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Question to The Oracles...and other Enlightened Ones!

Koombassi
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

As a new subscriber, I've been following the various posts and problems with Autopay. Seems to me this feature (Autopay) should be fault-free and simple. But, from some of the posts, perhaps not so simple and fault-free. 
From a Public Relations standpoint, this strikes me as a big "egg-in-face" for PM. WHY? 
I can see the Discontinuation of Service as being warranted for insufficient funds....but for a software glitch that seems to continue unresolved...not good. 
For sure the suggested Prepayment Workaround is a MUST to give yourself an insurance piece. 
Anyways, this post is not intended in any way to be a rant. Just a curious question with the hope that I too can become more knowledgeable. 

12 REPLIES 12

Koombassi
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@computergeek541 

Ditto all that. You folks in the Community are all Gems. 

Koombassi
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@LurganIeUk 

You've gone beyond the call of duty on this LurganleUk! Your deep knowledge of PM is on full display. I very much appreciate not only your background and insights to this issue (and others); but also the time and effect put into it. 


@Koombassi wrote:

@mitchnet12 

Thanks for adding my accumulating edification!

As for the vouchers, I've recently read there can be issues with those as well. 
I think I'll stay with the "hybrid" option as you have done. 


When it comes to vouchers, these don't always start working right away.  These can vary depending on where you make the purcahse. They can either work right away or might take a few hours.  The only think that I can think of is that the systems are syned in real-time and when a merchant print out a voucher number, they might possibly need to send this information to Public Mobile.  Ideally, eveything should connected via the internet and this done immediately, but this doesn't always happen.

Koombassi
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@mitchnet12 

Thanks for adding my accumulating edification!

As for the vouchers, I've recently read there can be issues with those as well. 
I think I'll stay with the "hybrid" option as you have done. 

mitchnet12
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I honestly wish I would have switched to PM years ago. I did have the auto pay glitch happen to me a year ago and now I keep my account balance topped up with payment vouchers (hybrid approach). I keep the auto pay reward while mitigating the low risk of a service interruption.

 

It's a good idea to purchase vouchers where your credit card offers good rewards. Every little bit helps!

LurganIeUk
Mayor / Maire

@Koombassi 

 

Just to further enlighten you. My wife and I were  Telus prepaid customers for a good 14 years. The auto-pay fail happened a few times. And Telus was quick to fix, no hassle and they did mention that this does occur. They would FIX it and no top up was required. But we did not know that we were without service nor was there sounding board for Telus as is here for PM.

The PM Community and the updates on failures and fixes makes PM to be very transparent. We were not heavy users and even though we eventually had a Loyalty Plan it was still expensive to use. So on came PM in our family. And much much more happy and use the phones much much more as well.

 

So what am I getting at? 

 

It is easy to see the PM system is a spruced up and modified version of the Telus prepaid system. Also you will see the toggle on the PM account that does not work but on the Telus system you can toggle amongst "joined" accounts. But as like PM you have one account per member but on Telus you "can" have only one login for both. PM inherited this flawed system from Telus and when Telus undoubtedly  does a fix it should be passed on to PM. But knowing my systems, the PM system can be so bas***diz**ed as result of modifications, the fix, if there is one,  may not be able to be implemented. I feel that the reason for PM one login, one email for each account allows easy methodology to administer rewards especially Community Rewards. 

 

With Telus, I was on a 1 year prepaid plan and before that, I started to top up to avoid the auto-pay (and there were select amounts like $25, $5, $100, not your choice of amount). Even though Telus prepaid has no rewards it allowed me to have confidence in the system. And I recommend for smooth sailing service, if you have the time and can afford....use the hybrid auto pay system while being a PM customer. It works!!

Koombassi
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Meow 

I hear you!! You've added to my better understanding of PM. 
thanks

Koombassi
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Anonymous 

Oh, for sure. All your points ring true. Thanks for ensuring the big picture is not lost. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @Koombassi : Always remember we see all the complaints here. The vast majority of customers go on with their lives without a thought to their cell service renewing each term. Also remember that some people will forget about a new card or they moved and the address on file is no longer valid for validation. But I've read of people getting reminder texts from here saying that their card is about to expire.

Koombassi
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Thanks Will13am. Being an Oracle, you'd have a much better sense of the frequency. I've yet to experience my first end of cycle/new cycle. However, I didn't want to leave it ti chance. 
But thanks for your time and words of wisdom. 

Meow
Mayor / Maire

Somebody (PM) has to find and properly pay good developer.

Then PM has to have good QA testing in place. It all cost time and money and everybody (corporations) want the most for the least.

It is cheaper for them to hire junior developer-contractor than to have somebody full time with 25+ years of experience and nice salary, benefits, etc.

Look how many bugs new car models usually have... No matter how it looks perfect on paper it is impossible to test ALL possible situations or what clients will do.

 

Therefore, if you are 'scared' of auto-pay failure and service interruption - apply 'hybrid' payment method.

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

@Koombassi , I agree that it is unacceptable to still be see this problem occuring when the service is by and large mature.  That said, I sense that it is somewhat of a chance occurrence and not widespread.  I have never experienced the issue myself.  The family and friends that I have referred to this service have also not experienced the problem.  What exactly triggers the bug, I do not know.  I guess it is still elusive to Public Mobile as well.

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