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Give us new payment methods!! Recharge.com Stinks

RobertQc
Mayor / Maire

With recharge.com jacking up the prices with new service fees, its time for public mobile to get serious and start adding other payment methods. Let us add you as a payee with our bank accounts or email money transfer. (Imagine how much you would save without all these credit card fees) Or if you love paying fees let us use paypal.

 

@Alan_K @Brooke_C @Dave_M  @David_J  @CS_Agent 

 

Please, I am finding it difficult to calm down people upset with credit card failures to use recharge.com as now its no longer cost effective.

 

We want to give you our money 🙂

38 REPLIES 38

Alan_K
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Anonymous Got it loud and clear, I'll be sure to bring this up to the team. 

lheintzman
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Alan_K

 

Don't have a lot to add here, but would like to endorse comments from some of the more knowledgeable community members. In particular, the suggestion that payments could be initiated from the customers' online banking side, rather than through PM's self-serve site.

 

The perceived frequency of CC and Autopay failures is one the main reasons why I have steered away from referring friends and family, no matter how much I've enjoyed the service. I just know that some of these people  would run into problems with the current system.  Wouldn't be surprised if other customers feel the same. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @Alan_K 

Thank you for being open to customer feedback. While I'm sure you've heard it all before but it's nice to see some recognition of it.

So if you don't mind, I'd like to add my own observations to RobertQc's thread. Of course, who am I to be adding feedback other than an opinionated old sot.

 

tl;dr - 1) please provide other online manual payment options 2) more robust, understandable, automated credit card payment system
Thanks for reading.

 

tl;

Online options like recharge.com are good for just having the convenience of not having to go out to whatever store to get a voucher. And in the case of recharge.com they were a shade cheaper than buying in store (except AB). So there was that consumer feeling of saving just that little bit of your hard earned money. Now they're not.

 

Vouchers in general are good for keeping the account topped up in a manual fashion whether dumping a bunch of money in the pot or returning online or using 611 before your expiry.

 

Credit cards are good because so many people have them. They can be used as manual top up like vouchers via online or 611. It would be nice if the 611 could allow custom amounts like online and not starting at $20 though.

 

Visa Debit and (rumour has it) Mastercard Debit cards are also good in a similar fashion to credit cards.

 

But you know all this. It's what you have.

 

Other methods of manual payment is a large part of what many would like to see. Paypal for one. Bill Payee from financial institutions for another as mentioned. e-Transfer except for the fee. Whatever other online methods of payment.

Heck, for some oldtimers, an address to send a cheque to.

 

But these are all manual ie. made by the customer.

 

The problem comes with automating that payment.
Obviously vouchers can't be automated. The real time top up isn't really automated as it still involves the customer.
Depending on the complexity and flexibility of making scheduled bill payments from the customer side, whether from a bank or Paypal or whatever, the floating 30 day period is tricky. Or to deposit a week or so in advance and let the date slowly creep up to meet it and then re-adjust.

 

So that automated payment could be better launched from your end. The customer gives you permission to take their money on your schedule ie. the 30 days. And so you do.

 

I don't know what complexities there are at your end to make all that happen but clearly it is not very robust. And that's just for plain old credit cards and those "debit" cards.

 

I also don't know what is available to you for the other payment methods mentioned for you to be able to take money from it on your schedule. With some kind of permission from the customer up front of course.

 

As you ask "other scenarios", if the automated payment methods in place were rather more robust than they are now then other scenarios wouldn't be needed. If they came back with meaningful, understandable messages for the customer, then the customer could move on with a different option or delay until they can figure out using a different available option (not including having to run out to store).

 

As you ask "no options to schedule payments", as above with regards to automating payments. But it's at this time that having all possible options to make that manual payment would be preferable. "There's something wrong with the card. Who knows. Ok I'll pay this way then." As RobertQc said - we want to give you our money.

 

If it doesn't work to have a unit # field, then don't have a unit # field. If the space should not be in the postal code then validate the given entry with a mask or something for either postal code or zip code and nothing else and then give that feedback after entry. Not after it's possibly come back from the bank with cryptic meaningless error messages. Validate as much as possible on entry, not tossing it off to the bank as if to say "hey does this work?"

 

Thanks for listening.


@Alan_K wrote:

@RobertQc wrote:

With recharge.com jacking up the prices with new service fees, its time for public mobile to get serious and start adding other payment methods. Let us add you as a payee with our bank accounts or email money transfer. (Imagine how much you would save without all these credit card fees) Or if you love paying fees let us use paypal.

