Dear Rogers, It's Over!

At the end of September and the beginning of October my wife and I moved to Ottawa from our home in Richmond Hill.  The move has gone smoothly with each utility closing our old accounts, opening a new account or transferring our accounts to our new address.   All utilities that is except Rogers.

Way back at the end of August and early September I contacted each utility individually to let them know of the move.  I spoke to many on the phone and sometimes made internet inquiries to relay the information.  Everything worked like clockwork with Enbridge, Powerstream, and Richmond Hill Water. 

Rogers though turned into a nightmare. I called on September 10th to move our services from Richmond Hill to Ottawa.  I explained to the customer service representative what I planned to do.  He started to take down my information (e.g. account number, name, address, etc.) and then his computer crashed.  He apologized and within three minutes rebooted his computer and was up and running.  We restarted the process and worked his way through asking questions and me answering honestly.  Before ending the conversation, based on previous experience, I double checked to ensure that the "move would be free" in terms of activation or other account charges.  The agent reassured me that all was good and no additional charges would be added.  He then ran through all the details to ensure that everything was correct before hanging up. All seemed to be perfect so far.

The next day, September 11th, in the afternoon I received a phone call from a Rogers Technician who sounded like he was outside at some cable box somewhere.  He was inquiring as to why my Rogers services were being switched over when the current occupant was still there and would be losing some of their Rogers services.  I was dumbfounded and explained I had not asked for September 11th, but October 1st.  The technician sighed and said he would rebook the appointment as requested when he returned to the office. 

On Sunday September 16th I received a phone call from Rogers representative who barely spoke English and I had a hard time understanding.  From what I could tell, she said the new owners to be of the Richmond Hill address had booked their appointment to switch their services.  She then went on to inquire if I would like to move my services and add even more.  I replied that I had already moved my services and did not wish to move forward with any other Rogers services due to my past experiences with them.  She said she would be more than willing to help in moving my services and adding more.  I asked to speak to her manager, she attempted again to say she could help, I asked to speak to her manager at least two more times before she put me on hold.  I was on hold for five minutes before the agent returned.  She said he manager was unavailable but she had confirmed my services had been transferred and then hung up on me.

I rolled my eyes and realized I had just been through the full Rogers customer experience.   At Rogers, if you ask to speak to a manager the following will happen:

1. The manager is unavailable due to them being in a meeting.

2. The manager is unavailable due to them being at lunch.

3. Make up your own reason.

Any of the above will result in the customer service agent trying to reassure you they can handle your issue despite Rogers screwing it up before or that they can take a message and someone from Rogers management will call you back (which they never do).

A week later, I spoke to the lawyer handling the closing on our new Ottawa address.  He explained to me that we probably wouldn't be receiving the keys until late on the day of closing.  Drat!  I had booked the Rogers Technician for the day of closing and now needed to move the appointment a day back.

I called on September 17th and spoke to another Rogers agent.  I explained the situation and they said it would be no problem to switch the day.  The Rogers agent made the change even ran through all the details to ensure they were correct, and they were.  We then hung up and I felt satisfied that Rogers had figured everything out on how to not to screw up a move. 

5 minutes later all hell broke loose and my satisfaction disappeared.  The Rogers agent who made the change now had my service being reconnected on the right date, but at my Richmond Hill address.  I called back Rogers absolutely livid.  The Rogers agent who picked up the phone said I could talk to my "Rogers Move Concierge" named Crenda.  I explained my reservations about speaking to someone in their "Rogers Move Concierge" centre because I had dealt with a salesperson before who barely spoke English and had failed to do her homework before calling me to move my services.  They promised that Crenda does speak English and was at her desk to help and then transferred me. 

Crenda picked up and asked me how I was doing, I explained that I was not happy about the service I had received from Rogers.  She promised to do what she could to straighten everything out about the move.  We ran through the details on both my joining Rogers via ACI being purchased (see here and here), my move to Richmond Hill from Aurora (see here) and now the issues with my move from Richmond Hill to Ottawa (noted above).  Crenda proceeded to ensure everything was correct and said a written confirmation would be e-mailed to me momentarily.  She also said the e-mail would include her phone number and if anything occurred she would gladly sort it out on her end.  I inquired again if "moving with Rogers is always free."  She confirmed this was the case, moving was free.  This reassured me that things with Rogers were turning for the better.

I received the confirmation in my e-mail and Crenda's phone number (1-855-810-4284). But there were charges for activation listed on the confirmation, so I called Crenda back to investigate the charges.  She answered the question quickly by saying that she has now control over the charges being listed on the confirmation.  But Crenda did promise that they have been refunded and will show on the next bill as refunded.  I thanked her and hung up. 

E-mail confirmations by Rogers need work.  Rogers Moving Concierge's should be able to adjust the confirmation so that all details of the move, including fees being charged or waived, are included.  Rogers has refused to do this and thus, does not give it's customers the benefit of having a clearly explained written confirmation of the details of the move.  Instead, customers receive a cluttered and confusing confirmation that is useless.

Later that day I received another e-mail from Crenda at Rogers.  This e-mail advertised the Rogers was in the business of home security.  I immediately disposed of it in the recycle bin of my e-mail account.  Good gracious!  Rogers can't even handle activating cable (me in 2009) and can't get the details right on the move of internet (me in 2010).  So how can they be trusted in not screwing up home security services?

