Changing from Public to another provider

[zully]

I am new to Public after a long hiatus from cell phone use...I started on October 19th, and topped it up on November 19th or before...yet by December 19th, I didn't top up until Dec 21st when weather got nasty here in Ottawa ( I chose to pay at the store in person).

I also had decided I would move to another provider that offered Customer service. Nothing against Public as I got my son to join in (no credit issued for that btw), yet I need the help.

I could not start with the new provider since my Public account was 'suspended'., even as I had paid for the new one.  

Even as the representative tried to do it himself, it was to no avail..yet he had me switch over to Lucky first..I expected no problem.

It was not until today that I managed to make the time (Very serious family matters,  including my kid's grandma admitted gravely ill to Hospital) .  It seemed that I had to pay for Public for this month of December before being able to move over to Public...so I set my plan to a cheaper one @ $ 15  and it opened to Public. What now?? How do I justify paying for 2 providers for the same time? How to get out? Do I get my money back? 

Why could I not move on to my new provider without having to pay Public for something I have not used or wanted any more? I am on limited income at present. Thanks for your help.

[AE_Collector]

Yes agreed, @zully  just needs to use the "Message the Moderators" function to avoid fighting with the Chat Bot. 

@zully , you have mastered the community access so here is how to simply send a message to the moderators (if needed) in three simple steps. See the red circles in each of these three screen shots below. In the third one You type in Moderator_Team in the third step though it will likely Auto-complete for you type in the first few letters. 

(Community: If I messed anything up here please correct me!)

AE_Collector

[LoveMyBolt]

When you're done with family matters then log in here and click on the little envelope icon in the upper right. In the To: box start typing moderator_team and it should give it to you as a selectable name. Click on it and then fill in the subject and text box and send it.

It's allegedly lower priority but not being able to get to a submit ticket form should not penalize the customer.

What were you needing the moderators for again? You have an active service. Your son would need to be the one to ask for the retroactive referral.

[zully]

Thanks ...I have beenlooking and looking and nothing...So I give upfor today. Family matters first. Thanks so much.

[LoveMyBolt]

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@zully wrote:

Thank you for your explanation....yet I don't get this you said:

"Through some accident of wording you might eventually get to a submit ticket"  when talking about reaching Moderators.

I will check for the Bubble you mentioned.

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There's a form buried deep in that ? bubble (chatbot) system. Seems hit and miss on getting to it. It may just direct you to the private messaging system. Which may work. But apparently less priority.

[zully]

Thank you for your explanation....yet I don't get this you said:

"Through some accident of wording you might eventually get to a submit ticket"  when talking about reaching Moderators.

I will check for the Bubble you mentioned.

[zully]

One more thing:

I did pay and gave my card info to Lucky, yet since it was not possible to port that day; the agent took the SIM card out for Lucky and put back the  one for Public.

I will say with PM since it is paid until January 30th, and might even stay given your Community Assistance here.

I guess my next move will be to call Lucky and clear all of this. I would stay with PM, if I had Customer service to call. 

[LoveMyBolt]

If you might hang around then once you're over the initial start-up things then you just need to not care that you can't immediately talk to someone because everything is working as it should.

You can get a lot of answers here in the community though.

Customers are supposed to use the ? bubble in the lower right to interact with the moderator team. Through some accident of wording you might eventually get to a submit ticket. But you might also just get to the private message system to send them a message that way too.

[zully]

You are right. That is what happened.

The info was not conveyed to Moderators..I did not know how to reach to do so.

Thank you.

[zully]

Thank you so very much. Your help is making me appreciate what you do on-line. 

Maybe I will stay with Public Mobile...I'll see.

Now one last question for the New Year: How does one get a hold of a Moderator/Admin, if needed?

[AE_Collector]

If you haven't paid anything or activated a new account with Lucky yet, hang around here until closer to Jan 30 since it is paid up until then. Dont leave it to the very last minute to move then though. Meanwhile, maybe you will decide to keep things simple and stay here. You should be seeing $1/month credit for your referal to your son unless you didn't give him your referal info to activate his account.

AE_Collector

[darlicious]

@zully  If you have paid and reactivated your account and your services are working you can ignore the email. It relates to the previous attempt to port when it was suspended. You have no credit card registered so there will be no further payments. Simply allow yourself three or four days before your next renewal to port your number over to lucky. Thoughts and prayers with your family.

[zully]

Done and Thank you.I was just seconds away. 

[LoveMyBolt]

Log in
Payment tab
lower down Manage my card
Remove this credit card

If you don't see that or it says something else then I guess you don't have a card registered. You're good to go without a worry.

[zully]

I am there now and can't see where it was saved. I did not register the card. I just made the one time payment.

Before, the only two times, I paid with vouchers.

Do I need to still go there and remove any info on my card? Thank you.

[LoveMyBolt]

Porting is all at the receiver side. The originator simply closes the account and transfers the number.

Go into your self-serve and payments and manage my cards and remove the card. Then you won't have to think about it after. But it will almost certainly close and no longer be used.

[zully]

PD: I saw this in my email from you just now: 'You can not use PM account number to port your phone number to another provider.' which is opposite to what actually showed in your earlier message here, where you said *yes* you can use PM account to port the number over. I am confused. 

