Protocol for Lost or Stolen Phones:
• Work with the consumer and security services to locate the stolen phone and thief using signals from wireless control towers in real time.
• If Rogers has not already changed its policies such that consumers are no longer to be attributed charges fraudulently incurred on stolen or lost phones, change the policy accordingly.
• Task the Fraud/Loss Prevention Department to include protecting consumers' interests, along with Rogers'.
• Guard against raising false expectations in customers by avoiding unreasonable claims of safety with Rogers Wireless technologies.
• Lead the way in Canada by moving to a system of greater cell phone security whereby phones can only be used once a PIN is punched in.
Protocol for Preliminary Dispute Resolution:
• Provide a mechanism whereby consumers can disaggregate disputed from undisputed charges in order to pay off undisputed charges in a timely manner while the dispute remains unresolved.
• Establish a clear protocol to investigate disputed charges in a timely manner.
• Indicate on the invoice and the wireless provider's web site the protocol that consumers need to go through to dispute charges if they have been fraudulently incurred by a third party.
• Refrain from submitting an account to collection or legal treatment while there are disputes arising from the invoice.
• Cease from charging a late penalty on "disputed" charges.
• Refrain from interfering with wireless services on all cell phone numbers on a consumer's account while there are disputes arising from the invoice.
• Promptly release to the consumer all information related to the consumer's wireless service upon request, including digital audio recordings with wireless service employees.
Credit Bureaus
• Cease from reporting "disputed" charges as "overdue" charges with the credit bureaus.
Personal Information:
• Cease from including consumers' personal data identifiers (Social Insurance Number, credit card information, driver's license.) in the court/public record unless and until it has been established that such information is legally relevant to the legal proceeding.
Contract and Invoice Issues:
• Respect the contractual clause that stipulates that consumers are only liable for "undisputed" charges.
• If charges fraudulently incurred on stolen or lost phones are no longer to be attributed to the consumer/victim, remove the clause from the contract that claims that consumers are responsible for total charges until a lost or stolen phone is reported missing to the wireless provider.
• Given that the contract says that the consumer agrees to pay for "undisputed" charges, make clear on the invoice and via customer service representatives that there is a protocol to investigate disputed charges.
• Remove the arbitration clause from the contract, most particularly in those provinces where it is no longer enforceable.
• In provinces where the arbitration clause has not been judicially or legislatively rendered unenforceable, pre-emptively remove the arbitration clause from the contract in recognition that it is an oppressive way to manage risk. Improve consumer services and other aspects of corporate conduct and comply with the law as the preferred way to secure against the risk of law suits.
• Modify the disclaimer of liability clause on the wireless contract in accordance with unconsionability and actual liability, for example in cases where a cell phone has been cloned.
• Provide an on-line history and chronology detailing all changes made to Rogers' contract-related terms and conditions.
• Hold consumers to the actual contract they signed rather than one premised on implicit consent to post hoc modifications upon invoice payment; in addition to whatever superseding clause the consumer chooses to accept.