Fast forward to September 30th and onwards.  I received an automated e-mail from Rogers as a reminder that the technician was booked for the date and time requested.  Great customer service, remind the customer about their date and time for the service.   This was followed with a phone call a couple of days later.  Great again, things with Rogers appeared to be looking up. 

Then on the date of the appointment I had arranged to be at the address between 2 and 5 P.M. to wait for the Rogers technician.  Wouldn't you know it, the Rogers Technician pulled in at 2:05 P.M.  I congratulated him on being right on time.  He did a quick tour of the cable, adjusted a few things and ensured I was up and running with Internet before he tap danced out the door to his next appointment.  I was very impressed on how the Rogers Technician provided excellent service and answered any questions I had about the hook up. 

Fast forward to two weeks ago when I received my Rogers bill.  Rogers was billing me for:

1.  Two full months of internet but only providing me with 1.5 months of service.

2. Increasing my monthly rate upwards by $2.00 per month without any notice. 

3. Claiming I had not paid my September 2012 invoice. 

So I called Crenda to investigate.  She wasn't in, so I left her a voicemail as to my billing issues. 

I spent a couple of hours wondering how Rogers could have screwed up the billing on two moves I had (2010 and 2012).  I was seething that I was promised moving wouldn't cost me anything on two occasions in 2012 and similarly on my move to Richmond Hill in 2010 yet when the bill came in the mail the ink on paper told a different story.

I called Crenda again and still got voicemail.  I hit "0" and spoke to another Rogers Concierge. The Concierge reviewed my file and claimed:

1. the charges were proper for the time I was paying. I reviewed it with her again by using my August 2012 bill as an example of 1 months charges and showing how my account was not prorated correctly by Rogers.  She put me on hold, recalculated and came back to say I was correct that my account was not prorated correctly and mathematical errors had been done by Crenda. 

2. that the rates had recently increased by $2.00 per month for my service.  She was also surprised that I had the old rate for that long.  I pointed out that I was originally an Aurora Cable Internet (ACI) subscriber and was promised by Rogers certain rates.  The Rogers agent put me on hold claiming she had to  double checked her library and would get back to me.  No surprise, the Rogers agent claimed that the old ACI guarentee had run out. 

3. the September 2012 invoice was never printed by Rogers.  So they let me pay it once I received my October 2012 invoice.

I was then asked the usual call centre standard question of: "is there anything else I can help you with?" I said "yes" of course there is.  Based on what I've experienced with Rogers previously and during this move I will taking the next couple of weeks to review my internet options.  The agent replied that she since I was going to be reviewing the services and I was obviously unsatisfied with Rogers at this point, she would extend an offer: 15% off my current Rogers package if I stayed with Rogers for 1 calender year on contract.  I said thank you for the offer and I would like to inquire with my wife as to what our next steps would be.  The Concierge said she would note the offer on our account and we could call in anytime to activate it. Before hanging up the Rogers Concierge inquired if I would like Crenda to call me.  Still seething, I said that would be perfect.

An hour later, Crenda called. I explained to her the issues with the Rogers bill.  She reviewed all the charges on the bill and said they were now correct.  I also went over the promotion I had been offered.  Crenda put me on hold to review what other offers there were and came back to say the 15% off was basically what the best out there right now.  I thanked

Considering the service I had received from Rogers over the past 3 plus years, I was torn.  It seemed that any time a change was needed to be made by either Rogers acquiring a company I was with or whether I was moving, Rogers employees and accounting systems couldn't handle it.  I was either signed up for the wrong program or overbilled.  Hours had been spent trying to straighten out Rogers stupidity.  Added to the stupidity, the offer of 15% off my internet if I stayed with Rogers for one year.  The calculation for 15% off my bill? It came out to Rogers offering me $2.00 and change on my monthly bill which roughly came out equal to what I was paying before the recent fee increase.  On top of that, if I had accepted the 15% offer I would also be stuck with Rogers for 1 year.  Finally, after all this time, I had it.

I started to investigate other options.  Bell?  Forget it, after reading the horror stories over the years I would have rather stayed with Rogers.   One of Ellen Roseman's most frequented covered stories has been Bell's awesome customer service antics.

I had also heard about Teksavvy via advertisements on the Toronto area transit systems.  My wife, who had worked at an IT Department recently, said that a lot of her coworkers use Teksavvy and we should look into it.

I looked into Teksavvy last week and was quite impressed at what I saw.  The website has a plethora of options available for internet.  Teksavvy's website even goes has you enter your address information to see what services are available in your area and what price you would receive.  I was impressed at the pricing to Gigabytes of data allowed compared to Rogers.    But I had some doubts how such a small out of the middle of nowhere company would be able to provide reliable internet service. 

To investigate if my doubts were valid I turned to old Google.  Google results came back with some reassuring results.  Discussion threads extolling the virtues of Teksavvy technology and customer service were satisfactory compared to the horrors shown for Rogers. 

What sealed the deal for me though, besides my wife's former coworkers at the IT Department using Teksavvy, was this article by Globe & Mail Technology reporter Michael Snider.  Mr. Snider had left Rogers after reviewing his own options for his own personal at home internet.  The only hitch Mr. Snider ran into was Rogers requires a 30 day notice before shutting down the internet in order to allow a switchover to a company like Teksavvy.  So there was no time to waste.

I reviewed my findings with my wife and we decided to move forward.   On Friday November 2nd I headed down to the Rogers Plus Store at Rideau Centre (50 Rideau Street, Ottawa) for 9 A.M.  Big mistake, the stores don't open until 9:30 A.M.  So I hung around until 9:30 at the Second Cup before scampering back upstairs to the Rogers Plus Store for 9:30 A.M.  I arrived only to find it closed with the lights out.

