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To: [email protected]
From: Mike B.
Date: October 13, 2002
11:21 AM
Subject: Cable TV alternative
/ suggestion
Execulink also has cable.
http://my.execulink.com/cable/
I have their DSL, and I am so happy that I never even gave
Rogers a chance to be my Internet provider. We have
their cable, and we pay $520 a year (10 bucks a week!) for
it. I think we may invest in this StarChoice company
after reading some of the rants...
... Mike. ^_^
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
Thanks for the link Mike.
This info will be posted in our Cable Alternatives section.
What we should mention though is that execulink only services
a few communities in South Western Ontario for cable television
service. But what the hell…if one person there cancels
ROGERS and goes with them it’s all worthwhile.
To: [email protected]
From: Corey R.
Date: October 17, 2002
12:24 PM
Subject: Rogers Wireless
Horror Story
Dear ihaterogers.ca
Our Rogers horror story begins before my wife and I were married
in 2000. My wife (at that time my fiance) lived in a
dorm and didn't have a land line, so she used her old Motorola
600 series phone on the Rogers network. No problems
other than getting that annoying "Rogers AT&T Wireless,
The customer you are calling is not available blah blah blah"
message when she was out of range or had her phone turned
off. However, the Motorola phone was really old and
the battery would often come loose in the middle of a call.
I asked her if she would buy a new handset because I was tired
of the dropped calls. So she picked up a Nokia 5000
series handset from the local Rogers store and things were
much better -- or so we thought.
What we didn't know at the time is that they changed her long
distance rate plan in the process of setting up her new handset.
So in the next two months she racked up a pile of long distance
charges because the vast majority of her calls were long distance.
Obviously there was no way we could afford to pay this, and
of course Rogers would never admit making a mistake, so we
attempted to negotiate a payment plan with Rogers ruthless
billing department. What a hopeless effort, we should
have tried talking to a tree stump instead. They told
her "to borrow the money from a friend" so she could pay Rogers.
Then they disconnected her phone, which was actually kind
of stupid on their part because they now had no way of harassing
her. So they started calling me at home instead (we
figure somebody at the dorm gave Rogers collection department
my number). After telling them several times that she
didn't live there and threatening to call Bell and the police,
the harrassing phone calls finally stopped.
What was even worse is that even though they disconnected
her phone, they were still charging her the monthly connection
charge, making the already outrageous bill even worse.
The only way to terminate the contract was to pay the outstanding
ballance and then a penalty for each month left on the contract.
It ended up being cheaper to let the contract run out than
to pay to terminate it! Once I moved out of my apartment
when we were married, I left no forwarding address or new
phone number. And my wife did the same, and because she also
changed her last name, we made sure Rogers would never be
able to bother us again.
To deal with the Rogers bill, my wife contacted Credit Counselling
Services of Toronto. They also helped her deal with
a massive credit card bill due to futher stupidity at George
Brown College (which is an entirely different story for another
day, maybe George Brown is related to Ted Rogers). A
year and a half later, the entire debt has been paid off and
this horrible experience has been put behind us.
We have both vowed to have nothing to do with Rogers ever
again. They have got all the money out of us that they're
ever going to get.
Sincerely,
Corey and Stephanie
P.S. If you have problems with debt and can't seem to get
out, We highly recommend Credit Counselling Services of Toronto
or any other local credit counselling service available in
your area. (Look in the yellow pages) They are
a non-profit agency.
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
You sound like you would
have started this web site if I didn’t. I got to the
same point where I said enough is enough. I hate stupid people.
Never could deal with them. Don’t have the patience I
guess. When I finally realized ROGERS is just the corporate
version of a stupid person I made the decision to sever the
ties with them and never looked back. ROGERS IS NOT the only
game in town. Even if their competition were to charge a little
more it all works out in the end - especially if their customer
service undersatnds and meets your needs.
To: [email protected]
From: Craig W.
Date: October 17, 2002
12:54 PM
Subject: the monkeys still
live!
It was nice to read through
some of the rants on your website, since I've been living
in Rogers Hell for the last few weeks myself.
I used to have Bell Sympatico HSE (and NEVER experienced any
problems for 2 years!), but when I moved across town I was
informed it wasn't available in my area. At that point
I switched to Bell dial-up since I had a very old computer
with a CD-ROM that didn't work and figured I wouldn't be able
to install any software for Rogers cable modem. Well,
a few months later one of the door-to-door marketers convinced
me to give it a try. Even though I informed him that
I couldn't use my CD-ROM and I had no cable line in the room
with my computer, he ASSURED me it was still "easily" done
and installation was included free in the promotional offer.
