Rogers → HELP, Wireless! Dinged $383.5 in SMS Charges. What to do?

I have been a Rogers Wireless loyal customer for 15 years. However, on my last bill I was hit with a $383.5 ($433.36 including tax) charge for 1534 SMS usage (835 messages received and 699 messages sent). This is the history of my account:

1. I used to have an SMS plan covering 500 outgoing and unlimited incoming messages for $5 a month;

2. On 17 September I called Rogers Customer Relations to ask them to renew a $7 discount I had to offset the $6.95 System Access Fee. I was told they would not be able to give me this discount back as it was not available any longer. At this point I asked about what costs would I incur to cancel my wireless contract early as I was not happy that I was going to lose the $7 discount;

3. At the same time, I asked for an upgrade to my SMS plan to unlimited messaging for $10 a month. As I was also talking about cancelling my account, to sweeten up the offer, the Customer Relations CSR indicated that they could offer the SMS plan free for the first two months. I added the plan and indicated that I would call back later if I still wanted to cancel my wireless account;

4. I never called back as I decided to maintain my Wireless account with Rogers for the time being;

5. Rogers indicated at least on one bill that my bonus, free unlimited text message package would expire on 17 November. As per my discussions with them in September, I was convinced that the promotion would end on that day and that I was going to continue with the regular, paid unlimited plan, as is standard industry practice (i.e. first two months free promotional plans, regular price afterwards);

6. On 14 December I checked my Rogers account online to surprisingly discover that Rogers actually dropped my SMS plan completely on 17 November. When I realized this, I immediately called Customer Relations at Rogers and asked them to reinstate my unlimited messages plan. However, by then, I had received and sent 1534 messages, being convinced that I actually had a messaging plan in place. (I believe no reasonable person would send so many messages knowing that he or she is not covered by a plan - compare $383.5 vs. $8.71 pro rated for unlimited messages for that period);

7. At that time I also discussed this situation with the Customer Relations CSR. He said that his notes indicate that I had said in September that I was going to call back later to decide about the SMS plan. This is incorrect: I told him that I was going to call back regarding the cancellation of my Rogers Wireless account, not the SMS package. So the notes are wrong. In the end he said he was going to put a note in my account that these charges would be cancelled and to call back if by any chance they will appear on my bill;

8. Knowing that the SMS charges issue has been resolved now, on 15 December I upgraded my phone hardware and signed up on another three-year contract with Rogers;

9. Today I opened my bill and, to my complete surprise, the $383.5 chargers were there;

10. I immediately called Customer Relations and talked to both a CSR and then a Manager. I explained that I was convinced I had been on an unlimited plan but none of them would agree to cancel the extra charges ($383.5 - $8.71 = $374.79). The Manager mentioned that these are legitimate charges and I must pay them no matter what. She claimed that I had been informed on the bill that my free bonus SMS package was ending and that I should have been aware of that. When I mentioned that, given this outcome, I would have no other option than to legally dispute these charges, the Manager's response was that I could proceed as I wish, in essence encouraging me to go public. I am quite surprised about this approach from a Manager of Customer Relations.

At this point I am not sure what to do next. Rogers gave me the impression that I was on a messaging plan when they actually cancelled it. They want me to pay 44 times more than what I would have on a plan. I have been on very good terms with Rogers over the last 15 years but I am completely disappointed now.

I am in desperate need of advice from the great community here. What do you think I should I do next:

1. Call Rogers Customer Relations again and try to speak to another CSR or Manager?

2. Call or write to the Rogers Wireless CEO office? (I don't have the contact information.)

3. Anything else?...

Please advise. Thank you, all, very much.

P.S. There is another $2.50 illegitimate charge on my current bill for an assumed call that is listed at 03:07 (am) on a Saturday night in early December to 411 (Directory Assistance). I never made this call - I never, ever call 411! - so it's an error by Rogers, but the Manager would not do anything about this either.

In point number 7, you indicated that the CSR told you that the charges would be waived and to call back if they were not. Did you check to see whether that was documented on your account? If you are sure those words were actually uttered by the CSR, you can write to the office of the president and there's a good chance they will just credit you back for those charges. If you get stonewalled there, you can write to the Rogers privacy officer and request a transcript of the call and then file a complaint with the CCTS and present that as evidence.

