OUTRAGEOUS FIDO HORROR STORY

[unhappywithfido]

So yesterday I called Fido to ask about a $10 credit that had been promised to me on the basis that I sign a 3yr contract 8 months ago which I had not been receiving. Because of a previous, separate credit on my account, my monthly bill amount was just being deducted fromt hat so I wasn't looking at my account too closely until this month when I noticed that the $10 credit wasn't being applied on a monthly basis as promised.

I phoned in to customer service and they put me through to customer relations. Back in November, I bought a blackberry and took Fido's offer to give me Blackberry Connect at a discount (I pay $10 a month for this service which is normally $25 because they applied a credit of $15 to my account for this purpose) - otherwise I was going to switch to rogers for their blackberry plans as I was told if I signed a 3yr contract with Rogers there would be no early cancellation fee on my Fido account. This Blackberry Connect was only offered to me for 1 year.

So I speak with a guy in customer relations who refused to give me the $10 credit that had been promised to me in order to get me to sign a contract. He said there was no record of that being made, only that before on a month to month basis I had had that discount for 6 months prior to my contract. He offers to extend the $15 discount I was getting for my Blackberry Connect for an extra year. I refused this offer because I'm not sure if I plan to keep the Blackberry Connect or just get a new cell phone from a different provider for work. He then told me that in Dec 2008, when the Blackberry Cnnect discount was set to expire, the $15 credit he was offering me would kick in whether I had Blackberry Connect or not. Again, because there is the chance that I will be getting someone to take over my contract, I refused the offer and asked him to apply the $15 credit to my account starting this month. He told me that he couldn't add another $15 credit to the already existing one on my account. At the end of our conversation, because I was getting nowhere, I asked him to cancel the blackberry connect, and apply his $15 discount to my account and I also asked him to have a supervisor call me when he was free. - I know this is confusing but bear with me

A couple hours later I'm contacted by a supervisor. I explained my situation - how I signed a contract based on the promise of a $10 credit, that I don't use Fido phones and I just got the free one as a backup when I signed a contract (to which he basically implied that I was lying about that), and that I expect the $10 that I've been paying for the past 8 months to be credited to my account and that $10 be credited from this month on - simply what was promised me to get me to sign a contract. He refused to do so since they had no record of this ever being promised to me, and only offered me a $5 credit per month. I refused to accept this as it was not only less than what the CSR rep offered me only a couple hours earlier but it was less than what was AGREED UPON WHEN I SIGNED A 3 YR CONTRACT. He then tells me that all he is prepared to offer me is the $5 discount and not even the $15 discount the CSR had offered me. I asked him if it was because he couldn't (i.e didn't have the authority to do so) or because he wouldnt. He told me it was because he wouldn't.

So I tell him that I expect Fido to keep their end of the contract if I am to be bound with this service for 3 years. He asks me if I want to cancel my service. I tell him I do not want to cancel my service, I just want the credit that was promised me applied. He says he won't do that and asks me again if I want to cancel my service [it was more of a threat than a question]. At this point I'm pissed off and frankly this entire conversation was enough to make me want to switch providers completely even if I would have to pay a little more on a monthly basis. So I tell him that IF there will be no termination fee then I will gladly cancel my service. He tells me there is an early cancellation fee of 400. So I say to him that if Fido won't hold up their end of the contract then they cannot expect me to be bound to their service for 3 yrs and they have no right to charge me a termination fee, so if there is going to be a termination fee then I do not want to cancel my account but I will be escalating this to a higher level within the Fido administration. At this point he says you're service is cancelled and promptly hangs up on me.

Needless to say, about 5 seconds later my phone wasn't working. I placed a call to Customer service just to make sure that I wasn't being charged a termination fee and they informed me that I was.

Bottom Line: I know that sometimes CSRs make mistakes and obviously one was made in terms of the $10 monthly credit I was supposed to be receiving for signing a contract because I NEVER received it. That being said, it is Fido's responsibility to rectify their mistakes.

IT IS NEVER OK FOR A SUPERVISOR TO SPEAK TO A CUSTOMER THE WAY HE DID, IMPLY THAT I WAS LYING TO HIM WHEN COMMON SENSE SHOWS OTHERWISE, AND CANCEL MY ACCOUNT WITHOUT MY CONSENT.

Needless to say, I have already filed a formal complaint with a CSR over the phone. I have sent out letters to the Office of the President, the Formal Complaints Office of Fido, and the President of Microcell.

I'll keep you updated....






Update: I called Fido back today to inform them that my service had been turned off by a supervisor without my consent and to get it turned back on.

I found out two things:

1) The supervisor I spoke with yesterday LIED TO ME when he said that there was no one above him that I could speak to short of sending a letter to Head Office.

2) The supervisor has obviously LIED and claimed that I was an abusive customer (which I assure you I was not) as now his supervisor refuses to speak to me and says there is nothing I can do except wait for a response from the Head Office [this message given through a CSR].

So now they will not turn my service back on.

I also requested that a copy of the memos on my account be sent to me - apparently to get that done I have to write another letter to the Chief Privacy Officer explaining WHY I want this information.

I also requested that a copy of the recorded conversation I had between myself and the supervisor, as well as myself and the CSR be sent to me. Again a no go.

The only bright spot: I spoke to a CSR who actually took the time to explain WHY they couldn't add the $10 credit onto my account with the existing Blackberry Connect discount still on it. Something that would have been nice to have been told by the supervisor or the CSR I spoke with yesterday.

I've been a Fido customer for 8 years!!