After 35+ Years I'm Parting (Most) Ways With Rogers Soon

[pmcsplaza]

I regretfully announce that I am giving up all my Rogers services bar the Mobile ones very soon.  I've been offered a deal I can't refuse with Bell Fibe.   Although Rogers tried to match they couldn't quite and there are other reasons too.  The main one being that I am sick and tired of all these cables running everywhere and the often intermittent nature of my Internet service which seems to go down with regularity at least once every 24 hours along with the cable TV, not always coincidentally either.

There are drawbacks to the competitor's services which I am aware of but I'm ready to give it a shot.

I'm just hoping the switch doesn't kill me as I am going to have to move several pieces of furniture in order to access the major part of the cabling and the phone modem etc.

At almost 77 and with a heart condition I don't need the fuss, but there's that old saying "it's never too late"....so here goes (on the 21st).

[BS]

@luna  It is great to see people posting their experiences, positive or negative, or in my change, just want a product mix that is not provided by Rogers, or Bell, so I am changing my whole model of technology for entertainment, and for Internet and Home phone, using a local 31 year company, who went over pros and cons of Bell or Rogers as the wholesale provider, the pros and cons of various modem models for connection, and as a large scale provider of phone services in the region, they have a deal with wholesale VOIP that no one can touch.  Recommendations on their service (they are basically technical sellers and support providers) who look after their individual customer needs and offer better deals by getting a large pool of customers on their wholesale purchase rates (you pick Rogers or Bell - almost the same prices really) and yes there is the risk of delays of dealing with a provider technical issue, but if it is area, you would experience it whether you are with the big guys, or the wholesale provider.  They showed a record of their experiences of dealing with the big two, and as they said, the response rate and quality of response and rate charged cannot be any different than they provide to anyone of their customers, all defined by CRTC and they have a direct contact due to their bulk orders. 

So I will take the risk with a different model, and pack in Bell or Rogers - neither were any different after one year at the end of the day, I have had my fair share of poor customer service from Rogers, and don't know Bell's record as I have never used them, although I had them for Internet for 3 years when Rogers blew it big time doing upgrades in the GTA - they lost a huge number of customers as a result - we had not a single issue with Bell during that time - they just didn't have Internet DSL at our new home when we moved, so switch was an availability question only.

So at this time, Rogers refusal to provide a low speed unlimited option has led me to move, and we shall see how it goes.  Nice thing - the company who provides the services is 10 minutes away and you talk personally to the owner if something is up.  They support the municipal buildings in the region, and provide free WIFI to many public areas too.

We will have to change our mix of what we watch - but some speciality channels are available online free still, all major networks are available to us by digital antenna, we are installing a TIVO 4 tuner DVR that also provides whole home TV, and the Android box is basically a tablet operating system in a box, look and feel is like my phone, so I will have to give up on some things we watch (keeping it legal definitely), but things like Bill Mahr - lots are available on You Tube, HGTV is free online, CBC, Trevor Noah on the Comedy Network (with ads), and I keep finding more and more available legitimately over the top via Internet (thereby the reason for unlimited bandwidth, but only one TV, so don't need speed).  Even with paying for equipment, the savings are huge per year and I just learn to change our viewing habits.

So as I said, nice to hear the various stories and the risks, benefits, and changed viewing or useage pattern changes, hardware purchases, etc we need to consider when we start thinking about changing.

For us it is purely financial and Bell and Rogers don't provide what we want, and the third party providers do - here I go cutting the cord - long over due - we don't watch that much TV, and we blocked all channels that we can't get over the Internet or on Antenna and you know what - after about a week, didn't miss any of it.

The reality is TV is mostly time filler for us, we just found other things to watch and do.

Great conversation, and my only advise is don't pay much attention to the horror stories, or the price challenges (unless price is a critical factor, and if like us, when price is the real issue, time to downgrade or even get out).

Decide on your needs and can the company you are dealing with offer it, and certainly if you have just had a bad experience you can't get over, for your sanity, I suggest look elsewhere and then deal with whatever comes.  You may come back, you may not.

One other nice benefit - I like to go to public areas and watch kids play hockey, figure skate, the swim meets, the library, and like a tim hortons stop and I get free Internet from all of those places and get to live a lifestyle of community entertainment, I had let go since my kids grew up.

If it came down to it, I could even live without Internet at home.  Never though we could - but we did it for a week just to see.

Bruce

[BS]

A secondary note about dealing with customer service issues with any company.

