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

[golfball]

If you're talking about the newest data bonus given for switching to the points rewards you can only keep it if your new plan is of equal or greater value. Older bonus add-ons should stay.

[Stelawrat]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

Yes you do, @Stelawrat 

Gifted or free items remain on the account.

Promotional items which may have been contingent on the plan at activation, may be withdrawn.

Bear in mind, if you have data buckets which were for use on 3G/4G plans, they are incompatible with 5G plans, and while they will remain on the account, they won’t be able to be consumed with the 5G plan selection.

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Thank you! Re: 4G vs 5G & my post about 5G in general, one of the most interesting facts was the misconception people had about their handsets vs their plans, or at least what appears to be a misconception. 

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/The-Lounge/Some-Interesting-Facts-Regarding-5G-Plans/...

Take care now. o/

[kb_mv]

@Stelawrat to add to what @HALIMACS posted, if you have already received the "free" data in conjunction with this announcement, I believe if you change plans you will lose that.

[HALIMACS]

Yes you do, @Stelawrat 

Gifted or free items remain on the account.

Promotional items which may have been contingent on the plan at activation, may be withdrawn.

Bear in mind, if you have data buckets which were for use on 3G/4G plans, they are incompatible with 5G plans, and while they will remain on the account, they won’t be able to be consumed with the 5G plan selection.

[Stelawrat]

When changing plans with PM, could someone who has done so please advise, do we keep our previous years of gifted data & minutes, regardless of the plan cost? Thank you! o/

[HALIMACS]

Probably could be , @dabr . 

The suggestion I was trying to make is it's only a very small percentage of the actual legacy customer base who will take the time, or have to know-how, to even post their displeasure on this forum.

I remain curious, however, how many Legacy Reward customers still have service here. 

[mikasik2]

I haven't pooped in 2 weeks due to the stress this has caused.

[marcnoel]

Since references to other carriers' offerings are currently still viewable on here, here's what I just experienced.  I got a Fizz Mobile SIM card with a new number, to try while waiting to see what happens when the Points transition occurs.  No contracts, so I just had to pay for the card and one month.  Got the Beta tester plan of 20 GB for $ 14.50/month for six months (half-price).  They have rollover data for two months, and data gifting to other subscribers.  Worked fine in my wife's Galaxy S23 Ultra, then I put the card in my Galaxy Note 9.  Can't get data to work.  I read on their site that phones need to be VoLTE capable, but it appeared like it would work until 3G was discontinued.  Nuh-uh.  I have a Note 20 Ultra in reserve, and I would be forced to use it with Fizz, but my 9 still works fine.  Disappointing, but, with the lowest discount via PM points, it would still be cheaper to stay with PM than Fizz after a certain period.  Fizz has that main network and partnered network thing that Freedom has, and it spooks me, because of the possibility of service fluctuating as I move around in day-to-day travels.  PM signal is almost perfectly consistent, except, there are times at home where I don't get a call, just a voice-mail notification, even though I can make calls and send/receive texts (!?).  Anyway, from what I saw in Fizz Rewards, you can get a maximum of $ 4.00 off per month, but it looks like it would take 400 years to get there.  Also, you can get $ 25.00 for a referral, but that appears to be it.  They do give a maximum of 2.75 GB free data every month, but it takes years to get to the maximum.  Additionally, I had thought about getting my wife the 20 GB plan and myself the 50, which would be $ 5.00 cheaper per month than two 50s at PM, but, aside from the 50% Beta discount for six months, overall expense would be higher after a while.  I love the idea of gifting and rollover data, but it takes three months to get up to maximum rollover speed.  If PM had the 20 GB for $ 29.00 plan for current subscribers, I'd switch my wife, because she has shown she doesn't need 50 GB.

One nice thing was that, when I unsubscribed from Fizz after three days, they refunded my plan payment in full.  I'm only out the price of the SIM.

What to do, what to do?  Dooby-dooby-do.

[ShawnC13]

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@Public_Cust_17 wrote:

@HALIMACS  I was just saying, in my cheeky way.. it's probably only the top 10% or something like that who would get rewarded.

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It is only a certain percentage that earn rewards no matter what.  

[dabr]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

No ones pretending the number of unique posters is small @dabr , as some might imply.

I’d go so far as to say that for every 1 poster on this site, there’s at least 20-30 other people impacted.

Of course, Public Mobile would never share the actual numbers, but it’s got to be well over 20,000 subscribers still on legacy rewards.

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@HALIMACS    Did you mean 200,000 as 20,000 (IMO) is fairly small number of subscribers still on the legacy rewards program? 

