When Anil Sedha decided to cancel his Rogers Internet service business, he expected to go online, click a few buttons, and that's it. But the customer support link doesn't work. The chatbot told him that he could only cancel the order by calling.
Thus began what the Winnipeg man estimates was a seven-hour ordeal that spanned several weeks last summer, when he found himself trapped in a maze of music on hold, dropped calls and endless transfers between departments.
“It was a recurring theme: 'We have a high call volume,'” Sedha said. “I tried calling at different times of the day and on different days.”
No matter when he tried, he says the result was the same: hours of waiting, talking to representatives who couldn't help, getting disconnected mid-call and starting all over again.
“How many days do I have to call someone to cancel a simple internet service?” he asked.
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Sedha's experience is not unique. Dozens of dissatisfied Rogers customers recently wrote to Go Public and posted on social media, complaining about long wait times, complicated cancellation procedures and poor service.
Many have questioned recent layoffs of Rogers call centers and complain that the three largest providers — Rogers, Bell and Telus — dominate the industry. Together they control most of the country's mobile, TV and internet markets, and critics say the problem has become even worse. when Rogers was allowed to take over the Show in 2023.
Customer service experts say the problem is precisely the lack of competition.
“It reduces the need for these telecom companies to compete and provide good customer service because they think, 'Customers need us, so we don't have to do anything to improve our service,'” said Eugene Chen, an assistant professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at the University of Toronto.
A spokesman for Rogers declined to speak on camera but said that A statement that the company interacts with millions of customers every month and works hard “to provide them with a great experience.”
Recent call center layoffs
While customers complain about poor customer service, Rogers appears to be cutting back on the number of people handling those calls.
The company recently terminated its contract with Foundever, a Miami-based company that employed hundreds of Canadians who handled Rogers customer service calls. Neither Rogers nor Foundever would say exactly how many people were laid off or whether those positions were moved elsewhere.
Two former employees who lost their jobs as a result of the layoffs say they were told at staff meetings that Rogers, like many other large corporations, was “driving digital adoption,” which they believe means greater use of artificial intelligence.
Both said much of their time in the past year has been spent training artificial intelligence systems.
Rogers customers tell CBC's Go Public they're frustrated after spending hours fixing underlying issues. Meanwhile, insiders say the company is increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to help handle customer service calls.
Using a tool called Agent Assist, the AI will listen to calls, create notes, and even suggest troubleshooting actions to employees. Agents had to approve or adjust AI responses, a process that was closely monitored through performance metrics on every call.
“They recently released something that actually tells the agent what steps to take to troubleshoot,” explained one former employee. “He listens to the customer’s problem so the agent doesn’t have to figure it out.”
CBC is not naming the former employees because they fear professional repercussions.
While artificial intelligence could make Rogers' job easier, the former employee said it risks eliminating the human element that many clients need.
“I think it will make customers feel cold rather than warm from the agent,” said a former customer service agent. “If a family member passes away and someone calls to close an account, how can AI show compassion?”
Another former employee echoed those concerns, saying Rogers' policies often required agents to oversell or oversell clients, even on sensitive calls. He says human agents can choose not to do this even though they might get into trouble, but suggested that AI agents won't make that distinction.
Rogers says its investments in AI are “improving” customer service by making it easier for agents to find solutions “more efficiently.”
Rogers promised to create jobs
Rogers is under regulatory scrutiny because, as part of the terms of its merger with Shaw, the company must create 3,000 jobs in western Canada by 2027.
The telecoms giant says it is on track to achieve this goal, with more than 1,800 jobs already created. But the terms of the merger do not prevent them from cutting staff in other regions. The recent layoffs at Foundever are not considered workforce reductions at Rogers because they were contract employees.
During the merger Rogers also promised move overseas jobs back to Canada to ensure “100 percent customer service in Canada.”
But a Rogers spokesman now says “the majority” of agents are based in Canada. He did not say how many jobs were moved overseas.
The client is forced to contact the Telecommunications Ombudsman
Fran Munro of Pender Island, British Columbia, also irritated Rogers.
A few months ago, a technician came to replace her old modem – a routine service call that turned into a billing nightmare because a new account was created while the old one was never closed. As a result, Munroe and her husband received bills from two different accounts.
Despite paying the new bill every month, they continued to receive delinquency notices on the old account – and were eventually given a warning that their service would be disconnected if they did not pay.
Like Sedha, she spent hours on hold, was repeatedly transferred from one department to another, but could not find anyone who could solve the problem or even explain what went wrong.
“I spent a lot of time and several sleepless nights wondering, 'What am I doing wrong here?' Why can't I contact anyone? – said Munro. “It's just really frustrating.”
Rogers then pulled the plug on the couple's TV service, which Munro suspects was due to a mix-up over the accounts.
It was only after she contacted the Complaints Commission for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) – an independent ombudsman that deals with unresolved telecoms disputes – that they finally received help. CCTS does not deal with general customer service complaints, but was able to intervene because the issue involved billing errors.
Rogers apologized for the “disappointing experience”, reduced Munro's monthly bill by $40, and offered a one-time credit of $250 as a “gesture of goodwill”.
Munroe said she was glad the situation had been resolved, but remained disappointed by how difficult it was to find a solution.
Call for regulatory reforms
Meanwhile, other countries require a minimum level of customer service and force companies to make it easier to terminate contracts.
Spain is drafting legislation that would require large companies to answer 95 percent of calls within three minutes and limit the use of automated systems. The EU is passing rules to make it easier to cancel contracts, and Germany is already requiring companies to provide “two-click cancellation” for many contracts.
There is no such thing in Canadalegislation, with the exception of a law that allows users to cancel mobile phone services simply by registering with a new provider. Chan says thatTelecom companies don't have to provide good customer service because there are no rules for doing so.
“In some ways they can get away with it because there are very few federal regulations governing customer service,” he said.
Keldon Bester, executive director of the Canadian Antitrust Project (CAMP), says there should be legislation to ensure customers don't experience unnecessary friction when service is terminated.
“It should be as easy to cancel a service as it is to sign up for it,” he said.
Sedha agrees.
“What’s so hard about just clicking the ‘I want to cancel’ button?” he asked.
IN statement to Go Public, a spokesman for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, said the government has taken steps to make the industry more competitive, such as allowing telecom providers to see the Internet on their competitors' new jobs.
7 o'clock to say goodbye
After weeks of frustration, Sedha finally learned that he would need to send an email to cancel the service—something no one had mentioned in his numerous previous calls.
“My first reaction was, 'Are you kidding me?' – he said.
Rogers' agent then said he would have to extend the service by another month because he had to send the equipment back, but Sedha refused and got that payment waived.
Sedhi's ordeal ended in August only after he sent a final email and sent back his equipment – after spending about seven hours trying to contact anyone in Rogers who could help. The experience left him with crippling anxiety about how others would deal with the same problem.
“What if it was one of my family members? An older person? Or a new immigrant?” he asked. “How will they deal with this?”
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