Fuck you Rogers.
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#2
I, too, have been a victim of identity theft
/ By D.D.
Several years ago, I received a bill from Rogers. Interestingly, I had never done business with Rogers. The bill was in French and I am a unilingual prairie boy.
Within days, I received my Visa statement that illustrated what had probably happened - someone had stolen my identity and used my credit card to obtain 15 pagers for Montreal. I had never been to Montreal, so I contacted Visa who dealt with the issue immediately and issued a new card.
I called Rogers, who refused to consider the possibility that I hadn't charged the pagers. They claimed that their system required the individual to present the credit card in person and sign for the pagers. Obviously, I couldn't have been in Montreal to do that. I explained that whoever had used my name had misspelled it. I would not misspell my own name. I did not speak nor Read French and I could not understand the bill. When I insisted on speaking to a supervisor, I was transferred to someone who said that he would look into it and get back to me. Several weeks later when I got another bill, I phoned them again. They still said that they would look into it. This dance went on for months. I would get a bill; they would look into it and I would get a bill again. Eventually, I received a notice from a collection agency.
Please note here that the original bill was for $1500.00, but they had failed to cancel them, so the bill had increased to $2300.00 even after I contacted them!
At this point, I felt that I would have to contact Ted Rogers, as no-one else had been very useful. After a bit of thought, I decided I would contact Goldhawk, the consumer advocate whose sponsor is - you guessed it - Rogers. Goldhawk dealt with it very quickly. I received a nice note from a Goldhawk researcher who informed me that the matter had been cleared up.
The researcher also told me that no one at Rogers believed me!!! They all believed that I was perpetrating a scam!
With the exception of the first person I contacted, none of them ever informed me they didn't believe me. Visa believed me. The City police believed me. The fraud division in Montreal believed me.
I have not, nor will I ever, give Rogers one thin dime, willingly. I do not rent videos from Rogers, I will not purchase their phones. I actively tell co-workers, students and friends to avoid Rogers.
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#3
Credit Rating Unfairly and Arbitrarily Altered
/ By R.M.
How do we stop Rogers from having the power to ruin our Credit Rating.
I had the phone for less than a week, returned it - all according to the Contract - but still got charged for a year's service. The deal was, unlimited minutes, any time - all the time, no limits. They claim I went a minute over the allowed time. Not true, there were no limitations. I got it from one of their marketing agents, over the phone. It was a trial use. I decided, I didn't want the phone, don't want it, never want it, and yet I have to pay for a year service, plus interest. $290.00 and still growing, two years later. I refuse to pay this ransom to get back my Credit Rating. Whenever I tried to reach Rogers, there was never anyone in authority to listen to my explanation. It was an endless loop of nonsense on their part. They would constantly call and tell me I owed them money. I changed my phone no. That is the only reason the calls stopped.
It's up to me to convince companies like Equa Plus and the others who hold my Credit Rating; that I'm right about my claim. Will they believe me? why should they, they have Rogers giving them business.
This negative Credit Rating has directly affected my ability to attain credit cards, and mortgage arrangements. My Mortgage Broker told me I should pay it, to clear up my record.
I worked for 28 years at the University in the Administration Offices. I had an auto accident in 1998, had long term health problems, went on disability, early retired and ultimately had some financial problems. I cleared this up by 2003. Then Rogers. The hard work I did to regain my good credit has now been spoiled by Rogers ability to dirty it with their power to claim I didn't pay them.
What can I do? I don't want to pay them a nickel!
Susan G.Drummond:
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre has published a report on the Credit Bureaus and problems that consumers and citizens have with the way they work. The report is a bit lengthy, but you might be able to find out what the remedies are that suit your circumstances. There have been (as you can see from the report) law suits - successful ones - for damages that flow from misrepresentations by the credit bureaus in consumers' credit reports. Here's the link to PIAC's report (you can download it as a PDF from the link):
http://www.piac.ca/financial/credit_reporting_how_are_consumers_faring/
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#4
Make it Stop - Please!
/By Bill
We move from Ajax to Uxbridge in July 2005. Two months prior to our move I called to cancel our Rogers Cable Service and Long Distance Plan. Rogers had called and offered a “bundled” long distance service – because we were loyal cable customers. Uxbridge does NOT have Rogers Cable – it is serviced by Compton Cable Company out of Port Perry.
At the time my cell phones were with Bell Mobile.
When we moved into our new home, Bell technicians were on strike and we were told we could NOT get phone service until the strike was over and even then it could take up to 3 months. So – and this is the important part – we registered with Vonage for VoIP and got a long-distance package with our phone service.
I did not receive any invoices from Rogers for several months. I had serious problems with Bell Mobile so transferred by cell phone to Rogers. This is when Rogers magically started invoicing us again for our long distance. I did not notice that they were invoicing the cancelled long-distance because the invoice said Rogers Wireless on the front – I had several phones for business. After a few months - when paying the invoices myself - I noticed our old Ajax Phone Number on the invoice. I immediately called Rogers – I was passed from department to department no one was “responsible for long distance”. After two hours, I finally reached a representative who said she would help me. She cancelled the account and indicated that Rogers would reimburse me for the 3 months they were illegally invoicing me. Three months went by and no invoice but also no cheque from Rogers.