[hTideGnow]

HI @Aehmttw 

yes, the $34 Canada plan and $39 Canada-US plan is for everyone

[Aehmttw]

Ooooo and reading these offers I just saw today. It looks like these specials are not just for new customers! Anyone that doesn't want to switch, cause it can be a hassle, lookie! the 34-dollar plan? It matches the 45-dollar plan I have now, that I pay 39 dollars for with the discounts. That seems really good! Hope that helps too! 

https://publicmobile.ca/en/on/plans?network=PROMOTION

[Soon-ex-PM-user]

some caught up or offer  similar plan: https://forums.redflagdeals.com/freedom-mobile-29-20gb-canada-us-2675698/

https://shop.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/plans?isByopPlanFirstFlow=true

[JohnDoe3]

Don't discount the transitive benefit of networks of friends. The person who only pays $6 got there by bringing along a number of friends who each pay a monthly sub that doesn't include the discounts that the first person gets from their referrals.

[JohnDoe3]

Counterpoint. I'll suggest that the new reward points add no extra flexibility, as the greatest flexibility possible came from the automatic savings. We could freely allocate unspent dollars to any addon to acquire the same options being proposed under the points system, and if the goal was flexibility, all they needed to do was expand the options and price points for addons.

[Public_Cust_17]

@hTideGnow  Read the link from the CRTC, I'm not going to spoon feed it to you..

[hTideGnow]

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@Public_Cust_17 wrote:

@JohnDoe3  believe me if they could've they would've already.. it's not something they can do.  See this link regarding low-cost and occasional plans which I screenshot the below from.  https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/mobile/occa.htm  the more you know.. the more informed decisions you can make  😎

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HI @Public_Cust_17 on the other hand, they could, they are just nice and they didn't

Why?  that mandate plan is actually a requirement for postpaid.  Being a prepaid provider, PM has no obligation to follow 🙂

[hTideGnow]

HI @JohnDoe3 

they will keep the $15 plan because that is a CRTC mandated plan.  they won't abandon it unless CRTC makes change to it

[Public_Cust_17]

@JohnDoe3  believe me if they could've they would've already.. it's not something they can do.  See this link regarding low-cost and occasional plans which I screenshot the below from.  https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/mobile/occa.htm  the more you know.. the more informed decisions you can make  😎

[JohnDoe3]

How much would you be they're hoping to phase-out the $10/15 plans if enough of those customers abandon it and leave $20 as the cheapest option available.

[JohnDoe3]

They phase out cheaper options at lower tiers when they get the opportunity, knowing that people will be stuck moving to whatever the cheapest thing you can find is. Why price at market leader -$5 when you can price at market leader -$0.01. There's a nominal savings necessary to make the move worthwhile and a minimum price drop necessary to not look disingenuous with the pricing. The same thing has been happening with veterinary care (VCA buying up clinics), and housing (REITs buying up rental inventory).

You either are the market lead, or you buy the floor out of the market and become the market lead. This works when supply is finite, or there's a substantial resistance to introducing competition. The only thing to counteract this effect is to out-supply the market leader with new competition. The leader is forced to become cash-poor trying to buy the floor out of the market.

[JohnDoe3]

Is that 20,000 pts only the first 2 months, or every 2 months?

[JohnDoe3]

Another explanation is that the forum is very community-help oriented, so the presumption is there's a lot of valuable feedback in the conversation histories which you wouldn't necessarily want to discard haphazardly. Every post, regardless of the user ID associated with it, is just another database entry with links to parent post ID, so it can technically exist independent of the pm account of someone who transfers #. IE, the posts aren't subordinate data of the user account, but rather they exist in a separate database for which the userID is a subordinate field. It may be possible to test this theory by making a post, then changing visible user details of the profile which made the post, and making another post. If the prior post retains old user details, then the individual post details are just fields in a database table, and not looked up at page-load from any user database.

[Markaps]

@Soon-ex-PM-user I came from Telus, I was paying $60 unlimited nationwide calling, and texting, with 5GB of data. If I used "Easy Roam" in the U.S., it cost me $14 per day. I now have the $34 for 50GB Can/US plan, it's a huge saving for me, and I look at the Public points as an added bonus. 

[G_Pomzz]

To date, Fizz Mobile seems to be the most comparable to PM, with respect to the plans offered, website navigation, ease of use & the community. My own requirements met, it’s the carrier I would migrate to, if necessary.

Hmm... with Fizz the 50 GB Canada - USA plan is $38

PM charges $34 for the same plan. Fizz offers an initial discount for 6 months. PM points for loyalty etc are constant. I'll stick with PM. 

[Stelawrat]

Review ToS met: edited to remove customer review statistics & hyperlinks.

Depending on what happens with PM’s $24 plan, if made available to everyone, then I’ll probably stay, as I've never had problems with PM. I’m taking advantage of my Legacy Rewards until May when, if it’s worthwhile, I’ll begin comparison shopping.

