Over charged and fuming!

[Clubfred]

I've always thought our Rogers bills were high but I looked them over and nothing jumped out at me. Since my husband and I share pooled minutes, I assumed we were just going over every month. (Those bills are confusing, too).

Well, it turns out that those bills were too high. By sheer dumb luck, we discovered this when we called to inquire about upgrading our phones and perhaps switching plans. As it turns out, we have been charged full rate for every single minute we've used and the included minutes in our plan were never applied!

We were immediately refunded $211 for three months but according to 'company policy' that is all we are entitled to. Now, this has been going on for well over a year, which means we are owed a lot more than $211. You can imagine how furious I am.

When we asked to be let out of our contract we received a further surprise. Rogers is claiming we verbally agreed to a 24 month contract and we know this is untrue. For two years in a row we verbally agreed to a 12 month contract - that's all. We asked them to provide proof and their response was "It was entered into the system, so that is our proof." Despite the hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars that have been stolen from us, Rogers will not let us out of this alleged contract without paying over $240 per phone.

I've consulted a lawyer and will be headed to small claims court. I wish I could avoid legal action but Rogers has left me with no choice. I am absolutely disgusted. This is criminal. I am wondering if there are any other bodies that I can report this to? Who knows how many other customers are being over-charged without knowing it?

I'm spreading the word via social media, for now. I wish I could do more. This is so unethical. Rogers should be ashamed!

[WorldIRC]

Hopefully someone from Rogers Social media can step in to help fix this!

[ceredon]

Assuming SM doesn't come riding in, you do have the option to escalate the issue internally at Rogers (Office of the President) and then to CCTS. CCTS can request a copy of the recordings of when you verbally agreed to your contracts and determine the actual term you accepted. Having said that, regardless of whether you agreed to a 1 or 2 year term, the decent thing would probably be for them to let you out, considering their mistake cost you hundred, possibly thousands of dollars.

[Clubfred]

Hopefully someone from Rogers Social media can step in to help fix this!

That would be wonderful. Let's hope.

[Clubfred]

Assuming SM doesn't come riding in, you do have the option to escalate the issue internally at Rogers (Office of the President) and then to CCTS. CCTS can request a copy of the recordings of when you verbally agreed to your contracts and determine the actual term you accepted. Having said that, regardless of whether you agreed to a 1 or 2 year term, the decent thing would probably be for them to let you out, considering their mistake cost you hundred, possibly thousands of dollars.

Thanks for that advice! I'm also going to pursue the legal avenue, as there are time limits on some small claims stuff.

I also agree that regardless of our contract they should let us out of it free of charge. It is the *very* least they can do, in my opinion. I can tell you that, given what's happened and the way I was treated by the manager I spoke to, as long as I am locked into this contract, I will do my best to salt the earth where Rogers is concerned.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, as compensation, they offered us a $5 coupon off a new phone! Wow, way to treat me like a complete idiot, Rogers. Thanks.

[ceredon]

^yeah that $5 sounds like they were subtlety flipping you off.

[Scotch-guy]

Thanks for that advice! I'm also going to pursue the legal avenue, as there are time limits on some small claims stuff.

I also agree that regardless of our contract they should let us out of it free of charge. It is the *very* least they can do, in my opinion. I can tell you that, given what's happened and the way I was treated by the manager I spoke to, as long as I am locked into this contract, I will do my best to salt the earth where Rogers is concerned.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, as compensation, they offered us a $5 coupon off a new phone! Wow, way to treat me like a complete idiot, Rogers. Thanks.

It's imperative that you always, always scrutinize your bills from cell companies. This is just one of the countless stories of over charging. Funny how it always seems to work in their favour whenever there is a discrepancy

[Clubfred]

It's imperative that you always, always scrutinize your bills from cell companies. This is just one of the countless stories of over charging. Funny how it always seems to work in their favour whenever there is a discrepancy

Oh I'll be very, very careful in the future. The problem is that there was nothing on the bill - as far as I could see - that indicated anything was amiss. And since it has been happening since the beginning, there was no sudden change to make me question the high cost. Also, I do place a certain amount of trust in the companies I deal with. (No longer).