Moreover what about my card that I paid only once with to unsuspend my account? It was suggested that I take it out if I hadn't port over. I am not sure that I am or not. I feel stuck.

I do not want unauthorized automatic Withdrawls, or to continue beyond what I paid today to unsuspend the account.

I want to use the amount paid to PM (as I need phone use for Emergency visit today to our dying grandma, hence the need.) and then Port over at the end of January.

The Port over was started already at the store but could not be initiated (due to the suspension).

All I want to know how is how to proceed, please

[NDesai]

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@zully wrote:

Thank you indeed..I am not totally sure that I understand as I have never used Pre-paid or pay as you go before...I paid and was done...Nomore I thought. It was 2 days pass the top up. ...So how can I get out with no hassles now?.My date is the 31st now (said the 30th for some reason even as I topped up today Dec 31st 2019) . 

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All you need to do now is to port in your number to another provider using your PM account number. It is up to you to stay until 30 more days, but if you port out today or tomorrow, you will not get the money back that you just paid since the service is prepaid. 

[Anonymous]

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@zully wrote:

Because I am not very good at this kind of thing any more...and frankly I have zero time to spend tryingto figure it out, unlike my son who is.

Now I am confused about the card used to pay and taking it out and the porting out. I do not want my card to be used again period...What to do now?

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In almost all cases, porting cancels everything. There have been sporadic reports of people still being charged on their payment cards after they've ported out. So to pre-empt that, remove any registered payment card. Or not. You'll probably be fine.

[darlicious · Accepted solution]

@zully  I'm sorry to hear your experience with public mobile was not a positive one. When you signed up you were not given or realized what was involved with an online only mobile service provider. It's also unfortunate that the lucky customer service gent didn't inform you properly what was required to port your number over to their service. I don't know what's included in your new plan with lucky but use the services you have purchased with pm until close to your renewal date and then port your number to your lucky account. Best wishes.

[Anonymous]

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@zully wrote:

Thank you indeed..I am not totally sure that I understand as I have never used Pre-paid or pay as you go before...I paid and was done...Nomore I thought. It was 2 days pass the top up. ...So how can I get out with no hassles now?.My date is the 31st now (said the 30th for some reason even as I topped up today Dec 31st 2019) . 

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Some cell phone arrangements can get confusing.

The ones I can think of are:

1. prepaid - Public Mobile - you pay up front for some services

2. pay as you go - you pay into a pot and consume service value out of it

3. postpaid - you pay up front to be a customer and then you catch up at the end of the month with any additional charges that might apply depending on your usage.

[zully]

Because I am not very good at this kind of thing any more...and frankly I have zero time to spend tryingto figure it out, unlike my son who is.

Now I am confused about the card used to pay and taking it out and the porting out. I do not want my card to be used again period...What to do now?

[zully]

Thank you indeed..I am not totally sure that I understand as I have never used Pre-paid or pay as you go before...I paid and was done...Nomore I thought. It was 2 days pass the top up. ...So how can I get out with no hassles now?.My date is the 31st now (said the 30th for some reason even as I topped up today Dec 31st 2019) . 

[Anonymous]

 @zully 

I'm usually hesitant to help people to leave but I don't like that this company sometimes has uncertain payment glitches that I don't want to reflect badly on the company. Not that I have any stake in their reputation.

So if you haven't ported yet then log into your self-serve and remove your payment card if registered.

If no payment card registered then you're home free.

Why have you chosen to leave? Just because there's no one to talk to? There's lots of support here in this community. If it's an account issue then yes you need to contact what are called the moderator team. The community could have helped you get there.

As for your son and some reward...there is a referral reward available. You just need to give the new customer your referral code. You get a dollar per term for as long as the new customer stays. The new customer gets a $10 credit. Sometimes there are promos around referrals. One is ongoing right now in fact.

[zully]

Thank you so much for your time and answer. I had no idea that I could not open with another provider when the account was 'suspended'. Neither did the agent who started the process to switch me over to Lucky. I thought that with  'Pay as you Go' there would be no issue. Since I owed zero...and farnkly hardly used the service.

About the Mod..I had no idea how to do it frankly. I got my son to join in and I got no offer of rewards...or offers to continue (going on now)

I tried to reach Public Mobile before adding money to it but I did not know how to do that...:-( So I chose a simpler plan, paid for it, and I have as well with the help of the Agent @ the store for the other Provider...

I was told by the same agent location that once my phone recognizes that a request had been made to port over, that it'd would do 'so automatically.' Is that the case? I would rather choose to wait until my next bill period is over....Or should I contact Lucky and explain it?

[NDesai]

@zully Rule for porting is that your account must be active. Since PM is a prepaid service and you are activating your line just to port out, you will not get your money back. You can now use PM account number to port your phone number to another provider. I am not sure when you activated and what credit you did not get, but you should've contacted the mod team for the no credit issue. No point now since you are leaving as credits are only used for account renewals or add-on purchase.

[Anonymous]

 @zully 

I don't think there are any providers that would let you transfer out from an inactive account.

I don't think there are any prepaid providers that would refund or pro-rate unused portions.

Postpaid services will pro-rate though.