I waited until 9:35 A.M. for the employees to open the store.  While waiting I headed back towards the Second Cup to borrow the internet in order to check the Rogers website for store hours.  The Rogers Plus Store locator is aggravating as it wanted to know what services I was looking for etc. before showing me my options.  After five minutes I gave up as I saw, in the distance, a Rogers Plus store employee opening the store.   I scampered to be first in line. 

I arrived at the Rogers Plus store to be met with an employee on the phone.  Great start at Rogers Plus, opened late and now on the phone.

Eventually I spoke with Kali at the Rogers Plus store.  She explained that I needed to call Rogers on the phone to speak to representative in order to get rid of my internet service.  I called the 1-800 number provided and went through the "press this for that and that for this" phone centre hell.  I eventually got to "Fahid" who asked how he could help.  Full stop there...

Have you ever wondered why call centres like Rogers ask you to go through pressing numbers to work your way through different options and may even include entering in your 10 to 12 digit account number only to be asked how to be helped by the agent? Um, like doesn't your computer screen say "I don't want your service anymore" or "You overcharged me a horrendous amount of money!"   So why not skip the middle man (the automated phone system) and give me a functional human on the phone and don't waste me time argh....

I explained to Fahid that I was providing the 30 day notice for my internet.  He inquired if there was anything Rogers could do to retain me as a customer.  I thought a free year of internet would help matters, but figured I wouldn't waste my time mentioning it.  I replied there was nothing considering Rogers had put me through issues of migrating me over to their services after the purchase of Aurora Cable Internet, screwing up my move to Richmond Hill from Aurora and now the calmanity that occurred with my move from Richmond Hill to Ottawa.  I said I would like out as of December 2nd.  His reply was that December 1st would be the 30 day notice.  My reply was "hey I'm such a nice guy I'm giving Rogers 31 days notice instead of the required 30 and besides Rogers couldn't prorate a bill anyway.  Fahid said sure we can prorate a bill.  I pointed to my recent billing screw up that showed Rogers couldn't prorate and further said, just make it December 2nd to make things easier for both of us.  Fahid confirmed all the details of the cancellation of my account and hung up.  I thanked Kali at the Rogers Plus store for her help in cancelling my service and left. 

I signed up with Teksavvy once I got home.  It was quite simple, I logged onto the Teksavvy website, chose my options and was away to the races. I'm expecting the beginning of December to be an early Christmas present, no more hassles from Rogers including ever increasing rates. Now I will have Teksavvy with excellent customer service (I called them once with questions on how set up works) and, based on the reviews, excellent internet service.

So Goodbye Rogers! I wish I could say it has been great (IT HASN'T!).  Hello Teksavvy!

One of the Reasons I moved

There were many reasons I moved to my new place in Richmond Hill.  These included a place to call my own (along with a mortgage of my own), a wider space to design and expand into. 

After moving into my place for a lot of reasons I found yet another reason to find my place, the passing dogs!  In my neighbourhood there are two basset hounds that go for a walk everyday with their owner.  They love everyone and everything! 

I happened to have my cell phone (hence the grainyness) with me and took the following encounter happening across the street of one of the reasons to love where I live!

Our Basset hound friends!

Tips on Finding a Realtor

One of my favourite columnists, Ellen Roseman of the Toronto Star, recently wrote a column on finding a realtor and the pitfalls some of her readers have gone through.  She takes particular issue with the signing of the "buyer representation agreement" and it's many pitfalls.   Ellen always brings forth the issues and highlights the areas of concern for consumers to watch out for when dealing with big companies and/or simple transactions.

As I've noted before I had good experiences with my realtor and my experience in purchasing a house.  This is what reputable realtors will want you to have, a good time during the ride of the house hunting experience. 
But, hiring a Realtor can be a little daunting. 

Back in early 2010 my wife and I decided we would at least look at the housing market to see what the prices were like.  We visited http://www.mls.ca/ (the Realtor website) to determine what prices were like.  We then took a look at what we thought we could afford (i.e. a budget).   As well, we took a look at what we were looking for in terms of "wants", "needs", "nice to haves but not necessary" and "forget it...NEXT HOUSE!" aspects for houses.  We also read several articles online, library books and in the newspapers that we could find.  Then we started looking for a real estate agent.

As first time homebuyers and knowing nothing about house hunting than houses with real estate signs in front of them we definately needed someone who could answer simple questions clearly as well as school us on what to look for in a house.  We also had to be comfortable and trust our agent. It was also important in taking our time to choose the right agent.

I thought I had just the right person in mind.  I had known that Roy Eveleigh had been a long time realtor and had spoken to a couple of people I knew about his services and recommended him. I spoke to Roy after church one day and he pointed me towards getting preapproved for a mortgage first.  He gave me a couple of business cards and said once that step is done please feel free to contact me so we can move forward.

We contacted our current bank, one of Roy's recommendations and another bank to see what we could get in terms of rates. We then got preapproved at a great rate for us and took the paperwork with us to our next meeting with Roy.

