Photo via CBC
Alex Dunsmore of Kamloops, BC is refusing to pay his son’s $1,400 Rogers bill, that was incurred while texting on an “unlimited” text plan. Dunsmore thought it would be okay to let his son send hundreds of texts, because his contract states he can send unlimited texts to anywhere in Canada.
How the charges were incurred is interesting. The son was texting with his girlfriend, who only lives about 4 blocks away, but the girlfriend downloaded a free texting app from a US company called “HeyWire“. The texts may have been free for her, but because they were routed though the US, any replies to these texts were seen as long distance, and the son’s plan did not cover this. The plan was strictly unlimited in Canada.
Dunsmore’s bill ended up having over $400 in overage charges. Dunsmore decided not to pay the overages, and appealed to Rogers to have the extra charges removed. Rogers did not comply, and eventually cut off Dunsmore’s son’s and daughter’s phones. Dunsmore then got a “final” bill cancelling the contract, including an early termination fee of $400 for each phone.
The HeyWire app that was used by the girlfriend says pretty clear in the description, in the App Store, that texts would be sent from a US number: “FREE Texting (Real SMS) & Picture Messaging to 45+ Countries from a real U.S. phone number, Worldwide Smartphone Messenger, Twitter, Facebook Chat! “. Rogers claims that the son should have noticed the number was not from his area code, and not covered under his plan. Dunsmore responded saying his son does not know all the area codes for in or outside of Canada, and his girlfriend told him it was a special number, for free texting. Rogers then said, the parents should be monitoring the teen’s usage more closely.
Dunsmore’s main issue isn’t with the charges themselves, but with the fact that he wasn’t notified of the unusual activity on the account until it was too late and the bill was sent. Dunsmore feels Rogers should have alerted him to the constant texting to a US number, like they do when you when your data is “roaming”. Rogers does not have a legal responsibility to do this, and Dunsmore feels Rogers has financial interests in not informing customers of this type of activity.
So, what’s your verdict? I can see why the Dad is upset, but is Rogers really at fault here? If you look at all the facts, it would seem that the charges incurred are completely legal. In my opinion, these charges are the fault of the parents involved, and they should be responsible for them. Parents should monitor their child’s usage and Rogers offers free online tools to do so. My daughter has an iPod Touch, like the girlfriend in this story, and I make sure she tells me every time she is downloading something. Also, with iCloud, I have automatic downloads set up, so what ever she downloads, I get on my iPhone as well, so I know exactly what apps she is using.
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I can see both sides of the story. Rogers did not do anything wrong, while I can understand the parent and son not noticing that anything was going on until getting their bill. I don’t think that someone should need to be checking their online bill once a week.
However, I really think that the cell phone industry should automatically send notifications when extra charges reach certain thresholds ($50 maybe?). I’m not sure how often it really happens, but it seems fairly common (especially with international data roaming).Even better, it would be nice if we could put some sort of “cap” on our plans that limit the amount of overage charges, and after reaching that limit, just suspend services that would cause additional charges. Kind of like the iPad data plans. You have a certain limit, and when you reach the limit, the iPad stops working unless you add more data.
All the problem is really the huge amount of money Rogers (and the entire wireless industry) charges for text messages. It costs almost nothing to provide SMS. HeyWire does not make any money, most of it goes to Rogers and maybe a small part to their partner in crime some big US wireless provider. As a parent I only give my daughter a prepaid cellphone. She cannot spend more money than it is on the account, and that amount is strictly controlled. To all parents: do not give your kids monthly postpaid subscription cell phones, especially on the 3 big greedy carriers (Robellus). Go with a low cost prepaid plan.
but i used the same internet bandwith this month that i used last month last month it was 40 dollars now its 217.00 dollars its suposed to be 40 dollars a month no matter what
I’m going on 13 years of cell phone service so I’m acutely aware of the dangers these devices can bring. But I had to suck it up and be responsible, by reading and making sure that I wasn’t going over, no matter how difficult Rogers made it. The fact is that it is complicated and sometimes time consuming to read everything. I feel for the guy, and I do think Rogers should have a notification system that tells you when you’re nearing your allotted minutes or sending a unusual number of expensive cross border or international SMS.
