PM shows as Public parking garage

[BEER]

PM payment shows as Public parking garage on my visa statement. 

Is this normal?

 

 

[Zyl]

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@darlicious wrote:

@Zyl 

Once you buy a voucher you just load the whole amount onto your account where it sits in your available funds for you to purchase add ons or pay for your plan. Here's an example of a referral I activated recently with CCS. The owner was offering a 20% discount off not only the first month but any vouchers bought at activation.  

I purchased the $25 plan activation bundle with free sim card and 20% off the first month=$20. I also paid an additional $60 for the discounted vouchers. $20+$60=$80 ($100 in pm vouchers - 20%=$80)

The account was pre-loaded with $100 - $25 (1st month)=$75+$10 (bonus referral credit) =$85+$2 (autopay)=$87 - $25 (2nd month)=$62+$25 (3rd month free credit)=$87+$2 (autopay) =$89 - $25 (3rd month)=$64+$2 (autopay)=$66 - $25 (4th month)=$41+$2 (autopay)=$43 - $25 (5th month) =$18+$2 (autopay)=$20 remaining in available funds.

For the 6th month either the customer tops up manually with a voucher or a credit card payment or allows autopay to kick in to pay the $5 outstanding to renew the $25 plan for the 6th month.

Or alternatively the customer could schedule a change plan on next renewal to the $15 plan and use the $5 remaining to purchase the $5/500 min add on to supplement the calling on the $15 plan.

Deciding on the $$ amount of the pm vouchers you purchase can depend on whether or not you want to carry a large credit in your available funds or if it's advantageous like saving 20%. Or in @Nezgar 's case purchasing the voucher in Alberta saves the provincial sales tax of 7% (as I did because CCS only charges 5% gst to out of province customers) so one higher $$ voucher is just easier. 

But capitalizing on the LD Extras program is best done by purchasing a $10 voucher once a week or so depending on your plan amount. It does represent a 5% savings per $100 (10×$10 vouchers).

There is nothing wrong with carrying a positive balance in your account if you plan on staying with public mobile and you never have to worry about an autopay failure if you have at least enough to cover your plan amount in your available funds.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

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Thanks. This is a lot more clear.  

[darlicious]

@Zyl 

Once you buy a voucher you just load the whole amount onto your account where it sits in your available funds for you to purchase add ons or pay for your plan. Here's an example of a referral I activated recently with CCS. The owner was offering a 20% discount off not only the first month but any vouchers bought at activation.  

I purchased the $25 plan activation bundle with free sim card and 20% off the first month=$20. I also paid an additional $60 for the discounted vouchers. $20+$60=$80 ($100 in pm vouchers - 20%=$80)

The account was pre-loaded with $100 - $25 (1st month)=$75+$10 (bonus referral credit) =$85+$2 (autopay)=$87 - $25 (2nd month)=$62+$25 (3rd month free credit)=$87+$2 (autopay) =$89 - $25 (3rd month)=$64+$2 (autopay)=$66 - $25 (4th month)=$41+$2 (autopay)=$43 - $25 (5th month) =$18+$2 (autopay)=$20 remaining in available funds.

For the 6th month either the customer tops up manually with a voucher or a credit card payment or allows autopay to kick in to pay the $5 outstanding to renew the $25 plan for the 6th month.

Or alternatively the customer could schedule a change plan on next renewal to the $15 plan and use the $5 remaining to purchase the $5/500 min add on to supplement the calling on the $15 plan.

Deciding on the $$ amount of the pm vouchers you purchase can depend on whether or not you want to carry a large credit in your available funds or if it's advantageous like saving 20%. Or in @Nezgar 's case purchasing the voucher in Alberta saves the provincial sales tax of 7% (as I did because CCS only charges 5% gst to out of province customers) so one higher $$ voucher is just easier. 

But capitalizing on the LD Extras program is best done by purchasing a $10 voucher once a week or so depending on your plan amount. It does represent a 5% savings per $100 (10×$10 vouchers).

There is nothing wrong with carrying a positive balance in your account if you plan on staying with public mobile and you never have to worry about an autopay failure if you have at least enough to cover your plan amount in your available funds.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[Zyl]

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@Nezgar wrote:

@Zyl Rewards are applied to the account first, then the plan cost is deducted. Anything that cant be covered by any preexisting account credit is then taken from the registered autopay card.  If you have more account credit than your plan cost, it will remain to be used for the next renewal.

