This tale began a many years ago while I was still living in the shadow of our nations capital. Twas the tradition for most of us to choose between the two major cellular phone companies, Bell vs Rogers rather than the smaller like Fido or Koodo. I choose Rogers for their coverage and also so to avoid a repeat of the previous Bell High Speed Internet Fiasco.
At the time, my Galaxy smart phone (1st generation) was operating on a 200 mg data plan which was sufficient considering the installed apps and general bandwidth usage. Come the time to update my contract with a new phone, the Galaxy S3, I negotiated an extra 500 mg. Only drawback was that I needed to request said 500 mg every 3 months as they could not permanently add it to my plan for some corporate reason... Any-who I did as much for the first 2 years but then surprise surprise the miserable customer service minions on the other end of the phone line informed me that this agreement could not be honored and that I only had 200 mg per month.
Eventually Rogers began calling me every few weeks to offer me a new phone and plan as mine was about to expire this upcoming November. The best they could do was a two year plan with 1 GB at 77.00$ Oh and get this, because my phone number is still out of province they could not offer the QC plans they werer trying to sell me which where cheaper than Ontario despite the fact that I have been living in Qc for over a year now... So not so much 77.00$ but more.
Suffice to say I was not impressed. Then a few weeks ago, as if by chance (or good marketing) I came across a special at Best Buy Mobile for a 35$ plan with 1 GB of Data available at Koodo, Virgin and Fido. After waiting for 15 min at the Best Buy Mobile Store at Cote Vertu Mall I left annoyed with the bad customer service. I came back 30 min later and 10 minutes later, again without the slightest sign of acknoledgement from the sales people I left extremely annoyed. I mean how hard can it be to walk into a store and give away my money ?
I came back, again, the following Sunday and was finally able to speak with someone. After a few minutes of checking on the Virgin and Koodo websites the clerk politely informed me that since my phone number was out of province that I could not benefit from said advertised 35$ plan. Following this I visited a number of other cell phone providers stores and booths at the Cote Vertu Mall all of which either simply avoided offering their services or told me it was not worth it at this point. Should be noted I did not want to get a new phone, only a better plan that would offer more data.
Disappointed, I finally came across the Virgin Mobile kiosk and the salesman was not only very helpful but also confirmed that I could keep my out of province phone number and still benefit from the 35$ and 1 Gig plan. Something Bestbuy Mobile had earlier informed me was impossible.. with Virgin or any other providers for that matter.
Only trick was I would need to get my phone unlocked. He indicated a near by cell phone cover sales boot that offered said service. A seemingly shady clerk that barely spoke English and no French with rotten teeth made me think twice of getting my phone unlocked at said stand. Hence I dug deeper into the seemingly never ending cell phone providers kiosks at the shopping mall and came across the Koodo stand. They offered the same deal, 35$ for 1G and confirmed I could keep my current phone number. They also indicated a less shady stand where I could get my phone unlocked and ASSURED me I could switch from Rogers to Koodo and have a ''fully operational'' phone by the end of the day.
The not so happy dick servicing the cell phone cover stand tried to con me into paying 45$ instead of the earlier discussed 35$ charge. I got him to stick with his original cost appraisal and get the express service. He assured me it would be done by next morning, Monday. Now the only way I could unlock my phone was to utilize a code he would forward me. Forward me how you might ask. A very good question. His answer was I will call you and I can also text you. HEY ! my phone is locked and the Koodo Sims cards will not work until said code is entered. Sooooo no code, no phone, no phone no receiving said code you morron ! I gave dick my gilfriends number so that she in turn could email the code of codes since I could still receive email on my phone. Ya dick did not believe in emails either. Something about being an incompetent fool me think.
Come Monday morning, no code. Monday afternoon still no code.... Tuesday morning I drove back to the stand ready to tear the place apart only to learn upon my arrival that dick had been fired and that 5 other customers where exactly in the same situation as I was, without a working phone despite assurances it could be done within a few hours. I had the new guy check for an update and when he could not get anything new I had him call his supervisor. His supervisor in turn said he did not know much more about the matter. Being ooohh so very reassured by the local competence level I requisitioned his kiosk phone and had the sales guy give me the company HQ phone number. I ended up in Toronto where someone else informed me they were taking care of the matter with apologizes. That is would only take up to 3 hours to get my phone unlocked. In the meantime I when for lunch at the local food court, being angry is after all hungry work, There the salesman was kind enough to catch up to me and offer a full refund which I took as a sign of good faith on their part.
3 hours later... Still no sign of my phone being unlocked, I cam back to the kiosk and requested an explanation, again being ''highly impressed'' with the level of profession I requested the use of the sales guy phone so that I might share a piece of my mind with the earlier contact Toronto agent. The sales guys refused saying that he had gotten in trouble in the meantime for letting a customer use said phone and that I should use another phone for my ongoing inquiries. At this point I might have started loosing my cool a little since as per my previous conversations I DID NOT HAVE A WORKING PHONE !!!! Hence was difficult for me to contact the Toronto office !!! The Sales Guy offered me his own phone but said phone had an unpaid balanced and could not be used until said balance was acquainted. Well that was a nice ''gesture'' of sort... offering me a phone with an unpaid balance... the irony of it all ! HAHAHAHA
Finally out of desperation I requested a complaint be logged to which he answered I would need to go to the Protection du Consomateur. I quickly made my way to the other shady kiosk that could unlocked my phone. 3 hours later and 45$ poorer I was receiving the code to unlock my phone.
And this my friends is story of why and how I left Rogers and the headache associated with said move. You might ask if it was worth it, Well my old plan with Rogers was 57$ + Tax with only 200 mg. Now with Koodo I am paying 35$ and I have 1 G. Should also be noted that their self serve portal is much more user friendly and has many more plan customization options than Rogers ever offered at reasonable prices.
Viva cell phone providers, where nothing it really what it seems and where your dollar is only worth as much as the cursing and fighting you are willing to invest against those smug insincere clerks smiles.
Bahamba !