End result, they should work something out and he should have to pay a portion of it IMO.
Disagree with your position. Rogers should have alerted the account holder when it saw an abnormal usage pattern and sent an alert warning of charges. This is just good customer service. Sticking to the letter of the law isn’t how you endear yourself to consumers who already dislike your company.
This isn’t the 90s when SMS was all new and shiny. With a heave push towards “The Cloud” it is irresponsible for service providers to not meet its customers half-way in resolving these type of disputes. Not every situation can be foreseen and the rate at which inventive developers come up with new ways to work The Cloud there will probably more of these occurrences happening, whether it’s numbers being routed or heavy bandwidth use.
Also your last point is a little irrelevant. The dad in this story can’t be tracking what apps his son’s friends and g/f is using. Even if he was the model parent, by the time he logs in and tracks his son’s usage the damage could already be done.
So Rogers should track the account but not the dad who is the account holder.
@disco sucks
Numb nuts.
Rogers could very easily have a system in place that would allow the to alert a user when something odd is going on. This has been a practice used by Visa for years. Wouldn’t YOU or anyone for that matter want to know when suspicious activity was happening with your account??
Let’s just all back the cell phone company on this… Poor fellas are starving to death for f sakes!!
LOL. good one!
Well said. VERY surprised by the bloggers response. This is just another reason to look at texting alternatives. If Rogers wants people to want to use their services they should probably think twice about punishing them for using it… Especially when there are so many FREE alternatives.
I agree a hundred percent. What world is this woman living in. You cannot go tracking each and every thing your kids do. Rogers has the responsibility to alert customers of any unusual activity. But you know what, this is one of the ways they are making more money. They don’t even alert you when you go over your monthly minutes, so you can keep incurring charges as high as 45cents per min.
If your going to put a phone in your kids hands then it should be the responsibility of the parent to inform the child what they can and cant do.
As for Rogers or any cellphone provider, they should be able to give the parents the tools to limit features from the phone. Like texting US numbers, turning roaming or data off etc. Cell providers do have a way of disabling these things if they wanted so why not help the customers be granting access to this? Even a small $5 fee for access to turn features like this on or off parents would grab.
The If the dad didn’t cancel the contract i would think Rogers would have offered him the cost for a US data package and reverse the charges (that’s what I would when working for one of the big 3)
Years ago, someone had hacked our internet account and accrued charges over 1000 dollars. To be fair, Rogers was not the provider but it would have saved several bounced cheques and the courtesy of being notified before the bill came would have been really appreciated. If there are vulnerabilities that can be exploited like this one, it’s the right thing to do.
i have read Rogers legal agreement and no where is there a release to everyone ‘s responsibility for being stupid and not understanding what they are doing….so some of you think Rogers has to be responsible to advise their customers. Lets make them put you under notice and await your approval by sending you messages…”are you sure you want to make this call????? check your email or sent this text?” please respond with notarized authorization before we will allow these actions……..because we have not idea how stupid you are or how stupid your friends are
sorry old man.. I’m with Rogers on this one (and that doesn’t happen often).. I 100% believe that parents should be monitoring what their kids are doing with cellphones, especially if the contract is in the parents name… I believe this is why a lot of parents make their kids use things like koodoo.. because parent’s don’t need to sign for it.
Parents give their kids cellphones, and let them do whatever they want.. and I don’t think thats right.. kids should be given some freedom, but they need to treat that freedom with respect… and not abuse it…
I might add.. if the son questioned the girlfriend on the number (as the articule hints that he did) he was obviously concerned about that number. .and should have taken the time to check.. common sense people.. common sense.. it’s something the youth of today LACK.. because they are more concerned with adults respecting them, and giving them “free will”…. with freedom comes responsibility.. and if you question something like “the weird phone number” clearly theres something up
You obviously don’t have kids. People who don’t usually give such speeches ’cause they have no clue what today’s parents are dealing with.
actually I do have kids.. they don’t have cellphones because they are too young, but when they are mature enough to have phones, I will do exactly as I said, I will talk to them about the responsibility of having a phone, and will then monitor their useage of the phone.. thats why rogers has the “my account” app, and you can also log into the my account online.. to check your useage.. if people don’t do that, it’s their own fault. I’m a mature adult, and I still check my useage all the time.. heck I have extra apps on my phone such as dataman, to alert me of realtime useage, because Rogers is 4 hours delayed..