 

@Alan_K @Brooke_C @Dave_M  @David_J  @CS_Agent 

 

Please, I am finding it difficult to calm down people upset with credit card failures to use recharge.com as now its no longer cost effective.

 

We want to give you our money 🙂


@RobertQc 

 

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll bring this up to the team, but before that I want to make sure I have the full details.

 

Other than in cases of credit card failures and customers with foreign credit cards, are there other scenarios that someone would require recharge.com to get a voucher?

 

I'm hearing here that when customers don't have a credit card (or are encountering an error with the CC), there are no options to schedule payments and pay online. Is that a fair summary?


@Alan_K 

 

Yes that is correct. I can't speak for everyone but the only reason I have seen recharge.com used is because an account is suspended due to autopayment failure / public mobile declining their card that they normally use and need to get reactivated asap.

 

Yes when customers are encountering declined card errors the only other option is either in store voucher (extremely inconvenient for some) or trusting a 3rd party online source which either leans towards high fees or high risk.

 

For one of my referrals, his payments have been a nightmare. There was some payment glitch where entering any manual amount would result in a decline (we tried to pay multiple renewals at once), but selecting "amount due" worked (just once). Now that same card is no longer working under any circumstance even selecting "amount due". It was the same pre-registered card on the account and had initially worked when signing up, even re-entering it as a new card results in a decline but this card works everywhere else.

 

Having some other form of payment that public mobile can accept by means of any online payment system would be great. Personally, I think adding public mobile as a bill / payee to our existing bank accounts would be the best but adding any other method would help.

 

 

Alan_K
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@RobertQc wrote:

With recharge.com jacking up the prices with new service fees, its time for public mobile to get serious and start adding other payment methods. Let us add you as a payee with our bank accounts or email money transfer. (Imagine how much you would save without all these credit card fees) Or if you love paying fees let us use paypal.

 

@Alan_K @Brooke_C @Dave_M  @David_J  @CS_Agent 

 

Please, I am finding it difficult to calm down people upset with credit card failures to use recharge.com as now its no longer cost effective.

 

We want to give you our money 🙂


@RobertQc 

 

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll bring this up to the team, but before that I want to make sure I have the full details.

 

Other than in cases of credit card failures and customers with foreign credit cards, are there other scenarios that someone would require recharge.com to get a voucher?

 

I'm hearing here that when customers don't have a credit card (or are encountering an error with the CC), there are no options to schedule payments and pay online. Is that a fair summary?

CellGirl
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I like everyone's suggestion for a PayPal auto-payment  😄


@mimmo wrote:

@will13am wrote:

Recharge does not charge a sales tax.  The fee used to be cheaper and only those in AB were getting a bad deal.  Now, pretty much the entire country is getting a bad deal. 


@will13amthey acrtually now are charging 5% tax on purchases, which is deducted from the value of the top up + the service charge.

 

PublicMobile 10.02 CAD     11.09 CAD
Top-up amount (before tax)  10.02 CAD
Tax (5.00%)                           0.48 CAD
Receiving amount (after tax)  9.54 CAD
Service fee                             1.49 CAD
Total                                     12.58 CAD
 
i'm confused however on the 10.02 vs 11.09 

I am thinking that the 9.54 receiving amount might actually be a $10 Public Mobile voucher.  I've used this service before, and whenever they've advertised strange numbers such as $9.54 or $59.64, the top up was always of the next full dollar amount.

terrybev
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

I am using the BMO debit card, and it works just like a credit card

terrybev
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

I am using the BMO debit card and it does allow me to use it like any other credit card

terrybev
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

yes I have a BMO debit card that allows me to use it as a credit card, works for me

Tav
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@mimmo wrote:

@will13am wrote:

Recharge does not charge a sales tax.  The fee used to be cheaper and only those in AB were getting a bad deal.  Now, pretty much the entire country is getting a bad deal. 


@will13amthey acrtually now are charging 5% tax on purchases, which is deducted from the value of the top up + the service charge.

 

PublicMobile 10.02 CAD     11.09 CAD
Top-up amount (before tax)  10.02 CAD
Tax (5.00%)                           0.48 CAD
Receiving amount (after tax)  9.54 CAD
Service fee                             1.49 CAD
Total                                     12.58 CAD
 
i'm confused however on the 10.02 vs 11.09 

Good catch! The fee must be new?

