To: [email protected]
From: Gail P.
Date: September 8, 2003
12:53 PM
Subject: An unbelievable
story
An unbelievable story:
I was originally with Shaw
Cable which was then taken over by Rogers Cable. I work at
home and rely on my internet connection for my job. Rogers
proceeded to "upgrade" the services in the area, which took
well over a year. In the meantime I experienced hundreds of
disruptions in my service and actually stayed on hold for
over 3 hours just to be able to talk to someone. Of course
when you're already angry, holding for 3 hours just doesn't
seem to improve the mood. I was told that my disruptions were
due to the "upgrades" going on. I then pointed out that the
President of Rogers was on television advertising that there
would be "no disruption of service" and yet I was being told
that the "upgrades" were causing the disruptions. The employee
then proceeded to tell me that he could not be responsible
for what the President of the company said. In the meantime,
I was told we had "line noise", the signal was too high, the
signal was too low and they put a booster on the line, more
line noise, and on it went.
During one of our regular visits
from a Rogers technician, we were told that the cable outside
our house needed to be replaced. As it was approaching winter,
they proceeded to do so by running the cable up the side of
my neighbour's house, around the backyard, and down the fence
separating our property. In the spring we began calling to
have this taken care of, i.e. buried. After 5 months of calls
and screaming, we finally got someone to bury the cable under
our neighbour's driveway, where they proceeded to dig up our
sod, leave it lying in a heap, with a large coil of cable
sitting on the lawn. There it sat. When we complained about
it we were told "it is your responsibility to call and get
that taken care of" - I guess they hadn't noticed the numerous
regular calls we had already made. I then proceeded to request
a phone number for their head office and was told they don't
have one. I proceeded to explain that I know their head office
has a phone and that I wanted the number. I was again told
"they don't have one" - I again explained that I did not believe
for one minute that their head office did not have a phone.
I was given an address. I wrote a 4- page letter detailing
my complaints. After about 3-4 months I finally received a
call from a Customer Service Rep in Toronto, approximately
the same time the news was running the story of the law suit
being launched against Rogers (coincidence I'm sure). I had
a senior technician come to my home and check all the connections
and lines. We had all new cable installed inside the house.
We then purchased a second
computer and were told by a representative of Rogers
that if we bought a router from Radio Shack we could just
split the signal and save having two separate connections.
We proceeded to purchase a router from a reputable computer
company in town. However after that everytime we ran into
problems we were told that Rogers does not support routers.
Even when I told them the internet cable was plugged directly
into the computer and not through the router (which I did
before I called once I found out their stand on routers) they
kept on about the router. They then proceeded to do some kind
of installation all over town which caused disruptions over
a period of about 8-10 months, when we had received a notice
saying that it would take 2-3 weeks. Once this was resolved,
a few months went by and I thought things had calmed down.
We then proceeded to lose the connection to one computer when
the power flickered. The computers were not even turned when
these events happened. The first time I was told that the
drivers were lost or corrupted and I had to take it back where
I had bought it. They found nothing wrong with it. The next
day, magically, we had internet service again. The second
time this happened, I again took the computer in and nothing
was wrong with it. We lost our connection for about 9 days
on 1 computer. Then miraculously it was restored. Rogers of
course kept saying there was something wrong with our computers
as the modem showed on line. Finally the third time this happened,
we lost the connection to both computers, however the technician
at Rogers could see my modem asking for an IP address which
their server was not giving me. He was then going to put in
a call to have this investigated (finally!).
Shortly after this happened,
we had the huge blackout. A week after that happened, the
local power company cut my cable and rather than calling Rogers
they brought in a "friend" to fix it. The next day the power
company came to fill in the hole and when they threw the dirt
in they broke the cable - I don't think the "friend" was too
knowledgeable. It took me a few hours to get them to admit
they had broken it again, because they had to send someone
to dig up the hole again. They finally got this fixed properly.
Then 2 days later, on Sunday, Rogers internet was down for
about 8 hours with an Ontario-wide problem that would affect
"most" users - I was one of the lucky ones that fit into this
category. On the Monday everything was fine. On Tuesday Rogers
internet went down again about 3:10 p.m. I called and was
told they would send someone. I then called at 5:00 p.m. and
was told it was a large area and would take about 4.5 hours
to fix. I was also told this had nothing to do with the outage
from Sunday. I called again at 11:00 p.m. and got a message
that there were still problems and they were working on it.
I called again on Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. as it was
still out, however while I was on the phone it miraculously
came on and the technician said that because it was working
at that particular moment she could not do anything about
it. I explained that it had very intermittently come on a
couple of times for a very brief moment and that there had
been a problem since 3:00 yesterday afternoon and could she
please let someone know that the problem still existed. I
came home again at 12:30 p.m. and again it was off. I then
proceeded to demand that someone do something. I was told
the Senior Internet Specialist would come to my house. In
the meantime I kept track for a little over an hour of the
times my internet went on and off to show the specialist.
