Posted on by Cody

Rogers Wireless in PEI Sucks

Four years ago when I moved home from Montreal the only way I could use my Rogers cell phone in PEI was to drive to the other side of town on a hill so I could get 1 bar of analog signal, just enough to check my voicemail. Sadly in 2005, not much has changed.

Sure I can get a digital GSM signal now, heck I can even get 1 bar of signal in my house (Of course my aliant phone gets 5 bars) but the coverage still sucks and is far behind the coverage my aliant phone gets. It doesn’t even work in my office. I would guess that at least 50% of the island isn’t covered at all which is pretty pathetic given the geographic size of the island.

How can you expect to charge similar rates to your competition when you don’t even provide 50% of the service area that they do. I guess the thing that REALLY ticks me off is that the sales guy said that coverage on the island was complete from tip to tip. I guess it’s my fault for trusting a slimy sales guy. Good thing I followed my instinct and didn’t opt for a contract. Anyway, off to cancel my service and burn my SIM card. I wonder if they would be happy with 50% of the total bill?

UPDATE April 2010: This post is now 5 years old and I no longer live in PEI. I would suggest that anyone thinking about purchasing Rogers Wireless cellular service in PEI should talk to a current Rogers Wireless customer in the area you plan to be most of the time. A lot can change in a wireless network in 5 years and the last time I was in PEI with my company phone (Rogers Blackberry Perl) I had coverage everywhere we went in PEI. I can’t speak to the customer service aspect as I don’t deal with them but in general I find all telephone companies have horrible customer service so I would assume that is still the standard.

29 Replies to “Rogers Wireless in PEI Sucks”

  1. Yes, Rogers does suck! In Vancouver too!

    Here’s something you should know!!

    I received obscene text messages tonight on my cell phone. The idiot didn’t think that maybe I could trace him by his phone number, which I did. He’s a Rogers Wireless customer!

    So, I phoned and complained to Rogers Wireless Customer Service and told them about it and after speaking to the customer service agent for 15 minutes about it he said THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO!!!!! I said, surely you can see that he’s texted me on his account activity and surely you can inquire and call this guy up and say something to him about it. “AH, SORRY MA’AM THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO… CALL THE COPS”. Then I said, “Okay, so if I call the cops and they call here for account info on this guy do they have to sit on hold for an hour like I did to get through?” “YES”, he said. We don’t have a direct line to our supervisors. “Bullshit”, I said. “How do their families get through to them?” I said, “Uh, we can’t give out that info”, he said. Amazing huh? Even the cops have to wait on hold for an hour to get through to these idiots manning the lines at Rogers.

    So this asshole text messager is abusing the service that Rogers Wireless offers him and they won’t do anything about it?? BULLSHIT. Absolute crap.

    ROGERS WIRELESS CAN GO TO HELL. Nice to know that after all you pay for for these stupid phones, you get no protection from them whatsoever if someone is abusing it.

    Fuck off Rogers!

  2. I’ve been a Rogers uer for quite a long time now and have seen my service deteriorating. I had hoped that this was just a glitch that would correct itself. NOT. It seems That once they, (Roger wireless) have you hooked in thieir “contract system” they no longer care if you exist as long as you give them money for sucky service.

    Then to add insult to injury… I got in a bit of a jam, money got a little slow, but not excessively slow. I get a phone call from one of their collection agents at Rogers wanting me to make a payment as soon as I could. Not a problem. I can’t get any money for at least a week. It seems that the person on the other end of the line, (woops on the AIR) wants it now. TODAY! Oh well, too bad, so sad they just have to wait for the end of the week to come and if they can’t, they can cancell my service all together. At THIS POINT I JUST DON’T CARE, THIS HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST TOO, I was just a little more tolerant then and afraid to speak out against big companies. Not anymore.

  3. Hi. My Rogers story is long so I’ll attempt to shorten it….

    *I worked in Montreal for Rogers at a company called Sitel and I knew it was a horrible company but when I moved to PEI I didn’t have a choice because my credit wasn’t very good since I move so much.

    *Started my service out of summerside last year, I had to pay $40 dollars for each phone because my credit wouldn’t pass. I got two phones on a family plan and had a $300 credit limit put on my account that they didn’t tell me about until the first month was past.

