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

[computergeek541]

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@Dodger4yu wrote:

I haven’t found a way. You can apply it each time to the future bill, but I haven’t found a way to apply all future credits to my bill. 

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There isn't any way to do that.  The points have to redeemed manually each time.

[Dodger4yu]

I haven’t found a way. You can apply it each time to the future bill, but I haven’t found a way to apply all future credits to my bill. 

[MisterTommo]

Can you add a way to just automatically apply bill credit monthly? I don't want to log in and manually spend points every 3 months to get $15 off. 

[Dbrace1]

My sentiments as well! Looking elsewhere….Public let me down!

[Sky999]

Yes, it's strikingly expensive now. I'm off to Videotron this afternoon, to look at their bundle offers, bc they're my internet provider.

[Altt]

Incredibly disappointed. Didn't notice until now my bill went up after loosing my rewards. I just need the most basic plan and $9.00 a month was absolutely incredible. Now its $16.95 after tax. Really wish I had an alternative because I'd have left the moment I lost those.

[computergeek541]

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@Suee wrote:

I want to know why would this bonus data expire? It seems Not fair to hagecollected for years ?

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Bonus data add-ons aren't rewards.  Add-ons that don't already have an expiry date set on them will remain on your account until used up.

[Suee]

I want to know why would this bonus data expire? It seems Not fair to hagecollected for years ?

[Scallywag]

Count me as another customer who has switched to another carrier. I live in a rural area and rely heavily on cell data. My 240gb bonus data ran out. But since your system used our regular plan data first, and you gave no warning that the bonus data was running out, I was left VERY frustrated. Oh, and to show your appreciation for my years of loyalty to your company, you offered to sell me 4gb of data for $40 to carry me over till my monthly auto-renewal. This on top of my plan increasing by $10/month. Goodbye PM.

[Two-Stepper]

I agree. I also switched to a newer plantthat gave me more than I had been getting for less than I had been paying.

[vitm]

Interesting move...
Well, I understand that PM is trying to make some money and inflation is not kind to PB either... 
Anyway, while I was poking around on my profile page I noticed that I had the option to switch from my 25/mth plan to 19/month and 23/per month.. I selected the option to switch to 23$ plan and have 6GB at 4G and unlimited calls, even though it says new activations only. Somewhere in the messages here, I saw a message that some promotions could be targeted to specific accounts. I don't know if I could be the one.
After confirming the switch on my next billing date I don't see such plans anymore in the plans list...
Good thing I took screenshots, so these:

Maybe you can see similar options in your profile. In this case, it makes sense to stay with PM.

[sparkspark]

I went from $28 to $38 on my monthly bill. I only noticed by chance today, seems the last 3 months I've paid what used to be 4 months of service. That's a greedy move. The only notice was a text message saying "we're so excited that you're joining Public Points!" no indication that my bill would be increasing substantially.

[RefusedPartyPro]

Same story here!

Inquired a Customer Service agent about it, he was less helpfull than a chat-bot!

[RefusedPartyPro]

They have stopped the 2$ discount for autopayment since the new point system started

[Sophia]

Thanks pal 😄 I'll miss the comradery of this forum, but well, you gotta go where your wallet directs you 😂

[hTideGnow]

hi @Sophia sad to see you go, but enjoy your new "life"

[Sophia]

I for one am grateful that PM took away the discount. I paid $7 per month and just before my loyalty would have made it $6, they took it away overnight. 

Of course I was a little upset at first especially when CRTC told me they can do it, but then I found a plan with even more minutes than the PM offered. It has less data, but additional data can be provided by an international esim. 

Thank you PM for forcing me to look over the fence and finding out the grass is actually greener on the other side!

[dacdoter1]

What's really insulting is that they put an expiry date on the welcome/apology bonus data bundle that was meant to ease the pain of losing the old, valuable rewards system and being on this much reduced one.  And also only giving $5 (one-time) worth of points as a welcome bonus, when for many of us you removed $5 PER MONTH of discounts that we earned by helping get you off the ground as a business.

PM bosses, if you are listening, you'd have a good chunk of your unhappy customers go back to "neutral" on you if you just publicly acknowledge that you're really hurting your long term customers with this change, and apologize again with one more lump of one-time bonuses.

Give us a one-time lump of, say, 5 GB that DOESN'T EXPIRE, just like those old Christmas bonuses, and give us a one-time of 15 or 20 points as a goodwill apology for taking away our $60 PER YEAR of savings that we had just earned as a 5-year customer. (Yes I know you offer everyone 10 points per year, but you see how far away from 60 that is..)

[Wendy07]

I do not like the new reward program. 5 years being tour loyal customer become 0 point compared to old program. So disappointed.

