This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Business & marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Here’s a Rogers customer service case study on how not to conduct business.
With my business phone and mobile with Rogers, I decided to bunch everything together and switch my home phone to Rogers as well. Here’s a breakdown of the events that spanned more than one year:
- After talking to two Rogers call centres for more than an hour in total, a switchover was scheduled for the morning of March 13, 2007.
- On March 13, no one showed, nor did I receive a call from Rogers.
- About a month later, Rogers called regarding a new promo. I mentioned the no-show and they promised it wouldn’t happen again. An appointment was set for the following Tuesday.
- It did. A second no-show.
- On June 21, 2007, I wrote to the Rogers executive team to advise them of my Rogers customer service experience.
- On June 25, 2007, I received a response via e-mail stating: “We have checked our system and we do have an order from you for service. The order is, however, incomplete at this time. As such, you will need to contact our customer service department directly for assistance with the status of your order.” It seems this experience is acceptable by Rogers’ standards. To top it off, the note ends with: “We are pleased to have been able to address your inquiry.” Not quite.
- Several weeks later (late in 2007), a third-party called on behalf of Rogers with a promo. I made reference to the two no-shows and was told there were “system errors,” and was “absolutely” assured they were resolved. I apprehensively agreed to make myself available for yet another appointment for a switch-over.
- Rogers never appeared. No-show number three. I didn’t bother writing this time.
- On Feb. 8, 2008, I received an unexpected voicemail from Rogers – several weeks after the third no-show – stating the migration to Rogers was “delayed.” Not wanting to sign on with Rogers after experiencing this service and the hassle of a switch-over, I called back immediately. I was stunned when I was told after being put on hold several times that it was “too late” for me to cancel the switch-over, apparently “due to automation.” My options were put forth: cancel Rogers after the switch and sign back on with my current provider; or agree to the service at a discounted rate. Not wanting to spend anymore time on this matter and deal with a “double switch-over,” I resentfully agreed to go with the discounted rate.
- On February 12, 2008, a contracted Rogers technician arrived, and eventually determined there was no live line to set me up with Rogers. Additionally, he stated I’d have to call my current provider to cancel my existing service, which baffled me. I was told by Rogers that it was automated and the cancellation with the existing provider “could not be stopped.” Following some confusing calls, the technician said he needed to go to his vehicle to retrieve some paperwork. He came back 20 minutes later shrugging his shoulders to advise me the request for Rogers home phone was cancelled. Annoyed, I wrote Rogers again to convey the events.
- Rogers’ Customer Service response: “Thank you for taking the time to write to us, we appreciate your use of online customer service. We are very sorry to hear of the difficulties that you have experienced in using our service. We would like to offer you an apology on behalf of Rogers. We would ask that you contact Customer Service directly to schedule the next available appointment timeframe that would be convenient for you.” Did they read the e-mail? Do they care? To top it off, the note ended with the following point: “You are a valued customer and we thank you for your business.”
- I wrote back immediately suggesting a cut-and-paste response wasn’t necessary, and directing me to Rogers’ customer service number was absurd.
- Rogers responded: “Thank you for taking the time to write to us, we appreciate your use of online customer service…” Almost the same letter was re-sent.
- April 3, 2008, Rogers was leaving me automated messages to call them back, and eventually I did. After being transferred a couple of times, I was advised I was late on payments for the home phone service I never received! I chuckled in a bid to maintain sanity and explained the events yet again to a Rogers employee. The agent, very kind, promised she would review the file, talk to the appropriate manager(s) and call me back the very next morning with an explanation.
The Rogers agent never called the next morning. Two weeks have passed, and still no call. Is this the type of service Rogers wants to be known for?
*On April 24, I received yet another invoice for home phone services never rendered.
*On May 19, after allegedly correcting their billing errors twice, Rogers Customer Service strikes again. Another invoice for services that were not delivered. What’s the cure for the Rogers customer service syndrome? Any suggestions?
*June 2: Rogers Accounts Receivable starts calling again for yet another outstanding balance for a phone line Rogers isn’t providing. After explaining the series of events, I was asked if I’d like to be connected to Rogers Customer Service to straighten things out. I kindly declined.
