New authentication system has locked my account

[unprompted__]

Hi,

Following up on the subject. I'm currently out of Canada (India). I have been doing seamless topups for more than a year via my old account which also had my card saved. Fortunately or unfortunately I never enabled auto-payments. So I received this pleasant surprise today (Eversafe). I've been reading the forum since morning and created this new account (not smooth either).

So, how do I recharge my phone. I intend to return back later this year or next. The thing is I absolutely don't want to lose my phone number!! All my gov services, bank account etc are linked with this. Yes, I didn't know that PM won't work outside of Canada (except USA). I mistook those international roaming stuff for outside of Canada coverage as well. Silly me.

Note: I have tried entering incorrect otp four times. I don't want to try "forgot password" with my old account.

1. Can I use some 3rd party recharge services from India? I tried Xoom but it ain't available in India. Paypal works though.

2. How can I access my old account which has my card saved. I just need to click a button there. Man it used to be so smooth.

3. If not, can I ask someone in Canada to recharge it for me? If yes, how to go about it?

Any suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks!

[unprompted__]

Cool. I guess I have the old account then.

[dabr]

@unprompted__   If you activated your account before Jan, 25th/2022, then you are on the old old rewards system which offers better value overall, especially for loyalty and autopay discount (if on plans below $40). 

Anyone activating after this date are automatically registered on the new points rewards system and will instead earn 5% in points for renewals or purchasing add-ons and an annual 10 points on anniversary for loyalty.  One point is worth $1 but you need to accumulate at least 15 points before being able to redeem them to be used towards a bill payment.   Add-ons can be purchased starting at 5 points though and are generally discounted vs buying add-ons if on old rewards which are now grandfathered.  So you're advised to not switch to new points as there's no going back to old rewards once you switch.

edit:  here's PM's announcement regarding the new points rewards:  https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Introducing-Public-Points-Rewards/td-p/...

[unprompted__]

I'm sorry but what do you mean by "an old $$ rewards account"?

[maximum_gato]

@unprompted__ 

It depends if the customer can prove that the loss of the account is at the fault of the provider then yes....but an old $$ rewards account cannot be restored. You're stuck with points in every situation once it's lost its lost forever.

[unprompted__]

Yeah Oct 3rd is the correct date. However, as you suggested better to recharge it by day 100 so as to keep some headway for surprises like Eversafe 😂

[unprompted__]

Can one recover a lost account?

[dabr]

@unprompted__   I usually google the 120 days/90 days to make sure I'm putting in the right reminder date for suspended accounts.  So 120 days from today is Oct. 3rd (of course pay before end of Sept).

@maximum_gato   @unprompted__   well that's unfortunate that PM has discontinued the reminder email for suspended accounts along with the heads up SMS that they used to send before renewal.

[maximum_gato]

@dabr 

Public Mobile used to send an email with a 3 day warning but some were sent late causing confusion and in some cases loss of the account. As recently as January I was emailed a 14 day notice but have not recieved one for my upcoming (in 4 days) deactivation date nor do I recall recieving one for my recently lost account that I was logged out of mid payment. I'll update if I recieve a notice tomorrow.

[unprompted__]

Yeah they used to send the 90 days reminder earlier. They don't do it now as I didn't receive any emails this year about that. I've setup a recurring reminder in my phone about this. Same as with my cc payments.

Just to understand this better. So I've recharged the number today (5th June). So, roughly I should recharge it again before 20th September, 2023 to avoid account deletion?

[dabr]

@unprompted__   120 days and 90 days are the same thing but just taking into account that it you really have 120 days (or 116) from the moment the account is renewed as you get 30 days of service after the renewal.

I don't think PM sends confirmation via email after reactivating the account but they do send (or used to?) an email a few days before the 90 days of suspension is up.

[unprompted__]

Yes, I've been using the 90 days thing. I usually recharge at around day 80. Never read about the 120 days thing. What's that?

Also, I never get any confirmation email after a successful recharge. Is that by design? Thanks.

[dabr]

@unprompted__   On another note (might have missed the post where it was mentioned) but since you're not using the PM service while abroad, are you using the 90 day suspension or holiday pause option (120 days from date of payment or 90 days from last missed payment renewal date) to pause the service and, of course, save some money in the process?    As long as you pay and reactivate the account before 90th day of suspension (recommended to top up around day 85/86 to give yourself some breathing space to deal with any issues) then this process can be repeated as long as needed.

Warning though as account and number would be deactivated if you miss making a manual top up by the 90th day of suspension.  You can set up a couple of reminders to avoid having that happen, of course.

