Payment/service issues related to auto-pay renewals

[Spudster]

There are a number of customers with payment issues this morning relating to failed auto-pay renewals.  

It would be nice if Public Mobile or the @CS_Agent might post an update to this thread to inform the many users experiencing this. 

No need for anyone else to reply with recommendations (I'm not experiencing an impact) -- unless you have direct insight as to cause. 

[EDIT:   Oracles, please kindly do not relegate this to the Lounge - thank you]

[Canlan54a]

Yes indeed but this is about the other half that just shouldn't be happening.. ie: where all the parameters are correct and the cc still valid

[Canlan54a]

yeah they could use the extra revenue generated by the most recent back door increase they made by keeping prices the same but removing services as in there entry level $15 package...

[Luddite]

---

@Spudster wrote:

There are a number of customers with payment issues this morning relating to failed auto-pay renewals.  

It would be nice if Public Mobile or the @CS_Agent might post an update to this thread to inform the many users experiencing this. 

No need for anyone else to reply with recommendations (I'm not experiencing an impact) -- unless you have direct insight as to cause. 

[EDIT:   Oracles, please kindly do not relegate this to the Lounge - thank you]

---

@Spudster Just an FYI to reduce future frustration. PM rarely responds to service outages until they have been "repaired", and then only on "business" days. I fear we are too close to the long weekend for an Announcement from management. Hopefully, the tech team is repairing the bug, otherwise there could be thousands affected before Tuesday.   🤞

[hairbag1]

@Brian_J...

I would estimated that at least half the time autopay fails, is because of out-of-date cc info. Customer needs to be sure to have current / valid cc info for Autopay to smile down upon you.

[Canlan54a]

This somehow absolves PM of responsibility?...sorry but 2 wrongs do not make a right. The fact that the penalty a customer pays is  a lower cost potentially (financial or not) for a known unaddressed issue, does not change the fact that addressing these basic issues is a cost of doing business budget service or not.

[Brian_J]

@darlicious I and most others complaining are aware of the need to edit credit card preauthorization when credit card numbers change. That is not what these complaints stem from. 

[hairbag1]

@JLO41....

try dialing 611 to pay for your renewal, using your on-file cc...you will need your pin number.

[JLO41]

Well finally someone has come up with an explanation for why 

Public Mobile is a mess to-day. I have auto -pay was going to be simpler. Not!

No service and my account suspended.

Why not pay someone to answer a phone.

Kingston.

[Brian_J]

@darlicious Most everyone on PM understands how prepaid service works. The complaint is about their preauthorized payments not going through, which is a problem PM has had and continues to have. Why PM and not any other company that I and innumerable others have/had preauthorized payment plans over many years!

[Canlan54a]

Agreed, but as a previous Telus customer for over 10 years, I can tell you they have similar simple petty recurring bugaboos they refuse to address, so to be fair I would conclude that the incompetence comes from the parent Telus and PM simply toes the line with their corporate policy / decisions. However the issue remains.

[darlicious]

@mcmulray 

Here's what happens if your autopay fails or you update your credit card with rogers.....

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Archived-Posts/Beware-of-25-charge-for-pre-authorized-credit-c...

[darlicious]

@mcmulray 

This prepaid service. It doesn't matter which provider you are with if you have prepaid service with them and they don't recieve payment beforehand their payment system will suspend your service. Without discrimination that's how it works, it sucks. Yes we realize its not your fault. Oh well...c'est la vie!

If you want to be 100% assured that you won't lose service than either pay for your service ahead of time or choose a postpaid provider. Who like pm will send you a reminder to pay your bill..... if you go past due they will send you another reminder. Finally they will then send you a final reminder letter by mail to pay your bill and if you don't pay they will cut you off and charge you a reconnection fee and possibly require a deposit from you while they continue to bill you for service you are not recieving. Unlike pm who just cuts off your service and gives you many options to pay and reactivate your service on your own and doesn't continue to bill you for service you are not recieving.

Reconnection fees range between $35 and $45 for post paid accounts at all providers.

[Brian_J]

My thought also, but that might mean that PM's administration is incompetent. I didn't ask for help from the moderators because they give customers excellent advice and help resolve all complaints and I simply did what they have said over and over, make a manual payment. I will state again, Telus has the technical expertise to eliminate the auto pay problems, why haven't they used it?

[Canlan54a]

Fair point...imoho: it's more likely indifference / expedience and possilbly a little incompetence on the corporate management side thrown in.

