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**I got billed 8 times at Wow Boutique when I signed up for Public Mobile!!!!

jayzee316
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

On June 10th when I was at the wow boutique signing up for the public service, they couldn't get it to work so they tried to do sign up multiple times on multiple credit cards. I took my sim home and eventually made the service work with the help of the moderators that was great.

 

But what has happened now is that I have 8 charges on my credit card that have settled, each charge is $33.9 totalling to $271!!!

 

One of these charges says its Wow Boutique, which is legitimate and represents the service I bought. The other 7 charges of $33.9 says koodo top up pre-approv, I went back to the booth and they said I have to contact the community again. I called koodo and they said they have no access to public clients, I called my bank and they said they can't do anything till I prove I did not use those services.

 

Can someone please help me reverse these 7 charges?????

18 REPLIES 18

Unfortuantely, during activation, Public Mobile's automated activation system has a bad habbit of reporting declined credit cards when they really weren't.  And when that happens, Public Mobile will still charge your credit card but not add the balance to your account.  I'm not saying that it isn't possible for the employee at WOW to have made a mistake, but this issue is a known what at Public Mobile. 

horemansus
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Two points:

Courteous salespersons (and machines like gas pumps) give me a receipt stating the card was declined. If not i count that the card was charged, and deal with it from there.

From the thread, it seems like the third party salesperson charged, completed the sale, but somehow there was no activation. Could be PM, could be salesperson. They should have stopped and checked at that point.

 

My point really is.. do it yourself. After all that is one reason we are with PM. I am aware there are glitches in the PM (and in most any} system, but there really is no excuse for 8 charges.

@jp2, I have been in the cellular area many times of Walmart and never once have they apporached me about PM.  The time I did need a SIM card they did everything they could to keep me away from going with PM (even though I was already a customer).  They tried many scare tactics to get me to sign up with Chatr about PM having no customer service you were on your own bad network and all.  I put this to Chatr paying a better commission. 

 

In your example of someone walking through the store and having the rep jump out at them offering the world this is exactly what I am talking about customers needing to take some responsibility as well.  Jumping at an offer you know nothing about the company is just a bad idea that is how scams work and you need to be aware of that.

 

The third party workers for Walmart phone division probably won't even offer you PM unless you ask for it.  As many people don't even know it exists they will find it easier to push a "well known" brand over PM even if you are asking about PM.  So people going to Walmart asking about PM must already know about it a little.  it might be the pricing and great savings but that is when you need to do your research and see what you are giving up to get that great plan pricing.

 


I am happy to help, but I am not a Customer Support Agent please do not include any personal info in a message to me. Click HERE to create a trouble ticket through SIMon the Chatbot *

jp2
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

I don't think they should be customer service reps either. That would completely destroy the business model. 

But because this service is so different I feel it is important to make sure people marketing the product understand it and explain it to customers for the best customer experience. 

 

To conclude it doesn't matter what any of us think or how long we debate this PM will do whatever it wants whether that's informing customer, going for maximum sign ups, or otherwise 


@jp2 wrote:

I understand the customer should do research but think about how it goes down. Some unaware consumer is waking through Walmart and some sales person jumps out at you asking if you want to reduce your phone bill but also be on the largest network and earn rewards. The consumer is thinking this is to good to be true so they ask what's the catch? The salesman says no catch welcome to the world of prepaid you just pay at the beginning of the month instead of the end and your bill is cut in half even though you are on the Telus network. Oh and did I mention there's no contact and you can build a custom plan to suit you. At this point the consumer is completely blind by the dollar signs and can't even read the home page of the website "pay less for less" and signs up immediately. (they don't realize they will be paying to break their contract with the old carrier, their phone might not even be compatible with the network, there's no call centre which they need because they don't understand technology and have never heard of a forum). The more sceptical consumer says maybe later they will need to look into it but the sales person is getting commission so they've got to close the deal so they through in if you sign up right now you will receive a free sim and a 20 dollar credit (but then they sign the customer up for a plan that isn't even eligible for the credit). The above is completely made up but you all know how it works for many people that can easily be duped by a good sales person.

 

All I'm saying is when I'm referring people I inform them about the service don't just sign them up. I say there aren't call centres it's all online, you need a compatible phone, the cheapest data you see advertised is for 3G not LTE, etc. Because I don't want my friend to sign up and then be mad because they didn't realize what they were getting into. 