And, yes, funny how things always seem to favour the big guy.

[fruvous]

What do you mean there was nothing on the bill to indicate something was wrong?



Each call you make shows up on your bill and the charge applied to it also shows. So if a 10 minute local call was made during your free evenings and weekends time and has a dollar figure next to it, then there is a problem.

[ircu]

What do you mean there was nothing on the bill to indicate something was wrong?



Each call you make shows up on your bill and the charge applied to it also shows. So if a 10 minute local call was made during your free evenings and weekends time and has a dollar figure next to it, then there is a problem.

I was hoping someone would point that out.

[Clubfred]

What do you mean there was nothing on the bill to indicate something was wrong?



Each call you make shows up on your bill and the charge applied to it also shows. So if a 10 minute local call was made during your free evenings and weekends time and has a dollar figure next to it, then there is a problem.

To clarify (and I just double checked my last bill to make sure this is correct), we were not charged for free evenings and weekends - that went through properly. We were charged for all weekday minutes. That is to say, our 75 minutes included in the plan were never deducted. So I look at the bill and I see some calls are not being charged and I assume that everything is working properly.

I'd be willing to bet most people don't go through ever single detail of their cell phone bill because...they have lives. I'd also be willing to bet that Rogers counts on that.

Now, even if I were completely negligent, it doesn't change the fact that Rogers admits and accepts their error. And instead of either refunding all of the funds they took from us, or offering some fair compensation, they have decided to lock us in and squeeze a few more dollars out of us. According to the lawyer I consulted, (a close friend who stands nothing to gain from this), we have a solid case against them. So whether or not we scrutinized our bills thoroughly enough, that doesn't change the fact that Rogers took several hundreds of dollars they were not entitled to.

If I had "underpaid" my bills for more than three months, I'm sure they would want me to pay all of the money I owed. Why should my expectations be any different?

[Clubfred]

Assuming SM doesn't come riding in, you do have the option to escalate the issue internally at Rogers (Office of the President) and then to CCTS. CCTS can request a copy of the recordings of when you verbally agreed to your contracts and determine the actual term you accepted. Having said that, regardless of whether you agreed to a 1 or 2 year term, the decent thing would probably be for them to let you out, considering their mistake cost you hundred, possibly thousands of dollars.

Thanks again ceredon. I contacted the Office of the President today and gave Rogers 5 business days to solve the matter. After that, we're off to court. We'll see what happens.

[RogersNicolas]

Hi,

I'm Nicolas from Rogers Social Media team.

First off, our apologies for this experience. I'm sending you a PM to look into it.

[WorldIRC]

Hi,

I'm Nicolas from Rogers Social Media team.

First off, our apologies for this experience. I'm sending you a PM to look into it.

Well that was quick

[Clubfred]

Update: *Thanks so much to Nicolas from the the Social Media team for his speedy reply and assistance and Ceredon for the advice.

I was contacted by a rep from the OOP. She was extremely helpful and considerate. She looked into our account and confirmed that we were no longer under contract and so therefore were not charged for cancelling service. As for the overcharging, the customer service rep who pointed that out was mistaken, (which explains why I couldn't find anything wrong with our bills). However, the OOP rep agreed that our bills were very high. I explained that I had asked about changing plans and was told each time that we were on the best plan possible. Because of this, she kept the credit on our account, as a token of apology.

I was very happy with the outcome of this situation, although it is annoying that I had to cause such a ruckus to get fair treatment. Oh well, "squeaky wheel" and all that.

We did cancel our service because there is no longer a Rogers outlet in our city and the closest one is over 4 hours away. We signed up with Virgin Mobile on their Super Tab plan, through The Source. We got two brand new phones and a terrific plan - the phones get paid off monthly and we get all the benefits of a regular plan without having to lock into a three year contract. We also got a $75 in-store credit for each phone and then bought that new tripod we've had our eyes on!

All in all, a happy ending. Thanks again everyone for the advice and sympathy!