When your phone is OOS for more than 2+ days... (edit - now 3 days)

[dgallen]

The preamble:

My phone has been OOS since Sunday around noon.  After waiting it out to see if problems would be fixed, I proceeded to create a moderator request before midnight on Sunday.  Now with moderators signing off in a little over an hour and not any response from them, I suspect I might be OOS for over 3 days.  Here is the chain of events:

1) Receive the PM migration offer from the 90day/12GB to Koodo via text on Friday - check

2) Check online on Koodo if phone number is valid for promotion - check

3) Order PM to Koodo Migration and port of Public Mobile number - check

4) Receive order confirmation email from Koodo - check

5) Check on Public Mobile for next renewal date - check

6) Discover that renewal date is not until Sunday - check

7) Input request for change of plan to $10/50 minute plan to keep # active - check

😎 Verify that change request is accepted by system for renewal - check

9) Verify that auopay is enabled - check

10) Verify on Sunday that credit card has be debited and new plan paid - check

My phone plan now shows inactive on the $10 plan.   I show $10 balance in my account with $0 owing.  The system tells me to try and input payment and when I do, it says there is $0 owing.  I cannot send, receive voice or text.  Any outside calls go directly to voice mail message which I cannot access.   Assurances via the community that moderators respond within 48 hours...   well, here we are.   Others online have had there issues addressed by mods, even though they reported issues yesterday.   Happy for them, but not sure why my issues have not been addressed.  Hoping I get a mod response tonight but, things looking dim.   Maybe kharma, as a former Managing Director in the Telus family but now the angry old man raising his fist to the sky 

[mimmo]

@dgallen glad to see your issues being worked on.

I do agree with a your points and a long promised ticjeting system should adress all the issues, that being said the lithium forum i feel might be part of the issue and not have the ability to expand to the new needs.

As for your1st point I did suggest a while back for a way triaging support tickets by severity of issue, but there was not much support for it.

[dgallen]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mimmo wrote:

@Anonymous  I personally, don't think a canned automated would do much, emails/private messages getting lost in cyperspace is a minimal occurance, one should assume all messages get delivered. A banner on the top of the forum stating wait time is currnetly x hours, please only send one message would do a lot more.   a proper ticketing system would be even better that way people can add to their ticket without losing their place in the queue.

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And I would respectfully disagree. It would be immediate. You know the saying about assume. No one reads stuff anyway so something up top somewhere would just fade into the background after a while.

A proper ticketing system would of course cost money which we all probably don't want to see increased rates to pay for.

So the inexpensive (if not nothing) auto-reply would seem to me to be the cheap and easy solution.

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Some issues I currrently see are:

1) No current classification for OOS, cosmetic, feature, or inquiry type messages.   OOS issues should always take priority.   In the old days carriers as part of the tariff, had to me certain thresholds for each category and for example OOS needed to be repaired under 24 hours.  But that was in a time when quality and service satisfaction were equal considerations to revenues...

2) Subsequent messages should be identified as such and not new issues.   There is often need for the subscriber to add more information (e.g. pin, phone, documents etc.) to the incident.   Subequent calls should also be part of reporting.

3) Transparency.   There needs to be way that the subscriber is initially informed and kept informed.   This could simply include a calculation of total of incidents in the queue and the current incident position in the queue with a quick calculation of average repair/resolution time divided by number of moderator resources and time window availability to calculate approx time to repair/resolve.   You probably wouldn't need to broadcast this to the world (for competitve reasons) but it is reasonable to offer as part of the communication with the subscriber as well as inform the customer care, repair and management team to current state.

Yes these systems have some cost associated to them, but the bigger cost is in human resources, goodwill etc.   All part of running the business.  Public Mobile seems to have a signficant base of supporters and fans, which gets eroded by issues like quality or service, communication and response to problems etc.   Since I no longer get paid by telecoms to tell them what to do, I'll leave this here and get back to my contacts and let them know I may be back on the air shortly.  cheers.

[Mary_M]

thank you for the update @dgallen!

I am confident that this will be fixed soon, my colleague Kaba is working on it as we speak 🙂

Cheers,

Mary

[dgallen]

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@Mary_M wrote:

Good morning @dgallen,

thank you for reaching out to us and for your patience! 

