AutoPay

[ShadowWarrior]

Hello everybody,

I already have my auto pay sat up and I'm supposed to be charged today the fees for the next three months but I still can't see any charge in my bank account and in my PM account. 

Anybody is experiencing similar issue? 

I'm just being cautious here because I don't wanna lose my promotional plan of 12gb. 

Regards,

SW

[Korth]

---

@whurps wrote:

The biggest problem is that it doesn't appear to be consistent. Some users report no trouble at all, and others have had the same experience as myself (or worse). Is this going to be a recurring theme in my PM experience?

---

Agreed, it's not consistent and it's a serious flaw in the system - serious enough that it can ("consistently") affect the customer's phone service and money.  That's one of the reasons I left Virgin - they repeatedly (consistently!) kept overcharging me a phenomenal sum while also suspending my service, and kept on correcting it every month because I kept on complaining and get passed up the support tier until somebody actually looked at the billing, apologized, and fixed it.  What a waste of time, I have better things to do than wait on hold and tell my tale over and over again to the same people a few hours every month.  If this was also my experience with PM then I would leave PM.

Sad to say, but I think that if you're one of the unlucky lot who experiences issues every month then you can "consistently" expect to continue experiencing issues every month.  This is indeed a recurring problem, I have observed the same (few) people complain here to the mods about the same issues every time their billing cycle rolls around, yet apparently PM has not fixed the real problem.  Always ad-hoc stop-gap solutions, they're happy to move forward and correct problems whenever they arise, but they're seemingly unable to proactively prevent these same problems from recurring the next time around.

[gojomo]

@whurps How very frustrating for you! You're right though - it does appear to be inconsistent. I still get a message every month and hanging in the back of my head, I do wonder if this month I'll be one of the unlucky autopay members. It must have been a huge inconvenience to not have any service; you should probably alert a moderator of this (that you had to make a payment to get service again). Or at the very least if this should happen again next time, contact one before you pay again.  

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/Updated-Contacting-our-Community-Moder...

These glitches really ought to be fixed! 

[whurps]

@Korth, you provided a list of text messages you've received from PM - the only one I ever received relating to autopay/payment was on April 29th saying "...payment is due on May 02. If you're already on AutoPay... please ignore this message."

I am on autopay, so I ignored the message, and much like a number of other users, I woke up to suspended service this morning (and no further explanation). Fortunately I was able to figure out the problem, log-in to wifi once I got to work, and make a payment, but this is a serious flaw in the system.

The biggest problem is that it doesn't appear to be consistent. Some users report no trouble at all, and others have had the same experience as myself (or worse). Is this going to be a recurring theme in my PM experience?

Unless I'm mis-understanding how autopay works... isn't it just supposed to charge my credit card so that I don't need to log in and make a payment?

[srlawren]

@Picasso1 definitely sounds exceptional.  For most of us, auto pay works without issue, renewal after renewal.  Perhaps try reaching out to the moderator team to see if anything is misconfigured in your account in the back end?  Here's all the details you need for doing so:

How can you get help with your account, activation, or service?

• Please contact the Community Moderator Team to get gelp with you account.
• They are Public Mobile support employees who can help with your issue (More details).
• Click here to send them a private message.

In your message please include:

• PM Phone Number, 4 digit PIN, Account email address, Detailed explanation of your issue

Don't know your pin?--provide any 3 of the following:

• Complete mailing address, Email address, Alternate phone number, Date of birth, Last top up date & amount

How long until they reply?:

• Office Hours: Mon-Friday 9am to 9pm, and Saturday & Sunday from 9am to 7:30pm [Toronto Time].
• Messages are replied to during office hours, in the order in which they are received
• Typical response time is between 1-3 hours, depending on message queue, but can be up to 48 hours.
• There is no need to send multiple messages.

How can I view my private messages between myself and a Community Moderator?

• How to view and reply to your private messages

[Picasso1]

Well this is the 2nd time AutoPay has failed and ive had to manually renew my plan.

This will most likely be my final month with PM, as this mickey mouse mobile provider can't seem to get their autopay right and automatically renew my plan without interupption, This is the 2nd time in a row that my phone has been deactivated and I've had to log in or call in to make a payment. I am getting frustrated that I get these confusing texts from 611 (PM) to say thank you for autopay then 1 minute late my account has been suspended if on autopay ignore this message. well I tried to make a phone call and of course on my phone "Sorry you dont have an Active Plan" This is such BS. I'm thinking of going back to Bell. If this stupid mobile phone company that's owned by Telus cant get their billing system working properly.

At least this month my Data usage was more accurate than my first month. So next month if it fails again I wont renew, I'll switch providers.

