Roger's business practices related to cancellation of services is a major problem. I cancelled cable/internet services a few years ago by phone and then subsequently returned their equipment and was told I had a balance of .01 which I paid. I relocated overseas and then a few months later I started to getting harassing collection calls from them on my Vonage internet phone, many of which were in the middle of the night for me. They claimed that I did not provide notice of cancellation and that I had an outstanding balance. I told them to forget it and I would not pay as I had notified them and had returned their equipment with no outstanding balance reported by their staff. I subsequently was harassed for some time until I took the matter up with the CEO's office whereupon the service charge was waived. I thought the matter was over but it resurfaced several months later with a collection company. I again had to call the CEO's office for action.
Fast forward to yesterday where I again decided to cancel their service. This time I went to their retail outlet to get a confirmation in writing that they had been provided notice. They are not allowed to take cancellations there for some reason (only sales). While, I was there it was sad to see a women returning equipment for one of their parents who had passed away and she was told that they would still be charged for a month until they formally cancelled. I went on line to try to cancel but that is also not allowed by the Comapny. I then had to do the dreaded telephone thing and had to go through two humans to give notice. I requested an email confirmation but they sell internet but don't use it to do business (except sell). I asked for a confirmation number but they don't provide that either. The best I could get was a name and a workload order number.
In the course of dialogue with the Rogers Customer Service, I complained about the notice requirtement and suggested that when they get their equipment back that they should close the accouint with no notice required. This was reasonable business practice consistent with other utilities and organizations. The person indicated that it was the norm in the telecommuications industry --- i.e., one of the pat bs anwers they are provided. This is absolutely not true. The practice of my new internet provider is 2 or 3 days notice (just enough to process the work order). I also cancelled my Vonage phone on the same day and they require no notice at all. In fact, the Vonage representative indicated concern that I was leaving and offered a month's free service so that I could avoid having to make a subsequent partial month payment to facilitate the transition to a new phone system. What a difference in service.
My concern about Rogers practice is as follows. There is absolutely no way that I would ever accept their billing and cancellation practices (several years ago in a billing dispute, I had to threaten to throw their services out of a building that I controlled to get them to back off). They will always address my particular problem but continue to rip off others. The problem is that most people don't have either the time, clout or inclination to fight them over inappropriate charges. Young people who can hardly afford it are the ones really getting ripped off by their practices. Consumer protection regulation is unfortunately required to address the practices of this company which are notorious in Canada. The other is through public forums that educate people about their poor and predatory business practices.