[natewu]

---

@Brian_J wrote:

I decided that even though I knew how to reactivate my account (took an hour to make a payment online!) I decided to let the moderators (PM employees) know how I felt. This is my comment to them:

"I've noticed auto pay failures with peoples' accounts suspended previously, with a manual payment being the solution to have the account reactivated. My wife's credit card payment went through, mine didn't on the same credit account. Ever since I started using preauthorized payments for ALL my utilities, taxes, insurance, tv and internet I have NEVER experienced such a failure. The frequency of failures and the painfully slow access to Public Mobile's website makes me wonder if PM is deliberately sabotaging customers to entice them to move to TELUS- premium plans, premium prices!"

---

If that was the case, I feel like it would make customers avoid Telus

[Brian_J]

I decided that even though I knew how to reactivate my account (took an hour to make a payment online!) I decided to let the moderators (PM employees) know how I felt. This is my comment to them:

"I've noticed auto pay failures with peoples' accounts suspended previously, with a manual payment being the solution to have the account reactivated. My wife's credit card payment went through, mine didn't on the same credit account. Ever since I started using preauthorized payments for ALL my utilities, taxes, insurance, tv and internet I have NEVER experienced such a failure. The frequency of failures and the painfully slow access to Public Mobile's website makes me wonder if PM is deliberately sabotaging customers to entice them to move to TELUS- premium plans, premium prices!"

[esjliv]

@mcmulray 

@KoKo12 

Autopay failures left and right today. Make a manual payment (by calling 611 or through Self Serve, if you can get that working for you today).

But I would also suggest to let the Moderators know about this. 

To contact the Public Mobile Moderator_Team, there are two ways to reach them:

1 -  Faster Method - Click the bubble comment circle on the bottom right hand side of your screen, or use this link to: Get Help With SIMon the Public Mobile chatbot

OR

2 – Slower Method - Use this link to:

Private Message to Public Mobile Moderators (PM Customer Service Representatives)

[KoKo12]

My phone has been disabled when payment was made and there was funds in tbe bank

[mcmulray]

Their autopay system failed.  I didn't fail.  My bank didn't fail. My card didn't fail.  Public Mobile has failed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  There is absolutely now way to justify suspending customer's service for an issue that is vendor related.

[Brian_J]

Yes, the loyalty was showing when I was trying to pay my bill...

[Canlan54a]

Hopefully this won't be another band aid fix till next time it happens it won't be another  "OOPSIE!" and the pm apologists pop out of the woodwork...and pm learns something from this...not likely

[esjliv]

---

@Brian_J wrote:

No, mine first then my wife, I get the $1 credit on my account each month

---

HI @Brian_J , If you activated your Public Mobile SIM card the same day you created your Community account, that would have been 13 months ago. mmm? Do you happen to see the $1 Loyalty in your account now? IF so, congrats! 🙂

Maybe there is no pattern, hope it is fixed soon.

[Brian_J]

No, mine first then my wife, I get the $1 credit on my account each month

[esjliv]

@Brian_J  just curious, was your wife a Public Mobile customer first, then you activated?

[Brian_J]

I agree that it is a sad state of affairs. The payment on my wife's account went through, mine didn't. I would have received the same messages from PM that you did. It cost me an hour of time trying to get through to pay online😡. I accepted doing the survey and voiced my displeasure with PM. Rather than moving to a premium service like Telus (PM's Parent company) or Rogers, I would just get rid of my cell... 

[darlicious]

@mcmulray 

If your plan is not paid for your service will suspend its not like an employee is sitting on a computer suspending everyone's service when they fail to pay their bill like at a post paid provider. Its an automatic payment system that automatically suspends service when payment is not recieved. The options for how to pay for your service manually have been presented to you....choose one to renew your service.

[mcmulray]

Public Mobile is a complete and utter joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Their issue and their response is to suspend my service.  What a bush league outfit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Canlan54a]

Yeah, pretty sad state of affairs that it needlessly comes to this and yes, there is also the string and to tin cans method...

[Brian_J]

We can still email and facetime without cell service if we are connected to wifi. I was thinking when I am out in the boonies... but there really is no excuse with Telus's technology and expertise!

[hairbag1]

@Tim999...

consider downloading the free TextNow app to your phone as a standby. It uses wifi to allow you to make free calls to US and Canada numbers as well as free texting.

Not a great alternative but could help in a pinch.