why Canadian cell phone companies suck.

Posted on July 13th, 2004 in phone saga.

It’s that time again… time to bitch about cell phone plans!

Our contract with Rogers is up at the end of August, and Sandy is adamant about shopping around. I’m always up for getting a better deal, and for technology-related shopping, so I’ve already started looking at the companies again (Rogers, Telus, Bell, and Fido) to see what they’re offering.

However, they’re all still out to gouge you in mostly the same ways:

  • Long Distance – Rogers and Telus charge 25¢ per minute for Canada/USA long distance. Bell charges 30¢ per minute! Fido’s got everyone beat here: only 10¢ per minute. This is a big deal for us, because our most common calls are between Whitby, Cannington, and Toronto, all of which are long distance calls from each other.
  • Most common features not included – No one bundles call display into any plan. Rogers just started charging an extra dollar for it. I personally hate voicemail. I don’t have it because it’s a waste of time. Call Display means that if I miss a call, my phone knows who called and 99% of the time I know who it is based on the number. Seriously, everyone wants call display. The first company to bundle it gets my business. At least Telus includes basic voicemail with some of its plans. Seriously though, why not let people choose one feature out of voicemail, call display, or call waiting? Fido and Bell bundle call display with their prepaid service. Hrm.
  • Only two out of four have multiple phone plans for personal accounts – Rogers and Telus let you have a second (or more) phone on the same account, sharing the airtime, for a low fee. We’ve got Rogers Family Plan right now and I’m loathe to bill two phones any other way.
  • Connection Fees. Actually, Bell doesn’t charge a connection fee anymore. Sometimes you can get it waived if you’re a new subscriber.
  • Continuously redefining “evenings and weekends” – The definition of “evening” and “weekend” varys from plan to plan on Telus Mobility’s site. What garbage!
 

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2 replies

  1. N Johnson says:

    Added on March 14th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

    Rogers, is the worst cell phone company around and I don’t make this statemtn lightly. Check your bills asif your payemtn is not recieved when the next bill goes out, they add the previous (paid total) to the new bill amount owing and then add the two totals togtehr an add more tax on already paid/including taxes in the billing. Very deceptive ,and I have called their customer service line with this specfic information and have had them remove the added tax and decduct the amount. I wonder if this practice is leagl? Do they pay the extra charged taxes and submit to these unwarrated taxes to the appropiate renevue services? Or is it added to their profit nmargin?

    Unhappy Rogers Customer locked in to a long term plan that extra time has been added to the account contract without my knowledge or consent! Due to their so called policies and decpeption!

  2. Ruth says:

    Added on July 24th, 2007 at 6:13 pm

    Franky after reading what N Johnson has to say here I have HAD IT with Rogers. I got taken by them too and yours is about the tenth post today I have read about their out right LIES about their billing practices!

    If I went into all the many ways they have been dishonest with me it would become such a posting debacle that it would sound like a Monty Python skit! Unfortunately, it is not funny at all and the government needs to get involved and go after them. So many people are complaining about getting ripped off but, they are all dispersed here and there.

    I am going online this weekend and gather up everyone’s posts and forward them to Rogers and to every government official I can. What I saw today while trying find a place to talk about what they did to me is only the tip of the iceberg and I have not mentioned all the similar posts I found yesterday. They HAVE to know they are doing this on purpose.

    Enough!!!!!!!! I propose a letter writing campaign to be done and I’m going to find as many people as I can to bombard Rogers and the appropriate government offices all on the same day say two weeks from now and every month on that day again till we get some action.

    Speaking of action, I think due to the scam they are running on the Canadian customer I think a class action law suit ought to be brought against them!

    And no N Johnson what they are doing with their billing, signing and contract practices is NOT altogether legal but, as long as people do nothing but, complain online and do not stand up to them they will continue to get away with this.