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PROMOTION 2 MONTHS FREE! Help needed.

Tapan676
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Hi, 

I activated my plan on 28/12/2019. I choose the$25 plan. The person at store charged me $62.15 in total. Says $30 is a activation charge. (I know I was doomed) He also told me he'll give a $10 credit (which he did by giving his name as referral & me getting the bonus - I know)

 

But, later he told me that I'll get 2 months free service for the cost ($62.15) and 3rd month the cost will be $15 ($25 less $10 credit that's in my account) but, in my account it shows that my due date is 27 Jan 2020. I don't know what's going to happen. Will I be charged on 27 Jan? What about the 2 month free promise? What can I do? Where should I file my complaint if that doesn't happen? If this is false, I feel cheated and think of changing my Operator again ! 😞 Please help.

21 REPLIES 21


@Tapan676 wrote:

I complained koodo. They said they will take action. Don't know what. And about refund. They said, they cannot give. Now PM is the only option. Or else CCTS is the only option.


If you have complained to Koodo, give them time to take action.  See what comes of it.  If what they do is not satisfactory to you then you have a case for seeking CCTS intervention.  The CCTS will not hear any customer's complaint unless the customer has demonstrated that they have attempted to work with the carrier to arrive at a mutually agreeable resolution.  Stay patient, if you are in the right, you should receive an appropriate resolution.  

@Tapan676  To be clear it is your next 30 days are free. Within the next 30 days you will be credited equal to one month of your plan. ( Which if I remember correctly is $25).

Tapan676
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I still have only $10 in my account as credit. What about the first and second month free thing? When and how will i get that?

@Tapan676  Just so i understand it correctly koodo would take action against the employee for using his referral code but as far as the activation fee they would not reimburse/refund you that amount? If a refund is to be issued it would be up to public mobile to do so....or a credit if they felt so inclined. (After reading how public mobile would settle bbb complaints it's a viable option but not one they should actually be responsible for). This is clearly koodo passing the buck as the have no interest in pleasing the customer as they have no vested interest in you as a customer vs being their actual customer.

   My interest in how koodo is handling this matter is the relationship between pm and koodo and ultimately telus. Being that koodo is not just your average run of the mill authorized dealer or even a retail partner like london drugs or walmart. But rather this is a sister company under the telus umbrella and from what i understood would sell pm sim cards and perform activations in the same manner as a retail partner making a commision on each activation and/ or sim card sale as any other retailer or authorized dealer does and profits there in. Since public mobile markets itself as low cost, no hidden charges or overages and no activation fees why it would endorse, recommend or otherwise send new customers to koodo to activate a plan when they could be charged a $30 activation fee (the median plan cost or 2 months of the lowest plan cost) is beyond me.

   Personally if I was in this situation I would gather my thoughts and write an open letter to @Alan_K  (vs a private message) and to public mobile in general. Summing up your thoughts and feelings on your customer service experience at koodo and how it reflects on public mobile. Express what kind of resolution you seek and why...be it monetary (credit/refund?), an apology, explanation, clarification on koodo's role as a retail partner and their right to charge activation fees, pm's position on this practice, a warning on the store locator page, an open letter to the community and pm customers, a meeting with the oracle team on how to communicate the "koodo" problem, a phone call from the public mobile escalations representative, a conversation with Tiana or Alan or just a quiet behind the scenes resolution to the matter. The choice is yours...however if you choose to settle it between you and public mobile ( sense koodo is obviously a dead horse in this and one that stinks to high heaven) please let me know because I at the very least want to know whether to warn off potential customers from going to koodo....for anything!

  I wish the very best of luck in however you go forward and if you would like advice or moral support privately or on the community just know my door, private message box or alternatively my big mouth is always open.    darlicious

Tapan676
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I complained koodo. They said they will take action. Don't know what. And about refund. They said, they cannot give. Now PM is the only option. Or else CCTS is the only option.

