New Cell Service Nightmare w/ Rogers

[Yesurbius]

:: I'm posting this, not as a gripe, but to find out if others have experienced the same - and for options of what I should do ::

Wife is from Greece - and wants to text message her friends over in Europe (Finland, London, and Greece). We looked at both Fido and Rogers and because Rogers had more coverage - we decided to try them. Checked online land saw they had a Family Plan offer where you can buy one phone, get one free - and share the same plan. Exactly what we needed.

Day One:
Went down to Rogers store and Wife and I inquired about service. They said that we could text message to the GSM networks in Europe, and they confirmed the Family Plan deal with us - it sounded great.

We purchased a Family Plan from Rogers, with a 2 year contract. Got two Motorola T720s. They required a $200 deposit for each phone due to inadequate credit .. but that's fine - we did that. Got the two phones ... fantastic. Was told there would be the first month's charges, an activation fee for each line, a monthly access fee for each line, and a 911 access fee for each line. First bill should be roughly around $150... that's fine. We got that.

First call I made was to my Mom to tell her about my new phone number. I had to redial 3 times due to dropped calls. Signal Strength meter is near-full ... no audible interference. Just boom - it dropped.

Could not send text messages to any of our numbers in Europe.

Day Two:
Went back down to the store - and were told to call customer service.

Made two calls this day, and both dropped quite a few times.

Day Three:
Called Customer Service and was informed that text messaging to Europe was only supported on networks Rogers had agreements with. Checked the website - and it means 3 out of the 15 people we know over there - are reachable. Major letdown.

Took the bus to work - called wife various times on way there - placed a total of 14 calls to try to talk that day - dropped like mad

Day Four:
Using the navigate a lot - so called and had $7 bundle removed, and $9 bundle added, with $12 navigate option.

Wife's Text messaging stopped working. Called Cust Service. Apparently when I made changes, the woman removed her $7 plan. Guy added it and said to call later to get the $7 plan back on (??)

Wife's Internet Stopped Working. Cust Service closed.

Four calls today, only one dropped.

Day Five:
No service. Phones were suspended. Cust service unable to tell us why. Need payment of $200 to reactivate phones. Have to pay at a Roger's Video and then it'll take 24 to 48 hours to reactivate. Went to Roger's Video and very helpful staff - tried calling three times to report we made the payment (give auth #) ... everytime he got off hold the line was disconnected. (phone Probs?) Wife called from Cell Phone. Turns out we were disco'd because the new charges (which were PENDING charges) were added to account and threw us over $200 limit. First Agent repeated 24-48 hours 3 times. Wife asked for supervisor and the woman said "I'll let a supervisor know - and they'll call you back in 24 to 48 hours". (gawk!).

That was 30 mins ago. Going to head down to where we bought phone now.

 

[LuShes]

Omg I was thinking of getting a Rogers cell phone in a few days! Thanks for that information, I think I might change my mind!

 

[Yesurbius]

Well, we went down and spoke with the representative that sold us the phone. She called .. was on hold ... on hold ... 65 mins later she spoke with accounts receivable. She gave them the authorization number to show we made the payment, but they still didn't do anything. Told us to 'borrow' a credit card so we could pay $20 to bring the account back under limit.

Oh yeah - we used our phones for a total of 10 mins airtime for actual calls - but an hour and a few minutes while calling Customer Service (*611) - so we can't return the phones nor change our mind on the entire plan - LOL.

Next avenue is to call retentions I guess. Why should I pay $600 in advance payments and they can't turn my phone on over $20?? Got retentions # 1-888-936-7283, off howardforums.

Anyone have any other avenues I can take to get this resolved? I'd hate to cancel service --- would have to get someone to unlock the phones, change my phone number (AGAIN), take out a new plan with another company, etc etc....

 

[LuShes]

Wow, that is just terrible! Sounds like a nightmare. Andem is the cell phone guru around here and should have some good suggestions.

But from what you say...I think I might skip rogers. I do have Rogers pay as you go right now on some little cheap cell phone. But pay as you go isn't that much of a hassel as to what you have gone thru so far!!!

 

[Yesurbius]

Customer Retentions wouldn't even talk to me - was transferred to Accounts Receivable. The skinny of it is that they show my payment as having been received, it is only $14 over the limit - but there is no way for them to reactivate the phone, other than paying with credit card or waiting 24 to 48 hours there is nothing they can do. Was told they are "confident" it will be active tommorrow.

They are "aware of the customer frustration with the billing system and they are upgrading it".

Personally I find that BS because if they can take a credit card payment and activate it, then they can activate it without. The CC payment and the reactivation are two separate steps.

Bottom line is that they do not want to assist me. So essentially I live with it.

EDIT: Or I can spend extra $$ just to exercise my consumer right and leave their service for FIDO. Anyone know anybody in Winnipeg that can give me a price and unlock two Motorola T720gs ?? ..