 

I also think PM would have a lot less new unhappy customers if they ensured the sales people mentioned a few things before signing up new people.


That is just it, these sales people are employed through a third party at Walmart to shill all carrier products, not just Public Mobile.  At the end of the day, they really don't look after the interest of any of the carriers or the customers they serve.  They look after themselves by way of completing sales transactions. 

 

We can take a pragmatic view of what sales agents are like or we can wear two layered rose colored sun glasses and paint a totally unrealistic picture of what sales agents ought to be.  Let's focus on sales in general.  Do the typical salesperson really know the products they sell?  The outlier may be totally informed.  Most are just there to ring up the receipt. 

 

I will leave you with one last bit of information.  The Walmart agent's terminal for activating Public Mobile accounts are pretty much identical to the self serve portal we see on our computers and phones, minus the online account set up features.  Originally, they were using the self serve portal on behalf of the customer.  They have no access to any of the tools the moderator team use to troubleshoot and correct account issues.  Knowing this do you think it is reasonable to expect these people to take on the role of Public Mobile customer service reps?  I can give you my pair of seldom used rose colored sun glasses.  I find that they distort reality a bit too much. 

 

BTW, I am in violent agreement with you about Public Mobile or any carrier should ideally sign up customers that are a good "fit" for the product.  This is where the customer has responsibility and ownership to seek out products that match their needs and expectations.  When they choose wrong, they need to look in the mirror to see who is ultimately responsible for the decision. 

Public Mobile and Koodo, while both owned by Telus, are operated as separate brands.  As such, Koodo cusotmer service will not offer to help you.

 

 

You will need to send a message to Moderator_Team and they should be able to have the extra charges refunded.

 

Although this really is supposed to be a last resort, I am quite surprised that your bank says that they won't do anything for you.  Credit card issuers are extremely lenient in favor of the card holder's word and from my experience, the very second that a customer says that they did not authorize a charge, they will usually file a dispute for the amount and make it so that it doesn't even have to be paid on the next bill. Banks will usually do that as a courtesy, but will tell the customers that it is done on the understanding that if the investigation finds in favor of the merchant, the charge will be re-instated.  The bank's customer service tell you that you have to prove that you didn't make those charge is an example of TERRIBLE customer service.  It is not your responsibility to prove the charges aren't valid.  It is the responsibility of the merchant to prove validity of disputed charges.  Likely, the bank doesn't wish to file the dispute for you since you would now be considered to have a pre-existing relationship with the merchant (Public Mobile), and they would much rather you attempt to attempt to fix things yourselfs by contacting the company.

 

So, go ahead and contact the moderators.  Although I don't see it coming to this, if things don't get refunded after a reasonable amount of time dispite your best efforts, the bank should be more than will to reverse the charges.

jp2
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

I like the PM model less for less but just want people to understand what that means before they sign up 

jp2
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

I understand the customer should do research but think about how it goes down. Some unaware consumer is waking through Walmart and some sales person jumps out at you asking if you want to reduce your phone bill but also be on the largest network and earn rewards. The consumer is thinking this is to good to be true so they ask what's the catch? The salesman says no catch welcome to the world of prepaid you just pay at the beginning of the month instead of the end and your bill is cut in half even though you are on the Telus network. Oh and did I mention there's no contact and you can build a custom plan to suit you. At this point the consumer is completely blind by the dollar signs and can't even read the home page of the website "pay less for less" and signs up immediately. (they don't realize they will be paying to break their contract with the old carrier, their phone might not even be compatible with the network, there's no call centre which they need because they don't understand technology and have never heard of a forum). The more sceptical consumer says maybe later they will need to look into it but the sales person is getting commission so they've got to close the deal so they through in if you sign up right now you will receive a free sim and a 20 dollar credit (but then they sign the customer up for a plan that isn't even eligible for the credit). The above is completely made up but you all know how it works for many people that can easily be duped by a good sales person.

 

All I'm saying is when I'm referring people I inform them about the service don't just sign them up. I say there aren't call centres it's all online, you need a compatible phone, the cheapest data you see advertised is for 3G not LTE, etc. Because I don't want my friend to sign up and then be mad because they didn't realize what they were getting into. 

 

I also think PM would have a lot less new unhappy customers if they ensured the sales people mentioned a few things before signing up new people.


