Are you kidding me?
I had no idea that Rogers had raised all their prices (a tour of their site is a horrible experience, let me tell you) … good grief. The cap on extra charges used to be 25 bucks, so I never bothered with it. But the cap is stated as 100 now, which is fricken nuts.
They are offering unlimited Internet now for 10 bucks a month on certain plans. So why did no one call me to nip this HUGE RIP OFF in the bud?
So I called to get some relief from the constant <insert unsubtle allusion to jailhouse experience here> … and I got more of it :-)
I won’t bore you with the painful time I spent being horribly manipulated … the bottom line is what is interesting …
- The overage was my responsibility to track, fair enough, but I saw nothing that said that the overage had been quadrupled (rip off 1)
- My internet plan no longer exists, thus I cannot have the $10 unlimited downloads (rip off 2), which expire soon so of course we all have to scurry to take advantage of this wonderful deal :-\
- Instead, I must move up to the new ultimate, which is going to cost me $140 instead of $100 (rip off 3) because for the second time in a few years they are forcing you to get a new modem, and there are no discounts available (rip off 4)
- If you balk at the larceny of this new plan, you are forced to move down to 45Mbps, which is only 60% of the speed I have today (rip off 5) … of course they are betting that most people will not swallow that drop and will pay the 40% higher price … but gave them back their f-ck you and dropped to the lower plan … for now :-)
- Then we looked at my utterly ludicrous $51 price for a home phone … we removed the online manager (that used to be free (rip off 6) because I would never pay extra for something I would never use) and then I told him to remove the system access fee but of course my plan no longer exists and has many wonderful features like 500 minutes of long distance included so of course the system access fee was mandatory (rip off 7) … I plan to simply dump the phone entirely after I ponder it a bit more. I don’t think I need it and I know I need to send another f-ck you to Rogers for their shameful avarice …
- We cut back the cable package I have to exclude the movie channels, since Netflix and the Internet cover that nicely …
So … another horrible experience with the cable company. As soon as they figure out how to bait you with things like unlimited downloading, they obsolete your current plans to force you onto more expensive or less capable plans. Always forcing you to choose or be ripped off.
Note: We in Canada have the highest data costs in the world. Established fact. This is one of the reasons … business practices that rope you in and get you under contracts by changing the plans and offering enticements. It is dirty pool, and it works. Obviously.
The CRTC should get off their butts and do something about this constant churn and bait and switch tactics. I don’t mind paying a fair price for the technology we get, which is terrific (Rogers is still my provider after years of this frustration because they know what they are doing in the technology department.) But to let these companies (Bell is no better) shift the landscape constantly to keep you off balance and have you spending more and more while locking in constantly to get these wee discounts is just robbery after a certain point …