[Korth]

Oh hey the OP was over half a year ago.  My bad.

[SD08]

---

@Korthwrote:

---

@SD08wrote: 

What other magic powers are granted to oracles, i wonder?  

---

You could always put yourself through Oracle Boot Camp to find out, lol.

---

@Korth

Haha, that was over a year ago.  By now, I'm well familiar with Oracular abilities.

Actually, I had the opportunity to attain those powers too, but in the end I decided it wasn't my time.

[Korth]

---

@benderamawrote:

Why doesn't PM:

- doesn't PM email when there has been an attempted charge? or a failed charge?

- doesn't PM authorize the charge 3 days prior to the end of the billing cycle?

- doesn't PM show the attempted and failed charges in the transaciton history?

PM should NOT disable the voicemail...

---

I've received all of the following "Public Mobile here ..." text messages:

"Just a heads up, your payment is due (in a few days)"

"Your payment is due tomorrow & there isn't enough money in your account to renew your plan"

"Your payment has been successfully added to your account"

"Congrats!  Rewards have been applied to your account ..."

"manual payment, please ignore this message"

"Thank you for your payment, your plan has been renewed!"

"Your plan did not renew because we did not receive your payment"

"You have used 75% of the data included in your service"

"You have used 95% of the data included in your service"

"Did you know Public Mobile has enhanced 911 services?" (they used to also brag about being "on Canada's largest 4G LTE network")

"For unresolved complaints about your telecom/wireless service, you can contact the CCTS"

But I wholeheartedly agree PM should provide options in Self-Serve to have billing- or account-related messages sent to email and/or to private messages in linked PM Community accounts.  These (and the Self-Serve portal) are always the first places customers go looking for answers when their phone service stops working.

Nothing can be done about suspended voicemail.  Voicemail service is only active while Talk service is active.  And all PM service is strictly prepaid.  Although your "suspended" voicemail might still work for a short time,

@Mary_Mwrote:

Here's another way to check your VM! Try calling your number from another phone, and reject the call. Once you hear your voicemail, simply press the star key (*) and enter your password - you will be able to access your voicemail 🙂

I hope this helps,

Mary

---

And you do have other voicemail options.  PM (like every other carrier) includes a "free" voicemail service with all their Talk plans but you can subscribe to other voicemail services.  Some of these are free (or at least "almost" free), others have their own small subscription costs, you can even buy voicemail-only services from other carriers (Bell, Fido, Freedom, etc), it's like renting a remote answering machine for about $2/month or $20/year.

Your phone automatically dials "voicemail" with PM's number (whatever that may be in each area) but you can usually override it with another voicemail number (or with any number at all, really) as you prefer.  Newer phones might be "smart" enough to easily switch between multiple voicemail services/numbers.

[Korth]

---

@SD08wrote: 

What other magic powers are granted to oracles, i wonder?  

---

You could always put yourself through Oracle Boot Camp to find out, lol.

[hongens]

Sorry my mistake.

[hongens]

Auto pay has changed from 3 months payment to 2 months payment at the same cost!!

[gojomo]

Indeed I will! 😉 Tie my hands together and bite on a stick! 

[wetcoaster]

---

@gojomowrote:

Thank you for these clarifications! I panicked when I saw the message in red on my account and manually paid up. It is odd that this should occur for all as a matter of course. I suspect my manual payment shouldn't affect my next autopay and I hope the monthly reward will show up in the next day or so. As a program, it's strange this glitch has not been corrected. 

---

😉 Just stay away from your account around renewal time (date under the rewards tab in your self serve account).

Assuming you are on auto pay you only need to react if your service is down.

[boywithnoname]

It's understandable that one would be panicked when seeing the process in action. Hopefully everything worked our for you @gojomo

[CS_Agent]

Hello ShadowWarrior and gojomo,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

In order to assist you with the Autopay concern, please send us a private message.

Cheers

Abdoulaye

[gojomo]

Thank you for these clarifications! I panicked when I saw the message in red on my account and manually paid up. It is odd that this should occur for all as a matter of course. I suspect my manual payment shouldn't affect my next autopay and I hope the monthly reward will show up in the next day or so. As a program, it's strange this glitch has not been corrected. 

[boywithnoname]

Thanks @srlawren. It was my first autopay since switching over to Public Mobile back in September. So far I am enjoying Public Mobile 🙂 

[srlawren]

Glad all worked out, @boywithnoname!

[boywithnoname]

My auto pay/renewal went through smoothly andI just received a text from Public Mobile that the renewal for my 90 days was completed. 

