PM should have 4GB / $40 promo plan more often to attract more customers

[mikga]

I hope PM should have this promo plan more often to attract more customers. I have a few friends and relatives asking about PM service and they are waiting for the promo to join.  

[zmh1175]

Yeah. this is best plan I have seen so far, even better than 6GB/50 dollars from 3 big.

[ChopstickHero]

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@texwood wrote:

I would like to see the next promo to be something slightly different, such as $45 with nation-wide calling + 4GB data, or province-wide calling + 5GB data.

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This would be a very attractive plan for new sign ups. I'm still happy with my promo plan with just provincial calling. VOIP covers the rest if I ever leave the province.

[stonechucker]

@texwood, I like that canadawide for $45.

although I wouldn't use it, I know there are many who were looking for that when the previous promo was on.  The $5 increase you suggest would also be inline with pricing otherwise as the 6GB plan the promo was modelled on is also $5 per 30 days different between province and nation wide coverage.

[texwood]

I would like to see the next promo to be something slightly different, such as $45 with nation-wide calling + 4GB data, or province-wide calling + 5GB data.

[echf]

Agree! I am few friends want to join Public Mobile too! They are looking for 4GB/$40. 

I think this will be a smart move to offer promotion like 4 times a year. 

[will13am]

@srlawren, no need to apologize!  This is what these message boards are all about, open discussions, sharing ideas, helping each other, etc.  Let's just agree to disagree and end it at that. 

[srlawren]

@will13am I don't want to argue with you, honestly!  But some of your statements make me need to jump in here. My apologies. 

Okay let's start with this--just because your activation and your friends' activations went with no or little issue doesn't mean there wasn't big issues.  If I had more energy right now (it's been a very long week so I don't), I'd go dig up a few dozen example threads of the [I can't say the word I want to say here so:] stuff going on during the promo period.  Even for people that entered nothing wrong themselves, the porting system was overloaded and would error out, only to succeed if people resubmitted the same info later.  There were credit card processing issues, activation issues, porting issue, you name it.  I'm not sure if we were seeing the same community at the time if you think it's fine to run another promo without addressing as much of that as possible.

Yes I agree that nothing is ever going to be infalable (glitches will always exist) and you can't make the system completely impervious to user error, and I get the value of the 80/20 assessment.  But if even 20% of people are facing the kinds of issues that happened during the promo, when you mulitply that 1-in-5 times the massive volumen the plan generated, it's a LOT of frustrated, angry people.  Not just new customers, but also community members and modersators answering the same questions over and over and so on.  It, quite frankly, was a nightmare, and I'm in no rush to relive that experience any time soon.  Sorry.

Saying that people should do their homework is all great and to some extent, for those that did, they had a pretty smooth experience.  But it's irresponsible to not recognize that many people won't or can't put the amount of time and thought into it to ensure they are set up for success.  Why not set up the system so that it's more consistently able to guide people to the desired outcome?  

Lastly I'm going to mention your boxing day analogy.  Yes, those can be chaotic.  Some of the more organized companies make line ups, limit the number of people in the store at a given time, and take other steps to help ensure things go as smoothly as possible, recongizing that yes there could be some challenges to overcome.  However, I don't recall hearing of anyone standing in a store for days or weeks before getting help or even being acknowledged that they're asking for it.  I don't recall anyone being without critical communication services for days or weeks due to being in a chaotic boxing day or black friday sale.  

If you were running the store for a boxing day sale and you knew that in last year's boxing day sale some people were injured in the rush, there were disgruntled customers that waited way too long to be served, there were angry people protesting outside your store, you ran into inventory issues (yeah this is a retail issue that doesn't really apply but bear with me), etc..... would you knowingly then have a sale again in, say April or May, without taking a ton of steps to try to minimizie those issues? 

Okay let's call this my last respnose here because I feel like we could go back and forth quite a bit and get nowhere.  Again, I mean no disrespect to you nor anyone else that feels like you do that it would be no big deal to run another promo without fixing many things, so please take my thoughts for what they're worth, which is literally about $0.02.  Cheers!

[SD08]

I would have to agree that PM has some work to do before offering another promo.

I'll just point out that it has not been that long since the last promo offer, less than four months since the last one ended.  Furthermore, the previous promo was PM's first ever, according to this.  So it's not like anyone can say we're used to seeing promos from PM often.  I think with a little patience, we'll see another promo eventually. 

[stonechucker]

When I did my test months before I finally decided to join, I ran into a SIM activation issue, and as I didn't realize the community existed, I used the only link I could find for help, the email address to nowhere it seems.  The stated response time went by, and I still waited a couple days.

Someone finally did respond, and I got myself activated, and progressed to test with the 10-day plan.  

