Change of plan without losing Flash promos

[Dragosd]

Hi guys,

I have a "situation": my daughter uses too much data.

Nothing new here I guess 🙂

I am looking at ways to increase the data without paying much more.

I have an older $35 plan, with 1.5 GB for 2 (almost 3) years now.

I also have 2 flash promotions: One is "Flash sale 500MB of bonus data $35 plan" that makes the total data 2GB and one is a "Flash sale $5 off $35 plan"  that actually cuts the price to $30.

Those are ongoing promos (every month).

Basically it comes to 2GB for $30

I also have the autopay enabled ($2), loyalty of 2 years ($2) and one referal ($1).

So that cuts it down to $25 for the 2GB.

Is there a way of increasing the data and keeping the flash promos?

I can see the new $35 plan comes now with 2.5GB, and with autopay it gets another 500MB bonus so that effectively makes it 3GB. I assume the $2 off for autopay is still applied and so are the referals and the loyalty so that would cut it down to $30 for 3 GB.

As I understand, new customer would get now another 2GB but I am not a new customer and I would miss that.

How would you navigate this? Any ideas would be appreciated.

[darlicious]

@Dragosd 

Still despite what the mods have told you....renewable promotions should always be used first. Add on data no matter the source should always be used last.

Don't take it up with the moderators....take it up with management. Lets see if you get a response tomorrow. You can take it from there.....

[Dragosd]

Hi @darlicious,

I stand corrected:

I talked to my daugher, She is pretty good at tracking data and making sure she has enough left.

It turns out the flash 500MB DOES get used before the paid add-on.

In the screenshot I posted earlier, you can see she used all the Flash 500MB (shows 500/500 MB used, duh!) and only after that the paid 1GB kicked in.

So this is working as expected.

I assume it is only in case of bonuses and gifted ones that it gets used before the Flash.

[barrascuk]

@darlicious  I won't be of any help (@lurganieuk) as I have never had a promo with a plan. 

[Dragosd]

Hi @darlicious 

You are correct, you answered in my original thread from 2 years ago.

In that thread I did not mark any solution as such because I was not happy with it.

And, like you, considered this a bad implementation of a bonus/addon.

I read the whole thread started by @moonmack who had the same questions. And, unfortunately, got the same answers.

Like me, because it was a gifted bonus one could not argue too much.

However, my daughter was away from home for a week, in the middle of nowhere, and was freaking out about being cut off from the world (you know how kids are nowadays..) She came up with the money and asked me to add the 1GB paid add-on. Which I reluctantly added after explaining that it is expensive. As I said before, it never happened over the last 3 years.

I understood that it will be used after ALL her data will be used, aka after using up the flash 500MB. Which I guess didn't. However, I believe the monthly billing cycle renewed and the usage from the paid add-on stopped.

So she got back on her "regular" 1.5GB. Once that ran out she is now again using the paid 1GB and not the 500MB from the flash.

As you correctly stated, it looks like the 500 MB won't be touched as long as she has any paid data from the 1GB. Only after that will the 500 MB kick in.

I would somehow understand this if it is gifted but not if it is paid for. It is like forfeiting your 500MB flash but paying for extra.

As long as you don't pay anything, and only use gifted bonuses I guess people will not complain.

In my case it is different, I paid for 1 GB that gets now used before my entitlement of 500MB.

Remember, this flash 500MB was the reason I opted for this plan in the first place, considering that 1.5GB plu 500MB and $5 off would make the deal sweeter. (Like @moonmack)

You are again right that other people that will buy data or minutes over what was included in the ongoing promotion will use those before what is rightfully theirs.

I am planing contact the mods to seek a solution to this.

[darlicious]

@Dragosd 

Ok I found your original thread asking this question and gee guess who was involved in helping you? Lol....me!😃 A mere newbie though.....I still have not found the original announcement but according to me back then who read the terms and conditions this should not be happening nor according to @computergeek541 who said back then as I have said its a coding or programming error.

The excuse by the moderators back then of a left side vs right side promo precedence is a bunch a bull too.....what you can't see in my screenshots is my $15 plan has the RBC 5gb data add on bonus listed under "my promotions" that remains untouched and is my very first add on on that account.

