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

[marcnoel]

Assuming $ 15.00 is the lowest-priced plan, maximum loss is $ 5.42/month, averaged over a year.  With taxes, approximately 20¢ a day.  Only way it could be more is if a subscriber loses some referrals because of the switch.

[Ausgirl1]

I started at $15/month and was down to $10 + tax. Just got my first bill and it’s back to $15+tax. So we lose any benefit for being long time customer. Some “deal”. We should have been given an option to keep our old plan.

[funpig1]

I compare the termination of the legacy awards to wrongful dismissal of employment.

In both situations, there is a termination of a relationship. In both cases, there should be reasonable notice given and a form of severance or compensation in lieu of reasonable notice.  The longer the relationship, the longer the notice should be or more compensation in lieu of notice.

PM appeared to recognize this obligation by offering the $1 per month as a severance package for existing legacy reward customers.

PM misled all legacy rewards customers to believe that PM could not or would not terminate the rewards relationship unless the customer willingly chose to accept the severance compensation. Many legacy customers did the math and decided that it would be better to remain in the legacy rewards relationship. 

IMO, PM should have given all existing legacy customers reasonable notice that PM was going to withdraw the $1 per month severance and proceed with the termination of the legacy rewards relationship whether a customer agreed or not. This would have given all existing customers a chance to accept the severance and mutually terminate legacy rewards relationship.

Instead, without any reasonable notice, PM terminated the $1 per month loyalty compensation and abruptly announced that the the legacy rewards relationship would be terminated unilaterally by PM.

Many customers were caught by surprise and are rightfully aggrieved.  At its worse, this was bad faith on the part of PM. At the very least, it was bad marketing.

[nicknamessuck]

I have a prepay phone plan instead of automatic billing and as a result I received a text message from Pubic Mobile that partway through says "Starting in June, the amount you will need to add to your account may vary from previos months. To avoid service disruptions, we recommend visiting My Account online or the app to check your estimated upcoming payment amount and make sure you have enough funds for a successful payment."

Translated from corporate speak to english it means "We are taking away your loyalty discount and since your prepay and not automatic top up your going to notice the price increase immediately and we hope your going to just spend more money and not leave to find a better provider even though we are literally killing off our customer loyalty rewards program."

[RNk6xib2]

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@Community_QA_ wrote:

The number didn't drop at all this year, it maintains close to  5500 activations per month.  And this month and they are going to finish with the most activations in recent history, going to break 6000 activations

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Soooooo, the reason they forced me onto new point system is what?? If they're getting 5500 activations per month do they REALLY need my $10/30 days or can they just let me rot away in my little $5/30day corner?

Anyway, I'm on freedom now, just logged in one last time to check out the comments and try and close my community account. byee

[marcnoel]

Thanks for this.

Something to consider is - if the introduction of Points turned out to be a mistake, one would think that it would have shown up in the 28 months before the switch.  If so, then PM probably would have revised or gotten rid of it.  As per the info you posted, obviously, newcomers thought Points were good enough, combined with plan offerings.

So now, those of us who were on Rewards, are in-line with new customers.  Personally, I'm glad I got 28 months of extra discounts by remaining on Rewards, but now, the extra is gone, and now it's just regular discounting.  It was a privilege, not a right, as evidenced by the CCTS saying that PM was within their rights to change things.  It is prudent to keep in mind this sort of thing in future, regardless of the product or service, knowing that the seller may change things.  Accepting that enables you to take advantage of whatever current pricing they offer.  What's the alternative?  To never buy anything from anyone again, in case they change things in future?

[Jenvin1]

Great. I am happy it worked for you as well 

[Community_QA_]

This thread die down a lot since last time I logged in.  Probably those who are extremely angry have left, those angry but not quite are in the hold and see mode and not going to contribute more

I know many have left or convinced others to leave and hope to give pressure to Public Mobile.  I have discussed why PM decided to pull the trigger this year and why it actually the right timing for Telus.   

Today, I just want to come back with some facts, good news for PM but sad news for those who thought they could push PM.  PM has been doing better than ever in this year with new activations, especially in the last 3 months.  The increase is largely to the widely popular Canada/US plan as well as the reasonable mid range plan (like $29/40GB)

Last year, before summer, Public Mobile only managed to have around 2000-2500 new activations per month.  But the brand turn around during summer months with the introduction of VoLTE and eSIM.   July to Sept was around 4000 new activations per month

Thanksgiving and Christmas (Nov and Dec) had around 5000 activations per month

The number didn't drop at all this year, it maintains close to  5500 activations per month.  And this month and they are going to finish with the most activations in recent history, going to break 6000 activations

Sorry, i don't have the number to the account cancellations.  Those are harder to get.  But with a solid 16000+ activations since announcing the end of the legacy reward, it is hard to believe the "mass" cancellation would be anywhere close to that number at all 

So, those were winning months for PM. 

[maurelle]

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@jhhead wrote:

Thanks for sharing. I had replied YES 5 days ago and was waiting for something to show up. Here is screenshots confirming that those on the $15 plan offer to the $21 3GB 4G plan will get the option to change to $57 ($19/month) 90 day plan 😎

 After pressing and confirming the 90 day subscription:

 

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Thank you for sharing this.

I think it's worth noting that this is only available in the app, and only if the plan change confirmation actually shows up in your account.* Anyone like me, who exclusively logs in through the browser on laptop / desktop for whatever reason, are missing out on the 90day option if they got the text offer and simply replied YES.

* Yes, replying yes to the text offer is no guarantee that you actually get the confirmation in the account. Meaning that account holder doesn't have a leg to stand on with the CSA if the change fails.