To date, Fizz Mobile seems to be the most comparable to PM, with respect to the plans offered, website navigation, ease of use & the community. My own requirements met, it’s the carrier I would migrate to, if necessary.

Note: Bell & Telus share towers. Bell towers dominate eastern Canada & are shared by Telus, while Telus towers dominate western Canada & are shared by Bell. Rogers coverage is coast to coast. Despite this, many complaints were connectivity related, so you might want to check map coverage / tower locations local to you for work & home.

For the most budget friendly service providers, I’ve looked at customer reviews from several sources, in addition to their own websites. I’ve looked at their plans, support features if any & website navigation.

Fido Mobile: Rogers Network / Owned by Rogers: complaints re: customer service & billing issues.

Fizz Mobile: Rogers/Vidéotron Network / Owned by Québecor: good for internet, not as good for phones.

Freedom Mobile: Freedom/Vidéotron Network / Owned by Québecor: complaints re: customer support & connectivity issues.

Koodo Mobile: Telus Network / Owned by Telus: complaints re: customer support, billing & connectivity issues.

Lucky Mobile: Bell Network / Owned by Bell: complaints: bad in general.

PC Mobile: Bell Network / Owned by Bell: complaints re: customer service, billing & connectivity issues.

Public Mobile: Telus Network / Owned by Telus: complaints re: customer service & billing issues; note: rarely connectivity issues, mostly related to those using 5G who live / work in concrete / eco-friendly buildings, which applies to all service providers.

For those of you who have the time & patience to do more research, these are just a few of many sites available. I chose these because of their engagement with a wide demographic, allowing for a better picture overall.

BBB – Cansumer – cellphones.ca – Reddit – Trustpilot Reviews

Interesting Facts Regarding 5G Plans: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/The-Lounge/Some-Interesting-Facts-Regarding-5G-Plans/...

Jan.’24: Tutorial: How to Switch to A New Cell Provider and Keep Your Number | WhistleOut 

[hTideGnow]

HI @HALIMACS 

Rewards and loyalty program are protected by provincial consumer acts, CRTC and CCTS really cannot do much.  CCTS can try to resolve the problem, but in this case, I cannot see what they can do 

At least in Ontario and Quebec, the act only protects the points earned , it doesn't stop  the merchants or businesses from changing how rewards are earned or they have no say if the rewards system is cancelled altogether (as long as the unused rewards are taken care of)

With PM system, they are changing how rewards are earned, not expiring any earned rewards (with our legacy system, all rewards are credited to the account monthly as available funds, so no question about expiry)

Legally, PM is doing what it is allowed to do with sufficient advance notice. Yes, it upset many customers in this process, me included.   but PM didn't really do anything illegally.

[Dunkman]

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@Soon-ex-PM-user wrote:

Correct no USA roaming but current PM plans, also lacking the the follow features or service:

- Not capable of WiFi calling or VoLTE features

- Zero human customer support

- Not working outside of Canada/USA.  No roaming International. 

- no way to receive 2FA text messages when traveling abroad -  I learnt the hard lesson when travelling overseas last year with PM for lacking this important feature. 

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Public mobile does have VoLTE features.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/ab/get-help/articles/volte

Not all phones will be compatible with Public mobile VoLTE though.  

It is true that Public mobile has no live human customer service, but it does have human customer service via the ticketing, private messaging system.  It does take time for customer service agents to respond, but it usually takes  a few hours to fix most issues.  

Definitely, all customers should do their own research and figure what what is best for their needs and price point.  Certain PM plans (including the $34 US Canada 5G plans) are competitive enough that many new customers did port over to Public mobile under the new points system. Unfortunately, for the $15 and $25 plans without the legacy rewards, there are better options outside Public mobile.  

[hTideGnow]

HI @Sophia 

if you have EPP, then yes, you might save more from there than staying with PM without the old rewards system.   🙂

[Sophia]

LOL! I wish I had that kind of power 😂

All jokes aside though, and yes I know you were only joking... but we were paying $6 because of the system THEY enabled. We weren't and aren't cheating our way into a cheaper plan.

It's just such a slap in the face that they unceremoniously take away the old rewards. If they had approached it differently, I wouldn't be so angry/hurt/disappointed. For example, if they had given us a number of extra points  (like 15 points head start) to ease into the new system. Or an increase over a period of time. 

As it is, the expiring data gift is a huge slap in the face. My husband was on the $15 plan BECAUSE he has little use for data - he still has all his previous bonus gifts that he got during Xmas etc. It was literally the worst "gift" imaginable.

So yeah, I decided to move elsewhere, because at least we'll get the benefit of an EPP discount then.