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

[SeniorCitizen]

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@eyes wrote:

LETS NOT FORGET that under the point system we will still be swarded $10 worth  anniversary points, friend referral points each month, perhaps maybe helping others points and 5% payment discounts. Does this sound like a bad deal?

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Let’s not forget about all the other rewards or loyalty programs there are out there. They all get revised and watered down to the point of why bother belonging to it. When will the $1 per point become  50 cents per point? Normally we do not get involved in loyalty programs but this one at the time “was” good. 

Perhaps the changes are BONUS driven. 

[eyes]

LETS NOT FORGET that under the point system we will still be swarded $10 worth  anniversary points, friend referral points each month, perhaps maybe helping others points and 5% payment discounts. Does this sound like a bad deal?

[Wolfcore]

I wouldn't say it's incompetent leadership. They know how to make money, and they account for everything before making a decision (at least in most cases). They know very well that most people are lazy, and would rather pay a few extra dollars than go through the process of switching phone companies (even though it's not difficult). They also know that even though their service is less competitive now, they still have somewhat similarly priced plans to their competitors, which gives those lazy people even less of a reason to switch. So really, their hope was/is that they'll only lose a fraction of subscribers, and they'll still be making a ton of extra profit from this decision.

For their sake, they better hope their predictions were correct though, because in the long run, things could get very bad. Something like this is reputation-destroying, and you can't really come back from it. I'm sure they'll survive, but they won't have the same supporters as they used to, and the moment a competitor pounces on that, it'll become a problem for them.

As for your price-per-GB point. Yes, this is one of the most important factors in all of this. They've been pushing everybody to higher tiers, and offering them more data for the same price over and over again, so of course people switched, but do people actually need/use all this data? Of course not. All it'll take is a competitor to come out and offer an $18/5GB plan, or $23/10GB, and a ton of those people on the $34/$40 plans will be gone. They know this as well though, and they're preparing for it. Telecom is in for some major changes over the next 5 years, as everything makes it's way towards it's ultimate end, which is unlimited everything (like ISP's and internet plans eventually got to).

[eyes]

Posters here share facts and  opinions being positive, negative or naive they are entitled to do so. 

So my opinion is that you may post again on this thread ha ha - 

[RetiredGuy1]

This will be my last post.

I sincerely want to thank everybody for having the opportunity to participate in the interesting discussions. I can honestly say I’ve learned more about cell plans (and telecoms in general) over these past 3 weeks than I ever knew in my lifetime!

Obviously, there is an overwhelming cloud of negativity in the thread (and rightfully so). I have attempted, at times, to use a little humour (particularly satire) to try to maybe lighten the mood and perhaps put a smile on a face or two. 

Lately, in my own little way, I have shifted towards attempting to think outside of the box and offer ideas or suggestions that could either help offset some of the impact of the changes coming or to perhaps lessen the impact of any further changes to the Points program. However, I no longer feel it is worth my time to continue.

I hope that whether you stay with PM or move elsewhere, that each of you find the plan that is perfect for your individual situation.

Cheers!

[Wolfcore]

Yup, exactly. They've of course already factored these people into their decision, but whether their predictions were correct, is yet to be seen. They just believe that even after losing all of these customers and their support, that they'll still make more profit by removing these legacy rewards.

What are they going to do with this extra profit? I think we all know lol

[mc931]

You’re probably right that there are more legacy subscribers than points subscribers, but it still remains that there will never be more legacy subscribers than there are now. So they know exactly what legacy subscribers’ rewards will cost them and can price accordingly, but they chose not to do that.

I guess my point is just that all of this is a choice. My initial response was that they didn’t know how much they were going to upset their legacy base - but I actually think on reflection that they did know and chose to do it anyway. They would have to have some pretty incompetent leadership to have not foreseen this response, so they probably did, but decided for whatever reason that they could weather it.

I honestly hope they don’t. I wasn’t looking for other options before because I was happy, but now that this has happened I realize they aren’t offering substantially better than what a number of other companies are offering, so … I’m not stuck at all. In fact, I can get a plan that better matches what I actually need (because I do use data but not a ton of it) for the same price I pay now (after rewards are applied).

There must be others like me, using data at around the 5 GB mark monthly, and there’s no good plan for that with Public. They are trying to sell more expensive plans by offering way too much data - it’s a “better deal” from a price per GB perspective but that’s irrelevant if you don’t use it all up. 

