New Cell Phone Number, Same Crappy Service

posted at 6:04 pm
on Nov. 2, 2004

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So it turns out that my assigned cell phone number was really screwed up by wireless phone company here, Rogers.  And because of their incompetence, I have to change my number.

My NEW cell phone number is (604) [removed] which is a bummer of a number.  You’ll probably have forgotten it by the time you get to the end of this paragraph.  There, it’s gone.

So what happened? Well stand back, because I’m going to vent big-time: I bought my phone in a Rogers Wireless store.  The fellow who helped me originally assigned me (604) 615-8728.  I told him I’d be living downtown, and it took him a few attempts to get me a number.  That number , the 605 one, turns out to be on an Abbotsford exchange.  However, calling Abbotsford from the main part of Vancouver—you know, the place I got my phone—is a long distance call.  And the message the phone company gives me is a generic “you can’t reach that number” which means most people who call that number think they have it wrong.

I tried twice to get this resolved, because I didn’t know what was happening.  Rogers first tried to justify it by saying that 615 was a new exchange that was assigned to Vancouver, and that Telus was the one that hadn’t updated their list of exchanges.  But that’s wrong.  They lied to me.

I called again today and the customer service rep I got had a new story.  He said that the 615 Abbotsford exchange is “local to Rogers” meaning that I wasn’t charged roaming or long distance when I called downtown Vancouver from downtown Vancouver. So to them, that’s “local.” He said that Rogers had run out of downtown Vancouver numbers and hadn’t had any for several weeks, which is why they probably assigned me an Abbotsford number.

OK, I said I know why you numbskulls think it’s a local number, but that means that when my wife / friends / contacts try to call me from downtown, THEY have to pay long distance.  That’s not our problem, Rogers said.

Yes, the customer service rep actually said that.  What a tuber-brain.  Of course it’s your problem, Rogers.  Because you basically lied to me and screwed me over, and that’s a problem for me and you’re the one who’s asking me to pay you each month.

Customer Service Guy was willing to waive the usual charge to change my number to a downtown one, which he said was now available.  But I’ve got to reprint all my business cards.  What a drag and a cost.  And will Rogers agree to reimburse me when I write to them to formally complain?  I won’t hold my breath.

UPDATE: Oh, what a screw up.  Turns out that changing my number also resets my voice mail box.  Customer Service Guy never told me that.  My saved messages are lost, and I can’t get into it because I don’t know the “temporary password.”  Thanks for less than nothing, Rogers.  It’s good to know that crappy cell phone companies are a border-crossing international phenomenon.

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