Good old Rogers!

If you live in Ottawa you no doubt know what rogers is. For those of you who don't it's the local cable company that also markets Internet "services" and wireless "services". I put quotations around services because that's what they call it and insist that's what they are providing. I've signed up for Rogers wonderful "Better Choice Bundles". The "Better Choice Bundles" allows customers who have more that one account with Rogers to combine there "services" onto one bill and save 15%. It's not really 15% tho on wireless services but that's another thing. (You only save 15% on your plan, not the hidden fees - which aren't so hidden on the bill!).

Signing up was easy enough. You go online and tell them what accounts you have and ask to be signed on, and the next day they e-mail you back and everything is ok.

Ok for the fist month that is. The bill for the second month arrived and suddenly they were charging me for 2 months of Cable and Internet. When I called and asked about this the Customer "Service" agent politely and rationally told me that my cable and internet will now be billed one month in advance since it was now on my cell phone bill and cell phones are billed one month in advance. It makes no sense to me, but ok.

Then I moved...........

Once moved in I noticed that my Bills were no longer combined. My internet and cable were separate from my Cell Phone. I was still getting the 15% off each bill - so I left it alone. (Don't ever get rogers to try and fix anything - they just make it worse). My bills stayed this way for 5 months - I was happy, I was still getting my 15% and I thought Rogers was happy............

That's when the April bill showed up!

I looked at my cell phone bill and for some strange reason my 15% discount was gone! So I called the number on the bill for enquiries. That's when I got the wonderful voice automated phone "service" - you know the wonderful system which you have to yell customer service about 20 times and listen to it say "I'm sorry I didn't understand, could you repeat that?" After sending my blood pressure through the roof I finally got to a real person who dealt with the problem the way all people at Rogers deal with problems "Oh that's not my department, you have to call another number for that." apparently Rogers has a special department just to look after problems and questions regarding the "Better choice Bundles". Luckily for me she was able to transfer me to that department and I didn't have to go through the Automated Customer "Service" thing again.

I slowly and carefully explained that my 15% better choice bundle discount had disappeared from my Cell Phone bill, to which she answered "So you want to sign up for the Better Choice bundles then?"
"No, I'm already signed up." I replied, "I've been getting it for the last 6 months"
"You couldn't have - your bills are not combined!" she replied. At this point I can tell that the customer "service" agent isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. I then went to great lengths to explain to her that the bills were separated by rogers but I had still been getting the discount.
To which she replied: "You couldn't have - your bills are not combined!"
At this point I told her I could fax her the last 4 bills that had been split up and show her the 15% discount. Then I asked her how it was canceled and she replied that I must have canceled it "because no one at Rogers would have done it" - I refrained from laughing and asking if anyone at Rogers does anything.
After a 10 min of me yelling and insisting that: I) I didn't cancel it, ii) I have been getting the discount, iii) and Rogers must have done it on their own. The Customer "Service" agent finally gave me a 15% discount on the cell phone bill and then proceeded to combine the bills.
Then I asked the final question - which she couldn't get through her head. Am I going to be billed to 2 months on cable and internet again. "Yes of course you will" was her answer! So I argued with her for another 10min saying that I've already had a doubling up of service charges and Rogers hasn't given me back the fist extra month they charged me for. Her only answer was that the bills are pro-rated and "it should all work out".

Stay Tuned - the May bill should be really interesting............................

My Blog

Hey Everyone!

Thought I would try to keep a bit of a online diary and daily tirade going. Figure I'll just use this as a venting tool against who ever and what ever is pissing me off. It's a long list - so there should be lots to whine about - and according to my girlfriend I'm pretty good at it! So stay tuned! Rogers and Bell are constant sources of entertainment!