Change in Payment Due Date

[TCV1214]

The recent change in Rogers payment due date will have a negative impact on those on monthly programs/payments like ODSP for example, those that are desparately struggling in these times! For example, this month's payment due date is May 30th. This means one day before people on the programs would receive funds to pay their bill. They will now be charged late fees. You will make money, from a change that makes this convenient for you, off of people who are trying to pay their bills on time and keep a very expensive service already!

I am amazed how these things are not considered when changes like this are made. There should be a provision to ensure this is always the last day of the month. Please do not take advantage of your service with those who may need it the most!

And please do not suggest that individuals should try to make a payment arrangement, putting the onus on your customers. This is something that affects enough of your customers, that you should have given it consideration

***Edited Labels***

[jfenow]

It must depend on who you get. They wouldn’t change it for me. Maybe they have received so many calls about it by now that they are just saying no to everything.

[jfenow]

Happy to help us? You did NOTHING for me when I called. After being a customer of yours for over 20 years, you wouldn’t even reimburse my late fee. I just wasted my time and put my blood pressure up from the frustration. Appalling customer service. 

[Me90]

Rogers did not make this change to help the customer. Yes you may now accept payments made on the due date but the reality is that you could have done that without changing the due date. You also could have pushed the due dates forward a week... but of course you would not do anything that would impact Rogers negatively.

Payments made at a bank are recieved and posted to accounts faster than they ever have been, usually within 24-48 hours. Although it is possible for it to take up to 5 buisness days that is rarely the case. Ensuring that bills are paid on time is the responsibility of the customer. There are also other options such as paying online through the Rogers website to ensure your payment is recieved immediately.

You have put a lot of people including myself in a difficult situation. The cost of living is extremely high right now. Grocery costs along with many other things such as housing are through the roof. Families are already struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

Rogers also reports to the credit bureaus, which could have a negative impact on those who are struggling to meet the new due date.

Do you think people will just get paid a week early to meet these new due dates you have set?

The only one who is benefiting from this change is Rogers. Money is going into your bank account a week earlier allowing you to earn significant interest off those funds.

You also tried to make this change as quietly as possible and made little effort to notify your customers of the change which led to the change taking many by surprise.

You may have included it on one of the bills but many users only look at the summary that is sent via email and do not open the actual bill unless they detect an issue in the amount owing.

This info could have been included in the email notifications that go out to notify customers that their bill is available. This information also should have been posted when logging in to the rogers website/app and when making an online payment from the rogers website.

The fact that Rogers implemented this change without any care on how it would impact their customers along with the fact that they did not make a proper effort to notify their customers is the last straw for me. As soon as our contracts are up we will be switching to another provider!

[57]

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@Me90 wrote:

The fact that Rogers implemented this change without any care on how it would impact their customers along with the fact that they did not make a proper effort to notify their customers is the last straw for me. As soon as our contracts are up we will be switching to another provider!

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I believe Rogers was in a no-win scenario. Leave payments as they were and have people complain about late payment penalties due to the way some people wait until the last minute to pay and their preferred method of payment, or have people complain about the change in date.

There are numerous ways, as we have already outlined, for avoiding late payments, or having payment go through on the day you pay, by using a CC for example.  Also, the payment date for people who use auto-pay has not changed.  Mine is still on the same date every month that it's been for many years.

Notice was provided in bill statements and would also have been provided in the e-mail in the month the date changed.

If you need to have the date changed to a different one, I believe that the moderators on this forum can assist with that. I have always found them most helpful:

When logged into the forum, click on @CommunityHelps   .  On the page that comes up, you'll see a link on the top right of the screen to "send a message".  If you're using a tablet or phone, you may need to switch your browser to the desktop version. How to do that will depend on the device but a web search should find it.  There may be some back and forth required while Rogers get your personal information to look into your account.  Personal information is not allowed in this forum.  

Switching providers may make you feel better, but you'll probably find a different set of aggravations with them.  The devil you know....

