Autopay subscriber account suspended & expired without permission. Cannot call or receive calls.

[Northborealis]

I am enrolled in Auto-pay with charges posted 11th of each month and my credit card charged normatively then the next day on the 12th of each month.  Yesterday (August 13th, 0900hrs pacific time) I discovered that my phone will not permit me to place calls, and I noted that my Account Status states "plan expired".  Attempting to use my phone triggers a recorded response suggesting that the call cannot be completed because I do not have an active plan on account and indicating I need to reactivate by making a payment. 

Suspect this is an artifact issue associated with the scheduled August 12-13 maintenance. No text message forewarning of service interruption, nor anything about alleged payment due. No service day-3 now. No response from moderator team to query. Issue was clearly triggered by PM action and not the customer.

This type of service-interruption is potentially putting PM subscribers at risk from a variety of perspectives including personal safety.  From a fair business practices perspective, Autopay subscribers in particular should not be confronted with such business reliability incidents because they have provided PM organization/Telus with advance credit-card authorization rather specifically to assure continuity of service convenience without interruption. Nor should such Autopay subscribers be exposed to receiving auto-generated "account suspended" or "account expired" messaging when an Auto-pay election is active.  I anticipate the CRTC would share this view. 

Lacking rationale or response on any immediate resolution for my personal account status, and the broader action plan to correct Public Mobile internal operating system to prevent such events in the future for their wider customers. Time to move on to a reliable competitor with direct-line voice-to-voice support.

[Luddite]

@Northborealis Does seem maintenance impacted your renewal. PM did have a daft announcement recommending a one time payment be made before midnight, but how many folks check the Community announcements regularly - maybe 500?

Anyway, good to hear you have service. Perhaps consider an account with fongo.com for backup; it allows me to worry less.

[Northborealis · Accepted solution]

LOL....love the Rat Rod / Mercedes analogy ...very appropriate.  And I concur ....some very nice Rat Rods out there.  You offer very good preventative advice to prevent heart-ache and more costly time loss relying on the Auto-pay function going forward. 

I gained connection today eventually via a very accommodating moderator who chased a resolve and some re-sets from his side of the world .....(basically a manual pay over-ride) ....and one where "they" initiated the correction rather than me ....so am back in communicado.  Their internal system suggested my card-payment was declined on the due date for funds deficiency, but a check on credit-card account status for that timeframe suggests substantive balance remained to cover the PM account fee (...and thus an error in their causal ID) ....and I pointed out that charge/payments normally trigger at midnight from past practice ...in this case coincidentally (?) on midnight of the same day (Aug11) that Aug 12-13th PM maintenance schedule initiated.  So I sense something failed at PM systems end (all "water under the fridge" now).  Appreciate your advice nonetheless Geopublic ...it brings a certain calm logic in an alternative strategy to perhaps avoid an otherwise disappointing circumstance.  Cheers..

[sulagok]

@NorthborealisI totally feel you and agreed with you. Similar situation had occured to my wife's account in the last 2 consecutive months and to be sincere, it's no fun at all, trying to contact m wife and she trying to call out and everything became stuck, tha't really scary on the safety aspect.

What I've done in those 2 situations (as can presume that might be the problem since I know the date the plan suppose to reset) is just logged on to her account and added funds which then re-activated the line immediately. Imagine you don't have that luxury......

Moderators need to look into this situation as a matter of urgency.

[geopublic]

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@Northborealis wrote:

Thank you geopublic for taking the time to review and unpackage this thinking through causal factors/solutions.  Nothing works ...outgoing calls, texting, data.  Selfserve acount reveals no payment processing occurring in August (except an auto-reward credit for Auto-pay).  30-days ...month-to-month ....the dates are sorta not relevant here.  Whether this is a technical AutoPay processing glitch by one PM department (or system)...or a technical Auto-renewal of service (service connectivity continuity) matter, ....neither issue should be borne by the customer who has extended courtesy of payment continuity promise through advance credit card authorization.  Smells like questionable business systems integrity or design issues at outset.

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@Northborealis  As I mentioned in a previous post think of Telus as a Mercedes, Koodo is a Toyota and PM as a Rat Rod put together of hand-me-downs and old discarded parts. Mind you there are some Rat Rods that cost more than a Ferrari but sadly PM is not one of those.

So in order for me to survive I set a reminder every 30 days, 4 days before my plan expires and make a one-time payment into my account using the cc on file to cover the cost of my plan minus any rewars and/or credits. The reason I do this is because when using the one-time cc payment feature I get immediate feedback if there is a problem with my cc. I also prefer it because the payment goes instantly into my account funds and I have 4 days to resolve any issues if I need to message a moderator.