Sorry about that bud, rogers accounts online only Shows the previous months phone usage, by the time you see the wireless bill you would have been already heavily billed by ROBERS! The goddamn cut throat ROBERS!!!
Your right on. You can track usage AFTER the damage is done. And since when does talking to your kids about the responsibility of having a phone ACTUALLY make them more responsible with it…
Heywire should be sued out of existence. They are clearly abusing the system, most likely cashing in on long distance charges, from naive tech users. These type of businesses should be charged with fraud. No kid in Canada would be expecting to pay long distance charges texting to another kid in Canada. This is like those creeps who ask kids to text a number for a joke, then add them to a subscription – leaches, all of them.
You don’t understand what Heywire is used for do you?
1. They don’t get any money on any long distance charges occurred.
2. Heywire can be used WITHOUT a cellphone, its meant to be used over a internet network
3. Heywire is used to AVOID long distance charges by having both end USE Heywire because all it uses is a internet connection.
4. Heywire is basically the same concept as Apple’s iMessage, should apple be sued out of existence?
5. How are they abusing the system? In my eyes, they are helping the end user by giving them the freedom of texting without an actual texting plan. Just needs an internet connection.
6. Doing research about something and reading the TOS or fine print is the users responsibility.
From what I gather it is meant to ELIMINATE long distance texting charges US customers.
The app is not to blame, the girlfriend is for not reading and understanding the ramifications. It does state that it is for US customers.
However, how this could be allowed to be installed on a Canadian phone is questionable. Heywire should be restricting themselves to US customers only. Anyone else installing it from outside the US makes no sense at all. It defeats the purpose of saving money from within the US to outside the US.
The app specifically states that standard US texting charges may apply. Also Rogers’ textIng plans specify if they include US texting. Rogers also hasnt authorized or advertised the app.
This is the consumer’s fault for not paying attention and doing some research. Although this is hardly surprising. Maybe if the kid bought his own phone and paid for his own plan then he would’ve been more careful.
Sorry dad, you’ll end up paying in the long run
So you’re saying the dad should have known what the fine print said…in his son’s GIRLFRIEND’S app?? On HER phone?? OK….
You’re a bloody idiot. The parent would have responsibility because his son would have used the service and is financially responsible for the account. If the phone was stolen and incurred charges, it’s not his problem. But because the son drummed the overage, sucks to be the father but it’s part of the service agreement he has to pay.
I actually agree with Rogers on this, the guy’s son had a “CANADA” only unlimited text plan and it doesn’t cover US texting which the kid used a US based text app. Sorry but rogers has absolutely NO obligation to tell you that your going over your data plan or incurring US txt charges cause people should understand what they do and don’t have in their cell phone plan and should monitor it regularly for irregular activity and charges.
If the kid’s girlfriend was 4 blacks away why did he need a US based text app in the first place is a interesting question.
Read the actual article and then read it agian, and then a third time for enlightenment.
Blacks away? We turning this into a racist debate?
typo lol.
“If the kid’s girlfriend was 4 blocks away why did he need a US based text app in the first place is a interesting question.”
We’re not on the same page here.
Because it’s convenient. That’s why so many of us use it instead of the phone or landline. It’s also more fun for kids. The girlfriend should be more careful of the apps she uses. Read the comments before downloading. A message should also be included whith her app to the receiver that charges will be incurred per app. How about they hold some responsibility in notifications. It feels similar to what in Canada we call negative billing.
