Monday, September 28, 2009

Goodbye Rogers! - Is a class-action appropriate?

Updated - 20091231
I can't believe these Rogers guys -- they can't keep their hand out of my pocket. I was trying to let it go, but it's really a comedy of errors that has played out over 4 months: 
  • Sept 2009 - See the post below. Basically, they slap me with a $360 early cancellation fee on my cell plan. 
  • Oct 2009 - They reversed my VIP savings and charged me back. I cancelled all of my other services with Rogers.
  • Nov 2009 - They slapped me with another set of early cancellation fees (despite their assurance there wouldn't be) for my TV and Internet (God Bless TekSavvy). 
  • Dec 2009 - This is the best part. I get a card from Rogers saying "Something's Been Missing You" and "We've missed you and want you back" - the envelope was addressed to "RESIDENT". Yes, that's right, they miss yours truly, Resident. Incredible. The best part, they offered a "free" digital cable box, valued at $550. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to retain me by showing a bit of empathy and flexibility with their ECF policy? 
Rumor has it that Rogers has engaged in some kind of social media presence. Search Twitter for #rogersfail, and you'll see @rogersrob diligently blocking and tackling (I'd imagine, not an easy job). I'm going to drop Rob a note, or maybe Mr. Phil Hartling, the VP that misses "resident" so much. 

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Not that it will make a difference, but the story needs to be told -- if only for my personal sanity. I'll make it short here, I promise:
  • Becky and I move back to Canada last year, she brings a BlackBerry (she had her own hardware, this is important) and I sign her up for no-contract service.
  • Becky starts school at Ryerson - and they up sell her, over the phone, to a "student plan". Cool - good deal.
  • Turns out we don't need Becky's line anymore, so we go to cancel it. Rogers dutifully cancelled the service.

Here's where it goes pear-shaped I get a bill in the mail, and I'm actually excited. Will be nice to not have that re-occurring expense. Turns out there was an early cancellation fee of $400 on the student plan.

This is BS for so many reasons:

  1. We didn't even need their stupid student plan.
  2. We didn't even get a "phone" out of the deal. If they had subsidized the phone, this is fair, but for an under-used wireless line, $400 is a little heavy handed.
  3. I've been a subscriber of rogers services as long as I've been buying phone-internet-cable.
  4. They screwed me last time I moved from Waterloo->Seattle with an early termination fee.
  5. We don't remember, but at no time were we told that there was an early-cancellation clause.

Anyway, I digress - so:

  • I call rogers last week and say "come on guys, this is crazy. I've been a rogers subscriber for years. I still have internet and cable with you. Cut me a break." The woman on the phone was arrogant and antagonistic and didn't budge.
  • I tweet my discontent and several people write back saying "check out teksavvy". I call them up, and they're rad - nicest people on the phone (the one guy said sarcastically about their $0.25/GB overage charge, "yeah, we rape our customers" (!awesome), great price, no contracts, they're in Chatham. Great except I needed to confirm that my building supports their service.
  • Confirmed today.
  • I called Rogers to cancel, one last chance to be a good corporate steward. Nope. I told him to cancel the remainder of my services, didn't ask for anything, didn't really mention the wireless issue until he asked, "yes, I'm a little frustrated with the wireless guys." His retort, "what?! you expect that you're going to threaten to cancel over a $400 ecf from a contract that YOU signed?" Fair enough, but still.

Technically, that is legally-technically, it's probably my fault -- I should have inquired about early-cancelation-fees, though I don't remember signing a contract. The spirit of the situation here makes me think we need more consumer protection around this sort of thing:

  1. It's illegal in California
  2. It's regulated elsewhere

Here are the clinchers:

  1. When I left Seattle for Toronto, TMobile hit me with an early cancellation fee. I called an explained - THEY WAIVED IT!
  2. I recently got an annual fee for a TD visa card that we don't use anymore. I called and cancelled the card after-the-fact, and TD (a bank for christ's-sake!) waived the fee and closed the card.

When the banks are the good guys in a story, you know we have problems with wireless providers in Canada.

Monday, September 14, 2009

To all the Americans looking forward to the 'public option' imagine renewing your healthcard at the dmv. I am doing so in Ontario right now.