail,  of May 15,2024, for which we thank you. Please note your file has been moved to our  investigation stage and you should receive an email shortly with more details."

[marcnoel]

Just clarifying the customers that took your recommendation and are upset must have joined before January 2022, or else the change wouldn't affect them.

[jimbobs2023]

---

@Pierre wrote:

I know all that... I'm just frustrated to not have a little something more for supporting PM since almost the very beginning... 

---

Exactly the way I feel.  Over the years I've been with PM, I recommended them to many family members and friends (wasn't that interested in referrals, etc).  Many of those who signed up are now asking me what to do given the forced changes and effective price increases.  Suspect I'm going to hear a lot more as the May and June renewals roll in.

[Pierre]

I know all that... I'm just frustrated to not have a little something more for supporting PM since almost the very beginning... 

[fixin1]

@Pierre - Yes, it is annoying but at least we still have points as a rewards system.

 Although it is worse with no autopay or loyalty credits anymore we get 5% back in points from our plans then once you reach 15 points you can redeem it for a $15 credit manually.

I would suggest Fizz or Freedom Mobile if you don’t want to support the big three. Telus, Koodo and Public Mobile is all owned by TELUS.

[Pierre]

1st Billing whit the new structure... I feel like I just got screwed for $8.00 more than what I paid before... After 12 years with PM, I guess it's time to shop again ... 

[DnBpublic]

My “thank you” was 250gb data added to my already UNLIMITED DATA PLAN! 
What kind of thanks is that???

[SatPDG]

Is it me or this new program does not help us at all to "earn and spend rewards with greater flexibility"? With the old program, my monthly bill was reduced by 1$ for each year I was subscribed to it. It was also reduced by 2$ because I was subscribed to the automatic payment. Now my bill is back to its full original price. So I do not see how this new program help me to get more reward. Worse, I now have to login in my user account at each month to redeemed my points to lower my bill. I do not care about buying data or more telephone minutes. I just want my cellphone bill to be as low as possible without having to redeem my point at each month. The old program was better. I am very disappointed by this new program.

[hTideGnow]

thanks @colleeno 

yes, I can confirm with my couple family accounts that no friend referrals are lost, I got them all (except I have one friend left and of course I got 1 less plan, but that is expected) 

[colleeno]

@Y4J259 I can confirm that your April referral $ will not be lost if your subscription renews in May. My Rewards were switched to Points on May 3rd and my renewal date was 2 days later on the 5th. I had $14 in rewards earned in April ($4 Loyalty, $2 Autopay, $3 Referrals and $5 Community) and that amount was applied to my May renewal. My husband’s plan renews on May 27 and his upcoming payment info shows that his April referrals, loyalty and autopay will also be applied at his next renewal (in $).

[softech]

@Y4J259 i  don't see you have a valid point for the complain. While PM does not apply the point on renewal, you have full power to redeem for $15 bill credit whenever you got 15 points.

And remember ,  PM has right to make change to its rewards program   Rewards are perk and not really part of the price and hence I doubt Government agency cam provide any help. Like my favorite story, my cash back credit card has changed from 2% to 1.5 to 1 over the years.  My Starbucks redemption gone from 125 point for a sandwich to 200 points and now 300 points.  What we learned? Businesses have right to make change to rewards system. Enjoy while you can and adapt to the latest rules 

[Y4J259]

@softech 

I understand that the points will be on my account 2 days after the bill. And moving forward, points will always be applied right after the bill cycle. 

But you must agree that PM will not be applying any points/$ during this bill cycle. 

Sure, they always have applied referral $ every bill cycle, right before the bill. And they will continue to apply points every 30 days (bill cycle) right after a bill. But for this month, they did not apply ANY points or $ and therefore screwing me over even more. 

1: I have made this point to CS_agent but they have not responded. 

2: if they do not apply referral (or community points for that matter) points this cycle, I will be filing a complaint with CCTS because PM say they will apply points/$ EVERY 30 days (bill cycle). 

[softech]

@Y4J259

I full understand your point  

It is true the first bill right after rewards change you will be paying full price.  But the reward will be back to you in 2 days.  There are no loss but just a time difference 

You don't loss anything as long as you stay with PM 

[Y4J259]

@softech sorry you're having a hard time understanding this. 

In the past, referrals we're always applied before your bill date, this reducing your bill. I.e. in April my bill was lower because of referrals. Now I will have to pay the full May bill, and can't apply the 16 referrals (points to $) as PM will only apply the points AFTER my May bill payment. Which I can then apply to my June payment. 

So, by switching old loyalty rewards to new points rewards, PM is actually saving referrals for the month, I'm stuck paying a full bill With no referrals.

Sure, it's just the one month as moving forward I'll have to log in, and use 15 points to buy 15$ credit every month, but May's bill will be in full.

[softech]

@Y4J259 I don't see how it is missed as long as you are not leaving PM.  It is now just added after the renewal, 2 days difference 

Of course you can say what if you are leaving after, them unfortunately, your unused points will be gone too.  This is part of the sad fact about rewards point system, but that is also why many businesses going with that

[Y4J259]

@softech while @Handy1 screenshot might have been misleading, it's fair to say that when PM switched to points, we lose our referrals for that month. 

In the past , referrals $ we're auto taken off your bill. I.e. in April you "earned" Referrals and then that was deducted from April's bill. Then in may, switched to points. But referrals points are added to account before May's bill date so you can't reduce your bill (assuming you have more than 15 referrals). They are applied after the bill. That's a whole month of referrals missing. Looks like @Handy1 will have to make another CCTS complaint 

[gaiag]

This is disappointing news and the first I heard of it was today when my bill amount increased. I was previously saving $72 per year with autopay and loyalty rewards. By my calculations on the new plan I will only save about $19 per year. When you live on a tight budget, a substantial bill increase like this without any notice is frustrating.