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Rogers prepping to rollout new cancellation policies January 2012, will bring “Bill 60″ like changes across Canada
Quebec consumers were protected in several ways when “Bill 60″ went into place in 2010. Specifically from a wireless perspective, carriers were prohibited from hiding fees and had to advertise all prices, a 60 day notice became mandatory before any contract changes – at which time the customer has the option to cancel at no penalty, plus the Early Termination Fees (ETF) cannot exceed the handset subsidy and reduces every month a customer is in contract.
Bill 35 was recently passed in Manitoba, this will bring similar protection to those located in the province… but its Rogers that is stepping out to “lead the change” and will be making some adjustments to the how their wireless contracts are structured. According to a leaked internal doc, “Rogers is proactively making changes to how customers in all remaining, non-regulated provinces are serviced when cancelling or making changes to their existing wireless services.”
Apparently Rogers will be putting a similar Bill 60 structure in place across Canada where those wireless customers who wish to cancel their service will have to pay a “service disconnection fee”, or “Economic Inducement”, of $12.50, plus the hardware subsidy cost – “Hardware Savings / # of months in term X # of months remaining in the term”. So here’s how it would look:
Let’s say you signed up for the iPhone 4S 16GB on a 3-year at $99, your “Hardware Savings” is $550 (retail price is $649). If you decide to cancel your Rogers contract at the 1-year mark, your cancellation fee will be $550 / 36 X 24 = $366.67 + $12.50 service disconnection fee for cancelling = $379.17.
This will be carefully worded as another “Rogers first”, something that is tentatively pegged to go into place late January 2012. We’ll have more info on this soon…
Update: We’ve now received a slew of additional tips that this will also extend to Fido customers.
Update #2: This will impact those who activate or renew on January 22 or after.
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Source: Technapedia
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80 comments for “Rogers prepping to rollout new cancellation policies January 2012, will bring “Bill 60″ like changes across Canada”
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Am I candid camera? How is it that the least competitive company of them all is the one doing this first?
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Yeah, another Deja Moo moment from Rogers with their “another Rogers first”. They are shifting from Term contract to a Tab system. Thank you Windicity.
Next step is to have a standard price across carriers for all phones (like Apple has for their iPhones). Robellus will still bloat the price of their handsets which earns them more when one cancels. There are no rules on that yet.
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Telus was the first in this, they been doing it since last year but they charge $50 not $12.50
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Telus told me the charge is $100 even on the last day of the contract.
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If your cancellation charge was $100, it is because you signed the contract before November 2010, they can’t change the terms of the contracts in place previous to that date.
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struts: you are confusing Telus systems. Customers on the old policy (contract signed before Nov 21 2010) have a cancellation fee of $20/month with a minimum of $100. People on the new system pay the remaining hardware subsidy (known as the “device balance”) plus a $50 “early cancellation fee”.
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i liek this in ALL the provinces in canada. please thanks
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so what happens if I am out of contract and decide to move to another carrier? Are they making me pay that $12.50 service disconnection fee?
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Seems to be obvious. You’ll have to pay 12.50$ to leave them anyway. Even if they are the one forcing you to get a new contract to change your area code since you moved province and they don’t want to grand-father your plan.
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That’s pretty amazing, considering its Rogers. IMHO, it’s a fairly decent policy. My question would be whether they proactively change all contracts to the new system, or whether it’ll only be for new contracts signed after a certain date.
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See Update #2.
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A strict improvement, how can anyone complain?
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If other provinces don’t allow for a termination fee in addition to paying off the phone… As positive as this looks… they shouldn’t be allowed to charge that extra fee.
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TELUS has something like this already: If you terminate before the end of your contract, you pay the remaining amount of the subsidy plus a $50 administrative fee. For upgrades, you just pay the remaining amount of the subsidy.
I wonder if Rogers will do something similar for a consumer who wishes to upgrade their device…
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Telus doing the same thing since april this year, they call it device balance. just their admin fee is $50 instead of $12.50.
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Stop using 3 year terms and we won’t need a reason to cancel early! …….
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Sorry! but we can’t change that since we’re the last country in this planet that still having this Barbarians practice.
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I think this is the way it should always be. I sure hope this applies to the contract we just signed with rogers. I will be ok locking into future contracts if this stays policy.