[unprompted__]

That was very kind of you. Yeah learning lessons the hard way when it comes to trusting "friends" haha. Thank you for all your help and support!!

[unprompted__]

Thanks. Yes I did. It doesn't work. Neither with the old account or the new one.

[maximum_gato]

@unprompted__ 

That's great to hear! I just did the same thing for an account with no access to the Sim card. Enjoy the rest of your travels. BTW....did you check the "trusted device" box?

[LitlLdy]

@unprompted__   , that’s awesome! Long odd process but so happy for you that it worked! I saw it has for some & happy you can pay yourself instead of relying on someone else. It may have been a challenge but feels good when it works out! 🙂 Thank you for letting us know! We tried hard to help you. At 1am I was just to tired to stay longer. Sorry 😕

[unprompted__]

Well well well 😁

It worked!!!

I decided to follow your "forgot password" advice since the option to take the help of a friend wasn't working. It seems people forget you when they no longer need you. Anyways, here's exactly what I did.

1.  Clicked on the 'Forgot password' link on the login page.

2. Entered the appropriate email id.

3. Got the email for create new password. Did so.

4. Then used the new password and got the "Enter OTP received via SMS".

5. Now, I entered "incorrect otp" FOUR 😎 times as recommended by the post here "Troubleshooting Login Issues: OTP, 2FA, EverSafe".

6. Voilà! I got the option for "Send otp to email".

7. Used it. Got logged in. Made the payment. DONE.

Saved my life man.

Thanks @will13am
@LitlLdy @maximum_gato 

EDIT : So I tried to login again but got the "Password and email don't match" error message. However, I agian tried the "Entering incorrect otp four times" workaround and it gave me the option to receive the otp via the email. It's ok as long as I have access to my account via the email otp option.

Any tech staff, management reading this. Please please please don't block this workaround or else people like me are screwed.

[maximum_gato]

@unprompted__ 

I answered your question in another thread but use muskbird.com over recharge.com. the fees are less (7.5%) and the turnaround time is much faster with the voucher code sent to your email in about 5 minutes.

I have had the occasional problem getting the submit payment button to appear and have had to switch payment method from a credit card to PayPal and vice versa but it could have been a browser issue so you may want to use secret/incognito mode if you run into this issue.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Online-Top-Up-Payments-Muskbird-com/td-p/...

[unprompted__]

Well, I could use a vpn, change app store region etc. But the question is will textnow detect it? I'll need to connect with the person I kinda know and see if he can just make a call to that PM tollfree number. I'll buy the topup from recharge.com or musk bird.

[dust2dust]

If your email service uses a 2fa verification code sent to your Public number then that would be a problem. But maybe they have an alternative. So maybe use a different one for the voucher if you buy it online.

If still not a vpn then maybe sideloading the apk if you're in to that level of techiness.

Adding -@LitlLdy- Sorry. I assumed that was a copy from them. I wasn't saying that to you.

[LitlLdy]

@dust2dust , ok. It’s 1am where I am. I’m gonna leave this with you. 🙂

[unprompted__]

Sorry, I didn't understand. Which email service are you referring to? If it helps, I used gmail with TLD as .com for account creation.

[unprompted__]

Was about to say that. Just checked it. @dust2dust 
Are there any other good voip apps?

[dust2dust]

Hopefully the email service you use doesn't need a 2fa to your Public number. I don't think they include it in the welcome email. You might remotely possibly find it on your phone as an sms message and it might even be stored on the sim rather than the normal place. Might.

Adding -@LitlLdy- The use of the word "use" is a bit of a misnomer. I used it recently outside NA. But maybe downloading is a problem. Maybe a vpn would bypass that.

[LitlLdy]

On TextNow website: TextNow is currently only available to be downloaded and used within the United States and Canada.

[unprompted__]

I think I don't have that 4 digit pin with me anymore. Wasn't even aware of it. When do we get it though? I might be able to look for it on my laptop as I usually tend to save such stuff somewhere.

[dust2dust]

You could buy the voucher online, they send you the code. The key is will the voip app (TextNow) let you call a NA toll free number from India. I could when I was recently out of country.

[unprompted__]

Dang it. I don't remember it now. Don't know if textnow is still working. It wasn't when I tried last year. Let's see.

[unprompted__]

Thanks for the info. Yeah I used TextNow when I first came to Canada. Was pretty cool. Will try my luck at it. Let's say if I manage to get a textnow canadian number, then I could do all the top up stuff from it?

[dust2dust]

Wait, are you meaning that TextNow disabled it for use in India to call NA? That would suck. I wonder if other voip apps have done that.

Yes, your 4 digit account pin that you created at sign up. But the voucher method doesn't need it.