Rogers replied.
To my great amusement, the reply came from the Rogers Privacy Officer address, but the message was written by a customer service representative. Rogers takes privacy seriously? Clearly, it is to laugh.
I simply cannot believe how badly the company is run. As a customer, it’s clear to me that they’ve given up any real attempt at pleasing their customers. This is the important part of their reply:
Unfortunately we are unable to verify your account with the information provided. In order for us to assist you with your request we kindly ask that you reply to this email with your 4 digit Passcode. This 4 digit number is used to verify your account each time you call to add money or make account changes. If you do not know your Passcode you may reply with your 20 digit SIM card number located in your phone under the battery.
You may also opt out of marketing from Rogers via our website at www.rogers.com/optout . Please allow 3 weeks to update our records.
The phrase ‘verify your account’ is a dodge. They want to verify that my request is coming from the account holder. They want to verify my identity. And don’t forget that this is all about their ability to send me spam. They’ve taken their permission to send me spam, compared it to my satisfaction with Rogers, and decided that sending me spam is more important. The only reason to be a hardass about verifying one’s identity is because you deem it likely that fraudulent requests will be submitted, or that fraudulent requests will have dire consequences even if they’re very unlikely. Clearly a fraudulent request of this nature is extremely unlikely, yet they insist on validation. This is a clear insight into what’s important to the company, and customer satisfaction doesn’t factor into it.
I must have the pass code somewhere, but I didn’t feel like digging it up this morning. The prospect of taking my phone apart was similarly unappealing so I decided to click the provided link. I presumed it would lead to the same broken page as the “Manage My Marketing Permissions” link on their site.
I presumed incorrectly. The link in the e‑mail message brought me to a different page. On this page, opting out of marketing communication to my mobile required that I enter my mobile phone number. No pass code, no SIM card number, no account number, I didn’t even have to log in. The page asks for information I’ve already sent to the online support people…information they claim is not sufficient. So of course I entered the requested information, and received the response I’ve been seeking for a month:
You’ll note that the message I received claims this change can take three weeks while the web page claims it takes one or two weeks. This is yet another reason to believe monkeys are running the place.
So there are two pages on rogers.com that you can use to stop marketing spam. One page requires that you log in, and it is broken and does not work. The other requires no credentials of any kind. Only your phone number is required. Your third option is to contact on-line support and provide all sorts of information before they’ll do a thing. Makes sense?
It appears that no one at the company has a clue what anyone else is doing. The result is an incredibly frustrating customer service experience. Providing a pleasant and consistent experience to your customers isn’t difficult. It’s comparatively easy. All that’s required is the will. Rogers doesn’t have the will. They don’t even have a clue.
To continue to patronize such a company would make me feel like a sap. They’ve helped me to decide to cancel my cable. Thank you Rogers!
Shawn
Rogers might be evil, but Bell is far, far worse. Blame the CRTC for regulating things so tight as to eliminate competition and the requirement to compete on good customer service.
Jessica
Hey! Welcome to the rabbit-ear demographic! There are lots of us out there. I’ll teach you the secret handshake.