Then magically they started invoicing me again. Again the bills were paid because they were labelled by Rogers as Rogers Wireless. Again after paying for 3 months I noticed our old AJAX number on an invoice. Again I called Rogers – to angrily cancel. I was told that I should NOT Have paid the invoice if I had cancelled but that I would reimbursed a maximum of 2 months. This time I sent emails to Rogers on each of their website Contact Accounts – you cannot email directly. I did not receive a phone call or email from anyone at Rogers – despite emailing every account.
The invoices stopped for 2 months and then – no cheque of course and guess what – yep – they started invoicing again. This time I sent an email to CRTC to complain. I received an email back saying that it is not their jurisdiction but that I should contact the company – that’s a laugh!!! I have tried to contact Roger’s headquarters to find out if they have an ombudsman – nope!
At this point I don’t care about the money – I just want it to stop!
Regards
Desperate
PS. Thank-you for this website
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#5
Rogers' Annoying 1 877 phone service
/By R.T.
I am a Roger's wireless subscriber, I had numerous charges made to my phone last year 05 from a third party sms messaging service. When I phoned (that lengthy and annoying roger's 1 877 phone service) I had little luck getting anyone to listen to me, let alone help me resolve this issue. I phoned our local outlet, which had assured me, back in 2004, that they had placed a block on my phone so this would never happen, and they referred me back to Roger's annoying 1 877 number. Needless to say after a frustrating time I opted to cancel my cell phone and pay the $200.00 penalty. Even with the penalty our local provider was still cheaper. Two days later I had someone phoning me, little ole me, to try to rectify the situation. Which she did beautifully, she removed all the charges and noticed I had too big a plan for the amount of minutes I used and reduced my monthly bill. Wow! I was very impressed, the very pleasant and understanding female employee went above and beyond to help, and I couldn't believe that Roger's would even care about a customer paying $40.00 / month, or be concerned with a dispute totalling around $200.00. I, however, have had to since cancel my plan as my roger's phone has never worked properly in my rural area and is virtually useless to me, outside the main city, where I live. Something they may have told me and others when we signed up. So its back to paying the penalty, and moving to our local provider anyway. I just really wanted to say that I was blown away with how they made my life easier after all was said and done.
Query from Susan G. Drummond:
Hi R.T.,
I'm just curious:
If you entered a Rogers Wireless contract for cell phone use and it turns out Rogers doesn't provide service to the area where you live, why are you having to pay a cancellation penalty of $200? Rogers could NOT (ever) have honoured its end of the contract. So why are you having to pay them to cancel a service they were incapable of providing in the first place (an incapacity they surely should have known about)?
I'm just curious about this (i.e., not providing legal advice) because there are a lot of complaints (and law suits) emerging out of the USA about those early termination fees (ETF's). The government has de-regulated this industry and market forces are supposed to be controlling. For Rogers to charge $200 for you to get out of a contract appears to operate as an unfair constraint on the open market. As you see, you have a cheaper option in your own backyard; the $200 penalty operates as a significant disincentive for you to pursue the more competetive option. Some lawyers have been saying that that operates as an unfair and oppressive constraint on market forces.
But in your case, on the face of it, it looks to me that the contract was, in any event, frustrated from the very beginning. Rogers could never have provided you with services and ought to have known as much.
So: Just curious: why are you paying Rogers $200?
Here's a link to a recent American report about the problems with early termination fees:
http://uspirg.org/uspirg.asp?id2=18537
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#6
My Experience
/By M.S.
Hi, I'm actually writing for a variety of reasons. First, I cannot tell you how much empathy I feel for you; I'm going through a nightmare with Rogers right now. I also of want to know if we can pool our efforts or solicit your help in finding a decent lawyer.
My problems began in 2001-2003 when I was employed by a multinational IT firm. When this firm began consolidating its telecom infrastructure and costs, they asked me and hundreds of other employees if we wanted to give up our number and have them automatically pay the bills (instead of me expensing it on a monthly basis). We were given the option of refusing and not being able to expense the bills. I chose to keep my number, partly because I had had it for a long time and also because I had already starting looking for work, using my cell as the primary number for headhunters and employers. To make a long story short, for whatever reason the employer asked Rogers to remove my name from the contract and Rogers did! For a few months, while I assumed the bills were being paid through my credit card, my employer received my bills and all of my personal information. One day, when I wanted to add road side service to my plan, I was told by the customer service representative that I did not appear on the system and that I was not their customer. Finally after a few days, the divulged the fact that the firm had taken over my service and I needed to go to them. It took a few months and a complaint to CRTC to get back my phone. In the end, I believe, Rogers contacted my employer, where I was forced to drop my charges against Rogers. Rogers explanation was that it was my employer who was at fault; they trusted that my employer had gotten my approval to take over my phone and for Rogers to divulge my personal information to my employer. They told me that I should call the police and charge my employer for violating my privacy. They don't think they have done anything wrong here.
