To: [email protected]

From: Ryan K.

Date: September 20, 2002 11:44 AM

Subject: Hahahaha Ontario-ites!!!!!

Hey guys,

Okay okay, most rants are from Ontario on this site.  But when you guys had Shaw Cable, we (British Columbia) had the third reich known as Rogers.

Before I go any further, I'd like to say how happy I am with Shaw.  Our internet is decent speed, our cable always works (except for Sportsnet which is blurry, but besides Jodie Vance, there's no reason NOT to watch TSN instead.)  It seems like you got the short end of the stick, Ontario, but,
before they left, we had some major idiots out here.

1. Negative billing for the Me+ channels.  Scenario: Three months free trail, we say okay.  3 months up, call from Rogers: "Your trial period is up, wanna keep it?"  Us: "no thank - you." okay then we'll give you 3 more months free.  Us: cool.  3 months later: Rogers: "Well?" Us: We told you we
didn't want it, and we still don't.  Rogers: Okay, We'll give you ONE more month free.  One month later: Overdue bill for the last 4 months cable bill!!!!  NOT TO MENTION WE PAID OUR REGULAR CABLE BILL, THIS WAS A SEPARATE BILL FOR ONLY THE ME+ CHANNELS!  We call and tell them to take the damned channels out of the cable box, and the ask IF WE WANT ANOTHER MONTH FREE. 
We say free?  You're charging US ALREADY, I have the bills to prove it!!!! She still denies they billed us!!! I talk to someone I know that worked @ Rogers (acquantance, not a friend :) and he told me that they saved the extra free service I got, and would charge us for it through service charges!  Bastards.  Needless to say they finally removed their stupid channels, I didn't pay for them, and life was good.

2. "We're going to charge you with theft." > This happened just after they came over to block the above channels.  Our cable goes out unexpectedly.  Everyone else in the neighborhood works, but ours doesn't.  We call Rogers, and they say something like "suspicious activity (use of a spliter, WHICH WE DON'T) and that they were going to lay charges.  I DON'T HAVE A DAMNED
SPLITTER, INVESTIGATE IT YOU IDIOT.  Techie comes over like he's the FBI, running wires from the box to our house, etc.  Finally he comes over to us and says "Fixed your cable." and leaves, no apologies or anything.  Turns out the goof that put the filter in for the original channels messed
something else up in the cable box, and he fixed it, AFTER THEY THREATEN US WITH CHARGES!!!!!

3. Porn on cable.  (IT was a mistake, but still) Sunday afternoon, football game is on, right?  No, it's hardcore pornography.  I got nothing against porn (I'm a red blooded Canadian) but I also had 2 kids under  9 years old watching TV.  Hell they gotta learn sometime, but on Sunday afternoon they
shouldn't be watching some skank in a 3 way.  Wrong, just wrong.  They played outside for the afternoon.

4. "Buy a new computer."  This advice is from the Rogers tech guy.  I adamantly tell him, "I know a little bit about computers, and our computer is fine.  There's a signal coming in and out of your modem, but I can't reach any websites."  They say my computer isn't fast enough to handle
highspeed.  I tell them "but it worked yesterday!" they say they changed something (can't remember what.)  I tell them I have a Pentium III.  They do a 180 and say "well your computer is broken internally, you'll need to purchase a new one."  I hang up in anger.  Later in the day the internet works.  I call back, and they deny the internet was down!!! they won't give me anything!!!! my computer (which was dying / dead / too slow for them 10 hours ago fixed (and upgraded) itself!!!!)  It's a miracle Brothas and Sistas!!!!

5. This last one isn't really Rogers, but it pissed me off anyways.  I'm at the Rogers towers (regional headquarters or something like that.) Anyways, the building is a large office tower with many businesses, but Rogers is its main tenant.  For career day (highschool) a couple years ago, we got to tour some of the businesses in the building.  We had a break between visiting businesses, so we went down to hang out in the lobby for 10 minutes.  We're dressed like "normal" teens (Jeans, sweater, normal hair, etc.) Security guard"s" come up to us and say "no loitering."  We explain our situation and what's going on very politely.  No change in their stance, except for "get out."  Turns out Rogers doesn't want "undesirables in their building," as the guard put it quote: "This building is for Rogers business only."  Not only did they forget the little guy (us) they forgot the other tenants that use (and pay for) the right to use their building.  Anyways, bad grade for Career and Personal Planning course in school.  In trouble by the Principal for "not properly representing the school."  (CAPP teacher rats on us!)  Jerks.