There’s a variety of reasons his GIRLFRIEND could have been using the app (off you’ll read its his girlfriend that had the texting app). Perhaps her parents wouldn’t let her have a phone so she downloaded an app on her ipod, or maybe they disabled her texting like mine did! I know I got a US based texting number when my dad wouldn’t let me have texting. My friends never even questioned it! Ii think the issue may be with the restrictions on the kids…not so much lack of involvement in the matter!
It seems like the girl got the app so they would have a special number that only the two of them would share.
I wonder if the boy got the same app and they were then texting with the app from US to US number, whether it would be free?
Did the girl incur long distance charges too, or was it free to her because she was technically “texting” through the app and not her provider?
why there ripping us off alot of people should be able to over use without a high bill
they never give us enough bandwith so your most for sure gonna go over the limit by only using abit of internet useage my bill should be 40.00 dollars a month for what i use not 217.00 dollars a month that’s bullshit i used way more bandwith at my last apartment and my landlord never said that im over using the bandwith so yes there taking avantage of people and ripping them off it should be a flat rate of 40 dollars a month for all users no matter how much they use you need lots of bandwith anyways to use the internet period its gotten out of hand so i totally disagree with you every internet user needs a high bandwith to do anything or whats the point of even having the internet if there just gonna over charge you everytime you wanna be creative and upload a video
I’m never with the provider but I’m 100% with Rogers on this one. How stupid is your kid? If he has unlimited texting… Why even use an app? Just do some research, then tell your girlfriend you prefer to text the normal way. If your teen is too stupid to do this then perhaps the parent should of been monitoring the usage alot more.
He wasn’t using the app — the girl he was texting to was.
These fees are like charging for emails based on destination. Pure BS.
Ya. Why is everyone assuming that the son was using an app. READ. You just reinstated how easy it is to make a mistake.
they rip us all off with giving us such a low internet bandwith to work with
Totally see both sides here.
But Rogers just has one notification system that tells users if they are “roaming”.
What were to happen if someone stole the phone and used it for long distance charges, hot lines, etc etc? Would Rogers then notify the parent that their supposed teenage son’s phone bill has now reached $$$+ ?
Also, Rogers gets away with having 3rd party companies charging people when they didn’t sign up for anything.
That happened to me and I complained about it to Rogers and the 3rd party company. Rogers claimed they had nothing to do with it. The 3rd party, called Oxygen 8, said I had to make sure I don’t text a number to enter into a contest to win a deal….which I NEVER DID!
Complained more.
Oxygen 8 sent me cheques of reimbursement for $270 to cover what was charged. And I was thankful.
But here’s what is interesting. Rogers, claiming to have nothing to do with it, telling me that they will not reimburse me for what was charged, reimburses me those 3rd party charges when I got the cheque from Oxygen 8!
Still confuses me. And I know I’m not the only person to get extra 3rd party charges popping up on my bill.
Rogers has the sofistication and cash to tell people of any crazy charges a teenager is incurring on a phone bill.
Or even allow each customer to set an amount of $ limit on their account that if they go over $aid amount, they get a text message or phone call from Rogers letting them know.
Go Canucks Go!
Not going on a rant here but everyone wants to shirk their responsibilities these days. Stupidity is not an excuse, so……parents fault…..end of story.
Caveat Emptor. But Rogers keeps slotting themselves into a bad position by charging for services which they brand as ‘premium’ that the rest of the industry and the consumer no longer consider as such.
SMS pricing depending on destination is one of them.
Long distance charges. Then long distance charges at the rates being charged.
Voicemail?
Give it up Rogers, simplify and focus on the true differentiator in the business. (You will avoid lading in the news like this.)
Exactly.
Let’s make people scared to use SMS. Smuckin fart.
I think it would be fairly easy for most carriers to implement a user controlled threshold on usage based on $ since we all have different tolerances. As most use online account management tools that we can access to make modifications to our accounts, why not add a feature that allows us to control when the bill is approaching a user input amount? Of course, the carriers want us to spend spend spend – even if it is in error – but surely having fewer accounts go delinquent or into collections would be positive for their business also?