Pm simply has not fixed their error in programming so if they cannot or will not then ask for the restoration of all add ons on your daughters account and screenshot usage of the data add ons near 500mb each month for restoration by the moderators.

Not an ideal solution but buying add on data at $15/1gb because pm can't fix their own mistake is unacceptable and maybe @J_PM needs reminding that it is a justifiable reason for a CCTS complaint....which would require pm to fix this error. But I am quite sure pm would fix it before the CCTS is drawn in....

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/Promo-before-add-on/td-p/423798

These are the terms from the promo and gifted data.....

CURRENT OFFER:

Terms and conditions

Activate on any plan $35 or more and get a free 2GB recurring data bonus for a limited time.

Offer available to new customers who activate online.

2GB recurring data bonus will be applied to activations on $35, $40, $50 and $70 rate plans with the use of the promo code. Offer excludes $15 and $25 rate plans. Bonus data will expire if the account becomes inactive or the rate plan is changed.

Please note it may take up to 2 business days for bonus data to be applied.

This promotion is not stackable with other in-market offers.

This offer is subject to change without notice.

Taxes are extra. The account must have sufficient funds to cover the total cost each month.

MORE THE MERRIER...

Add-on offers are available for all new and existing customers from December 1st 9:00AM ET to December 31st 2020 11:59PM ETLimited time free add-ons are one-time only and will fall off your account when fully used Each free add-on can only be added to each customer account once. Limit of one 2GB data add-on and one 500 min international calling add-on per customer

What else you need to know:

These offers are available for all new and existing customers from December 4th 2019 9:00AM ET to December 25th 2019 11:59PM ETLimited time free add-ons are one-time only and will fall off your account when fully used Each free add-on can only be added to each customer account once. Limit of one 1GB data add-on and one 400 min international calling add-on per customer

1GB PROMO BONUS:

What’s up for grabs:

$0 1 GB bonus data Add-OnDoes not expire until fully consumedThe data speed will match the speed of the data that is included as part of your rate plan. If your rate plan doesn’t include data, the Add-On will default to be at 4G LTE Speed.

Eligibility criteria:

Bonus Data Add-On will be automatically applied to customer accounts that were activated as of August 19, 11:59 PM ET or beforeAccount must be active at the time of August 19, 11:59 PM ET and continue to remain active until at least September 4, 2019.If your account falls into suspend before September 4, you will become ineligible for the bonus Data Add-On.

How to claim your data:

No action required- on August 23rd, eligible customers will receive an SMS from Public Mobile confirming you’re on the list!Bonus Data Add-Ons will be applied within 2 weeks of receiving the confirmation SMS. Note: Please allow the two week period to pass before reaching out to the Moderator Team if you are expecting a bonus Data Add-On.Once it’s been applied to your account, you will receive a confirmation SMS.

[darlicious]

@Dragosd 

I would still argue the point with pm that the moderator is wrong. By definition an add on is to supplement renewable parts of your plan or promotions. Otherwise pm is falsely advertising their definition of an add on. I have never read a term and condition that a gifted add on is used before a promotional renewable one. By this reasoning anyone activating with the current promocode 2GBBONUS is going to run into thus issue somewhere down the line.

I cannot prove otherwise with my accounts because I do not have a renewable promotion that has a counter tied to it. But you can see how I have proved moderator comment/answers wrong in the thread started by @moonmack below and another by @LurganIeUk that I am still looking for.....

I am going to do a little more research to help prove my point......that will hopefully get this corrected for you and others....

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/What-order-are-add-ons-used/td-p/613506...

[Dragosd]

Hi @darlicious ,

Thanks for all the good points you brought up.

Thanks for taking the time to educate me and fellow PM-ers about the ways of PM with your messages. You clearly care about our experiences and I really appreciate the effort you are putting into this.

As a follow up of the private messages I swapped with a mod (@Lucian_G) I asked him or other mods to publish the resolution (or rather bad/no solution) at that time, so other members can understand the twisted way the system works:

Here is the message I got first:

"Hello @Dragosd!

Thanks you for joining Public Mobile and being so active on Community. All your data is available to you because of the plan. The 500 MB (Flash sale) and 1 GB ( Promo) exist because you have an active plan.

The order of your data usage will start with the data plan then the nonrenewable promos and after that the renewable promos.

