The Phone Company That Doesn’t Answer the Phone

22 Responses to The Phone Company That Doesn’t Answer the Phone

1. Mark Matchen says:

   March 10, 2008 at 21:36

   I’m almost reluctant to send this, on the grounds that at least half of Canada must have a similar story, but here goes, in brief. We are a Bell Canada household – home phone, cell phone (2), Internet. We use Rogers cable. I responded to a very good offer, and agreed to switch home phone and Internet over to Rogers. This was last June. If anyone asks what I, a high school teacher, did with my summer vacation, the answer is, I spent it on the phone with Rogers customer service.The technical change-over required a visit from a technician, who arrived on schedule. When he left, he mumbled something about special circumstances, and that another visit would be required. By the time this fiasco ended, more than six weeks later, we had had NINE appointments with Rogers technicians. Three of those times the technician failed to show up, because they’d called ahead and no one had answered the phone. That’s because for much of the summer, Rogers had managed to disconnect our phone service entirely. The six who did show up were all different, eliminating any risk of information carry-over. Each visit seemed to make things worse. Every time we re-booked, there was the several day lead time, and no, nothing could be done about that. I got through to the office of a Rogers VP, who assigned her solicitous assistant to stick-handle our case, but this was of no discernable benefit, apart from many, many apologies.The worst part – other than having no phone service for an extended period (my wife works from home) was the time I spent on my cell phone with Rogers, which mostly means on hold. 45 minutes on hold was regular. Cut offs were regular. Day after day. In the end, Rogers actually gave up and told us to switch back to Bell, which we did.Dave is right – this kind of customer service is the new normal. I have identical stories to tell about Amazon.com and Dell. If all goes well, great. If anything deviates from the script, they can’t handle it.I don’t think this should be regulated. I think there should be a tort remedy. That will solve it.Mark Matchen
2. Robf says:

   March 10, 2008 at 21:57

   Adds new meaning to the phrase “you’ve been Rogered”!
3. Krupo says:

   March 10, 2008 at 22:50

   Did you also notice that several Rogers stores in Toronto closed recently? The one at High Park & Roncesvalles, and the one on College in Little Italy. Hmm!A shame Telus doesn’t have an “official” referral program so I can get some kind of official credit (or maybe they do? I should ask), but their service has always been top notch, both on *611 and in store.Of course they make a mistake once in a while, but they make up for it in spades. Long wait time? Free credit is standard policy.Billing error? Extra free service!And I’m not writing this just b/c one of my old friends works there. I’m v. happy with the service. :)Yeah, CDMA vs. GSM is a drawback, but my LG is awesome and shiny. :)So yeah, Bell and Rogers have bad reps – deservedly so! – but you’re not out of options.Seriously. I find bizarre scenarios. Txt msg server crash, crappy cheap phone not working in the countryside. Smart folks fixed the txt msg issue, and gave me a big credit for a new phone – wasn’t all their fault I bought a super-old refurbished phone, but they more than made up for it. Awesomeness.Re: Mark’s experience: ironically one of my friends was told by Bell to switch to the big R for internet for the same reason.
4. Amanda Kyffin says:

   March 11, 2008 at 02:36

   Should I be laughing about this? You’re right… it is like a bad comedy! You’ve certainly had to deal with some s… Sorry I don’t have any suggestions for you… but I do wish you good luck!
5. David H says:

   March 11, 2008 at 04:00

   I’ve worked in customer service for a couple of years. Of course you’re angry and they owe you an apology and whatnot. But let me point out what you did wrong: you went berserk after the initial contact, with “this is like bad comedy”, SHOUTING, etc. The service rep working your case has 200 other cases he’s working on. Put yourself in his shoes. Would you rather work on that project with that customer who’s always so happy, or would you prefer making that really difficult phone call to that really furious customer who seems to have an anger management problem? He’s going to get a bad rating anyway if you fill out the customer satisfaction survey. So why bother?You think you’re talking to the company, but you forgot that a company is not something that really exists. The reality is that you’re talking to an overworked, underpaid human being in a job with an attrition rate of 80% a year. You’re never going to get good service that way. I agree of course that the noble profession of customer service is implemented completely wrong in almost every contemporary big company. The service rep agrees on that, too.
6. Guy Cross says:

