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Autopay?

GusP
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

How reliable is autopay. It seems like people pay manually before autopay. Why? i dont see why it would fail. Isn't it just like paying a monthly Netflix or amazon service?

47 REPLIES 47

mm80
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

@NoseyNick wrote:

Scenario 1: Interesting fact: 911 actually works on any mobile phone on any compatible network, with or without a SIM card, with or without credit on your account.

"Your nearby friend" and/or Scenario 2... granted.   🙂

 


That's because all carriers have to allow 911 calls and they're not allowed to charge for it, and they don't know who you are if there's no sim in the phone.

NoseyNick
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Scenario 1: Interesting fact: 911 actually works on any mobile phone on any compatible network, with or without a SIM card, with or without credit on your account.

"Your nearby friend" and/or Scenario 2... granted.   🙂

 

 


@BearFBI wrote:

I'm actually learning lots about autopay in this post. I have a question too. So if autopay fails no big deal you click reactivate button in self serve. Now sometimes people on the fourm have an autopay failure and the reactivate button dosent work or they got charged and their PM account is suspended. I fail to understand why the reactivate button dosent work.


Some of us want to take the extra step beforehand and not have to remember the options you might need to use and/or wait for MOD help. 

ie. Scenario 1. You are in the cubicle at your favourite bar, but you now have an intoxicated person banging down the door. You grab your phone to call 911 or your nearby friend....the phone doesn't work....you have no computer or wifi nearby....now what do you do?

Scenario 2. You are driving on a remote stretch of road.....your car breaks down....the phone does not work.....you have no computer or wifi nearby....now what do you do?

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

I'm actually learning lots about autopay in this post. I have a question too. So if autopay fails no big deal you click reactivate button in self serve. Now sometimes people on the fourm have an autopay failure and the reactivate button dosent work or they got charged and their PM account is suspended. I fail to understand why the reactivate button dosent work.


@Triguy wrote:

I don't think there is any possible explanation.  The majority of the time it works for most people but there is a small chance it can sometimes fail so keeping a balance as a backup ensures you don't lose your service if autopay should fail.


Exactly. A back up plan, a fail safe, an insurance policy. Call it what you want. Some of us go that one extra step just "in case" to ensure seamless and no hassle service. 


@totalUser wrote:

@BearFBI 

my plan is 15 now

I have 1 referral and 2 autopay

I should keep 12 on my account but I make sure I have at least 16

 

So your guaranteed amount of credit is $2. 

So only top up your account by $13 plus taxes

Then every now and then, when you see your "balance" (<= impossible to lose) grow due to the referal(s) (<= a referral you can lose) top up your account for an amount  that is $15 minus your balance minus your autopay credit. 

 

I only pay one month ahead, although due to credit from referrals but not money out of my pocket, I have been paid up by 9 months ahead. 

 

Honest most of the time I have more, more I have now less needed to you up next time

When I renew I get an sms that renewal was successful

That's q for me to login and top-up to 16.

 

Why $16??

 

Somebody I know who's used to 711 and topping up only once or twice a year does that actually, she dumps $100 and set herself reminder. She's really locking herself in, but she had loads of referrals and loyalty credits, she's not leaving any time soon

 

That is ok. But you can burn yourself if for some reason you find a better deal, get a free company phone or you are dissatisfied with PM and you want to move on...then you have a balance that you will lose or you will have to remain until it is exhausted. 


@GusP wrote:

Does anybody know a technical explanation of autopay. Like a technical explanation on how it sometimes can fail. Ive decided to do manual payments but for the other people that I'm trying to get on public mobile they just don't understand to pay it manually and how it can possibly fail.


@GusP  I don't think anyone here really knows the reason. We can just take a calculated guess. From my observation it appears that it's a timeout issue. If Auto-Pay times out while processing the renewal, the Auto-Pay interface or system can't or doesn't have the capability of issuing a retry so if it fails and the account gets suspended. 

 

I have observed this behavior personally even when making a one-time payment on occasion but it has always worked on a retry.

@GusP   Chances are they will never experience an autopay failure. Just tell them if they ever lose service to call you for help. You might get one call a year. But im struggling to understand  (especially) after my lengthy explanation why the concept of paying manually is not being grasped.

