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

[slusagm]

This is actually a good change, now everyone is on one single Point system. To those just joined, it is fair.  

Also, I see people have been sellling legacy account to make profit, this change will put that to an end.  

[fixin]

@liuxinbing - I hope so too!

[liuxinbing]

I bet tomorrow Mar 17th maintenance is to patch the reward system. They might want to change it, if not fully reverse. Let’s look forward to the announcement after the maintenance is done. 

[LucilleBluth]

I've been with Public Mobile for 6 years. I joined because of the rewards system and stayed because I wanted to get the benefit from the loyalty rewards that you advertised as permanent. I would have been perfectly happy to stay with Public Mobile forever with this loyalty discount. Now, not only are you taking it away, but you are thanking me for my loyalty with some expiring free data? Why would anyone want free data on top of their unlimited data? 

The points system is significantly worse than the previous one. My phone bill will be increased, even if I took the time to use your terrible website or app to spend my "greater flexibility" points on the same thing that was already done for me automatically. 

Not sure who sat in the Zoom meeting thinking this was a good idea. The loyalty program was synonymous to Public Mobile for me. It was why I told friends and family about it. What does your marketing department think the draw of Public Mobile is now? Can't really brand being the same price as everyone else, but with some lies and a bad website. It's been a fun run, I guess.

[Sophia]

Ugh. So much for loyalty. I was paying $6 and now I have to remember some garbage redeem thingie. I have already signed up with someone else - as soon as the SIM card arrives, I'm porting out. Thanks for nothing Public Mobile!

[Public_Cust_17]

Geesh, I wonder if W5 or one of the other consumer advocates would like to catch wind of this money grab on the backs of the most vulnerable of PM's customers.. hmmmm, does give me some ideas.   🤔 😒

[abcde4431]

- updated website. Result bad user experience. 
- rewards are sort of separate website. Result bad user experience
- forced switch to telus ID whatever..  Result bad user experience
- new accounts getting better plans, than existing. Result killed loyalty
- now forced new rewards system. Result? 

[Upset100]

This is a terrible decision. We signed up and were loyal but now there is no point in staying loyal since we don't get the points. You have made it harder to access the points. I don't want to log in every month. I want the points I get from being a loyal customer, bringing customers and automatically paying every month. I don't want to have to think about it. I have a lot more to do than fiddle with the phone plan every month. If you proceed with this crazy plan change, we are gone. There is no point in staying since PM would cost the same or more and be worse other services. We have been with PM for almost 5 years. Goodbye Public Mobile. Who ever thought this new rewards program up should be fired. 

[Upset100]

I also agree. We signed up and were loyal but now there is no point in staying loyal since we don't get the points. They have made it harder to access the points. I don't want to log in every month. I want the points I get from being a loyal customer, bringing customers and automatically paying every month. I don't want to have to think about it. I have a lot more to do than fiddle with the phone plan. If they proceed with this crazy plan change, we are also gone. There is no point in staying since they would cost the same or more and be worse other services. We have been with them for almost 5 years. Goodbye Public Mobile. Who ever thought this new rewards program up should be fired. 

[hTideGnow]

hi @Mike-B yes, PM never really price match others 

[public_999]

The 34$ already has the $5 dollars off per month.  Regular price is $44.  You get $5 off for digital discount (preauthorized payments) and another $5 bring your own phone discount (24 months)

[public_999]

With flippant answers like that, one might think the end game is to ultimately shut down Public Mobile.

[SeniorCitizen]

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@Delfino wrote:

This is really disappointing. I switched mine and my family's phone plans to Public Mobile specifically because of the loyalty rewards. The promise of receiving increased loyalty rewards each year was the reason that we stayed. It feels a little like a bait-and-switch. The new rewards system is evidently inferior and it's condescending to have your marketing department spin this like an improvement for us after repeatedly telling us it was optional.

The new way to earn rewards does not have greater flexibility than money. In addition to being worse financially, if we want to utilize the points, we are expected to log in repeatedly to manually redeem them. It was already annoying to log in to this website once to type this, I can't imagine trying to do this on each of my family member's phones.

Lastly, sending us expiring data as "appreciation for our loyalty", is insulting. Our loyalty was a result of the rewards program that you told us would stay in place as long as we had an active account. What is the use of extra data on an unlimited data plan? 

Will be switching the family to another provider in May.

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Very well said. 
And those customers that specifically moved over for the loyalty (and auto pay) rewards are very likely the first ones to leave. They overlooked all the inadequacies and quirks of PM and soon will be are left only with the inadequacies and quirks so why stay for the fluffy promise( ?) of continuously evolving products and services. 
Yes a harsh statement but something to consider. 

[public_999]

redact your sim card number

[Public_Cust_17]

@Mike-B  it'll be interesting to see their comments in May if a lot of people do decide to bail..

