7.08.2008
iPhone 3G in Canada - Do complain to Fido and/or Rogers
It looks like complaining to Fido (Fido is a subsidiary of Rogers) or Rogers about the iPhone 3G rate plan may lead to some changes...
I'm a current Fido subscriber, after a two week vacation, away from Canadian news, I saw the announced rate plan for the soon to be release iPhone 3G in Canada. While I was not expecting prices lower that AT&T's in the US, I was in complete disbelief when I saw the proposed rates. So as any good customer would do, yesterday I went to their web sites and wrote a complain (I complained about their highly priced rate plans and said that I would not buy the iPhone and consider switching to one of their competitor. I closed my complain telling them that I would write to the CRTC about how they abuse their GSM monopoly in Canada to offer non-competitive pricing).
Just a few minutes ago, I received a call from someone named S. Martin from Fido who wanted me to listen to what he had to say about my complain. The guy is certainly not a classic PR representative with only corporate mambo gumbo going out of his mouth. He seemed to trully care about me not leaving Fido for Bell. He did repeat some of the PR stuff I saw on some news site. The interesting part was that he told me that the proposed rate plans were not definitive, that they may change. He told me not to do anything before the iPhone 3G is launched, that nothing was final until July 11th. They will listen to the market and adjust.
He also told me that the CRTC (the equivalent of the FCC here in Canada) did not rule wireless pricing so it was useless for me to write them a letter. That I would be wasting my time. I guess this really mean that they don't want get the wrath of the CRTC if too many people write about this issue.
The conversation with M. Martin was always cordial and on a gentle tone.
So I guess the only thing to do right now, is to be patient and wait... Do not crumble under the iPhone 3G hype (too soon) and wait a little bit for them to see that we are not interested in their overpriced rate plans. They will have to adjust their pricing model and offer something a lot better than what they are offering right now.
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7 comments:
if you go to the CRTC web site you will find that they do not regulate wireless phone companies
There's only one thing I have to say: I NEVER want to deal with either Fido or Rogers again (same company anyway). To me they're criminals in suits with not enough competition especially in Ontario.
I was charged hundreds of dollars for services I never used when I decided to remove any form of internet from my account. Following this cancellation I had $121 charges for mobile internet/data usage. There is no form for complaints on their website; there is no chance to reach FIDO customer support over the phone in less than 3 hours. We need some real competition here as is in Europe to bring the communication services to a decent level of quality.
I've just spent 1 hour on the phone speaking to FIDO customer service. I've never got such a terrible customer treatment in my life. The woman on the phone spoke to me in such a rude manner as if I was a lier.
I bought an iphone a month ago & on about a 3rd day of joining Fido I've got a welcome call from them. The guy with strong anglo-african french accent was interested if I was Ok with Fido services. First thing I asked him was if this call was free & getting a positive answer I spent about 20mins giving him feedback & asking questions. Not mentioning that he couldn't answer to any of my questions, seemed very inexperienced & that only answer he gave me about free evenings & weekends on my plan as I found later was wrong, the guy as appears now didn't even register my complaints about SMSs getting late through Fido. Anyway, now when I've got my first bill I found out that I was charged for those 20 mins incoming welcome call from FIDO!!!!!!! I phoned 611 to confirm the number behind that incoming call, but as appeared their policies do not allow them to reveal it!!! From what I was told it's impossible to see the number behind incoming calls, meaning I can't dispute them!!!??? I have another phone from Bell (where I can see all the incoming numbers on the bill, by the way) & I bought an Iphone only for 6Gb data plan. I had to pick Fido as they offered the minimal voice plan ($15 for 50 mins), which Rogers unfortunately didn't have. I've spent 1 hour trying to explain to the woman in 611 that there is absolutely no way I would allow someone to speak to me for 20mins, knowing that they would appear in my cell bill. That guy welcoming me from Fido was the only one and now I have to pay for it! I wish I'd send him to hell right away! What's even more disgusting is that women from Fido customer services today talked to me in such a rude manner as if I was lying to her, though as she admitted she wasn't even aware of Fido practicing such welcome calls. She didn't want even try to beleive me, neither she was willing to help as their system doesn't allow to see the number behind that 20 mins incoming call. I don't have an issue paying extra dollars if they could prove that call wasn't from Fido. That's not a big money for me - it's just the fact that they are trying to charge me for something they shouldn't & then talking to me in distrusted manner is what drives me crazy.
There are 3 problems I see with Fido right after my 1st month with them & want everyone be aware of it when considering Fido as a provider:
1) Inexperienced staff who dares to make welcome calls, not even being able to answer questions or register their calls in the system correctly, resulting in customers being dishonestly charged for it. 2) Not disclosing the number behind the incoming calls allows Fido to manipulate the data on the bill - this is a possible Fraud issue, as there is no mechanism for customers to check or dispute the fact of the call (as in my case, for ex.)
3) Terrible customer service - it seems Fido trains them not to help customers but rather keep them away. Very, very, very disgusting treatment!
I'm glad Bell & Telus start offering Iphones next month. I'm so disappointed in Fido that will definitely consider switching to one of them even for the cost of cancellation fees.
I called fido to sustain my phone plan during my trip to abroad for 3 months. When I came back, they billed me for $400 for the service for zero usage, which I found by logging in my account. Since they invalid my phone number and I was not able to use my phone but I had internet access, I filled a complain form through their website about a few weeks ago. I never heard anything back from them, even a confirmation of receiving my e-mail. They do not deal with customers through e-mail which leaves a record of corresponding. Now they completely shut down my account without any notice of late payment, bill, or notification...so I can't even log in my account to check if they keep charging me... This is absolutely ridiculous!! yes, I have been royal to fido since I got my first cell phone. Their service used to be good but not anymore.
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