Better yet. Rogers should have something in place that would allows daddykins to put a block on long distance texting with his phone. OH BUT NO Rogers wouldn’t want that would they???
Unfortunately, there is a big gap between legality and morality.
Being one of the top wireless providers in Canada, you would think they’d be the kind of company to would notify customers of abnormal usage. They’re not in the top 3 because they’re good, they’re there because of money (in pockets of a few) and anti-competitive regulation.
In reality, they pick and choose what they ‘care’ about, and stoop low enough to specifically mislead customers to make extra money.
We can all hate on the kid or the father for not reading the terms of service, knowing about area codes, and other ignorance-based arguments, but doesn’t it reflect poorly on us all?It would cost almost nothing for Rogers to write off the bill, but instead they chose to make a few dollars in the short run, because they have nothing to fear.We have so little choice, they know they’ll get their piece regardless of performance.
I agree with both you and most of the people above. Rogers has no legal obligation or responsibility to alert people of charges that could have been foreseen by reading small print and memorizing area codes. But by charging him anyway, for something that costs them only pennies, they’re being complete dicks about it. It’s an ethical issue.
I refused to pay a Rogers bill when they charged me for 3 months after I cancelled. They cut off my other services, I went with Telus, and I’ve never been happier. 🙂
Everyone should be using TextPlus – it’s the same deal but you can get a canadian number to send and receive texts from, and it’s free.
Rogers $$ Cha-Ching, way 2 cash in!
You know what Rogers likes to use the texting method of sending out information time to time, there should be no reason what so ever why they wouldn’t make the effort to inform there own customer what they’re seeing on there end.
What a complete lack of looking out for who is signing there ridiculous contracts and a blatantly obvious mission statement that the money comes first-
“eFf who ever is on the other end of the contract we want the cash.”
Dear Apple,
Please take note and up the date for when we can see wireless services offered by your own company.
Rogers has always been and will be A BIG F____NG RIPOFF ASS___E
It is not Roger’s responsibility to alert an account holder when there are unusual charges on the account. With the My Account App, Call Manager (can block incoming and outgoing text messages, calls, times, etc.), there is no reason for this. Monitor your usage, know what your kids are downloading, and get your head out of your butt. If the texts are coming from a US number, no matter where the number is PHYSICALLY located, it is not a Canadian text message. His son should have known that the number came from a different area code at least. I hardly ever agree with Rogers but, in this case, the charges are legit, and he should pay up. Since his contract has already been cancelled, he can’t really re-activate.
Completely agree !
I ‘hate’ Rogers, including its customer service! But I have to say I’m with rogers on this case. and I suggest CRTC should intervene to remove the ‘boundary’ of cellphone texting, because there is no big difference in cost for texting at least in North America.
i think all users should all have a flat rate with no over charges because its very eazy to go over the limit what they give us for bandwith just isent a fair rate at all what so ever for any internet user
Ok. We all understand that the chargers are legit. The issue here is that shit happens… If Rogers cares about customer service and want people to like their services, they would at least meet this dude in the middle.
MEH. SMS will eventually go the way if the dodo anyways… Why would I want to use a service that could have side effects!?
*Rogers stubs toe* … Ouch.
sure it is or they just dont care about ripping people off
When are people going to take responsibility for their errors? Rogers did nothing wrong. Either the son or his g/f didn’t read the fine print and therefore they are at fault.
When is Rogers going to care enough about it’s customers to better protect them against this kind of thing?
I do agree that Rogers (et all) have a vested interest in not telling their customers their bill is getting large. BUT I can also see where you need to control what your kids are doing and downloading online; what was wrong with using Roger’s unlimited texting… why download some other app? I don’t know what the answer is.
Customer service and why Apple is making the buckets of cash it is and has 80+% user loyalty.
Dropped my MacBook Pro and dented the bottom case and out of warranty. Took it into Apple to have it repaired fully expecting to pay for the repair. Genius comes back in 1/2 bottom case replaced apologies for taking so long and says no charge.
