Letter to Ted Rogers, December, 2005

Dear Mr. Rogers,                                                                December 18, 2005

Harry recounted to me the conversation that you had with him on Saturday. I want to echo Harry’s thanks to you for so swiftly contacting us about this issue once it came to your attention.

Harry says you asked him to pass on to me that you are an Osgoode alumni. I’m not sure what the curriculum looked like when you were there. I’m prepared to hazard that legal anthropology, one of my specialties, was not on the calendar. I’ve enclosed my second bookk, which just came out last week, to give you an idea of the kind of scholarship that’s being done at your alma mater.

I also just came across a photograph that you might find interesting. It pictures my Aunt Isabelle in 1964. She used to buy advertising spots for media in Montreal and had a wicked sense of humor. She died of a brain tumor four years ago and so we cannot ask her to tell us about the photo. But perhaps you, who are standing next to her in the shot, can fill us in on the context.

Harry conveyed to  me that you have very generously offered to not only cover the costs that we have incurred since we began this ordeal, but that you have also very graciously agreed to meet with us face to face to discuss the extent of our experience. He indicated that you invited us to write up a note regarding the costs of this experience so that you could take care of them expeditiously.

I have attached, to this letter, the costs that are claimed in my Small Claims court action relating to MY SON’S cell phone ($9,867.10). My Statement of Response also alludes to pecuniary damages linked to the debacle with MY cell phone. Those latter damages ($130,000.00) exceed the limits of Small Claims Court and would be recoverable in Ontario Superior Court.

It’s not difficult to assess monetary loss. I would like, here, to briefly articulate some of the less tangible losses that this ordeal has brought about:

 

  • […]
  • I have a federal research grant to carry out legal ethnographic work in Israel over the course of this, my first sabbatical break over the last seven years and the only sabbatical leave I’ll be getting for the next seven years. The last four months were supposed to have been dedicated to the assiduous labor of that research. In dealing with the debacle with your corporation, I have been robbed of the time and equanimity required to carry out this year’s research and to honor my commitment to produce another scholarly work. That time is irretrievably lost to me.
  • As you know, Harry is a science and technology journalist. He has written articles for journals such as Scientific American, has published pieces in the Globe and Mail, and has produced and directed documentaries for Discovery Channel and radio segments for the CBC. Harry, like me, has spent hundreds of hours attempting to resolve this dispute with Rogers Wireless – at the expense of devoting himself single mindedly to his craft.

Although you have invited us to give you some sense of the costs that we have incurred as a result of this debacle, Harry would like to make it clear that he does not, himself, want to recover any of those costs from you. What he would like, however, (in keeping with the expertise and resources that both of us brought to bear on this dispute) is that you dedicate a scholarship at Osgoode Hall Law School, seeded with the monetary value of his losses. He would be gratified if the scholarship were structured to recognize the intimate relationship between the professions of law and journalism.

 

Beyond that, both Harry and I would like to donate a half of the remaining total costs associated with this ordeal to a charity devoted to helping children with learning disabilities. We were wondering whether you would like to match this donation.

 

It is a comfort to know that, perhaps less like your competitors, there is a real human being at helm of Rogers Inc; one who has been gracious enough to contact us in person about our ordeal. And I am grateful for your willingness to understand what this debacle has put us through in order to effect changes for the better.

 

We, too, are taking a break from the stresses of our regular lives and are looking forward to a peaceful and recuperative holiday. We look forward to hearing from you, as arranged, in the New Year. Please accept our warm wishes for the holiday season.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Susan G. Drummond                                              Harry Gefen

 

P.S.: I think you should know that I am getting requests from people who want to have access to the court files relating to this dispute. Your lawyers included my personal data identifiers into the court record, which leaves that information open to the public at large. I really would appreciate it if that private information could be simply redacted from the record.