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]

[Brian_J]

Fortunately, if there is a real emergency, you can call 911: whether your service is cut off, your sim dies, even if there is no sim in the phone.

[Tim999]

Instead of a txt saying your autopay has failed and your service is suspended it should give a txt with a grace period of at least 48 hours to get it straightened out. What happens if there is an emergency and you NEED your phone?

[Canlan54a]

Sorry, I will specify: known and recurring issue. This should not take a team of computer engineering grads to figure out. 

[softech]

@hairbag1  a belated April Fools joke..  or system holiday today. .Closed for Good Friday. LoL

[birchy]

Inconceivable!

[hairbag1]

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@Canlan54a wrote:

If it is a known and ongoing problem it should be fixed and we SHOULD NOT have to put up with it budget service or otherwise!!!

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Not really an "ongoing problem"....more like an annual event !! Like April Fool's Day or some such event !!

😎

[Canlan54a]

If it is a known and ongoing problem it should be fixed and we SHOULD NOT have to put up with it budget service or otherwise!!!

[darlicious]

While it is unacceptsble to have autopay fail and to have a larger autopay failure affecting many more customers happening along with issues with the ability to log in to self serve is a larger disaster! Inundating the moderators ( on a statutory holiday no less!) with requests will certainly slow down wait times. Affected customers can try to log into their self serve accounts. If they are unable to do this then a payment thru 611 should activate your service again.

1. Credit cards on file can be used for payments via 611 but the 4 digit pin code is required to access and authorize credit card charges of pre-selected amounts only.
2. Voucher payments can be made via 611. Once dialed and connected Press ( 1 ) then ( 1 ) again. Enter the 12 digit pin code from the voucher. Once successfully entered the account will immediately reactivate and service will resume.
3. Remember not all vouchers are immediately valid after purchase. Vouchers purchased from 7/11, London Drugs, SDM and Shell stations are all immediately valid and loadable onto your account via 611 so can be done "in-store" after purchase.
4. Real time payments by giving your phone number to the clerk are available at Canadian Tire gas bars ( not in store at customer service those vouchers have delayed validity) and Mobil gas stations for a $1 RTP fee.
5. Instant top ups are available at some retailers ( east of the Rockies?) at retailers such as SDM but I have no knowledge to impart on these payments.
6. Online payments can be made thru recharge.com or ding.com for a small fee. They may take up to 3 hours to register in your account.

Further community member contributed info on vouchers can be found in the voucher catalogue....

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Paying-for-your-service/Voucher-Catalogue/m-p/479165#...

For additional help if you are able to access your account but are getting error messages or other issues adding a payment via credit card follow these instructions :

Spoiler

Follow this method when making a manual payment/adding a card to the account....only use the emboldened portion of the instructions if the payment card is already on file.

1. Reboot your device.
2. Clear your browser, use secret/incognito mode in firefox, chrome or safari.
3. Choose replace card rather than remove card.
4. Copy your address from your billing statement.
5. Add your apt/unit/suite # to the street address. ie. 101-123 1ST AVE W, CITY, PROV.
6. Do not put a space in the postal code. X0X0X0 not X0X 0X0.
7. USE ALL CAPS if necessary.
8. Do not use autofill. Type everything manually.

Once you successfully update your card do not attempt your payment immediately. Log out/in then go to make a payment to pay for your renewal. Otherwise if you were not suspended I would recommend a $1 test payment. Follow my further instructions for a successful payment to unsuspend your account.

Do not try more than two attempts at adding a card or payments ( successful or not) or you will continue to get this message. Wait at least 1 hour to try a third time another hour for your 5th try....and so on....and do not make more than 4 unsuccessful tries with the same card in a 24 hour period or you will trigger a fraud alert lock out requiring assistance from the moderators.

Go to make a payment. Choose the "other amount" option and add $1 more than the amount owing and submit the payment. If that is successful go back to your overview page and if it does not say active  click on the reactivate button. If that works log out and reboot. If that does not work and your payment is in your balance rather than showing $1 then go to the usage or plans page. Click on lost/stolen and suspend your service. Log out/in. Resume your service. Your balance should now be $1. Log out and reboot

[Brian_J]

Like others have said, I have never had a bill declined through an auto payment. NEVER, until today. But, PM is a budget service and putting up with Telus's games is something people will just have to put up with...

[hairbag1]

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@NoseyNick wrote:

Dial 611, choose option 1, follow the prompts to pay using the card already on file, enter your PIN, confirm that you want to pay the full balance, only takes a minute...

... BUT should NOT be needed when we have a perfectly good card on file for AutoPay. If PM has problems processing auto-payments for a while, they should be allowing service to continue until they can sort out THEIR problem, NOT deactivating people who have don nothing wrong and making it our problem.

😕

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We all agree...but strange thing happen in the Public Mobile realm. I'm certain that Autopay will be up and running shortly. Then we can all get back to stressing about covid instead of autopay.

😎

[HALIMACS · Accepted solution]

@Spudster 

Moderators replied to an earlier thread - see below.   It appears they ARE aware.

 

Moderator_Team 

 

Moderator

36m ago

Re: my plan went inactive this morning

Hello there! 

Thank you for reaching us and bring this matter to our attention! 

In order to help you with your concern you can create a ticket and one of our moderators will provide you with assistance and review the details on your account.

