Porting out, PM is blocking me!

[Ben_Kayfetz]

Today is the last day of my cycle and when the new provider tries to start the port I get theis text message:

SMS: We cannot transfer your number because it is not active. Please reactivate your number then call us at 1888XXXXXX to send a new request.

However, my phone is active, I am making calls, sending and receiving text no problem.

I have opened a ticket, but as today is the last day of my cycle I will have a big problem if this is not resolved by end of day.

Thougts?

TIA, Ben

[Ben_Kayfetz]

Just posting to fill in anyone following...

I ended up purchasing the $20 plan. When the payment went through I was immediately able to Port out my number. Of course paying the $20 and not getting anything in return other than releasing my number from hostage.

I messaged customer service asking for a refund. They ignored me for a couple of days. I then sent a new message saying if they don't send me a refund I would report this to the crtc and initiate a credit card charge back. 

That led to an immediate response from customer service saying they would give me a refund and I should expect to receive it in 10 days. 

Two weeks later when I had not received the refund I messaged customer service again, they replied saying that because my account wasn't active they weren't capable of providing a refund. And they suggested I initiate a credit card chargeback. 

Today, I received a message that the chargeback was approved and I got the $19 plus HST back.

Clearly this wasn't worth my time for $20, it really turned into a principal issue. At first the CC company suggested they would just give me the $20 back as a courtesy. I insisted they proceed with a formal chargeback so it's on record with pm.

Again, the best practice is if you're going to Port out, don't do it on the last day. Give yourself three or four days. Which I tried to, but there were some issues with the new provider and Purolator getting me the new SIM card in time.

I hope this helps other in the future...

Ben

[HALIMACS]

Sadly that's not what it means @Ben_Kayfetz ,  because their renewals occur in the morning hours on the day the cycle is said to end, so they always put that day as the cycle end date even though it does not go to 11:59 p.m. on that day.

I'm not saying that's not misleading, because it certainly is, but their cycle end date is technically correct but certainly leads to a lot of confusion.

[RavingRaven]

@Ben_Kayfetz 

Unfortunately your 30 day cycle ended yesterday on the 17th because May has 31 days in it. You would have had to initiated your port request before 9pm eastern yesterday. At 9pm your account enters "expired" status during renewal when port requests cannot be approved until approximately 12 hours later when accounts switch to "active" when payment is confirmed or in your case "suspended" when payment has not been recieved. This is also when you lose active services once suspended.

However you may still have a case to file a complaint with the CCTS based on the confusing dates that are contradictory in both your self serve and rewards accounts. Inform the customer support agent of your intention to file a complaint to escalate your case to a manager who may chose to offer a refund to avoid an official CCTS complaint. Good Luck!

[hTideGnow]

@Ben_Kayfetz PM is on 30 days cycle, you really won't got renewed on 19th evey month. It will hit move up as many as 5 days after a year 

[Ben_Kayfetz]

@HALIMACS  I just went back a year on my CC statements and almost each month I am charged on the 19th with a few exceptions of the 20th and 21st. And the subscription page said May 19 - June 18... Meaning I paid to the end of day today. As far as waiting for an experienced customer support agent, its been 6 hours since I messaged CS_Agent and opened a ticket and still no response from a first level agent. waiting and losing use of my phone for even an hour is not an option. 

[HALIMACS]

@Ben_Kayfetz 

One thing you wrote, especially caught my attention.

They can’t be charging your credit card on the 19th of every month since public mobile’s cycles only run every 30 days not monthly,

This means once every couple months the day falls back a day given the majority of Calendar months have 31 days.

Unless you have a screenshot which demonstrates your cycle wasn’t supposed to renew until tomorrow morning, I’m unsure you may be successful with any appeal, but I wish the best of luck to you either way.

Indeed, instead of going through the CCTS, an appeal to an experienced customer support agent might have served you well.

[Ben_Kayfetz]

@HALIMACS Yes, I was paid to the end of today. I was suppose to receive the new provider sim card Friday (4 days ago) but Purolator messed up and I didn't get it till 8pm yesterday. My plan ends on the 18, and they charge my CC each 19th of the month. My plan was active and full functioning with auto pay off when the port was denied. The ticket and CS_Agent PMs have still not been responded to. I got a rep on the phone from the telus porting department who also told me my account was not 'active' but could not do anything about it . I was forced to pay PM $19+hst and then within a few minutes I was able to complete the port. Basically PM defrauded me out of $20, holding my number hostage unless I paid, when in fact, I was porting during I time I had already paid. I will forward all this to the CRTC. I had planned to port 4 days ago, but Purolator messed that up. But that's not relevant, they held my number hostage at a time I was fully paid and active. If Purolator pushed this into tomorrow, I would be taking this up with them. 

[HALIMACS]

@Ben_Kayfetz 

when you say today is the last day, are you certain that it wasn’t yesterday?

When you log into your self-serve account, what does your subscription date information display?

It’s very risky to attempt a port-out within 24 hours of renewal from a prepaid service.

[hTideGnow]

HI @Ben_Kayfetz 

No, they won't . You should have arrange for port out couple days earlier.  

Best to save money just in case, change the plan to $19 first (the cheapest plan you can change to)  Then disable Autopay.  

If the worst case really happens, the plan won't renew tonight.  Then tomorrow, you can decide if you really want to port the number, if so, make a manual payment of $19 to resume

[golfball]

@Ben_Kayfetz Unfortunately they don't do partial refunds for unused portions of your plan.

[Ben_Kayfetz]

Will PM credit me for the unused portion of the moth? ie, $30/30 day plan. I port on day 2, they should credit back to my CC $28? or do they just keep it all?

[golfball]

It's recommended to not wait until the last day in case of issues that may arise like this. My only suggestion is to schedule a plan change to the cheapest plan if you're not already on it just in case you aren't able to port in time and you need to renew your plan again.

[hTideGnow]

HI @Ben_Kayfetz 

yes, you have done the right thing to submit a ticket with PM agent.  Honest, this is the other thing you can do and wait for PM agent to reply