    *I had signed up for a 3 year contract and that means that I would received unlimited talk time for 6 months.

    *Rogers likes to bill you without the discounts first, then they show you the discounts. Because I had a $300 credit limit and was using my phone like crazy because it was part of the unlimited promotion it would get cut off in about 2 weeks.

    *I would call them and they would tell me your ‘real’ bill is only $50 dollars but unfortunately our systems can’t see that. So every two weeks for a year I put up with this bullshit. Paying $50 dollars every two weeks plus my normal outrageously wrong bill.

    *I went to Montreal for the winter and came back to PEI. My bills never get to me, they messed up my price plans, took away my long distance package all of those things they did without telling me.
    I moved to Hunter River PEI and my reception was terrible. Only could talk squatted by my cupboard.

    *Day before yesterday my girlfriend went to make a call and the phone was cancelled again after just paying $150 5 days prior and she called them and said cancel. The guy on the phone started yelling and his english was so terrible she couldn’t understand him and she cancelled.

    *I went to Telus and passed the credit check without any problems.

  4. yes, Rogers totally sucks! I have been a customer for seven years now, and can’t wait for portability to kick in. The only reason I’m still with them is I want to keep my number. I refuse to even use Rogers for cable or internet. Not even if it’s free! Problem is, I don’t think much of the other companies either. Their packages are almost the same, and they all charge that System Access Fee.What a ripoff! The CRTC should look into the whole billing practices of these companies…it looks like collusion to me.

  5. Well I just started with roger’s like 2 weeks ago and I have to agree with all these other people the signal to make calls really f’ng sucks and they bill you crazy like on the first month I totally regret getting this stupid cell phone I think telus is still the best

  6. I used to use Rogers. But all I get is “I’m Sorry, All Our Circuits Are Busy” all the time no matter where I call from. I still get that annoying message now when I’m calling a Roger’s phone.

    Not to mention the dropped calls. Them and their stupid “You can call from inside an elevator” ad is a total lie. Its should be You can try calling, but we’ll tell you your circuits are busy. Then we’ll drop the call in the middle of telling you that and lose the signal entirely.

    I’m now on Telus. Soooooooo much better. To start, I CAN CALL PEOPLE!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention I get a full 100% signal with 1X/EVDO in school now, where my friends have no signal even when standing next to the window.

    Roger’s has just gotten sad. I almost pity them. But it is their own fault in its entirety. I remeber when Rogers has good rates and good coverage. Now its gouging people for not providing a service. Not to mention being officially rated Worst Customer Service in the country.

    Even Roger’s Long Distance sucks now. I can’t even send a fax on days with bad weather (or whenever Vancouver has bad weather even though I live in Calgary). I’ve since moved back to Telus long distance after 12 years with Rogers. All my calls are crisp and clear now. Even my family in Asia comments on the excellent line quality.

    Roger’s you top my list of my most hated comapnies ever; and the list of companies that should shove their head up their own (need I say more?).

  7. My story’s the same. Moved to Saskatchewan and was stuck with Rogers because I had signed up with them in Alberta. Their coverage in Saskatchewan comes no where close to what they advertise on their website and in the print media. 20 miles north of Regina and you’re out of cell range for about 2 hours – get 15 minutes of coverage and then you’re out of luck hours and hours! Traveling Highway 1 – the main east west corridor in Canada, and you get 15-20 km stretches where you have no signal and you’re constantly fighting dropped calls. Talking to their customer service department is about as satisfying as beating your head against the wall – it feels so good when you stop!!! And I’m supposed to be excited that they’re going to charge me ONLY $200 because I canceled my contract due to their poor service! Go figure! That’s what I get for being a part of “Canada’s most reliable cellular network.”

    Any ideas as to what recourse we might have?

  8. Same story, crappy service and poor reception, I have been a customer for fourteen years and the service in rural areas where my old Motorola brick worked is non-existent, the Motorola L6 gets hardly one bar and no service. Rogers IVR system stinks and service is crappy, actually have another cell phone on Bell and get two,three bars or more in the same rural area.

    Apparently Bell is also going to change over to the GSM service and tiny phones soon so there service will all probably get crappy.

    I suppose Telus is the answer or wait for an american cell phone service to come to Canada that really cares about there customers.

