“     So, at this point my options are to not use the service I’m paying for, or to pay for charges no one will explain to me, that are unofficial, and that I have not been billed for.”

Two days ago my Rogers cell phone was shut off for the third time since I opened the account (around 4 months now), and the second time it’s been shut down in the last 2 weeks. Each time, I only found out that the account had been shut down through emails from friends or family trying to call me. Apparently Rogers sends out text messages telling you you’re nearing your credit limit - that has happened one out of three times. Rogers appears to be the only company that I know of that bucks the traditional model of sending out a bill first, and giving the customer a chance to pay before suspending service. Instead, they give you a credit limit as though you are using a credit card. Pass that credit limit, and no more service for you.

My account is fully paid up. In fact, I received my last bill a couple of days after the last shutdown - the balance was a $7.07 credit.

“How could this happen?”, you ask. “The facts just don’t line up”. Well, I agree, let me give you the play-by-play.

After learning that my service is suspended, I call Rogers - and get transfered to the Accounts Receivable department. I’m irritated, but the guy is friendly enough and it’s obviously not his fault, so I try not to take my frustrations out on him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have details about why my account might be shut down, only that I am apparently over my $400 credit limit. The last bill was dated January 5th - so that’s charges from only the last three weeks. I haven’t been making any long distance calls, I shouldn’t be over my minutes (I’m never even close), and my data usage has not been out of the ordinary. He does manage to find out that it’s probably due to data charges, and adds a note to my account to that effect.

It makes some sense that data usage is the culprit, because I recently switched my plan from a 200 MB/month plan to a 30 MB/month plan - which is $40 cheaper (although still $60 a month just for the data!), and since I have been with Rogers I have not come close to using over 30 MB in a month. So my theory is that the data plan was not set up correctly. Someone clicked the wrong checkbox. This should be an easy problem to fix.

Transfered to Customer Service. She tells me politely that she doesn’t know too much about the data side of things, so after apologizing, transfers me to some kind of data plan customer service department (how many departments does this place have?). Although she was no help, at least she was honest and friendly about it. Still, help would have been nice to get someone who could help instead of just passing the buck.

Transfered to Data Customer Service - a man by the name of Monier answers. He is not as friendly, but that’s okay, I’m here to get this settled, so let’s just settle it. Only that is apparently not going to happen.

Although he can see the details of my data usage (after first telling me he couldn’t), it is just in a list of the individual instances of use - and there is no way to add up those bytes to find out how much data I have transferred since the 5th. No way to get that information! I mention to him that there must be some way, since my phone has been shut off due to charges based on that data use. Monier tells me that that’s not necessarily due to the data use, it could be that I’ve made a lot of long distance calls or gone over my minutes. I inform him that I don’t believe either of those would be the cause, but ask if he can tell me that in fact they are. He can’t. A very circular conversation ensues, turning into less of a conversation than an argument, and tones of voice take a decidedly unfriendly turn.

Monier: You are over your $400 credit limit, you’ll need to make a payment.
Me: Can you tell me why?
Monier: No, all of the data charges I can see are unofficial, so I can’t give those to customers. They will get reviewed, and possibly removed if they are incorrect at the end of the billing cycle.
Me: How unofficial can they be? My phone was shut off! Also, isn’t it strange that no one can tell me the actual reason behind why my phone was shut off?
Monier: The reason is that you are over your $400 credit limit.
Me: Can you tell me why?
Monier: No.

Multiply that by 20 minutes, and you get the picture.

After I have been on the phone for a total of 34 minutes, most of that time spent arguing with Monier, I am getting exhausted, and certainly don’t feel like talking with this jerk any more. I ask him what he can do to help me. More arguing. I ask him if there is another person or a manager I can talk to. He tells me he is a Senior Customer blah blah… I say I don’t know what that means, and again ask to talk to someone else. He tries desperately to get into the same circular argument, but I say nothing…. until I say that it all sounds like bullshit, I don’t want to talk to him any more, and could he please transfer me to someone else. Amazingly, he still does not, but instead continues to tell me about my $400 credit limit, and how I should make a payment (without a bill or any kind of explanation) to get back under my credit limit. I say, as forcefully as I can at this point, “I don’t want to talk to you anymore, please transfer me to someone else”. He says okay… and proceeds to put me on infinite hold. I eventually hang up.

I decide take a few minutes to write down some key details, and cool down before calling back.

Call back. Accounts Receivable department. This time I am told that my un-billed calls are around $460.00. No, I don’t want to make a payment and dispute it when the next bill comes. I want to take care of it now before the situation gets worse. If I make a $200 payment won’t I just be back in this situation in a week? Avoid using the internet until then, I’m told. “Why? I have a data plan.”, I reply.

So, at this point my options are to not use the service I’m paying for, or to pay for charges no one will explain to me, that are unofficial, and that I have not been billed for.

Transfer to Customer Service - Irene. Explain the situation for the fifth time. Hold. Looks like data usage is the problem. She wants to talk to the data department. Hold. Is she actually working to help me?

18 minutes into call #2 now. At least I don’t have to fight with anyone this time…. so far. Jazzy swingy ragtime music, I wonder who chooses that?

She’s back. Oh my god - only 9 MB used this month! She says it must be a problem with the system, and she’ll see if she can fix it. Irene is a superstar! Talking to other departments instead of constant transfers? Crazy! On hold again, fingers crossed.

Irene is back - with good news! I can tell that she is working within the confines of a crappy system, but at least she’s dealing with it instead of passing the burden on to me. She can’t reverse the charges yet, but she did get the credit limit removed, so my phone will work again.

Once the billing cycle is closed, she’ll follow up to make sure everything looks right (ie - crazy expensive data charges are reversed), and call if any adjustments need to be made, so I won’t be surprised if I get an incorrect bill.

It’s hard to believe that after talking to 4 people who couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything to help, that I somehow got lucky enough to find someone who could and did. I wonder what magic she performed to get the total of my data usage?

My faith in Rogers, however is not restored. It shouldn’t take an hour to finally talk to someone helpful. It shouldn’t take an hour and a half to resolve what should be a simple billing issue. And they never should have shut my phone off without calling me first to fix whatever the problem was. No wonder there’s no official iPhone in Canada yet.

I was happy to wait on hold for a few more minutes to talk to a manager after to commend Irene on her work.

I may call back later to complain about Monier, we’ll see.

As a nice follow up after my phone service was restored, the first text message I got was from Rogers telling me that I am nearing my credit limit. What great customer service.