Rogers gets cheap with FIDO
p2pnet news view | Mobiles:- How low can you go?
Ask Bell, Rogers and Telus who consistently treat their users as marks to be scammed rather than customers to be respected.
However, the question comes not in further news of the depredations of the major telecom companies, but on today’s relaunch of Fido.
Rogers will also scrap the $7 monthly system access fee on postpaid customers, says the CBC, noting prepaid Rogers and Fido customers are already exempt.
“Industry observers said the company’s move is likely to spell the end of the system access fee, which is thoroughly hated by consumers,” says the story, quoting John Lawford, counsel for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, as saying:
“It’s the number one complaint about cellphones. People are getting a little more traction with their pushback in a lot of telecom issues now. We just might see the end of it. We’ll see them slowly disappear.”
Says the Financial Post, “In a market that sees BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc. lure their customers with sexy smartphones and multi-media devices [instead of honest service and value for money], it appears the only way to put a dent into Canada’s incumbent cellphone players is by selling cheap, no-frills wireless plans.”
Meanwhile, “Bell Mobility launched another salvo Monday in the Canadian cellular phone rate war with plans that let customers roll unused minutes over from one month to the next,” says the Vancouver Sun.
“Bell’s announcement came as Rogers was rumoured to be on the brink of announcing a relaunch of its Fido brand, a move that would also see new rate plans and a dropping of the controversial system access fee.”
CBC – Goodbye to cellphone system access fees?, November 3, 2008
Financial Post – Wireless companies go cheaper than cheap, November 2, 2008
Vancouver Sun – Cellphone wars heating up, November 4, 2008
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November 4th, 2008 at 11:01 am
At the same time, drop the taxes (or rather put them into prices).
This is the way it should be, not just for cellphones, but for everything.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:05 am
fido calls constantly over ridiculous outstanding debts, I got calls (several a day) over 10$ i mistakenly forgot to pay and I was cut off right in the middle of a road trip up north in ontario I was in a car accident and had no telephone. When I tried to reconnect my expensive phone I was told I would have to pay a reconnection fee. Of course I told them I wasn’t paying it and where they could shove their policy.
Lesson learned DO NOT sign any contracts with rogers or fido they will find any circumstance to rape your wallet or gouge you at every turn.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:14 am
>>Ask Bell, Rogers and Telus who consistently treat their users as marks to be scammed rather than customers to be respected.
and the rest of us let it happen again and again..
November 4th, 2008 at 11:35 am
yup.. Rogers is fucking compnay..
November 4th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
>>Ask Bell, Rogers and Telus who consistently treat their users as marks to be scammed rather than customers to be respected.
thats why i go with tin cans and string now!
November 4th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
“Ask Bell, Rogers and Telus who consistently treat their users as marks to be scammed rather than customers to be respected”
This is not news. It is standard operating procedure.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Just my topic! Below is part of a letter I sent to my mobile phone provider just last week. It outlines only part of a long running dissatisfaction with what I see as exploitation of Canadians by mobile phone providers. I was describing how it is that the cell phone providers do not offer a single phone that accommodates arthritic fingers on the keyboard. Not one! And they do not care that this is so. There is much more on the table than this, and I sincerely hope consumers will speak up and demand real service and equity.
“I am pushing just ahead of the “boomer” population. You likely have not missed the fact that they represent a huge demographic and will dominate the population for several years. I fail to understand why it is that corporations like yours and others have so narrowly focused on the “youth” market to the extent that the rest of us have been dismissed. I do not understand why there is not a wide range of choices of equipment and service plans from which to choose. I do not understand the ethics of turning away from the needs of customers such as elders and disabled people. What does it say about corporate values and administration when so consistently customer’s needs are unmet? I happen to know that this issue has been presented to Fido and Rogers before. I know that many of your sales people have let you know that they get requests all the time from people like me or from people who simply want a functional telephone – no camera, no mp3 player, no movies, no games – just good reliable phone service and an efficient and dependable phone. I have sometimes wondered if the answer to my questions may be that the people making the decisions that we all have to live with are mainly very young people. If that is so, I still do not understand how it could be that such a huge corporation as Fido and Rogers represents does not have administrators that can see the bigger picture, and who have lived long enough to understand the variability of customer needs and can, as mentors, help young staff see beyond their excitement about technology and speed and bling and teach about service. (And I do not mean what passes for “customer service” in your world.) You can serve the “youth market” AND the rest of us. Seems like that would help grow your business.”
November 4th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
@above corporations are for profit, just because you are in a large demographic doesn’t necessarily mean everyone in your demographic is demanding the same cellular services. Sure the new ‘blinged’ out phones are just a new way of reaching a younger audience, but the same argument could be made for older tech folk. My father is 56 years old and he has one of the newer blackberry’s did telus appeal to his demographic? they certainly did! have u heard of crackberrys?
I agree customer service is one of the highest demands of any consumer in any industry but the facts are simple Corporations are for profit before anything and new gadgets (the iphone for example) generate huge profits!
If you need a better understanding of why rogers/fido or any other major service provider doesn’t give 2 shits what you think watch a canadian documentary entitled “The Corporation” or a film starring john cusack called “War Inc”. Your concerns may be shared by others and significant but unfortunately they are falling on deaf ears.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I never sign a contract,how i do it,i buy phones from retailers (gsm) or used phone from friends and activate them,it might be a 100$ more but i m a free man and not a modern slave as most people let themself become, and you know about restructering and new prices,well as soon as a new company comes in from overseas or within canada, i will cut my service and go with them,even if rogers,fido,telus,bell give me one year free : what is that called ?? revenge for all these years that you treated us like piece of shits, 7$ access fee , seriously, 3 year contract , wow , comon people react stop taking the hits….