Best Regards 

PM Team 

[HALIMACS · Accepted solution]

Hello there! 

Thank you for reaching us and bring this matter to our attention! 

In order to help you with your concern you can create a ticket and one of our moderators will provide you with assistance and review the details on your account.

Best Regards 

PM Team 

[Masterandy80]

For sure, I have definitely noticed how laggy the site is, especially considering it's mostly self-serve online. This morning I tried on my phone and my desktop computer and both hung up but the desktop eventually went through.

To PM's credit, I also got a reply to my ticket already, which is very quick ..but I had already managed to get a payment in via 611 so I guess we are square

[natewu]

Totally agree with this, its been happening for a few hours now and they should've announced something about this. I saw a mod reply to another post of the same issue and only told the user to "make a ticket"... Nothing addressing the issue...

[NoseyNick]

Dial 611, choose option 1, follow the prompts to pay using the card already on file, enter your PIN, confirm that you want to pay the full balance, only takes a minute...

... BUT should NOT be needed when we have a perfectly good card on file for AutoPay. If PM has problems processing auto-payments for a while, they should be allowing service to continue until they can sort out THEIR problem, NOT deactivating people who have don nothing wrong and making it our problem.

😕

[Canlan54a]

I definitely agree! With the amount of time and opportunity they have had to fix this problem once and for all (months/years even) and all the regular "down for maintenance/scheduled or otherwise" opportunities they have had what is the problem. This is not a major engineering feat! I can accept period glitches etc do come up...this is not one of those! Please address this properly and once and for all and spare the platitudes!

[hairbag1]

@Brian_J....

I've been with PM for 3 or 4 years now. Rarely does this current "Autopay crash" happen...but it can happen alright. I'm sure it'll be addressed in short order today.

If you have wifi, you can download the free TextNow app to make free local / long distance call and texts until PM is solid again.

Hang in there friend.

[Brian_J]

Anyone who has been with Telus, PM's Parent knows that Telus can make bullet-proof, fast websites. My auto pay didn't work today but my wife's did... 

I think Telus is just trying to annoy PM customers to try to get them to go with Telus, but if I leave PM I will move to a competitor.

[NoseyNick]

This word "AutoPay"... I don't think it means what PM thinks it means.   😜

[PMOttawa]

I manage to pay online, using a computer. it took about 2 minutes to load up but seemed to have worked. my data plan is back on.

[hairbag1]

@PMOttawa...

you can dial 611 to pay with your on file credit card...you must have your PM pin. Alternative is get a payment voucher from retail outlet like 7-11 or London Drug, in the west.

[esjliv]

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@Masterandy80 wrote:

I went through 611 and paid but almost simultaneously, my account logged in finally - so try again, maybe the website 'blackout' at least has been fixed.

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@Masterandy80 ,

Public Mobile Self Serve website is finicky for as long as I have been here.

Clear you browser's history, change to a different browser, try an incognito tab to log in, or just try again later.

These are all tricks to keep 'under your hat' when having issues with the site.

[PMOttawa]

Same issue here. Autopay failed. but I am impacted as it looks like my data stopped working. and not able to send SMS... will try again later today, but unacceptable... I guess I should pay upfront my yearly bill.

[Masterandy80]

I went through 611 and paid but almost simultaneously, my account logged in finally - so try again, maybe the website 'blackout' at least has been fixed.

[hairbag1]

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@danton wrote:

Auto pay stopped working today. Website is not loading etc. Cannot access my account...

Why the website is not working it is slowest website ever even in 90's websites were loading faster:(

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Try again in an hour.

Try dialing 611 to pay with your credit card.

[esjliv]

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@danton wrote:

Auto pay stopped working today. Website is not loading etc. Cannot access my account...

Why the website is not working it is slowest website ever even in 90's websites were loading faster:(

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@danton make a manual payment through 611 if you have a registered credit card on the account to get your services up and running.

I would like Moderators know of the autopay failure.

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)

[danton]

Auto pay stopped working today. Website is not loading etc. Cannot access my account...

Why the website is not working it is slowest website ever even in 90's websites were loading faster:(

[Spudster]

I'm glad this is prompting discussion - that's partially the purpose of posting.  

FYI -- I'm not looking to assign a solution and would only likely grant one to a Moderator or PM staff, if they would be kind enough to weigh in on this thread for the benefit of customers experiencing this problem.

[esjliv]

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@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. 

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@Spudster - agreed, this would be quite useful for PM to advise or make some kind of announcement.

I know we are not supposed to say "contact the moderators" if fixes can be made like, making a manually payment.

But I think any time an AUTOPAY fails customers really should be letting Public Mobile know each time it does. Autopay failures should be reported even if the user can get their services up and running on their own.

Keeping balances in our accounts so autopay does not fail is a bit ridiculous IMO.

I do not keep balances in my Electric, Internet, or TV Company's account; so, why should I for my cell phone account?

[hairbag1]

@softech...

no argument here...but this is Public Mobile, sometimes weird things occur.

You would think Autopay would be bullet- proof eh.

edit...the "autopay glitch" has been around for 3 years that I'm aware of. Until autopay is fixed...manually prepaying assures the renewal process is successful.

[softech]

@hairbag1  while this is a good and safe way to assure no loss of service, this defeats the purpose of autopay.  Autopay should give us peace of mind..