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Hostage: Public Mobile Credits dont renew your plan

allardljosh
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

If you let your plan lapse with auto pay turned off, even topping up your account to the "amount due" will not renew your plan (PM will say you're good to go, but will not enable your service). Public Mobile will not enable your service until you're well in excess stored value on the account (in my case, I had to go $9 above the amount due to get my service back). Additionally, to port out you need active SMS service, which any addons present on the account will not be active for. Terrible software, terrible experience in the past couple weeks from PM.

12 REPLIES 12

@allardljosh 

If you intend to port out I suggest you contact customer support before you do so to ask for a refund for the overpayment you had to make to reactivate your plan. While generally prepaid providers are non refundable pm is reasonable and understands that some glitches result in overpayments by the customers due to no fault of their own. If you are only considering leaving then a few pointers may help you in future when making payments.

 

  1. Amount due is very glitchy. I advise against ever using it. Choose "other amount" instead.
  2. Adding $1 to the amount needed to reactivate your plan is only advised if you plan to continue with pm and can help force the payment system to take your plan amount and automatically reactivate after you confirm and submit your payment.
  3. Adding the exact amount needed to cover your plan amount can sometimes result in it only being added to your balance instead of reactivating your suspended service. This also occurs during the 4 hour grace period during renewal when payments have been debited (usually 2am eastern but this can frequently run late) from accounts but you have either not topped up, you are short on your plan amount, you don't have autopay or your autopay fails and you are due to have your service suspended 6am eastern (or 4 hours after renewal payments are debited). You can top up your account manually to avoid suspension but you must force the system to then apply your payment from your balance towards your plan amount.
  4. To force your plan amount to be applied towards renewal you go to the plans or usage page. Click on lost/stolen. Suspend your service. Log out/in. Resume your service. Your plan will automatically reactivate and your transaction history will reflect the plan amount being applied with the current date. Your overview will be delayed in properly updating status if this occurs during renewal vs reactivation once you are already suspended.
  5. Payments by voucher(account pin # not required) or credit card with your 4 digit account pin# thru 611 will automatically reactivate your account services and plan. 
  6. If your account is suspended via lost/stolen then 611 will take your payment but will not unsuspend or reactivate your service. You must remove lost/stolen (resume your service) manually yourself before you can reactivate your service.

I hope this help explain the intricacies of pm's payment system. It's a little bit of being fiat and it being a fiat....fix it again Tony!!🤔😆

AE_Collector
Mayor / Maire

Not sure what the comment about add-ons in the plan not being active for is about. We’re you hoping they would work even while your plan was suspended for not being paid up to date in order too port out? Doesn’t work that way. And needing your plan to be active to port out isn’t a PM thing, I believe that all cell providers require this. There is an exception though.., if you were porting out to Telus or Koodo they will “make it so” even if your account with PM was in suspension.

 

AE_Collector

So if you HAD to overpay to get ported out, tell Public Mobile to refund the extra funds by contacting the Customer Support Agents, or process a chargeback to your payment card if they refuse to do it.

 

That's what I'd personally do.

 

To contact a Customer Support Agent, there are 2 methods (you may need to utilize option#2 if you have no active account here anymore):

 

  1. Use the ticketing system for a faster response time. Click here and type Customer Support Agent, then select Contact Us, then select Other (or the topic that more closely matches your request).  Click the result which states Click here to submit a ticket and follow the prompts,  or, 
  2. Send a private message to the Customer Support Agent by clicking here  You’ll need to be logged into your Community account for the link to work.

 

Watch for their response in your Community private mailbox which will be indicated by a number on the small envelope icon to the left of your Community avatar.

allardljosh
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

It's way more than $1. I had to add $9 (in total, after doing numerous $1/$2 payments over) to get it back, only to receive a $2 credit back. Basically what's going wrong is the bad software is looking at the credits then assuming that's the threshold to renew the plan (without tax). The other calculations are crap as well.

Indeed @softech, if a user is reactivating for the purpose of remaining with Public Mobile, making the 'extra' payment is fine.

 

However, for users porting out needing to reactivate an inactive account, they should ONLY be required to select the minimum plan amount (heck, if it were up to me, Public Mobile should be able to accommodate this without the need to restore the account)

 

It really is a money grab when all that's needed is official confirmation (which the message to the CSA can accomplish) that a user wishes to port their PM number out.

