At the persistence from someone, I started phone shopping last weekend. My service contract with Rogers is up at the end of this month and supposedly I was in desperate need of a new phone. I reluctantly agreed after a friend informed that it sounded like I was speaking through an aquarium. I like toys and gadgets as much as the next geek, but to me, a phone is a phone.

I started shopping with Rogers. I have been with them since they released the Amigo flip phone over a decade ago. In the past they have offered me a free upgrade every 2 years. I went into the Rogers store and asked....

"what kind of upgrade or deal will I get if I renew my contract."

salesperson - "no deal. Although we do have this lovely RAZR"

me - "that’s one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. it looks like a plastic toy!" (feel free to disagree with me on this. some people do.)

salesperson - "but it has...., blah blah blah." he starts to explain as I am half listening.

me - "so does this mean that after a decade of service with your company, you aren't able or willing to offer me a deal?"

salesperson - "sorry, we don’t have any deals at this time."

me - "thank you for your time, I will take my business elsewhere."

After leaving the Rogers store a bit disgruntled, I decided I would look elsewhere. My cell phone # is one of the few things that has remained consistent in my life over the years and I was a bit disappointed that it was going to change.

Fido

There was a deal advertised in DOSE this week offering unlimited service for 6 months at FIDO. Rogers bought out FIDO; FIDO has all those cool dog commercials, I thought it would be ok. It started out fine but then turned very WRONG!!

Although Fido did offer me a free phone, I knew I would never hear the end of it if I settled for the free one. As James would say... "your phone is the most personal piece of technology you could own, you need a good one" or something like that. I start to drift off when he goes on about gadgets and such.

The sales lady tried to convince me to buy Sony Ericsson Z520a for the low cost of 75$. Now I do realize that is probably cheap for a phone, but I’m cheap, and if i am going to pay that for a phone it better be able to do back flips. After talking to her for the next hour about plans; the unlimited incoming, the fido to fido, the happy hour, etc, I begrudgingly settled upon the LG 2000, with which plan - I was still unsure. I went to pay for everything when the sales lady informed me I had to pay a 100$ deposit that they would hold for next year. 100$ DEPOSIT! - I've never had to pay for a deposit, and even though I opted for a 25$ unlimited plan, my monthly bill still came out to the exact same as it had been with Rogers. I left the store confused, I had no idea what just happened.

As I assumed, the LG 2000 was not sufficient and did not pass the James approval. It had crappy ring tones, it didn't have bluetooth, internet connectivity, blah blah blah, I stop listening again at this point as he is speaking some type of geek jargon and I have no idea what most of it means. I am on the internet for an average of 8-10 hours a day, I guess it’s important to have internet connectivity at ALL TIMES!

Ok... my cell phone story is getting long but this where it starts to get interesting. The next day I called Rogers to cancel my phone, and of course the first questions is... why? I stated that when I went into the Rogers store, they refused to give me a deal on an upgrade, and FIDO offered me a better deal. The customer service lady then offered me the exact same deal as FIDO as well as a cheaper price on the exact same phone. It was that easy. I asked why we couldn’t do this in the store, she informed me that all that I had to do was call. So all I had to do was call and complain, threaten to leave, to get a deal. Why must it come to this?

The next day I went at lunch to return the FIDO. FIDO'S policy was a FULL REFUND or exchange within 15 days. It was 2:00pm, I hadn't eaten lunch yet; I am glad I stopped and picked up a sandwich first at the italian deli beside the store. We will come back to the sandwich. The same sales lady who had served me was quite upset that I was returning the phone. Of course she asked why. I said that Rogers offered me the exact same deal and a better rate on the phone. I spent the next 15 minutes with all 3 sales agents trying to convince me that FIDO was a better deal. I would not be intimidated. They seemed personally offended that Rogers had beaten their deal. Rogers is the parent company of FIDO, it probably wouldn’t make any difference which company I went with except Rogers offered me the same phone for cheaper and I wasn’t required to leave the 100$ deposit. Do you notice I keep coming back to this 100$ deposit.

This is where Christina’s consumer tips come into play. I have been labeled a grifter in the past. I once returned a brand new pair of shoes that the dog ate after complaining about the poor quality of leather. I worked in sales for years, I like to call this consumer awareness.

The sales lady had no problem giving me a refund on the phone, she called FIDO headquarters and cancelled my service. It was only when I asked for the refund of my deposit when things started to turn messy. She boldly told me that FIDO headquarters would be mailing me a cheque for my deposit in February. FEBRUARY!!!! This was obviously unacceptable to me. They very easily took that deposit off my credit card, they can just as easily put that back on. The sales lady said that there was nothing she can do. Now I am starving at this point, and it’s a good idea not to argue with me when I am hungry. I insisted that the sales lady call the company back At this point we all know what happens you are on the phone with companies like this, you spend hours being transferred from agent to agent. I think it’s a tactic they use in hopes that you get frustrated and give up. But I am stubborn, and determined, and was prepared to wait. I pulled up a stool at the counter, opened up my very messy sandwich filled with onions, spiced eggplant and enough salami that could induce a premature heart attack, and started to eat it in front of the customers on the sales counter. Needless to say, they were not impressed. I was fully prepared to sit there for as long as it took to get my money back. After being transferred to 5 customer service agents, and 30 minutes later, I was still on hold. After dripping sandwich all over the counter, they seemed to be quite anxious to get rid of me. Finally – they were willing to negotiate. I was given a service #, and informed that they would look into my problem. As soon as I got back to work I immediately called back. From there it only took 10 more sales agents, and another 2 hours on hold until finally they refunded my credit card. Point of the story – patience and persistance will get you everywhere. This is getting very long but I will try and add a list of tips on how to effectively complain. I excel at this. Now if I can only convince the Saturn dealership to pay for the repair of the dent in my car because they promised me I was buying a car that was dent resistant. I am working on this.

Oh and if you were interested in knowing - I ended up paying half the listed price for the Sony Ericsson Z520a.Supposedly it can do everything, although I doubt it will be able to cook me breakfast.

– and if you have actually gotten through my novel - this is probably the last photo that you will see from my fire escape. I am going to miss my cold little attic with half a shower, and no stove. We are moving next Wednesday. I know it’s a bit ridiculous to move in the middle of the month, in the middle of the week, at the start of winter, and 10 days before Christmas; I am a bit difficult that way. I have yet to start packing, I plan to do it this weekend but most likely I will start Tuesday night. I work better under pressure.