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @darlicious 

I think this is simply one rather unscrupulous customer service agent. Nothing more.

Sure. Maybe Telus as a whole would like to know that dirty deeds are being performed by people selling their products. Beyond that...there are bad actors everywhere.

@Anonymous @AE_Collector @ShawnC13 @Tapan676  It seems to me there is some kind of disconnect between telus, koodo and public mobile. All are owned by telus, each has their own selling point to attract customers. Telus and koodo charge activation fees (but include the price of the sim $20) for in store and phone activations it is free online. Public mobile has no activation fees nor do their authorized dealers. Koodo is an authorized dealer and recommended by public mobile for activations but there is no mention of activation fees. There are a couple of posts going back to 2018 about koodo charging an activation fee for pm but there are many more praising the service recieved with no mention of an activation fee. I  think @Alan_K  and @Tiana_V  need to definitely need to clarify what if any agreement pm has with koodo for activations and what policy telus has for its lesser cost subsidiaries on this subject.

@Tapan676  Did the koodo employee tell you: 1. You could do the activation yourself online for free. Offer to sell you a pm SIM card in order to do so. 2. Tell you pm does not charge activation fees but we do at koodo. 3. Tell you that you could go to any other retailer and activate for free. ?

   Regardless of what it says above their name tag, on their paycheque or above the door ultimately employees at koodo are getting paid by telus in the end. They have a duty to inform customers of their options especially when it comes to their parent company's subsidiaries. I think this employee just wanted to score the commission on the activation and unethically pocket the $20 bonus referral fee. (Which breaks the terms of referral rewards by collecting thru commercial enterprise.) Any retailer that offers a referral code has a special one supplied by pm ( to my understanding )that does/is not benefiting an individual pm customers personal account with public mobile.

   @Tapan676  I do believe you have a case for a complaint with koodo about the service you recieved and from a customer relations stand point and should refund you the activation fee. If they refuse I would follow up with higher management until you reach telus head office. Reminding each indidual that you speak with that you will be posting on your social media, rfd and reddit your experience/result with each of them along the way!

 

Are there posts missing in between or did darlicious just keep coming back?!?!? The time stamp is way out of my active time so I wouldn't know what was going on lol

@ShawnC13  Nobody else was helping...and the OP hadn't responded so I was just trying to be as helpful as possible when the OP would come back to see any updates on their post.


@Tapan676 wrote:

2 things here :

 

1. Charged me saying the fees is a Public Mobile Activation fee. ($30)

 

2. Took referral on self ($20). (Personal Interest -  Against ethics)

 

3. Told me 2nd month is free (where as I was charged ($25) that's like me paying in advance and saying 2 month free. 

 

So, total he/the store got $75. That's alone from me. What about 100 people in a year. That's a new car! Easy money!


You need to pay for first month.  For referral, did you want to use own? If not, that helped you. For activation fee, should have walked away. I know there's no activation fee at Public but by paying, you agreed to it.

oh I am not saying there was nothing wrong here, just that there is probably nothing wrong from the view of CCTS.


#3 is correct. You pay for the first month on your credit card and will receive a credit back to your account within 30 days to pay for your second month. This is how it works.

AE_Collector

Tapan676
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

2 things here :

 

1. Charged me saying the fees is a Public Mobile Activation fee. ($30)

 

2. Took referral on self ($20). (Personal Interest -  Against ethics)

 

3. Told me 2nd month is free (where as I was charged ($25) that's like me paying in advance and saying 2 month free. 

 

So, total he/the store got $75. That's alone from me. What about 100 people in a year. That's a new car! Easy money!

There likely isn't anything "wrong" here unless they ARE a recognized PM dealer this would likely be against their terms with PM. I would assume a dealer can charge what they want as long as made clear up front. The BiG guys have activation fees these days don't they? 

Just saying that I doubt it something that CCTS would take action on. PM maybe. 