Ask them for their escalation process, the numbers and people to contact.  If they decline to give it to you, you now have another complaint that can be taken to CCTC and end of escalation process.

Every company must post their escalation (CRTC requirement), and provide it on request.  There are defined regulations that they must provide information on your bill about the escalation process at least 4 times per year, and to include it easily found in sections like in contact us on their web sites.

Each company has different methods - Bell actually does not provide direction to a manager, you go to their Bell Customer Relations Department, then Bell Escalation Team, and then to CCTC and they provide the link.

So if you want to go over the person's head - say you wish to escalate your concern, and they must tell you how to proceed - if not, they are in violation of CRTC rules - one more strike in your favour as you move forward.

If you don't follow the process exactly as written, the CCTC, or CRTC will send you back to the next level, as they did with you.  The escalation of TV issues was originally the mandate of CRTC only, but there was discussion of giving that to CCTC.

Dealing with large companies these days always has a chance of issues, as there are so many changes, and often very poor communications, so do know and research the complaint process.

Also keep in mind that you can cancel out of any new contract or change in contract for home services within 30 days, and take a look at the CRTC rules around receipt of confirmation of your contract, terms, quotes, prices, etc in paper (yes I said paper), unless you expressly give permission for electronic, which means they have to ask and you must get it within 15 days, or the clock gets extended.  Most of us implicitly accept the contract from over the phone via an email.  When they confirm your email you are not giving permission to remove their responsibility for paper version to be sent out.

And them saying, "we will email it out" is implicit consent, not explicit - they must ask may we send you an email instead of mail.  If you go to the store, you will get paper version.  Review it closely before signing and walking away.  I have used this requirement once, when they asked me, and I said, I want paper, as the last time, you didn't send it to me via email, and lately I have not had quotes either.  I do know that Bell will email you quotes of your verbal interaction and the private company I am going to provided a complete quote and terms to review.

Know your rights as they say.

Bruce

[luna]

When I left Rogers earlier this year and stupidly went over to Bell within a day or so I was already getting conflicting info through email and 'my bell'. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt thinking that one phone call would rectify their billing errors. I couldn't have been more wrong about my assumption. 

I realized pretty quickly that I should keep notes on every phone call which I did for the next 6 weeks with Bell.

I also realized that each rep I talked with had a script to follow and limited as to how much corrections and changes they could make on my account.

So I called the CRTC who was very helpful, giving me suggestions on ways to proceed. One of them was how to file a complaint with the CCTC.

Another suggestion was to contact Bell's Executive office. (The CRTC not only gave that phone number but offered to connect my directly to the executive office.) But that turned out to be a very short lived fix because the supervisor in the executive office who promised to have everything corrected within 24 hours, never happened.

A long story short..over the next 6 weeks of spending more time on the phone with Bell than enjoying my services with them, I got every rep I talked with, their name and employee number , logging the date and time of the call keeping notes that were pertinent to the conversation.

I called the CRTC a few more times for advise. 

After I reinstated myself with Rogers the last chapter with Bell was the absolute worst. I was never rude or antagonistic, though I did at times want to put my foot through the phone!

Bell insisted I broke my contract and owed them. I told them I never signed a contract and their confusing and inconsistent emails were also not contracts. They continued to say I owed them penalty money and for one extra month. I insisted that I owed them $0.00 and it might have been different if I was leaving early because I found a better deal. But I was leaving after 6 weeks..which was 2 weeks over the 30 day grace period , because their service was so bad. I would sign into 'my bell' in the morning and my balance would be one amount and then if I checked it again in the evening or following day there would be a new balance usually around a $100 difference in their favour. I couldn't get bell to correct it nor give me an explanation that wasn't subjective.

Finally I found  contact info for one of the CEO's in their Montreal head office.

I called explained my problem with billing and charges for what?! and never with any dates or timeframe.

In that conversation I also mentioned that I had every employee ID number I'd talked with, dates and times and logs of every conversation as well as screen shots of all the daily changes of what they thought I owed them. I concluded that the next step was either for Bell to  finally confirm a zero balance and never to contact me again or with all my notes etc., I would be back in touch with the CRTC  about filling a formal complaint.

Bell finally saw it my way. 

I learnt that doing some research, finding out exactly what my rights are and being able to back it up makes a big difference. 

I feel the best way to find a resolve is do your homework. Research, Google, read the CRTC and CCTC websites rather that demanding to speak to the next level up. Call back or call directly to another number that if you look you can find for another dept., and be business like with all you facts, acts and by-laws.

