Public Mobile Using Different company names to charge my credit card

[Zyl]

I have set up auto-pay to pay my monthly Public Mobile charges with credit card so it can be a recurrent charge for my credit card company in order for me to earn higher rewards with my credit card company but Public Mobile is using different company names to take the monthly payment.  Last month, it was using "Koodo Reapproved Topup" to take the charge (scared the hell out of me, thought my SIM was hacked) and this month, I just saw that Public Mobile used "Public Mobile 855--------, BC" and the description of "Public Parking Garage" to take the payment.  These are not being recognized as recurrent payments for my credit card company.  Does this happen to anybody?  Why is Public Mobile using different company names each time when charging credit cards?  Can Public Mobile use the same company when taking payment each time? 

Would appreciate it if somebody can provide the answer.  Thanks   

[Zyl]

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@softech wrote:

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@darlicious wrote:

@Zyl 

I for one would never be a koodo customer.

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@darlicious  serious .. why so against the idea?

I always think it is possible.. the Big 3 are making this decision together afterall.. with Tier 2 also offers prepaid services, they really don't have to keep to Tier 3 providers here..

Yes, there are some CRTC guidelines to follow, (the "fake" competitions by creating more brands). but Big 3 has been giving enough pressure back to CRTC and CRTC does not win all the time.   

And for Telus, it has the most advantages to kill PM among the Big 3...killing PM and bringing them back to Koodo means they have excuse to get rid of the reward program (yes.. those with lots of friends referrals and have been getting "free" service.. Telus definitely see no harm to loss them  🙂  )

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If they start to merge Public Mobile into Koodo and get rid of the reward program, I will just stop subscribing cellphone services altogether and just use wifi for everything.  Seriously I have no use for cellphone plans and I see no point in paying double for the same data when I am already paying for wifi at home and can get free public wifi when I am outside of the house.  And if I really need a cellphone plan, I will just get a prepaid SIM card.  The only reason why I signed up with Public Mobile is because of its low cost and its reward programs that allow me to earn to reduce the cost 

[Zyl]

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@darlicious wrote:

@Zyl 

I for one would never be a koodo customer.

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I was thinking in the line of Koodo merging into Public Mobile and becoming one company that offers both companies' plans so we get one consistent vendor taking our payments.  I looked at Koodo before and still at the end decided to become a Public Mobile customer.  🙂 

[darlicious]

@softech 

I have high standards when it comes to customer service and koodo a shown to me enough times that their employees care more about their paycheque than the quality of service they give to their customers.

[softech]

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@darlicious wrote:

@Zyl 

I for one would never be a koodo customer.

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@darlicious  serious .. why so against the idea?

I always think it is possible.. the Big 3 are making this decision together afterall.. with Tier 2 also offers prepaid services, they really don't have to keep to Tier 3 providers here..

Yes, there are some CRTC guidelines to follow, (the "fake" competitions by creating more brands). but Big 3 has been giving enough pressure back to CRTC and CRTC does not win all the time.   

And for Telus, it has the most advantages to kill PM among the Big 3...killing PM and bringing them back to Koodo means they have excuse to get rid of the reward program (yes.. those with lots of friends referrals and have been getting "free" service.. Telus definitely see no harm to loss them  🙂  )

[darlicious]

@Zyl 

I for one would never be a koodo customer.

[Zyl]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 @Zyl : I'll disagree about Koodo and here.

The reloadable prepaid Koho card has a cash back arrangement here. And you reload with etransfer and they cover that transaction fee. Lots of people here would be happy to provide you a referral code.

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Still wouldn't stop them from merging two companies into one and just offer everything under one company and use the same vendor when charging payments.  The bottom line is using the same consistent vendor when charging payments.  They are using the same back-end system anyway, why can't they just merge into one company?    

[Anonymous]

 @Zyl : I'll disagree about Koodo and here.

The reloadable prepaid Koho card has a cash back arrangement here. And you reload with etransfer and they cover that transaction fee. Lots of people here would be happy to provide you a referral code.

[Zyl]

@Foxylady  Agreed.  They should inform their clients beforehand that they may see Koodo as the vendor from time to time and also the vendor will have different locations that's totally different from public mobile or Telus' head offices so people will know.

[Zyl]

@Anonymous I agree.  They should use the proper and consistent vendor names when charging payments.  But I can see they can't use "Telus" either cuz Telus has its own business that needs to charge payments under "Telus" as the vendor.  No, what they should do is merge public mobile and Koodo into one subsidiary and streamline everything.  Both companies have the same plans, why keep them separate?

