Why I’m Pulling the Plug on Cable TV from Rogers and Why Their Cancellation Policy Seems Illegal

Way back in 2004 we decided to get Cable TV from Rogers. We were leaving the country for several weeks with our youngest child and were leaving our elder child in the care of my parents. It seemed merciless to cut my Dad off from 7×24 TV news coverage for weeks, so we got cable for him. For a variety of reasons, most of which are spelled p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o-n, we didn’t cancel it when we got back. But the time has come to cancel our cable service; To me, though, it seems like the Rogers cancellation policy borders on illegal.

Whose Bill Is It?

I should have known that cancelling cable would be similar to severing my own limb using a plastic knife. However, since I am eternally optimistic (if cynical), I phoned Rogers at the number listed on our bill. I should have known there would be a problem because it technically is my husband’s bill, not ours. It is in his name only.

Anyway, I tried.

I called at 1:28. At 1:29 after selecting a variety of voice mail options that led no where, I was put on hold. At 1:30 the call was picked up.

At 1:42 I finally hung up.

I had not been able to cancel the bill. Nor was I able to find out how my husband could cancel in writing by fax, email or Canada Post.

Rogers Cable Says I Cannot Cancel My Cable TV Service In Writing

This is the part that seems borderline on illegal to me. The representative on the phone told me, repeatedly, that it is not possible to cancel Cable TV by sending in a letter: Not by fax, by email or by registered mail delivered by Canada Post!

I have heard many people complain about contracts that MUST be cancelled in writing. This is the first time I’ve encountered one that CANNOT be cancelled in writing!

To have spent 12 minutes waiting just to be told I could not cancel the service was very annoying indeed.

Why Did It Take 12 Minutes to Not Cancel the Service?

I told the agent plainly that we were cancelling because the cost for the service has become “way, way, way too high.” When we started cable in 2004, we were paying $26.44 including taxes etc. We are now paying $40.50 including taxes and strange fees to the CRTC. That’s an increase of $14.06 or over 53% in less than 10 years.

Now, to add insult to injury, Rogers has announced that as of Sept 17, 2013 they will charge you $2 to send you a bill. That’s right you have to pay for the privilege of owing them money. I wouldn’t take this from Bell and I won’t from Rogers either. (To do the agent justice, he did say that we could work out something to remove this $2 fee. Of course I had to phone in to find that out.)

The agent said he had to check what discounts he could offer for the service before he could accept a cancellation since we had stated the reason for cancelling is price.

Will my husband have to endure another 12 minute delay when he calls in to cancel?

How Can I Cancel the Cable If My Husband Can’t Phone Rogers?

Believe it or not, there is one way I can cancel the service if my husband can’t or won’t phone in:

  • I have to get a Power of Attorney
  • I can fax the Power of Attorney in to Rogers
  • I can then phone in to go through the phone in cancellation process again!

I’m amazed. Actually sort-of stunned. Why on earth can you not simply write a letter stating you are cancelling your TV service?!

Rogers Cable Has the Worst Cable TV Cancellation Service I Can Imagine

In conclusion, I think Rogers should win some sort of prize for most bizarre contract cancellation policy.

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Have you cut the cable? Did you find it quick and simple or tortuously slow and silly? Please share your experiences with a comment.

12 thoughts on “Why I’m Pulling the Plug on Cable TV from Rogers and Why Their Cancellation Policy Seems Illegal

  1. I hate rogers and there service i have tried to phone them 3 times in the past week first call one person puts me to antoher and another department back on hold the line goes dead after 50 minutes. Today the saame thing but 35 mins The service goes blank on the screen often or frezzes they have been in numboerous timnes i have had it with them i apsy almost 250 a month. Thats 3 grande a year i am done with them

    • I can see why you’d take your business elsewhere if that’s the kind of (lack of) service you’re getting. We’ve been fine without cable and with Petro-Canada mobility.

  2. Hi, just cancelled tv and internet ($156/mth) with rogers and will try vmedia which is iptv (a la carte) about $85/mth, including tsn/tsn2, and no internet cap. Switched both cell phones from rogers to Telus under a corporate plan ($50/mth 350 min 6GB data) which they no longer have. For home phone got a magic jack ($70/yr). Done with Rogers…cancellation wasn’t too bad, but they called me since to try and get me back, over my cold dead corpse!

    • It sounds like you’ve done some research and found some choices that suit your needs at a better price. Congrats!

    • Hi Kforbes, I have 2 questions for you if you don’t mind since your post is recent. 1. When they first called you to try to get you back, was it shortly after you cancelled the service and before the 30-day notice was up? Or before they totally cut off the service? 2. Did they offer you an even better deal than they tried to offer you at the time you cancelled? Thank you in advance for taking the time to reply to me.

      • Hi Rogers asked during the cancelation if they could find me a better deal and they couldn’t. I canceled on a Friday and on Monday got a call from one of their call centres asking if they could offer me anything to stay. The problem is their packages are to expensive by comparison so they can’t offer a lower price. Also they want you to bundle 3 or more services (I’m using magic jack for phone and Telus for cell) to get the best deal and they charge you equipment fees. And when your promotional period expires they raise your bill with no notice. Add to that their regular billing mistakes. .. So as an update I received my vmedia cable modem and vbox which I own ($120 for both one timepurchase) and just disconnected the old modem and connected the new one and it’s working fine. Cable looks the same with tsn included for $30 and the 25mbs Internet with no cap is $40. No issues after the first month.

  3. Oh also 3 of my coworkers have also switched and are enjoying no cap on the Internet.

  4. I realize that this is a late post but I just found your post and HAD to reply. Same issue!! I’ve been trying to disconnect from Rogers for over 2 years. Long story short… I was trying to help my son accrue some good credit and placed the bill in his name. We could never have anticipated that he would’ve sustained a brain injury which basically left him unable to do a lot of things e.g. cancelling Rogers, etc. I contacted Rogers a gazillion times and was told the same thing – “get a power of attorney”). What in the hell kind of practice is this??? I believe that I have enough to manage!!! So incredibly angry. I’ve finally just stopped paying the bill 3 months ago and received our disconnect notice yesterday. Can’t wait to dumb these money hungry pricks.

    • I’m very sorry to hear about your son’s injury and the insulting way you’ve been treated by Rogers. I’ll be hoping that his condition improves as much as is possible.

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