*June 13: Another voicemail warns the phone service (that Rogers is not providing me) will be interrupted if immediate payment is not made. Once again, I call and explain the events to the Accounts Receivable rep, who suggests I once again talk to Rogers Customer Service. I do, and this time receive a cancellation confirmation number. The representative ended the call with their scripted line: ”Thank you for choosing Rogers.”
By now, I have wasted well over a dozen hours on the phone with them, much of it on hold, trying to resolve their erros. Rogers obviously doesn’t value its customers’ time. Rogers customers could make a point by frequently calling Rogers Customer Service and then putting their employees on hold for 10 minutes or so. If the tables were turned, and customers wasted thousands of Rogers’ hours, they would surely take swift action.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
NICE! Does this subtly suggest Rogers customer service just does not give a damn!?
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Way to go Rogers! I guess they’re too rich to care.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Good on you! That’s the power the the web- companies can’t treat people like crap and arrogantly believe no one will find out.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I don’t understand why they call it customer service as I have yet to see any service from Rogers.
They overcharge and when you call the system is down - they can’t call you back - the supervisor wont’ talk to you and to file a complaint you must do it by phone - Kind of interesting in this day and age they dont’ use internet isn’t it or even have a phone number
Formal complaints
333 Bloor St e
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 1D9
I will be submitting one shortly
thanks for listening
May 7th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Thanks for the address, these guys are not fun to deal with.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I was so relieved to find these comments on the web. Usually, the kind of incidents described above would better be left to a “Candid Camera” situation, because sometimes the level of Rogers service has got to be a joke. I see I am not alone in having to spend literally hours at a time with Rogers personnel trying to get my phone working right or bills adjusted. And this week, aside from being given the usual run around - “call here”, “no, call there”, “no, call them back”, I called up the local store - no one picked up, and I was transferred to voicemail… and the voicemail box was full! And this is a communications company? How do they get away with it? No wonder they have you sign a three-year contract. No one would stay with a company which cares so little about custmer service. Though some of the personnel are great, some are given either inadequate customer service training, or, perhaps, none, or, then again, perhaps their training consists of learning how to best frustrate Rogers customers. It’s unbelieveable.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Are telemarketing calls from Rogers Cellular driving you crazy? Have you asked them to stop calling yet the calls continue? Have these calls been eating away at your airtime? Are you ready to send a message to Rogers that you’ve had enough? If so, send me your name, cell number and story. We are collecting and forwarding this information to the CRTC and if enough people respond there may be a possibility of a class action lawsuit and / or credits from Rogers to compensate for the abuse of your phone number and wasting your time
Thank You
Mark
kawartha.lakes@yahoo.ca
May 13th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
May 13, 2008. I have spent the last 2 days speaking with 12 different people at Rogers. They inadvertently switched my digital home phone service to analog, which caused me to have no phone at all for the past 2 days. To top it all off, no one seems to know how to fix it. They also have told me that there is a 65% chance that they will have to give me a new phone number. I have requested 4 times to speak with a supervisor but am told that they are all too busy. No one has returned my calls as promised either. The latest message on my file states that “Tara” a manager in the retention department will call me when it’s fixed. They don’t quite understand that I would like to know when it will be fixed. I have spent 4 hours on the phone over the last day and a half and am nowhere closing to having my service restored. It’s amazing how they prevent you from talking with anyone with any level of authority or even concern for the lack of customer service. I will definitely not recommend Rogers to anyone and will switch back to Bell - which is currently cheaper than Rogers!
May 18th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories about Rogers and its lousy customer service. I had a noshow as described in the story and was going to call them. But after reading all of this, forget it!! I definitely don’t need Rogers in my life.
May 18th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Rogers couldn’t provide worse customer service if they wanted to. It really sounds like they genuinely don’t care.
Most companies would rectify a bad situation or experience. But they seem to shrug it off and say whatever, or even worse - screw you. Old school! “The man” still exists.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Thanks for sharing your story!!
May 21st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
And I thought I was getting screwed by Rogers! They take jerking customers around to a whole new level!!