In the years that ensued, they have made blundering mistakes get more amazing with time, which I have now started to document. For example, they would call me two days before a bill was due (having sent my bills via email to the wrong email address) and threaten me with reporting me to credit bureau. One person would tell me a few hundred dollars, and upon protest the next person would drop the cost to a different number. I would give them automatic withdrawl permission, but they still failed to withdraw the charges or they would charge me for services I didn't ask for. They would have weeks and weeks of communications via email, then figure out that they needed to check to make sure I was the right person.
Hopefully you get the message. It has been a nightmare. A couple of months ago, I gave them the option of cancelling the contracts and letting me go, because they didn't provide for my privacy, continually made mistakes in billing me and reporting me to credit bureaus for their mistakes (which they replied and dubbed as 'they are not major issues for your credit') and generally caused me undue stress. They have refused to do so and ask me to pay 200 dollars per phone. I have told them that I will be taking up this fight and am hoping you either can help or direct me to a good lawyer that can make them see that they cannot do that to a customer and get away with it.
Sorry for the long email.
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#7
Rogers and Me...Divorced after 18 Years
/By B.F.
I read your account of the debacle with Rogers and silently chuckled. My own story isn't quite so stressful but I didn't find it too humorous at the time.
Early last May my Wife and I decided we wanted to get new cell phones. We've been using our current ones for nearly 4 years. The next day I wandered into one of the Rogers stores and inquired about current models. I was advised to purchase the Motorola Razor phones. The odd thing was when I asked how much they would cost the Salesman couldn't answer the question. They could tell me how much the first one would cost but they could not tell me the price of the second one until I purchased the first phone. Thinking this was an odd way to do business, I left without purchasing. I immediately phoned Rogers customer service and asked the same question. All I want to know is how much it is going to cost to get two new phones! Apparently customer service was no better equiped to answer the question.
For some unknown reason I actually ventured back into the store, found a new salesman, explained to him I would not purchase a phone without knowing the entire price and was once again told the same story. There is no way to know the price of the second phone until I actually purchased the first one. Naturally after all this effort I was not about to fall for that. Also in my travels I stopped by a Bell store and found that they not only could tell me how much for both but they could sell them to me cheaper than Rogers.
I should note that each time I inquired (on the same day) I was quoted a different price for the first phone.
Armed with all of this information I called Customer Service one last time. I explained once again that there was no way I was going to commit to one new phone without knowing the price of the second. This representative was a little more understanding and after a period of time on the phone she came back and explained the whole process and gave me the price of the second phone. I couldn't beleive my ears!
I have been a customer of Rogers Wireless for over 18 years. I started with the original Cantel and have had the same phone number the entire time.
Bell would sell me two of these phones for $198 total.
Rogers wanted $368 for the same two phones!
When I pointed out that I could get them from Bell for almost half the price I was told that was because it was a new activation and that if I were a NEW Rogers customer then I could get a similar deal! IF I was a NEW Rogers customer! What happened to customer loyalty! I've been paying them for 18 years and am offering to go on doing that for another 3 minimum and I am less important than a NEW customer?
Anyway.... I sent an email off on May 9th to Ted Rogers which I truly expected to fall on deaf ears. Almost a month later I received a reply from the Admin assistant to somebody else. They wanted to talk about the problem and asked for a phone number. I gave them my new Bell cell phone number. They never called.
The real kicker to the story is that when I called Rogers and cancelled my service they suddenly found a new pricing structure and claimed that all 4 of the people I spoke to were looking at the wrong price list. Funny how they can suddenly accomodate you when they know it's too late!
Of course just to make it even more fun, last month my boss decided to upgrade his Rogers phone. He decided to get the Razor. He's been with Rogers for a dozen years. They gave him the phone for FREE and he doesn't even have an expensive plan like mine! He enjoys coming by my desk regularily and showing me his new phone.
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#8
Rogers Dispute - Never Ending Saga
/By B.C.
I am currently in a dispute with Rogers over monthly charges that are not in line with what I signed up for in January of this year. From February to April I spoke with various reps over the telephone to sort out the problems and would be satisfied the problem had been resolved until I received the next monthly invoice. The amount in dispute was under $100. In the meantime, I refused to pay the extra charges they were applying. (I have made sure to stay in frequent contact with Rogers so that they would not be able to claim I was avoiding payment but that became yet another fiasco too lengthy to approach here, in this email.) Finally, in April I put my complaint in writing and requested them to respond, by return post, presenting a breakdown of how they arrived at their charges so that I could sit down and sort out the problem. I made several written requests, since April, to no avail.
Yesterday, in addition to written breakdown of how they are billing my account, I requested that they send me the taped recordings of our conversations so that I would be able to prove to them what they were "saying" was my deal was not what they were "applying" on their invoices to me. (They can convert taped conversations into .wav files that can be transmitted via email.) Initially, I refused to pay the charges that were "unrelated" to our agreement. But that proved to be a futile effort.
