Props to the team at the Burnaby Metrotown kiosk! (AND technical support!)
To set the scene, I ported from Koodo postpaid to a Public Mobile $25 plan this Saturday. I was getting a good deal with Koodo but the Public deal is even better. Anyways, I had done my research and knew I may run into some troubles doing an inter-brand transfer (that's what we used to call it at Bell - I worked there from 2008 to 2013 and have seen some things!) I had originally intended on buying a SIM card from the kiosk and activating myself online. Brenden (the first gentleman that helped me) suggested I activate in store in case I ran into any issues so he could call his direct support line. I initially hesitated as I was in a slight hurry but decided to let him do his thing.
As expected, an error message occured and Brenden called his tech support line. Another gentleman (his name is slipping my mind) stepped in to help me and after about 15 minutes on the phone he let me know that the port could take up to 72 hours. Finally on Monday morning my Koodo phone died and I received a cancellation e-mail. However, the Public SIM was still not working. At this point I started to get somewhat frustrated but decided to keep my cool and call the kiosk (from Hangouts on my laptop) to see what was happening. The store manager, Stephanie, was very reassuring that things sometimes go wrong but could help me out - but I had to come back to the kiosk.
Once back at the kiosk, Stephanie tried a few basic troubleshooting issues. I'm using a Blackberry Classic Q20 and have use all kinds of SIM cards in it, so I knew it wasn't a phone issue. After trying the SIM in a few other devices, Stephanie called her support line again. She replaced my SIM with a new one and still no luck. Finally the support rep mentioned that my ported number was not matching properly to the new profile that was created. The support team would have to work some magic on their end and get back to me later in the day. I was frustrated but understanding - getting upset was not going to help the situation.
Stephanie then grabbed yet another SIM card and created a whole new account for me with a generic number to use for the day. This way I would have a working phone to be reached by technical support once the port issues were fixed. She didn't charge me the $28 for the temporary account and I didn't even have to ask her to do this! I was very impressed with her professionalism and going the extra mile.
Thankfully I got a call on the temporary line within three hours from a technical support member. She left a voicemail saying that everything had been fixed and even left her extension for me to reach her in case I had any questions or concerns. Additionally, she sent a text message to my ported number. I replied to the text with a genuine thank-you and she closed the case.
I've been with almost every carrier in Canada and the customer service has ranged from excellent to completely terrible. I have to say that I am extremely happy with my switch to Public Mobile despite the initial technical hiccups. I recently had a port issue with Lucky Mobile and the tech support rep was extremely rude to me - not to mention the two week wait for my port to be completed. I won't even get into the issues I've had with Chatr and Fido prepaid. 
Wrapping up my over-long rant I'd just like to say THANK YOU to the wonderful team at Metrotown and of course Technical Support for the speedy and friendly service. I definitely reccomend that anybody in the Vancouver area head to Metrotown to see these lovely people if you're planning on setting up an account. Don't let the possible technical issues deter you - it happens sometimes but can usually be resolved fairly quickly. The Public Mobile kiosk is on the upper level between Winners and the games arcade.
Thanks for listening!
Sheldon
