Public Mobile, Address Your Service Lapse!

[EnglishChips]

Why hasn’t Public Mobile shown it’s customers the most basic courtesy by acknowledging this obvious service interruption? If you choose to forgo live personnel in addressing critical issues, it is emcumbent on you to have a system in place that immediately communicates with your customers the problem, and delivers an expected timeline for a resolution. We are not frustrated because we’ve been without service for a few hours, it has literally been days now. This is unacceptable.

Whomever is (hopefully) charged to resolve this issue, should have their positioned reviewed. There is absolutely no reason to present a brick wall to loyal customers who are lacking phone service, for which you have already paid. This is abysmal management of customer service!

I do not want to waste more of my time on this website fishing for answers. I want a workable solution. The longer I wait, the more I will be sharing my experience on social media. I encourage other customers without service to do the same.

Please be professional and address your customers without further postponement.

[EnglishChips]

My service came back after four full business days. Immediately after, an influx of replies by DM from Moderators acknowledging my issue ...

“We heard you and we truly excuse ourselves for all the inconveniences ”

  -_-

This all AFTER the problems were obviously addressed by the tech team. Public Mobile has not posted anything by way of explanation or apologies from what I have seen. They haven’t offered any sort of compensation for the money they received without providing the service promised. This doesn’t even account for the week of stress, or all the time (pointlessly) spent trying to figure out how to get our service back.

A week is plenty of time to regroup and explain to customers what happened, reassure us this won’t happen again, and offer refunds for the time they failed to provide service and support.

I’m really disappointed by this major shift in customer service. This has unapologetically been handled poorly. I can’t continue to recomending them. Perhaps this is how they are ‘encouraging’ customers to switch to Telus. I’ll be looking elsewhere before I consider that.

Based on this lack of accountability I encourage everyone to pursue formal complaints to their conclusion.

[xchoo]

I finally received a reply from the @CS_Agent :

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Hello!

Thank you for reaching out to us, I apologize for the long delay to get back to you.

We have identify an issue with the $15 plan which was preventing you to be able to use calls and text included on the plan. We have been able to fix this. Please turn off your phone for one minute and turn it back on. Test it and let me know if it works. 

We apologize for the inconveniences this has caused.

I will wait for your reply to continue assisting you.

Warm regards,

Katherine 

Public Mobile Moderator Team

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I'd advise everyone that was affected by the outage to restart their phones and check if their service is back up.

[computergeek541]

I've merged these 2 threads.  Hopefully, Public Mobile can address this situation soon.

[EnglishChips]

I have been a HUGE fan of this company for many years, and I agree this is a disappointing turn of events. It’s one thing to have service problems, but to not even acknowledge, or offer any kind of support is just unconscionable. This has very serious consequences for some customers.

I don’t know if Public Mobile has restructured, or what the possible explanation could be. It’s just utterly disgusting that they choose to say nothing. They take your money up front, afterall. 4 Days of silence is a ridiculously long time.

[chkha]

I am a fairly new customer and have two lines for my kids with PM.  Fortunately, we have not been affected (knock on wood)by the issues that many seem to be suffering.  While others have complained that PM is not the only telcom that have had issues, it seems to me that they are the only ones that have had multi-days of down-time for their customers who have prepaid for their service.  The issues that other telcoms have had are usually billing issues--service is not affected nor for such a long period of time.

With the current ongoing situation of no-service even though paid upfront, it makes it very difficult for me to refer friends/family to PM.  Can you imagine needing to face your friends after they have made the switch to PM and then they find themselves not able to call or text anyone.  Even worse if something happens when their (or my) kids' lines are affected. 

Service needs to be reliable (that's why we have mobile service so that we can keep in touch while out and about) but I am not confident PM's is.

[EnglishChips]

First of all, it’s my opinion, so it Can’t Be Incorrect.

Second, you don’t think all these people have tried contacting Moderators? Please give customers some credit.