It would’nt even remotly compute to Rogers to put the customer first only short term profit.
100% agree, apple has the best customer service for in and out of warranty repairs!
Its completely the paren’ts fault – he should be paying more attention to what his kids are doing. Does Rogers have a way to limit the amount of overage charges a particular phone can receive (when on a family plan)? If not, that might be a good idea. Regardless, this sounds like complete ignorance on the part of the Father for just assuming that “unlimited” texting in Canada was being used.
Yeah! The parents should be literally standing over their kid’s shoulder for everything he does, note every phone number, and compare it to their memorized list of US and Canadian area codes. So ignorant!
Rogers is banking on people like you to who are blind to the big picture. Ignorance is bliss isn’t it?
It’s not a Rogers issue. Rogers maybe could have come to an agreement about it. Seems the girlfriend and the boys parents should split the bill. Had they worked it out I’m sure Rogers would have taken off $100 that leaves $150 for each sides parents. He let it escalate to a $1200 bill.
there the provider so it so there problem rogers never treat people right
I hate Rogers with a passion. I hate social media including texting even more. As much as it pains me, I’m with Rogers on this one. Parents have got to keep an eye on this shit. You would be surprised what goes in right under your noses…
Not the son’s fault. How can he know if he’s going to pay for it ? He’s just sending messages, and usually (well it’s my case with my Bell iPhone plan), If i’m texting someone who’s in the US but that i’m staying in Canada, I don’t pay any fees.
If she had an iPod touch… She should have used iMessage. Or upgraded to iOS 5 if her device supported.
Free
Many people think that Rogers is right? Seriously!? Where is the customer service? Think about it for a second…. How much is Rogers going to loose out on in future income from this family? We don’t know for sure (and yes i’m assuming) but the family probably has cable and at least 3 cell phones with Rogers. This guy is going to cancel everything and never go back and his kid(s) will never be a customer.
Sure rogers is probably right but $1400 right now or keep this family a customer for the future.
No brain er in my books. keep the customer.
How is Rogers supposed to know who is using a phone? For all they know, it could belong to a business person who frequently texts a lot to the states. Does baby want its bottle too? Even I knew texting to the US was extra money on a free app, and I’m the account holder. It was the fathers duty to keep tabs on the phone, he didn’t, he is responsible, and if he didn’t want to put his son in a position to rack up his bills, he shouldn’t have given him a cell, or put him on a more responsible plan such as a prepaid one where the son learns to manage his own account.
well if it was a business person, it would have been under a business account, and not a family plan.
Nobody is their right mind would rack up 400 dollars worth of SMS messages.
Does no one parent their children anymore? Some “special number” for unlimited texting? Idiot.
Kid should had his phone monitored by parent.
ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS FUCK YOU ROGERS!
I second it….FUCK YOU ROGERS! YOU FUCKED US LONG ENOUGH
i third that give us a higher bandwith rate without over charging us
It’s the kids fault, he should pay it. I know my parents would have made me pay it, then again my parents wouldn’t have been paying for my cell phone in the first place.
no he shouldent
The dad is responsible for any usage of his son’s phone, and Rogers has no obligation to alert all it’s customers about their usage as the account holders are adults, they should know what they have done, keep track of their own usage, if the phone user is not an adult, then it is the account holder’s fault, which is in this case.
This is not new, and we keep hearing these people “don’t know”, well, they just trust their children’s judgement, when things go wrong, they blame “I should be warned”. Why blame others right away? Why don’t you keep track of your own things in the first place? Lazy people. Even I am sure Rogers will give him a discount sooner or later, but still a good lesson for him and his son to check carefully before doing anything, other people have no responsibility to take care of you.
Then he holds no obligation to pay
yes he parents should have monitored their kids phone closely
but rogers should know, that if your bill comes 60$ (or however much) every month, and then you start racking up a bill of 100$, then $200, then $300, …etc..
It wouldnt be hard for them to program something to notify you by text or a phone call, that your bill is growing very rapidly.