To date, my dispute with Rogers continues and they still refuse to put in writing what they stated to me on the telephone. I've never heard of a request for written verification/confirmation being a problem for any credible business. I am asking them to explain in writing how they are arriving at the monthly charges they are applying. When I speak to a rep they claim to "change the deal" in my favour but the next bill is more complicated than the last. And so on and so on...the saga never ends!
I've decided to pay whatever it takes to get away from ever having to deal with Rogers again. I don't have the time for this; which is, I am very certain, exactly what Rogers counts on in these instances. I wonder if they count on a percentage of revenue generated from their questionable application of charges? Scary to think about, actually, so many of us just pay because we don’t have time to fight and who can be on the telephone all the time to do it?
Anyway, believe in life that what goes around comes around...just look at Bell. Am looking forward to Rogers' turn on the come around.
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#9
Boy, do I have a story to tell
/By L.M.
I have been a customer of Rogers for many years with all the services including going to the video store. Most of my troubles with Rogers has been with the cell phone. I have had several stolen/lost (due to kids being not responsible) but Rogers tells me to wait 6 months to get a replacement of the same quality cell phone. In the meantime I am paying the bill each month for a phone that I don't have. The replacement phone was junk and it cost me $75. Well I had the phone for 2 years I had to phone customer service every month because they made some type of mistake on the invoice and it was a bundle package.
I would be waiting on the phone for over 1.5 hours before getting service some days. Other times, they would charge me for long distance when the person was calling me from 6 blocks away (another Rogers phone) and to prove it I would have to take off work (during their working hours) and call them from that location to prove it was not long distance. As soon as my contract was up with them, I cancelled them.
I hate Rogers so very much that when they bought Sprint I changed back to Bell Canada (who I am not happy with either). I don't go to their video store either. Also, their customer service is terrible.
Good luck with the tea party and Ted Rogers.
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#10
Rogers: Say 'please' or I won't transfer your call
/By T.R
A Roger’s employee hung up on me instead of transferring the call to another dept because I would not say “please.” I had spoken to two Roger’s employees and been on hold for one hour before getting to the third employee who also could not help me straighten out my billing issue. I was clearly frustrated by all the waiting but not abusive or unprofessional in any way when I asked to be transferred to the right dept if she couldn’t help. She said “say please” and I said “huh, just the transfer the call” and click, she hung up. What a little Hitler!
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#11
Rogers' grade: F for effort
/By M., Toronto
I am a student at one of Canada's major university business schools. Everytime a class discussion about POOR customer service, employee relations, or quality management arises, Rogers Wireless is always mentioned. Rogers continues to be my professors' favourite example of how to operate a business that pisses off a maximum number of [former] customers.
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#12
Your Rogersandme.ca web site
/F.W.
Hi Susan,
I read about your website in yesterday's Metro and just wanted to congratulate you on an excellent job of publicising Roger's shortcomings and miserable customer service. I can sympathise with your situation as I also previously had problems with a cable company (ntl in the UK) and started a website (nthellworld) take the battle public. I think poor customer service, especially the ability to correct billing errors, is inherent in a lot of telecoms companies, at least in my experience of all telecoms companies in the UK and Canada. My experience with Rogers is failed promises from customer service, billing you what they feel like without notification, and a distinct lack of interest and inability to fix problems with the service (while they are billing you).
Anyway, I wish you every success with your website, and your legal battle with them. I hope you decide to take it all the way and win, as Rogers need to be taught a very public lesson that their behavior in trying to bully consumers into submission is shameful. The fact that they are unhappy about the website reinforces the fact that you are getting it where it hurts, and this echoes my experience with cableco-exposing websites :) I also think that you will find, if you haven't already started receiving a lot of email, that there are a LOT of people with similar experiences as yourself. This is what I found when I first started my website, and it snowballed from there. If you are interested in making them sit up and pay attention, then a good way to do this is to add a discussion forum to the site so that people can add their own experiences. This also documents everyone else's negative experiences and creates a PR nightmare for them. The power of the internet in bringing together disgruntled consumers into a powerful lobby group for a private company is not to be underestimated.
Good luck, and I look forward to keeping up with your story and will pass on word about your website at every opportunity.
Regards,
Frank
PS. Feel free to publish this email, and if you are interested in the idea of a forum then let me know and maybe I can help.
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#13
Rogers Wireless Help!
/By A.G.
I was just surfing the web and I came upon your website (http://www.rogersandme.ca/) and I TOO currently have a problem with the company, and am wondering if you could help. This is what happened.
I opened up an account a couple years ago and had some minor problems here and there with their customer service. So about a year and a half later, I bought my mom a cell phone on the same account. After my 2 year contract had expired I decided to leave rogers because they were a pain in the @$$ to deal with. So it was just my mom phone on that account. She then, (not sure of the dates) opted out of her plans either after the 2 year contract, or a few months early. She talked to the CSR on the phone, and they said it was all good, that she was to pay her last bill and she was all done. Well this is where the REAL trouble happened. I went to apply for an overdraft on my bank account, and there was something blocking my credit... ROGERS. They said ROGERS had sent me into collections for an unpaid bill which was about a year late. WE have absolutley NO recollection of this "mystery" bill that came in, as we thought we just paid our last months bill which included the fees and whatnot and that was that. So my account was sent into collections without any contact from Rogers, informing me that this has happened. I paid my bill every month, so why would I decide to not pay the last month "bill" (which again, we don't remember receiving). SO as we contacted Rogers they seemed to not really care, and basically said tough luck. I then sent the money to the collections company. But now my credit's been damaged due to this Rogers bill. They did not once call, send a letter, e-mail ANYTHING to let us know that we missed this bill, and it was going into collections. So my question is, is there anyway to get Rogers to say themselves that it was their mistake? and possibly remove it from my credit history?