[SeniorCitizen]

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@Wolfcore wrote:

Of course they aren't losing money with these plans, but by eliminating them, they believe they can make more, and to them, profit is everything. They also just reported record profits recently, so they're doing just fine. You're right though, there are countless other ways they could have handled this without resorting to removing the legacy rewards.

As for the legacy subscribers, in my opinion, I believe it's the opposite. I believe there are far more users on the legacy system, compared the new system. I don't have evidence of this, but I feel we can use reasonable judgement to get there. You gotta remember that the old system had 7 years worth of time to collect subscribers, whereas the new system has only had 2. Also, very few (if any), crossed over from legacy to points, when it was first introduced (it just didn't make sense to). 

So unless PM attracted more customers within these last 2 years, than the previous 7, I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of users are on the old system. As far as I know, Telus doesn't report subscriber counts separately for their budget brands, so only they know the truth.

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But……how many other legacy customers, like me and many others, are pi$$ed off and plan to leave and/or plan to stop referring? I am on both counts.  I have brought in at least 70 customers.  And I still ask two things…..what is PM doing to improve retention…. and to improve business, will they consider offering significantly better pricing for all customers and dissolve the rewards program? 

[Wolfcore]

Of course they aren't losing money with these plans, but by eliminating them, they believe they can make more, and to them, profit is everything. They also just reported record profits recently, so they're doing just fine. You're right though, there are countless other ways they could have handled this without resorting to removing the legacy rewards.

As for the legacy subscribers, in my opinion, I believe it's the opposite. I believe there are far more users on the legacy system, compared the new system. I don't have evidence of this, but I feel we can use reasonable judgement to get there. You gotta remember that the old system had 7 years worth of time to collect subscribers, whereas the new system has only had 2. Also, very few (if any), crossed over from legacy to points, when it was first introduced (it just didn't make sense to). 

So unless PM attracted more customers within these last 2 years, than the previous 7, I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of users are on the old system. As far as I know, Telus doesn't report subscriber counts separately for their budget brands, so only they know the truth.

[RetiredGuy1]

@ShawnC13  “Unfortunate”? You spelled “I apologize” wrong

[RetiredGuy1]

@ShawnC13  We’ll just have to agree to disagree then. I feel this thread is the place for discussion on anything that could help prevent another fiasco and I bet Telus execs would welcome that too. As @HALIMACS pointed out “there’s been flexibility exercised on this thread, so why not continue it?” 

More to the point: the announcement posted in this thread includes a link to faq. One of those is what I was directly addressing. If you feel thats a “free-for-all” then thats your right to have that opinion. Just don’t expect everybody else to necessarily agree with it.

[eyes]

Let’s face it , other then venting and  passing some time there is no point in fighting this PM switch to points. None of us has a contract with PM. We’re all on prepaid plans. 
As an example- when you see milk on sale on a grocery store flyer that  sale price is only valid for the week. It would be silly to go the following week demanding to pay the previous week’s price. 

[eyes]

If one is a light user on the $15 plan there is no point in going through the hassle of switching to another provider. $15 with points is still great deal. The only ones that are screwed are the ones that for some incomprehensible reason maintain several never used phone accounts. Multy  account holders that may have difficulty letting go of their never used accounts could reduce their cost per account by renewing only every 89 days . That would only cost them $5/cycle with points.

LETS NOT FORGET that under the point system we will still be swarded $10 worth  anniversary points, friend referral points each month, perhaps maybe helping others points and 5% payment discounts. Does this sound like a bad deal?

[sa7375]

@SeniorCitizen    Well said, "PM needs to reinvent themselves". To survive in a competitive market, PM doesn't have a choice: it has to.

[mc931]

It doesn’t make sense that the model was not sustainable. They sustained it for years - and then only had to continue sustaining it for a defined, limited number of subscribers. They could easily up the price of all plans by a dollar and recoup the loyalty rewards.

There can’t be so many legacy reward subscribers with big enough loyalty discounts to affect their bottom line - not when they are keeping referral bonuses exactly the same. They could cap either or both to keep things under control too.

Also their initial marketing was to highlight that you could theoretically get your bill to zero with referrals, loyalty, autopay, and community participation. So the fact that some people have very low bills because of their reward system is silly because they will have accounted for a certain amount of that, if they had any sense.

[ShawnC13]

@RetiredGuy1 if you felt singled out because it was your post that I responded to and I used the @ in my replies that is unfortunate.  It wasn't an intention to single anyone out.