Third, you raise a good point, it is also Public Mobile’s responsibility to inform customers of disruptions that affect their delivery of service whether in-house or because of external factors like a downed cell tower. They have not done this. We pay for a service. It is not our responsibility to become super sleuths on what causes failures of service be searching everywhere under the sun for a reason/solution when Public Mobile already has this information. We pay them for this service. If they can’t deliver they should shouldn’t take our money. End of story.

At the very least, with an issue affecting this many customers don’t you think it is within Public Mobile’s responsibility to create a post, or a notice on their website simply stating that they are aware, and working on this issue?? You obviously think this is too much to ask.

I have been a customer with this company company since the beginning, and I have done nothing but praise them to everyone who will listen, but this has not been handled professionally. I don’t know who’s Kool-Aid you are drinking, but your suggestions are unhelpful and ridiculously skewed in favour of Public Mobile. Do you realize how much collective time customers have wasted on these boards on top of the inconvenience of not having a phone? It doesn’t take a week to address a customer in any other corporate structure I have encountered. So, yes this system is a failure.

My suggestion for utilizing another service to make phone calls had nothing to do with Public Mobile, it was out of concern for ppl experiencing difficulties and to try and help them cope. Something that Public Mobile has failed to do.

So, I stand by my original opinion. This is not working. And I think most people would agree that is actually correct.

[slpless]

It's good to hear people start to report that their phone service get restored.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/New-User-text-messages-not-working-on-1...

[xchoo]

Just to update, my service has started working as of 1:30p EST (2019-05-03).

[ZfromVanC]

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"Based on my experience this week, I feel they need to revisit their decision to go 100% community based and online for resolutions. "

This is incorrect. While the forums are a platform for customers to help other customers solve simple problems, there is still customer support from Moderators. You can contact them here:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

Have you considered checking if a cell tower is down in your area:

https://istheservicedowncanada.com/status/telus/map

If a cell tower is down, how do you expect having a phone number to call to speak to someone over voice, will be more effective than messaging online? Personally, I'd rather wait 48 hours for a message response, than 48 hours on hold on a phone call.

[Big8D]

Totally agreed, this is not acceptable!

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@EnglishChips wrote:

Why hasn’t Public Mobile shown it’s customers the most basic courtesy by acknowledging this obvious service interruption? If you choose to forgo live personnel in addressing critical issues, it is emcumbent on you to have a system in place that immediately communicates with your customers the problem, and delivers an expected timeline for a resolution. We are not frustrated because we’ve been without service for a few hours, it has literally been days now. This is unacceptable.

Whomever is (hopefully) charged to resolve this issue, should have their positioned reviewed. There is absolutely no reason to present a brick wall to loyal customers who are lacking phone service, for which you have already paid. This is abysmal management of customer service!

I do not want to waste more of my time on this website fishing for answers. I want a workable solution. The longer I wait, the more I will be sharing my experience on social media. I encourage other customers without service to do the same.

Please be professional and address your customers without further postponement.

---

[slpless]

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@EnglishChips wrote:

Why hasn’t Public Mobile shown it’s customers the most basic courtesy by acknowledging this obvious service interruption? If you choose to forgo live personnel in addressing critical issues, it is emcumbent on you to have a system in place that immediately communicates with your customers the problem, and delivers an expected timeline for a resolution. We are not frustrated because we’ve been without service for a few hours, it has literally been days now. This is unacceptable.

Whomever is (hopefully) charged to resolve this issue, should have their positioned reviewed. There is absolutely no reason to present a brick wall to loyal customers who are lacking phone service, for which you have already paid. This is abysmal management of customer service!

I do not want to waste more of my time on this website fishing for answers. I want a workable solution. The longer I wait, the more I will be sharing my experience on social media. I encourage other customers without service to do the same.

Please be professional and address your customers without further postponement.

---

As a big fan of PM, it's sad to see this happening. Yeah, PM should listen to you.

[EnglishChips]

Definitely! Thanks! 👍👍

[xchoo]

I made a thread on reddit. Go upvote it. 

