Rogers - Liberty Thief

The beginnings of this story started gleefully but ended in anger, frustration and immense dissatisfaction. My wife and I are approaching our "cotton" anniversary and to celebrate, she surprised me with the prospect of an Apple iPhone 3GS. Since I needed to sign the necessary papers and account information, she suggested that I order it from Rogers and she would pay for it. Being very excited, I called on the Friday and Saturday morning to speak to a number of "consultants". After fumbling through their voice menu system and being transferred various times to and from various departments, I finally got someone that could help me (or so I thought).

I was my usual polite self and inquired about the available plan and hardware cost details. With my current voice and the new data plan ($30/6GB) which was being pushed, I figured that everything would cost me around $85/month. There was no way that I was going to pay that much for a cell phone, so I asked about cost saving measures that could bring down my monthly cost. They suggested a $25(500MB) 'value' data plan, which didn't seem like a great deal of savings, especially when I'm only getting 500MB of data. The rep ran out of other cost saving ideas after the pitch of this offer. Who writes their scripts?!?

I asked whether or not they could do something with my voice plan.
No.
I asked if there were any other data plan options.
No.

Final verdict. 1 option.

Unsatisfied with only one choice, I decided to ask about the cost of the phone without a data plan. I was told that I could NOT purchase the phone without tethering it to a data plan. On top of that there was a $35 administrative fee if I wanted to go through with it (for what?!? When I asked about it. I was told that it was for data activation and additional paperwork. What type of paper cost $35?!?). The cherry on top of this was that could NOT be waived. I was outraged! Is it not up to me, the customer, to decide whether or not I want to use their data services?!? So what if it is a smartphone? What if I would like to use it as an offline device? What gives them the right to take away my liberty to use a product the way **I** want to use it. I was told that this is company policy and that they no longer sell smartphones without a data plan.

Slightly shocked, I ended the call letting the rep know that I was not mad at her but ticked off at her company policies and the amount of authorization that she had at making and presenting decisions.

We have not been happy with out cable and internet services so I took this opportunity to cancel our digital cable service. I was redirected to customer relations (rebranded from customer retention) and gave my reason as to why I was cancelling my digital cable service. The rep proceeded to tell me what good was it to have a smartphone without a data plan? I told him that that was not the point. It was something for me to decide and not him or the company which provides these services. Adding fuel to the fire, he proceeded to tell me that it was just a good business decision. I asked him how it was a good business decision if it caused the loss of a dissatisfied customer? He had no smart remark for that.

Later this month, I will cancel my Internet service when I find a suitable alternative. I am now on the look for cellular alternatives as well. I can't wait for the other providers to offer GSM service in 2010. If you have any suggestions, please comment or message me.

Rogers, you have robbed me of my personal liberties, and for that alone, have lost me as a customer.