Bell has a program that not only spots this kind of “odd” activity but sometimes forces you to pay early without a bill too
It costs like $10 for a US texting addon, or with Fido $30/month for a plan that includes it. If you go over something, they should just switch you to that, or bill you. Billing $400 for something that costs nothing is absurd.
serves then right for using rogers in the first place. what the hell is somebody with an unlimited plan (assuming his gf has an unltd plan) doing with some dumbass heywire text app. don’t unlimited text plans include texting “to” the usa as well? suck it up dad. live and learn.
i spent 240.00 to cancel my kids rogers account and over to telus. not one single regret.
Yes the dad is at fault. If his son was calling a long distance number would that have been Rogers fault? I work in customer service and everybody wants something free these days. People want big companies to wipe away all their mistakes. If you gave your son your credit card and he ran up the bill would you call the credit card company and ask them to remove the charges? $400 in charges is not a large overage to create a system alert if such a thing exists. I have friends would run up their bills regularly in that ballpark with international LD. How can Rogers be responsible? Also who said they didn’t offer to meet him halfway they always do..he obviously didn’t except it.
OK, but why would Rager charge them early termination charges (a scam in and of it self) if Rigers cancelled the account?
I think its worth mentioning that the rates for overages, as they often are, seem to be ridiculous. If your account balance is going over several hundred dollars (or several times what it normally is due to overages) they SHOULD be obligated to alert you to this.
The entire model of offering services at one rate and then charging extreme overages seems quite unreasonable to me. Just like banks and credit card companies they cash in huge on peoples ignorance or oversight. Whether its ‘legal’ or not it seems kind of unethical and certainly unnecessary. They are “because we can” charges to pad their bottom line.
agreed because you need lots of bandwith to use the internet period
These companies gouge consumers relentlessly! Our phone charges here in North America are the highest anywhere…These companies are not interested in whether they have “good customer service” – their bottom line is the bottom line – making money off of those of us who aren’t willing or have the time to track and read every single character written in the contracts we sign or agree to. Visa and Amex call (never mind sending a message) when they see unusual patterns of spending or even large amounts on accounts that normally don’t have that type of spending. Rogers could do it, perhaps even should do it…good luck to Dad – I hope Rogers does rescind the bill, but I doubt it…
I totally see the argument on the father’s side. Who knows how old his son is? It’s true that his son is probably young and naive and doesn’t know all the area codes. For all he knew, he was just texting a number in Canada for his girlfriend. His girlfriend told him it was a “special” number. I doubt most people would do investigative research on an app if their spouse told them it was ok, especially if it’s for something such as texting.
I think Rogers should be lenient on this, and meet the father halfway. Most kids don’t rack-up a 1.4K bill knowingly, first off because to them 1.4k is more money than they’ve ever come in contact with, and secondly, because they know their parents would kill them. Rogers was clearly taking advantage of this poor boy, especially if the plan costs, maybe at most, $80/month. This bill is more than 14 times more than a regular phone bill. There should have been a system in place to protect the consumer. In most cases, when I was younger and spent too much money texting, my mother would find out at the end of the month when she got my bill, which would usually be something around $50 more than usual. At that point my mother would have a talk with me and ensure that it didn’t happen again. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the parent to monitor the charges everyday, especially when they have no reason to believe that their son would be texting the US, if his girlfriend (who he probably texts the most) is only 4 blocks away in Canada.
I’m sorry folks but we need to look at the BIG picture here. If we look at the small picture YES this is the customers fault. He texted to the US and his plan doesn’t cover that. Great… We get that.
Now, if we look at the big picture it’s Rogers fault. How many times has this happened!? How many MORE times does it have to happen. When will Rogers quit fucking it’s customers over an allow us to better track and monitor our usage?? We should be bloody well notified when something odd is happening with our accounts, it doesn’t matter what it is.. Oh but let’s just blame the customer right… Let’s take advatage of people’s blunders. Assholes.