Payment vouchers can often be "weird" denominations like $10, 23, 45 which might have aligned to old plans that don't exist anymore, but just buy the next denomination above your current plan cost, or buy enough to cover a few months at once.

Usually in lieu of actual cards on a rack, the stores have a booklet of barcodes for all the denomination amounts behind the counter, they just scan the one of your choice, and the "voucher" is just printed on their receipt printer. Maybe test it first with a small denomination like $10 to get familiar with the process at your vendor of choice.

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@Nezgar , @darlicious    With these PM payment vouchers, what if I have amounts left over?  Do I have to use them on public mobile produces or can I redeem them for something else?   Let's say I've bought the $50 voucher, the total amount for the plan renewal comes to $45 so there is $5 left over.  It won't be enough for the next renewal so can I use the left-over for something else?  Or do I have to spend it on a PM product/service like an add-on or something? 

Thanks   

[darlicious]

@Zyl 

Pm vouchers start at $5 (RCSS) but most retailers have $10, $20, $25, $40, $50, $75 and $100. SDM and Canadian Tire only have $20 and $40. Immediately valid vouchers are sold by SDM, RCSS, 7/11, Circle K, Wal-Mart, Shell stations and London Drugs. As mentioned LD allows you to earn and redeem with their loyalty program (no other loyalty program allows redemption of pre-paid cards or minutes) and Shell offers air miles.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[Nezgar]

@Zyl Rewards are applied to the account first, then the plan cost is deducted. Anything that cant be covered by any preexisting account credit is then taken from the registered autopay card.  If you have more account credit than your plan cost, it will remain to be used for the next renewal.

Payment vouchers can often be "weird" denominations like $10, 23, 45 which might have aligned to old plans that don't exist anymore, but just buy the next denomination above your current plan cost, or buy enough to cover a few months at once.

Usually in lieu of actual cards on a rack, the stores have a booklet of barcodes for all the denomination amounts behind the counter, they just scan the one of your choice, and the "voucher" is just printed on their receipt printer. Maybe test it first with a small denomination like $10 to get familiar with the process at your vendor of choice.

[Zyl]

@Nezgar  looks like I better do the same if the automatic debit doesn't always work.  I don't want my account to get suspended.

What are the denominations of the payment vouchers like?  How do they work with the rewards?  What if I have amounts left over?  Do I have to use them on public mobile produces or can I redeem them for something else?

Thanks

[darlicious]

@Zyl 

If I recall correctly you live in BC? If so you can join the LD Extras program and by purchasing $10 pm vouchers on separate visits you will earn a $5 coupon for every 10×$10 vouchers which can be redeemed on pm vouchers and earn another $10 "visit". You also get a $5 coupon on your birthday. Combined with the right cash back card for "pharmacy" purchases you will then be saving up to 9% on your plan payments.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[Nezgar]

@Zyl Ive carried an account credit on my account for almost all of my time with Public Mobile (2-years), and I still benefit from the auto-pay $2 reward each 30-days.

Many here recommend ensuring at least enough credit on your Public Mobile account to cover the cost of the next plan renewal because the auto-pay doesn't always work... it's rare, but we see enough reports of it in the forums happening to people where they have to manually apply a payment after this event...

And if you purchase your payment vouchers from a vendor that qualifies for the 4% cashback category then you can take advantage of that too.

[darlicious]

@Zyl 

You do not need to use autopay to pay for your plan renewal to earn the $2 reward and recieve the 500mb bonus ( the $15 plan's autopay bonus does not actually require autopay registration) you only need to have a card registered for autopay. The card can have no balance, be over its limit, on hold, expired (if registered before expiry) or it could even be reported lost or stolen ( just make sure it doesn't actually ever get used for autopay.) Many of us have spent credit gift cards registered. I even used a kelloggs $5 visa gift card for quite awhile!😁

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[Zyl]

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@Nezgar wrote:

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@BEER wrote:

PM payment shows as Public parking garage on my visa statement. 

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Well, I guess the one upside of this is that if you have a cashback credit card that gives a higher percent back for the "transportation purchases" category, that's better than the base rate you'd get otherwise. It's weird though that your bank provides the translink customer information phone numeber though. 😂

For example, "transportation purchases" yields a 2% cashback rate with the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite card. What kind of card do you have (Visa or MC?) I wonder if it shows up differently for MC vs Visa vs Amex etc.