Thanks for the time.

Ryan in VanCity

PS> Shaw is good.  Good internet.  Good cable.  Good service.  Sorry Ontario, you guys got screwed.

IhateROGERS.ca Comments

I like this guy. Even after being released from their evil grip the bad taste lingers for years. That’s why I welcome rants from past customers. A rant is a rant is a rant. By the way for anyone who may be reading this and is not aware for a great cable alternative to ROGERS check out Star Choice. Who owns Star Choice? SHAW. I have it and I could not be happier.

To: [email protected]

From: SuperD

Date: September 26, 2002 2:02 PM

Subject: Rogers sucks, Sypatico here I come !!

I have been a Rogers Internet High Speed customer for 3 years now. Never once late with a payment and never short on a payment. I just resently moved to a new area, where there seems to be more down time on then up time. Every time you call and ask what the problem is, they always feed you the line" We are upgrading the system", which translates to" We have no idea what is wrong, we have no idea how long the service will be out, and we cannot tell you this, because you will think we are idiots!"

Anyways, I finally got feed up and asked if they are upgrading the system, they have been doing this for at least the past 4 months that I have lived here, and would like to know how much longer this will take, because I will change services, if they do not fix the problem in the near future. I was told they could not tell me how long it would take, and if I was to disconnect the service, that if I ever wanted the service back, that I would have to pay a reconnection fee ( this is there so called"customer service" selling point) I became VERY furious and told them to disconnect my service by the end of the month, and to connect me to their supervisor.

They where more than happy to cut my service off and the supervisor did not even care that I was a loyal customer for 3 years. I was basically told, if you don't like it, then get lost.

I have called Sympatico and have made arrangements for their service as my brother highly recommends them. You see my brother was a Rogers customer, was treated very badly by them, and changed to Sympatico. Rogers did not care when he told them to cut his service off, until it was actuallydisconnected. As soon as it was disconnected, Rogers called him back right away and offered him free reconnection, and 2 months free. If they treated him that way when he was a customer, he would have never changed.

He tells me Sympatico's customer service is EXCELLENT. He had a slight slow down problem with his connection, he called Synpatico, they fixed the problem in minutes, AND called him back the next day, to make sure everything was still running smooth. Now that is customer service!

BUBYE Rogers, Hello Sympatico !!

Please keep email secret as I am still a user of Rogers until the switch.

IhateROGERS.ca Comments

ROGERS has poor customer service????? Really????? Just kidding. I think they should adopt a new slogan — "At ROGERS, customer satisfaction is at the top of our list…of things we really don’t care about." Sympatico? Awesome service. Do I need to say more?

To: [email protected]

From: Shane

Date: September 29, 2002 6:56 AM

Subject: Rogers owes me $12

I bought a pager and subscribed to Rogers service in '96. The plan required I pay $45 in advance every three months. By '02 the price had climbed to $60 and I decided that since my needs had changed I would discontinue the service. I called them on the phone and asked for a stop
and was told that since a bill had just been posted I would have to pay that bill before I could stop the service. I don't think that's right since I pay in advance for the service but it just was easier to pay the bill than to fight or risk my credit. The pager continued to work so I called again to get it shut off but it continued to work and sure enough I got another bill for $60. Help! I'm trapped in this deal! After a dozen phone calls I finally spoke with a rep with authority and the pager that would not die is now silent. But not the account. You see, Rogers now owes me a few bucks and they write me every month to tell me this. What a waste of trees.

Shane

PS Please supress my last name and email addy - thanx

IhateROGERS.ca Comments

Another ROGERS billing / customer service related fiasco. It makes me sick to no end how they completely disregard a person’s time and effort. You’d figure with the high volume of ROGERS’ customers swithching to ROGERS’ competitors they’d have the cancellation process down by now. At least you’re out.

I would like to take this time out to show contributors to the Rants section of IhateROGERS.ca that there is nothing to be afraid of in voicing your grievance or opinion against ROGERS. Those $$ hungry bastards will let you complain about them all you like as long as you give them your hard earned dollars. Some of you specifically request I supress your names, e-mail addresses, etc. I do this anyways as that is my policy for your anonymity.