Once renewal occurs the data counter gets reset, rewards and credits get applied and processed and the system takes the remainder amount from my account funds and processes the renewal without having to use the AutoPay Rat Rod. 

Works well for me so far and I'm not changing it.

[kselmak]

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@Northborealis wrote:

Thank you geopublic for taking the time to review and unpackage this thinking through causal factors/solutions.  Nothing works ...outgoing calls, texting, data.  Selfserve acount reveals no payment processing occurring in August (except an auto-reward credit for Auto-pay).  30-days ...month-to-month ....the dates are sorta not relevant here.  Whether this is a technical AutoPay processing glitch by one PM department (or system)...or a technical Auto-renewal of service (service connectivity continuity) matter, ....neither issue should be borne by the customer who has extended courtesy of payment continuity promise through advance credit card authorization.  Smells like questionable business systems integrity or design issues at outset.

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Hi @Northborealis 

This is the price we kinda agreed to pay when signing up with no frills provider, i was warned that i would have to deal with issues myself with the help of community and that i may have to wait occasionally for support. Most of people don't have issues for years or maybe ever.

That being said, there are some outstanding issues that are source of ston much grief that it would save the company lots of dough if they would at least give some pastoral solutions.

An sms warning that the payment didn't go through with the link to some suggestions to remedy and the grace period giving people option to fix it manually before everything shuts down would really go long way for many users

I just avoid the whole hassle by making manual payments but collecting rewards because I'm subscribed to autopay, i also treat autopay as backup in case i fail to do it. I find the reminder sms very useful so i don't have to keep it on my mind. 

I didn't read the fine print but i wouldn't be surprised that it is my responsibility to put money on the account regardless of autopay.

If payment is not made they have no obligation to provide service. 

Nice thing is that they do give me 90 days to correct it and keep my number.

[dabr]

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@Northborealis wrote:

Thank you geopublic for taking the time to review and unpackage this thinking through causal factors/solutions.  Nothing works ...outgoing calls, texting, data.  Selfserve acount reveals no payment processing occurring in August (except an auto-reward credit for Auto-pay).  30-days ...month-to-month ....the dates are sorta not relevant here.  Whether this is a technical AutoPay processing glitch by one PM department (or system)...or a technical Auto-renewal of service (service connectivity continuity) matter, ....neither issue should be borne by the customer who has extended courtesy of payment continuity promise through advance credit card authorization.  Smells like questionable business systems integrity or design issues at outset.

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Unfortunately, PM does have some flaws in their system which allow for similar issues to keep cropping up again and again. Many regualrs have been hoping that resources will be utilized to fix some of these shortcomings in the system.  

OTH, I believe, the majority of PM users have very few technical/service/payment issues and some have been here for quite a few years without any major problems.  Of course, that is no consolation when you are going through a service issue and are unable to use what you paid up for.

[hairbag1]

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@Northborealis wrote:

Thank you geopublic for taking the time to review and unpackage this thinking through causal factors/solutions.  Nothing works ...outgoing calls, texting, data.  Selfserve acount reveals no payment processing occurring in August (except an auto-reward credit for Auto-pay).  30-days ...month-to-month ....the dates are sorta not relevant here.  Whether this is a technical AutoPay processing glitch by one PM department (or system)...or a technical Auto-renewal of service (service connectivity continuity) matter, ....neither issue should be borne by the customer who has extended courtesy of payment continuity promise through advance credit card authorization.  Smells like questionable business systems integrity or design issues at outset.

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If you do have a valid credit card on your account, you could try calling 611 to add funds to your plan. You'll also hear info on when your plan is due to expire. Give that a try and let us know if anything positive happens. Good luck.

[Northborealis]

Thank you geopublic for taking the time to review and unpackage this thinking through causal factors/solutions.  Nothing works ...outgoing calls, texting, data.  Selfserve acount reveals no payment processing occurring in August (except an auto-reward credit for Auto-pay).  30-days ...month-to-month ....the dates are sorta not relevant here.  Whether this is a technical AutoPay processing glitch by one PM department (or system)...or a technical Auto-renewal of service (service connectivity continuity) matter, ....neither issue should be borne by the customer who has extended courtesy of payment continuity promise through advance credit card authorization.  Smells like questionable business systems integrity or design issues at outset.

[Northborealis]

Thank you will13.  Concur fully with you that the preferred solutioning of the underlying causes (to my benefit and any other customers affected similarly) certainly rests with the Moderator Team ....though I guess until they actually respond to my query, one cannot interact on solution (LOL). Their initiative to fix whatever underlying technical glitch is at play toward preventing recurrence would indeed be the preferred path for positive customer business credibility practice. Spending all manner of under-the-hood trial-and-error fixes (as some PM customers choose to invoke)...may (or may not) resolve this for me, and in any case would not address the underlying systems factor for the wider customer base. CRTC is a final option path, and equally challenged in time consumption ....though may be what is necessary to nudge PM into better practices.