[jfenow]

Yes, exactly that. Yet they charge you for the extra week when you change your billing cycle to later!

After more prodding (yes, I know, that I shouldn’t have had to do), they have changed my billing cycle to a week later so my due date is later. BUT… they are charging for the extra week since the first billing period will be longer. So my question is, why didn’t Rogers bill for a shorter period when they made the change to one week earlier? I asked them and they gave me a rigmarole reply about bills already being sent out and billing in advance. So shouldn’t they give the customers credit on their next bill for the one week of data they paid for that they hadn’t yet received? If they’re charging for the extra week in a changed billing cycle, they should reimburse for the one week less in the initial change. Hard to believe they’re legally getting away with this.

[jfenow]

Did they explain to you that you will be charged for the extra days in your new cycle? 

[Lizzie2497]

Nope they did not inform me and haven't received my next bill yet to verify if that's what they did. But If that's the case I would just call customer service and tell them I'm not paying that and seen what they can so.

[jfenow]

Do let us know, if you don’t mind.  They will probably not do anything as they’ll tell you they have to charge you for the extra days to “realign the new billing cycle”. (What I was told.) I can see that making sense, but then we should get reimbursed for the shorter cycle. Why was no “realigning” needed there?

[Lizzie2497]

I don't see how they can do this as all I asked for was to have my orginal billing date back, but will see when they send me my bill and will try and to remember to update.

[Me90]

They offered me the same thing and didn't mention anything about prorating my next bill to include the extra week so I asked and thats exactly whatvthey were going to do... i would be billed an extra week on my next bill to move the billing daye forward a week. We have 5 devices and have a large monthly bill, an extra week added on would be significant for us so I declined. They told me it's the only way to fix the issue and kept pushing me to make the change. I refused as it does not solve the issue.

[Me90]

Possibly in a no win situation but they definately had options that would have less impact. Those that were waiting to the day a bill was fo to make a payment did that by choice knowing that it tales time for a payment to post to the account. If you can't make it better for everyone just leave it as it was. Those that were paying last minute on the day a bill is due now have to pay a full week earlier.... it did not help them in any way.

This leaves us no choice. I have been with rogers on the same billing cycle for over 10 years and now I am going to struggle to pay my bills on time and it is out of my control.

They should not be allowed to change the billing due date for customers who are in a contract. They should have to honor that until the contract is up at the very least!

I did not revieve any notice of the change in the email from rogers. I went back and checked everything I have recieved over the last 6 months.

I am sure it was included in the actual bill but I do not open the bill unless there is something off with the amount due and I need to review the details.

[-G-]

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@57 wrote:

Not only has my due date not changed, but I get another month to pay since my Rogers Credit Card is also auto-paid from my bank on the CC due date. In addition, I get a rebate for the charges on my Rogers Credit Card.

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I thought my payment due date had not changed but then it turned out that it did, so be careful.

I think that Rogers will end up raking in a small windfall from this change.  If that was not the intent, perhaps they should reverse any first-time late charges that customers incur.

For those upset by the change or the way that Rogers handled it, leaving Rogers for a competitor may be a bit extreme.  However, if you have a $5 or $10 add-on to your services that you can do without, consider taking that bit of revenue away from them, temporarily or permanently.

[jfenow]

Actually, it’s the due date you probably asked to change back, the billing date hasn’t changed (you might have meant to type “due date”). To explain what they changed… your due date used to be 28 days after your billing date (your billing cycle). What caused the due date to change for everyone is the change they implemented, which is now 21 days after your billing date. The only way they can change the due date back is to change your billing cycle. Say, if your billing date was May 7, your due date was June 4, but with the change to 21 days, your due date is now May 28.  So they have to change your billing date to June 14 instead of June 7 which means your billing cycle ends a week later on June 14 instead of June 7, so they charge you for that extra week. In effect, they’re not really changing your due date, they are changing the billing date (cycle).

That is why I’m questioning why we didn’t get a week’s credit when they shortened the cycle by a week. They’re changing the rules when it’s to their advantage. Seems illegal to me.