I am afraid that the answer is no, we can't change it.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

Lucian PM Mod 

Regarding my request to have this answer published in the forum:

"Hi Dragosd!

At the moment we only answer to the private messages but as soon as we get some time one of my colleagues will post on Community the resolution.

Regards,

Lucian  PM Mod"

Yet this "resolution" was never published and kinda went away.

I did not pursued the issue more because it was only data that would have been used anyway. I hoped I would never have to go through this again and the bonuses or gifts - as some other members called them - were not paid for, at the time. I had a beggers can't be choosers kind of attitude and I let it slide.

You are right, I would probably send a burned steak back to the kitchen, but not if it is a "gift" steak. I would just consider it is what gifted steaks are, in a second class restaurant, that doesn't actually have a customer service department, and I would consider next time if I chose the same restaurant again.

In case of the recent paid 1GB PM it is different and you are totally right.

Now, probably fortunately enough, my wife never gets over the included 1.5GB so she never gets to use the "gifted" bonuses nor does she get to use the 500MB flash promos. No usage, no harm done. I am probably overpaying for her plan but that is my decision. 

My daughter will probably end up using the paid 1GB and then get on and use the 500MB flash. She normally stays within the 2GB limit, she did so for the last almost 3 years, so I am good. This is why going through the hoops with hotspot-ing and so on doesn't really cut it for me. Nor is changing the number and become a new customer an option right now.

[darlicious]

@Dragosd 

There is another member with the same promotion with the same problem of data add ons being used before the monthly plan data promotion and given a similarily wrong answer by the moderators. The other member ( who I will tag once I remember who it is...)also chose after being informed that the moderator is wrong.....not to pursue a correction and have their data add ons replenished.

I will never understand this....you take the time to raise the issue to the community and another member realizes you are indeed being shortchanged by pm. Both by a moderator with misinformation and by pm ( I believe unintentionally) by having the original flash promo monthly plan data improperly coded so that data add ons are used before the promo monthly plan data. This is wrong, wrong, wrong on all sides!!

If you are not willing to do anything about that then sit up and shut up! Do you eat the well done steak at a restaurant that you ordered medium rare? Or do you send it back? If pm charged you $10 more for your plan on autopay do you just let it go? Or do you contact the moderators and demand your $10 back? Complacency with mobile providers is a breeding ground for them to rip you off intentionally = the Rogers family.

A similar problem with $60 US/Canada roaming plan and the 10 day roaming add ons while coded correctly resulted in a disadvantage to the customer. With the help of @AE_Collector  identifying how the disadvantage was occurring pm came up with a creative fix for the customer.

I will bring @J_PM  attention to the thread to see if she will have pm look into fixing the coding problem and restoring the bonus, gifted or purchased data add ons used in place of your original flash promo monthly plan data of 500mb. But it is up to you to make the complaint on behalf of your wife and daughter if you want the compensation you deserve. I've done my part.....balls in your court now.

[Anonymous]

 @Dragosd : Just tryna help. I'm going to stand over here. Have a nice life.

[Dragosd]

I may have not understood this right, but this assumes another plan ($15) with more data for a better price, another phone to insert the SIM to be used for hotspotting. Again, too much hassle, but I appreciated the idea @darlicious came up with.

I do this when I go to Europe and use a local SIM with 20GB for a couple of Euros.

I am well aware of how hotspot works and of course it doesn't matter what provider you use. Unwarranted comment.

I understand that those were "gifts" and not bonuses. It makes no difference to me how it is called, data is data no matter how you call it.

The fact that other providers charge more for addons has no bearing nor do I care. Another unwarranted comment.

I gave up on looking at the priority of how the add-ons, gift, bonuses, whatever you call them, are used up. The mods clearly explained this a while ago by simply saying that this is how the system works. Frustrating but it is what it is.

For the record here is the topic:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/Promo-before-add-on/td-p/423798

It seems like the 500MB flash promo are always used last no matter what you have.

You would think it would go differently but it doesn't. Thanks PM 

[Anonymous]

 @Dragosd : "not all in the family" - wifi hotspot can be enjoyed by all devices with wifi not just other Public Mobile accounts

The holiday items were gifts not bonuses. Your 500MB is a promotional bonus.