       Most online accounts for customers with electronic billing have an option "pay bill now" it's the same here....the rewards page gives you the estimated payment for your next 30 day cycle based on your balance, rewards and your plan cost. The only thing you can't do is pay it thru your bank account....you have to do it the other way around by charging it thru your pm account to your registered visa/debit card.

          If you forget to pay....no big deal autopay will kick in.

Triguy
Mayor / Maire

I don't think there is any possible explanation.  The majority of the time it works for most people but there is a small chance it can sometimes fail so keeping a balance as a backup ensures you don't lose your service if autopay should fail.

GusP
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Does anybody know a technical explanation of autopay. Like a technical explanation on how it sometimes can fail. Ive decided to do manual payments but for the other people that I'm trying to get on public mobile they just don't understand to pay it manually and how it can possibly fail.

@BearFBI 

my plan is 15 now

I have 1 referral and 2 autopay

I should keep 12 on my account but I make sure I have at least 16

Honest most of the time I have more, more I have now less needed to you up next time

When I renew I get an sms that renewal was successful

That's q for me to login and top-up to 16.

 

Somebody I know who's used to 711 and topping up only once or twice a year does that actually, she dumps $100 and set herself reminder. She's really locking herself in, but she had loads of referrals and loyalty credits, she's not leaving any time soon

@GusP 

       Every mobile provider has occasional glitches but very few that even have a community have issues reported there because the customer with an issue picks up the phone to get it resolved. At public mobile nearly every issue gets posted on the community first then the customer gets directed to contact the moderators if the issue can't get resolved here. There might be one autopay failure reported here each day. Out of an estimated 300,000 customers =0.01% may have an autopay failure but if you are one of those 30 who loses service it can be extremely inconvenient.

       Public mobiles payment system is an older system designed for prepaid service rather than an automated payment system so the expectation was that most customers would manually pay their bill the same way most people pay their postpaid bills. You get your bill....see how much you owe and then you pay it. Your payment amount doesn't change with public mobile unless you choose to change it. So most people set it and forget it. Autopay was designed to work if you forget to pay your bill. Instead most customers choose to forget to pay their bill and as a result when 10,000 accounts renew every night in a three hour period the odd one fails.

        The regular community members that help out here choose to manually top up before renewal because we've heard all the "horror" stories but we are also mindful of our money and how it's spent (we're with pm right?!!) Just like all my other bills ( yes they are paper and come thru the mailslot) I open each one and scan thru the charges to see if anything unusual pops out and if everything looks correct then I will pay it.I do the same thing here (I suggest others do too!) I pay for my plan (the bill) and take a screenhot of my overview page. Then usually the day after my renewal i wll check to make sure everything got applied correctly: rewards, credits, promos (if any) my balance and if i do forget i check the autopay amount. I take a screenshot of my payment history go to my overview page and check that my plan data has reset, minutes have reset if I'm on a limited minute plan and look for my promo to have been applied .(here and in paymet history.)  and i take one more screenshot. Now if anything unusual pops out or happens I can quickly compare my screenshots and diagnose the problem or supply them to the moderators to explain or give proof of the problem.

        We've all heard those stories  of the golf club membership fees being paid for two years by the widow or twenty-four years of premium touchtone telephone service fees being charged. There's been many customers complain about missing  8 months of autopay reward or 3 months of promos because they rarely if ever check their accounts for unusual activity. Be proactive not reactive!

ShawnC13
Oracle
Oracle

@GusP wrote:

How reliable is autopay. It seems like people pay manually before autopay. Why? i dont see why it would fail. Isn't it just like paying a monthly Netflix or amazon service?


I have found it reliable I have never had an issue in 3.5 years and the other accounts I that I am in contact with Parents and nephews never an issue yet

 


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 *


@gblackma wrote:

Yes @BearFBI both my mom and I,  we use autopay. Knock on the board. Hasn't failed yet. Stay safe.


I think you have some Canadian sayings mixed up. 

 

It is knock on wood. 

And

Flat as a board. 


@mpcdesign wrote:

@GusP, it can be flaky! Very flaky!

 

SO, what I normally do now, is place funds into my account before a week it expires, And when it come up for renewal, my account will look at the available funds.

 

It still works great this way, and I still get the $2 off each month.

 

Just place a reminder on your calendar if you want to add funds earlier than that. Plus, you get a text message from Public Mobile to pay up too a few days before the expiry date!!