[Aubs]

So this changed and now I have to go on to my account every month and select how I want to spend my rewards. Insane. Is there still a loyalty reward for every year that I stay with Public mobile.? I am not too sure who sits around thinking these changes up but is there ever a time when they can just leave well enough alone. I was happy paying $16 a month for my plan. I had no complaints. i was due to have a $1 off for every year I stayed subscribed and i had told a few friends about it.  I was content with the service. What more could a company ask for. (A happy customer.) Now I am sitting at the computer on a beautiful day asking why?????? the monkey bussiness. 

[bcsuazon]

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@slusagm wrote:

@Macleaner 

no going back. Everyone wants it but no.  We have to get used to the new norm, 5% in points and best way to save is bring in friends for referral rewards

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Yeah I was really hoping that the other competitors would offer something better than the $34 50GB plan that I switched to before they made these announcements.  But unfortunately there hasn't been anything.  I just wish I had known about the changes before I made the switch as I would have definitely thought twice before doing so. 

Hopefully something better will come up around Black Friday or Boxing Day later this year...I could probably live with a 20-25GB plan that's around $25...in the meantime I will have to get used to the "new norm" like you said.

[Sadness]

I was on the Loyalty program for almost 5 years, which brought my phone bill of the lowest package to around $10. After the forced switch to the points system, my bill is now $17.

As a disabled Canadian living in severe poverty, barely able to make ends meet, this change has been devastating for me, as I'm sure it has been for others as well. I only use my phone plan for mandatory service SMS texts and doctor/emergency phone calls. The extra amount needed to pay my phone bill now comes out of the little food money I have, which I would use to get beans to help sustain myself for the month.

In the future, if you decide to indirectly increase the costs of your services, please try to think with a compassionate heart about the ones struggling to survive, that signed up to your originally generous platform to help us get by in this expensive world.

[publicnickname]

I got this exact same response from CCTS today too.  I'm guessing it's what they sent to everyone who complained?

It seems odd that CCTS accepted the complaint and rejected Telus' objection that said they can do whatever they want, just to take ~4 months to come back and say that Telus can do whatever they want.

Did anyone get a better result from their CCTS complaint?

I was sticking around waiting for a reasonable resolution to this, but if this is how it ends, I'll be looking around for something else.

[Matty1234]

Overview
This report documents our findings for the following issues raised by the customer:
1. The customer’s complaint is that the service provider notifies or fails to notify the customer of a
substantial change to an agreement or terms which the customer considers to be a breach of an
existing agreement.
2. The customer’s complaint is that the service provider did not apply promised credit(s),
discount(s) or refund(s).
Summary of Findings
After analyzing the information and evidence from both parties, we determined that the service
provider reasonably performed its obligations towards the customer and found no fault in its handling of
the issues brought forth.
Analysis Details
Issue 1: The customer’s complaint is that the service provider notifies or fails to notify the
customer of a substantial change to an agreement or terms which the customer considers to be
a breach of an existing agreement.
• The customer disputes a change in the contract relating to a rewards program.
• We reviewed the Wireless Code and note that section D. Changes to Contracts, does not apply
to pre-paid service. As such, we rely on the service provider’s Terms of Service to determine the
provider’s obligations.
• We reviewed the Terms of Service and note that the provider can make changes to the
agreement without notice. Changes will be posted on the service provider’s website and come
into effect no less than 30 days after the notice is posted.
• We note that by continuing to make use of the service, including by “topping up” the pre-paid
balance after the change has been posted to the service provider’s website, the customer
accepts the updated Terms of Service.
• We note that information about the change was posted to the service provider’s website on
March 6, 2024, and that the change took effect on May 1, 2024, more than 30 days after the
post.

• As such, we have determined that the provider has met its obligations by providing notice of a
change on its website more than 30 days in advance of the change.
Issue 2: The customer’s complaint is that the service provider did not apply promised credit(s),
discount(s) or refund(s).
• The customer disputes a change in their monthly price plan as a result of the removal of
discounts associated with a rewards program.
• We reviewed the terms of the rewards program and note that the provider reserves the right to
make changes to the rewards program without notice and at its sole discretion.
• As the discounts referred to in the complaint are part of the rewards program, the removal of
such discounts is also at the discretion of the service provider.
• As such, we have determined that the provider did not fail in its obligations by removing the
discounts associated with the now-discontinued rewards program.

[hTideGnow]

thanks for reporting back @Matty1234 

what was the exact reply from there? do you mind to post ?

[Matty1234]

Got my notice from CCTS that they accepted that Public can change the program as its a prepaid plan, disappointed but I moved onto Fizz a few months ago so I've voted with my money. 

Good luck to everyone who is sticking with Public 

[Dorcas2]

I just ported out to another provider to get a lower price because of Public Mobile terminating the old rewards program. Goodbye.

[Noybit]

At the bottom of your mobile app, you will see a rewards tab
Click on this and you will see available rewards according to how many points you currently have.
Check out the catalogue and look for Bill Credits. 
You need At Least 15 points to be able to apply a $15 credit to your bill - Again, keep in mind you need a minimum of 15 points!

[Noybit]

I feel the same way!