Upcoming Changes to our Old Rewards Program

[J_PM]

Hey Community,

We have an important announcement to share with our subscribers who are currently enrolled in our old Rewards program.

We’re making changes to our rewards program and are sharing how these changes impact some of our subscribers. Starting in May, we’ll be retiring our old Rewards program and moving all subscribers to our Public Points™ program. 

We launched the Public Points™ program in January 2022 to provide our subscribers with more ways to earn and spend rewards, with greater flexibility. As part of our commitment to continuously evolve our products and services, it's time to retire our old Rewards program and shift our focus on enhancing our Points program.

To show our appreciation for your continued loyalty, subscribers on our old Rewards program will receive a special thank you. We'll send you a text message when it has been added to your account by March 31st. 

We’re excited to continue providing you, our valued subscribers, more opportunities to earn and spend rewards with Public Points™ moving forward.

To learn more about your move to Public Points, check out our FAQ here.

The Public Mobile Team

[James456]

Very disappointing decision. Would rather have kept my old plan. They sucked people into the new plan for a little more money but lots more date and are immediately clawing it back by removing the rewards system. Existing and loyal customers should be grandfathered in. 

[PM10DollaGFatha]

Signed up for $10 plan in 2018 (increased to $13 in 2022) 50 texts/50 minutes/no data plan with $8 off in rewards ($2 autopay, $5 for 5+ years loyalty & $1 off for 1 referral) & your switch to Public Points is increasing the cost of my monthly bill about 2 and a half times.

Absolutely ridiculous (considering the level of service provided & used) price gouging and now this bait & switch on rewards is the last straw with me.

If Public Mobile proceeds with removing the old grandfathered loyalty rewards system that I signed up for & forces us on to the Public Points system that will jack up my bill by %250 (on top of already jacking up my bill %30 in 2022) then I & my referral will be RUNNING, not walking to switch to a non-Telus carrier ASAP.

I WAS intending to upgrade to 1 of the $34/$29 range plans at Public Mobile around Black Friday this year but no chance if this fiasco goes forward.

[Wolfcore]

Would be interesting to know how many people voluntarily switched to the new points program, from the old one (when they first released it). It has to be almost none, because it made no sense to. I know that a few people fell for the trick of it being a better system, but those must be few and far between.

The reality is, their new points system is terrible, and the only reason why they've even managed to remain competitive, is because of the plans they've been offering. 

With all of these disgruntled subscribers now, and the negative press, it's only going to get worse for them. Competitors will move in to try and scoop these people up, and if they're even fractionally more competitive with their pricing, and offering things like live support, PM will be in trouble.

[Tinop]

Yes but I actually started getting more expensive plans... Now I'll take my 4 lines that i pay for elsewhere.  Also my home services as well.

[Hdjfnxkz]

I don't like this decision, and I don't like how we don't have options to opt out.

[Tinop]

That's how they got some to switch earlier... I knew the new program wasn't good. They sure don't know their customers.  

[Meemo33]

This is completely unacceptable. Public Mobile does not value our loyalty. The Old Rewards Program was what made PM stand out among all of the other service providers. Many users and their referrals will jump ship because of this. 

[ck6]

I have been with Public Mobile since just a few months after it became Public Mobile, so long that I remember Martin.   I suspect that there may not be a whole lot of others who can say the same.

In the past, PM has grandfathered plans/raised prices.  There have been complaints but I think everyone recognizes, deep down, that these things happen in business.

The current situation is different.  For me, as others have mentioned, it is the perceived breach of trust that is most disappointing.  We were promised that we could keep our loyalty rewards.

IMO the person who dreamed up this announcement has a cord that doesn’t quite reach the outlet.  Instead of terminating loyalty rewards, PM might examine why the Points program apparently has been such a colossal failure.

[Mikep3]

Very true. They basically had their customer "locked" in to a contract by providing enough incentive for us to stay. Now everyone will just jump as soon as there is a better option.

[Mikep3]

If you cost out Freedom and a phone over a 24 month period it's basically the same price. With Freedom you get live tech support and brick and mortar stores.

[ninjastar]

Guess they didn't like my comments about how they did this with their Koodo brand too.. $6 hike

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/four-months-later-koodo-brings-6-price-increase-29-black-friday-plan...

[yelopage]

I'd like to make a complaint here: Public mobile doesn't offer a choice "not to move to the new points reward system". 

This will be my reference for my CCTS complaint.  

[Mikep3]

It doesn't matter if they promised or not. Yes, they can make any changes they see fit. 

I think the problem is that people came to Public Mobile for cheaper plans. But it was only cheaper because in turn the customer sacrificed live tech support, brick and mortar stores and having to do their own account management.

With this change they are now basically the same price as the competitors but they haven't provided us anything in return. We still do not have live tech support, brick and mortar stores and we still have to do our own account management. Not only that, we need to do even more management work to be able to redeem the points.

I think they have lost sight of the fact there are a lot of services they don't provide, so they shouldn't be almost the same price.

[Tccchris1]

I’ve got 4 phone numbers with PB…all these numbers will be leaving to go with other providers unless the old rewards program stays. 

[michyNB]

Gotta love the corporate greed and price gouging... I've been a loyal user for years, and recommended PM to many. No longer, I'll move tot he next provider I see with a decent or better deal, this point system is a joke, and the bonus data offer is a slap in the face... it was a good run.

[TheNguyen]

4 year customer. Goodbye PM! Thanks but it's not OK to lure us in and now screw us over. We've already had to troubleshoot and figure out issues with the forums. You don't provide customer support and now you're ruining it for long time customers. Back to the hopping game between providers I go!