   March 11, 2008 at 05:10

   Hi Dave.My suggesttion is to print out your case’s history and write a short covering letter to the CEO of the company. In this I would ask him to justify his company’s poor customer service performance. I would also ask him to give you a good reason to reccomend Rogers to your freinds… maybe suggest that a few months free line rental might make you consider using his company again???Find his name form the internet, mark the envelope you use to post the letter private and confidential and post it to him.Guy
7. Dave Riddell says:

   March 11, 2008 at 06:55

   Although the situation is certainly frustrating, your email response was infantile. Service reps get this crap all the time; how is what you wrote productive dialogue in any way? David H has already said it for me.Suggestions? Reflect on why you wrote the opening sentence of your post and whether your email to Rogers was an honest attempt at resolving the situation or that you needed your ego brushed.
8. Harold Jarche says:

   March 11, 2008 at 08:24

   I had similar problems with Bell-Aliant and it took a direct call to a Senior VP to get some action. I also told the VP that if you search for “Aliant download speed” my post was on Google’s first page. That got some action.
9. Jon Husband says:

   March 11, 2008 at 10:15

   Only one suggestion … ditch Rogers, and send them a bill for your lost professional time, at a normal hourly rate for someone at your level of expertise, with a cc to your lawyer’s office address .. just for fun and to see what they will say / do.
10. Jon Husband says:

    March 11, 2008 at 10:23

    Telus is not any better, in my experience.Re: being told your initial response is infantile by several commenters .. that would be interesting if this kind of problem was new, but the sad fact is that this kind of problem with customer service has been going on for years now, with most of these companies. No wonder your average CSR is frustrated, unhappy and there is such high turnover .. and another question is why do more senior management in these areas, who are nominally responsible for taking responsibility for this kind of core organizational effectiveness problem (yes, I used responsible twice in same sentence ;-) still wrestling with the issue year after year ?Isn’t it reasonable to expect that there are not so many roadblocks and obstackles to actually contacting the company and speaking to someone who MIGHT be able to do something, or check into things ?Anyone remember the sub-title of the book The Support Economy ? “Why corporations are failing individuals and the next episode of capitalism”, I believe.
11. Dave Pollard says:

    March 11, 2008 at 10:35

    Thanks for the feedback. To the critics of how I handled this, I will agree that I was a bit sarcastic. On the one hand I feel badly for Dwight, Diane and Vanessa, just as I feel badly for the hapless telemarketers who phone constantly with their pathetic spiels, and all those underemployed in demeaning jobs. I recognize that they are just pawns in the game of Sell Crap Quickly and Then Keep the Customer from Talking with Anyone Really Important. But on the other hand, I can’t believe the job market is so bad that these people can’t find something to do that’s less demeaning, and less complicit with the corporatists who rig this ‘customer service’ game. It’s possible that I could, with patience or connections, get this addressed by someone more senior in the organization. But the point is — why should we have to do this? Why should any of us have to find time-consuming workarounds to get simple service from huge corporations making staggering profits — to get a phone company to answer the phone? Would simply being more polite and less sarcastic have achieved a better result? I don’t think so.
12. Dudeman says:

    March 11, 2008 at 10:51

    so did you get the transmitter?
13. Stevenini says:

    March 11, 2008 at 11:53

    Just by coincidence, I myself sent off an email to Rogers yesterday concerning an inability to retrieve my billing information online. The same “busy, we’ll reply in 5 business days” email was replied. An oligopoly to be sure – I wonder how that class action law suit regarding the “monthly connection fees” is going? And though this may not be an option for many, I hear that 7-Eleven (yes, that 7-Eleven) has one of the best deals on cell phone packages in a pay-as-you-go format. Go figure…Good luck!
14. George says:

    March 11, 2008 at 11:59

    Just a warning. When I linked to this page today I had to deny Rogers permission to set a cookie on my computer. There is probably a cookie setting capability embedded in that company symbol near the top of the Rogers post.
15. Pearl says:

