Do you feel that your telephone, TV or Internet supplier isn't playing fair with you?
Here are symptoms of a condition I call "telecom troubles," based on the fact that your provider's pricing can change at any time.
You switch from one home phone plan to another, based on a lower price, but you're hit with a price increase shortly after you switch.
You find that your Internet service goes up in price and your usage limits are reduced at the same time.
You complain about price increases and find you're not being heard.
Actions by all suppliers can bring on telecom troubles, but Rogers is moving ahead as it notifies customers of price increases for home phone and Internet service coming in March. Check out the following comments.
Doug Geddes: As a Primus customer, I was solicited last year by Rogers to switch to their home phone plan. I asked if this was a lowball price to get me to switch and it would increase later. I was assured it was not, so I switched. Now my monthly rate is going up almost 10 per cent, contrary to the verbal agreement I had. I sent two emails to Rogers and received boilerplate responses.
Ric East: I signed with Rogers home phone last November after being told that I was not getting a promotional rate. When I heard of the $3 monthly increase, I called the office of the president and said this was not acceptable. Customers should be guaranteed at least a year of service at the original price. They agreed and credited my account with $40.
Chris Rea: Rogers is raising the rate of my Internet service by 7.7 per cent and cutting my bandwidth usage allowance from 6 GB down to 2 GB. I can't believe they can reduce my service by two-thirds and also increase the price. Seriously thinking of voting with my feet, except I'm bundled on the cable TV and mobile phones. That's how they get you – lock you in, bundle you up and then hike, hike, hike.
Ashleigh Blackmore, Rogers spokeswoman: Rogers has recently made changes to some Rogers Home Phone and Rogers Hi Speed Internet plans. We regularly review our pricing and make changes after much careful and thoughtful consideration. As a business, we are doing everything we can to keep our costs down, while at the same time offering the quality of products that customers expect from the Rogers brand.
Bibi Sheermohamed: I've had Rogers Ultra-Lite Internet for years. I pay $25.99 a month, giving me usage of 60 GB. In March, I'll have to pay $29.99 a month and my usage will be reduced to 2 GB. My average usage is 20 GB, so I'll have to upscale. The next level is Lite at $35.99 a month. I thought that older plans were grandfathered.
Ashleigh Blackmore: Unfortunately, Mr. Sheermohamed falls into a small percentage of customers who regularly exceed the capacity allowance rate. Since a resolution has not been found to his satisfaction, Rogers has let him know that he has the option to move to any in-market rate plan for his selected services at any time.
Howard Maker, Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services: Our mandate does not extend to pricing, in the sense that we do not tell providers how much to charge for their services. But our mandate does extend to reviewing whether providers have met the terms of their contractual commitments to customers with respect to price changes.
What upsets consumers is that the providers write their own contracts, essentially setting the "rules of the game."
Ellen Roseman's column appears Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
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