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#14
My Dealings With Rogers
/By S.B.
Dear Mr. Bruce [Robert Bruce is the President of Rogers Wireless Inc],
I am writing to you in the hope that common sense can begin to enter the dispute I am currently having with your company. Rogers Wireless felt it necessary to block all my current phones on the morning of August 30, 2005. I have been a customer of Rogers Wireless for 13 years and my cell accounts are in good standing with Roger’s.
However according to the collections department of your office, I am being held financially responsible for a delinquent account from the year 2000 belonging to a Ms. T. C.. In November, 1998 I co-signed an agreement with a one year terms to assist Ms C. in obtaining a cell phone account with Roger’s. However my responsibility for that account ended in November 1999, which Roger’s confirmed on November 1999. This arrangement and the limitations of my involvement was clearly understood by Roger’s. The year after this arrangement was put into place I phoned Roger’s to confirm that I had been removed from Ms. C.’s account. At that time I was told by your staff that Ms. C.’s account was in good standing and that I was no longer listed as a guarantor on her account and that my personnel Information would be removed from the account.
I was first made aware of this delinquent account in December of 2004. I was opening a new account for my son. I was asked about an account under the name T. C., I explained the situation andI was told not to worry about it by your representative on the phone. I was allowed to open the new account and accepted a three year contract for this new account. Furthermore, one month later, I was able to renew my other existing account with Rogers for an additional three year term. With this renewal I received a new phone and I was able to add a couple of additional phones to this same account and changed it to a family plan. No mention was made of any complications or obligations arising from Ms. C.’s delinquent account.
However on August 30, 2005 when I contacted Roger’s to determine why my cell phone would not accept or send calls, I was informed that as Ms. C.’s account has been delinquent since the year 2000, until I pay the amount owing Approximately $280.00 my cell phone account will remain “blocked” although I will still be expected to pay the monthly fees on my account. When I reminded the Roger’s agent whom I spoke with of the terms of my prior involvement with Ms. C.’s account, I was shocked to find that Roger’s had not removed my personal information on her account as previously agreed and was now using this information in an unlawful attempt to force me to pay her delinquent account.
In addition to unlawfully attempting to enforce the terms of a guarantee which Roger’s previously admitted had terminated, Roger’s has violated my rights regarding my personal information by using personal information which Roger’s collected regarding me for a purpose which I did not authorize. Roger’s collection personnel admitted to using my personal information listed on Ms. C.’s account. Over the course of several conversations with Roger’s collection staff, repeated references were made by your representatives concerning the use of my social insurance number to link me to Ms. C.’s account.. This is information that I asked to be removed from her account well prior to the year 2000 and which Roger’s had previously confirmed as removed.
I would also point out that Roger’s has violated the Privacy rights of Ms. C. by improperly informing me of the financial and legal situation with her account. As I am not and have not been for several years obligated or associated in any way with her account, Roger’s acted unlawfully in informing me of the status and details of Ms. C.’s personal account.
In addition to the points noted above regarding the expiration of my agreement with Roger’s to guarantee Ms. C.’s account, I would also point out to Roger’s that in the Province of Alberta the limitation period for pursuit of this kind of matter is limited to 2 years from the date that the default arose. Therefore Roger’s attempts to now enforce any obligation of a guarantee on this delinquent account against me are well outside the limitation period and are therefore invalid.
To make matters worse Roger’s collection staff have made it clear that my failure to pay Ms. C.’s delinquent account would affect my credit rating and that this matter has already been sent to a collection agent. Roger’s has therefore caused me harm and damage by its unlawful actions.
In conclusion and summary:
1. My original agreement to guarantee Ms. C.l’s account expired in November 1999. This was confirmed by Roger’s in conversations with me also in November 1999.
2. I asked Roger’s and Roger’s agreed in November 1999to remove all personal information regarding me from Ms. C.’s account. Such removal was verbally confirmed by Roger’s on the same date.
3. Rogers wireless was aware of this delinquent account when Roger’s opened a new account for me in December 2004 and renewed my existing account. At the time I was advised by Roger’s staff that Ms. C.’s account and the status thereof would not having any bearing or impact upon me or my accounts with Roger’s.
4. Roger’s attempt to enforce my previously expired guarantee regarding Ms. Roger’s account is outside of the two year limitation period and therefore is unlawful.
5. Roger’s has used my personal information in violation of my rights by using such information for a purpose which I did not authorize (i.e. collection on an account for which I have no legal or financial obligation).
