Morning Brew: July 4th, 2008

Well, if participation in an intricate drug ring isn't a shining example of teamwork, then what is?

is it just me or should July become "Don't buy an iPhone" month? just to slap some sense into old Ted if nothing else...

i don't know why people hate rogers so much. they're a business, they're there to provide a service, and they're making it pretty convenient to include home phone, internet, wireless, cable, and moving if you ever need to. i'm all for big corporations that has good customer service and a reliable one-step go-to for all your needs. and no, i'm not being sarcastic. ted rogers definitely deserves the lifetime achievement award.

A lot of people are planning to buy iPhones then unlock them so they can use them with other, less insane, data plans.

Unfortunately, Industry Minister Jim Prentice's new Copyright Reform Bill C-61 will allow Rogers to get a $20,000 court judgment against you (plus all their expenses) if you do that.

Way to look out for the consumer, Jim and Ted.

@snowjuice - customer service? Hah! My experiences with Rogers customer services have been excruciatingly painful. Through their error one of my phone lines was disconnected. After about 1 week of calling, they then disconnected my other line and switched the number to the first line. Another week of daily calls and found out the first number has already been reused...

not gonna bore you with all the details, but after a month of daily 2-3 hour phone calls I finally had the lines fixed and reconnected... only to get a $90 invoice for my troubles.

Dear "snowjuice". Rogers customer service is so bad it's legendary -- somewhere between Air Canada and American Express on the Customer Abuse Scale.

If you don't know that, you 1) have never dealt with Rogers Customer Service, 2) have a fiduciary interest in Rogers or 3) both of the above.

I'm betting on #2.

Rogers continued sending me bills (to an address I no longer lived at) after I canceled my account. $300 later they sent a collection agency after me. It sucked.

Rogers customer service used to suck, but I have to give them credit - every time i've dealt with them in the last 2 years they've been great. The iphone thing is an absolute ripoff though, Bell is taking advantage of it by offering a much more reasonable data plan with the samsung instinct, but Bell's customer service is horrifying, so we're trapped!

What's happening with those wireless band auction? Did the oligopoly cement their position by buying it all up?

I've had three major issues with Rogers Customer Service more recently than the two year period guy lafleur mentions.

It's hard to imagine them sucking even worse than they do now.

With cell phones, between Telus, Bell, and Rogers, the plans are all virtually identical, give or take a couple dollars. All have access fees, all only give you minimal basics. It's Rogers however that has the most restrictive website when wanting to compare plans, and is much more sly at hiding the access fee by putting it far down the page in the smallest (grey) type.

In terms of cable, it doesn't get any better. And internet. And how many channels do Rogers and Bell own now, with them being the two main cable suppliers?

Basically, we're all frustrated that there is no true competition.

A lot of people are planning to buy iPhones then unlock them so they can use them with other, less insane, data plans.

Unfortunately, Industry Minister Jim Prentice's new "Copyright Reform Bill C-61 will allow Rogers to get a $20,000 court judgment against you (plus all their expenses) if you do that.

Way to look out for the consumer, Jim and Ted."

To be fair to Rogers, they were one of the more vocal opponents of the bill.

And in regards to their customer service: It might not be great, but it is certainly infinitely better than Telus.

Try getting their customer service to help you with anything other than the basic faq question. It's not going to happen.

"Telus has an estimated 1500 employees in the Philippines where it is known as Telus International. [24] The majority of the workforce employed in the Philippines is used for North American call center support."

Their call centre employees have no actual power to help you with your problem. They can read through a troubleshooting checklist and that's about it. Even management at the call centres have zero power. To top it off, Telus separates itself from every aspect of its organization. They take no responsibilty for the phones they sell, their retail store outlets and even their call centres. Try to take up an issue with one of these with Telus' head office and they'll tell you that.

Additionally, it should be noted:
"On July 25, 2005, Telus blocked its internet subscribers from accessing a website supporting striking union members"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telus#Labour_dispute

!@#*@! Customer Service. When I tried to cancel my cable, they would not shut it off. I kept calling every month and not paying, to which they finally sent a collection agency after me in 1/2 a year. I feel for ya Ben.