Thanks for the advice @srlawren. I guess I just wanted to see what the whole renewal process looked like on the actual self serve page in my account 😉 

[srlawren]

---

@boywithnoname wrote:

Thanks for outlining what to expect to see in my online account during the auto pay process. I'll keep an eye on my service for my first auto pay experience with Public Mobile 

---

@boywithnoname quite honestly, the community recommends that you completely ignore your account during your renewal process.  As long as your phone calls and/or texts and/or data (depending on your various plan selections of course) keep flowing, please completely ignore your self-serve account and carry on with other things in your life.  You'll be happier for it.  🙂

[boywithnoname]

Thanks for outlining what to expect to see in my online account during the auto pay process. I'll keep an eye on my service for my first auto pay experience with Public Mobile 

[ShadowWarrior]

Late reply but my service has been restored after using prepaid cards sold at the market. It seems that the system blocked my card after repeated attempts of payments. 

But now is all in order and working smoothly. 

[benderama]

My wife's account was fixed after I made the payment but there's no indication in the transaction history to show any attempt let alone failed attempts.

There's also no indication that the service was cut off so she didn't realize her phone calls were being redirected to voicemail. Then when she checked, her voicemail was deactivated.

She has service now but I'll always be apprehensive about it especially for my mother and wife.

[srlawren]

@benderama sorry to hear about this experience.  Are you back up and running now?  If not, please see the two links at the bottom of this reply for info on how to private message a moderator for assistance.

Your ideas are pretty good.  If you have a moment, could you please suggest them in the Public Lab?  

[benderama]

Okay, so here's an update, and I'll be a bit blunt. The current system is atrocious.

I was going to try a manual payment when I got home today but urgently needed to call my wife (said problem phone) but it went to directly to voicemail. Hmm.... this is a major problem as it was to discuss about picking up the kids from daycare. I left her a voicemail but it turns out that she was not able to check voicemails as per the error message stating her account was not active. Luckily things worked out, but today my child was sick, and we needed to co-ordinate the pickup of both children. If the voicemail was for her to pickup the other child, social services would have been called for an extremly late pickup.

Why doesn't PM:

- doesn't PM email when there has been an attempted charge? or a failed charge?

- doesn't PM authorize the charge 3 days prior to the end of the billing cycle?

- doesn't PM show the attempted and failed charges in the transaciton history?

PM should NOT disable the voicemail... I find it very negligent and fraught with liability considering the buggy billing system. Not sure what else to say.

Until the next failed autopayent. Stay safe.

[SD08]

@benderama

PM's billing system sometimes has trouble accepting the same credit card for more than 2 accounts.  When that happens, sometimes multiple attempts at adding the card to the account can succeed. Some things to try (alone or in combination) when adding the card:
-clear your browser cache
-use private/incognito browsing mode
-turn off pop-up/ad blockers
-use a different browser
*If making payment, be sure to check your credit card account after each attempt to avoid double charge.

If none of that works, use a different credit card if available. Or you can buy PM vouchers from various retailers.

Otherwise, you'll need a moderator's help to get the credit card onto your account. You should send a private message with your account phone number and the card info. How to contact moderators:
http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/Updated-Contacting-our-Community-Modera...

[benderama]

So, when I thought everything was fine with autopay, my wife tells me that she recieved a weird text about PM autopay issues.

Well, since I had all 3 lines in the household, I just logged in and sure enough, her account seems to be suspended.

My plan autorenewed earlier this month without issues. I have the same credit card on her account as mine. I'm at a loss...

Do I pay off the balance, do I contact PM, or do I try to setup autopay again and let it... well, autopay?

Just odd that in the transaction history, there's no transaction history. If there's an attempted charge or a failed charged, it would be nice to know?

Your account has been suspended. Make a payment to reactivate your current plan.

• Amount due to top-up your previous plan $109.00
• Plan Expiry Date: Mar 25, 2017
• Account Deactivation Date: Apr 25, 2017
• Current Balance: $11.00

Under transaction history, I only see this:

Date Transaction TypeCredit (Payments)Debit (Charges)Balance

Mar 26, 2017

AutoPay Reward

$6.00

$11.00

[benderama]

Yes, the autopay did work.

The way the system may need to be rephrased. The day before the autopayment, your account says the plan is expired AND your account is suspended and requests a payment. I just think it would be helpful for the system to suppress those other messages if an autopayment is enabled.

On the positive side, the support ticket system AND the response time has vastly improved! I received a response in a timely manner.

[jotty]

Hi all,

Thank you for the support. I inbox msged one of the moderators and they emailed me back and solved the issue for me. Everything is finally working 🙂

[srlawren]

@benderama, @jotty is everything okay on its own this morning?  Unless your phone service actually stops working, this is completely normal and nothing to be alarmed by.