I have no direct transactions to compare myself since I found that I can get a 4% cashback rate by purchasing payment vouchers at grocery stores or gas stations, as the amount is then considered under the grocery/gas cashback category, and also running for a really long time on an account credit from a large topup voucher I bought with no PST while in Alberta last year. 😉

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If you use payment vouchers, then you won't get the Autopay reward from Public Mobile which deducts $2 from your bill.  Unless your plan cost is $50 and above, that's more than the 4% cashback you will receive from the credit card company not to mention you get additional cashback % from your credit card for that payment. 

And no that payment does not get the higher cashback % just because of the description being "parking garage".  That's just a description.  The cashback % is determined by the merchant code that the merchant in this case Public Mobile uses when posting the payment and I am sure it's not "transportation".     

[Nezgar]

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@BEER wrote:

PM payment shows as Public parking garage on my visa statement. 

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Well, I guess the one upside of this is that if you have a cashback credit card that gives a higher percent back for the "transportation purchases" category, that's better than the base rate you'd get otherwise. It's weird though that your bank provides the translink customer information phone numeber though. 😂

For example, "transportation purchases" yields a 2% cashback rate with the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite card. What kind of card do you have (Visa or MC?) I wonder if it shows up differently for MC vs Visa vs Amex etc.

I have no direct transactions to compare myself since I found that I can get a 4% cashback rate by purchasing payment vouchers at grocery stores or gas stations, as the amount is then considered under the grocery/gas cashback category, and also running for a really long time on an account credit from a large topup voucher I bought with no PST while in Alberta last year. 😉

[computergeek541]

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@BEER wrote:

PM payment shows as Public parking garage on my visa statement. 

Is this normal?

 

 

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I disagree with the suggestions to contact Public Mobile and to contact the credit card company. Merchants classify different types of businesses differently, specifically for reward and cashback purposes.  Unless you have a credit card that gives extra benefits for charges to cell phone companies, none of this makes a difference.  In addition, the credit card issuer's description does also say that Public Mobile is communications company, although I don't see that as a factor.

[0PX9O4]

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@Zyl wrote:

@0PX9O4   it's actually perfectly normal. It's just a description that somehow only shows up on VISA statements.  

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Weird. I've only ever used a visa to pay for my PM services for the last several years, but it didn't ever show up as a parking garage. Maybe it's with some banks?

[Zyl]

@0PX9O4   @Anonymous  it's actually perfectly normal. It's just a description that somehow only shows up on VISA statements. 

[Zyl]

@BEER  Yes it's perfectly normal.  I have been advised that it's just a description and doesn't mean anything.  As long as the payment is taken by public mobile or Koodo (they share the same payment system), it's fine.  In fact, it's just VISA that shows this.  Other credit card issuers don't even display this info.  The first time I saw this, it freaked me out too.  I thought I got SIM hacked.  LOL. 

[softech]

"Good Morning and welcoming to Translink customer information..."

Not just a garage, you can in fact look up bus time if you have the stop number

@Meow  @BEER  curious, what kind of visa/mastercard you have?  wonder if it is only for a particular visa/mastercard issue with the wrong description

[Meow]

Yes, that is very normal.

Look at my statement:

I never tried to call those 2 phone numbers. Anybody tried? Who is on the other side? PM live support????? 😎😋

[darlicious]

@BEER 

Lol....must be a VISA thing M/C only lists the merchant and the merchant #.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[softech · Accepted solution]

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@BEER wrote:

PM payment shows as Public parking garage on my visa statement. 

Is this normal?

 

 

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Yes, very normal.    Some people reported that before:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Public-Mobile-Using-Different-company-nam...

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Taxes-not-added-in-payment-history/m-p/31...

but I have a feeling it is an issue with the credit card side for putting the wrong description instead of a boo-boo from PM side.

[darlicious]

@BEER 

I wouldn't panic yet but a little more investigation would be prudent. We are aware of payments showing up as KOODO REAPPROV or PUBLIC MOBILE 855-4782542 BC. How does your charge appear on your statement? Does the charge equal your normal payment +tax? Does it match your renewal date?

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[Anonymous]

It's normal.

[BEER]

Just checked past statements and this has been the case for many months. I suspect that this may be a security step.

[0PX9O4]

@BEER 

No it definitely is not! If I were you, I would call my bank first.

Then, if need be, you can send a private message to CS_Agent with your account details so they can look into this for you.