    My suggestion is to go with pay as you go and not get a contract, even if it costs a bit more. It appears that all the cell phones companies really don’t care about there customers or business. An example of this is the complicated plans and poor service, lies about coverage area………….

  9. what a bunch of pricks .
    I got into a 2 yr plan about 5 months ago. i was quoted a rate, the rate was verified by a superviser but the rate changed when the bill came.
    The supervisor who closed the sale straight out lyed to me. Do they think were all idiots?Are they taught that is is exceptable business practice?
    I also got the (thats not you’re real bill .the real amount doesn’t concern you.after 2 or 3 months of paying the amount that wasnt what we agreed on, i ran a little short of funds temporarily and being less than a week late on my monthly payment, they had the couertesy to disconnect both my wife’s and my phones. 3 weeks later i got another bill for the amount i originally owed plus another months payment that i had no service for most of it.
    paid the total amount and thet were so fuckin gracious ,they reconnected our phones .
    Another month goes by and being a few days late on payment, sure as shit , disconnected again .
    Now I’m not talking about being hundreds of dollars or months behind, I’m talking a few days. Well I tell you what.
    What they are doing is not only illegal, its imoral.
    last week i got a call from them after being without service for a couple weeks and they want an amount that must of been drawn out of a hat because the numbers dont add up .
    Maybe this is my real bill?? again they want 2 months plus extra for what i didnt even bother to ask for 1 months service. I politely tell the fellow I’ll make a payment next friday which would be 2 days from now.
    NOW THIS MORNING I get a another call from this company asking when i’ll make a payment for a service I’m not recieving. I patiently explain that i talked to his boyfriend last week and would make a paymennt this friday.
    Now the prick starts goading me . how much? with what?? where at??
    Then he states as a fact , His words were ( You have no intention of paying this do you? )
    Straight out calls me a liar.
    They would just as soon we are late with payments as they figure they can still charge us the same rate plus penelties and not have to provide any service at all for their money.
    these employees are doing what their told. this is not fair business practice.. I cant be the only one getting treated like this. anyone having similar issues
    I understand that i should pay the bill ontime but not even a couple days grace in good faith considering their over charging me anyways?
    what to do .

  10. all i hafta say to these articles is…AMEN

    Rogers is kind of retarded.

    Enough said.

  11. Well get ready for the price increase to buy out of contracts with Rogers. I guess so many people were fleeing the bondage of these contracts that they felt the need to DOUBLE the cost to buy out and have NOT notified existing customers of this. You can still pay 200 dollars to buy out but, ONLY If you do not change your plan in ANY way. Don’t add extra long distance minutes or do anything else because the second you do they without your knowledge most times will put you on the higher *DOUBLE* buy out for your contract. That means it will now be four hundred dollars PER PHONE to buy out.

    I don’t care what it costs. My bills have been messed up with overage charges on plans I KNOW I did not “over use” at all for months now. They turned ME in to creditors for their mistakes *that they NEVER fixed* and alarmingly I am seeing many, many others dealing with the same issues making me think they are over billing on purpose knowing that some people will just pay it and not complain about being over charged.

    I too was lied to about what I was getting when I signed up with them. I believe when they train reps they tell them it’s o.k. to say whatever you want to say to get the sell because the contract says otherwise and once you sign that’s it you are stuck with it. The thing is that even the contract is bogus since they change the rules of that so called document on a whim without informing customers.

    It’s a scam and I honestly see enough material out there now and enough of this to think there ought to be a class action law suit brought against them. Vote with your feet people. It’s time to boycott this company even if the others aren’t better. Rogers needs to be made an example of!! They are ripping off hard working people and dont’ care!

  12. I have had problems with Rogers as well and I am looking for a Rogers phone package so I can finish out my contract that ends Dec 07 with them. We have two phones with them and one works not bad but the other one can sit right beside it and will not get service. I have had it into Rogers service centre 3 times and they claim that they have fixed it. WRONG!!!. So this phone’s contract is up in December and I just want to finish it and get on with a new cellular company ASAP. Please contact me at rgodfrey@primus.ca if you might have a cheap phone.

