I hate my cell phone company! Yes, I know everyone says that but I REALLY hate my cell phone company. By the way, my cell phone company is Rogers Wireless.
This blog is about programming and the products I develop for Capitalware, so complaining about my cell phone company is not one of those topics. Last Friday, I had another issue where my cell phone company screwed me and at first I thought I would write about it but then decided why bother. Today, I decided that I should write about my issues rather than sweep their poor service under the rug again!
In Canada, we have 3 large cell phone companies that pretty much act as a monopoly and control roughly 92% of the cell phone market and Rogers Wireless has the biggest market share of the 3. Even though there are 3 (different) cell phone companies, they act and control the cell phone market like it is their personal monopoly. Do they collude? I don’t know but they sure act like it. All 3 cell phone companies have high prices for both voice and data services, extremely poor customer service (emphasis on “extremely”) and gouge customers for extra services and fees.
The CRTC (Canadian regulator) granted new cellular licenses to several more cell phone companies (Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile), so that Canadians would have greater choice in cell phone companies and hopefully, competition will provide for better customer service and lower prices. So far, that has not happened but the new 3 entrants are still building out their cellular network.
Whenever I have an issue with Rogers, I can expect that when I call their help-desk, I will spent at least an hour (usually more) on the phone to get the issue resolved (poor, poor customer service).
What happened this time? I ordered 6 new Apple iPhone 5 unlocked cell phones directly from Apple and found out that phones would not be delivered with the new “Nano SIM” cards for Rogers Wireless’s network. We went to several Rogers Wireless Plus (corporate) retail stores and asked to purchase them. They all said no and that I would have to line up on Friday (Sept. 21st) with all the people who would be purchasing new iPhone 5’s. I said I do not want them to activate the nano SIM cards, I just want to purchase them. They said I had to line up with everyone else. And the extra little bonus, they said that “if they were running low on nano SIM cards on Friday then they would not sell me any” – because they would keep the nano SIM cards for their new activation (basically, screw you if you are an existing customer). I even phoned Rogers’ customer service about the nano SIM cards, explained the issue with the retail stores (corporate stores!!) and they said there was nothing they could do about a corporate store!! He said that they could ship me 6 nano SIM cards on Friday and it would take 2 -3 weeks for delivery (if they did not run out of stock).
I pay Rogers for 6 cell phones, all with voice and data plans, high-speed internet, plus other services which equates to a very large phone bill each month and do you think Rogers’ knows how to deal with a good customer that they have had for a long time? Not a chance. They have absolutely no clue how to treat a good customer nor what good customer service is.
Before the iPhone launched, my wife and I stopped by the Apple store and explained the situation. The Apple representative checked with their manager and said that they should be able to help us out on Friday. So, my wife (thank you Cynthia!) went to the Apple store when it opened Friday morning, explained the situation to the manager that was working and he gave my wife 6 nano SIM cards (for Rogers network) for FREE. My wife was more than happy to pay for them but he said they were free.
Apple, they understand customer service and WANT their customers to be satisfied. On the other hand, Rogers Wireless have absolutely no clue what customer service is and could careless if their customers are happy or not.
Oh. The story is not over yet!!
The 6 iPhones arrived late Friday morning by UPS (as expected and 2 thumbs up to UPS). We used Rogers Wireless’s web site to activate the new nano SIM cards and everything went fine for the first 4 SIM cards (they activated right away) but for the last 2 nano SIM cards, Rogers’ web site said activated but the phones said “No Service”. Of course, my cell phone, which is the main number for Capitalware, was one of the 2 not working. After an hour, I bit the bullet and called Rogers’ customer service. They verified that the new nano SIM numbers were logged correctly and said that it “could” take up to 2 hours to activate. How long did it really take? It took 8 hours for the last 2 iPhones to get cellular service from Rogers. I lost my business phone for 8 hours. Totally, absolutely, unacceptable service from Rogers. You would think that Rogers has never before seen an iPhone launch!! (Not true since Rogers has had every iPhone model). Did I say that I hate my cell phone company because I REALLY hate my cell phone company!!
Why am I still with Rogers Wireless? Don’t worry, it won’t be for much longer. I have been waiting for one of the new cell phone companies to build out their cellular network in London (Ontario), Toronto and the 401 highway between them (about 2 hour drive) and then I will happily switch to another cell phone company because clearly Rogers does NOT want me as a customer and I will happily give my money to another cell phone company.
Sorry for the rant but customers or potential customers of Rogers Wireless need to be aware of their extremely poor customer service. Ok, I’m done but one last thing before I go, I hate my cell phone company.
Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.