Everyone here who wants to blame the father or son for their mistake is a self indulging tard. You’re going to tell me that you’ve never messed up? Im sorry but in the long run its Rogers responsibility to protect their customers from making these mistakes. The only reason they don’t is to blatantly take advantage of people’s fuk ups. There’s nothing more to it.
Why does Apple make you enter that damn password every time I want to download a $1 app?? Oh… Perhaps it because they want me to have a slightly annoying experience in the short term but protecting me from a really shiddy one that may just cause me and the people I tell about that experience, to hate them.
Oh I get it… Customer service.
Touchy subject here. (And I believe in Caveat Emptor… And Rogers can install all sorts of blocks, just call them. I did for my son’s line.)
Rogers will change when enough customers leave to a provider that doesn’t do the numerous things that drive customers and their own sales reps crazy.
For a normal smartphone AT&T (a provider that’s many times the size of Rogers) essentially has three voice plans, three data plans and only one messaging plan. Mix and match as needed. Rogers has dozens and dozens.
The confusion has to what you have “on your line” simply fades away.
This kid is old enough to have a girl friend, old enough to understand technology, old enough to understand that concept of downloading but not old enough to understand that the number she gave him is not a Canadian area code? Not able to understand the basic concept of long distance??? Do what parents have done for hundreds of years…pay it, as he put him under your contract and agreed by doing so, to be responsible for charges THEN make the kid pay it back to him so he knows what its like to be out that kind of money. Typical attitude these days….let me do what I want and YOU be responsible for it and then I’ll say you have bad customer service if you don’t.
Should have been on Bell since texting to the USA is free on every text plan!!!
It is always Rogers’s fault. That’s the bottom line.
It’s the chick’s fault.
i wouldn’t give Rogers the time of day, they are the worst company in the WORLD for internet, home phone, cable or mobility.
In my opinion, this was due to a lack of communication between and gf and the bf. Although the dad raises a good point about notification and it would be a good thing if carriers adobt this feature but its not rogers fault. Nevertheless Rogers shod have dealt with this more creatively to retain the clients. An easy fix would be that Rogers charge the client the extra $10/month that they charge otherwise for an unlimited US txt plan insead of $1400 based on a per txt charge. If absolutely necessary they could have also made the client sign a 1 yr contract on this add on. Isnt that a much reasonable solution? I think both parties would have been happy with that.
I always recieve notices from Roger’s when I’m approaching my limits when it’s at 80%. Why aren’t then sending alerts to parents when their children are using their phones OUTSIDE the agreed upon plan. I feel there is true intent to gouge the client. Is Roger’s now going to offer a child watch option at an addition $10.00 monthly fee? The kids girlfriend could and should help pay that bill atleast. Is there a way for the dad to have tracks all the ongoing charges? Maybe and only if there was, should he be hald completely responsible. If Roger’s wants to include Family Plans they should be required to assist in keeping the account costs in-check or atleast send alerts to the primary parent phone. I get alerts, why didn’t he?
My son is going to school in Texas. He has a plan with T-Mobile which includes for 60$/month – unlimited calls to US & Canada, unlimited texting to US & Canada, and unlimited data. The only thing that isn’t included is roaming when he comes to visit. And no contract!
It’s so cheap that I unlocked my phone and got another T-Mobile sim card for when we go visit. Before we leave, I go online and pay my 60$ and now I have a phone for my trip which is way cheaper than paying all those extra charges to Rogers to have “discounted” rates while in the US.
We really get the shaft here in Canada when it comes to cell charges.
As for the guy who refuses to pay Rogers…. I’m pretty sure, when he got his kid a phone, he probably had the don’t call long distance speech with him. He most likely never thought to have the don’t text to a long distance number. Most likely because the kid doesn’t have any friends in the states.
The dad was mostlikely an @$$ to the Rogers rep and therefore the result. He is under contract, knows texting to the US isn’t included, so he needs to pay the 400$.
Had he lent his phone to a buddy, and buddy racked up 400$ texting to a US number, would this guy be trying to get Rogers to drop the charges? Most likely would be collecting from his buddy.