Geek Media: recrimations of a multimedia monopoly

At least they live up to their company
line. They simply won't stop...

The other day, on my way to work, I received a phone call.

It was Rogers. Again.

Once upon a time, I had three Rogers prescriptions - cable, internet and cell. Or at least I did through my parents.

Since I've flown the coup and is now on my own, I've gone elsewhere for internet and cell phone services.

Now I only get cable through Rogers.

Somehow, that alone gives them the right to call me.

And not once in awhile. Not a few times a year.

Try several times every time they decide to survey me. Which is once every two months.

Now let me make this clear...  in my humble opinion, the worst job in the world isn't the janitor who cleans toilets, or even a land-mine inspector. After spending years listening to my dad screaming at many of these over the phone, my belief is that the worst job is call centre representative. No one has to put up with the kind of verbal abuse they do and still have to remain polite throughout (at least, sound it) than these guys.

And because of that, I generally try to be polite with call reps. I won't say no to doing surveys (time permitted and depending on relevance) and I generally try to keep my tone modest.


But this was the fourth time so far this year they've called me, and about pretty much the same thing - "How can we improve your experience?"

And this isn't a one-off "If she answers, we'll ask her, if she doesn't she's off the list."

No.

They keep calling. It's four times, or five times a day, until I bloody well pick up the phone only to hear, "Hi this is so-and-so from Rogers and we'd like to ask you how we can improve your services today."

I mean, the first time they called, I answered their questions politely and no, the service I had was more than satisfactory and fine. I don't need more channels for an additional $11 dollars, or a home phone, or a cell phone service.

The third time, it was "Well, we see you don't have an internet service and... "

No, thank you. I use Teksavvy to supply my internet needs, and unless you guys can get me better than 500GB of bandwidth a month for $45 dollars, it's not worth talking to me about.

(Note: The equivalent internet coverage via Rogers is nearly $100 dollars)

This time around, I didn't even let the poor woman finish. It was "No, I don't need any improvements or promotions. My service is fine, this constant need to call me is not however!"

I'm sorry. Once a year, twice a year I can deal with. But once every two months makes me want to cancel my one and only Roger's subscription.


I've consciously made my decision to avoid Rogers for the essentials (cell and internet) in my own home for many reasons.

Mostly because after spending a good number of years getting ripped off on my cellphone bills and watching my poor, hapless mother get ripped apart with the cable and internet bill, I had enough.

I mean, I was paying close to $40 dollars for a bare minimum service, which later ballooned to over $100 dollars over a three month period, at which point I threw a hissy fit at them for them to fix the problem.

I finally booted myself out over to Virgin once my 3-year contract came to an end, I had had enough of them and the headache they gave me.

As for the internet, I simply couldn't stomach paying $50 dollars a month for a third-world quality internet service when Teksavvy provided much better for an equivalent price when I got my new apartment.

It's not like I need Cable television or anything. It's a luxury for me, a plus for working stupid hours some days.

And frankly, if they call me one more time this year, I may just tell them I don't need it anymore.

Or I can switch to Bell. There's always that option...

So...

Dear Rogers,

Stop calling me. I've had enough of you and your "ways to improve my service." If I want more, I'll go looking for them. On my own and in my own time.

No love,

Grace Im