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Business Profile

Telephones

Public Mobile

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

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Complaints

Customer Complaints Summary

  • 74 total complaints in the last 3 years.
  • 20 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

If you've experienced an issue

Submit a Complaint

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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Complaint status

Complaint type

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:15/05/2025

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I am writing on behalf of my 86 year old grandmother; the account holder for the Public Mobile account, **** ******. On March 14th 2025, she received a text message from Public Mobile that there was upgrades being made to the network and that she would experience issues with her voice services. Since that day, she has not had service on her device at all. She cannot make calls and every call she would received would send them straight to voicemail. Because of this, the family decided it was easier to switch service providers. As a senior citizen, she does not check, nor understand, text messaging. Making this method of communicating changes to her account very difficult and inconvenient. She did not tell us that she was having issues with her phone until nearly the end of April- meaning that she has been paying for a service for months that she is unable to use. According to the customer service at Public Mobile, her service was no longer working because the upgrades to their system would render her mobile device useless to the type of service they were now providing. This was never communicated to my grandmother in any form; not in a letter, not in an e-mail and not in the original text message received. They continued to charge my grandmother for nearly 3 months of no service and when we requested a refund, they said that they are no responsible for how the their users use their services and that they would not be able to issue a refund. That we should be filing a chargeback option with her banking provider. The total amount for 3 months of service that she did not have access to is $55.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:11/04/2025

    Type:Service or Repair Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I have been public mobile customer since 2016, on 2023 I bought one ****** ***** *** ***** and the network and SIM card were working on my mobile smoothly, but around November 2024 one-day my mobile have me notification that service is not available and when I transfered my SIM on my ex- ******* phone it worked again, after 3-4 days the problem solved and I could reuse my ****** phone again.
    But before March 2025 I got a message from Public Mobile that they will have some upgrade on system and I couldn't use the PM sim on my phone again and the problem persis untill now. The PM sim work on other mobiles and ****** sim card works on my ******, but Public Mobile has no service on my ***** ***.
    So I must buy another phone at least 500 CAD$ to use my PM service again.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:23/07/2024

    Type:Service or Repair Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I require annual invoices for my mobile charges for work. Public mobile failed to provide me with an accurate invoice, persistently including one with GST though I live in New Brunswick and only have paid HST tax with these payments. The business does not try to resolve the problem due to their lack of customer service.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:09/05/2024

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    My minutes Expired May 4, 2024. I May 6 I put $70 credit by voucher on the phone It doesn’t work. I have a $50 plan and the phone was saying that I only have $48 so I put another $20 on the phone and it still says the phone is suspended and I’m not getting any service. I want to be Refunded the total of $90. ******* ***** ******** ** *** **** *** **** *** **** ***** ** *** ******* * **** ** ** ** ******* ********

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:07/02/2024

    Type:Billing Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    Public Mobile charged my credit card without my knowledge when I already had paid my monthly January bill on January 18th. When I am asked them to refund the extra money which they charged on January 19th, they are informing for another charge just to refund the unauthorized money they took from me even though it is more than two weeks from today.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:28/11/2023

    Type:Product Issues
    Status:
    Answered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    i ported my phone number ********** to another provider. public mobile refuses to provide a pro rated refund of the left over time i had **** ****** ********* **** ***** ******** **** **** *** ********

    Business Response

    Date: 04/12/2023

    Dear BBB, 

    Thank you for bringing this clients concern to our attention. 

    As clearly mentioned in our service terms, there are no refund issues for unused service. 

    Best regards, 

    Public Mobile 

    Customer Answer

    Date: 04/12/2023



    Complaint: ********



    I am rejecting this response ******** **** *** ***** ***** ***** ******* *** ***** **** ****** *** ** **** *****



    Sincerely,



    ******* *********

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:15/11/2023

    Type:Service or Repair Issues
    Status:
    Unresolved
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I paid $50.85 to Public Mobile on Nov. 1 2023. My services were cut off on Nov. 5.
    I tried relentlessly to log into my Public Mobile account and seek help.
    I was informed through Public Mobile that I had unauthorized access.
    I could not call and speak with anyone because apparently that is not part of their service.
    They informed me through the limited access I received, I had to put in a "ticket" . Which I wasn't able to do because of "unauthorized access"
    I have since went to a new provider which cost me an additional $112.00 . * ** ******** *** ****** ****** ***** **** **** ** * ********* ****.
    I would like you to help me retrieve at least the $50.85 **** ****** ****** ***** **** **.