[Dunkman]

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@rogue17a wrote:

Same happened to me, Now paying $28.25. Time to jump ship

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@rogue17a 

Are you on the $25  1GB 3G plan?  

If so, you may want to look at switching to the unadvertised new $19 plan for 1 GB LTE data available to existing PM customers.  It is available to existing customers in their self service account.  Then your price would be similar to before with legacy rewards (ie. autopay and loyalty)

[Nandi77]

Time to say buy to here and join with better service with same price.

[rogue17a]

Same happened to me, Now paying $28.25. Time to jump ship

[marcnoel]

Good stuff!

[xw007]

same here, I used to have $8 credit on each payment which converts to 7.25 point per payment now. And cannot use the points until it accumulates to 15 points! 

[marcnoel]

I don't think you can compare the two plans, regarding payment amount.

Separately, if you WERE paying $ 5.00 on a $ 15.00 plan, then it seems you had three referrals and/or Community.  Assuming referrals,  they should show up.  Mine did just before my plan re-newed five days ago.  Add into that. 75 Points for 5% back, and .83 Points per month for loyalty, and you have an average of $ 4.58 per month in Points, bringing your plan price down to $ 10.52.  Yes, it's higher than before, but probably cheaper than what else is out there, where you would have to start at the beginning.

[jhhead]

Thanks for sharing. I had replied YES 5 days ago and was waiting for something to show up. Here is screenshots confirming that those on the $15 plan offer to the $21 3GB 4G plan will get the option to change to $57 ($19/month) 90 day plan 😎

 After pressing and confirming the 90 day subscription:

 

[marcnoel]

Thanks.  I didn't mean you to clarify, but PM to clarify that 90 days was an option when sending out the offer, so that a person would know immediately, vs. having to accept the offer, and take a chance that 90 days is available.

[Jenvin1]

Not sure what you want me to clarify.  I received an offer via text for a 3gb 4G plan for $21/month.  There was no  option to chose the 90 days plan at $57 in that text (like it is offered to new customers).  I took a chance and said YES and after 3 days the new plan showed up in my account as upcoming plan with a 90 days plan option and 9gb data.

Like I said before, this offer is perhaps sent out to only existing customers with $15 plans.  PM will never make offer if a plan is a downgrade from your current plan.  Why they would?  It does not make any business sense.

I hope this clarifies your question.

[marcnoel]

I just realized that, if you're on a 90-day plan that gives you all the data up-front, it's kind of like rollover data.  For example, you could get 20 per month, use 3, and lose 17 after 30 days, but, if you have access to the entirety for 90 days, then, after 3 used in the first 30 days, you'd still have 57 left for 60 days.  Granted you lose any remainder when the plan re-news, but still better than losing the balance every month.  Every day that goes by without average expected use means more left over for later.

[Radiant1]

Emphasis on the: “subject to change “….

[marcnoel]

This is what RNk6xib2 posted earlier, the response from CCTS.

[NUY]

Hello, I have two numbers with Public Mobile and my price was $19 and $22, but since March $28.25 for each number.Please do the price adjustment ASAP.Thank you

[G_Pomzz]

You can file a complaint with the CCTS. That's what a lot of us are doing who saw their monthly payment increase.

[Radiant1]

Still waiting to see the referral discounts to show up, since my renewal was May 20. PM charged me full price with no discounts. With this gone, and loyalty bonus gone, there is really nothing holding me back from trying other providers. At least I have the ‘Freedom’ to do this… pardon the double entente. 😉

[AlienRenders]

So I used to be on the $8 plan and was paying $2/month. They removed it and I was grandfathered in. But decided to switch to the $15 plan because I like unlimited text. I was paying $5/month. Now I'm paying $15/month. My bill is now triple what it used to be. WTF? And it's 7.5x what I was paying under the older plan.

[hTideGnow]

HI @Radiant1 

you didn't lose your referrals.  The $7 will show up as 7 points after renewal.  You just need to check Rewards transaction within 1 or 2 days after renewal

[Radiant1]

True, the loyalty credit was 5 dollars a month for me… so it WAS 60 dollars a year. But now with the new and improved point system, you get a whopping 10 points a year. Meaning a net loss of 50 dollars a year. No wonder most did not volunteer to switch. I’ve also lost all my referrals. If you read between PM’s lines: “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” , “continuously evolve” actually means “make more profits from”. 
Time to start shopping around. 

[marcnoel]

You DO get 10 Points on your anniversary date, 5% back from payments, and Referrals/Community remain the same.

[marcnoel]

Great news that you got the $ 57.00/90-day option!  In comparison to the old $ 25.00 1 GB 3G plan, that's a 24% decrease in price, and a 200% increase in data.

It would be appreciated if they would clarify the 90-day option when first offering, so as to alleviate apprehension or anxiety on the customer's part.  This whole switch ordeal has been bad enough.

[Jenvin1]

I was the one who got a text offer of $21/month for 3GB data at 4G and was wondering if I could switch to 90 day plan at $19/month that was available for new customers.  Since the offer said the new plan will be activated at next renewal and I had more than 20 days left in current subscription, I replied YES knowing that I could cancel at any time before renewal date activation.  That was 3 days ago and today to my surprise the new plan showed up on my account as upcoming plan with $19/month for 90 days option to select.  I wasted no time to select that option, so my plan will be renewed at $57 for 90 days.  I am happy with this development though initially I was thinking to port out to Freedom Mobile but was a little hesitant about reliability of their coverage as compared to PM.

I am sure many of existing customers who were on $15 plan and paying half of that amount may have received similar offer but they are not active here in the community forum.  But if you were on a higher plan, you may not get this offer as PM will not want you to downgrade the subscription.

I hope this helps those who have received similar text offer and wondering like me if they would have the option to select 90 days plan.