Rogers CEO in hotseat as MPs grill him over contracts customers call unfair and misleading

The CEO of Rogers Communications was in the hotseat Monday, facing pointed questions on Parliament Hill.

MPs on the Commons committee on industry and technology summoned Tony Staffieri to testify, after he skipped a scheduled appearance last week and sent a subordinate via videoconference instead.

The committee wanted to question Staffieri after revelations in a Go Public investigation — hundreds of Rogers customers say they’re outraged after their bills for internet, TV and home phone jumped, even though they’d signed a contract, believing they had a guaranteed monthly price.

Rogers can charge customers more for things such as rented TV boxes, thanks to a clause in the contract.

“I’d like to know why you think that’s OK,” Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins asked. “And how many other buried costs do you have that you can jack up, and rip Canadians off on?” 

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“Shouldn’t Canadians be able to count on a fixed-rate contract being stable, with no surprises?” asked Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull.

Staffieri defended his company’s practices, saying price guarantees only apply to base services and that customers can remove certain add-ons — like TV box rentals — without penalties. 

Asked whether customers are specifically told that fees could go up mid-contract, Staffieri repeatedly insisted that Rogers customer service agents, and the company’s contracts, are “clear and transparent.”

Alberta Conservative MP Michelle Rempel-Garner suggested Staffieri and Rogers were “danc[ing] around the salient details” with both the committee and its customers. 

She also brought up the case of Cathy Cooper — the first Rogers customer from Victoria who told Go Public that it was not clearly explained that her monthly bill could increase.

“If I reviewed that contract, do you think it’s reasonable for me to understand it?” Rempel-Garner asked Staffieri, before requesting that Rogers submit that contract to the committee for review.

Staffieri agreed and also agreed to provide the recorded phone call Cooper had with the Rogers agent when she signed the two-year deal. 

‘Disgusting behaviour’

Despite Staffieri’s insistence that Rogers contracts are “clear and transparent,” Go Public continues to hear from frustrated Canadians such as Laurie Michalycia of Saskatoon.

Insert image: Laurie Michalycia says she was never told her monthly Rogers bill of $199 could increase when she signed a two-year deal in August for internet, TV and phone. By November, her bill for those services was $220.

She signed a two-year deal for internet, TV and home phone in August, saying she made it clear to the Rogers agent that she could not pay more than $199 a month before taxes and long-distance calls. To get her bill to that price, she even lowered her internet speed.

But by November, her bill for those services had increased to $220.

“You’re locked into a term, but they can change the price on you,” said Michalycia. “It’s disgusting.”

A Rogers spokesperson said Michalycia was told that price guarantees only apply to base services, and that customers can remove add-ons like TV box rentals without penalties. 

Michalycia figures the unexpected monthly charges will cost her more than $250 over a year.

“And then these companies have the gall to announce the billions of dollars that they are making off the backs of us through deceitful contracts,” she said. “It’s just plain ethically wrong.”

Michalycia was so angered, she fired off a letter to the telecom regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). 

“This is disgusting behaviour,” she wrote. “They are falsely selling us contracted plans, which we can’t get out of, but they can change at will, with no consequences.”

“The CRTC has to step in and do something.”

The CRTC’s head of consumer research, Scott Hutton, says it has begun public consultations which will, in part, examine clauses that allow telcos such as Rogers, Bell and Telus to increase prices mid-contract.

“We are going out to listen to Canadians,” said Hutton. “To put in place new rules to actually correct the root cause of what’s in the contract.”

Not ‘proactively disclosing’  

Later this week, committee members are expected to pass a motion to report their displeasure with Rogers to the House of Commons, saying they are displeased that the company is not “proactively disclosing” fee increases that can occur while customers are locked in.

Mark Graham, a senior vice-president at Bell, also attended the meeting via video, and was similarly asked questions about his company’s practice of increasing fees during a contract. 

“Our pricing terms are clearly displayed,” said Graham, saying the company gives “explicit notice” to customers about fee increases. 

The committee has also requested a representative from Telus to appear. 

Michalycia says she feels stuck in her Rogers contract, because it’s too costly to pay the penalty to end it early.

She says she hopes other frustrated customers will let their providers — and government — know that the contracts are unfair and need to change.

“The only way it’s going to happen is if we stick together,” said Michalycia. “Everybody needs to speak out. And put these companies on notice that we’re not going to take their crap anymore.”