Blog

My wife was interested in getting an iPhone so we stopped in to the local Rogers location at St Vital Mall. We were informed there that the iPhone 5 was no longer free with new contracts and had no interest in purchasing another phone at this time. We also inquired about the possibility of getting an iPhone 4S with a new sign up and were told the cost would be $79.99 for the upgrade. Again we declined as we had no interest in paying for a new phone when we could just wait for another promotion or go with another provider.

When we got back in the car I thought it would be good to call Rogers and see if I was eligible for an upgrade to the iPhone 5 so that I could transfer my phone (4S) to my wife. I was informed that the iPhone 5 was not an eligible upgrade. I explained the situation that bascially I wanted to bring my wife to Rogers from Telus but our bottom line was that we didn’t want to pay for the phone. At the time a competing MTS promotion was being run for an iPhone 4S for free with new sign ups. The CSR I spoke with told me there were no promotions at this time for 5 but he could certainly set us up with an iPhone 4S for free. I asked why we couldn’t take care of this at the store level and he told me they had more flexibility on their end to offer promotions for new customers. My concern was waiting for the phone in the mail. He mentioned he could waive the cost of the phone or give us our first month free.He also let me know that because my wife is a new customer she would get the same plan I am on at $5 off We decided to go ahead and he took the details required to sign us up and added my wifes phone to my account.

In May I received my first bill and noticed I had been charged for the phone so I called customer support. I spoke to a CSR about being charged for the phone and he told me that because it was mid billing cycle I would see the charges removed from my next bill. He also sorted me out with my Visual Voicemail because it had not been working in the weeks since I made my change.

In June I received my bill and noticed that I still wasn’t credited for the hardware. I called and talked to a CSR who told me there were no notes on the account about getting the phone for free. I explained my situation again and she said she could not help me further so I asked to talk to escalations. I spoke to a very well versed girl in escalations who told me in proper customer service terms that she was empathetic to what I was trying to explain but there were no notes to support what I am saying really happened. After some more discussion I told her we didn’t want the phone if we had to pay for it because there we promos with other providers we could have taken advantage of and again she could not help me with my concern. I asked how much it would cost to cancel both phones and she said somewhere in the $700 range.

I was shocked that after being with Rogers for 4-5 years now and bringing over another customer that they would not honor what they said they were going to do and also deny any such conversation took place. They claim there wasn’t any notes on the account about a free phone but I am not sure how I could have protected myself from lackof note taking? I was warned that my conversation was being recorded so why can’t someone bring up the conversations I had with the last two CSR’s based on my phone number and the date I called?

So surprised they would burn a customer like this over an out-dated phone they have been giving away all over the place.