Rogers axes SAF for Government Regulatory Recovery Fee

Rogers has been putting customer service as a key priority over the past few months and it might finally be paying off for some customers.

We’ve been forwarded some upcoming changes to their customer billings. Effective October 5th, 2009 the most beneficial is the exit of the System Access Fee! We are finding out more about this but here is what we can let you know so far is that this being replaces with a “Government Regulatory Recovery Fee” that varies in price depending where you live.

Rogers says that the “The Government Regulatory Recovery Fee is applied per line to help fund fees, costs and other amounts related to federal, provincial and/or municipal mandates, programs and requirements such as provincial 911 fees, spectrum acquisition, licensing charges, and contribution charges to help subsidize telephone service in rural and remote areas.”

We have been told that the “The Government Regulatory Recovery Fee ranges from between $2.52 and $3.49/line/month, depending on whether provincial 911 fees are applicable.”

Here is more of that we’ve been forwarded and some changes you can expect:

“We’re making these changes in response to customer feedback and to provide customers with additional value.
These new plans come into effect on Oct. 5 for new customers. Existing customers can choose if they want to remain on their existing plans or take advantage of the new ones.

There are three main changes:
1) New customers (or existing customers who choose to migrate to the new billing plans) will benefit from three services that will now be included in their plans: Call Forwarding, Call Manager and WhoCalled.

2) The total price that customers on new plans will pay will be about the same. The exact amount of this difference varies depending on where customers live based on government charges in their area. In return, new and eligible customers will receive $11 worth of services with Call Forwarding, Call Manager and WhoCalled included in the total price of their bills.

3) Customers on the new rate plan will not see a System Access Fee on their bills. They will see a Government Regulatory Recovery Fee. This fee will vary based on government fees where customers live. This fee doesn’t represent new charges, but we’re indicating the total costs that go to government in order to make our bills easier to understand.

The three additional features included in new plans are:
– Call Forwarding $3 value Forward your calls to another phone and never miss a call again
– WhoCalled $3 value: Always know when someone has attempted to call you
– Call Manager $5 value (for Shared/Pooled Plans) Provides complete flexibility in setting up control over how the phone is used