Refund/buyers remorse

[Jennikolova]

Hello Public Mobile Moderators,

I just activated this Public Mobile account today, December 5th/2020.  I received a new phone which is locked to its previous carrier and I am unable to get the phone unlocked at this point in time.  I activated this account with auto pay, and due to the inability to use your service I am inquiring about getting a refund back on to the card I set up for auto pay.

Thank you for looking into this,

Jennifer

[Anonymous]

 @cellphoneuser1 : I was adding on to what ShawnC13 had said.

There are two count downs (three if you add US roaming but not past the plan counter). The 30 day plan starting at the renewal. Suspending starts at the time of suspending. They both keep counting down concurrently.

Suspending means wherever the SIM is, it can't use the service. But the clocks are still counting.

At the end of the plan counter, the plan won't renew.

At the end of the suspending counter, the account and SIM deactivate.

[computergeek541]

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@kselmak wrote:

@Jennikolova 

I have purchased a phone from freedom mobile like that

The law says that they MUST unlock it after 90 days for free.

I asked them for much would it be to unlock it the same day and they asked $50 for that model.

You should give the other provider a call and find out

So it's really up to you how you want to proceed

You could borrow a family member phone until you are able to get unlock for free if you are tight with money now

You also could buy a really cheap phone off of kijiji to use for 90 days then resell it when you are done

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@kselmak Canadian carriers must now unlock a phone immediately. While some carriers did used to have a 90 policy, such a policy would be against the current rules. They are also not allowed to charge a fee for unlocking, ever.

[kselmak]

@Jennikolova 

I have purchased a phone from freedom mobile like that

The law says that they MUST unlock it after 90 days for free.

I asked them for much would it be to unlock it the same day and they asked $50 for that model.

You should give the other provider a call and find out

So it's really up to you how you want to proceed

You could borrow a family member phone until you are able to get unlock for free if you are tight with money now

You also could buy a really cheap phone off of kijiji to use for 90 days then resell it when you are done

[cellphoneuser1]

@Anonymous Doesn't that mean that lost/stolen.does nothing because plan is already paid? Suspending now makes the time.shorter.  There are few phones that cam't be unlocked but the fix is to get a new phone. Public Mobile is providing the service so there won't be a refund. The old phone could ne resold to pay for a new one. A customer at the carrier of the old phone might buy it.

[Anonymous]

And the 90 day clock starts on the day of suspension regardless of how far into the 30 day plan.

[ShawnC13]

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@RosieR wrote:

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@Jennikolova wrote:

Hello Public Mobile Moderators,

I just activated this Public Mobile account today, December 5th/2020.  I received a new phone which is locked to its previous carrier and I am unable to get the phone unlocked at this point in time.  I activated this account with auto pay, and due to the inability to use your service I am inquiring about getting a refund back on to the card I set up for auto pay.

Thank you for looking into this,

Jennifer

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Hi @Jennikolova as already posted above, there is no refund.  What can do...

1. delete your credit card from autopay
2. suspend your account -  click Plan and Add-ons tab > click Lost/Stolen Phone > click Suspend Service

This will give you 90 days to find a new phone.  After 90 days your account is automatically closed.

Best wishes and season's greetings!  🎄🎄🎄

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@RosieR,if the sim is not lost I would not suspend the service.  This does not stop the timer of your 30-day plan.  If you have it suspended those days continue to count against your prepaid 30 days.

[Anonymous]

 @JK8 : You're absolutely right. Required by law does not equal will comply. Rogers are apparently quite the scofflaws.

Still like to know why the OP can't.

[ShawnC13]

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@JK8 wrote:

@Anonymous 

I wish it was that easy sometimes. Here is my experience which I posted for help when I purchased a phone from a buy and sell site. Apparently if you get a free phone under contract they lock it to their network. I was lucky to be able to get a hold of the seller to have it unlocked.

“So I took a guess on the carrier and called Bell’s toll free line to see if the phone was locked to their network. They said it was. I said why is that when all phones sold are suppose to be unlocked. They said the phone was purchased on contract so they locked it. I asked them to unlock it because the seller has a different phone and it does not make a difference since they are still getting their monthly payments from him. They said only the seller can call in to have that done. I told them about the CRTC rules that all requests to have their phone unlocked must be honoured. They said they have their own rules to follow. I called the seller and he phoned the store where he purchase it from and it became unlocked in a couple of hours. Thank goodness my PM sim works now and Bell really sucks.”

