To whomever,

The following is an account of an incident with Rogers Wireless where it is clear that fraud has been committed. I hope you’ll take the time to read this and investigate further.

I believe I have actual proof that a Rogers employee attempted to illegally charge me a $200 fee for a so-called “water damaged” blackberry.

Here are detailed facts of what happened:

At the end of January or beginning of February, I called Rogers ; spoke to someone in Technical Support regarding my son’s blackberry which wasn’t working well at all. I spoke with an online Live Rogers Support agent. He tried many things; the call lasted a half hour or more. In the end there was nothing he could do so he said they would be mailing us a new blackberry and that we should insert the old blackberry in that same package and send it out. But he warned me, “As a warning, if they find that there is water damage, you will then be charged $200 for the new phone on your account.” I asked him how to check for water damage. He explained to me how to remove the battery and see the white strip. There was NO water damage; it was white as snow.

However, I remembered an incident a few years earlier where I sent in my phone to Rogers for repairs. It came back unfixed as there was apparently “water damage”. I knew that was highly unlikely because I was always careful with my phone and I knew I never dropped it in water and never had it out in the rain. But I couldn’t argue because I had no proof. So I was forced to purchase a NEW phone and need I mention a NEW contract?? But my options were very limited. Needless to say, I was afraid that this is what was happening with my son’s phone and I had a bad feeling from the get-go.

So I decided to protect myself, just in case. The new phone arrived in early February. But BEFORE sending the old phone to Rogers, I removed the battery and took 2 clear pictures showing the little white square shape strip. (Attached) We all know that ‘white’ means NO WATER DAMAGE. I made sure that the IMEI number was clearly visible on the pictures. Also, since I took the pictures with my own blackberry, you clearly see the date of the pictures. February 8, 2011.

I then carefully put the old phone in the new phone’s box, sealed it tightly and then I inserted the box in the thick UPS plastic bag provided by Rogers !! There is NO way that water could ever penetrate that thick plastic, and then the thick cardboard box. If there was water damage to the phone, it would have meant that the entire package (bag & box) would have been seriously damaged and anyone with a brain would have seen that. Then I sent the phone away.

On March 16th, I received a letter from Rogers telling me that the old blackberry WAS water damaged and therefore, a $200 had been applied to my Rogers account. Frankly, I wasn’t surprised. But I was infuriated that they even sent a picture showing the blackberry with the little square shape strip no longer white. This time it was so pink, that it was almost red!!! That was the beginning of my 3 to 4 hour long telephone experience with woefully incompetent agents.

I spoke to someone in Customer Service. Explained my situation and demanded to speak to a Manager. The agent transferred me to Customer Care. There I spoke to a Manager who said there was absolutely nothing that she could do for me as it was a “technical support” issue. I tried to explain that there was nothing wrong with any of our cell phones. It didn’t matter. She transferred me anyway. As I suspected, the agent in technical support told me that there was nothing that they could do for me. This was a Customer Care issue. I was so angry from being tossed around from one department to another, while waiting 20 to 30 minutes each time.

The agent then gave me a tip. He said that in my type of situation, I should demand to speak to someone in the “Office of the President” at Rogers . But to get to that, I’d have to go back again to Customer Care. Another long wait. The agent didn’t quite know what to do, she admitted that she had never had a call where someone asked for the Office of the President so as all of the other agents, she put me on hold for a while. 15 or 20 minutes goes by, she comes back and says that a Manager was reviewing the many notes as we spoke and that she would speak to me momentarily before transferring me to the “Office of the President”. I said ok. Stupidly, I actually believed her. After waiting for another 15 to 20 minutes, listening to that annoying music, all of a sudden the music stopped so I knew that any moment, that particular Manager would come on the phone. So I waited and waited…..and waited some more. I looked at my blackberry and it still said “connected” so I don’t believe anyone hung up on me. I put my phone down on speaker phone, grabbed my husband’s iPhone and dialled the Rogers main line number AGAIN! I went from Customer Service to Customer Care. I explained my story for like the 7th or 8th time. I waited another 20 minutes before finally speaking to another Manager. His name was “Josh”. I wish I had his last name but I’m sure if you check your records, you’ll be able to figure out the names of ALL the agents and Managers I spoke to that evening.

Josh was incredibly rude and unprofessional. I basically gave him ALL of the details, told him that I had pictures proving that there was NO water damage to the phone before sending it and his response was, “It doesn’t matter if you have proof or not. When a damaged phone arrives to the Warehouse, they take a picture of it right away and that was the condition of the phone.” He said that it could have been UPS’ fault. I argued that it made no sense. The phone was well packaged. It was IMPOSSIBLE for a drop of water to penetrate both the thick plastic AND the box, that if water had damaged the phone, the whole package would have been damaged. And therefore the guy at the Warehouse would have SEEN that and never could have justified charging the CLIENT for a damaged package.

