People want the Rogers Centre renamed and are boycotting the telecom giant over outage
All anyone seems to be talking about in Canada on Friday is the ongoing pesky Rogers outage that is, at the time of publication, still keeping tens of thousands of people from basic communication and connectivity, work, and more.
Of course, Twitter has served as prime grounds for complaints to and about the telecom brand all day as people either use service from other providers or use WiFi from public places to get online and air their grievances.
I’d say to #boycottRogers but they do it for us.
— Brandon (@DoubleB949) July 8, 2022
Also, fuck you @rogers
Livid customers are vowing to boycott the company and switch over to a competitor ASAP — that is, those that haven't already hit up their local shopping centre and done so already.
The few, extremely vague updates from Rogers stating that they are working on the issue have not been well-received as people across Canada continue to struggle without home internet, wireless and/or TV service.
I am so done with your guys. Switching to Bell this weekend.
— Dirk Straun (@connell_bj) July 8, 2022
It's impacted everything from around 5 a.m. onwards, from debit machines at local businesses to ATMs and banking services to air travel and public transit to emergency services.
Many have had to take the day off work or get creative with remote work locations, with some even taking to the TTC to use its free internet on their phones and laptops.
Given that this isn't the first time this has happened with the Rogers network in particular, people are demanding financial compensation, both for frustrated customers and the employees who have had to deal with said customers.
Think they’ll cover the loss in sales and wasted wages as a result of not following through with their promise from LAST YEAR that this would never happen again? Has it EVER happened with bell or Telus? Rogers should be held accountable.. too much infighting to get business done
— Dan Adams (@dan_adams) July 8, 2022
Though Rogers did issue customers a credit during a similar blackout last year, some are less confident than others that any such compensation will be dealt out this time around.
Unlikely. Their service contract probably says they'll make their best efforts to deliver the service, but won't be held liable if the services are unavailable for any reason.
— T. Alex Beamish 🇨🇦 (@talexb) July 8, 2022
People are also taking this opportunity to discuss how problematic the industry as a whole in Canada is given the sky-high prices we pay for wireless services compared to other nations, and also the monopoly that our Big-3 companies have over the landscape.
Customers are thus calling upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make some major changes.
#rogersoutage #rogersdown #rogers Monopoly should really be re-evaluated for price gauging reasons and long time poor service. @Trudeau are you listening to #twitter conversations and your fellow #Canadians? When will we see other telecoms offerings with competitive pricing?
— Algocentric Digital Consultancy (@Algocentric) July 8, 2022
While most of the reaction has been extremely (and understandably) bitter, some people have maintained a bit of humour about the situation, whether it's through an influx of requests to give the Rogers Centre back its original title of the SkyDome again...
In an event like this , please revert to calling it SKYDOME !#rogersoutage pic.twitter.com/TFdDg4wcI6
— Tarzan Dan Freeman (@TarzanDan) July 8, 2022
...or other memes and quips, like the very-clever naming of July 8 as "Rogers Let's Not Talk Day" (vs. the famous annual Bell Let's Talk campaign).
Rogers Let’s Not Talk Day #internetdown #rogersoutage #nointernet #canadawide pic.twitter.com/WPwRoDzWRS
— Elise Goodhoofd (@EliseGoodhoofd) July 8, 2022
While the latest statement from Rogers at 3:20 p.m. says that technical teams are still working to resolve the mess and "are making progress," anyone with Rogers, Fido or Chatr is still out of luck as of 5 p.m. Friday evening, though devices are showing that service bars are back (up to four from zero earlier) but are not yet functional.