During the the following months, I too did my research to ensure I had no further issues, or at least minimized them.  I found the community, and read everything I could.  But that was my choice as a consumer who wanted to seek out the information, and understand all I could before taking the plunge.  Not every consumer is going to do this, I don't think even 50% will do it.  Generally if I'm building a flat pack from Ikea, I skip over the instructions as they are generally graphic without much if any written instruction, or just simply too small for me to read.  This works a lot of the time for me, but sometimes I need to ask for help.

Before the promo, help was quick to get, generally sameday during business hours, or next day, possibly 2-day.  When the delay got to 12 day for initial response, it should have been cancelled or held off, as the new users with issues, whether user error or system error were not getting the help they needed, and many became abusive or disruptive to others.  This should never happen, in any forum, or call centre, or kiosk.

i agree to fix the issues as best Public Mobile can, before entertaining a new promo, or even the suggested price drop for the regular 12 GB plan.  It just doesn't make sense, in my opinion.

[will13am]

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@srlawren wrote:

@will13am of course you can never prevent people from taking incorrect actions.  It's how you deal with exceptions and errors that make or break the customer experience.  There are a number of ways that PM could help reduce the likelihood of incorrect actions, and help the user correct it, such as:

1) Better guidance and validation on the activation and porting request forms

2) Ability to check the status of your porting request, and if it errored or hung, the ability to see the issue that caused it, and correct your information and resubmit without waiting for a moderator

3) A proper ticketing system in the community for when the above still lead to problems either from the user's actions or from system glitches

If you don't think the chaos that was in the community during the promo plan was unacceptable, I'm not sure what else I can do to convince you.  It's not just that there were issues, it's that the volume from interest in the plan seemed to multiply the issues, and the moderator team, as wonderful as they are, were completely overwhelmed and unable to keep up with the volume.  How you could in good concience recommend PM inviting another flood of new customers without addressing the issues that caused the chaos and/or the issues in dealing with the chaos???  I'm at a loss.

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@srlawren, the glass is half full my friend.  My views are heavily tainted by my own experiences.  I had very little trouble during the entire promotion period.  The only issue I had was trying to pay for my third acccount with the visa card.  Using the mastercard fixed that problem. 

I help many people get on the service and that too was for the most part trouble free.  A couple of porting issue occurred with a port from Rogers and one from Bell.  It took a bit of time to get a hold of a moderator.  Because I advised these people to take a temporary number first, the stress level was kept reasonably low by the fact the old service continued to work.  Once I was able to get a moderator's attention, the two ports were fixed within a couple of hours. 

I did my prior due dilligence before switching to this service and I sort of knew what I was doing.  I see misinformation as being one of the biggest hurdles.  The new community forum has gone a long way to improving things in this regard.  In the months that I have been here, I have seen a number of labs suggestions that will enhance the activation process and user experience.  The situation will never ever be ideal.  By the 80/20 rule, we are ready for another promotion.  By the way have you ever seen an orderly sale on boxing day? 

[srlawren]

@will13am of course you can never prevent people from taking incorrect actions.  It's how you deal with exceptions and errors that make or break the customer experience.  There are a number of ways that PM could help reduce the likelihood of incorrect actions, and help the user correct it, such as:

1) Better guidance and validation on the activation and porting request forms

2) Ability to check the status of your porting request, and if it errored or hung, the ability to see the issue that caused it, and correct your information and resubmit without waiting for a moderator

3) A proper ticketing system in the community for when the above still lead to problems either from the user's actions or from system glitches

If you don't think the chaos that was in the community during the promo plan was unacceptable, I'm not sure what else I can do to convince you.  It's not just that there were issues, it's that the volume from interest in the plan seemed to multiply the issues, and the moderator team, as wonderful as they are, were completely overwhelmed and unable to keep up with the volume.  How you could in good concience recommend PM inviting another flood of new customers without addressing the issues that caused the chaos and/or the issues in dealing with the chaos???  I'm at a loss.

[mikga]

Agree!!! Good idea! @will13am Rather than have the promo more often, how about making the 12 gig for $120 plan the regular price 90 day plan.

[will13am]

Rather than have the promo more often, how about making the 12 gig for $120 plan the regular price plan.  Apart from concerns with cannibalizing sales from Telus and Koodo, there isn't any major costs to Public Mobile for giving customers double data.  I doubt that there is any uptake on the data addon because it is so costly. 

I don't understand why so many think that the wonky customer portal is a major impediment to another promotion.  A lot of the problems was attributed to user error.  No amount changes to the activation will address that issue.  Now that the redesigned forum is so much  better, I don't think there would be a repeat of the 2016 fall fiasco in the next promotion. 

