Rogers Customers Disgruntled Over Hidden Policies in New Rewards Program

David Balcon learned that he should be more careful in reading the fine print after he signed up for a new Rogers rewards program that offered him 1,000 free bonus points.

“My latest bill was higher than it had been for all of this year. After downloading the detailed statement, I discovered that my eight per cent monthly discount for having three Rogers services was not applied.”

Rogers was giving him two points for every dollar Balcon spent on Rogers services. Without him knowing, he was actually spending an extra $9 a month to earn these points.

By signing up for the rewards plan, he didn’t realize that he would loose his Better Choice Bundles discount, a discount that allows Rogers customers to save money if you bundle two or more services together. Here is a snippet from Rogers terms and conditions:

You acknowledge that if you currently participate in the Rogers Better Choice Bundles program or other specified discount program, and you are otherwise eligible for the Program, you may enroll in the Program. However, you acknowledge and agree that once you enroll in the Program you will no longer be eligible for any Rogers Better Choice Bundles discount or other applicable discount, and such discount will automatically be discontinued for all Rogers services and accounts under your name as of the start of your next billing cycle. Once you have stopped participating in the Rogers Better Choice Bundles program, you will not be able to re-enroll in the Rogers Better Choice Bundles program.

When Balcon called customer service they told him the changes he made were “irreversible.” However, they offered him a one time credit on his next bill for losing the discounts.

After Rogers’ spokeswoman Patricia Trott got involved they restored his discount saying he should not have received the email pitch in the first place. Trott said:

“Clearly, we’re not doing a good job of explaining the program to our customers and we need to make some changes.”

Tanya Goldberg, whose BCB discount is 15 percent, luckily avoided losing her discount because she read the terms and conditions beforehand. Bob Kisin, discontent with the lack of transparency in the program, says:

“I’m in the marketing business. I know how few people read those small print agreements and so does Rogers. I also know the low percentage of people who redeem points and I’m willing to bet that Rogers does too.”

Rogers is enrolling new customers automatically into the program and warning existing customers that have a BCB discount who are trying to signup with large print on the signup page saying:

“If you would like to enroll in the Rogers First Rewards loyalty program, your Better Choice Bundles discount will be removed from your account at the end of your current billing cycle. Please note, once the Better Choice Bundles discount has been removed from your account, we will not be able to reapply it.”

Rogers is not the first company to try and hide information in the fine print. Let us know below if you were affected.

[via The Star]