Know what you're talking about when negotiating a business transaction.

I will not get defensive or argumentative if the rep I am talking with is not taking some ownership of the issue and isn't being very helpful. I'll thank them, hang up and call back later.

But with Bell's horrible business practices and inability to LISTEN to their customers , got me wondering if they intentionally want to drive you crazy so as to keep Bell Let's Talk, in business!

As I've mentioned before, I am so relieved to be back with Rogers!!!

[BS]

@luna  Sounds like a horrible experience.  And you have passed on an important lesson.  As soon as you don't get satisfactory answers from the first CSR, then you may want to try another time, but you don't have to - under CRTC, every company must publicly make their escalation process available.

You can find them for any company under the CCTC framework and this also includes cable now finally, by searching the company name and the escalation process - you can ask a rep for it too and they have to give it to you.  If they don't they are in violation with the wireless code and you now have another issue, separate from your initial concern.

Get to know the wireless code, the easy and longer versions put out by the CRTC, how to file complaints, etc.

In all companies now, each level has their hands tied to a certain level and can only do what they have the authority to do, but all companies must work with you in the escalation process.

Your experience of getting names, employee numbers interactions numbers, dates times and clear documentation and screen shots is very powerful, but if you provide all that, the company has to prove otherwise.

Hope your services with Rogers are more comfortable.

Bruce

[luna]

Within minutes of posting here yesterday I got a call from Bell though I didn't answer partially because I can't stomach the thought of talking with them anymore and also because the name display was not Bell ,(number was Bell). There was no message left.  Could have been a spoof by a goof!

Luna

[Datalink]

@luna I hope you filed a complaint with the CRTC.  It might not help you directly at this point in time, but, if enough people complain, maybe the CRTC will take Bell and others to task for practices that allow them to avoid responsibility by abusing customers (putting it mildly) with their customer services practices. 

[pmcsplaza]

@luna Sorry you've had such a bad experience.   I've had only good service from both Rogers and Bell.  Although here is hardly a place to discuss the latter.

I switched allegiance for Home Phone, Internet and TV simply because a) they offered me an Intro Offer that I couldn't refuse & b) less clutter with cables, boxes etc.

If Rogers offered home fibre-optic at an attractive price along with wireless receivers for satellite TV's I might switch back, who knows?

[luna]

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@Datalink wrote:

@luna I hope you filed a complaint with the CRTC.  It might not help you directly at this point in time, but, if enough people complain, maybe the CRTC will take Bell and others to task for practices that allow them to avoid responsibility by abusing customers (putting it mildly) with their customer services practices. 

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@Datalink 
 Thanks for the suggestion and encouragement! I have not filed a complaint yet. I need to get my notes and thoughts together before I file a complaint. It was such a horrendous 6wks and so overwhelming that I actually got sick. 

I will file my complaint this month but I also need a day or a night to pull it all together.

But I must say that I really appreciate all the support and suggestions from everyone in this community. You all have helped me out so much and I am grateful!

[luna]

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@pmcsplaza wrote:

@luna Sorry you've had such a bad experience.   I've had only good service from both Rogers and Bell.  Although here is hardly a place to discuss the latter.

I switched allegiance for Home Phone, Internet and TV simply because a) they offered me an Intro Offer that I couldn't refuse & b) less clutter with cables, boxes etc.

If Rogers offered home fibre-optic at an attractive price along with wireless receivers for satellite TV's I might switch back, who knows?

---

@pmcsplaza I glad you have had only good service from both! Since I've been back with Rogers the picture quality of my TV is as good if not better than Bell. Internet is great and no problems with home phone. With Bell my TV went out, home phone died and I kept loosing internet connection, but no messy cable wires etc! 

I hope you continue to enjoy your services with no problems. 

I am so happy with Rogers and I even like the newer remote that lights up! Bell's remote lit up too but I couldn't read it and it was so thin that it kept disappearing in my couch.

[pmcsplaza]

My couch too 😉

[BS]

As most will see in my earlier posts, my family had made a decision to move on because of finances, and little to no movement.  We had not finalized our move as we decided to wait it out to the end of our contract in October.

Well, I called in this week to discuss the process for cancelling everything when it came time to make our switch to a wholesaler and move to cut the cord and go digital over the air.

We had planned to start everything in process next week, but decided to take one last attempt at seeing if attitude towards flexibility for existing customer packages had changed at all.