    Thank you

    Business Response

    Date: 04/12/2023

    Dear BBB, 

    Thank you for bringing this clients concern to our attention.

    When the client signed up, he was aware that public mobile does not have customer service and all inquires or transactions have to be completed on their self-serve account or the community. 

    Best regards, 

    Public Mobile 

    Customer Answer

    Date: 04/12/2023



    Complaint: ********



    I am rejecting this response because:

    I could not access my account or any type of community help.  The system wouldn't even let me log-in to my account. I lost all of my phone's capabilities such as data, text, phone, etc. * *** ** *** * *** **** **** ** ****** ****** ******** **** ******* ***** ** ****** 

    I would like my $50.85 returned. 

    Sincerely,



    ***** ****

     

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:12/10/2023

    Type:Service or Repair Issues
    Status:
    Answered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    Public Mobile does not have a functioning website, app, or help chat. There is no way to get any product support or even cancel my subscription. All the login options result in a bad gateway/404 error and the My Account page is unreachable. The chatbot runs in circles and when you request a real agent you get a 404 error. My cellular coverage cut out and has been gone for over a week and I'm not able to reach them at all to try and diagnose the problem, or even to just cancel my account. I'm paying for a service that is not working.

    Business Response

    Date: 24/10/2023

    Dear BBB, 

    Thank you for bringing this clients concern to our attention.

    The client was able to get in contact with Public Mobile on 10-19-2023 and his concerns were addressed. 

    Best regards, 

    Public Mobile 

     

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:30/08/2023

    Type:Customer Service Issues
    Status:
    Unanswered
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I was previously a customer with Public Mobile, I temporarily held a prepaid cellphone with them in 2021. When I no longer needed the phone I canceled the account.

    I now Purchased a phone plan with Public mobile for my son on August 16th, used the same email address that I had used for my previous Public mobile account, the " new" account was created and I was able to activate my sons phone with his phone number and pre pay for the first month service. I then received an email from Public Mobile verifying my purchase. I then tried to log back into my account, and came to a verification screen saying a new subscription has been added to my account and a verification code will be sent to the phone number associated with the account. Now here's the problem they are sending the verification code to the old phone number from 2021. As this is no longer my phone number I cannot retrieve the verification code and can't access my account. I immediately contacted Public Mobile's customer support on Aug 16th and informed them of the issue. After multiple follow ups a ticket number was created (**********). They confirmed the issue is on their end and is being investigated. It's now been 2 weeks and there's still no change. My son, to whom this phone belongs, is away attending college out of the country and I'm worried if this isn't resolved and I don't get access to the account before the month is up, I can't pay the bill so the phone will get cut off and I will lose contact with him. This is unacceptable and I'd like this resolved asap. Here is a quoted response from Public Mobile.

    "The ticket number ********** is still being investigated. Our colleagues have advised us that the issue will be resolved with a system update. I am really sorry for the inconvenience and we hope to have this resolved as soon as possible. "

    I have paid for a service that I haven't been able to access for half the time of the total contract.

  • Initial Complaint

    Date:28/07/2023

    Type:Service or Repair Issues
    Status:
    Resolved
    Resolved:
    The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
    Unresolved:
    The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
    Answered:
    The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
    Unanswered:
    The business failed to respond to the dispute.
    Unpursuable:
    BBB is unable to locate the business.
    I pushed a plan and a sim card form public mobile however I haven't been able to use it and the simcard is coming in 7 days, I wanted to cancel but they're is no way to do so also they have no customer service number and there chat is only a bot. I paid 29$ and 11$ for sim card as of now I am going with a different provider

    Business Response

    Date: 07/08/2023

    Dear BBB, 

    Thank you for bringing this clients concern to our attention. 

    We have requested to refund the client. 

    We consider this matter as resolved. 

    Sincerely, 

    Public Mobile 

    Customer Answer

    Date: 08/08/2023



    Better Business Bureau:



    I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.




    Sincerely,



    ****** *****

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