We met Roy for an evening where he outlined how the Realtor and buyer relationship would work.  He gave us a bunch of paperwork to read over, sign and return to him in the future.  We appreciated that Roy let us take home the agreement to ponder and didn't pressure us into signing.  In hindsight this was one the best suggestion Roy made as he wanted us to feel comfortable with him without any pressure.  We took it home and read it over.  The next visit we had a couple of questions on the Realtor agreement which Roy easily answered in straight forward language.  We took the agreement back home to review again. 
On the same visit, we also went over what the mortgage provider gave us to give Roy an idea on what we could afford.  Roy was a complete professional. Together with Roy we went and looked at a few houses.  Roy showed us a few houses by appointment and we gained some experience in what Roy would show us in.  Roy never tried to "sell us" on a house.  He always showed us both the good and bad of a house. If I had a question he always answered truthfully.  This helped us bolster our decision to sign the Realtor agreement. 

So my suggestions on finding a Realtor and before signing a Realtor agreement is (chronologically):

1. Get preapproved for a mortgage.  This allows you to know what your price range for houses to purchase.

2. Have a referral from friends and family on who they feel is a good real estate agent. 

3. Have a meeting with the agent and go over the details on what you looking for to give them an understanding.

4. At the same meeting go over the Realtor agreement with the agent but do not sign it at this point.  Take the agreement home and reread it again.  If you have questions be sure to ask your Realtor on the next meeting. 

5. Also before signing, see a few houses (two or three houses) by appointment with your prospective Realtor.  Remember you are going to be seeing probably close to forty houses or more with this Realtor so you must feel comfortable with them.  Look to see if the Realtor is only playing up the good parts about the house or are they willing to point out both good and bad issues with the house.  Also, when you ask a question do they sound truthful or are they giving you a sales pitch to explain a possible defect away?  Bottom line, a good Realtor should make you feel comfortable with the buying process and want you to feel comfortable in your new home instead of trying to make a quick sale. 

6. Ask any questions you may have about the agreement and then sign if you wish.  If you do not wish to sign at this point, there would be no obligation to you to maintain the relationship with the agent. But if you do sign, you at least have done your research and should be comfortable with the agent.

After signing the agreement Roy gave us a great time house hunting.  We learned about what foreclosure houses looked like and the pitfalls behind them, how as first time homebuyers we probably want to stay away from houses that are currently rented to tenants and that you need a deposit of ten thousand or so before putting down an offer.  We had a good time visiting prospective houses either giving them a thumbs up or thumbs down and giving reasons why. Roy quickly learned what we were looking for and had suggestions of where further to look. 

Roy was always willing to answer stupid first time home buyer questions and still enjoys hearing about the trials and tribulations of owning a house. 

Finding a good Realtor is very important as they will assist you in making one of the biggest purchases of your life, a home to live in.  Thus, I was glad to have Roy assist me in this as he was very knowlegable, patient and professional with my wife and I.

No Earth Hour for Me!

I believe the Earth doesn't deserve one hour a year, I believe it deserves something more everyday.

The above is an excerpt from my blog posting from last year at this time.  I still believe it even after I moved from Aurora to Richmond Hill.

 
I watch intently from my new perch in Richmond Hill as single occupant gas guzzling cars and trucks sitting on Yonge Street going nowhere during rush hours and Saturdays.  I watch the traffic lights change and pedestrians are forced to walk around these car drivers who are so oblivious that the pedestrian is taking life into their own hands by just crossing the street. The car drivers sit there waiting for an opening in traffic to make their turn totally ignoring the pedestrian crossing the street. At any moment a pedestrian could be struck. The worst offenders are the ones making the right hand turns and inching out bit by bit so far that they start to obstruct the VIVA bus stop lanes.  Then these same drivers sit their dumbfounded why a sixty foot big blue bus comes roaring within inches of their front bumper into the lane they are beginning to obstruct.  Drivers are oblivious to this as they sit in their cars idling away and spewing exhaust from their tailpipes.  But the very next day, all of the above repeats itself.  The same care drivers are not just oblivious to pedestrians and large buses, but what their constant single occupant vehicle idling does to the environment.

These same drivers will probably participate in Earth Hour on Saturday by turning out the lights and unplugging their obnoxiously big televisions and dusting off a few board games that were last used at this time last year.  These same people will, once 9:30 P.M. comes around, put it all away until next year and fire up their lights and return to their obliviousness to pedestrians, buses and the effect their lifestyle has on the environment and fellow human beings.


A tree in San Juan, Puerto Rico

What these people fail to see is the environment needs them to rethink their lives on a daily basis.  Earth Hour is more a symbolism of what the Earth really needs at this point.  Adding to the travesty of Earth Hour is the Town of Aurora's promise for every pledge a resident makes to plant a single measely tree in their name.  One single measly tree and an hour without power.  The earth still needs more than this and needed it last year, this year and years into the future. The earth needs more than mere symbolism towards it.  The earth needs humans to change. 

I will not be lighting up candles or sitting in the dark on Saturday night this year again.  I will be living my life normally doing whatever I wish.  Possibly watching a movie on DVD with my wife or going for an evening walk to see all the houses darkened.  But I will not go out of my way to tip my hat towards Earth Hour.  Is it because I don't care about the environment?  Is it because I don't wish to inconvenience myself in the name of the environment? No, it is because I already do quite a bit for the environment. 

I concentrate on a daily basis as to how I can lower my impact on the environment.  After moving into my new home June 2010 I began to take a look of where I could make changes:

• Where the budget and proper supplies of light bulbs exist, I've begun to change my light bulbs over from the GU10 halogen to the LED lighting.   I've tried first converting over to the GU10 to the Noma GU10 bulb but found these lacking.  These light bulbs are the perfect size to fit in the fixture and look nice aesthetically.  However, they take forever to warm up and don't provide the same brightness as even an GU10 halogen bulb.  I've tried converting over to the Philips LED equivalents but Home Depot can barely keep them in stock. So when quantities and the budget provide, I pick these up and hopefully by the end of this year I should have all of my GU10 sockets switched over. 

