Walmart Sim Card Purchase

[taylor7787]

I recently decided to make the move from telus to public mobile. 

I had my wife go to our local walmart to buy 2 sim cards so I could sign both of us up. I was on the phone with her and told her exactly what we needed. I heard her tell the walmart worker that she needed 2 public mobile sim cards and that was all, the Walmart employee tried for a couple of minutes to get her not to purchase the public mobile sim but rather purchase a cell phone plan through walmart wireless. He tried telling here that public did not offer any customer support at all, he said the sim is non refundable, he said walmart wireless has much cheaper plans with better coverage. When it came down to it she put me on speaker and i told the walmart employee that we wanted the two sim cards and that was it. Finally he allowed her to purchase the cards but for anyone out there do not let walmart change your mind on starting with public

Been with public for just about 2 weeks now and couldnt be happier.

[anniemh2220]

I bought a new Moto E4 plus (has dual sim card capabilities) and I had to get a new sim card because my new phone needs a nano SIM card.  (The last time I had to purchase one I ordered it from Public mobile and waited for my mail)

How long has Walmart been selling public mobile sim cards anyway?

Anyway I signed into my account and activated my new sim, at first it seemed like everything was ok, but my phone still shows me that neither Sim card slot has a card..can I try to activate it again? 

Do I have to have 2 sim cards because the phone can has 2 slots? 

Thanks, I'm getting very frustrated.

[stonechucker]

<Start of rant>

i dispise Walmart.  I have openly said this before, as I am a strong labour supporter, labour rights activist, and a union member.  I despise Walmart as they actively fight, promot, and train against the things I fight and defend.

<end rant>

OK, now with my pleasant portion.

First, Walmart is a good spot to sell the SIMs, because there are a large number of the in Canada.

Second the good experiences some folks have had sound awesome.  Good on Walmart.

Third, I would prefer the suggested Loblaws connection, or even Metro, or Sobey’s chain of stores, as those Canadian companies, have various locations that employe unionized workers, which I promote and try to shop at as much as possible.

i personally, will continue online purchase of SIM card as it is sent via the unionized Canada Post.  However, I will use WoW Wireless before I got Walmart in an emergency, and then Walmart if that fails.

thanks for reading this.  Cheers.

EDITED to correct typos.

[NDesai]

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@will13am wrote:

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@NDesai wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

This sounds like Walmart agents get a slice of the commission if they sell a new activation.  This is pretty scuzzy of the agent to hard sell a customer when they know exactly what to buy. 

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This is because they do not put Public Mobile sim cards out on the rack. May be some stores do, but the one i went to today just had advertisement cards saying PM plan starting at $20/month. So you have to talk to the associate to get the sim card where this commission bargain occurs. 

I guess @Jeremy_M and the team should do something about this. 

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I can't imagine Public Mobile doing anything to police this, unless they get to train every employee at Walmart looking after the mobile department.

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Worst case, they can always change the retailer to Lablaw's PC mobile or something similar. 

[Clefort88]

That’s horrid; the same thing happened to me today when I purchased my SIM from Walmart. 

The rep behind the counter ended up passing me literature to every other carrier plan available, stated that PM isn’t very popular in Atlantic Canada at the moment, and if I’m not entirely aware of how to use phones or, basically literate on the internet at all, I will find PM a waste of money and time should something go wrong. 

I insisted that all of the plans he’d just put in front of me are absolute garbage compared to the one I was about to have with PM, and then he tried to sell me more than one SIM card. 

Super unimpressed. 

[will13am]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

I had a somewhat similar experience at Walmart but they didn't push a different provider as much with me.  Here is my experience (from a thread I posted a week ago)

So the wife needed/wanted a new phone and we picked her up an Acer Liquid Zest Plus ( thread on that later)  So we needed a new sim as current phone is Nano and this is micro.  Off to Walmart we go to the electronics section to ask for a SIM card. 

The sales associate new where they were brught oneout for me and tells me that she has to go over a disclaimer statement, even though I am already a customer.

• Walmart is not a representative of PublicMobile
• Walmart has no access to their system and can not activate sim cards
• Public Mobile has no customer service number to call
• Public Mobile does not have customer service ( I corrected her and she did know about the community)

There may have been a few other things but I don't think so.  She did say that if PM didn't work out for me that Walmart is a Chatr retailer and could help me make the switch.

Overall I think it was a great experience.  The sales associate was knowledgeable and the statements presented I think clarify that Walmart can't activate or provide any customer support.

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I am sorry, but I just roll in laughter each time Acer liquid zest is mentioned.  It brings up the thought of a version of zest soap in a squeeze bottle manufactured by Acer.

[ShawnC13]

I had a somewhat similar experience at Walmart but they didn't push a different provider as much with me.  Here is my experience (from a thread I posted a week ago)

So the wife needed/wanted a new phone and we picked her up an Acer Liquid Zest Plus ( thread on that later)  So we needed a new sim as current phone is Nano and this is micro.  Off to Walmart we go to the electronics section to ask for a SIM card. 

The sales associate new where they were brught oneout for me and tells me that she has to go over a disclaimer statement, even though I am already a customer.

• Walmart is not a representative of PublicMobile
• Walmart has no access to their system and can not activate sim cards
• Public Mobile has no customer service number to call
• Public Mobile does not have customer service ( I corrected her and she did know about the community)

There may have been a few other things but I don't think so.  She did say that if PM didn't work out for me that Walmart is a Chatr retailer and could help me make the switch.

Overall I think it was a great experience.  The sales associate was knowledgeable and the statements presented I think clarify that Walmart can't activate or provide any customer support.

[will13am]

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@NDesai wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

This sounds like Walmart agents get a slice of the commission if they sell a new activation.  This is pretty scuzzy of the agent to hard sell a customer when they know exactly what to buy. 

---

This is because they do not put Public Mobile sim cards out on the rack. May be some stores do, but the one i went to today just had advertisement cards saying PM plan starting at $20/month. So you have to talk to the associate to get the sim card where this commission bargain occurs. 

I guess @Jeremy_M and the team should do something about this. 

---

I can't imagine Public Mobile doing anything to police this, unless they get to train every employee at Walmart looking after the mobile department.

[NDesai]

---

@will13am wrote:

This sounds like Walmart agents get a slice of the commission if they sell a new activation.  This is pretty scuzzy of the agent to hard sell a customer when they know exactly what to buy. 

---

This is because they do not put Public Mobile sim cards out on the rack. May be some stores do, but the one i went to today just had advertisement cards saying PM plan starting at $20/month. So you have to talk to the associate to get the sim card where this commission bargain occurs. 

I guess @Jeremy_M and the team should do something about this. 

[will13am]

This sounds like Walmart agents get a slice of the commission if they sell a new activation.  This is pretty scuzzy of the agent to hard sell a customer when they know exactly what to buy. 

[Mr-Bump]

On the flip side, when I got mine from Walmart the staff paused for a second then remembered what drawer it was in, and Bam, no questions asked. 

I wonder if this is a management issue - telling employees to push other plans, or staff just not correctly understanding the "limitations" of PM.

[beadsballer]

I had the same thing happen to me today. Walmart employee even stated that PM uses Telus/Koodo network and then in the next sentence tried to sell me a Koodo plan that was $10 more because it would have "better coverage"...