New Account -- Double Charge?

[roseauto]

I activated my SIM card last week, December 8th.

I signed up for the $25 plan with Auto Pay. Set everything up & after, I had an available balance of "$2" and an amount owing of "$25.76" to be paid before January 7th, so I went ahead and paid that because I wasn't receiving text messages or phone calls to my phone so I thought maybe I had to do a manual payment the first time before Auto Pay kicked in.

So now my account says:

Available Funds: $25

Payment due before January 7, 2022

Payment for next cycle: $25

Amount owing: $0.00

When I checked my credit card statement this morning, though, I found two phone charges from December 8th (the day I activated my SIM card).

1. $28 from Koodo Top Up PreApproved

2. $25.76 from Public Mobile.

Now I know that Koodo and PM are owned by Telus and from other threads here that sometimes Koodo takes payment for PM. 

My question is .... why was I double charged? Does the second payment, the one I made manually, cover me for next month, then? Meaning that I won't have to pay anything until February? Or is it likely that Auto Pay will still charge my plant amount to my credit card in January?

Please advise. 

[darlicious]

@zestyfruit 

I'm happy to hear they sorted it out for you.

[zestyfruit]

@darlicious they hadn't figured it out (I guess it didn't show up on their system at first), but it's resolved now. Thanks for the help

[darlicious]

@zestyfruit 

Do you mean no reply from customer support or they just haven't figured it out yet?

[zestyfruit]

@darlicious I do not, not from that at least (I have the $2 auto-pay bonus)

I've submitted a ticket but no luck yet.

[darlicious]

@zestyfruit 

Do you have a balance in your self serve account?

[zestyfruit]

@softech Yes-- I'll try submitting a ticket. Thanks!

[softech]

@zestyfruit   did you recall seeing any error message when you activate the account?  Did you have to go back and try activation a second time?  If that is the case, it could be that the one you thought it was errored out indeed activated.  It is possible you created 2 accounts, and hence 2 charges, during activation.  You will probably have to open a ticket with PM and confirm if 2 accounts were created. 

To open a ticket with PM:

Spoiler

1. For faster response (2-48 hours), Click on the bubble in the lower right to request CS Agent assistance, or use this direct link: https://publicmobile.ca/chatbot.

Start with typing "Submit a ticket", click "Contact Us", click "Other" from the choices, click "Click here to submit a ticket". Then follow to complete the ticket submission.

2. Or you can Send a private message to the CS Agent here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

**Monitor your Community inbox, envelope on the top right, after ticket is opened.  CS Agent will reply and work with you  via messaging there

[zestyfruit]

I also got a double charge (I've just signed up)-- for me, it was two charges for the same amount, one from "Koodo top up" and the other from Public Mobile. 

I'm skeptical that this means I paid for the second month. It says that my next payment date is at the end of January (beginning of month 2).

[roseauto]

@dabr understood, thank you.  😊

[dabr]

@roseauto   Good to hear we've been able to reassure you on the charges.  

Regarding the referral reward, it is still possible for you to receive that by asking anyone here to private message their code (if not done already), however, if anyone sent you their code unsolicited, that should be reported to customer support.

Also welcome to PM.

[roseauto]

Wow you guys are quick! My mind is at ease now that I was not double-charged and that I am now paid in full up until February. Thank you all for the responses. 

@hTideGnow No the Koodo charge had already gone through and been charged to my credit card. Also, I did not have any Error issues or have to restart the process.

@dabr Ok that makes sense. Thank you so much. Also, no I did not use a friend referral code.

@Jb456 Yes, that is exactly what happened. I made an outgoing call that worked, but the incoming calls went straight to voicemail and the text messages did not come through, which made my very confused. When I signed up to Lucky Mobile (which is where I transferred from) I had to make the first payment manually before the account activated, which is what made me think I had to do the same this time.

The phone is working fine now though. I thought the manual payment was what made the SIM fully activate, which is why I was surprised to find the two charges on my credit card. But your explanation makes sense. I will keep an eye on my account, but my mind is at ease that I'm now paid up until February. Thanks 🙂

And for reference, no I did not use a friend referral code.

@Anonymous I saw your message and I'll just reply here, no I did not use a friend referral code when I activated my account.

@HALIMACS Right on that's good to know, thanks!