He took down what times I would be available for a technician
to come to my house, and said he would try to arrange it for
the Saturday coming up and call me back later that day.
I did receive a call from him a few hours later saying it
was all arranged and someone would be at my house Saturday
between 11am and 2pm.
So...Saturday comes...and at about 3pm, after waiting around
the house most of the day, I decide to call Rogers to see
where the tech. is. They politely informed me that the
appointment was actually scheduled for the following Saturday..."sorry
for the inconvenience"! The next Saturday, the tech.
arrives about 2pm. After trying for a half-an-hour to
run a cable line from the basement upstairs to the computer,
he informs me he has had to call someone else, and a second
tech. is on the way to help him out. After another half-hour
with the two of them, they finally are able to run
the line. The technician then plugs in the modem, hands
me the network cable and says "there you go", you just need
to plug the modem into your computer and it should work.
I am fairly experienced with computers, so I wasn't worried
that I'd be able to get online in a few minutes. I did
after all have a handy instruction book, so this should be
easy right?
Well, after reading the book cover to cover a number of times,
and following every instruction, I end up calling the technical
support at Rogers. After running tests on the line,
and saying everything looks fine from their end, he had me
go through some kind of circus act of unplugging and plugging
in cables, re-booting my computer over and over again, and
even reversing the network cable. He finally came to
the conclusion that there must be something wrong with MY
network adapter card. Since this was the card from sympatico,
he couldn't provide me any help other than to say it likely
needed the drivers re-installed and gave me the phone number
for the manufacturer of my card. This card by the way....worked
just fine with the sympatico modem. Anyway, I struggled
for a while, but was unable to install the drivers correctly
without being able to use my Windows CD
(since my drive was not working). I finally gave up
and figured it was time I went out and bought a computer anyway!
The next day, after purchasing a brand new computer (with
a brand new network card included!), I set it all up and went
through the whole process of installing my cable modem again.
To my surprise...it still didn't work! The exact same problem
was happening as when I had the old computer. So, I
was back on the phone with Rogers Tech Support. I explained
my story of what was wrong, and what we already tried doing,
but for some reason, he made me go through the whole procedure
again of checking settings (most of which I had memorized
by this point!), and the time-wasting plug/unplug/re-boot
fiasco. At the end of this call, I was told that they
would "assume" the computer and network adapter was fine because
it was brand new (gee thanks!), so it must be something wrong
with the modem. He would need to send out someone with
a new modem for me (Tuesday at the earliest!). After
asking if I could pick one up myself, I was informed I could...only
if I went to the head office. So I packed up my modem
and cables and hoped in my car and headed for the head office
(about 45 minutes from my house). Luckily, being Sunday,
the office was fairly quiet and after receiving my new modem,
which was opened by the technician to ensure all the cables,
etc. were there, I was on my way back home relieved that I
would be online SOON!
Oops! It wasn't going to be that easy. I unpack the
box and begin setting up the new modem when I realize they
have forgot half of the power cord! I just can't believe
it! I have the power adapter part of the cord, but not
the line to go from the wall outlet to the adapter.
Luckily, I have a couple power cords from my old computer,
and I try one of them and it fits. So, after hooking it all
up the power light comes on the modem and then starts flashing...and
stays like that! Nothing else happens. I get back
on the phone with Rogers! Once again we go through all
the same procedures
with no luck. I am told a technician will need to be
sent out (Wednesday is the soonest they can come) to bring
me a new power cord (hmmm...guess I shouldn't have told the
guy I was using one that didn't come with the modem!)
Well...Wednesday night the tech shows up, goes and finds a
power cord in his truck and plugs me back in. Surprise!...the
power light just keeps flashing! He then notices the
cable line is still plugged into the modem and says that it
will need to be disconnected for at least an hour to "clear"
the modem and then it should work. There is nothing
else he can do until the modem resets itself. I even
ask him if he has another modem in his truck that I can use
instead since I want to hook it up while he is still there.
He tells me he does have other modems, but can't do that,
because he "HAS TO FOLLOW PROCEDURES" and try this first!
If it doesn't work after an hour, I am to call the help desk
AGAIN and they will send someone out....AGAIN!