6. Roger’s has violated Ms. C.’s privacy rights by disclosing confidential information regarding her account to me.
7. Roger’s has breached the terms of its cellular service agreement with me by denying service as of August 30, 2005 in an unlawful attempt to force me to pay a delinquent account for which I have no responsibility.
8. Roger’s actions in encouraging me to extend the terms of my existing cellular service contract and enter into an additional cellular service agreement are in bad faith and appearto be an attempt to gain leverage over me in order to unlawfully collect Ms. C.’s delinquent account (by granting new service agreements then withholding service afterwards while still maintaining that I am obligated to pay for service which I am denied).
7. Roger’s has also caused me harm by unlawfully impairing my credit record.
8. Roger’s actions have caused me and my family a great deal of stress thereby causing me and my family further harm.
Therefore as a result of Roger’s actions I am forced to:
1. Send a copy of this letter to Ken Engelhart, your Chief Privacy Officer with a request that he provide me with full details regarding (i) all personal information that Roger’s or its agents have collected about me, (ii) how it has been used and (iii) to whom such information has been disclosed. I will expect his full and complete report within the prescribed thirty day time periodprescribed by The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
2. Inform Ms. C. of Roger’s violation of her privacy rights.
3. Send a copy of this letter to the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission requesting their assistance in dealing with Roger’s in this matter.
4. Send a copy of this letter to Alberta Consumer and Corporate Affairs and their Federal Government counterpart, requesting their assistance.
5. Seek legal redress from Roger’s for damages and harm done to myself and my family as a result of Roger’s actions in this matter.
I would prefer to resolve this matter amicably. However Roger’s heavy handed actions in dealing with me are forcing me to engage in a full formal conflict with Roger’s. I am prepared to forebear from taking harsh action in this matter provided that Roger’s do the following within 7 days from the date of this letter:
1. Roger’s must cancel all of my existing cellular service agreements with it at no cost or consequence to me or my family.
2. Roger’s and its agents must cease and desist from all attempts to collect Ms. C.’s delinquent account from me.
3. Roger’s must expunge all evidence of this matter from my credit record with any and all agencies and listings that may have been advised of Roger’s false claims of my failure to pay Ms. C.’s delinquent account.
4. Roger’s must provide me with evidence that my credit record has been cleared of any mention of this matter (including copies of letters sent by Roger’s to the appropriate credit reporting agencies).
5. Roger’s must issue a formal written apology to me regarding its conduct in this matter..
I am deeply offended that after being a customer of your company for 13 years,you would do this to me and my family. We depend on cellular phones daily in our lives as a matter of safety, business and convenience. I am very disturbed by Roger’s tactics in dealing with this matter. After encouraging me to extend my business and relations with Roger’s, your staff cut off my service without so much as a letter or phone call. I had to phone Rogers to find out why my phone was not working. Nobody, I repeat, nobody ever contacted me regarding this delinquent account. I had no idea that it was a problem until my phone service was blocked. . Even after having talked to your representatives I have still not received anything in writing from Rogers regarding the delinquent account. However Roger’s continues to send me the bills for the cell phone accounts that it has blocked...
I trust that you will see the need to rectify this situation promptly. As cell phone service is important to my family’s safety and well being, I have had to arrange service with a competitor of Roger’s. Should you desire to reach me in person, I can be contacted at (780) 222-2222 on the Bellnetwork.
Sincerely:
S. B.
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#15
My Story
/By B.J.
I signed up with ROGERS about 4 years ago. At that time, they gave me a slim Motorola 333 ( it's a very small phone). For about 6 months it was working fine and then the battery would only last about 15 minutes after its full charge.
I contacted ROGERS and was told by them that they can not do anything because it was a MOTOROLA phone. I stated it should not matter because ROGERS gave me that phone. They again indicated that I would have to wait until 3 yrs is up to get a new phone for free. They also stated they were aware of the problems these particular phones had but there was nothing they can do. I could send it to Motorola and they will replace it ( I have to pay for that). The operator also questioned me as to how was it possible to talk no more than 15 minutes on the phone because our conversation was well over 30 minutes... I said it was plugged into the wall outlet.. it's the only way to talk to someone for more than the 15 minutes.
I also discussed my bill with them...seems I had a package price of $65 a month, yet all my bills were overcharged to double that... they stated I had no such package and was charged for each minute.
Eventually I was getting disconnected at least once every 2 months because I left 50 cents as an outstanding balance.. I did it on purpose to see if they would disconnect me... they did. When I called they stated it was $25 to reconnect. I argued that and said it was ridiculous to charge that amount for an outstanding balance of $1.
By this time I was fed up with ROGERS.. it cost me a lot more money and time to deal with a defective phone that they KNEW about. I finally got a new phone albeit early because I hassled them relentlessly for a new one.
I kept it for about a year and a competitor was offering a better deal. I called ROGERS to see if they would match and I would stay with them... then answer I got was NO..they do not match the competition. I cancelled my agreement early and went to the competition and I am glad to say that not only do I have a better deal but I also talk to a friendlier person and my bills are no longer over $150 a month as it was with ROGERS... yet the talk time is the same. I compared the bills and it seems ROGERS love to overcharge.