  13. I DESPISE ROGERS! I will never again in my life-time use any of their products. I had a three year contract with them, where I had two phones (one for the wife) and, at the beginning of the contract was paying near 80 bucks a month. That lasted for about 3 months, when they changed the plan and we were averaging around 160/mnth. It DOUBLED! I wish I had known about a stiuplation in the contract that basically states that should Rogers change the terms of the agreement, you are then able to cancel your service within 30 days, and without penalty. Funny how they do not put that sort of stuff on the contract you actually sign, only on the fine print of the back of your invoice.

    Additionally, our 3 year contract ceased on Oct 7th of this year; on the day we switched to Bell (not much better but the service is WAY better). Anyways, low and behold I get billed for 160 bucks yesterday. Fine and dandy that I pay for the usuage for that month, however, Rogers bills for its services one month in advance. EVEN IF YOUR CONTRACT ENDS AND YOU HAVE PAID EVERYTHING ON TIME EVERYTIME, THEY STILL BILL YOU AGAIN A MONTH IN ADVANCE for a service THAT YOU NOT ONLY WON”T USE, BUT CANNOT POSSIBLY USE!
    They said that even though my contract ended, and I fufilled in full its terms, I did not give them a 30day notice at the end of my contract!
    Nowhere on the original contract does it mention this. This is nothing short of ROBBERY or theft! How in gods name does the CRTC allow a company to bill for a service that the customer will not and CANNOT POSSIBLY use?
    *I guess its those little astericks, they get you everytime.

    The service at Rogers is nothing short of incompetent, intentionally deceptive, rude and among other things, blatantly unreliable. I would not recommend Rogers to my worst enemy. The service plain out SUCKS, it is run by a bunch of CHIMPS who all have a different answer and I swear they wear their CCM helmuts to work.

    STAY AWAY FROM ROGERS! and for gods sake…READ THE FINE PRINT

  14. Rogers is the worst company in the entire country of Canada! They have literally destroyed my brother’s life (might as well put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger – at least that would have been quicker). Service is despicable. They lie to you regarding service/coverage. They establish monopolies and force you to use their service against your will in some regions Canada. I say we boycott them! Will probably be switching to Bell soon (due to Roger’s monopoly, Bell is the only other option in my area and they require you to have a home phone line in order to get service. I have a cell phone and will likely NEVER use the land line, but it will be worth it to get the landline and pay twice as much JUST TO BE FREE FROM ROGERS SERVICE! May the company of Rogers go to HELL!!!!

  15. There is not much difference in Saskatchewan.
    Rogers service sucks, plus they trying to charge more and “they misplaced” bill for that month. So, I am not paying until they show me proof that I owe them so much. That bill in question was double than usual.
    People take any other company but Rogers.

  16. Fido is the same. You cannot get unlimited text messages that every other provider other than Rogers and Fido (owned by Rogers)offer in their contracts. They started charging me for any text message that was outside of Canada. My husband works in the states so I sent a million. Only I was never informed they were going to be charging me for those text msgs at like 60 cents a msg.
    Even their own customer service reps had no idea the contracts had changed to begin charging for texts outside of Canada. Its padding the bill. I canceled my service and went to Telus but then even though I was not on any contract with Fido when I canceled they still sent me a bill of 400 when the customer service rep said I wouldn’t be charged for text but would need to pay for a month of service I didn’t use with their 30 day cancellation crap.
    I have refused to pay it and its gone to a collection agency and you know what? I don’t give a damn. I own my home and don’t care if it shows on my credit rating that I refused to pay Fido. Whats it going to change really? I’ll get a few less offers for credit cards in my mailbox each day? Screw them! Fido and Rogers are one of the same!

  17. MAYBE….if everyone refuses to pay them and just cancels their service they will be screwed.
    Just say no! What will they do if hundreds of customers just refuse to pay it anymore? Collection agencies cannot really do anything to you. It would cost them more to take you to court than the bill is worth and so screw it. Don’t pay them!

  18. I had canceled my cell phone account with Rogers way back in October 2008 because they could not provide home phone or internet service on the street to where we have moved, which was only two blocks away btw! They had discontinued my cell phone usage, stating that I was late with payments, and had to pay up then they would reconnect my service. We have to pay also to be reconnected. I always payed my bills ontime.

    I had to go with Bell no choice, and I’ve decided that the cell phones are too expensive. That can wait til they come up with a better service!
    SO I now recently got a bill from the Rogers collections stating that I owe them over $1230.00 dollars…..we’re now at the end of May 2009? That’s seven months!