I do similar as @mpcdesign  when I receive the final text that my account was topped up I then pay ahead for the next months guaranteed   amount the next Thursday. Thursday is my bill paying day of the week. 

bhahaha @totalUser me too ill be that 0.01% and be posting next month.

 

HOW PAY MY BILL HELP @gblackma  

 

LOL!

@BearFBI I use Manuautopay it the new thing where you get the benefit of auto pay by automatically checking to make sure you balance is enough for the next month. haha 

@mpcdesign 

you have a great post and love the sarcasm. We all get it keep contributing ! 

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

 


@totalUser wrote:

@Naepalm 

I'm the same way too

I don't even account for rewards I have full amount+$1 on it the day I renew (when I receive sms that renewal was successful I login and make payment for the next one). I've read that sometimes system doesn't deposit all the rewards, since then I don't count on it for my renewal.

I know my luck, this is the only type of 0.1% that I can fall into.


@totalUser Really? I might do this too. I am confused though could you break it down how you pay and get your rewards.

No @mpcdesign just one of the few. If I'm going to the US, or on a trip within Canada and my renewal date falls within the time I'm going to be on vacation . I wouldn't rely on autopay then. I'm depositing the funds before I go to cover it. One less thing to worry about😎.

@Staliger, ok...so, at least, am NOT the crazy one for doing what I do. Manually pay for the funds and then let autopay take the funds out....

 

 

THANK YOU.....I thought I was the ONLY one (aka bozo) for doing this!

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

 


@mpcdesign wrote:

@BearFBI, just like @Naepalm and @gpixel, you all are climbing the charts quickly. I wish had the stamina, keyboard faster and brains to keep up with the incoming posts. 

 

I have no idea how some others do it so quickly. I know some have canned messages, copy and paste, but, some posts are quite different, and one has to thoughtful write it out to NOT to offend or step anybody's else toes! 

I become sarcastic with some of my posts today....sorry!


@mpcdesign Its okay. I feel you. Dont think I can keep up either. Sometimes I look at posts and totally misread something and have to go back and edit my post or delete it. 

@Naepalm 

I'm the same way too

I don't even account for rewards I have full amount+$1 on it the day I renew (when I receive sms that renewal was successful I login and make payment for the next one). I've read that sometimes system doesn't deposit all the rewards, since then I don't count on it for my renewal.

I know my luck, this is the only type of 0.1% that I can fall into.

Staliger
Mayor / Maire

@GusP I see a few messages regarding failing Autopay every month here. As a result, just to be safe, I pay manually even with enabled Autopay. Don't want to face issues of suspension. I will stop doing that only if there won't be any such cases for several months in a row.

@BearFBI, just like @Naepalm and @gpixel, you all are climbing the charts quickly. I wish had the stamina, keyboard faster and brains to keep up with the incoming posts. 

 

I have no idea how some others do it so quickly. I know some have canned messages, copy and paste, but, some posts are quite different, and one has to thoughtful write it out to NOT to offend or step anybody's else toes! 

I become sarcastic with some of my posts today....sorry!

Yes @BearFBI both my mom and I,  we use autopay. Knock on the board. Hasn't failed yet. Stay safe.

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

 


@mpcdesign wrote:

@BearFBI, the worst-case scenario since you just started with Public Mobile, by the next day if your phone isn't working, you can just go into the self-serve account, add some funds from a credit card or voucher, and re-activate the plan.

 

I know I could do this too, but, I don't want to jeopardize my loyalty rewards. I would think if you late with a payment, it would jeopardize that. And I am working so hard trying to earn $3 bucks a month!


@mpcdesign Yeah i could always do that. I just see a lot of problems on the forum that the reactivate button isn't working or the credit card is not taking the payment and they have to end up paying with a voucher.

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@gblackma Do you use autopay yourself? or do you pay manually

@BearFBI, the worst-case scenario since you just started with Public Mobile, by the next day if your phone isn't working, you can just go into the self-serve account, add some funds from a credit card or voucher, and re-activate the plan.

 

I know I could do this too, but, I don't want to jeopardize my loyalty rewards. I would think if you late with a payment, it would jeopardize that. And I am working so hard trying to earn $3 bucks a month!

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@mpcdesign Same here. For the past 2 days i haven't been that active in answering questions on the forum during the day. As for the autopay I am new and I am worried about it too. I am going to chance it and use autopay. Hopefully all goes well

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