[mde]

I'm really not happy about this change, especially about losing my loyalty rewards. Also, the data bonus isn't very useful to many users and, in any case, should not expire after 150 days, that's just bad. PM shouldn't be able to just do this to us, it is effectively making my plan significantly more expensive with no real recompense (which is no doubt the purpose of this change).

[kb_mv]

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@Shan_Bhai wrote:

I was curious about your experience with Public Mobile while traveling in the USA. Were you able to use VOLTE for seamless roaming? If not, you might face difficulties receiving or making calls. Personally, when I used Public Mobile in the US, I couldn't utilize VOLTE. Consequently, I could receive texts and access data, but making calls was not possible.

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@Shan_Bhai One more time. While I appreciate you are trying to be helpful, please accept that I know what I am doing in picking the plan I did and travelling in the US. My phone is fine, my plan is fine. Cheers.

[Delfino]

This is really disappointing. I switched mine and my family's phone plans to Public Mobile specifically because of the loyalty rewards. The promise of receiving increased loyalty rewards each year was the reason that we stayed. It feels a little like a bait-and-switch. The new rewards system is evidently inferior and it's condescending to have your marketing department spin this like an improvement for us after repeatedly telling us it was optional.

The new way to earn rewards does not have greater flexibility than money. In addition to being worse financially, if we want to utilize the points, we are expected to log in repeatedly to manually redeem them. It was already annoying to log in to this website once to type this, I can't imagine trying to do this on each of my family member's phones.

Lastly, sending us expiring data as "appreciation for our loyalty", is insulting. Our loyalty was a result of the rewards program that you told us would stay in place as long as we had an active account. What is the use of extra data on an unlimited data plan? 

Will be switching the family to another provider in May.

[saturna]

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@G_Pomzz wrote:

My phone (POCO X4 Pro) was not listed as compatible with VolTe and there was no switch to toggle on VolTe in the settings but I got it set up in a roundabout way using the phone dialer and punching in a code, then the toggle appeared in settings. 

(Removed screenshot)

 

 Sim Card settings. 

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Unfortunately, that is just the phone settings. You might be lucky to have access to VoLTE for a bit. Days? Weeks? A month? Essentially until the PM infrastructure detects that you are using a non-whitelisted phone and kicks you off the VoLTE access.

When VoLTE was first activated on my account last year, my Umidigi phone happily worked on VoLTE and proudly showed it in the status bar. Couple of months later PM kicked me off the feature. VoLTE works perfectly fine when my friends Freedom SIM is in the Umidigi phone, and my SIM triggers VoLTE access in their Pixel 6a (which is on the PM whitelist).

So, enjoy it while it lasts...

[Public_Cust_17]

@kb_mv  Look carefully at that map.. the "nationwide" is not Freedom mobile coverage that you'd need to sign up with them... that's them using another providers services.

NEVERMIND!! I guess I should've read your post better.. lol

[G_Pomzz]

My phone (POCO X4 Pro) was not listed as compatible with VolTe and there was no switch to toggle on VolTe in the settings but I got it set up in a roundabout way using the phone dialer and punching in a code, then the toggle appeared in settings. 

(removed screen shot)

 

 Sim Card settings. 

[Shan_Bhai]

I was curious about your experience with Public Mobile while traveling in the USA. Were you able to use VOLTE for seamless roaming? If not, you might face difficulties receiving or making calls. Personally, when I used Public Mobile in the US, I couldn't utilize VOLTE. Consequently, I could receive texts and access data, but making calls was not possible.

[kb_mv]

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@Shan_Bhai wrote:

Did you roam in USA and did you get VOLTE connection enabled on your phone by PM? My phone was not in their whitelist and they blocked calls while i was in US.

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@Shan_Bhai Please, believe me when I say, I am well aware of roaming in the USA and VOLTE. I have done my homework and picked a plan (and provider) that works for me based on my usage and requirements. Cheers.

[Shan_Bhai]

Did you roam in USA and did you get VOLTE connection enabled on your phone by PM? My phone was not in their whitelist and they blocked calls while i was in US.

[kb_mv]

@Shan_Bhai That is not a CAN-USA plan, you can call USA but that's it, see pic below. I appreciate your efforts but believe me when I say there is no comparison to the plan I have now (in the Maritimes).

 

[Shan_Bhai]

Not even PC Mobile? I see the above plan here in the West..

[Shan_Bhai]

Alexander is genuinely a kind individual who wishes to offer assistance. It's regrettable to see him dealing with the nonsensical policies imposed by upper management. He's likely encountered numerous moments of frustration, perhaps even to the point of banging his head against the wall, as a way to cope with these policies. We sympathize with his predicament.

[kb_mv]

@Shan_Bhai Fizz has no service in the Maritimes. I am on a prepaid $34/50GB Can-USA plan. As i said in a number of my posts. there is currently not a single provider with service in the maritimes that can meet let alone beat the prepaid plan I have now with PM with a prepaid plan of their own.