In my first adventure at Rogers on launch day, nothing seemed to go right. In the spirit of fairness, I thought I should report on day two. When we last left off, I had signed a three-year contract but had to leave the store without my iPhone as they were unable to activate it due to network issues. So, the next day I called at roughly 11 am to see what the status on my order was. The girl on the phone was very informative and told me it would be a couple of hours before my phone would be ready to go. They brought in an assistant to help with the activations and had planned to have all orders processed by the end of the day.
I received a follow-up call within the hour stating my phone was ready to activate. I went down to the Rogers dealer and it was a stark contrast to the day previous. There was only one other customer in the store and it was just a very casual atmosphere. I met with the same sales rep from the day previous who had my phone out and was preparing the paperwork. He apologized for the day previous and was overall very pleasant. I was concerned that I had signed up for the wrong value pack but he made sure I had what I wanted before he input it into the system. Throughout the process, he explained my contract to me and had my number ported from another carrier within a matter of minutes. Another sales rep came over to explain the basic operation procedures to me so the first guy could keep working on the activation, to get me out of there sooner. She seemed very knowledgeable and answered all of my questions.
In the end, I was up and running in about fifteen minutes. The only issue I had was with my voicemail. We couldn’t seem to get it activated. (A problem I later rectified by simply powering the phone down.) It’s a day later and everything is working fine. I’ve had a chance to use my phone over WIFI and the Rogers network. I’ve set up my voicemail. I’ve added some apps. I’ve used the GPS. Everything is working just as I had hoped. This is the experience I wanted. It took an unpleasant launch day to get there, but I’ll give credit where it is due. The staff at Rogers were very apologetic and and helped to erase what was a less than stellar first impression. My monthly bill is a little more money than I would ideally like to pay but I feel the 6 gig data plan at least makes the cost reasonable. Viva la iPhone!
written by Jarrod Tully \\ tags: iPhone 3G, iPhone Canada, Rogers Wireless
July 14th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
It would have been nice if everybody could have wait a little more time before buying. The petition alone, gave the upgrade from 400 MB to 6GB. If no one would have show up at Rogers store the first 3 weeks, or at least not be in the line, we could have had an even more decent plan.
I have been waiting for an Apple phone since day one of the Newton era. I can wait a little bit more. I guess many rich people could not and had to have one, right now like their life depended on it.
Rogers must be very happy now.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I’ll just say this about Rogers/Fido and the way they’ve treated current phone subscribers. I walked into a FIDO store on July 19th and waited in line to buy my iPhone. A half hour later I’m holding the box in my hand and awaiting my activation. The sales clerk then tells me… I can’t upgrade to iPhone until April 2009 or pay $400 to kill my contract. “No phone for you” and he takes it away.
I was kind of hurt and angry. Why no prior warning? Since then I’ve talked to a few people who’ve run into the same problem. FIDO tells me that a decision won’t be made until July 24th for current contract holders. Are they on vacation,they had lots of time to think about this, no? I hope they make a decision soon so I can get an iPhone before the $30 data plan expires in August. Apple seems to be short supplying Rogers so it’s not easy to get a phone in your hands. Chances are Rogers is going to double the price of the iPhone so that there’s a real deterrent to upgrade any sooner.
I’m feeling a little wrung out and pissed off. At this point I’m not sure if I’m going to buy the iPhone. I might just get the iPod touch and kill my FIDO account all together. It would be the right thing to do since I won’t be eligible to get an iPhone until 3.0 hits the stores anyway!
Rogers/Fido why can’t you simply get this right.. the Apple way. Bad plans, bad customer relations make you a consumer eyesore. I’ve been a FIDO customer for 4 years and I did expect better, you blew it.
July 27th, 2008 at 11:37 am
iPhone and Rogers/Fido, the last word on iPhone and contract holders.
I finally got some answers from Fido on Friday. They will now allow current contract holders to upgrade to iPhone by paying an additional $110. You can keep your current plan and add the data and visual voice mail so you don’t have to use the ridiculous iPhone plans. Funny thing is they still don’t mention this on their website as of today. Seems like they don’t want a lot of people fussing about this.
So after talking to a Fido rep by phone I was told I can upgrade at any Fido store. I stopped in on my way to work to see if they had anything left in stock. That’s when I was told that current contract holders can only get an iPhone by ordering it over the phone. What? Why does Fido hate us so much? Come on get it right Fido! I’ve never had to work so hard for a damn phone. All this could have been avoided by Rogers/Fido having a proper policy in place right from the beginning. I wonder how many other people waited in line to get an iPhone only to be told NO. The sad part is that I had an iPhone in my hand last week and now I’m told by Fido it’s going to be over a month before I get my iPhone in the mail.
It’s no big deal really, “it’s just a phone” but I think it’s the mishandling of long term customers that ticks me off the most. I’ve given these people a lot of money over the years and we should all be treated a little better. I liked the old Fido better.
It’s just a phone… It’s just a phone…
July 30th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I’m puzzled - people are okay with paying the $110? Why? You’re not breaking your contract, you are staying on with them for an unsubsidized phone. Why can’t the Canadian consumer get that they get to dictate, they don’t have to bend over and take whatever the telecom industry gives us.
Jarrod >> I liked reading your account of how the iPHone purchasing experience went, but I must say I was shocked with the last sentence:
“My monthly bill is a little more money than I would ideally like to pay but I feel the 6 gig data plan at least makes the cost reasonable.”
6 gig data plan makes it reasonable? I would think knowing that the US gets unlimited for the same cost shows how unreasonable any data cap is.
Needless to say, just shows that our mobile industry in Canada will not get better since the public doesn’t care that they are getting screwed. I am happy though that I don’t see many iPHone in the public despite the numbers being published. I was in the US for two weeks as well and quite honestly, I only saw 3 iPhones while in major cities during those 2 weeks. Something’s off about how successful the claims are of the iPhone :s
August 21st, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Today I gave up on FIDO and iPhone. After all the red tape and waiting for my iPhone to arrive by UPS, I’m told they lost my phone. It’s been a month and no one called me to tell me this. So in return they want to send me a new phone and bill me for 2 phones. At least until the the other is returned and send me a replacement which will arrive mid September. Screw that, I’ll get a iPod touch instead. End of story.