Also it's very easy to accidentally dial 411. The 411 is preloaded as a SIM contact and shows up in the contact list as the first entry in practically every phone so it's very easy to accidentally dial. Even if you dial and hang up and don't use the service, you get charged for that.

»rogers.com/complaint

Charges are legit it's up to you to make sure you have a SMS plan. You can check such things as well as SMS usage on Rogers.com

So is the 2.50, they don't just slap 411 charges on for no one. Someone used your phone and called it. Either a person or your butt did it.

Thanks very much for your response. I am confident the CSR told me what I mentioned in point number 7. After a lengthy discussion in which he was telling me that the charges were valid, he said in the end he would put a note in my account that the charges would be dropped. He said that often such notes are not caught by the billing department and, if I see the charges on my bill, I should call back. However, today, the Manager I spoke to said there is no such note in my account. Someone is not telling the truth here.I don't see how I could have dialled 411 at 3:07 am while I was sleeping. I am never awake at that time of night. There's no one else in my household and my phone has always been with me.

For the SMS problem it seems that this was a miscommunication issue. I was convinced that I upgraded my SMS plan to unlimited; instead, Rogers gave me only a two-month free plan. I can't believe they are so rigid about this issue. Should I try to call Customer Relations back and speak with another CSR? Do you think the Office of the President would be more cooperative?

I really don't want to get litigious with Rogers as in 15 years I had a good relationship with them. But being charged almost $400 for a bunch of SMSs when I was convinced I had a plan is not right either and hurts.

Thanks.

You need to call retentions, ask to speak to manager, ask to speak to Office of President. When I had issues, that was the only way to resolve my issues.

Oddly related to your post, but they couldn't fix all my issues (cable) so they attached free unlimited SMS onto my account, expires in 20 years or something. (been good for 5 years so far, about 400 incoming per month).

And Rogers should cut you some slack, SMS doesn't cost them a dime. (well, 500 messages might cost 50 cents or so...but you know what I mean)

With all that said, though, I am seriously considering ditching all of my Rogers services. They're too damned expensive and very little to offer. I am only with them because I get 70% off of my VIP cable and anything else I want related to cable except movie rentals. (which then gave me 4 free of anyway)

Just write to the office of the president, they tend to be more empathetic and usually have some common sense. The "managers" you speak to at call centres are actually just regular CSRs that have permission to use the manager title but they have no power to do anything and IMO they are usually worse and more unprofessional then regular CSRs.

And yes, you hit it right on the nail, this is a communications issue. What they offered you is a "CAP" offer. Cashless Adjustment Program. These are offers that give a feature for free for a short period of time and are intended as an alternative to actual credits. These CAP offers will fall off automatically on the expiration date. Unfortunately this was never communicated to you, leaving you to believe that you would simply be charged the regular price after the two month period. Any CSR with any sort of common sense would have been able to piece this together...

As for the 411 charges, it's very rare for a customer to be charged for a 411 call that was never initiated. What kind of phone do you have? Perhaps you have an app from a lest than reliable author that is dialling 411 in the background. You can bring this up with the OOP and they may just credit you back as well considering it's only $2.50 if they refuse you can ask them to launch an investigation to prove that the charges are legitimate.

To J E F F and yyzlhr:

The manager I spoke to was from Customer Relations (i.e. retentions). I will speak tomorrow or write (not sure which is better) to the Office of the President. I hope I will be luckier. Thanks very much for your advice.

It's easier to just file a complaint online and have them call you back. "Managers" are only to transfer a call to the office of the president under certain scenarios which you are unlikely to fall under.

It is strange that the offered me a CAP offer when I asked to have my SMS plan upgraded from 500 outgoing messages to unlimited messages and, somehow in the process, I was left with no plan at all and a huge bill.At the time of the 411 charge I had an iPhone 4. More recently, I upgraded to an iPhone 5. There should be no rogue application dialling 411 as it never happened to me before (and I haven't installed any new applications recently).

