Autopay transaction date

[ccdevmike]

I'm new here and have been reading about the problems with Autopay. I have not had autopay attempt a payment for me yet.I wonder why it does not charge your card a few days ahead of the renewal date. This would allow the payment to be applied to your account in time for the renewal date and maybe fix the issues some people are having. I wish you could pick a date a few days in advance of the due date as an option. Can't this be an added feature in the future please?

I guess the best answer to not have a service disruption is to make a one time payment a few days ahead manually very month eh?

Any thoughts?

Thanks everyone

[Anonymous]

 @Koal 

I recommend removing the personal information referring to your birthdate a couple posts back. I'll edit this if you do.

Click the 3 dots to the upper right of the post and Edit Reply.

[gpixel]

@Koal you were told to use "other, enter desired amount" not "amount due" this option doesn't work when auto-pay fails... if your service is working than ignore the 611 message. you said you already spoke to mods, so they probably gave you free service. follow the instructions on the first page to avoid this reoccuring issue.

[LurganIeUk]

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@Koal wrote:

Hello Deputy Mayor,

I followed the standard manual payment procedure as should be. My reward funds currently total at $12. I selected to pay for the TOTAL remaining amount due. It would not allow me too after hitting submit. Claiming I already have enough funds. The algorithms for this payment system is shot. It was not like this when I first joined Public Mobile, everything was synchronized. 

As of right now, on my PC my account has been paid today with a $0.00 balance, and my next billing deadline is on my birthday in December.

Meanwhile my mobile phone via 611 text claims there is an issue with the payment lol.

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Try clicking option 1. “Other (Enter the desired payment amount)”

The latter will allow any amount to top up your account. 

Personally I never use option 2. I use option 2 to have enough to pay my next payment and to have extra funds to purchase an add on. 

Option 2 may not work for you if your BALANCE exceeds your next payment. 

Keep in mind your rewards  are not  guaranteed.....if you loose a referral or if a referee suspends their account the day before your payment is due.....you won’t receive that reward. 

Look at your top up screen. 

What is your balance? Available Funds. 

What is your amount due?

As per below my amount due is $0.00 so the only way I can top up is using option 1. 

[Koal]

Hello Deputy Mayor,

I followed the standard manual payment procedure as should be. My reward funds currently total at $12. I selected to pay for the TOTAL remaining amount due. It would not allow me too after hitting submit. Claiming I already have enough funds. The algorithms for this payment system is shot. It was not like this when I first joined Public Mobile, everything was synchronized. 

As of right now, on my PC my account has been paid today with a $0.00 balance, and my next billing deadline is in December.

Meanwhile my mobile phone via 611 text claims there is an issue with the payment lol.

[LurganIeUk]

There are 2 options to add money to your account. Which one did you use?

[Koal]

If this was not made clear previously before, to anyone on this thread. The system will not allow me to make a manual payment, claiming that I already have enough funds. No matter how many times I try to log in. It will NOT let me make a manual payment. But then was claiming I need to reactivate my plan.

I had to contact their Mod customer service. They gave me back my service and reactivated my account. However, he is aasking me for my banking information: the institution, and the toll free number stating they do not have my info and need it to have the card approved for AutoPay for this account (Smh). I have used the same visa-debit card for the past almost three years I have been with public mobile, the money comes directly from an account which has waaaaaaaay more than enough funds for this quarterly phone bill. I went out of my way to update the security code, and the expiration date to the visa-debit. My address is up to date. Tried to manually pay did not work.

Now all of sudden:
I check my account profile and now it is showing no outstanding balance, but rather a payment that has been made today. I get a text message from 611 at 12:01pm  telling me my rewards have been applied to my account after the payment process. Then at 12:11pm 611 sends me another text message telling that the Autopay payment process went wrong, and asking me to make a one time manual payment....? There is no more balance to be paid $0.00 and I have service.

I check my bank account online. There is no transaction showing from Public Mobile, when this account displays transactions in "real time". This system has gone down hill. I dont even know whats going on now if a payment was made or not made.

[ccdevmike]

Sounds like the sure thing to do is just make a manual payment when you get the text reminder. I think I will just make this a habit and not have to worry about it! 

Thanks for all the info everyone. Great learning.

[gpixel]

@Koal Right..? LOL, it just defeats the entire purpose of AutoPay.

not really, they still give you $2 off to learn about auto-pay failure and how to manage your account.

if you don't have service, make a manual payment choose "other, enter the desired amount" it's already passed the renewal time. auto-pay most likely failed. you can also call 611 to try and reactivate.

follow the suggestions on the first page to avoid this issue from happening again.