• I turn power bar to my Nintendo WII, DVD player and television off when they are not required.  This helps to reduce the "phantom power" that the Nintendo Wii, the DVD player and the television have when not in use and, supposedly, turned off.  

•  For heating I have the furnace on a programmable thermastat so it comes on before I come home and goes off when I leave for the day.  We also reprogrammed it during our vacation so that it went down to twelve degrees celcius  and held the temperature there indoors.  That was so the furnace didn't have to heat the house as much when no one was there and so the water pipes didn't freeze and burst.  As well we ensure the blinds are open during the day to catch the warm sun when needed and closed when not needed. During the summer we very rarely turn on our air conditioner and spend a lot of time in our cool furnished basement.  As well, I recently finished a project of insulating drafty electrical wall plugs and light switches in my house.  In the future I will be looking at adding insulation and weatherstripping wherever possible to further reduce the heating bill. The only down side of all this is the savings on my heating bill.  Enbridge keeps estimating the bill to high and every three months or so requires a phone call with an actual reading.  Since moving in we have had twice had a credit on our gas bill because Enbridge hasn't estimated the reading correctly.  The last one at the beginning of the month was Enbridge overestimating our consumption by 200 cubic metres over what we actually used.  Thus, the above methods have produced significant savings as well as the environment.

• When going to the store I bring at least one of the cornicopia reusable canvas bags so I don't get a plastic bag.  If I happen to forget a canvas bag I ensure the plastic bag I do bring home is used as a trash can liner.   This also has translated into savings as my wallet as most stores now are charging five cents per shopping bag. 

• As well we have increased our use of our recycling as well as were introduced to the Green Bin for compostables.  At our old apartment we didn't have recylcing or Green Bin available to us.  This has changed immensly and instead of one garbage bag per week going to the dump we have one garbage bag every two weeks along with a full blue box and a medium full Green Bin.  Although, there are some changes coming to the Green Bin that I don't necessarily agree with which will force me to re-evaluate using this in terms of a cost perspective.

Why do I continously look for ways to improve my house and my life in this manner?  Mainly because savings are gradually realized as well as:

I believe the Earth doesn't deserve one hour a year, I believe it deserves something more everyday.

A New Doctor not to Be

Back in 2010 my wife and I moved to Richmond Hill and our first house.  Later in 2010 I changed doctors so that the doctor would be convenient.  The doctor was available for an initial visit and I joined his practice. 

I chose the doctor after first meeting him for several reasons.  The main one was his hours extended beyond just the mere 9 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday to Friday that would require me to take time off work if I needed a physical or had something that wasn't putting me in bed for the day. As well, the doctor is part of a group practice.  This means if my doctor isn't available for any reason, there is an "On Call Doctor" who sees patients and has access to the my records within the same office.  Also, the office is open on Saturdays for Walk Ins for any patient of the practice.  So there were loads of pluses.  

My wife was looking to also move her doctor a little closer to home.  So she made an appointment with another doctor, Dr. Sakeenah Ameen, at the same group practice my doctor was part of.  We made the appointment for an initial visit back in January for yesterday (February 22nd) at 4:15 P.M.  My wife takes some time off work in order to make it the practice for the appointment.  

We check in with the receptionist and am informed the doctor isn't there.  We inquired when we were informed, the receptionist replied back on February 3rd a message was left.  Later we checked our call display and it shows there was a call but there was no record of a message left.  We both don't recall a message either as we would have easily rebooked the appointment. 

We inquired with the receptionist what our options were:

She replied that we could rebook for next week during the day.  This wasn't an option as my wife had already wasted a couple of hours off work for nothing and was unlikely to get time off next week due to a major project being undertaken that needs to be completed soon. 

We inquired if there was an evening appointment.  No the Doctor doesn't see patients in the evening for first time visits. We inquired if there was anything in the morning, the reply was the Doctor only does physicals between 9:00 A.M. and 11 A.M.  so that wasn't an option. 

My wife looked at me for any ideas.  I replied that obviously the receptionist isn't willing to bend on this issue and obviously doesn't want a new patient otherwise they wouldn't have booked patients originally when the doctor wasn't here and that if things changed, they office would have ensured that all the appointments had been rebooked and that more than a message would have been left. I told the receptionist, just before we left, that the Doctor was not interested in having my wife as a new patient as there was no effort by the Doctor's office to rebook the appointment.  My wife agreed and we left the office. 

My wife was totally annoyed that she had worked hard last week and put in some overtime hours.  She used at least two hours of overtime last week in order to leave work early for the Doctor's appointment yesterday.  What did she get in return? Nothing. 

She is also due for a physical, so the thinking was at least the evening hours would work so she wouldn't require to take more time off work.  But after wasting two hours it was all for not. 

Thanks Dr. Ameen for wasting 2 hours of my wife's time for absolutely nothing.  You've lost a frustrated patient.

A Basket of Good Customer Service

Earlier in 2010 we moved into a new home in Richmond Hill.  We saw over fifty houses in the area with our real estate agent, Roy Eveleigh, before choosing one and putting an offer down. 