There currently is a small backlog but we're working as fast and efficiently as we can to respond to everyone's inquiry. This is confirmation that we've received your PM and someone should get back to you shortly - please keep an eye on our messages 🙂 

Respectfully,

Mary

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Thank you.  I've now received the private message from the moderator and have just emailed back my pin and phone number.  I'm hopeful that my service can now be restored sometime today.  

[Anonymous]

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@mimmo wrote:

@Anonymous  I personally, don't think a canned automated would do much, emails/private messages getting lost in cyperspace is a minimal occurance, one should assume all messages get delivered. A banner on the top of the forum stating wait time is currnetly x hours, please only send one message would do a lot more.   a proper ticketing system would be even better that way people can add to their ticket without losing their place in the queue.

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And I would respectfully disagree. It would be immediate. You know the saying about assume. No one reads stuff anyway so something up top somewhere would just fade into the background after a while.

A proper ticketing system would of course cost money which we all probably don't want to see increased rates to pay for.

So the inexpensive (if not nothing) auto-reply would seem to me to be the cheap and easy solution.

[mimmo]

@Mary_Mkeep up the great work.  this extra effort is much appriciated.

@Anonymous  I personally, don't think a canned automated would do much, emails/private messages getting lost in cyperspace is a minimal occurance, one should assume all messages get delivered. A banner on the top of the forum stating wait time is currnetly x hours, please only send one message would do a lot more.   a proper ticketing system would be even better that way people can add to their ticket without losing their place in the queue.

[Anonymous]

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@Mary_M wrote:

At this time, there are no automated replied we're always open to suggestions @Anonymous. During peak hours, we respond within about 2 hours however during busier times, it can take 24 to 48 hours. Rest assured that we're doing the best we can to answer and I'm trying to personally follow up with as many of our customer's to reassure them.

thank you for your understanding,

Mary

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Thank you for the quick reply. I know you don't have an automated reply. So yes please do take this as a suggestion to implement one. I can't imagine I'm the first to suggest it. Surely the place that collects all these messages has some way to do like a vacation reply or some kind of automated reply. It doesn't need to be personalized...just confirmation of receiving it. "We have received your message. Please don't send another one." Done.

[Mary_M]

At this time, there are no automated replied we're always open to suggestions @Anonymous. During peak hours, we respond within about 2 hours however during busier times, it can take 24 to 48 hours. Rest assured that we're doing the best we can to answer and I'm trying to personally follow up with as many of our customer's to reassure them.

thank you for your understanding,

Mary

[Anonymous]

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@Mary_M wrote:

Good morning @dgallen,

thank you for reaching out to us and for your patience! 

There currently is a small backlog but we're working as fast and efficiently as we can to respond to everyone's inquiry. This is confirmation that we've received your PM and someone should get back to you shortly - please keep an eye on our messages 🙂 

Respectfully,

Mary

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I don't know how much it would cost to implement but it doesn't seem like it would be very much...why can't this kind of confirmation be automated at the Moderator_Team mailbox end before any human even gets to reading it?

It would lessen the frantic frustrations of people to know that their message was at least received. It would lessen the potential for multiple messages that apparently drop one down the queue adding to said frustrations.

I don't get it.

[Mary_M]

Good morning @dgallen,

thank you for reaching out to us and for your patience! 

There currently is a small backlog but we're working as fast and efficiently as we can to respond to everyone's inquiry. This is confirmation that we've received your PM and someone should get back to you shortly - please keep an eye on our messages 🙂 

Respectfully,

Mary

[will13am]

Some of us longer term customers also wonder a lot about the impairment to the brand with the excessive penny pinching.  It is not like we haven't brought up major issues with the self serve system over and over again.  Don't forget your account password, etch it into the refrigerator door, that will cost you another 3 days of OOS.  I guess the guy in the corner office in the Public Mobile office does not earn the bonus based on any of these customer service metrics. 

[dgallen]

Almost all of my telco colleagues are like me, long since retired, making the big bucks consulting overseas or pinching pennies by using automated carriers :tsmileyhappy:  Frustrating from the point of view of understanding where the problems are, but can only write my online whinings as a way of self satisfaction.    Thanks for the advice for patience.   I have a quite frail 97 year old mother that I worry no one can reach me, since I have no idea when my phone will be fixed, so my patience level is thinning.   Mea culpa for ditching my wired service for this new fangled mobile/digital stuff!   I'm an optimist by nature, so I hope I only have 3 days to get my service back.  Thanks for taking the time.

