They're All Goniffs!

Goniff: [also spelled gonef, gonif, ganef, among other variants] (Yiddish) a thief or dishonest person or scoundrel (often used as a general term of abuse).

Yeah, that pretty much describes both Bell and Rogers. Rob Hyndman links to a couple stories, including this one about astronomical data fees being charged by Bell, even under the misnamed "unlimited" data plan. Bell seems to have no compunction about misleading the public through deceptive, but attractive advertising, counting on a fine-print disclaimer to undo the impression made by the tiresome beavers.

And Rogers is no better. In fact, a friend of mine just went through the maze of Rogers deception. She called the customer (dis)service department to complain about the service she was receiving, and the "helpful" customer service rep mentioned that she was probably paying too much on her cable bill. He offered to switch her to a new, digital package, that would cost her $5 less per month, and significantly increase the number of channels she could watch. What's not to like?

The tech arrives to install the new equipment. "Which TV is the HD," he asked. My friend is definitely not tech savvy, and didn't understand the question. I told the tech that neither hers, nor her roommate's, TVs are HD. Turning to my friend, I said, I hope you're not going to be charged for High Definition service, because that usually costs more. She called back to customer service, explained the situation, and the CS rep asked the tech whether he had an extra regular digital tuner that he could install. The tech said he did, and the CS representative said that he would adjust her monthly bill accordingly. But after he checked and rechecked the work order, the tech suggested that my friend call back, to make sure that the reduced price went through. She called, and found out that instead of her bill being reduced by $5, it was actually going to be increased by $30 per month! And, to top things off, she discovered her Rogers Home Phone plan was also changed (not by her) to eliminate her 500 minutes of "free" (i.e. included) long distance. Rather than being more economical as was originally promised by Rogers, my friend's next bill would have been nearly $100 more! This is apparently how Rogers treats one of its "best customers" - someone with Rogers Home Phone, High-speed Internet, and Cable service - lie, cheat, and steal.

Disclaimer: I kicked Rogers out of my home a number of years ago after becoming completely fed up with such tactics, including the deceptive bouncing cable bill, and the "free" cell phone, that we never accepted, never received, and never activated, for which we were nonetheless billed, with the bill eventually being referred to a collection agency for nonpayment, and could not cancel until it was escalated to the VP level. Why does Rogers think they have the unrestricted right to reach into our wallets? According to another friend who did marketing work for Rogers, "their attitude is that they own the customer."

[Technorati tags: bell | rogers]