Phone purchase with vouchers

[Michael6]

Hello, 

For those of us that don't use a credit card to pay monthly and still use vouchers, maybe public mobile permitting the use of an account balance to purchase a phone could be interesting ?

Thank you! 

[Anonymous]

 @BlueB : Then maybe you have less rewards than your plan cost. In the rewards area below, add up the amounts (after the community reward is distributed maybe). If all those add up to less than your plan cost then no it won't accumulate. The autopay takes what it needs after your rewards have been drained.

[BlueB]

@Anonymous 

Interesting - those credits don't show up as Available Funds for me, but separately below.  My Available Funds balance maintains only my cash-equivalent amount.  Do you think it has to do with the age of our accounts?  I'd think they're all the same, but isn't what I'm seeing in my account.

[darlicious]

@Michael6 

Your idea has merit. I would never purchase a CPU from pm....from anyone really but since its extremely limited where I can spend my credit then I would consider spending it on a phone from pm. With the caveat that your phone purchase could be either exchanged or credited back to your account only. It certainly puts a new spin on pm's "earn rewards". 

I can buy a phone from TMS with pc optimum points or I have purchased a bbq, a soda stream, a couple of firesticks all with points at RCSS and way back when a Wii, a Sony cybershot and my fujifilm S1600 from SDM with points so why not a phone from pm with my rewards?

[Anonymous]

@ShawnC13 

i get it,
thanks.

[ShawnC13]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous

thanks,

 @Michael6 

they can't purchase with vouchers, 

only use by credit card or buy it a vanilla visa card prepaid, or Paypal,

if you have at Available Funds: $$ 

leave it for next bill cycle the will take it from there automatically,

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@Anonymous the OP knows this as well and is trying to make a suggestion.  It is great that you participate at a high level.  But jumping in on Page 2 of the conversation with your first post about getting the $2 reward (which wasn't even asked) and 2 a statement saying what the OP already knows is showing that you aren't reading the whole thread.  You read the first post and thought you knew what they were talking about and started to answer.  Remember the community is only as good as the information provided.  Please take more time to understand the question and follow the thread to see how it has developed and then post if there is something NEW to add.

[Anonymous]

 @Anonymous : shaking head...Yes. We (and the OP). Know.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous

thanks,

 @Michael6 

they can't purchase with vouchers, 

only use by credit card or buy it a vanilla visa card prepaid, or Paypal,

if you have at Available Funds: $$ 

leave it for next bill cycle the will take it from there automatically,

[Anonymous]

 @Anonymous : The OP knows all that. They were asking about and suggesting to be able to use vouchers to buy a phone. Then also suggesting to use Available Funds to buy a phone.

[Anonymous]

@Michael6 

you can use vouchers and also buy it a vanilla visa card prepaid and keep in your account to you will receive a $2 credit every 30 days.

Pay for your services in retail (publicmobile.ca)

Pay for your services through *611 (publicmobile.ca)

Accepted payments for activation (publicmobile.ca)

[0PX9O4]

To be honest if you have cash available to purchase an unlocked phone with, buying it locally (off of a classifieds site such as Kijiji) may be a lot faster, easier, and cheaper than buying one from PM.

[Anonymous]

 @BlueB : Up to $5 for loyalty, $2 for autopay, up to $15 for here, up to ~115 for referrals. If all of those add up to more than your plan cost at renewal then it accumulates as Available Funds. This is subject to change without notice at any time 🙂

[BlueB]

@Anonymous 

Which rewards show up in Available Balance?  The loyalty/community/etc rewards seem to show up as credits below the balance, and get "paid" off the service cycle before the balance is applied.  I'm curious which ones show up in the Balance though!  🙂

[Anonymous]

 @hairbag1 : I like the prepaid "credit" card gift cards for all of this. Except for the up-front fee. But still. (or Koho or Stack)

But that all is not what the suggestions are about.

 @BlueB : Available Funds isn't _all_ real money. Many customers have accumulated value from rewards.

[Triguy]

You could purchase a prepaid credit card.

[BlueB · Accepted solution]

@Michael6 

I really like your idea.  Like you said, the Available Balance comes from real money.  Other loyalty/referrals/etc are credits processed on each renewal cycle and not reflected in the balance.

One of the problems is that Public Mobile separates the Service account from the Store account so this would be a very manual process, and with issues (such as refund/return), could be a customer service hassle to "refund" a Service Account since a cash refund wouldn't be likely either.

Through a CASH option, Paypal is great but also requires a lot of digital currency to be moved around.  The "Voucher" equivalent of this would be to use cash to buy a prepaid credit card, and using that prepaid creditcard to buy the phone.

In case @J_PM has some time, I think this is an interesting idea for Public Mobile to consider, even if it's not really implemented as we're talking about!  🙂

[hairbag1]

@Anonymous...probably just as easy to load dollars onto one of those "disposable" credit cards, then use it to buy the phone.

AND...save the card and use it to pay your PM account, entitling you to the $2 Autopay Reward.

[Michael6]

Exactly. 

I'm not looking for if this is possible right now, I know it's not.

I'm just hoping public mobile sees the potential. A simple workaround might be being able to use available funds to "buy" a gift card applicable on the phones interface.

Anything is possible if they choose to make it so.

And for Telus to recognize these available balances instead of being a liability on their books, it might be a good option 🙂

[Anonymous]

Although come to think of it...maybe my thoughts on Available Funds is looking at it the wrong way.

If you've deposited real money in there then fine. But if you've acquired so many referrals or done the work here and are accumulating "money" then why not look at it as though it was affinity/loyalty/reward for having done so. Put that towards other purchases. It all stays within the company. Telus themselves have a value/rewards deal where you can use acquired value towards purchases.

There were two parts to the OP: 1. use vouchers to buy a phone - fine idea, 2. use Available Funds to buy a phone. hmmm.

[hTideGnow]

@Michael6   I understand you know this is not dorable and just a suggestion.

It might be difficult for now unless PM will make some changes.  the CPO purchase site is not connected with My Account/Self Serve and hence is not dorable. 

I guess a quick and easy way is to allow loading of voucher during checkout , just like sites that allow the use of giftcard.  But of course, it wont work without some developmental change.   

[Anonymous]

 @Michael6 : With vouchers during purchasing is a good idea as it came from real money. I think a problem with using Available Funds is that non-real money can be accumulated there.

You can use Paypal with a bank account though.

And I hope you're at least getting $2 off your plan cost by even using those prepaid "credit" card gift cards. Even with zero balance. As long as you're paying elsewise.

[hairbag1]

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@Michael6 wrote:

Hello, 

For those of us that don't use a credit card to pay monthly and still use vouchers, maybe public mobile permitting the use of an account balance to purchase a phone could be interesting ?

Thank you! 

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That would be another option all right...but not likely to be available.

Consider starting a Paypal account, fund it...then buy your PM reconditioned phone with your Paypal account.

[t_p]

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@Michael6 wrote:

Hello, 

For those of us that don't use a credit card to pay monthly and still use vouchers, maybe public mobile permitting the use of an account balance to purchase a phone could be interesting ?

Thank you! 

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Sorry, that option is not available currently