FYI. Putting notes on an account does as much as you writing on a piece of paper at home.

This part "After a lengthy discussion in which he was telling me that the charges were valid, he said in the end he would put a note in my account that the charges would be dropped. He said that often such notes are not caught by the billing department and, if I see the charges on my bill, I should call back. "

There is no billing dept. it is all automated and it does not care what is in the notes.

It's not easy to ditch Rogers Wireless after being with them for 15 years. And I did not have any major problems until now. Plus, I cannot use the iPhone with any of the cheaper new entrants (it does not work on their network).

Well you were talking about cancelling, the rep likely thought that by giving you a feature free for two months would prevent you from cancelling. Unfortunately, a breakdown in communication led to some unintended consequences.

The iPhone not working on other networks is a major issues for the newer providers. Apparently the 5S will work on Wind when it comes out...(since Apple is making sure it will work on T-Mobile)'

That, or you can choose a different phone.

I've been a Rogers Customer for close to 20 years. I figure during that time they probably got close to $40,000 out of me. That's a lot of money.

Although I am sure there are way better customers than me....

Maybe. But there were two issues here: (i) the discount which he was not willing to renew, hence my cancellation threat; and (ii) me specifically asking him to upgrade my SMS plan from 500 to unlimited messages as in the coming months I was anticipating that I would need more than what the old SMS plan was providing.

File a complaint online with the Office of the President. Talk to them. If they won't pull the call logs and resolve this properly, ask to escalate it to the Ombudsman at Rogers (who can and does pull call logs).

If they won't escalate to Ombudsman, file a complaint with CCTS. »www.ccts-cprst.ca/
Make sure to rite down days & times you were on the phone with Rogers to sort this out, so that you can show a log of actually trying to work this out with Rogers. If its excessive, you may be able to get money out of Rogers for sitting on the phone with them constantly to get it worked out.

Not true. You will get through. More accurately, they'll call you at a certain time. If you're willing to stay on the phone for 2 hours.

I think a $350 overcharge is worth 2 hours. That's more than a lawyer makes after taxes.

Resa, don't you work for Acanac? You're screen name looks familiar.

Zacron

vote with your wallet

my dad did after 50 years with bell 600 payments nevere late or missed a single one of them... all over not able to place a move order via india that he couldnt understand then watch the winback agents chase you around for a couple yerars !

Nope. I work for a very small accounting firm here in Toronto.
Might recognize me from the Rogers vs WoW threads, but I mostly post in TSI's forum, and Cdn Broadband, keeping ppl up to date on speedmatching filings.

I found it easier being on the phone and checking out this site, by then I got through.

As I said, too, they're the only ones that are willing to help out if a mistake might have been made with either party.

good luck this may end up on BBR front page news

Why it's nothing special.

Update: After talking again to Customer Relations and to another Manager, we did not reach any agreement.

Next, I submitted an online complaint to the Rogers Office of the President. On the website there was a notification stating something like: "Thank you for submitting your comments." I did not receive any confirmation e-mail from Rogers acknowledging receipt.

Let's see what happens after this...

All because you called in to whine about paying the $6.95 that everyone else pays for the 'system access fee'.

Hope it was worth it.

I don't pay that, I pay like 2 bucks and I want that to go away too.

You're posting from Toronto where Wind service is good.
Suggest you switch to Wind for their unlimited text plans and lower costs
»www.windmobile.ca/en/Pag ··· ans.aspx

Yep. Couldn't be happier. Anyone doing business directly with Robellus get's no sympathy from me.

Mike

You are right, that would not be a bad idea, but they do not offer the iPhone, unfortunately. I am a Mac user (computer, iPad, iPhone, Time Capsule, Apple TV), so I'd prefer to stick with the iPhone.

Again, I had good relations with Rogers over the years and I am surprised about their approach now, trying to make a fast buck on me. Are they that desperate to make money through any possible means?...

Pick your poison.
Fido ($56 plan - only around until tomorrow I think) might be a better home for you than Rogers proper, or perhaps Telus.

Nothing Rogers does surprises me whatsoever.