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EXPIRED vs SUSPENDED; AVAILABLE FUNDS vs REWARDS, and other miscellany

Luddite
Oracle
Oracle

UPDATED: July 5/18 including SD08's post.

First a word of CAUTION: the following analysis is based on personal experience and observing posts to this forum, and has not been confirmed officially by Public Mobile.

 

It was helpful to me in understanding these issues to think of PM as having two separate systems: System A. being one that takes money, and System B. one that provisions services.

 

ALSO, no explanation really suffices when you have paid enough for your plan AND have no service.

 

EXPIRED vs SUSPENDED

 

Just before midnight on the day your plan expires System A changes your account status to Expired and begins looking for money. At midnight your account status shows "Suspended". A few hours later all your Rewards are credited to your account as Available Funds and Rewards are reset. System A then compares the Rewards just credited to your plan cost (say $120). If Cost >  Available Funds the remainder is charged to your credit card IF you have autopay turned on. At this point System A says to System B “We have $120” and System B compares $120 to your plan cost. Assuming $120 is equal or greater than your plan cost System B provisions your services.

 

On the other hand, if you are paying manually, or if your credit card fails, System A says “I have $100” and System B “Suspend services” because you’ve not yet paid $120. At this point your phone stops working EVEN though you have paid part of your plan cost. Your account status now becomes “Suspended”.

 

AVAILABLE FUNDS vs REWARDS

 

Took me quite a while to figure this out, but Rewards are not “Available Funds” until midnight on your expiry date. Until then Available Funds are ONLY credits or money you have paid. 

 

AUTOMATIC PLAN CHANGE GLITCHES at Expiry

 

These seem to be abating. I think they arise because of miscommunication between System A and B triggered by System B updating to your new plan too late. There are two cases:

 

1. old plan was $120, new plan is $90. System A takes $90 and tells System B “We have $90”. System B has not yet updated and thinks you are still on the old plan. Therefore service is Suspended because $90 is less than $120.

 

2. old plan was $42 new plan is $120, so System A takes $120 and at midnight tells System B “We have $120”. System B says “great” but again provisions the old plan so service is not suspended and you have a credit of $78.

 

So in Case 1., the only foolproof way to avoid service suspension during an automatic plan change is to make a manual payment such that Available Funds plus Rewards at least equals your old plan cost.

 

The moderators can quickly (i.e. not during promo periods) clear up these automatic plan changes glitches.

 

Clearly I have too much time on my hands! Robot LOL ©


>>> ALERT: I am not a CSA. Je ne suis pas un Agent du soutien à la clientèle.
23 REPLIES 23

fairchse
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thank you for explaining It is so easy to panic 


@Mana wrote:

@Luddite great analysis, thanks. 

 

Would it it be fair to say that there may be a system C that accumulates community rewards, referrals, etc and communicates all the info to system A?

 

When system C fails to communicate to system A, that's when issues such as missing referrals and rewards arise that some people are experiencing?


Seems about right to me. 👍👍


>>> ALERT: I am not a CSA. Je ne suis pas un Agent du soutien à la clientèle.

jonathan1
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

appreciate the detailed post, thanks.

Mana
Mayor / Maire

@Luddite great analysis, thanks. 

 

Would it it be fair to say that there may be a system C that accumulates community rewards, referrals, etc and communicates all the info to system A?

 

When system C fails to communicate to system A, that's when issues such as missing referrals and rewards arise that some people are experiencing?


@imm1304 wrote:

 

Just one exception to the "Available funds" category.  The very first Autopay reward instantly goes in to Available funds and stays there until next renewal date.  All subsequent autopay rewards are displayed in the "My Rewards" section.


Does this "one" exception also apply to Refer-A-Friend Rewards?  I ask because my Transaction History explicitly gave me a "$16 Reward - Community" (for activity/badges) and a "$3 Reward - Community" (for friend referral) on the last cycle, but only "$10 Reward - Community" (for my somewhat diminished Community activity/badges) on this cycle.

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
If I understand the question correctly. You'll lose it immediately.

oshax
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@imm1304 wrote:

@kan, you will have 90 days from the day your account is suspended to make a payment and renew the plan you are on.  

 

So, as @Rockdaddy22 said, you won't lose your plan.  


I get you don't lose your plan, but how quickly do you lose service?