I would like to say that my name is Adam Sherman and my e-mail address [email protected]

From: Dee F.

Date: October 8, 2002 11:53 PM

Subject: Rogers can pound salt!!!

In April,  my car was stolen along with my cell phone. I called Rogers and alerted them to the phone theft immediately. They told me the only way I could replace my phone was to do a hardware upgrade on my account. The account was originally a corporate account which we called and had changed in June, 1999, when my husband retired. We found out when we went to get the hardware upgrade (a new phone) that they had not changed it to a private account and that it was still a corporate account. We asked the fellow at the store where we got the new phone at to again cancel the corporate account.

We were then told the only way we could upgrade our hardware (phone) was to sign a two year contract. We did that. The phone we were sold works on a  GSM network which we were assured was available in our area. The phone has not worked since day 1, in our area.

Several times I have phoned and complained, I was not told until after the warranty/guarantee was up that I could have taken it back and got another phone that works on digital. Convenient. I continued to complain and finally got someone in July named Randy (they will not give their last names) After I threatened them with a class action law suit, he finally looked into it, apologized and confirmed that I was right and we did not have the GMS service in our area. Randy assured me that they would find me a new phone at no cost or agree to cancel our contract and told me that he would phone back and tell me what they would be doing. I was also informed during that call, that I was still on a corporate account. Again I cancelled it. I am still waiting to hear from Randy, he NEVER called back.

I called Rogers again Sept 20 2002 to find out that they will not cancel my account, that it is still listed as a corporate account (they also informed me I can't telephone the corporate office, I have to fax them. I have no fax and have to travel 25 mile to the nearest town to pay for one). I informed them that Randy had told me that they would cancel my account if they couldn't find me a phone (which they didn't) and was told that that "offer" was only good for 30 days and since it was made back in July it was no longer valid. WHAT OFFER?, they were suppose to get back to me! I was never told at any time that it was a 30 day offer.

This company has done nothing but lied and conned me and several other people I know with promises and offers they can't keep. Just recently they out and out lied to my daughter and she ended up with 2 phone contracts at one time and they refused to cancel either unless she paid them $300.00 for each contract to end them.My daughter told them where they could ram their phone and she threatened a class action law suit and let them know I was putting a large ad in the newspaper to advertise for disgruntled clients of Rogers.

My husband and I are on a fixed income and I have been making monthly payments for a phone account that is useless to me unless I happen to be in Toronto which is over 2 hours away and which I get to about twice a year.

I was at the point where I was seriously thinking about advertising for other customers they have cheated and starting a class action law suit. This company misrepresents itself and bald-faced lies to get people to sign up. I finally blew a gasket and said enough is enough. I went to Pat Foran of Consumer Alert on CFTO news in Toronto and told them that I would go to the ends of the earth to give them as much bad publicity as I could find. They finally relented and I sent the phone back and they cancelled my contract. Now they owe me $150.00 and I don't know how long I will have to wait to see my money.

Dee F.

Ennismore, Ontario

IhateROGERS.ca Comments

Dee you are not alone. Unfortunately that doesn’t remedy the situation. I’m proud of you the way you stood up to ROGERS. A lot of people just lay down and take it. There are alternatives out there and more and more people are taking advantage of them. I hope your story stops someone from dealing with ROGERS. There is no excuse for the way you and your family were treated and ROGERS should be ashamed of their business practices.

To: [email protected]

From: Andy A.

Date: October 9 2002 3:23 PM

Subject: Free Cable TV

Hi,

I have heard that if you order high speed internet through Rogers without Cable TV you will receive free basic cable. And if you take off the filter you can get all the normal channels.

I just wanted to see if you have heard of this and maybe if you post it, someone will reply with a true answer.

Regards.

IhateROGERS.ca Comments

It sounds to me like you’re talking about stealing cable. I may be wrong but if I’m not I of course can not endorse that practice. I wouldn’t rat out anyone if I knew they were doing it. I just don’t think it would be proper for me to advise on the situation. However, if you are looking for some input check out the following interactive forums where you’ll find the advice you need:

http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/rogers

http://www.rbua.org/board/forumdisplay.php?FID=5

Here you can post your questions and get responses from other posters who should be able to answer your query.