After our story on Telus adding a $20 fee to the business lines of some customers, because they weren’t spending enough, other iPhone in Canada readers reached out sharing some similar situations.
One Rogers customer named “Bobby” alleges the company terminated their service after disputes over a promotional offer, claiming his account was deemed “unprofitable” due to multiple complaints.
“Bobby” said he initially signed up for a 2022 Black Friday small business promotion, which included three lines with 20 GB of shared data. He stated to iPhone in Canada that the monthly cost was $82 for the primary line, with a $49.54 discount ($32.46/month), and $82 each for additional lines, discounted by $69.54 each ($12.46/month per line), all before taxes. All plans had 20GB of data per month.
Soon after signing up, “Bobby” says Rogers refused to provide a promised data plan for an Apple Watch, despite the offer being advertised. He says he was also promised by Rogers that he would be able to change his base plan, without losing Black Friday credits on his account, saying this was “confirmed” many times and that he had witnesses.
When he escalated the issue to Rogers’ president’s office, he says he was threatened with the removal of account credits for insisting they honour their promise regarding the Apple Watch data plan.
“I asked if I was speaking to Rogers or the mafia,” said “Bobby”. Rogers eventually honoured the Apple Watch offer only after “Bobby” filed a complaint with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS).
In November 2023, “Bobby” wanted to switch his base plan and associated lines to a North American plan with more data–but at the same base price–and still retain his credits from the previous year. However, Rogers said the new promos would only apply to new customers.
A copy of the CCTS complaint and conclusion from May 2024 seen by iPhone in Canada, said Rogers acted within their policy by denying the plan switch, as it was made outside of the 30-day satisfaction period. The offer being sought was exclusively for new customers.
“Bobby” disputes this, stating that the information provided during the November 2023 call and on the website at that time contradicts the current claims. He asserts that at no point during the call did they deny the promise made, even after indicating they would review the call. Additionally, “Bobby” claims that the Rogers website was changed immediately following the conversation.
On September 23, 2024, Rogers informed “Bobby” via letter that his service would be terminated on October 23, 2024. In a follow-up call with Rogers, “Bobby” alleges they were told the decision was based on their account becoming “unprofitable” due to the complaints filed. “This felt like retaliation for using the tools available to address my concerns,” he said.
The letter from Rogers to “Bobby” obtained by iPhone in Canada said, “This is an important update regarding your Rogers services. After a thorough review of your account, we have determined that we are unable to meet your current needs. As a result, we regret to inform you that we will be discontinuing your wireless services as of October 23, 2024.”
“We kindly ask that you do not contact other Rogers service specialists or retail locations. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me directly by email,” noted the Rogers employee handling the matter.
From what we understand, for Rogers to end a customer’s account under these circumstances, it does not happen often and is uncommon.
“Bobby” alleges Rogers violated its obligations under Quebec’s Civil Code and Consumer Protection Act, which require service providers to act in the best interest of customers and avoid making misleading promises. He believes Rogers failed to meet these requirements by breaking contractual commitments and terminating the account.
He expressed frustration with the CCTS, noting its limited scope to enforce compliance beyond the Wireless Code of Conduct. “Bobby” also said he never threatened legal action on Rogers, only to say he retained the right to do so.
“After a careful review, we recognized we were unable to fully meet this customer’s current needs and took this extremely rare step,” said a Rogers spokesperson to iPhone in Canada in a statement, after being contacted about this story.
The Rogers spokesperson emphasized, “The customer has continued to express his dissatisfaction with our services, so we provided him advance notice to allow him to transition to a new provider,” while also reiterating the CCTS ruled in May the company was not at fault and fulfilled their obligations to “Bobby”.
According to “Bobby”, he responded to the Rogers’ statement above by saying his concern was the failure of Rogers to honour their promises, and not about their service.
“I still believe I acted in good faith and with professionalism from the beginning in requesting what was promised to me, while Rogers has consistently put up barriers, even when it comes to their legal obligations,” explained “Bobby” to iPhone in Canada. “I also want to emphasize that, as Rogers can confirm, every time I contacted them, I specifically stated that I wanted to find a resolution and put an end to this conflict. A sentiment that Rogers never shared.”
In what appears to be dozens of communications with Rogers customer service, related to promised credits and plan change requests, the company can terminate your account. This is something we’ve never seen before, aside from the other Telus story about business customers being charged a fee for not spending enough every month.
Customer conflicts with Rogers seem to be increasingly common lately, based on what we’ve seen. Rogers recently increased the price for TV box rentals and many of you shared emails with us, about the surprise price increase, with the issue gaining more media attention this week.
Have you ever had your account or services closed by a telecom company?
Update Oct. 22, 2024: Real name changed to “Bobby” at reader’s request, out of fear of retaliation from other service providers.
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Lol, they changed his name because the other providers don't want him either.
Another devil amongst us…
There are too many morons everywhere.
We need more competition in Canada and the gouvernements actions! I have nothing but problems with Rogers!
Do you know what's the definition of insanity? Repeating the same thing and expecting a different result. Many (not all) consumers have been saying this for decades. It won't happen regardless of who is elected to office.
It's always the most clueless people that don't have a clue how things work that keep repeating this.
What a joke lol… All I see here is a guy who got a great plan they went trying to push it for even more. They didn't need customers who are a headache he could of been happy with everything they already did for him yet the rats always want more
Imagine being so retarded and privilieged money has no value and then you shoot down anyone who has a valid grievance.
wow nice discussion… now uninstall yourself. “money has no value” so the money rogers has lost has no value? your logic…
He is right though.
Settle down, “Bobby”.
Exactly.
I have no love for Rogers. They are are horrible company and deserve even more complaints than they currently get. But, “bobby” was obviously trying to game the system. All customer should push for the best deal, but they should also be intelligent enough to know when they are going too far.