@jp2 wrote:

@LEGO wrote:

@jp2 It is not salesman job to check your phone for compatibility with Public Mobile!

 


It should be or at least tell the customer how to check themselves. If your not checking compatibility like the website says just signing unaware consumers up for service, PM is just asking to have unhappy customers 


You bring a topic that is touchy and we can debate it till the cows come home and still have no firm consensus.  It should come as no surprise to anyone that this is a value oriented service and as such offer a unique way of providing customer support.  The options are less than those offered by the top tier brands.  It is easy to equate less support with reduced quality.  This is where expectations are paramount to the discussion.  Quality is in the eye of the beholder.  If you come to this service with the expectation that a call center will be there to listen to your problems, you will never be satisfied.  You need to rate the service for what it really is, not what you want it to be.  

 

With respect to support from Walmart agents, we had discussions amongst the oracles of what their fiduciary duties should be.  Our conclusion was they are not customers service agents, just sales people.  When they mess up, they do the same as what we would do which is contact the moderator team.  They are merely an extension of the customer.  Back to Shawn's point, the customer needs to have some ownership in looking after himself.  

 

 


@jp2 wrote:

@LEGO wrote:

@jp2 It is not salesman job to check your phone for compatibility with Public Mobile!

 


It should be or at least tell the customer how to check themselves. If your not checking compatibility like the website says just signing unaware consumers up for service, PM is just asking to have unhappy customers 


As consumers we need to take some responsibility as well.  We need people to do research to even make sure PM will be the right service for them as it isn't for everyone.  Be like buying a new vehicle that has a gas engine but when going to fill it up you put Diesel in it because your last vehicle was a Diesel engine.

 


I am happy to help, but I am not a Customer Support Agent please do not include any personal info in a message to me. Click HERE to create a trouble ticket through SIMon the Chatbot *

jp2
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@LEGO wrote:

@jp2 It is not salesman job to check your phone for compatibility with Public Mobile!

 


It should be or at least tell the customer how to check themselves. If your not checking compatibility like the website says just signing unaware consumers up for service, PM is just asking to have unhappy customers 

LEGO
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@jp2 It is not salesman job to check your phone for compatibility with Public Mobile!

 


@jp2 wrote:

Yes probably but we also hear from people saying the sales person lied to them about the promotions and others that mess up their sim or don't check if their phone even works before signing them up 


Is that the case here? No it is a PM activation issue that has gone on for a long time that needs to be fixed.  I agree there could be more training but that is for all cell provider staff.  These are usually minimum wage jobs with people trying to get any little bit of commission they can to be able to live.  We have always questioned the retail option with the questionable activation system here, but I have to say it has gone better than I thought and helped people who might not be able to do it on their own at home.

 

ETA When I went from Telus to Rogers (prior to PM) I ported my number and the rep did it right in the store and told me I could go and it would be activated within 4 hours.  These people don't have time to sit and wait for ports to complete if taking anymore than 5 minutes to make sure everything was completed.

 


I am happy to help, but I am not a Customer Support Agent please do not include any personal info in a message to me. Click HERE to create a trouble ticket through SIMon the Chatbot *

jp2
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

Yes probably but we also hear from people saying the sales person lied to them about the promotions and others that mess up their sim or don't check if their phone even works before signing them up 


@jp2 wrote:

Again the reps messed everything up. Are these reps trained at all? 


Easy on these people as well they are just doing a job trying to get people signed up.  How many times on here do we someone post that they have been charged multiple times.  It happens A LOT and it isn't the user error because they get a message of something like "Credit card could not be processed" so they try again and again.  This isn't just happening through stores many people at home experience the same things.  So remember that it is probably more of PM's activation system then the person trying to activate the service.

 


I am happy to help, but I am not a Customer Support Agent please do not include any personal info in a message to me. Click HERE to create a trouble ticket through SIMon the Chatbot *

jp2
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

Again the reps messed everything up. Are these reps trained at all? 

mimmo
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

it will help if you can take a screenshot or picture of teh charges when discussing the issue with the mods

LEGO
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@jayzee316 

You will need to send a private message to a Moderator_Team, they will help to resolve your problem!
Here is the link: click here
In your message, please provide your name, Public Mobile account number or phone number and PIN.
Good luck! Woman Happy

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