[57]

Please read the Terms of Service, bottom of page 6, 3b.

https://assets.ctfassets.net/8utyj17y1gom/5kZeFugE8fdJUaFhM061wN/461d471db902e5dd24b2a090fe27c144/Ro...

The bill is due on the billing date, but Rogers has the flexibility as to when late payments will start - the payment date (top of page 6, 3c)

[jfenow]

Semantics. For all intents and purposes, we are talking about the “Please pay by” date on our bills. 

[TCV1214]

I am disgusted and I do not believe this forum is doing anything but keeping the complaint
"in house". Time to raise it elsewhere. I am looking to local news next.

[Sam251]

Recently Rogers reduce the billing cycle to 21 days  from a normal 28  or 30 days. They know that their action put pressure on their customers especially at this  time with high inflation that the people  struggling to bring food on the table. They claim that  the reduction time gives flexibility to customers to avoid late payment charges.  Rogers  claimed that  when you pay your bills it takes 4 to 5 days  for bank  and Rogers to process the the payment. When you use your credit card to purchase a good or services  it means you borrow money from credit cards companies soy they give you 21 days to pay them back without interest. But when you buy services like a TV, Internet or  telephone, you pay in advance for those services  and Rogers abusing its customers  by forcing them to pay  for those service  in a shorter time and I think that is wrong. As a consumer if you don't protest to this kind of behavior from a company that claim  they value your business you are encouraging other companies like Bell or Telus  to follow the same policy. At the end of the day you are the one who will suffer  from  the impact of  these companies decision on your financial situation. Now if you are not happy with  the Rogers decision  then  let  them know and  also contact CRTC and consumer protection bureau. 

[RogersJo]

Greetings @Lizzie2497, @Me90!

Thanks for contributing to this thread! I'm saddened to hear about the inconvenience this has caused the both of you. We most definitely appreciate the feedback. 🙌

This new change ensures that our customers aren’t penalized for payment posting timelines of financial institutions i.e the time it takes for the payment to be posted into our system by the financial institutions (3-5 business days.)

While payments may still take up to 5 days to post in our system, the difference is that the bill will be considered paid on the date the payment posts within our system but late payment charges will be charged based on the day the customers processes the payment with their financial institution.

With that said, we are aware that the change may not work for everyone. You do have the option of requesting to change your bill cycle to line up with the date that works best for you.

I hope this helps!

RogersJo 

[Me90]

I appreciate your response but you are just repeating the same thing that we have been told over and over but are missing the point. Rogeres did not need to change the payment due date in order to accept payments as on time when made at the bank on the due date. This is justvhow theybare spinningbit to make itvseem like they made this change to help their customers.

Changing the bill cycle will cause us to be billed an extra week on our next bill and for someone like me with a large monthly bill that would be significant and won't resolve the issue.

[TCV1214]

I completely agree with you Me90!

Although I am happy to report that I called again this morning and asked for payment arrangements. After holding, explaining the issue AGAIN, and being upset by the fact that I was charged the late fee (even though the last rep said it was waived but for one month only) - I now have a resolution - hopefully! My payment due date will be the 4th of the following month - EVERY month and my late fee will be reversed.

The base issue is the same though. I, or anyone should not have to do this. The excuse of the processing time is just that, an excuse. Most banks do not take 5 days, mine is processed by the next day.

This means Rogers implemented a change based on an exception and not the norm. Not how a business should treat it's customers.

Give it a shot Me90 and please let me know how it goes. I am curious about whether or not there is consistency and not a matter of which rep you happen to get!

[jfenow]

Yes, but seems the rep neglected to mention to you that you will be charged for an extra week (or so) to bring your billing cycle forward in order to allow you the due date of the 4th. Me90 mentioned up top that Rogers offered the same deal (as they did me) but Me90’s rep didn’t advise of the extra fee until Me90 asked about it. Yes, they waive the late fee, but they charge for the extra week (which will be a lot more than the late fee). Unless you’re saying that they specifically said they would credit you for the extra week?