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

[Dunkman]

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@G_Pomzz wrote:

 Okay, so same price as Freedom and Public Mobile, so why switch? 

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@G_Pomzz 

Lucky mobile does not offer US roaming.  If that is important to your needs.  

[mikasik2]

Did we get our rewards back yet?

[VMTighe]

Interesting that PM censors these forums deleting any posts which speak to the utter contempt for this betrayal. People have been loyal to you PM and now you're going to trample on that goodwill.... CCTS has taken my complaint on, PM has made an initial response, and I plan to take it as far as I can. Similar to others, the program transcended one of 'loyalty' to that of compensation or a contract for building a subscriber base with the offer of a lower cost plan.... the years of tenure bonus is included in that consideration with a long term commitment to this company both personally and with the trust and goodwill spent to bring family and friends over to PM. I'm left with no words but 'disgusting' to describe the greed and betrayal. This is effectively a massive increase to the contract cost of a monthly plan to many people. CCTS has taken it on but they are limited in power (effectively none) -- the CRTC needs to hear from us as well. This isn't just the loss or amendment of a loyalty program - a 'business operation' that PM is justified in changing but rather a significantly larger consideration for the effort and costs many incurred to establish themselves with a lower cost plan. 

[Mike-B]

Yes, only calling. This is not better for people that have roaming. But if you don't use a lot of data 29$ for 25GB is a pretty good deal. Just posting options.

[G_Pomzz]

In that PC plan is it just calls from Canada to the USA or free roaming in the USA like Public Mobile?

Free USA roaming is important to me. 

[Mike-B]

PC Mobile

$29.00/mo

5G

20 GBIncluded Data
25 GBTotal data including auto top-up bonus*
Unlimited Calls Canada-wide and to the US

Canada & International text, picture and video messages from Canada

Call Display, 3-Way Calling, Voicemail, Call Waiting and Call Forwarding

Up to 10% of the value of every Top-Up in PC Optimum™ points

Earn 20,000 PC Optimum™ points after 2 months of service

[Mike-B]

Not everyone jumped onto that plan. You can also go to PC mobile

$34
.00/mo

5G

50 GBIncluded Data
55 GBTotal data including auto top-up bonus*
Unlimited Calls Canada-wide and to the US

Canada & International text, picture and video messages from Canada

Call Display, 3-Way Calling, Voicemail, Call Waiting and Call Forwarding

Up to 10% of the value of every Top-Up in PC Optimum™ points

Earn 20,000 PC Optimum™ points after 2 months of service

[fixin]

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@Mike-B wrote:

Currently public doesn't offer 5GB of bonus data and USA calling.

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@Mike-B - Yeah, but the third tier carriers just got into big data plans about a year ago. Plus I got myself a sweet tea plan for US roaming when it was available. $34 for 50GB Canada - US. Calling also works. Been Rick-Rolling myself on it and always getting the LD charges may apply. 🙂

You can quickly abolish 1/3 of that with the points system with 1000 US LD minutes for 10 points.

[Mike-B]

Currently public doesn't offer 5GB of bonus data and USA calling.

[elitelink98]

Disappointed to hear this and, unfortunately, a one-time data add on (that will expire) isn't going to make up for it. I've been a loyal customer for several years and was not happy when the data add-ons were given an expiry date. This just keeps going to show me that Public Mobile isn't interested in retaining long term customers like myself.

[G_Pomzz]

 Okay, so same price as Freedom and Public Mobile, so why switch? 

[Mike-B]

Lucky mobile thru Costco

Unlimited Canada-wide & US Talk Plan + 50GB at 4G Speeds

Bonus
Get 5 GB of bonus data every month with Automatic Top-Up

https://mobility.costco.ca/en/lucky-mobile-rate-plans/plan/16037/unlimited-canada-wide-us-talk-plan-...

[Mike-B]

https://mobility.costco.ca/en/lucky-mobile-rate-plans/plan/16037/unlimited-canada-wide-us-talk-plan-...

