Last week, Rogers decided to give us some bad news and push their hardware upgrade (HUP) eligibility to 30 months (this affected every phone except iPhones until December 2010). In other words, customers would be eligible for new device (promotional) pricing at month 30 since their initial activation or upgrade.
With the 30-month change, customers were to wait until the 30th month in their 3-year contract to receive a new device at promotional pricing. The HUP used to be 24-months.
As we pointed out last week, Rogers used to have HUP eligibility at 12 months, where customers could get a discounted or promotional priced handset. About two years ago, the company bumped that up to 24 months and more recently even further to 30 months.
Well, effective today, we have some better news. Rogers has pulled back the HUP policy to 24 months. The reason? Apparently employees and customers expressed dissatisfaction with the 30 month change (really?!).
Once again, Rogers has some answers to your most asked questions:
Why did you change HUP Eligibility in the first place?
Rogers regularly makes changes to our promotions such as HUP to ensure that our customers have access to the latest devices. Changes to these programs are made to reflect the higher costs of technologically advanced, feature-rich phones.Why are you changing HUP Eligibility policy for Data to Data Upgrades back to 24 months?
We are always reviewing our plans and promotions to ensure they provide the best value, choice and selection for our customers, and like any other promotion you can expect regular changes.
Why didn’t you provide any notice of the change to employees?
When the original change to 30 months was introduced last week, we realized that we did not provide enough time for our employees to react to the change, making it difficult to have conversations with customers whose eligibility had changed. We apologize for any confusion this may have created and will make sure we provide more advance notice in the future.When will HUP Eligibility change next?
We’re continuing to evaluate the HUP program based on costs, new device availability and customer needs. As we’re in a competitive landscape and want to remain agile, we anticipate that this program will continue to change and evolve but do not have a firm date for the next changes. As a result, we ask that you do not use HUP as a sales tool as their individual eligibility is subject to change.
Also note, just like last week with the 30 month change, the recent iPhone 4 promotional program is still around until the end of 2010. So if you are with Rogers or Fido, the chances are still very good that you will get an iPhone 4 at promotional pricing.
