Public Mobile still charging to my credit card after I have cancelled the service 20 months ago

[charlescheng123]

I have cancelled my service back in early 2021, and I just realized I have still been charged in the 20 months. I tried to login to my "old" account to check my status but it seems the Public Mobile web site is always in error. Is there any contact that I can reach to to stop the new billing and find out what is going on? Please advice. Thanks.

[darlicious]

@softech 

.....and

• #3) Write a letter to public mobile at their York St. address requesting your account be closed upon receipt or with a future date. Details and address can be found in the terms of service.

[darlicious]

@charlescheng123 

Do you not have any reference to your pm phone number? Do you use the same phone? What about searching your emails for public mobile? How about a friend or family member that you have consistently called or texted for the past 2 years? One that uses the same phone so they can check for the phone number in their call or message history details? If you find out the phone number you can call 1 855 4PUBLIC and enter the 10 digit phone number to hear your basic account details or if it can't find yourmnumber then you know you did properly cancel the account and an autopay glitch has occurred that continues to charge "ghost" accounts (canceled and deactivated accounts that did not have their credit card registered on file removed before they were closed.....usually occurring when the number was ported out.)

[HALIMACS]

@softech 

Credit cards (some, perhaps not all), can selectively deny/refuse payments to certain merchants.

I learned that recently and was quite surprised they can even do that.

Indeed, this may be a different kind of 'refusal', however if the OP presents it as an unauthorized charge (or series of charges), I'm guessing they will disallow future payments to the merchant.

[softech]

@HALIMACS Credit card can help for charge back but I don't think they will reject PM transactions going-forward 

@charlescheng123 

while you are waiting for Support's reply, FYI, there are only 2 ways to cancel:

1. port out the number to another provider,  account will then closed upon completion of the porting 

2. disable Pre-Authorized payments so PM cannot charge you on next renewal.  Account will then be suspended and 90 more days, it will be formally closed

[charlescheng123]

I am pretty sure I didn't setup autopay... will probably have to go with the bank way to get this resolved...

[HALIMACS]

Indeed, PM lives up to its reputation of being a 3rd tier provider.

I will say however, @charlescheng123 , the new self-serve system is an improvement and they have made some changes over the years to address the more common issues of the recent past.

One thing you might do (while waiting), is to request your credit card provider stop all payments to Public Mobile.  They should be able to do this at least on a go-forward basis if you can describe to them your issues with withdrawing the service.

[charlescheng123]

@HALIMACS I had only used Public Mobile for so short time so I don't even recall my mobile number from 20 months ago. I tried to login to my Public Mobile account with success, but the account details is not able to show, this web site is just crap...

[Yummy · Accepted solution]

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@charlescheng123 wrote:

Basically I ditched the number 20 months ago

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There is no such thing as 'ditching' number at PM. You are either customer or you are not.

If you just do not use number but had autopay set then yes, you are still active customer and you will be billed every 30 days for service.

If you ported out your number your account should closed long time ago. If you did not have autopay set up BUT had credit card registered with PM then due to one of the glitches you still might be charged (even after porting out number).

Contact agent though personal mail and hope they will be able to find your file and figure out if that is PM who charges you.

But if you are not with PM anymore talk to your bank to issue chargeback and deny any payment from PM.

[HALIMACS]

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@charlescheng123 wrote:

Basically I ditched the number 20 months ago and I don't even know if that number still exist with Public Mobile. The annoying thing is why there is no direct contact that can reach to the customer service or admin from the web site for such kind of issue. This was probably part of the reason I left Public Mobile in the first place...

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Fair enough, @charlescheng123, this service certainly isn't for anyone.  To find out if the number still exists, call it.   Then you'll know if it's still associated with the past service.

Given the self-serve site is down right now (another reason to support why some might get fed up with this service & go adios), try directly messaging them as described above.

[charlescheng123]

Basically I ditched the number 20 months ago and I don't even know if that number still exist with Public Mobile. The annoying thing is why there is no direct contact that can reach to the customer service or admin from the web site for such kind of issue. This was probably part of the reason I left Public Mobile in the first place...

[hTideGnow]

HI @charlescheng123   did you disable autopay?

you cannot login your account today, it could be just because My Account is down today, not because your account was cacelled

Call yourself and see , if it goes to your own VM, I am afraid you didn't cancel it properly

[HALIMACS]

Fair enough, @charlescheng123 , however you must recall whether the 'number' you were canceling was ported (moved) to another provider.   If it WAS, that would be the only way that the Public Mobile service would terminate with no further charges.   The ONLY other way is to completely remove the associated payment card on the account or contact customer support to request the account be terminated.

Hopefully PM might be prepared to offer some sort of resolve for you in this case - perhaps if they can see zero calling/texting/data consumption, they may offer something.

Good luck!!!

[charlescheng123]

I will ask my credit card issuer to at least deny further payment to Public Mobile and find out what else they can do for me. Public Mobile web page is so bad that all I see are error page, can't login to my account page at all to do anything.

[charlescheng123]

I don't really remember what I have done 20 months ago, but I remember I did something to terminate the service. Anyway will try to PM support. Thanks for the link.

[softech]

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@charlescheng123 wrote:

I tried but since I don't even have my old number anymore I can't really create the ticket.

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@charlescheng123   use direct message as suggested in my reply above

[charlescheng123]

I tried but since I don't even have my old number anymore I can't really create the ticket.

[softech]

@charlescheng123   you have been paying for 20 months?

did you cancel by porting out?  if so, that would be an easy ask

(but if you "cancel" by just not using it, then PM would not know you "cancelled" it and it will be a whole different story)

So, open ticket with PM support by messaging them (I assume your account is closed and cannot login)

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

**Monitor your Community inbox (envelope icon on the top right) after the ticket is opened.  CS Agent will reply to you there

[hairbag1]

Send a message to CSA for their help...

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edit..

also consult with credit card issuer to initiate a charge-back.