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.
Hello, my name is RogersDarrell and I’m from the Rogers Social Media Team. I’d like to help with your concern today. Please feel free to reach out to us on Twitter via @RogersHelps or Facebook.com/Rogers where we can directly assist.
Thanks,
RogersDarrell
Update: Rogers listened to the tape and I was told they were going to take it off the next bill! I wonder if they have any notes on that. Carolina said she listened to the tape…not because they doubted us but because it’s procedure. I told her that 2 other CSR’s surely doubted me and if she didn’t agree she should go back to the recordings on those calls too. Not overly impressed with all the BS I had to go through for $80. Pretty sure it’s just business for them.
i bought the iPhone 5 on opening day of sept 2012 at the apple store. after having stood in line for several hours i was told that my iPhone would be locked to rogers – if i refused to have the phone locked to my service provider they wouldn’t sell me phone. i agreed because i would have wasted hours of my life standing in line for nothing.
when i contacted rogers about the situation they said i would have to pay the $50 unlocking fee. we argued they wouldn’t budge. i again recently tried to argue my case and again they refused to budge.
now heres the rub – if i had purchased said phone from the apple website it would not have been locked to any carrier. as far as i am concerned they did not have the right to lock my phone and should unlock it for free. they said i made the choice to purchase the phone and therefore accepted the conditions of sale. though it is true i did make the choice to purchase the phone it is choice i feel i should never have had to make. it is a condition that discriminates against customers. why is one exempt from the condition and the other is not. any way in closing my contract is up in couple of months and rogers can kiss my ass cuz i will NEVER give them any more of my money and will be sure to discourage any one i meet NOT to use rogers as a service provider.
Barbara, the reason you’re required to pay the unlocking fee like every other customer who purchases a locked phone in North America, is because the company who sold it to you paid a large sum of money to lock the device to their network in the first place. When the service provider purchases the phones, the manufacturer charges to lock (a required business tactic considering the overwhelming number of Canadians who will take out a contract with no intention of ever paying a bill). Now the fact that you purchased the device from the store rather than the apple website tells me that you were too impatient to wait for said, non-locked device. You knew fully well upon purchasing the device that you would be responsible for having it unlocked, don’t