 

[LuShes]

And how long have you had the phone for again?

And you have only made like a few calls on it, and already owe a few hundred dollars?

Thats just horrendous! It makes no sense...

 

[Yesurbius]

Got the phones on June 13th (Sunday Afternoon)

Paid $200 per phone as a deposit. ($400 total)
Paid $49.99 for the one Phone, plus tax.
Second phone was free.
------------
We paid that initially.

Was told on our first statement we'd see:
$55 / mo = Family Plan with two phones

Phone #1:
$7 essentials
$25 activation fee
.25 cents 911 fee
$6.95 System Access Fee

Phone #2:
$9 essentials
$12 navigate Plan (WAP/GPRS Internet)
$25 activation fee
.25 cents 911 fee
$6.95 System Access Fee
-------------------
$122.40 + $17.14(tax) = $139.54

Plus we made about $10 in long distance == $150.94
They say we are at $214.xx

$65 in 3 days = something is wrong. I have no doubt that when I receive my bill things are going to hit the fan.

 

[gnuman]

Geeze good thing I don't got a cellphone... I guess lesson here is use pay as you go before you sign a contract cuz I was actually looking into getting one and the only 2 I was going to choose from was Telus or Fido.

Rogers isn't even open on Sunday and neither is Bell! IF they want customer satisfaction then they should be open 7 days a week!

 

[Yesurbius]

Couldn't go Pay As You Go - only had an old Startac 6500 Analog. But yeah - shoulda got a loaner or *SOMETHING* before I jumped in.

 

[LuShes]

Well I am tired of pay as you go...always having to go to the store to buy more minutes for the cell phone. The need the phone for one call, and I'm outta minutes... lol.

I had a cell phone before with rogers...but before i knew it, i was owing them so much money..So i went to cancel outta the 2 year contract ahead of time, and they dinged me $300. So before I knew it they were chasing me for like $500!

But I have a better paying job now, so I think I can afford it. But after that horror story I will stay away from rogers I think, lol.

 

[Yesurbius]

Yeah - the bill finally appeared on their website. They billed me for ONE day....

so what they did was they took my data limit per month and divided it by 30. (which is 9k) Then they took my data usage for that one day (900k), subtracted the 9k and billed me 3 cents for the remainder at a per-kb charge...

 

[Andem]

Yesurbius, you might have the right to return your phone.

I am a former Rogers Cable employee, but I also dealt with some intertwined Rogers AT&T Wiress&Rogers Cable issues.

I know their old policy was if the phone was not acceptable before 15 days, you had the right to return it... But there was also something attached to that that said you could only use the phone for 15 minutes talktime along with the 15 days.. But sometimes it was either 15 days or 15 minutes talk time. Things may have changed.. but as far as I know, you CAN return the phone.. THe service is just not usable as you describe, so just return the phone. It's not acceptable, you can't use it.

Describe your whole situation as you have on this board and do no take no as an answer. RETURN THE PHONE!

 

[Shmad]

That is bullshit. Wow. I had a service plan with Telus before and although they weren't excellent I will be going back to Telus.

Im with Rogers right now and I have little or no coverage and if I do get a call or call someone it usually either a) Drops out or b) Cuts in and out. Keep in mind this is in MAJOR service areas. I'd hate to be somewhere other than a MAJOR service area with their 'Great Coverage Area'. Imagine if I was somewhere up north.. ya.. Might as well use my cellphone to beat the person attacking me and not even bother to call 911 or anything.

Im going back to Telus, they at least listen to your concerns and if you yell at them enough you usually get some kind of freebie for a month or two.

 

[Cyberm4n]

you should be very careful with who you choose! everybody knows how much trouble rogers cable and rogers wireless and rogers everything has been in the past. you really got to look around at your choices and go from there. just because rogers will offer you some stupid deal which screws you over in the long run, you really have to consider your options. is it worth it to be locked in with some contract when you can get no contract service from others like fido without and problem backing out??

look around before you get stuck with a contract, contracts are designed to do one thing and that is limit your choices so you are stuck with them!

 

[rogersemployee]

:roll: First off check out a website called www.ihaterogers.ca i belive it explains some stuff in there. But due to a poor credit rating you had to put down a $200 deposit and then on to of that we have a thing called CLM.....credit limit monitoring. So once your phone hits that limit that rogers set for you then boom your account gets suspended. No matter what the service reps say Rogers Video employees hate calling in cell payments. Some stores have a direct line to Rogers that gets your phone hooked up within 15 minutes. BUTTTT if you are on the credit limit your phones will not be reinstated until they recive payments at thier end and please people pay your ^%#*#@ bills at the bank and pay them on time!!!!. I swear rogers would give a phone to a monkey. :twisted:

 

[Vincent_2002]

Yes!! Rogers at&t is a nightmare. Forget about them and go with bell mobility or fido or telus.