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Rogers is going lower every day. I had similar issues trying to move my Rogers internet service from to my new home. The fact is, this is what we get when there’s monopoly. Go to howardforums.com and you’ll see that your feelings towards Rogers are shared by many others. We would all go to another GSM provider. But wait… there’s none out there other than Rogers. Good job CRTC, keep the marked closed.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I’m just another victim of Rogers customer service. I cant rememebr how many times me and my brother called their css to transfer my bro’s cell to my name. Everytime they dissappoint us by giving new sets of rule. Finally when our contract was over we wanted to cancel their service. When we called them we were informed that their record shows that our previous request for tranfer was declined by ourselves. that was really strange for us. So cant trust their css, dont know what they save into their records. Rogers is worst company treating customers like crap..
May 31st, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Rogers sucks bad! They don’t care. Why have a customer service department? They really don’t care to provide good service, and they definitely don’t care to learn about their screw ups. Hopefully their sales will drop and they’ll be forced to give actually give a crap.
June 1st, 2008 at 2:43 am
Thanks. I have dealt with the Robbers Corporation on my cable services all last week.
Now my mail is broken after the changes they instituted to stop spam–I cannot send. When they were unable to fix it, they claimed the problem was on my end and no, they wouldn;t come and solve it.
And I pay them for this. All customer service inquiries have gone unheeded.
June 11th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Man, I couldnt feel your pain more.
I have spent years trying to get away from them and the worst service in the world.
As of this friday I have finally broken free and cancelled my cell service. For too many reasons to mention. It cost me $400 to cancel and I had to give 30 days notice to boot.
Anyway, if Rogers was the only game in town, I would never ever resign with them.
June 12th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
It seems like the list of disappointed Rogers customers is endless. I just sent an email about my screwy experience and got a automated reply : “Thank you for your inquiry. Due to an increase in email volume, it may take us up to 5 business days to respond to your email. We apologize for this inconvenience.”
This is gotta end! You cannot treat a customer like shit and still run a business. The current monoplistic Canadian telecom market is gotta end. They charge more than what you pay in the US and still provide the most ridiculous service.Maybe this could be an election issue next year?
June 24th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Yes they truly are a marvel! They managed to consolidate my ONE account at their discretion and screwed that up. Since this consolidation I have a 1-800 number I never had with charges sent to me monthly, I also have a new address as well. Whoever copied the existing information must have been illiterate. When I call customer service i need to be identified at least 10 times - who do you think is calling i asked them “Mary mother of God?” and that is providing I can get through within the hour. Lots of fun @ Rogers!!!!
June 26th, 2008 at 12:04 am
NOT ALL REPS CAN’T DO THEIR JOB.. i’ve had many excellent reps speak with me on the phone and as an Accounts Recievable representative in Rogers myself i really do understand the issues all of you go through. believe me i see it first hand every day!!! Some reps in customer service definatly do not do their jobs and i do appologize for that.. Unfortunatlly is no expliation for any of the situations that you all have been through with rogers employees .. as a AR rep myself i really do try to help everyone out as much as i can and i know it is very confusing and VERY irritating to be transfered from place to place but that is just the way the system works there is nothing we can do as Rogers AR employees to make any difference in these issues (WE CAN ONLY MAKE PAYMENT ARRANGMENTS AND SO ON) but i know i will try in the best of my abilities to find a solution to who ever i speak too! i wish i was in Customer Service because i would be able to do a lot more for everyone i speak too and follow through with what i say .. but like i said thats just how the system works .. PS.. I did advise my manager(s) of the issue But, like i advised you when i spoke with you there was nothing in AR that i or my managers could do… if i could’ve done something i would have believe me i would have and i’m very sorry for all of the issues that you and all of the other Rogers Customers have endured! thanks for reading and once again i am very sorry!
June 29th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
This a bit off topic, but this show how Rogers doesn’t care about their customers. There is growing movement against their introduction of the iPhone in 2 weeks. They’re cell phone plans are very poor and do not offer unlimited Internet access. They claim that the majority of their customers would prefer this over unlimited Internet access. I seriously doubt they asked any of their customers what they really want.
You can read more about this on http://www.ruinediphone.com/.