I had recorded over 15 disruptions in service in the space
of about 80 minutes. When the specialist arrived he proceeded
to investigate and said that he had found a little piece of
cable that seemed to be acting up and that our modem had been
acting up. He replaced both. I told him that we had just had
new cable installed in the spring and that everytime someone
came to the house they tested the modem and it was "fine".
He just shrugged his shoulders.
During all of this, I have been
paying $133/month for TV, internet, and 1 extra receiver.
They actually had the nerve to increase their price by $2.00.
The other thing that really pissed me off was while I'm sitting
on hold trying to get answers as to why my internet doesn't
seem to work, a message comes on about online billing and
payment services and to log onto www.rogers.ca
for more information - well that's just great. Here I am sitting
on hold because I don't have any service and they are telling
me to pay online at their website - again that didn't really
improve the mood.
We finally surrendered. We
bought a satellite dish and had it installed on the weekend.
Bell Sympatico is being installed today. I have heard very
good things about both Star Choice (which we chose over Bell
ExpressVu) and Bell Sympatico - I figured it really couldn't
get any worse. A friend said she had heard Bell Sympatico
was slower than Rogers high speed internet, but I figure slow
service is better than no service.
Gail (AKA Alice F.O.D. from Dilbert)
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
I have heard your tale of
woe too many times. And I have no doubt I will hear it over
and over and over again. This story does have a happy ending
thought doesnt it? Can you say "ALTERNATIVES"?
Good choice. Too many people just let bad servcie happen again
and again and take no action. Just because youre told
this affects a lot of people or youre
not the only one with this problem, you have to realize
that nothing has improved after someone has imparted that
load of crap. Youre still stuck with crumby service.
There are alternatives and
if you dont try one, youll never know. Good Luck
Gail (AKA Alice). Full steam ahead to happier, ROGERS free
days.
To: [email protected]
From: 000
Date: September 9, 2003
9:09 AM
Subject: yikes! John tory
for mayor???
liar!!! i've been on hold with
rogers and am still on hold now for over 30 minutes! yes,
over half an hour! and you want to be mayor of toronto! yeah,
ok. weren't you prepared for the channel re-alignment?
"Finally, on the question of customer service and answering
the phone, there is no doubt a year ago our call centres were
overloaded
We have now reduced in half the number of
poeple who feel the need to call the call center. I read the
reports everyday. we are answering the phone in 2 minutes
or less not the long hold times people had in the past."
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/shorts/hero_oct24.html
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
Youll have to click
on the link to know what "000" is going on about.
Are you telling me this guy would make a bad politician? He
has all the characteristics of a good politician. However,
he has none for a good mayor. Maybe Ill look in to some
kind of new addition to this site to cover his running for
Mayor. Hmmm
the wheels are turning and Im open
to suggestions.
To: [email protected]
From: John R.
Date: September 10,
2003 1:13 PM
Subject: Headache Id
like to share
Dear ihaterogers.com; (This
is actually ihaterogers.ca John)
I'd like to share my suffering
and frustration with your readers. It all started when
I received a call from a Rogers Representative of the "Win-back"
promotion. He said that in exchange for Bell ExpressVu
equipment, I would receive a free digital terminal plus a
programming credit for 3 months.
Dependable IT was contracted
out to perform the installation and pick up my Bell equipment.
What was supposed to happen was the equipment would be processed
by Rogers's warehouse and the credit of the equipment applied
to offset the balance owing for the Digital Terminal.
That didn't happen. They lost the equipment. Rogers
had no record of receiving any equipment. Dependable
IT said their technician doesn't recall picking it up from
me. I wasn't issued a receipt for the equipment to prove
he'd taken it. When I asked Dependable IT why they didn't
issue a receipt, they said they were following a policy written
by Rogers Cable, and that in their policy, it was not a requirement
to issue such receipts, or to even record serial numbers of
any received equipment in cases like this.
So here I am, with no idea
what happened to my old Bell ExpressVu equipment and a charge
on my Rogers account for the cost of the Digital Terminal.
Repeated calls to Rogers is getting me the big runaround,
as noone seems to have any control over issuing a credit.
The people in the Executive Office said they would escalate
the problem for a speedier application of this credit.
However, my faith in Rogers Customer Service is dwindling
rapidly, and I fear I'm going to be ripped off the cost of
the Terminal.
Thanks to a untrustworthy technician
at Dependable IT, lack of communication between Dependable
IT and Rogers Cable, and even between internal departments
at Rogers Cable, I'm hosed, I'm pissed, I'm so frustrated
I can't even sleep at night. No matter how this turns
out, as I am still fighting this, I'm going to tell Rogers
to stuff there service where the sun doesn't shine, and I'm
switching over to Look TV next week.
Thanks for NOTHING, Rogers!
John R.
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
I wish I could be a beacon
somehow and tell you that everything is going to be alright.
I wish I could say, "Dont worry John. ROGERS will
straighten this all out and youll be completely satisfied."
Well, I cant.
Unfortunately it sounds like
they set you up to take the fall. Leaving no evidence with
you that they picked up anything was like foreplay before
they screwed you. If you want to get some advice from some
people that may have some answers try posting your experience
at http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rogers.