    March 11, 2008 at 16:49

    suggestions? ipod for car with wireless link from ebay and switch to Vonage for phone.
16. Pearl says:

    March 11, 2008 at 16:52

    and what Dave H said but you’ve already replied to that.
17. Barbara Rubin says:

    March 11, 2008 at 21:41

    Dave, You wrote: “I can’t believe the job market is so bad that these people can’t find something to do that’s less demeaning, and less complicit with the corporatists who rig this ‘customer service’ game. It’s possible that I could, with patience or connections, get this addressed by someone more senior in the organization. But the point is — why should we have to do this?”First, you bought a number of luxury items so immediate service didn’t leave you homeless. Next, why would you consider any form of work demeaning? Remember, in any intentional community you eventually join, you may be cleaning privies. There are no demeaning jobs, only people who demean themselves by not actually doing them while taking a salary. That is demeaning. You can encourage employees who know they are looked upon as dirt or aren’t even trying to help you by saying in your email, ‘What can I do to expedite the problem? Is there a supervisor over you I can speak with to spare you time in repeating my attempts at reaching that store over and over again? Tell me about what works in your company.”If that fails go back to the store and get the staff there to call their support person in the company for help in getting the missing parts. Then complain to the CEO about it and any consumer boards in your government.If the goal is communication, mutual aid and respect, you need to actually practice doing it in RL, not SL. Even if it doesn’t work, it is a model of behavior that can shake up those employees, teach them something about self-respect and problem solving and also be good practice for you.Excuse me – I have to order a heater now for a homeless woman I know in Ohio. Never met her but we have no trouble communicating by cell phone after hours when it is free for her.Jesus.
18. sageservice@gmail.com says:

    March 12, 2008 at 01:09

    Surprised you were surprised – this is how all companies in America “service” their customers. Maybe we are finally exporting something – our crappy business practices! Even so the times they are a-changing, in the good old days they would at least preference that service with “please bend over.”
19. Robert Paterson says:

    March 13, 2008 at 15:01

    Try getting your issues answered by your bank now – I am in HSBC hell and like you Dave I am not sure I will ever get out – Bleak House!I doubt that there is a way out of Rogers or HSBC hell – I think that we have to wait for a company that wants to make service what it sells
20. Rudy Breda says:

    March 15, 2008 at 21:34

    So what is the status of this part? I find old technology works. Send a letter requesting the part be mailed or couriered to you. If the place is close to work, then get walking and speak with Adam and provide constructive feedback and what customer service etiquette could be. I guess this can be the 11th thing not to use email for. I have not yet seen good cust.service via email, that is a human interaction solution.Lastly, send a letter to Ted, or drop by his office.
21. Dave Pollard says:

    March 15, 2008 at 23:03

    Postscript to this story: I went into the store, got the part (it works fine), asked why they never answered the phone, was told that both their phone lines were ‘almost constantly busy all day with outgoing calls to the departments that hook up new cellular customers’ and that their request to get additional lines installed or an answering machine had not been acted upon. I had a conversation with one of the people who work in the ‘customer care’ department and he told me that they know exactly what the problems customers face are, and regularly relay this to Rogers’ management, but it’s like a black hole. I will indeed send a letter to Ted with constructive suggestions for improvement, and I expect that there will be, marginally, temporarily, improvement in this one small area.So yes, Barbara, I should have been more respectful to the front-line staff and less stressed by the experience. I should have realized that working around the problem and sending a polite letter was the only sensible, reasonable alternative open to me. No matter that this would be complicit with the incompetent, overpaid executives of these large, dysfunctional, hierarchical, destructive, indifferent corporate oligopolies, an acknowledgement that we are helpless to bring about any significant, enduring change in the ways they operate. Focus on treating the symptoms of the victims of the disease, since there is no prevention and there is no cure. There is no point, ever, to being outraged. But sometimes, nevertheless, we are.
22. Barbara Rubin says:

    March 16, 2008 at 05:17

    Outrage is good Dave. It is what leads to changes in behaviors and systems. I live among the outraged. People I know, myself included, are dying because of the oligopolies. Complicity begins with the easy stuff since you can

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