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Bell/Virgin have already started this shift. In the new contracts you’ll notice it no longer says a “Data Credit” cancellation of $200 will apply in the first year. Instead, it’s the subsidized value of the data credit less the remaining months in the contract, ie If you decide to cancel your Bell/Virgin contract at the 1-year mark, your cancellation fee will be $200 / 36 X 24 = $133.33 Plus $20 every remaining month in the contract to a maximum of $400.
All they need to do now is expand the “Data Credit” into a “Subsidized Credit”, removing the $20/m and it will match Bill 60.
They probably will do it the second Rogers officially does it.
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What kind of crazy BS is this calling it a first? I like the policy change but they are not the first to do it, not even the first of the big 3.
The Tab systems of the fighter brands like Koodo and Virgin have done this for a long time. They claim not to have a contract but it’s not like you can walk away from them for free after taking a hardware discount. It’s actually worse than a contract because they can change your rate plan with 30 day notice and you still have to pay back the remaining amount of your “tab”
Then there is TELUS. They have their “Device Balance” which is identical to this Rogers policy except their fee outside of Quebec is $50 not $12.50 but then again they have been doing it like this for over a year. November 2010 is when they started the Device balance program.
Good for you Rogers but in what way is this a first for anyone but an existing rogers customer? With this change only Bell is still going to be on the old $20/mo cancellation policy and if Rogers is switching you can bet they won’t be too far behind to join in.
One thing I do not see mentioned, is the same policy going to apply to doing early hardware upgrades or will you still need to beg Loyalty to make exceptions for you?
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So you have to pay back the subsidy minus months plus $12.50. I’m shocked that Rogers is doing this. I hope this is permanent move.
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how a three year contract should be done, if they’re going to be done at all.
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I really hope the others follow suit, as I’d really like to upgrade from my aging Nexus One but I refuse to sign another 3yr contract the way things are currently – I get a decent corporate deal but only on a 3yr so buying outright doesn’t solve the problem for me. Nobody should have to pay the ridiculous cancellation fees currently in place combined with the 3yr contract standard in this country.
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That’s good. I just cancelled Rogers and had to pay almost $180 for cancelling 4 months early from a 3 year contract.
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For those who want to know why this is being done (and should have been done 3 years ago) is because it eliminates the self-exploitation of ROGERS by certain demographic groups of customers. Namely, the Retention-entitlement base who weasel their way into zero-margin voice plans then upgrade to an iPhone (with subsidy equalling $600 at a 3% cost-of-capital financing rate), wait a month, and pay a $100 Data Early Cancellation Fee to revert back to their plan that often brings in LESS revenue (before service costs are even considered) than the cost of device subsidy. The new system distinguishes between voice plan discounts for hardware and secondary data plan discounts for hardware. So the party is over for the worthless customers Russell Peters makes fun of in his act for being “competitively cheap”.
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Screw big 3 , I’m happy with my Wind serivce
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Wow big difference between this and the $400 cancelation fee…
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Not to mention the $200 DECF on top of that!
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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Anyone remember what the retail price of a Blackberry Torch was on December 2010?
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It’s not new Telus has this policy since 2010 !! Rogers always like to make something simple in to such a big deal ! Marketing stragegies
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This has to do with Bill 60 Not Tab Contracts Idoits. Stop discussing you’re Telus Pre HUP fee and read the article.
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Why on earth would Rogers do this voluntarily? The good PR can’t possibly offset the huge amount of revenue they otherwise would have generated from cancellation fees and people sticking around to avoid cancellation fees. I for one would leave them immediately if they did this.
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There was probably a treat of government intervention.
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have a question for everyone so does this apply to rogers client’s who renewed back on 02/2011, cause i just called them today and they saying how to cancel my sis’ line is $400 and she renewed this year with a BB8520 Curve
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Hmmm! I wonder if the “retail” prices of handsets will sky rocket to ridiculous prices to compensate their “losses”?
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I am going to guess someone at Roger’s has figured by the end of 2012 this bill 60 maybe effective in every province anyways so it is much more productive to roll out and make it sound like your idea then to admit to customers that you have been ripping them off and the government is having to regulate you in the view of consumer protectionism.
