recharging via third party apps

[swan08]

Hey does anyone have experience with recharging their account with xoom.com. I reached out to support since I cannot add my credit/debit card as a payment method online.

Like I have cleared cookies, downloaded new browsers, used the app, and many other things but no solution worked. So I reached out to Public who told me to share credit card details via text to manually add them (legitimately I feel like this is the most sketchy thing a customer representative has ever told me) or use a third party service called recharge.com that I had never ever even heard of.

I used xoom but it seems that despite my payment going through there, no money was added to my public account.  Has anyone had similar experiences?

[dust2dust]

Shoppers would be the best bet. I'm not sure a Telus store would sell vouchers.

[swan08]

Lol okay, I'll try that again. Went to Valumart, Shoppers, the Telus Store so far.

[dust2dust]

Which stores did you go to? I have gone into stores and asked and they don't know what I'm talking about. I then use words like cellphone minutes or prepaid cellphone or cellphone top-up. Then they say oh yeah we have that. Which provider?

This place will take Visa Debit and some Mastercard Debit. But no, not plain debit. This place will however take those visa gift card type cards and the Vanilla brand works. (not MyVanilla though)

[swan08]

You know I had not considered this possibility. I will look into this about my credit card not working online and the website being unable to process a vanilla debit card. Thanks a bunch!

[swan08]

In all cases (debit/credit) I get an oops encountered an error in processing your request screen without further comment. My cards are from Canada, and I previously used them for 2 years to pay online without issue. At some point I had to change my debit card number and once I removed the previous card I have never been able to add a new card since.

Regarding card details: as much as I agree that an official handle should be trustworthy and safe. I feel card details should never be shared in this manner. Frankly, I found it even a bit unprofessional when I was asked to do so.

Vouchers seem like the best option but so far 3 of the mentioned stores I have gone to did not carry them. Plan to go to a new store every 2 days near me till I find a voucher. I got in touch with CS_Agent again who recommended recharge.com. I will do one of these I suppose.

Thanks for the support and attention from various people. Feel glad and perhaps even reassured in certain ways.

[DennyCrane]

@swan08 What is the error you receive when trying to add your credit card? I believe it needs to be a Canadian or a US card. There are issues with some debit cards from what I understand, but credit cards should be fine. Or are you getting some sort of a billing address error?

As for support from staff, if you're wanting them to add it manually I don't see any other way than to provide it to them via private message. The staff handle on this forum is @CS_Agent , so as long as you're messaging them it should be fine. There is no option for phone support at Public Mobile, so messaging is your only option. If you're still not comfortable with that then buy vouchers from local retailers as suggested. Third party recharge sites are also an option, but there will be a markup for their services.

[Chalupa_Batman]

Guess you could be right. Once again shows how poorly run PM is and how outdated the information on their website is. 

[dust2dust]

@Chalupa_Batman- I don't think just anybody can sell vouchers. They have to be vetted on some kind of system to produce a valid code. But that list is already problematic as Walmart no longer does anything to do with Public.

[Chalupa_Batman]

To add to this...

CS Agents should not be recommending non Public Mobile "Websites" to pay for their services. Public Mobile sells vouchers at well known retail stores. They have a link to which retail locations sell their vouchers.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/payment-voucher

If it's not on the list, I would not risk it. Buyer Beware!!!

[dust2dust]

Xoom doesn't have Public vouchers. Another option is a store like a Mobil gas station and use the real time payment that deposits money straight in to the account. Like the muskbird RTR option. There are some other online places like ding and even a crypto option.

But is it that your credit card won't let you use it online? If it's from a Canadian or American institution using a Canadian or American billing address then you should be able to enter it. But the payment system here is quite poor. The programmers around here leave much to be desired. But not a regular debit card if that's what you're trying.

[swan08]

thanks for the suggestion. I'll try this.

[JRod]

I have never heard of Xoom but a few members around here regularly use Muskbird in order to purchase vouchers. They offer a voucher purchase that you can add using *611 or online as well as a RTR which is a real time top-up so the funds get added to the account automatically. 

Besides Muskbird and Recharge, most purchase vouchers from Shoppers or various Gas Stations.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/payment-voucher

[BKNS27]

@swan08 

Never heard of Xoom but I heard of Recharge.

Here are the locations where you can pickup vouchers:

7-11, Canadian Tire gas stations, London Drugs, Canadian Superstore, Shell, Shoppers Drugmart, Safeway, Staples.

Then dial 611 or call 1-855-4PUBLIC to enter the voucher number and pin.

[swan08]

I see thanks. I'm reluctant to accept this as a solution since nothing has worked so far. But thank you for your input I shall try this as a last resort before ebbing away.