A Coquitlam mother of three text-happy teenagers is angry with her cellphone provider for altering their contract, but Rogers Wireless said the customer was given advance warning that some terms of their agreement would change.
Rosanna von Sacken purchased three cellphones from Rogers in September 2008. She signed a three-year student My 10 plan allowing her kids unlimited calls and texts to and from 10 numbers of their choice. The contract stated all text messages received would be free.
But in July 2009 Rogers started charging 15 cents for text messages received that were not covered by an air-time package. One of the children at that time was exchanging about 200 text messages a day.
“It’s wrong for Rogers to be able to change anything they want,” she said. “I want them to honour our original deal. I have no control over who texts my children.”
A spokesperson for Rogers said they notified customers in June 2009 that their contracts would be changing.
Von Sacken admits she missed the notification on her June 2009 bill, saying “no one reads all the fine print.”
Edward Bukszar, a Simon Fraser University business professor, said the move is legal but risky for Rogers.
“You always risk alienating customers when you change things like this regardless of the strategy they put behind it,” Bukszar said. “Customers feel distanced from a company they’re expected to be loyal to.”