[Dell27]

Well then, was a fun 7 years. PC Mobile it is

[timmaytimbit]

I stuck it out and stayed on PM because the loyalty points made it really hard to go elsewhere. After being a customer for 6 years, it was a good run. See you later PM. 

Boo!

[Michael6666]

I'm not disputing that loyalty programs change.

I'm just saying that this isn't a devaluation. It's a bait and switch. 

Old referral should remain 1$ off. New referrals, give me points, that's the deal at that time. Imagine if koodo stopped giving the 5$ per month after 5 months instead of 10. Same logic applies here. 

Loyalty program discontinued? Sure, but freeze the accrued discount. 

These would be fair for time based rewards. Not this insulting useless data bucket. 

[FuzzyFish]

Terrible. Public Points sucks, do better. If this is the loyalty shown to long time customers, I have no loyalty for this company and I'll actively look at other providers from now on. 

[ninjastar]

I switched to PC Mobile today. The first time in 7 years I could actually speak to someone over the phone and pay $29 instead of $50. 

[Tinop]

So true , such a slow app and web site. I will be saying good by to Public mobile and Telus home services.  Don't be fooled this new rewards program isn't that good.

[PBForMe1]

If I'm going to pay more I might as well switch to a provider with real support and a website that actually works. 

Trying to figure out how much this is going to cost me a month and your website portal won't even load the account details. Typical. 

[Bottomshelf]

If I interpret PM’s FAQ response correctly, the bonus data from prior years’ would carryover.  See link to FAQ in the original post by PM up top.

I still have leftover rewards from the old program that I want to use - do I lose these rewards?

No, you won’t lose any leftover rewards from the old program. Any credits earned up to May 2024 will remain on your account and be applied to your future bills

[Shan_Bhai]

So, the $2 autopay reward has been removed, and the 6 years of loyalty for $6 is no longer available. You now receive a $1 discount through loyalty inn points. Additionally, there used to be a $1 discount for referrals. Is that referral discount also gone?
Due to inadequate customer support and subpar infrastructure allocation by Public Mobile, I’ve decided to switch providers within a month. When I reached out to them to enable VoLTE, they lacked the expertise to do so. Interestingly, when I tested my phone on Freedom Mobile, it worked flawlessly.

[ShawnC13]

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@MrToad wrote:

The bootlicker Oracles are here to tell you not to file CCTS complaints because they cost Public Mobile money! The Loyalty rewards are bait-and-switch tactics; you should make a complaint if you feel you have been misled.

I feel these tactics and the one previously made in 2018 warrant a complaint to the CCTS and in both of my complaints the CCTS has deemed them warranted as they have sent this current one off to PM for clarification.

Don't listen to the Oracles in this thread, do what is best for you!

---

@MrToad Does this sound like I am saying not to file CCTS?  Do I not start off by saying everyone must do what is best for them financially?

Re: Upcoming Changes to our Old Rewards Program - Page 84 - Community (publicmobile.ca)

[ShawnC13]

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@Michael6666 wrote:

Your logic is flawed. 

Autopay, I agree, change it whenever. There is no time aspect to that benefit. 

Referrals, wouldn't make sense to remove the 1$ per month as that is what is agreed upon when I worked on getting someone to join. It's already murky waters to convert to a point instead that can be devalued anytime. The promise was 1$ off per month as long as the person is a customer. 

Loyalty on the other hand is implicitly a long term agreement. Doesn't make sense to remove it whenever you please. What stops any company from simply making promises like, stay with us for 5 years and get 50% off in the sixth year. And after 4 years they just say, oops too bad, changed our minds?

Not my fault that public mobile used to care about loyalty and customer retention.

I remain adamant that a CCTS complaint is valid.

I also believe in voting with my wallet and will change provider once this change becomes irreversible. 

---

@Michael6666 I have always said people should follow their wallet for the best deals.  It is obvious that legacy rewards are costing PM a lot of money with the activity in this thread.  I am sure they have done the planning and projecting of how many people will leave.  We are still seeing a lot of people signing up DAILY all on the new points system which is costing PM a fraction of what the legacy rewards do.  If there wasn't the growth in subscribers I can't see PM doing this change at this time.  They obviously feel that it wouldn't take long to replace the discounted value of the Legacy rewards with new customers.

I haven't said don't file a CCTS complaint but there are rewards programs with so many companies and they get changed or altered all the time.  Plus again I have never read or heard any PM employee say we could keep the legacy rewards forever, like they said in 2016 ont eh Fall Promo that our price would never increase as long as we were subscribed to that plan.

Most of my family and referrals are actually on cheaper plans than when they started with PM and have maxed out rewards so  they are making less money than just the rewards for these long time customers.

[ninjastar]

Looks like Telus is pulling this stunt with their Koodo brand... Just boycott anything Telus. They don't deserve your hard earned dollars. 

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/four-months-later-koodo-brings-6-price-increase-29-black-friday-plan...

[MrToad]

The bootlicker Oracles are here to tell you not to file CCTS complaints because they cost Public Mobile money! The Loyalty rewards are bait-and-switch tactics; you should make a complaint if you feel you have been misled.

I feel these tactics and the one previously made in 2018 warrant a complaint to the CCTS and in both of my complaints the CCTS has deemed them warranted as they have sent this current one off to PM for clarification.

Don't listen to the Oracles in this thread, do what is best for you!

[Sandalwood1]

Well said !!