A couple of hours later, I go try out the modem, and to my
TOTAL lack of surprise...it's STILL not working. Another
call to the help desk, and after the same silly checks, they
schedule another appointment for Friday night. I'm told
that the modem may just start working itself, and if that
happens, I'm to call back and cancel the tech.
So that's where it stands right now. I still have no
internet connection, and tomorrow will be the third guy to
come and try to fix it. I've decided, that if this tech
can't get the modem working BEFORE he leaves, he can take
the entire thing with him when he goes and I'll just go back
to my
slow dial-up connection! At least it works!
Craig
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
It’s enough to make
you want to just smash your head against the wall. The incompetence
is unbearable. I was thinking about how they always screw
up when it comes to service calls also. I was picturing people’s
doorbells across Canada being rung around 7:00 PM November
1st. Canadians answering their doors to find small
children dressed as Batman, Vampires and Ninja Turtles all
with the same greeting, "Trick or treat…sorry I
was supposed to be here yesterday but I got delayed."
Those children — future
ROGERS tech specialists!
To: [email protected]
From: Tony L.
Date: September 29,
2002 2:39 PM
Subject: My Rogers Story
Hello, I just came across your
website, and I found it very intresting. This is My Rogers
Rant!
I bought a Cell Phone a year
ago (October 2001) It was a Pay as you go phone. I previously
had a Bell Mobility phone, which broke, so when I was looking
for a new cell phone, I tought I would give Rogers a try,
man what a Mistake that was!!!
I ended up buying the Nokia
5125 pay as you go phone. I got home, I called customer Service
to activate my phone, apon Activation I was trying out my
phone, and came to notice the Reception sucked. In the first
week that I had this phone, I have dropped more called then
I did in the whole2 years I had my Bell Mobility phone. Everytime
I try to top up my phone with my Cell, I end up droping the
call. When I spoke to customer service about this problem,
the guy on the other end of the phone told me "yeah it's normal,
it takes some time for the phone to fully activate, and sink
in, give it a few months, reception will improve" Well a year
later, my reception is not getting any better. Boy am I glad
I choose Rogers AT&T Wireless! damn it I should of went
with Bell, Fido, or even Telus. Any of those have gotta be
better then this crap!
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
Tony, first I have to say…oops
I pulled a ROGERS. I totally missed your e-mail. Skipped right
over it as a matter of fact. It was my mistake and I apologize.
You sent it in Sept. 29, 2002 and today is Oct. 18, 2002 and
I just realized my error. "It was my error" that’s
something you’ll never hear from ROGERS.
Anyways, all I can say is
I use fido and I have no problems. That isn’t to say
no one has problems with fido, I can only speak from personal
experience. And it’s not ROGERS which makes it even more
enjoyable.
To: [email protected]
From: Zaki H.
Date: October 23, 2002
11:13 PM
Subject: Rogers Woes
I have had numerous problems
with Rogers over the years. I have had to call tech support
many times! First let me tell you about getting digital cable.
Earlier this year I decided
to get Digital Cable. It turned out to be a nightmare! The
box arrives and its about four years old and is a piece of
junk, the thing never worked. After numerous calls to tech
support I arranged for a technician to come out and give me
a new box, (after waiting for about an hour on the phone).
Finally it arrived and I was set up.
About a month later I started
to have problems, my cable and internet kept going down every
five minutes. I called tech support again and arranged for
a technician to come over. First of all they give times that
people have to take time off in order to facilitate repairs.
I got an evening appointment (on a Friday night) and spend
all evening waiting for tech to come. They did not even show
up and it turns out that they had given me a wrong appointment.
In the end I was so mad that
my father contacted the VP of customer service, John Tory.
Finally the problem was fixed and we got a new box.
I find that Rogers really abuses
their position in the market. They think of themselves as
the "Big Guy" and do not care for the customer.
It is really hard to switch service providers, especially
internet (with the change of e-mail addresses).
Getting involved with Rogers
is a living hell and
I recommend to everyone do not buy Rogers! And for anyone
out there with complaints against Rogers, I urge you to report
them to the CRTC so these complaints will be brought up when
their license is up for renewal!
Zaki H.
PS do not get me started on
Rogers AT&T, Hi Speed Internet or Rogers Video!
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
Zaki, I really disagree
with what you said above. Why shouldn’t I get you started
on ROGERS AT&T, Hi Speed Internet or ROGERS Video? They
suck just as horribly as ROGERS cable. This is a forum to
rant about EVERYTHING ROGERS, so please, by all means let
it all out…
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