That data add-on is not that expensive compared to other providers.

But it is interesting consumption that finishing plan data would drop to add-ons before the promotional bonus. And that account presumably used the gift data as well before using the bonus.

I think I would get that looked at. It's a bit of a mess of different buckets of data but I would think it should drop to the bonus before any add-ons due to the fact that the bonus is recurring.

[Dragosd]

Thanks for the detailed history and explanation.

Indeed, I came around this plan when it became a better option with the flash promotions, effectively making it 2GB for $30, and not when it was a poor choice.

I am still a little confused about the different ways of getting the bonuses or what different kind of bonuses are out there, but I am pretty sure I will lose the flash bonuses.

Thanks for the suggestions with the extra plan that can be used as hotspot, it will be to too much hassle to suspend/reactivate, etc. We are not all in the family with PM.

Interestingly enough my wife is on the same plan but she stays well within the data budged. So much so that she still has most of the holiday data bonuses untouched, as she stays within the "regular" 1.5GB, not even getting into the 500MB flash bonus. But with no Snapchat and Tiktok which are probably the biggest data hogs, she is fine.

Speaking of that, I had another post, a long time ago, where I was expressing my frustration because the holiday bonuses get to be used before the flash 500MB. So instead of using all that was in the plan first and the bonuses last, the bonuses were used before the flash 500MB that would renew every month. But that is another story.

Here is a screen shot of my daughters overview.

The last 1 GB on the left side, of which she still has some, is an add-on that was bought for outrageously $15, but it was a one time and I hope it won't happen again.

[darlicious]

@Dragosd 

I had to reread your post just to understand your daughter's plan but I recalled that the $35 plan (that used to be the worst value plan that pm offered) because it was $35/1gb+500mb w/autopay. It certainly made the $40/5gb and $25/1gb plans much more attractive.

At the time the two monthly plan promotions making the $35/1.5gb into a $30/2gb plan was a pretty good deal and there have been a few limited time offers to customers giving them a straight up $30/2gb plan and last winter after pm had bumped up the data in $35 plan to 2gb+500mb w/autopay (in the fall) they offered Quebec area code residents a $5 off per month promotion. Giving them a $30/2.5gb plan.

Then this April after pm scrapped the disasterous province wide calling plans they also announced plan data increases for the $35 plan from 2.5gb to 3gb and the $50 plan from 8.5gb to 10.5gb (both including the 500mb autopay bonus.) But there is still an obvious void at $30 by not offering a 2gb plan for $30 that woul fall in line with the other plans currently offered. As a result anyone currently with a promotional $30/2gb plan continue to hold onto them.

Unfortunately when it comes to flash sale data promotions the terms and conditions nearly always state changing your rate plan will cause you to lose the promotional data and discounts tied to the plan. You may want to double check your flash sale announcement to be absolutely sure..... But FYI it has been tested by quite a few customers that promotional data actually acts differently  depending on if it is bonus monthly plan data or bonus data add ons.

Changing your rate plan will cause you to lose bonus monthly plan data 99% of the time. There was one member @mynewhome who took a chance and downgraded and kept their 1gb of monthly plan data but that was more due to a coding error and has since been corrected. However changing your rate plan with a bonus data add on will 99% of the time allow you to keep the data add ons except of course one time a member did report losing their bonus data add on. So as always its YMMV when changing plans. Monthly plan discounts are always lost 100% of the time.  

You may want to consider when the holidays roll around and pm has started to offer the "more the merrier" international calling and data add on free gifts and at the same time new activation promos that include a free month credit and a 5gb bonus data add on that may also be able to be stacked for further savings to activate a new plan with considerable savings that you downgrade to the $15 plan and use all of the bonus data add ons as a wifi hotspot for those times that extra data is needed and suspend it when its not....just time the activation to the latter half of your daughter's 30 day plan.

Depending on your plan you could increase your data and act as the data hotspot ( in the car etc...) that would supplement your daughters usage and you would still maintain some control over her usage and it will require her to have exert some self control over her own usage since the extra data can only be used while she is in close proximity of you. $40/5gb and $50/10.5gb+US calling $10 more could increase shared data in your family by hotspotting while together but away from wifi and you can use your data warning and limiter to control usage.