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Telus does this but you gotta look close. I got a BB9700 last year on a 1 year. they valued the phone at a whopping 499 and that’s the “cancellation” or “buy-out” price. Yikes.
Over valuing a phone is one tactic I do not respect
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Lol as a few have already stated, both Telus and Bell have had this in place for almost 2 years. Perhaps a little but of journalistic investigation or a simple call to client services of either company may have saved us all the last minute of our lives.
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ECF will be 50$, data ECF will be the handset subsidy balance (subsidy – 50$ voice early cancellation fee = data ECF). You’re not canceling data any time soon, son
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Actually a little company called Superior Wireless Inc. (Northwestern Ontario) was doing this back in 2005. They called the fee a “Handset Subsidy Protection” or “HSP” for short.
SWI was bought by tbaytel in 2006. In 2008, tbaytel went to this same system. A non-smartphone is billed out at $8/month while a smartphone is billed out at $16/month for the number of months remaining in the term.
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Read the fine print very very carefully.When we were with Rogers we changed to a cheaper plan Rogers added a year to your contract without your permishion.We are with Bell Simmiler plans/phones yet are bill is $60 a mounth less than Rogers was charging.
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While this is a good move, as said, not the first to do it. I do think the government should be more pro-active in passing such a bill nationally as a base line and letting provinces fine tune it.
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What’s the cancellation fee is you signed a new contract but didn’t take a subsidized phone?
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If they’re doing it like Telus, you must buy a phone to sign a contract.
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I did not sine a new contract.I found a cheaper plan on there web sight,I phoned in had them change it. Basically I was using less data than I was paying for.Rogers added an extra year to my contract without my permission because of this I switched Bell.
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finally a Big 3 is beginning to operate in good faith to the people. This is just the first step
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they already do this… and ive had my contract with rogers for the last 10 years. I wanted to upgrade to the new iPhone4S & they told me i had pay cancellation charges first of $300 , than sign a new contract and pay for the hardware… in the end i was going to pay something like $900 for a new phone.. i ended up just hanging up the phone.
did this 5 different times on 5 different days and same answer.
and i live in Calgary, Alberta.
for me to have to cancel my contract and sign a new one is ridiculous – considering the features i have for such a low monthly price… i would never… its just cheaper for me to buy the damn phone from ebay.
but yes these changes are already being implemented.
just giving everyone a heads up on my personal experience.
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Yes, We have a $35 Voice and Data plan in Sask. from 3 years ago that ends soon..cheaper to keep plan and buy new phone..I think.
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with rogers also…they want us to upgrade phone and charge more for the plan. They would like to get rid of the “grandfather” contracts as they were cheaper three years ago in Sask. We were considered a “low market” area. Now with the boom in Sask. they want to take you to the cleaners…
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you know that telus has done something like this for bout 6 months!
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Telus introduced it to all contracts signed since mid-November 2010
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Finally i wont have to feel so trapped as a loyal client
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So how is Rogers going to make it’s own bank now or buy another sports team without all the cancellation money?
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if i could sign a 10 year contract with one of big 3, i would.
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2 years ago when I landed in Canada it was cheaper for me to use my overseas connection on roaming. When wind launched I got the 35 plan and lived hapily after that. I simply do not understand how a nation can be so thick brained who is happy to pay almost 20% of theie income every month to a phone company who doesent offer even 50% value for money.
Just me .02$
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WOW – where was that plan ?
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Does the Wind tab not equate to the same thing, as the new Rogers Policy? Except with Rogers you get a way bigger subsidy on the device.
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It makes sense if you got the phone at a subsidized price, that you would have to pay the balance if you cancel early. But what actual work is involved in pressing a key to turn off a Sim!! $12.50 for a keystroke??? Really??
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This change is mostly likely being introduced to prevent the government from passing new cellphone legislation. Think about it: Rogers can change a policy faster than government can pass a new law. So if Rogers creates a watered down version of the bill to make it seem like consumers are being protected, then the government will feel like there’s no need to continue with legislation. Soon after, the policy will creep back to what it used to be and consumers will resume to get screwed.
Support Ontario Bill 133 – Wireless Phone, Smart Phone, and Data Service Transparency Act.