Nonetheless, your perspective

[geopublic]

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@Northborealis wrote:

I am enrolled in Auto-pay with charges posted 11th of each month and my credit card charged normatively then the next day on the 12th of each month.

@Northborealis  Public Mobile plans renew every 30 days so the dates you mentioned might not be correct and will change depending on the month.

Yesterday (August 13th, 0900hrs pacific time) I discovered that my phone will not permit me to place calls, and I noted that my Account Status states "plan expired". 

Attempting to use my phone triggers a recorded response suggesting that the call cannot be completed because I do not have an active plan on account and indicating I need to reactivate by making a payment. 

Is it just outgoing calls or texting and data also does not work? If none of the services work then that is the result of AutoPay not going through. To verify, access you selfserve account and check your payment history.

Suspect this is an artifact issue associated with the scheduled August 12-13 maintenance. No text message forewarning of service interruption, nor anything about alleged payment due.

The system maintenance is separate from the renewal process so I don't think you can make that assumption. In fact, one of my plans renewed during the system maintenance so that might not be the case.

No service day-3 now. No response from moderator team to query. Issue was clearly triggered by PM action and not the customer.

If the suspension was a result of an AutoPay credit card processing issue then the service will not automatically re-activate so you need to activate it via selfserve or 611. Try making a onetime payment with your cc on file. If it fails then that would explain why AutoPay failed. I will agree moderator response times are currently very slow. Your choice are wait for the moderator to respond, or try to add a new cc, purchase a voucher to re-activate your account.

This type of service-interruption is potentially putting PM subscribers at risk from a variety of perspectives including personal safety.  From a fair business practices perspective, Autopay subscribers in particular should not be confronted with such business reliability incidents because they have provided PM organization/Telus with advance credit-card authorization rather specifically to assure continuity of service convenience without interruption. Nor should such Autopay subscribers be exposed to receiving auto-generated "account suspended" or "account expired" messaging when an Auto-pay election is active.  I anticipate the CRTC would share this view. 

Lacking rationale or response on any immediate resolution for my personal account status, and the broader action plan to correct Public Mobile internal operating system to prevent such events in the future for their wider customers. Time to move on to a reliable competitor with direct-line voice-to-voice support.

Agreed. Your money your choice.

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[ChuckYeah]

@Northborealis Understood!

[Northborealis]

Thank you Chuck for your kind initiative in lending a quick response suggestion.  It is folks like you that are so commendably ready and willing to help, that contribute ultimately to PM retaining any credibility as a service provider.

In my frustration at researching this late last night for hours searching posts, I am however inclined not to want to chase all manner of trial-and-error under the hood fixes ...having read some posts where others have tried a series of similar fixes (including the $1 payment or full payment, etc) to no success.  Simply not interested in spending any more of my valuable time attempting fixes for some technical artifact of a PM-induced maintenance routine that I as an Auto-pay client did not initiate, yet bearing the brunt of services interruption.

[will13am]

@Northborealis, your points are totally valid.  Prepaid accounts are vulnerable to service interruptions when auto renewals fail.  You are always free to take your case to the CRTC.  These types of prepaid accounts are allowed and so there is not much the CRTC can do.  I suggest working with the moderator team to understand the underlying causes for the renewal failure so that measures can be taken to prevent recurrence. 

[Northborealis]

CRTC business conduct rules (simplified plain language version):

"If a service provider disconnects a customer in error, the service provider must restore service to the customer by the end of the next business day no later than 1 business day after they are made aware of the error and must not impose reconnection charges."

"If a service provider intends to disconnect a customer, it must notify the customer before disconnection..."

"In all other cases, before a disconnection, including the first instance of a suspension in a disconnection cycle, a service provider must give reasonable notice to the customer at least 14 calendar days before disconnection.  The notice must contain the following information:

a) the reason for disconnection

b) the scheduled disconnection date

e) contact information for a service provider representative with whom the disconnection can be discussed."

"A service provider must provide a second notice to advise a customer that their service will be disconnected at least 24-hours before disconnection..."

[kselmak]

As far ai know there is no monthly plans they are all 30 day plans.

You are supposed to get heads up sms that payment due date its coming.

Auto pay fails on many, so this is when i just withdraw manually the funds.

I still get autopay reward.

Log in, withdraw the funds manually then hit activate button

If it still doesn't work report your phone lost then in 5 minutes found

Maybe put an extra buck on u your account too.

You may have to take sim in and out.

I suggest top up manually when you get that message

[ChuckYeah]

Have you tried to make a manual payment of $1 and reactivate your account? I'd try that first.