Fast forward to now and we are pretty well moved in...sure there are pictures still to put up on the wall, and some storage issues in the basement that a little shelving wouldn't hurt...but we are here!   Roy stopped by earlier this week to see how we were making out and to get a quick tour to see what we had done with the place.  But he also brought with him a basket full of goodies!

 Our resident furry feline, Garf Man, was of course interested in what was inside.

Sorry Garf Man, no lasagna.



A better look at the goodies from Roy.



Overall, a good piece of customer service by Roy for bringing this by to us.  We still enjoy talking with Roy about everything good and bad about the house. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to Roy, our awesome real estate agent.

Of course we now have our nibbles for the Christmas season to munch on too...

Loving the Extra Time Spent NOT on the Bus

As I sit here typing I reminisce about where I was a year ago today.   Last year I was looking forward to getting married with not even an inkling of purchasing a house.  Also, last year I was suffering through a consistent commute time of over an hour fifteen minutes even through the imaginative scheduling by YRT/VIVA on their trip planner says it should take 50 minutes.  That is presuming the buses actually showed up closed to their real times on a consistent basis (that is because YRT scheduled times are completely laughable in some cases...just ask some of the drivers) and weren't experiencing delays. 

Now, a year later, I get home (to a house I actually own!) usually in forty five minutes at most.  But I will admit to walking 20 minutes in order to avoid one bus, TTC 107B (operating in York Region under contract by YRT), as it rarely seems to come on time over half the time. Although if everything goes right and somehow I catch an earlier 107B (i.e. the earlier scheduled one running late) than I can be home in thirty minutes.

Yup, I save about an hour round trip on my commute.  With a few other additions and subtractions to my work-life balance I go to bed much later and get up when I want.  In fact my mornings are wonderful.  I can lounge around or head straight to work if I feel so inclined.  Really it is up to me. 

What do I do with my extra time?  Oh let me count the ways:

1. My wife and I go to the library a little more often.

2. Go grocery shopping.

3. Cut the grass on a weeknight evening instead of during the day on a weekend. 

4. Unpacking...memo....I've almost been in my home for a month and I'm still not fully unpacked..I really should get on that...but I digress.

5. Blogging apparently, I've increased my postings a little bit after moving.

But most of all, I love not watching the VIVA bus inch up Yonge Street stuck in traffic and the bus' GPS unit showing a minus sign with a number getting larger and larger that only means the bus is falling further and further behind schedule.

In the future after I strike number four off the list I look forward to doing other things with my time.  What might that be?  At this stage I'm not really worried, but, like a passenger waiting for a YRT/VIVA bus, I will worry about it when the time comes. 

What a difference a year makes.

The Liberal Differentiates itself from Good Customer Service

“The only thing left to differentiate a company is customer service.” - YorkRegion.com article (online home of The Liberal newspaper).

It's been an adventure just trying to get a newspaper delivered.  It all started back after I moved into my new home in mid June.

We received the Thursday edition of The Liberal, the local Richmond Hill newspaper. I looked at the Editorial page at the masthead.  On the masthead it said The Liberal was delivered on Thursday and Sunday.    The next Sunday I found another copy on our driveway.  I picked up on my way to church to read on the bus.  On my way home I read the date of "Saturday" on it.  I thought it might be a typo but apparently it is not.

The next two weeks I got the Thursday edition after 10 P.M.   Then on Saturday overnight to Sunday I get yet another Thursday edition.  Now it is pretty easy to distinguish between a Thursday and Saturday edition of paper.  Besides the obvious, the date printed on the top of each page, the Thursday edition comes with 20 flyers and is the size of a phone book.  The Saturday edition is smaller and, at most has five flyers. 

After two weekends of receiving two editions of the same paper from Thursday night to Sunday I decided to inquire with the powers of the paper and called The Liberal office. 

On Sunday afternoon,  I looked up The Liberal's website shows the circulation department phone number to be: 905-660-9887.  I dialled the number and got a message saying "The Liberal office is currently closed.  The Liberal offices are open 9 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday through Friday.. If you know your party's extension please dial it now..." 

So Monday morning at 9:05 A.M. rolled around and I dialled the number again.  The automated system again picked up and said "Thank you for calling the Liberal, if you know your party's extension please dial it now, if you are a carrier reporting a shortage please dial 500.."   At this point I dialled "0" in hopes of speaking to an operator in order to be redirected.  The line rang five times and then returned me to the automates system.  Frustrated, I hung up.

I returned to the Liberal contact page and found another number:  905-881-3373.  I dialed it and a lady picked up the phone.  I asked for the circulation department as I did not receive a copy of the newspaper.  She transferred me directly to someone's voicemail.

I redialed again and got the same person picking up the phone.  I said "I would like to speak to a LIVE person about a delivery issue of my newspaper...perhaps I forgot to specify LIVE."  Before I even finished she put me on hold for thirty seconds and transferred me over. 

Another nice lady picked up the phone.  I explained my situation to her and explained I understand that, as a former paper carrier at their sister paper in Aurora, The Banner, there can be delivery issues.  However, receiving the same edition twice over two weekends seemed a little weird. 

She said she would look into it and took my name and contact information down.  I then hung up the phone.