0PX9O4
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

Sorry to hear this. It's deeply disheartening to see a "self serve" oriented provider simultaneously fail at providing both adequately functioning self serve system as well as prompt & effective human customer service.

softech
Oracle
Oracle

@allardljosh you talked about porting out.. are you in the process?

 

yes.  Amount Due might not work if account is suspended,  I have been advising people to use the $1 extra trick.  For most part it is ok as it is just $1 and this extra will stay in your account for next renewal. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @allardljosh : Two parts to that. 1. Yes the Amount Due option is buggy. It lies. Use Other. 2. An account needs to be fully active and renewed and functioning before you can port out. (except to Telus or Koodo but not all the way to deactivated)

esjliv
Mayor / Maire

@allardljosh wrote:

If you let your plan lapse with auto pay turned off, even topping up your account to the "amount due" will not renew your plan (PM will say you're good to go, but will not enable your service). Public Mobile will not enable your service until you're well in excess stored value on the account (in my case, I had to go $9 above the amount due to get my service back). Additionally, to port out you need active SMS service, which any addons present on the account will not be active for. Terrible software, terrible experience in the past couple weeks from PM.


@allardljosh  - topping up your account to "amount due" can be glitchy - you are correct.

Choosing "Other" tends to work when the site is not quite accepting your request.

 

Yes, Public Mobile will renew your plan with the exact plan amount - majority of the time. Again, just glitchy, sometimes adding one more dollar will allow to resume service.

 

So, you don't have SMS ability to port out? Is that your current issue?

HALIMACS
Mayor / Maire

@allardljosh 

 

My experience is that Public Mobile WILL restore a suspended or expired service with the amount of the plan that one was most recently on.  (EDIT:   if one refuses to pay more than the plan price, then a CSA will restore the service at the plan price)

 

It's regrettable your experience was different than that.

 

Saying all that, Public Mobile certainly isn't for everyone.  But kudos to you for giving it a shot.

NDesai
Oracle
Oracle

@allardljosh Sorry to hear that. In past, adding $1 extra or temporarily set your account to Lost/stolen phone triggers the account to reactivate. The reason texting services are required is because PM sends SMS text when you request to port in or out your number. They have seen a lot fraudulent activities in the past and SMS verification seems to help stop fraud with number transfer. 

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Anonymous
Not applicable

@allardljosh 

if you need your number you have to pay for your service to be Active.. to you can port out.

 

Spoiler

close all Browser and do clear cache and cookies for any Browser,

and try open one Browser incognito mode,

go sign in to Self-Serve, to review your account,

1. Click on Payment

2. Make a Payment

3. one Time Payment 

4. you will see your Amount Due:$$

5. Payment Type: selected other ( Enter the desired payment amount )

6. you will do manually enter Amount:$$ + $1 extra

7. Click ‘Submit’,
9.after payment successful,  you have to do Rebooting your phone
what is meant by rebooting the device turn off and turn it back on.
10. and how much you pay the extra is will going to your account Available funds:$$ has the amount left, and for next bill cycle the will take it from there automatically,
 

and if still not fix it follow this,

  1. Add Funds to your Plan Amount through Self Serve  
  2. Go to “Plan and Add-Ons” TAB
  3. Select "Lost/Stolen Phone" TAB
  4. Select "Suspend Service" BUTTON
  5. Then, Select Resume/Reactivate Service
  6. Reboot your phone,
    what is meant by rebooting the device turn off and turn it back on.

    and if can't fix it you need To Contact Customer Support Agent by CS_Agentand Explain your issue to them can solve your issue, they are nice service Team the will help you 100%.

     

    Here’s How To Contact Customer Support Agent

    • you can send a private message to Customer Support Agent by Click Here link,
    • please include in your message,
    • phone number,
    • Email address,

     

    • Customer Support Agent by CS_Agent, will Response to your inbox by private message 
    • During business hours, we strive to answer customer messages swiftly. You will often get an answer within an hour. During peak periods, you may need to wait up to 48 hours.Customer Support Agents are available:
      • Monday to Sunday: 6 AM to 10 PM EST
      • Note: Public Mobile No Support by phone call or Email.. only by CS_Agentprivate message..

      Check your private message inbox (click on the envelope top right of your screen)

             Good Luck....

     

 

Make sure the old SIM card in your phone when you're Transfer your number. You should get a SMS message from your old carrier asking to confirm if you would like to Transfer your number. Your reply should be: YES.

 

The confirmation message can take a few minutes to come in. You have 90 minutes from the time of request.

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