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Sim card purchasing

Cwangs
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Today I went to the mall to purchase a pm sim card instead of getting one from amazon . The kiosks that i purchased it from was at WOW mobile.  I just wanted to buy the sim card and do the setup myself at home. But they said I needed to activate it there and pick a plan on the spot. I thought it was abit odd but I told them if they can set it up for me ill do it. After a few trys of the application and roughly 30 min I finally paid for my sim card and picked out the phone plan. My main issue/concern for this was that I wasnt able to just pay the $10 for the sim card then go on my own time and set it up online. Is this usally the way procedure for buying a sim card?or did they just wanted to make commission off me? 

6 REPLIES 6

Rightfully so it's not supposed to be how it works. but it is the reality.

 

Unless it is written in their TOS contract, it seems these independent retailers are free to pick and choose whatever services or products they want to sell.

 

There are numerous businesses that offer services and products that are location specific.

 

When searching for nearby bank locations, not all of them offer the same services:
- commercial banking (y/n)
- atm (y/n)
- safety deposit box (y/n)
- languages spoken (English, French, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, etc)

 

When searching for Costco locations, these services are location specific:
- food court
- gas station
- garage / tire center
- optical
- pharmacy


Maybe Public Mobile should have these options indicated in their store locator:
- SIM purchase (y/n)
- activate in-store (y/n)
- vouchers (y/n)
- phone/hardware (y/n)

 

In the end, it looks like the customer has the choice on whether to activate in store or at home at participating locations.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@will13am wrote:

@LovesToPM wrote:

@Cwangs wrote:

Today I went to the mall to purchase a pm sim card instead of getting one from amazon . The kiosks that i purchased it from was at WOW mobile.  I just wanted to buy the sim card and do the setup myself at home. But they said I needed to activate it there and pick a plan on the spot. I thought it was abit odd but I told them if they can set it up for me ill do it. After a few trys of the application and roughly 30 min I finally paid for my sim card and picked out the phone plan. My main issue/concern for this was that I wasnt able to just pay the $10 for the sim card then go on my own time and set it up online. Is this usally the way procedure for buying a sim card?or did they just wanted to make commission off me? 


Based on personal experience, each participating location has their own rules. Some participating locations sell the SIM only, some require in-store activation, some allow both. If possible, one should call ahead to avoid surprises.


According to Public Mobile, this is not how it supposed to work.  The customer has the choice on whether to activate in store or at home.  The only thing we can do is to encourage customers to report these incidents.


Agreed. But to protect your time and resources, the last sentence is wise. I would simply go elsewhere. But what if you're in a smaller town and there's only one choice and you have no particular reason or method to get to a larger centre. The only choice is mail-order. There goes that flash sale.


@LovesToPM wrote:

@Cwangs wrote:

Today I went to the mall to purchase a pm sim card instead of getting one from amazon . The kiosks that i purchased it from was at WOW mobile.  I just wanted to buy the sim card and do the setup myself at home. But they said I needed to activate it there and pick a plan on the spot. I thought it was abit odd but I told them if they can set it up for me ill do it. After a few trys of the application and roughly 30 min I finally paid for my sim card and picked out the phone plan. My main issue/concern for this was that I wasnt able to just pay the $10 for the sim card then go on my own time and set it up online. Is this usally the way procedure for buying a sim card?or did they just wanted to make commission off me? 


Based on personal experience, each participating location has their own rules. Some participating locations sell the SIM only, some require in-store activation, some allow both. If possible, one should call ahead to avoid surprises.


According to Public Mobile, this is not how it supposed to work.  The customer has the choice on whether to activate in store or at home.  The only thing we can do is to encourage customers to report these incidents.

LovesToPM
Mayor / Maire

@Cwangs wrote:

Today I went to the mall to purchase a pm sim card instead of getting one from amazon . The kiosks that i purchased it from was at WOW mobile.  I just wanted to buy the sim card and do the setup myself at home. But they said I needed to activate it there and pick a plan on the spot. I thought it was abit odd but I told them if they can set it up for me ill do it. After a few trys of the application and roughly 30 min I finally paid for my sim card and picked out the phone plan. My main issue/concern for this was that I wasnt able to just pay the $10 for the sim card then go on my own time and set it up online. Is this usally the way procedure for buying a sim card?or did they just wanted to make commission off me? 


Based on personal experience, each participating location has their own rules. Some participating locations sell the SIM only, some require in-store activation, some allow both. If possible, one should call ahead to avoid surprises.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Cwangs wrote:

Today I went to the mall to purchase a pm sim card instead of getting one from amazon . The kiosks that i purchased it from was at WOW mobile.  I just wanted to buy the sim card and do the setup myself at home. But they said I needed to activate it there and pick a plan on the spot. I thought it was abit odd but I told them if they can set it up for me ill do it. After a few trys of the application and roughly 30 min I finally paid for my sim card and picked out the phone plan. My main issue/concern for this was that I wasnt able to just pay the $10 for the sim card then go on my own time and set it up online. Is this usally the way procedure for buying a sim card?or did they just wanted to make commission off me? 


Go here, find that store and write a comment. We don't know if it falls on deaf ears in that whether anyone is monitoring it but it helps to feel better about it.

Walmarts are bad for this too. It's supposed to be that they sell SIM's. If they would like to sell an activation then by all means offer it. But it should not be a forced activation or nothing.

Of course the business or clerk wants to make commission. It's that it shouldn't be forced.

 

You could also send the mods a note with all the location details and let them know that this is happening. Again...deaf ears?  @Moderator_Team < Click this.

Tony8
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

You can purchase from the public mobile web site. They are sent by Express post. I keep a few to help friends and family get set up quickly. 

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