 

[Bobbie16]

Ok I have worked with Rogers phones for 3 1/2 years now and I have had one myself for just as long. Rogers isn't perfect, nore are any of the other companies! Fido doesn't have coverage outside of major corridors which is why they seem to have such great deals! They need something other than coverage to draw people in! Telus and Bell can't offer global roaming and their phones work on digital and analog. Rogers phones (with the proper frequencies) can work almost all over the world. They also are always digital but still offer the same amount of coverage of Bell and Telus if not more. As for the whole issue with having the phone cut off and having to pay by credit card and so on....First off the rep who sold you the phone should have found out what you closing date was and informed you that you were going to have pro-rated charges (charges for one day). If they had told you that you would have known to hold of from using your phone for one day and you would have avoided all those data charges. As for the $200 limit they should have explain that you would have to keep the charges under $200 (billed and unbilled) in order to keep you phone active. If you go over your phone gets cut off and you have to get the balance back under. The reason they suggested credit card is because that's the only way that they get the money right away. Otherwise they have to wait for the payment to be transfered to accounts receivable. As for your reception you should not have been having that much trouble with your phone. It's either a problem with the settings or your particular phone. Usually if theirs a problem within 30days you can take it back and they will exchange it for another one. As for returning it the rule is still 15days/15minutes or 30days/30minutes (varies by store). The reason for the 15-30 mins rule is the fact that if you were just returning it cause you didn't like it we would no longer be able to sell the phone. (Would you want to buy a used phone for the same price as a new one?) Anyways...hopefully this will calm some of you that are now terrified of rogers. If you have anymore questions feel free to post them. I've probably heard them all before. I'm also great at solving billing and plan issues.

 

[Jaguar4u]

Rogers is the only company that won't compete. I also had a nightmare exerience with them. However, I agree with Andem, Refuse to accept their B.S. and insist on a full refund. Do Not give in. I wish I could go there with you. They really piss me off.

There is so much hidden B.S. charges and conditions that they do not tell you and you only find out after the 15 day or 15 minute policy expires. Yes that is still their policy :evil:

 

[Yesurbius]

Ok I have worked with Rogers phones for 3 1/2
years now ... (snipped short)

I know this is dragging up an old post but I thought I'd point a few things out.

In response to Bobbie16, everything that you wrote sounds very typical of what I heard from Rogers execs. It was made very clear what Rogers' policy is - and I understand that they had their policy. The problem however is their policies. I wasn't made aware of ANY of their stupid little corporate quirks before signing on - but because I was dealing with Rogers, I had to play things their way. Bottom line - you can make all the excuses in the world but it does not change the fact that there was a better way to do business; a more customer oriented way; but Rogers chooses to put their customer last and just rape them for every cent they have.

I told them they can keep my $400 damage deposit and apply it to whatever is owing. They still wanted an extra $230 bucks for all their 'extra charges'. I told them one month in advance but they had this thing were they have a 'billing cycle' and I just happened to call the day after my billing cycle started, so I'd have to wait another 30 days. I turned the phones off for those 30 days and they still billed me another $110 in charges. I still to this day have not paid my final Rogers bill. Their collection company came after me, and I had my lawyer contact the collection company and inform them that any collection would be unlawful as I did not owe any monies. We heard nothing more after that.

One other note - I solved my calling charge problem. I moved to Greece. I cannot begin to express how ANCIENT the Canadian wireless systems are. In Greece there are 220 wireless phones per 100 people. Yeah, there are more phones than people if you can believe that. While you can get a plan from the cell carrier and avoid paying a lot of money for outbound calls, most people buy prepaid cards for their phones. The great thing about phones here is that even normal land line phones pay for every call. Since the phones are set up in that manner, then if you call a cell phone from a land line, the higher charges appear on YOUR phone bill. This means that everyone can carry a cellular with them with absolutely no money on it, and receive all the calls they want (they just won't be able to call anything other than emergency numbers). Furthermore, they have 3G service practically everywhere in the country now (vodafone), and although it has not caught on very much outside Athens, you CAN do video calls anywhere within the country.

WiMAX is starting to become very popular now as a wireless networking technology, and a lot of cell providers are eyeing it as a way to expand to a new market. With the amount of towers up in Greece, the entire country could have high speed internet broadband within a few months... all it would take would be adding some extra radios onto each tower.

Amazing.

Thinking back to the crap I went through with Rogers and all however, I will say this much. The moment you don't get what you paid for (contract or not), return it. If they won't refuse it, then you get a witness, go into the store and you and the witness sign a paper in front of the clerk showing that they refused to take the products back. Once that is done - start a small court claim. You'd be suprised at how successful you can be.

 

[Said1]

Resist Rogers.