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@kav2001c wrote:

Far easier to just use your credit card

Failures happen but are so rare as to be nearly non existant

@kav2001c I'm kind of on the same wavelength as you here, though I add one more layer of paranoia:  For the 3 or so years I was originally a PM customer, I had AutoPay on, but also set myself a recurring reminder to make a manual top up from my registered card a few days before each payment due date, and this never failed me.  I still benefitted from the AutoPay discount, and AutoPay would still theoretically have my back if I forgot one of my manual top-ups, but doing it early gave me a few days to deal with the situation if ever a top-up did happen to fail (none of mine ever did, *knocks on wood*).  I plan to use the same system with my new account I activated recently for my mother.


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@Anonymous wrote:

 

Well that's just it isn't it. This is an *online* service. Other than needing a piece of gold-plated plastic from meat-space...everything else is online. They ought to be able to take money from their customers however their customers can. Well...other than cash or cheque 🙂 .

Customers have the additional option in meat-space of buying vouchers with cash or cheque. But they still need to be applied online or 611.


Some locations sell Real-Time Load vouchers.  Cash and your phone number are all that is required.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@stonechucker wrote:

Just wait for the AppleCard to come to Canada.  Even an option to pay via the Google Pay or Apple Pay or Samsung Pay would help.

 

It's all 0's and 1's when it gets down to it...


Well that's just it isn't it. This is an *online* service. Other than needing a piece of gold-plated plastic from meat-space...everything else is online. They ought to be able to take money from their customers however their customers can. Well...other than cash or cheque 🙂 .

Customers have the additional option in meat-space of buying vouchers with cash or cheque. But they still need to be applied online or 611.

Just wait for the AppleCard to come to Canada.  Even an option to pay via the Google Pay or Apple Pay or Samsung Pay would help.

 

It's all 0's and 1's when it gets down to it...

JackQuint
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Anonymous wrote:

 @JackQuint 

This is again interesting. The stated facts are that only Visa Debit is accepted (for debit type cards). Someone else in another thread mentioned this Mastercard debit as well. If true then all the information needs to be updated.


I know VISA Debit works because I am using it for PM. I am actually not sure about MC debit because I haven't tried so I'll correct my post to reflect that it might work (don't see why it wouldn't) but I am not sure. Thanks!

Anonymous
Not applicable

@mimmo wrote:

@Anonymous  yeah i noticed a bunch of mistakes as well... there was actually aonther site someone else found a couple months ago when they were having issues with recharge.  but I can't remember the name of the website.  

 

In all honesty, unless people are stuck at home 24/7  there is no reason that they cant stop at a retail location (gas station, canadian tire, 7-11,  supermarket etc) and buy a voucher a couple days ahead of renewal. 


Agreed.

iirc another one is ding. Maybe there are more.

mimmo
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@Anonymous  yeah i noticed a bunch of mistakes as well... there was actually aonther site someone else found a couple months ago when they were having issues with recharge.  but I can't remember the name of the website.  

 

In all honesty, unless people are stuck at home 24/7  there is no reason that they cant stop at a retail location (gas station, canadian tire, 7-11,  supermarket etc) and buy a voucher a couple days ahead of renewal. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @JackQuint 

This is again interesting. The stated facts are that only Visa Debit is accepted (for debit type cards). Someone else in another thread mentioned this Mastercard debit as well. If true then all the information needs to be updated.

 

Edit: apparently it was a Visa debit. So we're back to one person reporting the possibility of Mastercard debit. Need more corroborating evidence.

JackQuint
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

The OP was originally asking about allowing online banking payments and the discussion has veered a bit from there, but for anyone with a bank account, why wouldn't you just use VISA debit or try MC debit?

 

Bank cards from all the majors and many other financial institutions are VISA debit card numbers. Works exactly like a VISA card to PM, but the funds come from your primary bank account just as a debit purchase in a store would. RBC is the only one I am aware of that doesn't do this with their client cards, but you can request a Virtual VISA Debit card from them which works the same way. BMO issues MC debit as bank cards, and it might work but someone who has one would have to comment to confirm.

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

@kav2001c wrote:

Far easier to just use your credit card

Failures happen but are so rare as to be nearly non existant

 

I can't even imagine paying a 3rd party vendor (recharge, paypal etc) money to make a payment on my behalf

 


Technically, recharge doesn't "make a payment"...they sell vouchers. Paypal yes. But nor do they charge you. The *recipient* of money sent via Paypal pays something.