Say if your issue isn't resolved in 3 days and your account is "suspended" over that time, will you lose service?

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
Wait until the morning, I think the change happens at 3am

h_haroonbashir
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Hi guys,

 I am using PM and i was on 120 plan 6 gb and i changed my plan with the 12gb promotional and at that time it was saying future plan due on billing date and today is a billing date. Now i just logged in my account and seeing that my acount has been suspended and it was auto pay... I dont know what to do now...

gleeducyogen
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

ok i understand now why my sevice is not back yet  but i like to change pin number because i forget so with the plan i would like to change plan  and remove my automated payment   I already payed   thanks

Jonavin
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Autopay is hit or miss when you do a plan change. It worked out fine the first time; it even bump me up from 3GB plan to 6GB correctly. But this 12GB, it failed, badly, to the point where if I didn't do a manual payment I would be in danger of losing service. This just shouldn't happen.

canucks4life
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

I'll be watching my account like a hawk come first Autopay renewal Jan 29 Cat Frustrated

 

You are currently registered for dynamic Autopay

  • AutoPay Next Payment Date: Jan 29, 2017
  • AutoPay Amount: This is your plan cost minus Rewards.
  • Any Available funds will be applied first.

imm1304
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@kan, you will have 90 days from the day your account is suspended to make a payment and renew the plan you are on.  

 

So, as @Rockdaddy22 said, you won't lose your plan.  

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
You won't lose your plan

kan
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Okay this sort of half answers a question i have.

 

looking at your post and at the knowledge base link http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/All-about-our-Plans-and-Add-ons/ta-p/22...  at the part about suspension for 90 days.

 

If auto pay for some reason doesnt happen and your account goes into a suspended mode are you suspended with your same plan until you pay, like will we keep this 90 day/12gb plan while in suspended mode for a few days in limbo? or will we lose it immediatly?

 


@Luddite wrote:

@NDesai Yes, that is my understanding of the sequence for rewards vs funds.


System first minus rewards. When you go to My rewards, it will say actual amount due which is Plan Cost - rewards. So, rewards are FIRST minused from total plan cost and not available funds. After subtracting rewards, it will take available funds/credit card. If none available then it awaits for payment. 

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@NDesai Yes, that is my understanding of the sequence for rewards vs funds.


>>> ALERT: I am not a CSA. Je ne suis pas un Agent du soutien à la clientèle.

NDesai
Oracle
Oracle

@Luddite wrote:

 

 

AVAILABLE FUNDS vs REWARDS

 

Took me quite a while to figure this out, but Rewards are not “Available Funds” until your expiry date. Available funds are ONLY the money you have paid. So on your expiry date, System A takes available funds but then waits until you add enough money to equal (remaining plan cost - rewards) then actually gives you the Rewards.

 


Are you sure about this?

 

What i understood is that the system takes available funds first. Let say i have $50. My payment due is $120-$50. Leftover is $70, then it minuses rewards? What if someone has $100 available funds and $25 rewards? Does the $5 remain in rewards or available funds?

 

I thought they first minus the rewards and then take due amount from available funds. If no available funds, then it charges on your cc or awaits for available funds if there is no cc on the account.

 

 

______________________________________________________________________
I am not a mod. Do not send me private message with your personal info.
If you need to contact PM Customer Support Agent, send a Private Message.

imm1304
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@shrimpdude, I agree.  I am curisouly looking out for new plan change request failures now since the maintenance outage.  Not sure yet if its fixed.  

shrimpdude
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

This is a big problem, and Public Mobile needs to acknowledge that there are issues with specific functions in their system.  Why do they even allow automatic plan changes if they never work correctly?

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
@PublicMobile101 if anyone is out of service from a plan change, it could be fixed with a top up in funds. You get the refund back later.

imm1304
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

Useful explanation, @Luddite

 

Just one exception to the "Available funds" category.  The very first Autopay reward instantly goes in to Available funds and stays there until next renewal date.  All subsequent autopay rewards are displayed in the "My Rewards" section.

 

Also worth noting is that the available funds are equivalent to cash and stay as balance until used.  Rewards,if unused, expire every billing period.  So, if anyone earns Rewards that are more than the amount they owe on next bill, its not carried forward.  

PublicMobile101
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Lol ya basicly they are probbily working hard to fix it since alot have no service now 

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