Really do not know where to start from.
We are new immigrants here in Canada. Coming from Bangladesh, we are not Wireless Company experts or Tech Saavy. Therefore, we ended up going for the most available GSM Wireless Service - Rogers. Back home, GSM is more common than CDMA which is why we always felt that GSM provides better service than CDMA.
As soon as we land in Fall of 2006, my father signed up for Rogers with at least 5 wireless lines with contracts (3-yrs each). Needless to say, my father has been paying hundreds and thousands of just wireless bills over 3 years which accumulated to $ 125,000 starting from 2006 till 2009. All his bills were set up pre-authorized and considering the fact that he is a new immigrant with running businesses back home, he travels a lot for which he does not always have time to review bills/statements. Thinking that he is in a civilized country unlike Bangladesh where unauthorized charges are inevitable and fraudulent is common, he never reviewed the bills. And when he did and found high bills being applied by Rogers, he spoke to them but because of the contract, his hands were tied.
Eventually, my father had enough and cancelled contracts with Rogers and now hold service from another company with whom he is extremely happy with and his bills per month do not exceed more than $ 45/person.
I stayed back with Rogers because I could not afford to pay the cancellation fees.
However, I went through the same issue where in March of 2010, my bill was $ 5000 for just me and my wife. I paid it. And wanted to cancel however there was a sweet guy called Matt who offered to come over to my place for extra attention if I stay with Rogers, I did. A year after, today, similar issue, my bill is $ 4000 and apparently I used $ 1200 of phone calls in June, July & August.
Now, when Matt sweet talked me, he promised that he will set up my plans in such a way so that I will never have to go "over". He lied. Surprisingly, I noticed that I have been paying for each minute that I spoke to my wife and every time I called someone in the same "household" using Rogers, it was taken out of my "anytime" minutes; ethical? I do not believe so. Being a loyal customer of Rogers and when Customer Relation promised (calls were recorded at Rogers end and can be retrieved for legal purposes) unnecessary charges, he failed to realize the most obvious situation which is "a husband calling his wife" should NOT pay money. It defeats the purpose of being married!!!
Having said that, I thought that a company like Rogers exist now-a-days because of their excellent service and how they look out for the well-being of the customers.
However, so now, my father paid in total of $ 125,000 and I have paid $ 8,000 (excluding the recent $ 4000) out of which most were all unauthorized, illegitimate charges. Even if they are legitimate, there are issues such as calling Customer Service where they still did not do their job by sincerely looking at customers' bills to help them save money and hence in my eyes, unauthorized charges. The call centre agents are trained to "deceive" and "cheat" their customers and I personally attempted calls to Rogers CSR who could not help me stating that my plan is set up by Customer Relations and cannot be changed?? I do not have time to chase Customer Relation as going to them is tough, of course, unless they need to be rude with you. I thought I had the best of the best plan. And after a year I find out that I have been paying for every single minute to call my wife?? (Evidence has been retained for legal purpose) Each time when I wished to speak to Customer Relation, they stated I needed special case in order to speak to them.
Special cases?? What does that mean??
And today I spoke to customer relations. Why? Because I now refuse to pay a single dollar. And of course, they will hit my credit. Without a good credit history my life in Canada is useless which is why my wife & I are moving back to my country, inshAllah, end of November.
Life is tougher here than I thought.
Therefore, I am asking for help from ANYONE out there who can help me and my family get some justice because what Rogers has been doing is unorthodox & unethical. People say Bangladesh is corrupt however I find developed countries like Canada, the US , the UK more corrupt where they can destroy people's lives over bureaucracy.
If there are lawyers or any on-going lawsuit going on against Rogers, please include me and I will provide all details (including fees, if reqd) where a newly landed immigrant family was fooled to rob off $ 150,000+ on phone bills. The least I can do is fight this company before I leave the country.
Please help.
Regards,
Helpless Immigrant (Hamid)
(I am extremely upset and angry which is why this letter may not be well organized. Please excuse me for that and if you wish to speak to me, please e-mail (((REDACTED)))
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