    They never canceled my account when they should have!!! They will not see one red cent from me.
    I don’t even want to talk to them!!!

  19. why dosn’t the crtc do anything this is fishy their kickbacks from rogers must be to high and they are scared to step on roger’s toes.
    p.s
    hope someone from the crtc reads this

  20. Rogers is terrible! For the first four years it was great. great service. great everything. even my bills seemed ok. The past 8 months however, have been absolute hell. Every month I’m looking at my bill and seeing charges that don’t belong. Every month I’m on the phone having it corrected, and paying and paying, yet the next bill still isn’t correct.
    I told them I would be looking to switch to another company. And I did. I switched most of my services back to Bell… Then called Rogers to tell them to cancel…. How is is that they get away with telling me I’m going to pay for the services for the next month… even though I’m not getting, nor using them???
    i can pay and pay and pay my bill, but because its always wrong, i’m always behind…that’s ok.they can do that and get away with it..but i tell them to take their crap and shove it? and I have to pay? thats another 200 dollars they’ll steal from me! and i’m still stuck with them for wireless because of their contract! there has to be a way around that? so much for laws that are supposed ot protect the consumer! The laws protect these big companies and screw the hardworking individuals like us!!

  21. Interesting comments… one thing society doesn’t consider though is that these types of comments bashing Rogers and talking about the ‘lack of service’ has now resulted in Rogers setting up more towers, one particular one across the road from my house, in a residential neighborhood. I understand the concerns about cell service, but consumer demand prevails… and the health of our neighborhood comes in 2nd, leaving parents to worry about cancer causing towers that are placed in areas too close to homes, against city regulations.

    It is great world where a city can rule against something like this Rogers’ cell tower due to the health risks associated, but then it gets overruled by someone higher up… I guess it pays to have customer demand and money to get you places…. just a thought…. make sure you know what you are asking for before you ask for it.

    Don’t get me wrong I am not placing blame… but consumer demand determines what companies do next….. think about it.

  22. Does any one know what happens when Rogers takes you to collections? I was behind on family plan for $650.00 , which most of it was for monthly payment while the phones were disconnected , after paying , I called to get the lines back, they told that they had canceled my plan , and that I had to pay cancellation fee. Never heard a thing after that from them for 18 months , now I got a collection notice asking me to pay $1200.00. Can they take me to court? what will happen?

  25. Well, here is my Rogers horror story.

    I have been a customer for about 2 1/2 years now. No major problems in that time. Then I lost my cel phone.

    So I figured since they have been good so far, I would upgrade my phone to a LG Xenon and extend my contract to offset the cost.

    Turns out you can’t import custom ring tones into the phone (unless you buy them from Rogers) without voiding the warantee. With all the free ones available on the net, I decided to take the phone back the next day to the Rogers store I got it from. I got there and they said they needed a manager to deal with that and was gone for the day.

    SO I came back the next day and talked with the manager. She could not bring it up on her computer to do it. So she called customer service and discovered that I had used to phone for 31 minutes. They won’t accept a returned phone if it has been used for more than 30 minutes.

    So I spent another hour talking to customer service and the cancellation department about this. I even offered to pay full price for the phone to cancel the extention. This is 2 days after I upgraded. They want $400 to cancel. A manager in the customer service department was supposed to call me 2 hours later (because they were so busy right then), but they never did.

    So tomorrow it’s another call to customer service. Either they come to some agreement that I like or I will keep using their phone without paying them another dime.

    Avoid the LG Xenon from Rogers if nothing else.

  26. Hi: I am doing short animations which show various aspects of dealing with Rogers in a negative light. I use the BRICK wall as metaphor for their service department. I seem to be getting a lot of hits. Most are less than 40 seconds.
    Keep up the good work. They all stink but Rogers really seems to get under ones skin. I think everything is run by AT&T anyway.
    Regards
    Robert
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH4CaPVOJEI
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khSeoO2MgXo
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfSItnTKJXI
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXG5IjRh1RU

  28. Well, I really don’t understand one thing: when Rogers call me back every day with stupid questions and promos, some times they call even when i sleep, 9 or 10 pm Does anyone knows what they want, and what i should do, for they stop calling me??

  29. And one more thing, what’s best now – rogers or bell? P.S: Rogers costumize servise is something different then in Bell. isn’t it?

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