AE_Collector

Tapan676
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

They gave me the bill. I called KOODO (As this was the address on bill. They said they'll take action on this. Contacted CCTS (Commision for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services) they said, talk to Koodo, check what they do, then go to store, check what they do, contact Public Mobile, check what they do and if nobody solves regards to refund,. They'll take my complaint and help me with this. That's the update as of now.

dna2016
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Tapan676 WOOOWWWWWWWWW!!! To be honest they definitely took advantage of you.  That's just insane.  I've heard stores say they charge $5, or even $10, but not $30. 

 

I don't understand, so many people get tricked into this, and yet they always say it seemed odd from the beginning.  If that's the case then just stop and go somewhere else.  If it seems wrong, then your hunch is most likely correct.  

 

Only thing I suggest you do is, if you were provided paperwork for this transaction and it indicates all the credits and months free, then go back to the store and ask to speak to the manager.  Also, I like how the rep takes the referral, that rep is clearly a PM customer and probably has a crap load of referral credits (suggest you mention this to the manager as well and see what their reaction is).  Not much you can do other than that to be honest.  Each store may operate a bit different, $30 activation may be this store's policy, other stores may have a different policy.  But technically there shouldn't be any activation charge as Public Mobile does not charge an activation fee (you only pay $10 for the SIM Card).  So this $30 is the stores service charge and they keep for their profits or commission for the rep.

 

Maybe also send the employee name, company name, store address to the MODS, maybe they'll put this in their file and if there are many cases of complaints against this specific store they might do something in the future about it, highly doubt it though.  End of the day I'd say it's between you and the store manager.

 

If a store was going to charge me I'd tell them to bill it to my address, lol.  

Anonymous
Not applicable

@ShawnC13 wrote:

Are there posts missing in between or did darlicious just keep coming back?!?!?  The time stamp is way out of my active time so I wouldn't know what was going on lol


lol

Maybe she's trying to avoid the wall of text and so she's making multiple posts as a way of making paragraphs 🙂

My practice is usually to tack on to the end of an existing last post of mine if I'm still the last poster.

@Tapan676, where did you activate your sim?  This $30 activation fee is garbage but if it is an individual store then I guess they can charge it and using their number as a referral is slimy.

 

Are there posts missing in between or did darlicious just keep coming back?!?!?  The time stamp is way out of my active time so I wouldn't know what was going on lol

 


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 *

darlicious
Mayor / Maire

@Tapan676  Read this in retail: second page, two thirds of the way down...just know you are not alone

@Tapan676  We are happy to help here on the community or message me privately for advice. We want you to feel....Welcome to public mobile!

@Tapan676  To contact a moderator to have your friends code entered click on the (?) At the bottom right of your screen and submit a ticket via Simon explaining your issue to the moderators.  Just fill in the prompts as best you can and submit. Something like...moderator or rep, account specific question, wrong referral code til you get to submit. Then keep an eye on the envelope icon next to your avatar at the top right corner of your screen for a little number will pop up indicating a message from the moderators. Responding promptly to messages will speed up your service times. Don't beat yourself up on this one...were here for you...and come here andvasknfor help anytime.

@Tapan676  You should have been charged $25 +tax and $10 +tax for the sim card. $37+ tax 

You will get $10 referral credit but we can get your friends referral code entered instead that of that nobs...within 30 days you will get $25 credited to your account. Plus $2+$2=$4 for autopay if the nob didn't sign you up for it we can guide you there as well.

 

darlicious
Mayor / Maire

@Tapan676  CHEATED!!! Yes but not by public mobile....by an unscrupulous salesperson. Did you go to a small business? If you had a referral code from a friend that should have been entered you can have that changed. That shyster was just pocketing another $20 on top of the $30 he should have never charged in the first place. Public mobile does not charge activation fees nor do their authorized dealers. If this is a legitmate retailer then you have some recourse otherwise youve been ripped off! You can review your experience  on the retailer page so pm will know who this business was...

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