Another story from 2013 and when my dealings with Rogers concluded. Remember you must follow through if you threaten to leave.

This is an expression my Father on occasion used to describe someone claiming they would not help you. The actual expression is “Screw You, and the horse you rode in on“. The shortened version (“And the horse you rode in on”) is much more palatable in polite circles, though.

I found out later where my Father may have acquired this phrase. Donald Regan, who was Secretary of the Treasury under Ronald Reagan from 1981 through 1984 used it. Evidently one of his favorite phrases. My Father must have picked it up from a story William Safire wrote about Regan. Editor Michael Seidman recalls hearing the phrase while growing up in the Bronx in the 1950s. This could be the root of my Dad’s use of the expression as well.

I had one of these experiences when dealing with Rogers, talking to a very nice young woman. Rogers was offering a $10 “unlimited internet” option on their new bundles program. I figured I’d call to ask whether I (a valued customer of many years (IMHO)), could avail myself of this self-same program.

The young woman while very sympathetic said that the deal was only available if I added my Home Phone to my Rogers bundle. If I wanted to add it to my existing package that would cost an extra $30 a month. I mentioned Customer Retention more than once, hoping she might take the hint, however, she finally said, “they most likely won’t want to talk to you about this”.

In my humble view of Customer Service this is the same as saying, “Screw You, and the horse you rode in on“. I finally asked her to please connect me to customer retention. She warned me again, but did try to see if they might talk to me.

Did she actually talk to them? Not sure, however she did finally come back and say, “Your current deal with the Internet is all they can do for you, so they don’t wish to talk to you”. I thanked the young woman for her help. As a last question I asked what the penalty was for breaking my “great deal” early with Rogers, as I do have Bell beating down my door about their Fibe Program. She said it was $20 a month and the deal is until August 2014, I did a quick calculation and said, “…so about $260 to break this deal? OK, thank you.”

There are Consequences No Matter What the Response

While I understand the message that I already have a good deal, and shouldn’t ask for more, responding to a customer with, “I won’t talk to you”, is really a slap in the face to anyone. Having someone from “Customer Retention” deliver this message would have been much more palatable.  I would have felt less annoyed by the response.

Did I expect to get this deal? Unless I asked I knew the answer was no, so I asked, however, answering, “No and go away!” is a bit more than I expected. Am I saying Rogers is being unreasonable not offering me this deal? Absolutely not, it is within their prerogative not to give me any more deals. My issue is with how the message was delivered. Even unreasonable, needy customers must be treated with a level of respect by giving them a clear and polite response (even if the response is no).

In the end, I left Rogers, mostly due to this call.