My belief is that the person was unable to fix the phone and therefore damaged it himself with water, took a picture and voilà. And easy way for Rogers to make an extra $200. Of course this is a very serious allegation that I am making. But in my opinion, it is the ONLY plausible explanation. I’m sure everyone who will hear my story, will agree!

Josh said he would put me on hold to “see what he could do” but he said he was making no promises. I could not believe his arrogance. To think that Rogers would NOT credit me my $200 after I had solid proof is such a disgrace!! He came back 5 to 10 minutes later and said that he had credited me the $200. But he quickly added, “And it’s not because you claim to have pictures. It’s only because you have been customers of Rogers for a long time.” My response was that I was STILL going to go to the Media with this story. I couldn’t believe it when he said, “Oh?? So you don’t want your money back then?” I said, “I most certainly want my money back! But people must know what you guys tried to pull off.” Josh also mentioned in that conversation that if it was not for us being customers of Rogers for a long time, he would have told me to go and fight with UPS to get my $200 back. How stupid is that???!!! Josh should be FIRED for misleading a customer and for being so unprofessional and arrogant.

The following issue was that my account never showed a “credit”. I kept checking online but there was nothing. So quite obviously, Josh wasn’t happy that I was still planning on going to the Media, so he decided NOT to credit my account. I had to call Rogers yet AGAIN. I think it was another 30 to 40 minutes on the phone the following Wednesday so about a week later. That gentleman on the phone did credit my account which I was able to see instantly online.

See attached the Photo from Rogers followed by the picture that I took prior to sending the phone. Isn’t it quite clear?

I was never given the chance to speak to someone high up in Rogers. These so-called Managers are not really Managers from what I am told. One would think that this issue is serious enough to be brought to the attention of someone higher up. Apparently not.

My husband and I have vowed to leave Rogers as soon as we can extricate ourselves from those hated contracts. It’ll take 2 to 3 years, but that day will come! We already started by cancelling our home phone.

Unsatisfied Rogers Customer,

Monica Bernard

I received a letter in the mail for a promotion for a free blackberry in early October. I called as soon as I received it and they didn’t have any available, said they would write a “note” in my file, and that I should call back in a couple days because it was an extremely popular deal and a new shipment was coming in. A couple days later I called back and talked to a lady who said that they didn’t have the “exact” telephone that I wanted, but there were other blackberries available. I said I would take one of those but she talked me into waiting for the curve because she has one and it’s the best. Again said she would write a “note” in my file, because it was nearing the end of the promotion. She said that I would still be able to get the telephone for free, because of the “note”. By this time I was starting to get a little frustrated having spent a lot of time waiting on the telephone, going over data plans, and changing my phone plan only to be told that you don’t have any call back in a couple days. So I finally got time to stop by the small kiosk in town, but the staff there did not know what I was talking about. Tried to contact someone in customer service with you guys, and told me it’s over an hour wait try back some other time. Finally in November I got through to a guy on your telephone service who said they did have a curve available but it was blue, we went through all my telephone plan changes, and he said that I would need to wait between 4-8 weeks to receive my new phone in the mail. By this time the “deal” was over and he said that I would have to pay $ 99.00 for the telephone, and that there was nothing he could do. And that apparently there was no “notes” in my file. I took the deal, and waited very patiently I think, so yesterday January 2, 2009 I thought I would call to check on the status of my delivery. A guy answered and I asked him when my blackberry will be here, cause I’ve been waiting 2 months. He said that he would contact the shipping department and put me on hold, he came back 4 minutes later and said that it was really busy right now and the hold with the shipping department was about an hour long. But he said that he “knew” that my order was cancelled, I asked why? He told me he had no idea, but I was not charged for anything. At this point I’m extremely confused, so again he asked me so what kind of phone I wanted. When we got it all sorted, he asked me about data plans. He changed my phone plan, extended my contract for 3 years, and I still don’t even know what he did to my account. He never said how many text messages I get with my new value pack, what the final cost of my bill would be at the end of the month, how much internet I’m allowed to use after my 3 months free. Which I would also like to confirm with you, because I don’t even know if I believe that, will be plagued with an extremely large bill the first month in having the blackberry and have to telephone you guys again. Only to find out that he didn’t write a note in my file about the first 3 months free. He just told me that I will receive a mail in rebate with my telephone for 50$, so the final cost of the blackberry is $ 49.99. I honestly feel like I’ve been getting the go round with your company, and almost abused as a customer. I have had an account with you people for many years, and it has always been in good standing. I’m always polite on the telephone with your agents, and always feel like the person that I’m talking to has no idea about your services or products, nor what your plans include ect. Or they just hang up on me, while I’m on hold. On this issue I have spent many hours in your system Que, being extremely patient, but after a night of thinking the entire issue over I have to say that I’m very disappointed in the service that I have been provided. I’m angry that I have to pay for the telephone when it was supposed to be a promotion, and I called within the time frame 3 times, and went to a kiosk just to be told to try back some other time. I can’t even cancel my account now because I will have to pay the cancellation fee, plus some kind of plan cancellation fee as well the agent was telling me.