Plan cost is different than deducted amount

[Gerry]

My plan cost shows up as being $150 for 90 days. That was also the plan total on the plan I chose.

Yet when I check my account payment history 4 deductions are made and they add up to $225. This has happened twice since I opened my account at PM.

The 4 deductions are:

$25 for 90 day pass

$105 for 6GB data

$65 for talk

$30 for text

What am I missing? It looks like I'm being over-charged.

[will13am]

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@Gerry wrote:

I don't want to go to a store. It is 2018. I pay on line.

I understand that taxes are charged. I am 62 years old. I have paid a lot of taxes.

I just want the people who are charging my account to show which taxes they are collecting, and for whom.

I am quite capable of seeing how much they have charged my Visa account and calculating what the taxes are, but I should't have to do that. PM has already calculated the taxes. Show me.

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Relax my friend before you blow a blood vessel.  I have not been with every prepaid service in this country.  This is my third experience with prepaid.  All three, Tbaytel, Bell, and Public Mobile run a virtually identical system as far as billing goes.  Within the account, I see fund balances with taxes stripped out.  When I top up, my credit card bill shows the net amount which has the taxes added.  I appreciate that receipts are important in things like tax filing.  That said, the CRA are not inept to the point that they cannot reverse engineer the taxes from a total amount.  At the end of the day, all service providers are governed by law which covers amongst other things transparency in billing.  As much as we may find fault in this area, applicable statutes are being followed. 

BTW, I do agree with you about retail stores.  Where possible, I prefer to buy online.  This service is as 21st century as it gets. 

[Gerry]

I don't want to go to a store. It is 2018. I pay on line.

I understand that taxes are charged. I am 62 years old. I have paid a lot of taxes.

I just want the people who are charging my account to show which taxes they are collecting, and for whom.

I am quite capable of seeing how much they have charged my Visa account and calculating what the taxes are, but I should't have to do that. PM has already calculated the taxes. Show me.

[stonechucker]

If you need a receipt in the future, you can also pay at a local store offering voucher payments.  On that receipt you will see the taxes laid out for you.

Public Mobile is doing nothing wrong, although I see your point about not seeing the taxes online.

However, it is stated in the fine print, that taxes are collected at the time of purchase.

[mimmo]

@Gerry follow instructions on this link to get an invoice

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Invoice-Request/m-p/174070#M52476

[Gerry]

The credit card statement shows only the total amount charged by a vendor. It does not break down to show what the taxes are. What is this statement that you refer to? Is this something that I have to request?

I am sometimes elegible to submit all or some of the cost my cellular service to my employer as an expense but it is awkward to do if I do not have a statement that shows what I am paying for including the taxes and the GST number of the vendor.

[Gerry]

I'm sorry. You are wrong.

We are not talking about advertised prices. We are talking about the amount deducted from our Visa account by Public Mobile.

Public Mobile collects the tax and it would be nice to have a statement that shows this.

All the other mobile operators you listed (as well as any and every retailer in the country) advertises prices, and then once you are a customer, lists the products or services, tallies up a sub-total, and then shows the taxes that THEY collect on behalf of various governments to come up with a total dollar amount that THEY charge your account.

We don't seem to get any statements at PM (I have only been a customer this year) so our only way of monitoring the account is to look at payment history. That history does not show the taxes on it, and it should, both PST and GST.

[srlawren]

@wilburt as noted, prices shown are pre-tax.  It is my understanding that every Canadian mobile service provider displays pre-tax prices.  If I'm wrong, I'd love for you or someone else to correct me and show me a Canadian mobile service (Telus/Koodo/Bell/Virgin/Lucky/Rogers/Fido/Chatr/Videotron/etc) that advertises their prices as all-in/tax included.

EDIT:  I should add that it's the government, not Public Mobile that has "helped themselves" to more money from your credit card.  If you are unhappy with sales taxes, you'll have to consult with your local MLA and/or ML and ask them to abolish sales tax.  Or move to Alberta, where you would only have to pay GST.  

[stonechucker]

This is no different than going into a local brick and mortar store, and signing up with another carrier.  Taxes are applied on all goods and services, where applicable, at the time of purchase.

Frankly, I’d prefer the VAT as it is in many other parts of the world.  Value Added Tax....the price you see is the actual price you pay.

[mimmo]

What bill are you talking about? Pm does not give out bills.

Whenever you make a payment, I'm sure it says in a note somewheres that prices are pre tax.

Just a note on the plans page it says

Terms and conditions   

1. Taxes are extra. The account must have sufficient funds to cover the total cost each month.

[wilburt]

This is very misleading. Why are the taxes not shown on the bill? I pay the bill only to find they've helped themselves to more money via my visa card. I'll be talking to visa about that.

[dna2016]

@Gerry

I think PM could have done a better job with the billing aspect.  At the beginning I was a little bit confused as well.  They advertise the total on the site, then you see your "Overview" when you log in saying "My Plan - $$$ per 90 days.  Then you look at your payment history showing all the charges and credits but no final total indicated.

So reading all of this and then your payment comes out and it's different from what is stated everywhere else, for new customers this can be confusing, annoying, and i'm sure frustrating.  Not sure why they can't just build in the tax section on the payment history, because technically that payment history isn't accurate if it's missing something.  Or include an asterisk somewhere reminding applicable taxes will be charged at time of payment (i'm referring to the user profile and not the plans page on the website).  At the end of the day if customers have to do their own calcuations, or have to question their payments when they've done nothing to their account, then I think there's still room for the comapny to simplify.  I understand it now that I've gone through the new customer growing pains, but I still think this is something that new customers shouldn't have to go through.

[richardayling]

Yes it was so that must be the difference. 

[srlawren]

@richardayling was this credit card charge for your first renewal?  There is a bug where sometimes the system does not properly charge sales tax when you activate your service, meaning you under-paid upon activation; however, taxes kick in with the first (and subsequent) renewal.  The prices you see on Public Mobile's site are all pre-tax, and you are taxed on the top-up.

[richardayling]

How come my monthly debit from credit card is more this month? 

[srlawren]

@Gerry yeah it's a bit confusing.  Sounds like you've got it worked out, but just in case, here's a breakdown I did a while back:  https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Public-Mobile-Website-Changes/m-p/18323...

[stonechucker]

Your credit card statement, or your voucher receipt will show the tax.  Taxes are not shown on the Public Mobile website.

If you're in Ontario, your total charged to your credit card would be $169.50, after taxes.

[Gerry]

You are correct. I do have a credit that makes up the difference. I am being charged correctly.

I do not see taxes being deducted though, unless they are part of the plan cost.

[stonechucker]

Yes, everyone, no matter how they pay for service, at the time of payment, all applicable taxes are paid immediately.

[stonechucker]

On my plan, the circled information is the discount.

[Acekiller]

Aside from the credits, you probably have to account for tax as well.

[stonechucker · Accepted solution]

There should also be a credit for the difference between the $225 and the $150 applied.  That difference is the 3 choice discount.