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I think all providers want the account holder to have the phone unlocked.  There probably are still phones out there that are locked that pre-date this ruling.

[JK8]

@Anonymous 

I wish it was that easy sometimes. Here is my experience which I posted for help when I purchased a phone from a buy and sell site. Apparently if you get a free phone under contract they lock it to their network. I was lucky to be able to get a hold of the seller to have it unlocked.

“So I took a guess on the carrier and called Bell’s toll free line to see if the phone was locked to their network. They said it was. I said why is that when all phones sold are suppose to be unlocked. They said the phone was purchased on contract so they locked it. I asked them to unlock it because the seller has a different phone and it does not make a difference since they are still getting their monthly payments from him. They said only the seller can call in to have that done. I told them about the CRTC rules that all requests to have their phone unlocked must be honoured. They said they have their own rules to follow. I called the seller and he phoned the store where he purchase it from and it became unlocked in a couple of hours. Thank goodness my PM sim works now and Bell really sucks.”

[Anonymous]

 @Jennikolova : Why are you unable to get it unlocked? A phone sold in the Canadian market through Canadian providers are required by law to sell unlocked. For older phones, they are also required by law to unlock them at no charge.

If the phone is from elsewhere then there are fee-based services to unlock phones.

Samsung and Apple are also able to unlock their phones.

Is it locked or is it blacklisted?

Is it even in fact compatible with this place?

[ShawnC13]

As already stated there are no refunds but you can always try.  The thing is public mobile had agreed to provide you service and is a bring your own device provider.  It is not their responsibility to ensure your device works with PM. There should be an easy way to get the phone unlocked, what carrier was it with previously?

[CFPartDeux]

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@Jennikolova wrote:

I received a new phone which is locked to its previous carrier and I am unable to get the phone unlocked at this point in time.

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More detail would help..... based on what you said, it kind of sounds as though it's not a "new phone", but rather, a phone that's "new to you"?

[geopublic · Accepted solution]

@Jennikolova  First you should remove your cc and disable Auto-Pay to avoid getting charged during your next plan renewal. 

[Dunkman]

@Jennikolova 

As mentioned above, generally there are no refund with Public mobile, but you can try.  Expect a few hours wait for moderator response. 

Is there a reason why you can't get the phone unlocked?  Where did you get your locked phone.  Most Canadian carriers can unlock phone for free these days.  Or you can lock on vendors like eBay and they can send unlock codes for fairly cheap (depending on phone).  

[BeachNBeer]

Why can't you get the phone unlocked?

[RossN]

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@Jennikolova wrote:

Hello Public Mobile Moderators,

I just activated this Public Mobile account today, December 5th/2020.  I received a new phone which is locked to its previous carrier and I am unable to get the phone unlocked at this point in time.  I activated this account with auto pay, and due to the inability to use your service I am inquiring about getting a refund back on to the card I set up for auto pay.

Thank you for looking into this,

Jennifer

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@Jennikolova hi since this is a prepaid service there are usually no refunds but you can try and contact a moderator 

contact a moderator you can do so by clicking the chat bubble at the lower right corner,to avoid going around in circles with Simon say that you want a human to speak to, a ticket will then be generated briefly mention your issue 

 you should get a response between 2 to 48 hours a reply should show up in your little envelope in the top right corner, you can also  send a private message to the Moderators by clicking here.

[JoyLuck]

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@Jennikolova wrote:

Hello Public Mobile Moderators,

I just activated this Public Mobile account today, December 5th/2020.  I received a new phone which is locked to its previous carrier and I am unable to get the phone unlocked at this point in time.  I activated this account with auto pay, and due to the inability to use your service I am inquiring about getting a refund back on to the card I set up for auto pay.

Thank you for looking into this,

Jennifer

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You will have to contact a moderator for them to decide on a refund. This is prepaid.

Here’s how to contact the Moderator Team (Public Mobile representative) for assistance:

• Get help with your account the easy way by starting a conversation with our virtual assistant, SIMon. It’ll take you to relevant help articles, or if it’s something more urgent, it can help you submit a ticket to the Moderator Team. Click here to get started.
• Alternatively, you can send a private message to the Moderators by clicking here. You’ll need to be logged in to your Community account for the link to work.