[will13am]

@dgallen, if you burnt some bridges in the past, maybe this is payback!  If you still have friends working at Telus who can make things happen, maybe tell them that the number of support staff needed to handle the current volume of customers need a major increase because the ability to meet targeted response times are being significantly challenged.  Otherwise, welcome to our world!  A nice dose of patience would be beneficial.

[dgallen]

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@happycamper wrote:

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@dgallen wrote:

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@popping wrote:

@dgallen

There is known problem that when you renew with plan change from a higher value plan to a lower value plan.  You changed from $45 plan to a $10 plan   Read the following thread for details why you plan is inactive.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/EXPIRED-vs-SUSPENDED-AVAILABLE-FUNDS-vs...

Nothing you can do ATM but wait.

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Yep, thanks for the comment.  Definitely a handshaking issue and process bugs between upstream/downstream OSS (operational support systems).  Has been an issue for over 2 years according to community search.  Would certainly help the cause, make for happier customers and reduce mod intervention time if it was fixed!   Thaks for taking the time.

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Sorry to hear about your problems....and certainly empathize with you...it is interesting to read comments from many customers over the last couple of months who try to "Help" other customers with problems with their comments and suggestions and i really believe their intentions are sincere....but I think many of them have lost sight of what reasonable service is and the inability of PM to deal with repetative ongoing problems which for many of us seem so simple to remedy....anyone who volunteers to help with software issues is rebuffed by some of the more long time people on this site...I'm sure, nothing will change in the near term....now bracing for ORACLE backlash from my favorite Will13m

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Thanks for taking the time to reply and the empathy!   I agree with you whole heartily.   I'm retired now, but cut my teeth in the telecom for over 30 years.  Customer Services, Level of Service Reporting to the CRTC, Operational and Business Support Systems and the like were all part of my portfolio so I can generally understand where some of these problems lie.  From a business proposition, service and brand management, fixing the automated processes and systems would be a huge $ and goodwill boost to PM and Telus.  In fact, I'm surprised why senior management does not review these issues and address them.  I have to say that in my day...  but I digress.  It's after 9pm and after hours for mods so it looks like I'm OOS for another day. Thanks for your note!

[happycamper]

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@dgallen wrote:

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@popping wrote:

@dgallen

There is known problem that when you renew with plan change from a higher value plan to a lower value plan.  You changed from $45 plan to a $10 plan   Read the following thread for details why you plan is inactive.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/EXPIRED-vs-SUSPENDED-AVAILABLE-FUNDS-vs...

Nothing you can do ATM but wait.

---

Yep, thanks for the comment.  Definitely a handshaking issue and process bugs between upstream/downstream OSS (operational support systems).  Has been an issue for over 2 years according to community search.  Would certainly help the cause, make for happier customers and reduce mod intervention time if it was fixed!   Thaks for taking the time.

---

Sorry to hear about your problems....and certainly empathize with you...it is interesting to read comments from many customers over the last couple of months who try to "Help" other customers with problems with their comments and suggestions and i really believe their intentions are sincere....but I think many of them have lost sight of what reasonable service is and the inability of PM to deal with repetative ongoing problems which for many of us seem so simple to remedy....anyone who volunteers to help with software issues is rebuffed by some of the more long time people on this site...I'm sure, nothing will change in the near term....now bracing for ORACLE backlash from my favorite Will13m

[dgallen]

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@popping wrote:

@dgallen

There is known problem that when you renew with plan change from a higher value plan to a lower value plan.  You changed from $45 plan to a $10 plan   Read the following thread for details why you plan is inactive.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/EXPIRED-vs-SUSPENDED-AVAILABLE-FUNDS-vs...

Nothing you can do ATM but wait.

---

Yep, thanks for the comment.  Definitely a handshaking issue and process bugs between upstream/downstream OSS (operational support systems).  Has been an issue for over 2 years according to community search.  Would certainly help the cause, make for happier customers and reduce mod intervention time if it was fixed!   Thaks for taking the time.

[popping]

@dgallen

There is known problem that when you renew with plan change from a higher value plan to a lower value plan.  You changed from $45 plan to a $10 plan   Read the following thread for details why you plan is inactive.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/EXPIRED-vs-SUSPENDED-AVAILABLE-FUNDS-vs...

Nothing you can do ATM but wait.