[Korth]

Service usually resumes moments after payment is processed. Sometimes it doesn't, you have to login Self-Serve to click "Reactivate", and it kickstarts fairly promptly. Rarely, very rarely, you might need intervention from the PM Mods to get it going again.

I think broken AutoPay is caused by PM's AVR parameters. The sad reality is that it can work flawlessly until one day it suddenly doesn't, and PM has never properly fixed the issue or been very forthcoming about exactly what criteria must be met to prevent failure. Some people are frustrated by broken AutoPay every month. The vast majority never experience any AutoPay problems at all.

From what I've read, Koodo and Telus customers must endure the same AutoPay problems. Probably not as visible on the internet because they don't have to complain on the internet to get their problems fixed.

You can use Payment Vouchers to deposit funds into account - available balance is always used first and your credit card is not charged if available balance will cover the full cost of your plan on renew date - you still get AutoPay Reward (and Bonus Data) without any risk of broken AutoPay. It seems like a self-defeating workaround but it is what it is, and it's not really much hassle since the SMS notifications serve as payment reminders. You can even prepay enough for several months of service at a time if you choose.

The "Public Mobile here..." message is just a reminder that your plan will renew in 3 days.

A second "Public Mobile here..." informs you that your plan will renew the next day but there's not enough funds in your account - it's only sent if your account balance lacks sufficient funds.

A final "Public Mobile here..." congratulates you for successfully giving them money, and as an afterthought, also informs you that your plan has been renewed.

[Koal]

I have no service lol.

[Koal]

Unfortunately for me, the system is not operating in sequence to what you're describing. Today is my deadline date for the new cycle. The rewards have been credited, displaying the remaining balance. Yet AutoPay has yet to debit my account lol. I have no service this morning. The system as not like this before. Before it would automatically debit your funds about two days before the deadline. I do not know if I should just mannually pay as it is saying my account is expired, yet I fear they will charge me twice later on an autopay. The system is flawed.

[zblackma]

@Koal if your services are working properly ignore the account status. thats the normal cycle renewal process.

[Koal]

Right..? LOL, it just defeats the entire purpose of AutoPay.

[Koal]

Good Friday morning,

I agree with you. I have been having a problem this morning with my payment system. I am registered for AutoPay. Today is the renewal of billing cycle. I pay quarterly, and today Sept 4th is my the deadline. My account clearly says I am registered for AutoPay, yet it still gives me a notice claiming my plan is expired, and that I should manually pay the bill now. My concern is that, I pay this bill, then later in the afternoon it Automatically tops up charging me twice..?
Public Mobile needs to address this issue.

[Jb456]

@ccdevmike  no problem. When you have free time visit the forums and read some threads, learn about the self serve account and pass time answering people's questions. You never know you may earn a community reward!

Again welcome to Public Mobile

[cellphoneuser1]

@ccdevmike They can't charge a few days in advance becauae they won't know.how much to charge.  Other carriers doing prepaid plans charged fixed amount on a specific day of month but charge that full amount evem if it's not needed.

[ccdevmike]

Great summery! Much appreciated. 

[Jb456]

@ccdevmike  further information for you so you will not be confused or worried.

The day of renewal for example Sept 6th.

On the 5th in the evening you will notice your account status goes from Active to Expired.

Then later it will go from Expired to Suspended with this note.

 

Around 2am EST on the 6th the system will start processing your renewal. First it credits the rewards to your available balance. It's possible a system error may not credit the rewards before rest of process below. It's happened before.

Then it will debit the available balance first for your plan. If you still owe more than your available balance the rest is charged to your card.

Around 9am EST on the 6th or later you will start getting texts when the system updates. Public mobile never texts later at night.

While the renewal process is going it may even show you a weird next payment due date for months away.

After the system does all the updates your account will go back from Suspended to Active with the correct payment due date.

During this time don't worry or panic. As long as your phone is working just ignore your account. This is how the process works at renewal.

[Jb456]

@ccdevmike  this is what it looks like. It comes from 611.

 

Then at renewal time you get two more texts.

 

[ccdevmike]

haha well I guess we aren't paying for innovation here huh.....Oh well. Happy to hear that we get a text before payment is due and we can do our manual top up then! I will probably be doing that considering the issues some people are having! Or may just let the autopay happen and see how it goes. Do we loose our rewards money off our plan if our payment does not go through? 

[Jb456 · Accepted solution]

@ccdevmike 

A few days before your payment due date you get a text from 611. "Public Mobile here just a heads up your payment is due on" etc,etc.

Use that text notification as a reminder to log into your account for a few minutes to do a manual top-up. Then you'll never have to worry about a failure. You will still be entitled to your auto-pay reward of $2

[gpixel]

@ccdevmike that software is too advanced for this website 🤭. you can just do that yourself by manually paying