While we’d all like offers for new customers to always be available for existing customers, I’d even like to see that be a law, the fact is they are allowed to restrict their promos to new customers only. Bobby knows that. Bobby was trying to play dumb and tried to get them to stack promos upon promos. He could have switch his plan and retained his credits, but not to a promo plan for new customers.
It goes both ways. We can walk away from the carriers at any time and they can walk away from us. But it takes a special kind of dumb to push a money-grubbing company like Roger’s to walk away for your money.
nice take “it’s me” see the one thing we don’t see here is how many countless call center people this X person harassed. That someone at rogers had to say this person is not worth having as a customer… as someone who had once picked up calls I have seen hundreds of trash like this X and i have also closed multiple accounts as well after they had treated one of my staffing at the time like they were sub human; you get the same amount of respect that you gave back.
Hi,
Lawyer here, is there a way to contact them? I have a few questions.
Thank you.
Hi
Jesus Christ here, have you tried to use Google?
Have you tried a therapist?
Bobby, if this is how you spoke to Rogers, no wonder they dumped you.
I was referring to the customer.
Thank you.
It must be your first day. Any good lawyer would know how to contact them. 🤦♂️
The CCTS has become an echo chamber for telecoms to push their agendas and avoid consequences. On rare occasions, the Office of the President (or its equivalent) might offer some concessions, but even that is happening less often.
Telus didn't honor the pixel watch 2 I was supposed to get with my Pixel 8 Pro, that I had pre ordered. After pre ordering, a month went by and my order was still in pending status and still had yet to get a confirmation email saying my order had been shipped, so I called them and I was told there was a error or some kind of system glitch and they were not able to get my payment processed, and wanted to confirm my payment info, so i confirm, and she goes ok well that all looks right, my system shows the same card info, and asks if she can run the payment again?.. ok, sure… Then tells me it was approved and gave me a confirmation number just incase.. then I had to wait AGAIN another 2/3 weeks after already waiting a month, and keep in mind this pixel is supposed to replace my iPhone 13 pro max that I had to return back to telus, or I'd be billed 300 for that phone.. and instead of trading in my old phone and getting the new pixel at the same time, I pre orderd the pixel as a new line because of the watch they were giving with it and that promo was over by time I had to give my I phone back and they would not let me trade in early, because the dates wouldn't line up with the return dates in my contract agreement…
anyway, so I order it pixel again after it didn't process the first time- they call me while I'm at work the next day, left me VM saying that they had to confirm some details before they could ship it or something, I can't remember exactly but they needed to speak with me anyway, called them back- told them what they wanted to know, thanked me for calling them back, and we end the call. Seconds later , I got a email from Telus "confirming my order" and had a different order ID then what I had for the one I originally ordered, the order id that I had showed 1 pixel 8 pro blue 256MB & 1 pixel watch Blue LTE.. this second order id did not have the watch on it.. called them back after work, and they could find the order id that I had in their system and told me "maybe their system is slow and needed more time to update, and to just wait a few days and call them back…
(This would be the 3rd pixel I technically "ordered", but really was only 2, but should of ever only been 1 , from the get go)
I was told the same thing a few days later when I called back- but assured me that the watch would coming with my phone, and at this point the promo had ended.
Phone comes, and naturally, no watch- called them again and said I sure hope that you're going to honor that promotion after the gong show I just went through trying to order this phone, and had to wait 2 months longer then I should have, and tells me that they cannot honor the promo because that promo was offered by Google themselves, and not Telus . I said Google was offering a Wifi watch with the P8P when ordering from the Google store, this promo was a LTE watch with the P8P, on Telus' website with Telus logo on the ad. No Google branding what so ever-she says sorry 67 times and tells me she can't do anything and apologized for the 68th time. But what she can do is credit me 50$ off my next bill. I asked her if she was joking, so instead of getting a free LTE pixel watch 2 , (valued at $450 as per the promo ad on telus' website with no Google branding) your giving me 50$ credit instead.
To finish a long story short, I got a $50 credit inserted of the $450 pixel watch 2 that I should have – and I'm still pissed off about it. My manufacturer warranty expired today on my P8P, to put into perspective on how to much time has gone by …..
Rogers did the same thing to us and terminated our services after multiple complaints and screw up’s. I got a similar letter. They did this in retaliation after we switched internet providers
iOS getting call recording is so clutch now. We can review our on calls now too mother***** lol
I blacklisted Rogers back in 2009, they won't see a cent from me or my family as they tried to extort me and sold their extortion scam to collection agencies. They got nothing from me and with a proof I had all credit reports they files removed. Scum company.
Think I will avoid Roger's.
Rogers is on my blacklist.
Me wife's phone had multiple issues and a representative we met "in person" said she'd give her a new phone, free of charge, and that she would continue on her actual plan without any increase in price, duration of contract or penalty. Before signing the papers, I asked the woman "So when has a year on her a trial contract: this new contract ends when?. She answered "Same contract: it ends in a year".
A year later, my wife is looking for a new deal, and she realises that she still has a year to go!
I call Rogers, and the arrogant dweeb who takes my call ( a senior employee);asks me "Did you read the small print?" And I tell him "Well, no need to: the woman confirmed the end of contract date".
So the guy says, in a humourous tone "Well: lesson learned, sir. Next time, read the small print!"
I've heard multiple stories of them being dishonest.
They really are the worst
I am all for trying to stech what a company is willing to provide. But at no point is a company required to provide services to you. Bobby had an insane deal given current options, and wanted to push for more. As much as I'm not a fan of our market that lacks any real competition, good on Rogers for giving him the boot. If he was my customer, I'd have terminated him as well.
The network is already there. They could be profitable even if they charged $10 per user. BS.