[EnglishChips]

This Is Very Important If You Do Not Have Service

If you are currently without service it is imperative you file a complaint with the regulating body that oversees cell phone providers.  It does not take very long. (link below)

Posting messages here and imploring Public Mobile to act responsibly is shouting into a vacuum. The company hasn’t made a single effort this entire week to even acknowledge there is a problem. It is currently approaching noontime on a Friday and I am facing a weekend without phone service.  Public Mobile boasting that they are “The Phone Company Without A Phone Number” is a shame on them. I like a good deal as much as anyone, but there is no justification for completely abandoning customer service. Based on my experience this week, I feel they need to revisit their decision to go 100% community based and online for resolutions. This is clearly NOT WORKING.

Talking amongst ourselves does not hold Public Mobile accountable today, or in the future when similar issues arise.  As we know, if it is not documented, it never happened.

You may file a complaint at the following link which is the CRTC body that overseas the mobile phone sector. Please take a few minutes and do this immediately. We must get their attention and demand better.  We are all looking at a weekend without this critical service which we have already paid them for. Tell the CCTS you want one or all of the following; your service restored, acknowledgment of customer complaints, compensation, accountability, and the future implementation of stated resolution times to correct this lack of oversight.

This is the link you can copy & paste into a web browser to complete a complaint:

https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/for-consumers/complaints/complaint-form/

You will be given the opportunity to drag and drop documents (if you are on a desktop), screen captures of your paid account, or banking statements which have been accepted by Public Mobile, if you wish. Documents are not required for the complaint.

We demand better service ... Please do this now.

Chippy.

Note: If you have wi-fi or your data is working you can download the Google app, Hangouts to make outgoing calls over the internet with your device in a pinch. 

Please visit Public Mobile on Instagram, Facebook, and any social media account you have to get their attention. Thank you & Good Luck!

[EnglishChips]

This Is Very Important If You Do Not Have Service

If you are currently without service it is imperative you file a complaint with the regulating body that oversees cell phone providers.  It does not take very long. (link below)

Posting messages here and imploring Public Mobile to act responsibly is shouting into a vacuum. The company hasn’t made a single effort this entire week to even acknowledge there is a problem. It is currently approaching noontime on a Friday and I am facing a weekend without phone service.  Public Mobile boasting that they are “The Phone Company Without A Phone Number” is a shame on them. I like a good deal as much as anyone, but there is no justification for completely abandoning customer service. Based on my experience this week, I feel they need to revisit their decision to go 100% community based and online for resolutions. This is clearly NOT WORKING.

Talking amongst ourselves does not hold Public Mobile accountable today, or in the future when similar issues arise.  As we know, if it is not documented, it never happened.

You may file a complaint at the following link which is the CRTC body that overseas the mobile phone sector. Please take a few minutes and do this immediately. We must get their attention and demand better.  We are all looking at a weekend without this critical service which we have already paid them for. Tell the CCTS you want one or all of the following; your service restored, acknowledgment of customer complaints, compensation, accountability, and the future implementation of stated resolution times to correct this lack of oversight.

This is the link you can copy & paste into a web browser to complete a complaint:

https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/for-consumers/complaints/complaint-form/

You will be given the opportunity to drag and drop documents (if you are on a desktop), screen captures of your paid account, or banking statements which have been accepted by Public Mobile, if you wish. Documents are not required for the complaint.

We demand better service ... Please do this now.

Chippy.

Note: If you have wi-fi or your data is working you can download the Google app, Hangouts to make outgoing calls over the internet with your device in a pinch. 

Please visit Public Mobile on Instagram, Facebook, and any social media account you have to get their attention. Thank you & Good Luck!

[will13am]

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@charsi wrote:

Most companies that run services like this have a practice to mantain a web page where the system status is always displayed. Really think PM should be doing something like that.

Or atleast an update on twitter etc.

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I have suggested this before without much success.  I wonder if it has to do with being bashful about admiting something is wrong.  I would encourage customers to hold their provider to account.  

[charsi]

Most companies that run services like this have a practice to mantain a web page where the system status is always displayed. Really think PM should be doing something like that.

Or atleast an update on twitter etc.

[srlawren]

I'm tagging @Alan_K, @Brooke_C, and @CS_Agent.  I think this is great feedback.