On a more personal note....I heard about your story and was amazed to read that Mr. Rogers himself was a target... did he pay the bill in good faith ? Or was it brought to zero as he said he would do with you? I wish you all the luck with your fight and encourage anyone else who has dealt with this awful company to do the same as you.
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#16
Rogers...and me, too
/By K.M.
Hello Susan,
I stumbled across the rogersandmeca website today. I thought you'd like
to know you're not the only one who has suffered because of Rogers. I
can totally relate. Please read on if you're interested:
Best regards,
K.M.
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#17
Fed Up With Rogers
By J.M.
I've read about your experience with Rogers with great interest. We are now embroiled in a situation that is frustrating beyond belief.
I'll just outline a few of my negative experiences. I live in Fredericton, New Brunswick. In Sept of 2005 we moved within the city, maybe a mile from our original home. Certainly within walking distance. I called Rogers to report the coming move, giving them the moving date and the new address. They made an appointment with me to have the cable hooked up on the day after the move. Well, that day came and no Rogers. I waited another day and I finally called them. Only to be told that they had indeed hooked us up at our new address. I said, no you haven't. They insisted they had and read out the address. THEY HAD HOOKED US UP IN ANOTHER CITY IN NEW BRUNSWICK! They had disconnected someone else and hooked my cable up there. At least that's what they told me. I was furious. Then they told me that because of back log it would be at least 10 days before they could get to my proper address. I threw a hissy fit and they showed up in about 48 hours. No apology, no acceptance of making a mistake.
That was Sept. It was Dec before I saw a bill. The three bills for Sept, Oct and Nov were being sent to the other city. To an address that wasn't me! I made several calls and said I wasn't going to pay a cent until they got the billing straightened out. They promptly cut off our cell phones. I called again and finally got to talk to someone with some common sense. She restored our service and had a copy of all bills sent to my proper address within a week.
Then we come to this year. I added a third cell phone onto my family plan for my 16 year old daughter for Christmas. Unbeknownst to me, no one having explained to me, I guess I extended our wireless contract for another three years by doing so. I didn't sign a thing and the young gentleman who took my order over the telephone never mentioned a thing about it to me. The last thing we want to do it to extend our relationship with Rogers.
My January bill was over billed by almost $500. My February bill was over billed by almost $300. Anyone who has Rogers wireless knows what those bills look like. You have to go through them with a fine tooth comb. In March I called the accounts receivable dept because I was completely confused at that point exactly what I owed. The bills were so messed up. I spoke to a woman named Mary. I asked her exactly what I owed in arrears and her answer to me was $59. I was surprised. I thought it was more. I indicated that to her and asked her to check again. She gave me the very same answer. I asked for her name and employee number and she got quite short with me and informed me that she worked in that dept and she was giving me the right information. So, I took her word for it. In fact I remember her words..."after they took all the credits off, your balance is $59."
Well, once again our cell phones were disconnected. It seems that she was $300 off the mark. When I explained the situation to the next person I spoke to, it was "well, I don't anything about that"..."that's not my department"....."yada, yada, yada".
We are so fed up. I will admit that I owe that money, but when I called to get the exact amount from the horse's mouth, they gave me the wrong amount and I based my payments on what she told me. We've had no success with anyone at Rogers listening to us or giving a shit. At this point, our cable TV, internet hookup, long distance and cell phones are all through Rogers. I'm so thankful I kept the home phone with another provider. We are planning to move everything back to the other provider and get a satellite dish to replace Rogers cable.
I've had it. Right now we're being billed for cell phones that are disconnected and our TV cable has been cut back to basic. I expect any day to come home and find my internet disconnected too.
We do plan to pay the balance. But we are two working parents making $50,000 combined with four teenagers. We can only pay what we can pay. If I had been given the correct information, I would have budgeted accordingly.
Thanks for your time and for your ear. I was feeling so alone until I read about your law suit. Hope this hasn't been too long.
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#18
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh
By B.C.
My blood pressure will rise to dangerous levels if I reiterate the gory details of my rogers experience.
Coles notes version:
I called Rogers to take advantage of a "Family Plan" promotion. My husband already had a rogers cell account. The promotion was a family rate for two phones - my new phone was free of charge and would arrive shortly.
The phone arrived, worked sporadically for a few days and then died. After paying to repair it (I believe twice?), and still without success. I called and requested a replacement "working" phone. No go - I would have to pay for a new phone because, don't quote me on this, I had used the phone for over 10(?) minutes and therefore the warranty was up.
My grudge, according to Rogers, was with Motorola, as they provided the phone.
I was not allowed to cancel the Rogers contract over the phone because the contract was with my husband, though I had, via telephone, set up the contract.
The phone calls and emails (which I have) were too numerous and frustrating to repeat.
