Much ado about scripting, Linux & Eclipse: card subject to change

2007-09-06

Real World Bug Reporting, Part 3: Now we know!

GI Joe Image/Devils Due comic book cover from the early 21st century incarnation 'G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero' I've complained about the way Rogers treats its customers via email, but I haven't discussed how they are on the phone. Much as I hate their IVR's need to ask me for my phone number (immediately before I get a live human who asks me for my phone number again), or the fact that I can't just ask for "cell phone billing" but instead have to step through "wireless" > "billing" > "cell phone", once you get a live human, life's pretty damn good.

If you argue enough (repeatedly but politely!) to the people in the billing department about not understanding why you're being charged for things you didn't agree to or that their policies are unfriendly (eg., $1 per 1K download with no data plan or $5 per 5M download with plan) or insane, you can get up to $20 back per complaint in "goodwill credit."

You can also be reimbursed for loss of service when there's an outage (especially the planned ones). They're supposed to contact you in advance in writing when there's a planned outage, so if they ever let slip that the reason you've been without internet/cable/phone access for the last 3 hours is due to a *planned* outage (and of course no one emailed or dropped a flyer in your mailbox to warn you), you're entitled to compensation.

My most recent Rogers experience was around the fact that changing my cell phone billing plan can only take effect at the start of next month's billing cycle, but EVERY OTHER CHARGE happens immediately and is prorated from the request date. In my case, this means I got charged $45 in usage fees which would have been free if they'd actived the new plan the day I called instead of 2 weeks later. Given the plan cost jumped from $35/mo to $60/mo (for two phones), I would have paid 14/31 of $25, or $11.30 for the balance of the month. So, being charged $45 - $20 = $25 is forgivable, though still not ideal.

I guess the point here is that every support group has its preferred method of operation, and it's up to the user to find the best way to navigate his options and choose the best route. For example, all Eclipse projects have access to a wiki, newgroup, mailing list, website, blog(s), IRC channel(s)... but each project's committers/contributors/evangelists work a little differently and so they all provide support via their favourite channel or channels.

Anyway, having been on the phone with Rogers at leat a half-dozen times this summer getting erroneous charges reversed, now I know that Rogers Email Support = teh suck but Rogers Phone Support r0x0rs. And knowing is half the battle!

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