Friday, July 23, 2004

The Saga Ends

Earlier this week, I called Fido to check-up on my Fido Reward dollars. After talking (and at some points, almost yelling) to a service rep for over 35 minutes, I hung up with the worst Fido Rage™ I've ever had (and believe me, I've had some serious rage with them in the past). It turns out that my Fido Dollars would not be returned to me until the start of my next billing cycle, August 6th. That would mean that it would take exactly one month from the time I discovered they were gone until I got them back. I asked to speak directly to the billing department, but was denied. Apparently, they do not speak to customers. I asked if they had phones, and was told it was impossible to speak with them. I persisted a few more times, and finally it was admitted to me that they indeed did have phones.

At any rate, despite my aggressive attempts to get some action done on my account in an expedited manner, Fido would not comply. I was told it was a technical issue, and that no one had the authority or capability of refunding Fido Reward dollars before the beginning of the next billing cycle. I asked the guy, "So, even if the president of Fido wanted to have this done, he couldn't?" I was told, that the president probably could. He could send me 250 Nokia 3100's if he wanted to. I suggested that it was actually an issue of will, not technical. The supervisor didn't want to do this. And so we went on in circles for quite some time. By the end of the phone call, I asked the guy what would happen if I cancelled my account, and signed up as a new customer. I was told that I could do that, and I would get the phone for the new customer price of $150 (which coincidentally is the same price I'd pay if I had my Fido Dollars), but I would lose my phone number. Since there were no available numbers that had the same last four digits of my current number, I decided to just swallow my pride, and wait.

Mike was surfing the Fido site as I got off the phone, and informed me about Fido "Tails", a section devoted to positive experiences of customers using their Fido phones. On the page is a form where you can share your own experience, selecting from categories like "Funny Fido Story", "Wireless hero", "I love my Fido", etc. I decided to submit the following Funny Fido Story:

A funny thing: on July 6th, I tried to order the new Nokia 3100 phone using the 50+ Fido Reward Dollars I had in my account. Unfortunately, because I had purchased and returned a phone a couple months previous to that, Fido took away my reward dollars, and didn't bother crediting them back to me. I spoke with a helpful man named Gabriel, who said it would take about seven days for the billing department to review my file, and credit the dollars back. Two weeks later, I still don't have my Fido Dollars, and I'm finding out now, I have to way another two and half weeks for them to reappear (I'm not holding my breath for this to actually happen). According to the Fido representative to whom I just spoke, nobody at Fido can expedite this process. I tell you, this has been a real barrel of laughs for me. To think: a reasonable request should take over a month to be answered! Hilarious!

I got the standard auto-reply in my email, thanking me for my submission, and stating that I would be contacted if my story was selected for "pick of the month". But then, this morning, I got another message:

Dear Mr. Gibson

We would like to thank you for visiting our Fido Website and allowing us the
opportunity to assist you.

We are sorry to hear thatyour FidoDollars were not given back to you last
month and regret if something has been troubling you. We will give your
comments immediate attention.

We wish to inform you that your request has been forwarded to the
appropriate department. An Internal Representative named Pilippe willget in
touch with you very shortly in order to discuss and obviously suggest a
solution.

If you prefer to contact Philippe, the number to be dialed is 1 888
259-3436, extension xxxx.

Again, we sincerely apologize for this unfortunate event and greatly
appreciate your letting us know about them.

With much appreciation,

Denis
Your Fido Internet Consultant

A couple hours later, I received a phone call from Phillipe. He said he had looked into my case, and was going to credit my Fido Dollars back to me in advance, even though it is normally only done at the start of the billing cycle. He asked me to confirm that the amount was $51.50, and I said yes, but I had accumulated a few more dollars since then. He said that because of this experience, he would up the amount to $75! And he would send the phone out today.

Phillipe of Fido, I am here to state: you are my Wireless Hero! Thank you for taking the time to read my sarcastic letter, and actually pull whatever strings you had to in order to get me my phone at an even better price than I was willing to pay!

Posted at 11:51

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Comments

What the hell are Fido Dollars, Is that a canadian thing???

- Patrick Gibson (Aust), Sunday, August 1, 2004

Fido dollars is something that Fido has. think of it like a millage program from an airline but with fido for every 100 bucks you spend on your bill, you get a 5 bucks in your fido account. The secret is you can't get it unless you call fido and request it.
They do not give it to y ou automatically. Call and demand it.

- James Bond, Monday, August 23, 2004

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