Paid $80 CAD for Activation Fee

[Elle]

Hello there

here's hoping a Public Mobile Mod sees this, but I was wondering if it was normal to charge $80 for Activating the SIM card? I went to a guy in my city who's store was listed as an OFFICIAL Public Mobile store on Google Maps because I wanted to try a new phone company. I got there and he does indeed say he's a Public Mobile store, even has the logo in the back. So he sets it up and comes to a total of $210. $120 for the 3-month plan, and then the voucer (sim card?), then the activation fee of $80. If there is no activation fee, should I get my money back? How would I do it? Legal action? I mean it would be fraud wouldn't it, if he's pretending to be YOU charging a non-existent fee right?

[imm1304]

No harm in naming a probable scammer with the best interest of the PM community at heart.  I am sure its allowed 🙂 

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@mimmo wrote:

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@imm1304 wrote:

It would be nice if @Elle can name and shame them here for all to see.  

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Would that go against the code of conduct of the community?  

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[mimmo]

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@imm1304 wrote:

It would be nice if @Elle can name and shame them here for all to see.  

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Would that go against the code of conduct of the community?  

[mimmo]

@NDesai i do agree with you.  But  not being at the transaction i do not know what how the agreement was made.  If thet agree ahead of time to pay fee x then i dont know what recourse the op has. 

But that was also why I mentioned social media maybe others would share their experiences and we can see how many others were "scammed"

I also  think the OP should maybe contact a mod/ higher up(Brooke?) with the store details , and how they found the store in question. Maybe PM can take some actions.

[imm1304]

It is morally wrong to do this but probably legal to sell service for a fee. 

The best we can do is spread awareness so no more unsuspecting customers are taken advantage of.

It would be nice if @Elle can name and shame them here for all to see.  

[NDesai]

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@mimmo wrote:

There is always the social media option if the store is unwilling to return the fee, but part of me says you agreed to pay / paid the activation fee, so unless they charged you telling you only after the activation you might be out of luck.

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It is just wrong to do. If we figure out that many other local shops selling vouchers take advantage of customers by charging additional fees for no reason, i am willing to take this matter to PM to remove all local shops. Retail stores like SDM, CT, may be Walmart in the future, and some gas stations should be enough. 

[mimmo]

There is always the social media option if the store is unwilling to return the fee, but part of me says you agreed to pay / paid the activation fee, so unless they charged you telling you only after the activation you might be out of luck.

[NDesai]

Go back to him and ask for money back. 

[Exanas]

I bought my sim card for $10 at Walmart, then inserted my sim and activated my account in 10 mins once I was home. It seems sort of sketchy that he charged that much.

[imm1304 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Elle!

I am afraid I have bad news for you.  PM is selfserve based online-only mobile service provider.  There are no authorised dealers activating on behalf of PM and as such, there are no activation fees.  Also, $80 is way too much and I have never heard of such steep activation fees for mobile service.  

For future, you can purchase PM sim cards from Walmart, Wow-mobile, and K-mobile locations across the country for $10+tax and then go to https://activate.publicmobile.ca and sign up within 10 minutes.