-------------

Bill payees from the banking system would be a nice option.

-----------

stonechucker: but that's just another credit card

-----------

mimmo: Nice find. But I REALLY don't like a monetary transactional site riddled with typos and incorrect spelling. Um...are you doing this all right?? (< to that company)

 

All I care with these sites is "what voucher value do I end up with and what is the total cost". In your example, the take home is 9.54. To compare buying in store would be 10.68. That total is 12.58. At least with uvconn it's only a small amount more than BC taxes. Not terrible for the convenience. Not as much as recharge.


@mimmo wrote:

@will13am wrote:

@mimmo wrote:

@RobertQc   came across this site, don't know much about it but it could be worth a try https://www.uvconn.com/


I tried doing a top up.  I don't understand how this company operating out of Canada does not charge sales tax like other service providers selling wireless service.  No matter what area code number I use, the tax was 13%.  Maybe they used location to determine that I am accessing the site from ON and so it's 13% regardless of the cell number.  The location for uvconn is a residence in Brampton.  Interesting...


It gave me 13% from bc as well, so its not the location.  did the  top up work?


I stopped short of doing the top up.  I don't need more funds in my account.  I was just trying to figure out the tax situation when using this service.  Based on your feedback, it seems like these top up services have a scam element to it where taxes charged are all over the map.  I wonder how much has to be remitted to the government and how much is pocketed.  I don't begrudge the profit motive because without it these businesses would not be in business.  However, a line item referred to as tax must be remitted to the government and not used as profit top up.

mimmo
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@will13am wrote:

@mimmo wrote:

@RobertQc   came across this site, don't know much about it but it could be worth a try https://www.uvconn.com/


I tried doing a top up.  I don't understand how this company operating out of Canada does not charge sales tax like other service providers selling wireless service.  No matter what area code number I use, the tax was 13%.  Maybe they used location to determine that I am accessing the site from ON and so it's 13% regardless of the cell number.  The location for uvconn is a residence in Brampton.  Interesting...


It gave me 13% from bc as well, so its not the location.  did the  top up work?

mimmo
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@will13am wrote:

Recharge does not charge a sales tax.  The fee used to be cheaper and only those in AB were getting a bad deal.  Now, pretty much the entire country is getting a bad deal. 


@will13amthey acrtually now are charging 5% tax on purchases, which is deducted from the value of the top up + the service charge.

 

PublicMobile 10.02 CAD     11.09 CAD
Top-up amount (before tax)  10.02 CAD
Tax (5.00%)                           0.48 CAD
Receiving amount (after tax)  9.54 CAD
Service fee                             1.49 CAD
Total                                     12.58 CAD
 
i'm confused however on the 10.02 vs 11.09 

Public Mobile did give us the option to sign-up for the KOHO Prepaid Visa, which is very similar to other reloadable prepaid cards being used already.

lheintzman
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Two enthusiastic thumbs-up for new payment methods Recharge might do in an emergency, but it's nowhere near as convenient as direct bank payments or PayPal, particularly since they can be scheduled. And non-CC payments would also mean more net revenue for PM, since there's no discount rate.

 

Note to @kav2001c

 

Been using PayPal for more than a decade to cover recurring and casual expenses. Not once have I been charged for making these payments.  Venders, maybe. Purchasers  no. 


@mimmo wrote:

@RobertQc   came across this site, don't know much about it but it could be worth a try https://www.uvconn.com/


I tried doing a top up.  I don't understand how this company operating out of Canada does not charge sales tax like other service providers selling wireless service.  No matter what area code number I use, the tax was 13%.  Maybe they used location to determine that I am accessing the site from ON and so it's 13% regardless of the cell number.  The location for uvconn is a residence in Brampton.  Interesting...


@kav2001c wrote:

Far easier to just use your credit card

Failures happen but are so rare as to be nearly non existant

 

I can't even imagine paying a 3rd party vendor (recharge, paypal etc) money to make a payment on my behalf

 


Recharge does not charge a sales tax.  The fee used to be cheaper and only those in AB were getting a bad deal.  Now, pretty much the entire country is getting a bad deal. 

mimmo
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@RobertQc   came across this site, don't know much about it but it could be worth a try https://www.uvconn.com/

Far easier to just use your credit card

Failures happen but are so rare as to be nearly non existant

 

I can't even imagine paying a 3rd party vendor (recharge, paypal etc) money to make a payment on my behalf

 

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