Well I am pleased to say that we did downsize our service on the TV side, and kept all other things the same and upgraded Internet, and by going down a tier in cable packages, locating the missing channels we like to watch and adding one bonus channel that replaced an important lost channel, and most of what we lost off premium, we didn't care.  We picked on add-on channel, and one movie package, and it is within our affordability.

Excellent support in going through all the channel mixes, what we would lose, and how to keep what we wanted, while getting the best price mix possible.

So, as they had told me, that there may be deals I was interested in the fall (last spring they told me this), and I have walked away quite happy.

So, I remain a loyal customer, saving a bit of money from before with less channels, but the channels we watch.

So the pick and pay model can work depending upon your mix.

Just passing on that it was worth taking one last crack at it before we moved on.

So outcome is that in the last 2 months, we adjusted our phone plans, reducing costs, and remixed out home services now.

Happy customer, Bruce

[yybenedb]

Wow. I have only been with Rogers for a little more than 15 years. The first 10 were constant disappointment and frustration. Lately things seemed to have been improving. But for the last six months things seem to be going back to the way they used to be: constant billing errors. Looong hold times, unempowered front end service representives who can't fix much. Really getting ready to bite the bullet and move on. I know the others are probably similar but at least they seem interested in getting my business....

[junetejeda]

I have been a loyal customer since 1986. I have called many times and had my issues resolved when someone was willing to work with me. When I called this time after my bill went up $50.00 and they told me my promotion was going to expire and that they had no other promotion available, I asked them to remove channels or anything they could to bring the price down. They refused and said there was nothing they could do. I guess loyalty means very little to this company and it is too bad when you ask that they work with you, they deny your request. No other option but to opt out and go to another company. As a senior I cannot afford the $50.00 increase at this time.

JT

[OLDYELLR]

@junetejeda  This is not a good time to switch. You're between a rock and a hard place. I vowed I was going to switch as soon as my Rogers Cable went over $100 at the beginning of this year, but procrastinated and now I'm stuck, because my ISP, who has a TV package similar to Ignite, will not come into my house to hook me up until the corona lock-down is lifted.  However, since pretty much all the shows are now on hiatus and sports are cancelled for the summer, you won't be missing  much by cutting the cord altogether and shopping around in the fall. 

[junetejeda]

I received a call from head office and they were able to resolve my issues. Thank you very much to (TJ) for her kindness and  understanding. Her professionalism in listening to me and then quickly resolving my problem to my satisfaction was done swiftly and in a timely manner. I guess Loyalty does matter and thank you again for helping me. JT

[yybenedb]

So, I, last, updated in 2017. After almost 20 years with all of our services from Rogers, we finally left six months ago. We pay 40 % less per month for significantly more service (We now have a borderless plan to the US, and a third mobile phone, much faster and unlimited internet). In 2017 when we were about to jump ship, customer service improved as did loyalty incentives. Subsequently they reverted to their old state. Since leaving< i get periodic calls from Rogers trying to win us back. When I ask them what they would charge for comparable service to what I have, they offer me a package for more than $60 a month more than I am paying now. They lecture me about Paying more for Rogers' superior service. I have used both; that was not my experience. Perhaps, someone in a meaningful position will read this and push to reignite the 2017 makeover.

[Lurker]

My switch is coming this Friday, after almost 20 years of Internet, TV and Home Phone.

Look, I understand the upcoming push for IPTV. I also understand the current upheaval that COVID19 is causing and that limits what kind of switches and installs can be done.

What I don't understand is, in the interim, Rogers expecting me to be happy with a proposed $50-$60 a month increase as a new "promotional" rate upon expiry of my old promotion.

What I don't understand is that, once advised of my intention to cancel, new promotional offers were "just released today". What a coincidence!

I probably would have made the switch to Ignite had it met my needs - but with the current lack of home phone and the limit on boxes per account, it didn't.  If Rogers had been willing to extend my current promotion for couple of months until the restrictions were lifted, I would have gladly stayed.

Instead, Rogers expected me to pay an extra $600 a year and smile while doing it.

Instead, I get last minute, suddenly available, discounts that, are STILL a significant increase over my current rate.

So I didn't even listen to the second "desperation" pitch I received today. I said - if you have a good deal, you should have made your best offer your first offer 2 weeks ago, instead of playing games like a used car salesman.

So I'm making the switch to IPTV......just not with Rogers.