[Anonymous]

@roseauto 

So now at your account says:
Available Funds: $25
Payment due before January 7, 2022
Payment for next cycle: $25
Amount owing: $0.00

do you Enter a refer A Friend to you will receive a one-time credit of $10..,, they will applied within 72hr,,,
then for Set up AutoPay and you will receive a $2 credit every 30 days.

after 3 days you will see at Available Funds: $39
on January 7, 2022,, Payment take from your Available Funds: $39
plan $25 -$2 Autopay - $2 for the first Autopay -$10 for refer a friend = $11 plus tax

next Payment for next cycle on February 6, 2022
is will taken from your Available Funds: $$

[HALIMACS]

---

My question is .... why was I double charged? Does the second payment, the one I made manually, cover me for next month, then? Meaning that I won't have to pay anything until February? Or is it likely that Auto Pay will still charge my plant amount to my credit card in January?

Please advise. 

---

No @roseauto , you weren't "double charged".   You paid in advance for your NEXT 30-day cycle by paying this early.

Also, no, your Autopay will not charge your credit card in January given you have effectively paid in advance.

The GOOD NEWS, is you'll still receive the auto-pay reward of $2/cycle since it's applied just for having a payment card registered on the account at the time of renewal.

Welcome to Public Mobile!!!

[Anonymous]

@roseauto 

sign in to Self-Serve, to review your account, if you found at Available Funds: $$ has the amount left, leave it for next bill cycle the will take it from there automatically,

Edit: the payment you see it from Koodo is happen sometime with first payment but after that you will see the payment taken by PM.

[Jb456 · Accepted solution]

@roseauto  the charges look right. You paid your second payment in advance.

The system cannot automatically apply the $2 auto-pay when you first sign up. That is why you had a balance of $2 and were charged $25 plus your province taxes.

I'll then assume you went and did a $23 dollar deposit since you had a $2 balance. Which would be your second charge of $25 and change on your CC bill.

So now you're technically all paid up till February due date which will only display after the system charges your second payment on January 7th.

Now as for your phone service is it working now?

Did you port your number in from another company? When you transfer your number it kind of works like you described. Outgoing works at first but incoming calls and text would go to your old sim card from other provider until the port is complete. So did you port  in and is everything working now? If it still is not working as it should your port might be stuck and a ticket would need to be open for moderators to finalize the port. 

Let us know! Also if you used a referral code to sign up your $10 sign up credit bonus will be credited to your account within 72 hours of activation.

[dabr]

---

@roseauto wrote:

I activated my SIM card last week, December 8th.

I signed up for the $25 plan with Auto Pay. Set everything up & after, I had an available balance of "$2" and an amount owing of "$25.76" to be paid before January 7th, so I went ahead and paid that because I wasn't receiving text messages or phone calls to my phone so I thought maybe I had to do a manual payment the first time before Auto Pay kicked in.

So now my account says:

Available Funds: $25

Payment due before January 7, 2022

Payment for next cycle: $25

Amount owing: $0.00

When I checked my credit card statement this morning, though, I found two phone charges from December 8th (the day I activated my SIM card).

1. $28 from Koodo Top Up PreApproved

2. $25.76 from Public Mobile.

Now I know that Koodo and PM are owned by Telus and from other threads here that sometimes Koodo takes payment for PM. 

My question is .... why was I double charged? Does the second payment, the one I made manually, cover me for next month, then? Meaning that I won't have to pay anything until February? Or is it likely that Auto Pay will still charge my plant amount to my credit card in January?

Please advise. 

---

@roseauto    Yes the first charge to Koodo was your first 30 day cycle which is always paid in full.  Then it seems you made another payment showing as charged to PM and you have an account balance.  So the next payment will take the funds from your balance first, less any rewards which should be at $2+2 ($4) autopay discount and $10 if used a friend's referral code? to activate for a total credit of $14 to be applied against the next payment cycle.  So PM will take another $11 from your available balance.

Also you weren't double charged but opted make another payment which is in your account balance.

As you noted it doesn't matter if the payments are billed to Koodo (seems to be happening for the first one at activation) as both carriers are owned by Telus.

[hTideGnow]

Hi @roseauto ,  the pre-approved one is a pending charge , it should drop from the CC in couple days

Also, when you activated, did you encounter any issue, like Error 821 and you have to reactivate from beginning?   (but from what you provided, I don't think you had that issue)