That is the link directly to the ROGERS section of their forums
and maybe someone there can give you some input that could
help your situation. Good Luck.
To: [email protected]
From: 5329
Date: September 11,
2003 11:02 AM
Subject: liars!
i had a service call booked
on september 11, 2022 between 8 and 11 am. at 9:32 am i received
a call saying the tech would be here within 30 minutes. it's
now after 11 and no one has been here. liars!
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
I dont know what day
it is, presently, as you (the visitor on www.ihaterogers.ca)
are reading this, but Im pretty sure the submitter of
the above rant is still waiting...
To:
[email protected]
From: Rebecca L.
Date: September 15, 2022 3:27 PM
Subject: Great site
it made my week.
I apologize in advance for the length of this rant. But I
sure do hate Rogers and would love to walk around the city
with an "I hate Rogers" shirt. Here I go...
2
weeks ago I called to get Rogers High Speed Internet/Cable
installed. I called on Monday and made an appointment for
Friday 2-5pm. On Friday I patienty sat at home and waited
and waited for the guy to show up....but did he? No.... So
I call Rogers at about 5:15pm and talk to a customer service
rep. who tells me that someone did come but nobody answered
the door when they knocked. Now of course I have a doorbell,
AND left my door open except for the screen door so there
was no way in hell that they actually came. And if they did,
they would have to be pretty stupid to leave because there
was obviously someone home!
So
then the rep. tells me that he will try to get someone to
come over that night but otherwise, it will be another week
before someone can come by. Seriously, do you not think they
should make some kind of effort to fit me in the next day
or give me some kind of priority?? But no..and needless to
say, nobody showed up that night. So far..that's 7 hours of
waiting...
The
next day I called and complained a little which resulted in
my appointment being moved to up a few days to the next Tuesday
between 5 and 8pm. So I had a bit of renewed hope. On Tuesday,
I again waited and waited, this time I sat outside as it got
dark and approached 8:15pm at which time, somebody "appearing"
to be from Rogers showed up. He speaks. "Yo mon...I don't
tink I can set eet up today. I don't got dee software."
I asked if I really needed the software and what it was for,
but it turns out that he didn't know either. (Please tell
me how this guy got hired as a tech???) Then I asked if he
could just install the wiring for now, but he told me if was
too dark and he couldn't see!! He also informed me that he
doesn't work past 8pm which makes me wonder why he even bothered
coming at 8:15 and what his flashlight was for...It was clear
that I wasn't getting any internet that night. That's 10 hours
of waiting..
So
after he left, I called again and they said they could get
someone there the next day. The next day came I waited for
another 3 hours, the sun set, nobody came, nobody called.
Nothing. That's 13 hours of waiting...
So I called again! And they apologized and said they could
come on Friday morning between 8 and 11 am and would give
me priority. So I figured there was no way in hell they wouldn't
show up this time. What could possible go wrong?? I woke up
at 7:30am and waited outside again. Three and a half hours
later, I was still there without cable or internet! Now at
the beginning of this ordeal, I would have wondered how they
could completely miss an 8am, first priority appointment,
but by then I realized that it would be relatively simple
for this bunch of useless morons to accomplish. So....16 hours
of waiting for nothing!!
That
was my last attempt....I could not take the frustration of
waiting on hold for half an hour for the customer service
rep to explain to me that there is nothing they can do but
make another appointment, or wait on hold even longer to talk
to somebody "important". Now I have NEVER in my
life heard of a company failing to meet 5 appointments (or
even 1 for that matter) in a 2 week span without even having
the decency to call and say they can't make it, or will be
late, or after failing to come, call to apologize, and assist
you in rescheduling. But I guess that is just Rogers for you....5
appointments missed, and 5 30 minute waiting periods on hold
to reschedule. Do they really think avoiding and lying to
customers is a good business strategy?? I don't know what
kind of people are running their installation operation, but
I hope they burn in hell. I was delighted to hear that Rogers
Video has become the victim of a chain of robberies, probably
carried out by angry Rogers customers.
Today
I got a familiar automated message from Rogers confirming
my appointment for tomorrow between 2 and 5 (which I didn't
schedule). This is just becoming funny now.....
Rebecca L.
IhateROGERS.ca
Comments
Rebecca,
ROGERS doesnt care about their customers. They still
have such a huge portion of the market their attitude reflects
their "you need us more than we need you" credo.
There is no hesitation in lying to their customers and they
make it a standard business practice to do so. THEY DONT
CARE ABOUT YOU!!!
Lots
of their competition will though. If you are in an area that
offers/supports high speed phone connection for Internet access,
forget about ROGERS. Check out http://www.ihaterogers.ca/internet_on1.htm
(if youre in Ontario). Youll get Internet access
just as fast as ROGERS, without the lying, the run around
and poor customer service from a company that WANTS you to
be happy.
Show
those monkey moron bastards that THEY NEED YOU MORE THAN YOU
NEED THEM!!!
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