Account no longer exists. Please advise.

[jawong]

Hi,

Yesterday I ported my PB number to a different service provider and now I no longer have access to my PB self-serve account.  It says login has been disabled.  Shortly after, I sent an email regarding this issue to PB through the Contact Us page by clicking on the "Email away" button and choosing My Account->Passwords->I have a question related to my PIN or password" as instructed.

24 hours later, I have not received an email response from PB.  Furthermore, my username (email) for the self-serve is no longer valid.  The login credentials I used before comes up as "Sorry, your login attempt failed. Please try again."  So I used the Forgot Password option and my username (email) is not recognized.

Please note that I had paid for service until the end of November. (90 day pass)

I have escalated this issue to my credit card company and they gave me PB's customer service number which is 1-855-478-2542.  I was unable to talk to a PB representative because I don't have an existing PB number anymore and was forced to hang up due to automation.

Currently, I am looking for an explanation or a resolution before I officially request a cancellation of service and a partial refund and have my credit card company conduct an investigation.

Thanks.

[CoderAndrew]

How did you not forsee your account being disabled when you ported your number out?

How did you see things happening?

They would somehow assign your calling/texting/data to a phone with no number, or they would somehow assign you a new number?

Use your head man. All the carriers work this way. When you port your number, they cancel your account. This is a well known fact.

[imm1304]

At the bottom of page, under "Get Help" you can click on "Contact Us"

Or click here:  https://publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help

Then click through the options that apply to you and hit next until you reach textbox where you can type your email message.  

Remember to enter the phone number you ported out and also your PM account number.  

[imm1304 · Accepted solution]

When you port your number out, its the one way to actually cancel this account with immediate effect.  I wish you knew this before you ported the number.

This is one tricky situation with prepaid service.  You can be more careful in future after learning from this experience.

For now, please write to PM by clicking on the "Contact Us" link and briefly explain that you wanted to keep service, but on a new number and didn't know that porting the previous number would cancel the account.  Tell them that you meant to sign back into self serve and choose a new phone number for your PM account.  See what they say.  Keep in mind that PM usually reply to emails within 2 days.  Post any update here for us to know also.  My best wishes are with you.  

[jawong]

And I wanted to keep the number that I got from PM.  Is it worth the $70 dollars that I forfeited and the discontinuation of service?  Maybe.

Thank you for your response.  You both have been quite helpful. 

Lastly, how do I go about emailing PM about this issue?

[jawong]

Because I paid for 90 days of service.  Why wouldn't I want to use it?  I just wanted to use a different number in lieu of the old one and still be able to keep the service going.

[imm1304]

I am curious, why did you port the number out if you wanted to continue using PM service?  

If there is a misunderstanding, then write about it properly to public mobile by email.  They will sort it out for you if they can.  

[imm1304]

What is the reason for you not getting the service you paid for?

It sounds like you paid for the pre-paid 90-day pass.  Then, you decided to move to a different company.  Was your PM phone line working when you ported?  I am simply trying to help you... by making sure that you were not victim of a system error resulting in no service despite making payment.  

[jawong]

Bottomline is I am not getting the service that I paid for.  And I didn't choose to deactivate my account nor did I forsee that happening.

[imm1304]

Hey @jawong, its Public Mobile.. PM would be more appropriate short form.  

As @Martin said, your account is deactivated automatically when you port your number out.  This is not specific to PM, its the same general practice with all companies.  This is why you can't sign into your account anymore.  You already officially requested cancellation of your PM account when you ported your PM phone number out to a different service provider.  

As you know, PM is a prepaid service.  Money you paid is non-refundable.  This is also universal practice with prepaid service providers.  Unfortunately, you won't be able to get a partial refund.  

The only thing you could have done differently is to actually use most of the 90 days of service before you ported out.  One scenario where you may be able to ask for a refund is if you never got the service you paid for due to errors on PM's system.  

[Martin]

Hello,

When you ported your number to another carrier, your Public Mobile account was automatically deactivated, and all monies in it permanently forfeited to Public Mobile.