Later in the day I revisited The Liberal's website, http://www.yorkregion.com/, to read some articles.  I couldn't help but notice that one of the articles featured on their homepage was headlined. "Customer service more important than ever, speaker says".    I read the article nodding my head thinking, "to true, to true, I hope those manning the phone systems at the Liberal office are reading their own articles."  The Liberal sure could learn a thing or two about providing customer service because most people in a similar situation would've simply hung up the phone and said "forget it."   Not me of course who as a delivery person lived by the thoguht of  "if your going to deliver a free newspaper do it right and on time".   The Liberal offices however, apparently never heard of this concept.  Because if they did, they would have picked up the phone when I dialed the Circulation Department's listed phone number and had this whole issue overwith in less than two minutes.   It's a pitty really, a pitty.

"That’s one customer, one bad experience...it’s astounding."  --YorkRegion.com article.

Rogers just Doesn't Get It

During my move I had to switch my utilities over to the new address.  In most cases I had to close an account at my old address in Aurora and open a new on in Richmond Hill and this cost me some shekels. 

Rogers was different though.  "Moving is absolutely free" the Rogers Customer Service lady said over the phone when I called to let Rogers know that I wished to move my internet from Aurora to Richmond Hill and inquire as to how to do this.

You would think Rogers would have learned their lesson after their last time screwing up with me (see here and here).  It seems that anytime a change occurs at Rogers with an account the customer ends up screwed.   When Rogers purchased Aurora Cable Internet (the local cable company in Aurora), all the old Aurora Cable Internet subscribers were gradually moved over to the Rogers packages.  This caused technical, billing and customer service issues.  Rogers lost gobs of former Aurora Cable Internet Customers.   In my case, they screwed me twice (signed me up 2 times for the wrong package and then screwed up the bill by charging me an activation fee transferring over to Rogers services because Rogers themselves were ending Aurora Cable Internet service!). 

Fast forward to my move.  Remember the line "Moving is absolutely free" that was fed to me by Rogers Customer Service.  Well soon after I moved into my new home I opened my mailbox to find a bill from Rogers for the usual amount plus a "$14.95" activation fee.  

To say the least, I was seething.  If "Moving is absolutely free" than why are, to borrow a line from Chrisopher Watts,  these asshats charging me an "activation fee"?  Again, the premise of changing anything with Rogers seems to boggle their Customer Service people.   You would think that over the past forty years of serving a large swath of Southern Ontario that Rogers could handle someone moving within their service area and promise "Moving is absoultely free" with a snap of a finger.   Apparently not.

So I called Rogers Customer Service and got their billing department.  I told my story to Lyna in billing (who actually spoke clear English and sounded like she at least resided in Canada).  She put me on hold for less than a minute.  She came back and said the activation fee has been refunded and the new amount of the bill.  I inquired with her if this new amount would show up online by the next day.  She confirmed it was.  I took down Lyna's name on my bill and the date I called in case things got even more interesting.

As a test, I logged in five minutes after hanging up the phone and the new amount showed on my account.  I payed it right away!

Fast forward to Wednesday June 23rd of this past week.  At work I had just come back from lunch when a middle aged asian woman walked into the front office looking for the person who looked after the phone system.  I responded that would be me.

The lady said she was from Rogers and if she could see if I was getting any savings on our phone system.  It seemed like she was one of those electrical sales idiots that Ontarians are having issues with but with phone systems.  As soon as she said she was from Rogers I pounced.

I basically told her I would never give our company's business to Rogers based on my experiences on two different occasions with my Rogers home services and Rogers technology and billing practices. 

In return I got the usual nod and smile "I'm understanding your frustration and I promise this won't happen here" response from her.  She said she would be watching our account very carefully as Rogers Account Manager so these items wouldn't occur.

I looked at her with a dumbfounded look and said that I wish I could believe her but the recent media reports were not in her favour.  I pointed out that Rogers was currently refunding somewhere between three and thirty million dollars in overcharges to current subscribers.

She reassured me that as an Account Manager that she would oversee things to ensure everything was correct.  I told her that perhaps if it was just a case like my own Rogers Residential issues I could possibly let it go.  But I'm sorry when it is a figure in the millions of dollars it seems that not only was it just a Rogers Customer Service billing issue but the billing and customer service incompetance goes all the way up to the management chain. 

At this point I had enough and had work to do.  I got up and proceeded to give the impression I was not interested by trying to head back to work.  She insisted that if I changed my mind I should take her name and number to call her.  She gave me her flyer with her name and number handwritten on it.

After she left I filed this piece of paper in my blue box under my desk.  

Rogers, you've apparently learned absolutely nothing.  As Toronto Star Consumer Columnist Ellen Roseman said on her blog "I’ll watch my bills and wonder if I can trust them again."

The Library Card!

This evening my wife and I headed off to the Richvale Public Library for a little browsing of the DVD collection. 

Rewind to last Wednesday.  We walked over with library bag in hand (my wife has a Richmond Hill Library Card already) and explored the local branch.  I, growing up in Aurora, going to school in Ottawa and living in New York, had never seen such a small branch.  My wife commented that this was the size of library she used to visit a kid.  I didn't mind the size and quickly found a newspaper and a nice little spot to curl up in. 

Fast forward to today.  I was bounding off the walls in the library like a four year old.  I got my Library Card!  A brand new shiny Library Card.  I felt like a million bucks.  Did I borrow anything?  No, I had too much excitement for one day.  But my wife borrowed some DVDs for the weekend we plan on watching tonight.

Nonetheless, sometimes it is the simplist things in life like getting a Library Card that puts a smile on my face.

House Hunting 101: Learning About Different Homes & Terminology

After finding a reputable realtor (in our case Roy Eveleigh), deciding what type of place we wanted (e.g. townhouse, detached, number of bedrooms, etc.) and what our price range was, we were off looking at houses. 