[mjagadeesh]

Same here, was with Rogers for 8 years but it killed me paying $100 every month for 5 Gigs of data. Now i get 4 GB with half that amount. Glad i ditched Rogers

- another happy PM customer

[MoreYummy]

I doubt it will happen anytime soon.  Since there are many issue to be solved, plus the promotion is very good if you like the service style here.  Even the competition copied it as well. 😄

[srlawren]

@mikga as others have mentioned, the 2016 Fall Promo plan caused a lot of technical issues and support process issues to bubble to the surface.  It would be foolish of PM to run another promo like that until a lot of changes are made behind the scenes.  I sincerely hope they take their time in starting another promo plan with that kind of appeal.

[Vickel]

I have to admit I was hesitant to switch at first but with my rogers plan going to $60 I took the plunge. Glad I did.

It also helped that I switched over early during the promo before everyone was having issues. I dont think I would have made the switch once everyone starting posting problems and weeks of delays to get resolution.

[zhadj030]

If I may speak honestly I don't think that there will be a one in the close future . The last promo was just huge and disturbed the market as I am sure every phone company did lose a bunch of people no matter how good their plan was (unless maybe you are with the gouvernement). They might have some small promotions but not as big as the last one. Also considering the fact that there wasn't a lot (if nothing) of marketing at all for it it just was crazy. Some of the current plans are still way better then what other offers so ... Take your time and keep looking

[TheOldVR]

@CalvinW.... Now I feel your pain! 2GB is tight man... I would blow through that.

Let's hope things get fixed up and that you have a shot at the promo soon.

Until then, there are a couple of apps out there that will help limit your data usage that kinda help depending on what u are using your data for.

[CalvinW]

@TheOldVR Nice to hear that everything worked out fine!

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. Signup was as smooth as it can get, but I'm not on the promo and I'm barely surviving with just 2GB of data. 

[TheOldVR]

Hey @CalvinW... I am on the promo plan and love it.

I am a little jaded here as I had three friends including my GF jump over with me and my port was the only one that went smoothly - which meant that I heard about it EVERY DAY until things were finally resolved.

SO - at the time I was pretty vocal in the forums because I felt like Non-PM employees were drawing a picture of everything being okay when it wasn't.... not to mention that there are somethings that only the MODs can answer.

That's all in the past though. I know that the only reason PM survived the promo is because their MODs are so dedicated to them (and us)... and I also know that PM owes it to their peeps to invest and make sure that they don't cause undue stress for their loyal peeps with new promos unless their systems are ready for another huge influx of customers.

In summary:

- Yay PM

- Yay MODs

- Yay PM Community

- Bosses: take care of your MODs please!

[mikga]

yes, I agree.

[CalvinW]

@TheOldVR Are you currently on the 4GB promo? 

[CalvinW]

@mikga Couldn't agree more!

I initially joined PM so I can have instant savings, and was optimistic that I will be able to join the next promo soon, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I find that I'm just struggling with the 6GB per 90 days. I need more data but the data add-on is just too expensive. So I understand why your friends or relatives decide to stick to the bigger carriers until another promo. Sometimes 2GB per month just isn't going to cut it. I also notice that most people that don't agree are those that are already on the 4GB promo (just a funny observation). 

[stonechucker]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  I came because I could get a fantastic deal compared to the all the others.  I started looking in Dec 2015, and was going to get the $90/90 Day plan if I determined the service was going to be better than what I had with WIND.

When I finally decided to flip, I missed out on that plan, but the 6GB - 90 Day - Prov Wide and texting was $120 (same as promo when it came available), and  that was $30 cheaper than WIND, and at least $70 cheaper than my previous plan with Rogers.  And that's without factoring in subsidies.

I think the 3GB - 90day $111 plan is a waste, and the regular "wants some data, but doesn't binge" can get by on the $120 or $135 (Canada Wide) without issue.  The packages are both good, and worth every penny.

I'm going into my third 90-day cycle, I've already covered the cost of paying off my subsidy, and I'm about $120 in savings ahead of the game.  Next cycle wil be $71 🙂

Tell them to switch now.

[NDesai]

They would love to offer it again, but not if the system has lots of problems that need to be fixed. The current $120/6gb is still a good deal so they can stay on it till new promo release.

[CaNuCk07]

Dupe posting, needs to be deleted.

[CaNuCk07]

It's clear after the last promo that there were many tehcnical gltiches and ven still there are many glitches popping up.  It's great ot expand customer base but at what expense.  With all the maintenance laterly im sure they are addressing htis, but until then i don think any more promos coming.

Plus the regular plans are still great for most people.

[TheOldVR]

@mikga.... sorry I don't agree.

The backlog in service was just recently cleared up. I would give PM some time to get ready for another influx of customers rather than blowing the roof off like last time.

Besides, I would guess that they are okay with their numbers right now....

[ShawnC13]

@mikga, I would still have your friends join now and get the savings early and then if/when the next promo comes out they can jump to it then

I would hope and am pretty sure that PM will be making sure that their system has had the upgrades required to handle the large influx of demand that was put on the system during the last Promo before they startup a new offer.