[Zyl]

@Dgraziani Yup everything comes down to the merchant code that they choose to register with and while on the topic of merchant codes, MC has more merchants registered as "grocery" than VISA especially for Walmart.  All the Walmarts that have grocery sections will register as"grocery" with MC but still as"discount store" with VISA.  What a rip-off!!

[Zyl]

@HALIMACS. Agreed. Public Mobile should state their charges aren't considered recurring charges for cc reward purposes so we can plan accordingly.

[Zyl]

@softech yeah that's what I suspected too.  Public mobile just didn't register for recurrent charges to save on transaction fees.  They actually pay for the cc reward that we get.

Will change my cc for payment here then.  Really wish all the merchants so we can know beforehand so we can use the best card.  Once we find out we have to change anyway.

[Foxylady]

This also happened to me.  I thought my credit card had been compromised.  PM has a responsibility to their clients to let us know if this kind of thing can happen.

[Anonymous]

I don't think payment dates that move can be called recurring. This works for monthly bills that occur on the same day each month.

As for looking like you're paying a different company that you're not doing business with...I think it's a lousy method this company is doing. It has had an impact on one customer that did a proper chargeback on their card and promptly stopped their service. Completely innocent on their part with no fault of their own.

If they're going to say it's all in the family then everything should say Telus from the top down for all their services.

@J_PM 

[Dgraziani]

From my experience it totally depends on how the merchant identifies themselves. 

For example when I buy anything at walmart they identify themselves as a  grocery store, so on one of my cards I get the cashback at 2% 

On the other hand you are right that other companies have payments that fluctuate, which is normal but it all depends on how the merchant identifies themselves. 

[softech · Accepted solution]

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@t_p wrote:  

@Zyl 

Your plan payment can't be categorized as "recurring charge" for the purpose of cc cashback because the amount charged to the cc can fluctuate monthly (due to account cash balance, rewards,etc...).so PM needs to request authorization for a potentially different amount each month.

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while it is true that PM account is not considered as reoccurring payment on credit card, but that is not the reason.  Postpaid cellular service, hydro bills are all reoccurring payment to credit card and their bill amount fluctuate as well.

I assume with PM payment system , it never registered to credit card system that they will be reoccurring.  Instead, PM simply keep the credit card info in the system and request a one time transaction every 30 days.  Similar to the fact that you go a store weekly and buy the same thing with the same amount, but it is still not reoccurring to credit card  system because each transaction is an isolated one time request

why PM does that?  i suspect it has a lower transaction fees

[t_p]

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@Zyl wrote:

I have set up auto-pay to pay my monthly Public Mobile charges with credit card so it can be a recurrent charge for my credit card company in order for me to earn higher rewards with my credit card company but Public Mobile is using different company names to take the monthly payment.  Last month, it was using "Koodo Reapproved Topup" to take the charge (scared the hell out of me, thought my SIM was hacked) and this month, I just saw that Public Mobile used "Public Mobile 855--------, BC" and the description of "Public Parking Garage" to take the payment.  These are not being recognized as recurrent payments for my credit card company.  Does this happen to anybody?  Why is Public Mobile using different company names each time when charging credit cards?  Can Public Mobile use the same company when taking payment each time? 

Would appreciate it if somebody can provide the answer.  Thanks   

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@Zyl 

Your plan payment can't be categorized as "recurring charge" for the purpose of cc cashback because the amount charged to the cc can fluctuate monthly (due to account cash balance, rewards,etc...).so PM needs to request authorization for a potentially different amount each month.

As for various names you see on your statement, it's due to Koodo and PM sharing the same payment processing backend but that's no cause for concern if you recognized the amount applying to your plan payment.

[HALIMACS]

@Zyl 

My experience has been that the initial payment has the descriptor “Koodo Reapproved Topup”

The subsequent auto pay charges will almost always just display “Public Mobile”

Yours is not an uncommon question for those folks paying attention.  Public Mobile should state this somewhere while customers are setting up payment cards for auto pay.

[esjliv]

@Zyl  - yeah, I can see how it could have been surprising to see Koodo as the vendor to charge you when Public Mobile is the provider. Telus is the parent company of Koodo and Public mobile (so all under the 'same' umbrella). 

This must be something in Telus's backend system that uses a Koodo activation process, some people have reported the same thing as you. So nothing to be concerned about.

Public Mobile should be listed for future charges. 

[cellphoneuser1]

@Zyl Public Mobile payments aren't recurring.  The garage description doesn't mean anything and can be ignored. Nothing can be done to get the additonal rewards or cashback.  Ignore the Koodo references too. Public and Koodo are owned by Telus.