I tried to reason (with what little recollection I had of contract law from law school) that I was quite certain that there is an implied term that the goods (cell phone provided for consideration) should be fit for the purpose they are intended. Also, the contract with Rogers included providing me with a phone, and I did not recall making any contract with Motorola? (privity of contract?). Finally, if I was not authorized to cancel the contract because it was made with my husband, then surely there was no contract as they had never spoken to my husband - it was me who had set up the contract in the first place?
There was never a written contract for this Family Plan. I've always wondered about the implications of the numerous unwritten contracts Rogers insists on enforcing that were created via phone calls? Alas, I leave this question to a qualified Commercial Lawyer - no doubt plenty will get burned by Rogers.
This was 2 or 3 years ago. The bills came for months ($200 to $300) and of course, we refused to pay. We received the collection notice and continue to receive calls from the collection agency approximately once per week.
I figure Rogers has spent ???$ in labour costs/collection fees in trying to retrieve less than $300.00.
Loved reading the Lawyer's Weekly story!!!!!!
Regards,
B.C.
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#19
Letter to Ted Rogers, cc'd to rogersandme.ca
By I.K.
Dear Sir,
I regret to have to contact you with such trivial matters, but I have been forced to do so through neglect, irresponsibility and incompetence of your staff who I have been dealing with thus far.
About a month ago, I requested my home telephone service to be switched to Rogers Analogue Telephone service. Since then, I have been promised 4 (yes four) install dates, I have spent hours on the telephone with your call center staff and supervisors, and have wasted my time and effort on something that should be straightforward and painless for the customer (at least from CRTC’s perspective).
Over this period I have been promised a number of things including callbacks from staff, supervisors and even “office of the president” - which never materialized. I was also reassured that each new installation was ‘the final one’. I was even given a one-month credit for the service which I still cannot use.
As you can see, despite my best efforts to become a Rogers home phone customer I have failed miserably; and it is not for lack of trying.
If I may respectfully suggest, your company is broken in more ways than can be counted. Processes are thoughtlessly followed, customer call data disappears from your CRM system and your hiring process is flawed as it appears that you employ at least several dishonest – or even lying – individuals; and ultimately throughout the process I got a feeling that your staff see consumers as a “necessary evil”. Not a single employee was willing or able to take responsibility for the issue and follow it through to completion. They were much more comfortable with passing it off to some other department or back into the proverbial void.
If I also may, I would like to put forward the thought that such incompetence is also very bad for your business. Since my initial request, I have spent a number of hours speaking to your agents, and probably as much waiting in various telephone queues. Due to inability of your organization to set up my account, I have probably already cost you in excess of $150 – for a $30/month service.
Therefore dear Sir, I turn to you in one final effort to bring the Rogers Home Phone service to my home. As somebody who “ In business, has always emphasized customer service ” I trust that you will be able to assist me.
Respectfully Yours,
I.K.
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#20
Family Plan Frustrations
By Eve F.
Dear Susan,
Thank you for putting up your Rogers and Me site! It's a relief to know that there are people who are willing to put up a fight against unreasonable cell phone charges and all these legal run-arounds. I myself have had problems with Rogers ever since getting a plan with my family and being lied to about what we would be charged. We were initially told that all calls would be free between family members (including long distance charges, which we made sure to verify as my parents were in Toronto and I was at university in Kingston) and we suddenly started getting $200 bills for my cell phone and an additional $100 for the other two phones on the plan. When we complained, they said they had changed our plan to a different one because the family plan no longer existed. We checked the website, and they were still offering that plan! On top of all this, when they added my phone they restarted the contract so we'll be stuck in this contract until April of 2008. It's been so frustrating trying to get this resolved, and seeing as none of us have much legal knowledge we have no idea how to fight it or get out of our plan. My father called yesterday attempting to sort it all out, and the line was mysteriously "dropped" in the middle of the conversation. Arg!
I'm glad your site is out there. Keep up the good work and thank you again!
Cheers,
Eve
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#21
Disputed Long Distance Bill
By M.F.S.
In November of 2006 I consolidated all my telecommunications needs under Shaw communications and notified Rogers by phone that my long distance arrangement was no longer required. I was informed that the service would be cancelled and that the automatic debit of $28.83 would no longer be charged to my visa account.
I subsequently received another invoice in December showing that the deduction continued. I notified Rogers by phone of the event and after explaining the situation to the representative I was told that indeed the service had been cancelled and that a credit would be issued. I subsequently received an invoice in January 2007 with a further months charge. After a phone call to Rogers I was informed that the company was unable to refund to my Visa account but that a refund cheque would be mailed to me, the visa automatic charges would be cancelled and that I would receive no more invoices.
I received no refund cheque but I again began to receive invoices in April 2007 with accumulated monthly charges. to this day and three months later I have received monthly invoices, weekly calls and a letter threatening legal action. On my part I have attempted to contact Rogers but have little success finding an oficer of the company to deal with this issue. All offers by the billing personnel to transfer my call to the correct office have ended up taking me back to the computer generated answering machine with its impossible to navigate voice system.
Letters I have written have gone unanswered. The amount they have charged against my cancelled account is still paltry but the threat of report to a collection agency and the effect it would have on my business deaslings would be disturbing. Your web site is very much appreciated. Thank you