The first house we looked at was in Richmond Hill on Church Street South near the Elgin Barrow Arena.  We looked it over on an open house one Saturday at the end of February.  We learned a lot about older homes in this area.  The main one was older homes tend to have lower ceilings in north west of Major Mackenzie Drive and Yonge Street area (Downtown Richmond Hill).   This house, after visiting the basement, was not for me as really the only thing I could observe down there was it had nice carpeting. 

During late February through March to April 2010 the housing market in our price range was moving quickly.  Literally we would see listings on http://www.mls.ca/, forward them Roy to book appointments.  The time would come to meet Roy to see the places, but we couldn't.  THEY WERE SOLD!  This was frustrating at times.  I believe that in at least one case we were viewing a house and it sold while we were still in it. 

When these appointments fell through due to the property being sold, Roy took advantage of it to book other appointments of houses we might like or to visit properties that were of educational value.   In one case we visited a foreclosure.  The property was located on Roseview Avenue also in the older part of Downtown Richmond Hill.  Roy promised we probably wouldn't be interested in the place but we should see what a typical foreclosure house might look like.  To say the least the place a several issues, everything from the under the kitchen cabinet do it yourselfer wiring for lighting to weird layouts on the second floor were quite evident.  Only one person knows if the renovations inside were up to code, the Chief Building Official for the Town of Richmond Hill!   By my novice eye, I doubted this property would have passed. 

Another interesting learning experience Roy took us on an open house with tenants still living in it on Nahanni Drive.  We left that place feeling sorry for the sellers agent.  The place was a mess and hadn't seen a vacuum or a little Windex in at least two weeks.  What a dump. 

In contrast we saw another home in north Richmond Hill that we actually thought about putting an offer in.  The place was immaculate and very well kept.  The only thing that stopped us in our tracks was on the listing it said it was "tenanted".  Even Roy was surprised that this place was being rented.  As first time homebuyers, as well, we looking for a place that was easy to move into.  Obviously renters were probably not interested in being forced to move out and we could see possible legal bills dancing in our eyes.  So anything tenanted were not interested in seeing. 

There was lots to learn on the home front.  We were glad Roy Eveleigh was along for the ride.  He was very knowledgable in different features of homes (i.e. he is pretty handy when looking at an electical panel).  We also felt comfortable asking him the usual "we are totally new at this..." questions to Roy.  These questions ranged from: "What is broadloom?" (Answer: carpeting that is not of the area rug nature); "What does 'PC' mean on a listing? (Answer: "Price Change").  Roy was very patient with us and answered are numerous questions in simple language with some examples. 

Learning ropes of the real estate industry while searching for a home was an experience in itself. It was great having an experienced real estate agent along for the ride.

Moving Memories

Back in February of this year the entire idea of moving out of my apartment began.  I talked to what would be our agent after church one day about what we needed.  He gave us a couple of business cards to contact mortgage people.  Soon after my wife and I were talking to mortgage brokers and financial advisors.  

Once we became preapproved we went back to our agent, Roy Eveleigh, to figure out our next steps.  We drew up a list of what we were looking for in a place and of course the three most important things: location, location, location.

My wife and I were looking to shorten our commutes.  Since we both work in north Toronto and south York Region we decided something in Richmond Hill would be ideal.  Richmond Hill? Yes it is perfect for us as it is close to both work and accessible to transit into the city (GO Train and VIVA service).  Also, Richmond Hill's housing prices were affordable to us unlike places we saw on http://www.realtor.ca/ in north Toronto.

The road ahead was tough slogging though: open houses, appointments for viewing, strange real estate agents for sellers and much more.   But it was all worth it as I type in my new home feeling satisfied after clearing out five more cardboard boxes of stuff today. 

Of course there is lots more to tell about moving... so stay tuned!

Amongst the Boxes....there is Satisfaction

Well I'm officially moved.  Yesterday, my family and I moved everything from my little apartment in Aurora to Richmond Hill.  In fact, even a day later it is amazing how much stuff I own as look around while typing amongst the boxes. 

But nonetheless I've got a feeling of satisfaction.  Satisfaction that I now own my own place and no longer rent. Satisfaction I looked at around forty to fifty houses with a darn good Real Estate Agent in Roy Eveleigh  Satisfaction in finding a place that reduces my commute to work by just over an hour per day. Satisfaction that the search is finally over.   Satisfaction that in a week every nook and cranny in this place will have seen a vacuum, swiffer, soap, or cloth and will finally be clean!  Satisfaction that perhaps in a week the last of the boxes will have been flattened and the burly recycling man will have trucked it all away.  Satisfaction that for one summer Saturday night I can sleep with the window open and not hear the drunks coming home from the bar yelling obscenities or skateboarders practicing their trade.  Come to think of it, as I sit here in my new home, typing away it is pure satisfaction to hear just the birds chirping and the dull roar of traffic in the background.   Satisfaction overall that this part of my life is finally over.

Now I just have to set up and organize my home life again.  I love doing this part.  The putting things together, the decorating and seeing what has to be purchased.  Today I changed the locks on my house all by myself.  It was simple really,  a couple of Home Depot specials and a little help from an orange aproned expert and I was away to the races while my wife made dinner I set to work. This is really satisfying, to know that, sorry Red Green, the women find me handsome, and they find me handy.

I wonder now, as I sit amongst the boxes, what future satisfaction awaits me in the place.  Only time will tell what satisfaction is ahead.