This bill will make it so that when you cancel:
- you will only be charged the remaining hardware subsidy amount
- no more than 1 month of the service fee you would normally pay
- your phone will get UNLOCKED for FREE
- promotional advertising will be required to show the actual monthly cost for services
- no expiry date on prepaid cards (how many times have you had to buy prepaid top-up cards so your current balance wouldn’t expire?)
We would have a lot more to gain with the proposed legislation than with Rogers “new” cancellation policy.
Read more about it here: http://www.davidorazietti.onmpp.ca/STMNOV162010.htm
New Rogers Cancellation Policy = FAIL
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Guys if they expanding Quebec policy across Canada, saying they will “tweak” hardware prices to compensate and “stiff” you seems a little extreme. Not sure but thinking this would be illegal (call me naive but with law 60 don’t they have to prove rebate they subsidized to customer?). Besides in some cases they will be making more if customer cancels very early in their term (take the iPhone for example, do the math if theoritical cancellation is after two months).
What I’m wondering is if this would apply to 2Y contracts…this would mean better 2Y pricing on smartphones (which in itself would be pretty damn sweet).
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This is definitely a positive change for new subscribers, especially if you intend to leave the carrier in less then 3 years.. The down side of it however, in my view will be hardware upgrades for those sticking around.. it doesn’t specifically say in the press release, but it seems to me like this will be worked much the same was a the tab’s for the fighter brands.. they are an ok deal if you’re cancelling in less then 3 years.. but where you used to get a free hardware upgrade 2 years in, you will now come to the 2 year mark, and still owe money on your old device.. meaning you have to wait the full 3 years for a new device, or get stuck paying off the old one before you can get a new one..
P.S. to all the negative comments on Rogers, I’ve been with every carrier over the years, I always come back to Rogers. Their custome service usually isn’t the best, but their product is. bar none. And that’s what’s the most important in my opinion.
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Thanks for the explanation ..you are right Mikey . This is exactly why Rogers is doing this ..before they are forced by the government of ON & other provinces to adhere to more strict cancellation policies they are coming out with this peudo watered down version of it
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Posted by Mikey | December 28, 2011, 9:34 am
This change is mostly likely being introduced to prevent the government from passing new cellphone legislation. Think about it: Rogers can change a policy faster than government can pass a new law. So if Rogers creates a watered down version of the bill to make it seem like consumers are being protected, then the government will feel like there’s no need to continue with legislation. Soon after, the policy will creep back to what it used to be and consumers will resume to get screwed.
Support Ontario Bill 133 – Wireless Phone, Smart Phone, and Data Service Transparency Act.
This bill will make it so that when you cancel:
- you will only be charged the remaining hardware subsidy amount
- no more than 1 month of the service fee you would normally pay
- your phone will get UNLOCKED for FREE
- promotional advertising will be required to show the actual monthly cost for services
- no expiry date on prepaid cards (how many times have you had to buy prepaid top-up cards so your current balance wouldn’t expire?)
We would have a lot more to gain with the proposed legislation than with Rogers “new” cancellation policy.
Read more about it here: http://www.davidorazietti.onmpp.ca/STMNOV162010.htm
New Rogers Cancellation Policy = FAIL
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To the people saying “get rid of 3 year contracts”. Are you people stupid? Now your getting a fair cancellation policy, you want to eliminate 3yr contracts? Figures. Give an inch, take a mile.
If you eliminate 3yr terms, you eliminate the hard-core subsidies for the phones, which you can pay the balance of if you want to leave your contract.
Jesus, if you people want to pay 200$+ for a phone on a 2yr, go to WIND/KOODO for something similar. Leave contracts alone for those of us who dont care enough to whine about them.
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it’s not “dont care enough to whine about them” some of us actually LIKE the 3 year contracts.. personally, i’m going to stay with my carrier for 3 years and probably more.. so I’m happy to sign the 3 year contract and get my free 500 dollar phone. As I said above, I think this new policy is a good move, although I hope it won’t affect the hardware upgrade policy, but I’m pretty sure it will. However I would be one very disapointed guy if 3 year contracts ever went away, because I don’t want to pay for my phones, and then end up staying anyway.. at least this way you only pay IF you leave.. go with wind, or any low contract / no contract option and your paying upfront incase you leave? no thanks!