November 4th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
This is why I’m with Virgin Mobile – they’re straight up, to the point, and don’t deal with a lot of bullshit. They don’t have the fanciest phones, but if you want to pay as you go, or get a service plan that’s affordable with no tacked-on fees, they’re great. I’ve had them for a year after switching from Bell, and I’d never go back.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Advice to everyone!! Dont’ ever signup with Rogers for any service. They will rip you and will simply be your worst nightmare.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
all the cell phone companies are thievies, fido is ripping people it is a huge scram to empty our pockets, every day fido change the plans without forwarding the statements to customers. I hate all the companies of the cellar phones, they need to be watched my Income tax officers how the get to rip poor people. Lesson learned DO NOT sign any contracts with rogers or fido they will find any circumstance to rape your wallet or gouge you at every turn.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
The corporation google video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=192012118972057552&ei=ooMQSZvOF4n0-wHk1YmiCg&q=the+corporation
enjoy
btw legal and free to distribute support the artists buy the dvd at http://www.thecorporation.com/
November 4th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I bet there is a big fine print under it.
Rogers, Bell, Telus…..they are all businesses and they are here to make money not to provide anything free of cost.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Its funny how you switched from bell to virgin.. dont forget Virgin mobile is using Bells network and has almost same policy but in different words. lol..
November 4th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
You call that cheap????
November 4th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Why doesn’t everyone switch to Verizon? We have 5 phones sharing 2000 daytime minutes, FREE LONG DISTANCE AND NO ROAMING in North America
for $120/month. Less than $25 per phone and FREE long distance.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
@ TheCakeIsALie Says:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=192012118972057552&ei=ooMQSZvOF4n0-wHk1YmiCg&q=the+corporation
Or for the full length version – http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3203253804055041031&hl=en
“If corporations are legally human, what kind of people are they?”
Cheers!
November 4th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Virgin Mobile rocks.
No hidden fees anywhere, you pay what you see.
They may be using Bell network, but Virgin sure doesn’t have the same policy as Bell thieves.
November 4th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
It’s amusing to see how much sniveling and gnashing of teeth the discussion of cell phone companies can bring out.
Bottom line: cell phones are luxury items for 85% of the population. Smartphones are even more so. Yes, yes, they can be vital for some lines of work and they’re great if you’re stranded that 1 in a million time that there’s no houses/gas stations/payphone around and you actually have service (pretty rare especially if you go with a smaller company or live outside the GTA). But if most of your calls are “Hey, what’cha doin’?” while you’re standing beside a payphone in a mall then I don’t have much sympathy. Even less if you’re over your monthly minutes and into the $0.35/minute charges. And it is great to get emails on the go but you probably have a computer collecting dust at home that you can read the latest forwarded chain email on. And do you really need to Google Prince’s Discography while riding the Sky Train? How often has lack of mobile internet been fatal? There are still such things as maps and phone books!
All these things are great, I’m even guilty of it a bit: my work provides me with a crackberry that I use to answer work emails while I’m traveling or field work calls but who really needs these in their day-to-day lives? And who needs the latest and greatest version of these? I had a cell from Rogers previously and I paid stupid amounts of money for it and meanwhile they had horrible coverage for my area. It was never anything that wasn’t outlined in the contract though (except the particularly crappy coverage) so I had only myself to blame for making this a necessity in my life. I dropped it and I didn’t die. Amazing.
It’s like the people that max out their VISA at the Sony Store and then whine that they’re getting charged 21% on “ridiculous debts”. Evil corporate giants… C’mon. The only power these companies have is that which you give them. If everyone who didn’t need (not want, need) a cell or smartphone dropped it these companies would scramble to drop the prices or fold up completely. Cell commercials always talk about the freedom their service provides. Where’s the freedom in having people be able to reach you anywhere anytime? Drop the damn phone. You’ll be happy you did. so will the guy you just cutoff on the overpass.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I currently work for Fido customer service and everyday I take call with people upset with their bills or think what they are paying is unfair, also the constant excuse as “I wasn’t informed” or “I’m not paying for that because you didn’t tell me” along with all the other evil corporation nonsense. What I say to all consumers know what you are agreeing to, paying for and READ the contract before you agree to it and this will avoid a headache for you and me. I actually have mobile services through Rogers and I made 100% sure what I agreed to with my commitment. I’ve been a Rogers’ subscriber for many years and regardless of what people say about the company, they were there to help me out when I was unemployed and needed my wireless service and have helped me out on countless occasions like when I needed a new phone and didn’t have the money to buy one at retail price. The second thing I say to consumers when you call your cell phone providers be kind, respectful and patient, because don’t forget we are here for you.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:58 am
What a public relations coup for Fido, courtesy of the credulous media. Are there no fact-checkers? All Fido did was shift the SAF to a bunch of extra nickel-and-dime add-on fees. You think there going to advertise those add-ons with their base fees? This is as much a hidden-fee swindle as the SAF!
November 6th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
fido guy is FOS
nice pr guy, I almost believed you.
November 29th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I’ve been a TEXXX residential telephone customer for 28 years and most recently a 4 year TEXXX cellular telephone customer. After reading through many grievences and success stories on the WWW, as well as talking with other local customers, it’s becoming very clear that I’ll be sitting in one of the aforementioned categories sometime in the near future. The worse case scenario would be a grievence; that would include, TEXXX ignoring or dismissing the $650.00 in accrued Canadian funds in my account and further neglecting to make suitable arrangements. The best case scenario would be a success story; that would include, TEXXX sending a customer representative to my home for telephone services or the very least a courtesy call from someone who has expertise in customer relations. Results will follow…..