[ShawnC13]

@RetiredGuy1 I didn't say that at all.  I just said that this thread wasn't the place for it.  A separate thread could be done up for that.  That is all that was meant by my post

[BM61]

I always wondered when this good thing would come to an end....and here we are!! I spent time informing people about how good this program was, encouraged them to sign up and spent time getting them set up. Now I have to tell several of them that the program has changed and they will no longer see the discounts. Moving forward, I will be looking for a better deal and hope people keep posting those good deals. Too bad for everyone.

[fixin]

@Captn001 - You will be paying full price ($34) after May 1st unless they veto the decision.

You will be earning 1.70 points and if you have refer-a-friend rewards will be 1 point per friend.

Also no $2 autopay bonus and loyalty bonus.

If you want to have less data, maybe consider the $29 20GB LTE (100mbps) Canada-wide plan. But the $34 is a deal breaker with unlimited data at the moment or US roaming if you got the plan.

[fixin]

@Knockali5 - I am staying but it is okay to leave at anytime.

I won't want a service without USA coverage and one that will leave my house with 2 bars and on LTE instead of 5G.

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And also I just found out TELUS just updated their coverage map to include my home for 3500mhz. Haven't seen Standalone yet but 5G+ is displaying in some areas of the neighbourhood!

[SeniorCitizen]

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@Knockali5 wrote:

It seems like freedom and pc will be net beneficiaries in this.  Freedom yearly plans are extremely affordable.  PC has got similar plans to PM but little sweeter. I will also wait til may to switch all lines.  

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Not  sure if Freedom has good coverage. I would stay if PM eliminates the loyalty program in its entirety. It’s now infamous and has lost its thrill. And if PM would beat, price wise, Freedoms annual plans….I would remain. PM needs to reinvent themselves vs revising the loyalty program, which has made many very angry. 😡 

[Knockali5]

It seems like freedom and pc will be net beneficiaries in this.  Freedom yearly plans are extremely affordable.  PC has got similar plans to PM but little sweeter.  
I will also wait til may to switch all lines.  

[MandyJS]

@Wolfcore wrote:

I wouldn't switch just yet though. If you're still on the old rewards system until May anyway, maybe wait it out and see if PM comes to their senses and reverses this horrible decision haha. I highly doubt it, but you never know. Regardless, that PC Mobile deal is still really good.

.......

Yea, I'm not changing for a while, I'm prepaid on the 90 day plan until May 11th, so I have a whole to sort out all this moving stuff lol... Still hoping they come to their senses, but like to shop around to see what's the best. 😊

[Captn001]

What does this mean? If the plan I have is $34 and with the rewards I am paying $26, what will I be paying in May?

[HALIMACS]

Just so you have further information, @MandyJS : (in the below, 1 point=$1)

• Public Mobile also gives you 10 points per year.
• For every referral you may bring to Public Mobile, you get 1 point per 30-day cycle, if they stay with Public Mobile.
• If you like to 'help out' in the Community forum, you can earn 1-15 points per 30-day cycle; granted, to reach 15 requires countless hours of your time.  1 point, about an hour or less a day. 15 points, easily 3+ hours a day.

The 'downside' to points, is one needs to 'earn' 15 before a user can redeem for $15 credit.

So, although the PC Mobile offer is intriguing, just thought you ought to know the above as well.

🙂

[Wolfcore]

I wouldn't switch just yet though. If you're still on the old rewards system until May anyway, maybe wait it out and see if PM comes to their senses and reverses this horrible decision haha. I highly doubt it, but you never know. Regardless, that PC Mobile deal is still really good.

[MandyJS]

Yea, PC Mobile shows me in the 5G area, so I'd be fine there 😊

[Wolfcore]

PC Mobile and Lucky both run on on the Bell network as far as I know, so you should be good with those. Freedom is a bit more tricky, but yeah, if you're only in the "nationwide" coverage, maybe it would be best to stay away from them for now, just in case.

[MandyJS]

Thanks for that awesome breakdown staticcory! Freedom's coverage map looks a little dubious in my area (not showing 5G or 4G with their network, but "Nationwide"), so I'm not sure about them for me, but that PC Mobile one is looking quite tempting!

[fleety15]

That's exactly how they replied to my complaint. Good news the CCTS denied their objections. Not sure what happens now. Probably nothing but at least the CCTS is not letting it go easily.