[Dragosd]

I understand promotions for new customers. Like the 2GB flash.

Still, I find it odd that a $35 plan from 2years ago to have less than a $35 plan from today, promos aside.

Thanks for clarifying the double benefit of the Autopay. I wasn't sure about that.

Becoming a new customer is not an option. New sim, new number, too much hassle.

If anything, I would jump ship for another company altogether for more data for the same or similar price (looking at Zoomer)

In honesty, the only thing that keeps me with Public is the fact that there are no overage charges, and this is especially good when having "irresponsible" teens in the house

[Dunkman]

@Dragosd 

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@Dragosd wrote:

I understand that the extra 2GB flash promo is for new customers. I get that part.

However, it is frustrating that a $35 plan today has 2.5GB (or rather 3GB with autopay) while the same $35 from 2 years ago only has 1.5GB (flash promos aside).

A little unfair if you ask an existing customer.

Does autopay in the "new" $35 plan give you both 500MB and $2 off?

---

Yes, the new $35 plan does give you both 500MB and $2 off with autopay.

Most promotions these days are for new customers only.  That is true for most mobile companies.  

[Dragosd]

I understand that the extra 2GB flash promo is for new customers. I get that part.

However, it is frustrating that a $35 plan today has 2.5GB (or rather 3GB with autopay) while the same $35 from 2 years ago only has 1.5GB (flash promos aside).

A little unfair if you ask an existing customer.

Does autopay in the "new" $35 plan give you both 500MB and $2 off?

[Dunkman]

@Dragosd 

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@Dragosd wrote:

Basically, as an existing customer, I would give up the flash promos, switch to a $35 plan (same price as the one I have), and would get 3GB (2.5GB and 500MB).

After the autopay, loyalty and friends I will still be at $30 with 1GB more.

So that is $5 for one extra GB monthly compared to the 2GB for $25 that I have now.

Which is better than the occasional $15 for the add-on 1GB.

---

Correct.  $5 per month for extra 1GB data versus your present plan.  

Getting a new account is an option, but you will lose your loyalty and friend rewards ($3/month) and also lose your daughter's present phone number.  Unable to transfer phone numbers between PM accounts.  

[Dunkman]

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@hairbag1 wrote:

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@Dunkman wrote:

@Dragosd 

I doubt that you can keep the flash promotions since it is associated to your present plan. Not sure whether you have access the terms and conditions for that particular promotion.  

You will keep your other rewards, like loyalty, autopay and friends.  

---

Are you positive ..I thought starting a new account meant loyalty starts over.

Existing customer can't get the newest promo unless they start a new account with a new sim ...no ?

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@hairbag1 

Sorry about confusion.  I meant that if OP changed plans, he will still keep the various rewards.  If OP decided to start new account, OP will not be able to get keep the present loyalty or friends rewards.  

You are right... existing customer has to start new account with new SIM card to get the 2GB data promotion.  

[Dragosd]

Basically, as an existing customer, I would give up the flash promos, switch to a $35 plan (same price as the one I have), and would get 3GB (2.5GB and 500MB).

After the autopay, loyalty and friends I will still be at $30 with 1GB more.

So that is $5 for one extra GB monthly compared to the 2GB for $25 that I have now.

Which is better than the occasional $15 for the add-on 1GB.

[hairbag1]

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@Dunkman wrote:

@Dragosd 

I doubt that you can keep the flash promotions since it is associated to your present plan. Not sure whether you have access the terms and conditions for that particular promotion.  

You will keep your other rewards, like loyalty, autopay and friends.  

---

Are you positive ..I thought starting a new account meant loyalty starts over.

Existing customer can't get the newest promo unless they start a new account with a new sim ...no ?

[Dunkman]

@Dragosd 

I doubt that you can keep the flash promotions since it is associated to your present plan. Not sure whether you have access the terms and conditions for that particular promotion.  

You will keep your other rewards, like loyalty, autopay and friends.  

[hairbag1]

@Dragosd...the promo is geared to new customers.

You'd have to get a new sim and start a new account with a separate email address. Also...you'd be starting new so you'd lose whatever balance of data is left in current plan. Nothing from current plan is transferable.

Not a good idea.

Have her pay for her own data use...that might slow things down...maybe.  😎