[4mpersand]

Thanks, but that doesn’t answer most of my questions about the transition itself. It appears that users are being moved to the new system without any of the preexisting transition bonuses. It is also unclear regarding what happens to already consumed bonus data if we downgrade plans during the 150 days: ie if we use 20gb in the first month and downgrade our plan for the remaining 120 days, will we be on the hook for paying for that data we are no longer eligible for, or will it be considered a wash and simply be cut off as of the date of the cheaper plan taking effect?

[Dunkman]

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@ziggyp31 wrote:

Hi all.

 Sorry for what is probably a silly question, but how do I cancel my plan? Do I simply stop paying and it automatically cancels? I do not see the actual option. I am planning to cancel at the end of my billing cycle and am unsure how. I have had Public Mobile forever and have no idea how to simply end my subscription. 

 Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

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@ziggyp31 

PM changes don't happen in May, so you don't need to make a decision right away. You can do some research to see which options would meet your needs better. 

If you want to keep your phone number, you can port your PM number to another company and that would close your PM account.  Or if you don't want to keep your present number, you can turn off your subscription (turn off preauthorized payments).  Once your account is suspended more than 90 days, you account will be permanently closed and number lost.  

[ziggyp31]

Hi all.

 Sorry for what is probably a silly question, but how do I cancel my plan? Do I simply stop paying and it automatically cancels? I do not see the actual option. I am planning to cancel at the end of my billing cycle and am unsure how. I have had Public Mobile forever and have no idea how to simply end my subscription. 

 Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[mc60]

Its disappointing that they hamfisted this through despite the backlash.

It seems that most people I know received far less than the 240GB initially mentioned. I only got 5GB. Oh well, brings the termination date closer for all the accounts under my management. My colleagues will be leaving as well.

Public mobile is not even competitive anymore with all the missing features and phone whitelists and system glitches. We live with it due to the price, but not anymore.

Cheers

[fixin]

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@RetiredGuy1 wrote:

@IanP 

First, I believe there is no such thing as a stupid question throughout a life long journey to learn!

From reading forums on sites such as RedFlagDeals and Reddit, I’ve seen people have success in having new activation fees waived and getting free sim cards. With prices so competitive, I doubt you will get cost adjustments and I’ve never heard of a competitor honouring accumulated data so thats pretty much a no-go.

Don’t feel bad. Many, many years ago when I bought my first laptop, after installing Windows from a floppy disk, I spent a long time staring at the keyboard looking for the “any” key to continue 🤣

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@RetiredGuy1 - Usually they will waive the fee if they feel generous or for a Win-Back offer.

But haha! That's funny! 🤣

[RetiredGuy1]

@IanP 

First, I believe there is no such thing as a stupid question throughout a life long journey to learn!

From reading forums on sites such as RedFlagDeals and Reddit, I’ve seen people have success in having new activation fees waived and getting free sim cards. With prices so competitive, I doubt you will get cost adjustments and I’ve never heard of a competitor honouring accumulated data so thats pretty much a no-go.

Don’t feel bad. Many, many years ago when I bought my first laptop, after installing Windows from a floppy disk, I spent a long time staring at the keyboard looking for the “any” key to continue 🤣

[hTideGnow]

HI @IanP 

do you mean if PM price matches other?  No, they don't

if you mean if anyone price match PM, possible.  Or more like they might have similar price or able to give you a one time credit/discount

[IanP]

I was always told there was no such thing as a stupid question!

But here is one anyway.

Does anyone know if any competitor price matches like stores do? Cost and accumulated data bonuses?

Have 270 gb , wife has 290gb.

I know know, I am an idiot for asking but maybe you got a chuckle out of it. A bit of light hearted humor to a depressing subject 😉

[Public_Cust_17]

@JohnDoe3  the price I've paid since last March on my 5 year anniversary has been exactly that, $8 +tax (I have no referrals because most people want someone to talk to if they're having issues). 