"To be fair to Rogers, they were one of the more vocal opponents of the bill."

Ryan L., do you have a link?

"(Telus) call centre employees have no actual power to help you with your problem. They can read through a troubleshooting checklist and that's about it."

That's also true of Rogers. And I should add that I'm not saying that Telus is any better than Rogers. It's just that I haven't had direct experience with Telus.

Rogers certainly has come Customer Service challenges, but considering the level of talent they most likely get in Call Centre jobs (not to mention high turn-overs), they do a fairly decent job.

My tip if you're having trouble -- hang up and call back. It's kind of like rolling the dice, keep trying until you get someone on the phone who isn't a moron. There are a few.

Let me provide a break from the Rogers-related comments by saying that it's lovely to see an accordion picture on BlogTo!

Hi Joey! Love your blog!

While I agree store should provide washrooms for their clients, this really looks like city hall masking its own problem with lack of PUBLIC toilets.

Why in this day and age we do not have a pay-per-use washroom system, similar to the UK, is beyond me.

"Rogers certainly has come Customer Service challenges, but considering the level of talent they most likely get in Call Centre jobs (not to mention high turn-overs), they do a fairly decent job.

My tip if you're having trouble -- hang up and call back. It's kind of like rolling the dice, keep trying until you get someone on the phone who isn't a moron. There are a few.
"

That is definitely true. I've found the majority of those I've talked to at Rogers helpful and nice, and have maybe talked to one out of two dozen at Telus that were.

It's like rolling the dice, but with Telus the dice are loaded with ones on all sides.

Virgin Mobile customer service in my experience has been the best of the big companies (minus Fido, as I haven't had experience with them). On top of the good service, they answer the phone quickly.

Helpfullness
1. Virgin
2. Rogers
3. Bell
87. Telus

Speed
1. Virgin
2. Rogers (although recently its been getting slower)
3. Bell
4. Telus

Ease of Use
1. Virgin
2. Bell
3. Rogers
4. Telus

Flexibility in Plans/Phones

1.Rogers
2.Telus
3.Bell
4.Virgin

Quality of Service in Toronto (ie, signal)
1. Rogers
2. Telus
3. Bell/Virgin

Overall Sleeziness of company
1. Telus (Labour issues, censorship, countless illegal ads, Hidden Fees.)
2. Rogers (Hidden Fees. Unecessarily high plans. While they're all guilty of this, Rogers seems to be the worst offender)
3. Bell (Guilty of the same stuff Rogers is guilty of, but to a lesser degree.)
4. Virgin (Still unecessarily high plans when compared to other countries)

If anyone is still questioning why Telus is higher than the rest on sleeziness, here is a big example.

When cancelling your contract, Bell and Rogers have a maximum penalty charge (So much per remaining month up to a certain value).

Telus. They have a -minimum- cancellation fee and NO maximum (or at least they did). (So much per remaining month with a $200 minimum).

I've had two friends switch phone companies the DAY BEFORE their contract was up. The wording on their bill was confusing and made it appear their contract was already over. They were both billed the $200 for that one, debatable day. I've heard reports of them even charging people the full $1500 after they cancelled during the first month (as Telus Sales reps had lied and told the people they could cancel out the first month with no charge as long as they returned the phone (which wasn't true))

The last Rogers rep I dealt with didn't know the difference between an account balance and a credit on account.

She said "no, you don't understand, it's a minus."

WTF.

The trouble with employers generally is that they no longer hire full timers because they don't want to contribute to EI and CPP. This means that the businesses are staffed by many part-timers most of whom don't have a proper handle on their jobs.

These savings go to the shareholders not the subscribers.

That shift away from service started in the Reagan years and has been growing ever since.

Every time I get a return e-mail from Rogers, it seems to be
made up of boiler-plate paragraphs and it doesn't answer my question or solve an issue. That means they haven't read my e-mail and have strung together phrases and paragraphs to try to show some interest in what I had to say.

All to no avail.

By the way, why do so many people fall all over themselves to honour Ted Rogers on his 75th birthday?
Isn't this the same Ted Rogers who is some $4 Billion in debt?