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As always Rogers claims this is a first.. Telus launched EDUF in 2010 allowing customers to upgrade early based on a fair amount owed on your current device, in May 2011 “Device balance” was rolled out.
Device balance is subsidy of the phone / 36 x how many months remaining.. To upgrade and add $50 to cancel.
Example full price of a Galaxy S2X is $599 customer pays $99 on a 3 year term Device balance would be:
$500 / 36= 13.89. If you want to upgrade take 13.89x how many months left remaining.. If you want to cacel take 13.89x months remaining + $50… There is no data cancelation and no minimum fees.
ALSO if you only sign a 1 or 2 year term the outright price of a phone does not change. You could buy a phone out right and pay $599 or sign a term cuz your gonna go with service anyway and let TELUS eat that “monthly repayment fee” while your their customer. SO Rogers, quit claiming its another first from you, we all know there are never any big firsts from you!
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If people dont want to be in a contract they do not have to sign to be in a contract with Rogers, so all the people that bash the contract why dont you just pay the 700.00 for the iphone that is high in demand? that being said who really has that kind of money to fork over 700.00 for a phone say every 1 to 2 years? that being said i have no problem signing three year contract and get the device for the 159.00. So all you people that whine about contracts just fork the money over for the phone and be done with the complaining
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This would be fine, if the price set for the phone is reasonable. The price is based on a suggested retail price. There isn’t a ‘Fair’ market value for handsets because carriers control the sale and distribution of the phones. Seriously, a phone with a suggested retail price of $649.00 (as provided in the example) in an open non contracted market would really sell for less than $300. (yes, that is an estimate – but lets test the theory and band carriers having a the ability to control phone prices and see if it holds true)
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Good news
Now to outlaw 3 year contracts. ASAP.
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I predict a lot of renewals, then cancellations in the last week of January. What is Rogers thinking? What is the catch?
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Wow…..TELUS already does something almost the same as this. Way to be up to date Rogers, lol lead on….
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By comparison, rogers has always been better then bell and telus IMO.
I’ve on mobilicity so i can’t give any ***.
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Holy, crap. You people really can NOT be made happy over anything. I was in Rogers head office a few months back on a research stint and it was well known with the group I was with that the Mobilesyrup group will always complain about EVERYTHING. Can’t you guys see a positive in anything?? Is this not what you’ve wanted for years?? It’s a step in the right direction. Just f**king leave it at that….
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Give me a break, if they wanted to be leaders they would apply the regulation rules to the whole country instead of making rogers employees treat Manitoba and Quebec citizens differently.
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Hmm, so basically I should wait til Jan 22 to consider doing a HUP? Sigh, kinda wanted to get the HUP over with and my 9700 is dying or maybe if I call back and say this was not revealed to earlier etc…
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I only have 1 month left before the plan contract ends and Rogers charge me almost $300 which is ridiculous! They really suck! They won’t even consider it even if you’re with them for several years.
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What about if I only want to cancel my data plan after Jan. 22 .
If i renewed my contract after Jan. 22 for another 3 year to get a new smartphone, they would require me to add in data plan. (I mostly use wifi connection). If i choose to cancel my data plan, how much DECF (data early cancellation fee) do i have to pay? It used to bee a maximum of $100 + tax.
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I called *611, and they told me that the subsidy will be divided into Voice and data portion, so the DECF will be based on the data portion. Then I asked if they have an actually figure, they told me that as of now, they don’t know, but it’s likely to be more than $100.
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What about if I only want to cancel my data plan after Jan. 22 .
If i renewed my contract after Jan. 22 for another 3 year to get a new smartphone, they would require me to add in data plan. (I mostly use wifi connection). If i choose to cancel my data plan, how much DECF(data early cancellation fee) do i have to pay? It used to bee a maximum of $100 + tax.
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if you are in the GTA – It’s simple – buy your own phone that is supported on Mobilicity. Then buy an advance service schedule on Mobilicity for one year. There is a $25 all in plan and a $40 plan where EVERYTHING is covered as long as you are in the GTA. You pay in advance and they knock a couple of months off the year long fee. In the long run you save hundreds of $$$. Mobilicity offers deals but you can get even better deals on Kijiji from independent Mobi dealers. Better monthly terms and better prices on cell phones then on the Mobi website. Good luck !! I’m leaving Rogers very soon…
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