As for that package being being shown to be sustained package.. I'm sure PM will just say they were losing money on it when rewards were applied.

[Public_Cust_17]

@Robbwell  I switched down to that plan a long time ago and when I did I paid an extra $5 for 500 minutes to use as a backup in case my outgoing minutes did exceed 100 minutes in a month. Incoming minutes are free on that plan so as long as you're good for accumulated data.. this plan can work quite easily for someone.  Cheers

[PCIrish]

I would agree with that thought, as well.  To me, that's the only rationale that makes sense of what they've done to "honour" their loyal subjects.

[wetcoaster]

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@Stelawrat wrote:

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@wetcoaster wrote:

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@Stelawrat wrote:

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@PrettyFly wrote:

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That's what I thought as well. I imagine that VoLTE whitelist isn't current & @PrettyFly's phone might actually be VoLTE accessible with PM. Highlighting for the powers that be at PM. 

Re: phones not listed on whitelists in general: this is a grey area for me, so I'm not advocating either way. I tend to follow the rules, 😐 so trying to bypass the norm, isn't something I'd be comfortable messing around with, not to mention, I'm not tech savvy enough to be messing around anyway! 😛 But I realize that there are lots of people, who are more than capable & @PrettyFly might be one of them, if they decide to remain with PM. 

Thank you @wetcoaster!  & a nod to @fixin   

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"Follow the rules"?? "Bypassing the norm"?? Wowza! So limiting your choice to 5 manufacturers and something like less than 3 dozen acceptable devices spanning three years or so, is great and should be the rule? Incidentially all whitelisted devices are/were upper mid-range pricing and up. So lets all follow the norm and make sure that nobody spends less than a four figure amount on their next phone? Preferably planned obsolatism is bricking those devices in 14-18 months too? 

PM is pure BYOD these days. Whitelisting is designed to keep afffordable phones from other manufacturers, or, heaven forbid, someone using an international version, away. It is anti-competitive behavior that IMHO is not ok at any provider but is outright ridiculous for a BYOD-only provider.

It should be really simple: If the phone has the proper technology (ie it's VoLTE capable) let it use it on the network (ie connect to VoLTE). Put a disclaimer on the compatibility list indicating that PM is not able to help troubleshoot problems on non-mainstream devices. 

[RetiredGuy1]

@JohnDoe3 

From my research online, the sustainabilty of the current PM business model is difficult to determine (if not impossible unless you’re a Telus insider) because Telus annual reports don’t breakdown financial data at the flanker brand levels. They’re all rolled up into Telus-level financial statements.

It is quite possible (or likely) that, at Telus’ level - PM was a loss leader strategy which has now served its purpose. Otherwise, why change the rewards model and force legacy subscribers to either pay more for the plan they already have or leave to a competitor? For the latter its quite apparent - they don’t care. 

Please understand - I’m not defending Telus whatsoever but just expressing what I believe may be their motive behind the changes. Given PM is a 3rd-tier, no-frills telecom, their clientele likely consists of a fair portion of those “working hard to join the middle class”. Unfortunately, today that group is usually the most to suffer when things change.

[hTideGnow]

HI @4mpersand 

this might be the page you are looking for

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/move-to-public-points

[4mpersand]

I submitted a ticket. I still don’t understand why Public can’t make the contents of an email a public post on their website for ease of access given so many others are also missing key details regarding this transition. Whether or not people are in favour of the change, this is terrible customer service.

[G_Pomzz]

I received a response from CCTS with regards to my complaint against PM over losing my rewards and being forced to adopt the points system. The attached screenshot is actually PM's rebuttal to my complaint. Now I just wait & see if CCTS agrees with me or PM. I do not expect it to go in my favor. It's more about formally showing a disdain for their arbitrary changes. If PM has to answer to thousands of these complaints, they may "possibly" (but unlikely) as good corporate citizen, relent and let long term customers choose the rewards program they want.