Rogers customer stranded in call-queue hell over vanishing phone deal

'This is a huge and growing problem,' said Matt Hatfield, executive director of digital advocacy group OpenMedia

Published Sep 01, 2026  •  3 minute read

Rogers logo Photo by Peter J. Thompson /Postmedia Network

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OTTAWA — Attempts to redeem a $0 iPhone promotion were an exercise in frustration for one Rogers Wireless customer — not to mention a cautionary tale of what happens when big telcos favour AI over human beings.

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Back in June, Toronto’s Corey Herscu logged into his MyRogers account and was offered an attractive deal: a no-cost iPhone Air upgrade for two years, complete with waived admin fees and $51 in monthly automatic bill credits to offset the cost of the phone.

“It seemed almost too good to be true, I didn’t immediately place the order,” Herscu told the Toronto Sun, saying a customer service agent he called confirmed the deal was genuine.

“She told me that I should check the following billing cycle — essentially, wait about 30 days — to make sure it had been applied,” Herscu said.

But when his July bill arrived, the credit was nowhere to be seen, touching off a months-long ordeal of long waits and sudden disconnections in his attempt to bypass the AI-powered assistants and speak with a human being.

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Problem solved after the Sun made inquiries

He said the credit was also missing from his August bill, and the charges for his supposedly free iPhone were stacking up.

It wasn’t until the Sun reached out to Rogers that he finally got a call from a human, who honoured the promotion.

“It shouldn’t have taken that long to get there,” Herscu said.

“That’s where the frustration is.”

A Rogers spokesperson told the Sun that, despite what he was told, Herscu was never eligible for the promotion — but the company opted to honour it anyway.

“We understand how important it is for our customers to have a seamless experience at every touchpoint,” the spokesperson said.

“As customer habits evolve, we continue to invest in service improvements, new digital tools and technology enhancements — and we know there’s more work to do.”

Service cuts causing frustration

Like other telcos, the statement said, Rogers continues to use a mix of in-house and third-party vendors to manage the growing deluge of customer service calls.

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But as Rogers continues to cut costs, reports of long wait times and sudden hang-ups are becoming more frequent.

Last July, Rogers ended contracts with third-party customer service vendor Foundever, eliminating around 900 Canadian customer service jobs as the carrier transitioned towards automated self-serve options, such as their AI-powered virtual assistant “Anna.”

As well, Rogers quietly laid off numerous frontline customer service, tech support and sales staff across Canada, at the same time the company announced 230 job cuts and radio station closures in its media division.

In April, Rogers planned to offer 10,000 employees buyouts in an attempt to cut costs.

Experts say Herscu’s ordeal is a symptom of a broader corporate trend in Canada’s telecom sector, with carriers replacing front-line customer service workers with a greater variety of automated self-serve tools and AI.

Matt Hatfield, executive director of digital advocacy group OpenMedia, warns this trend will drive customer complaints even higher.

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“This is a huge and growing problem,” he said, explaining complaints made to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) tend to be a lagging indicator, as data is six to 12 months old by the time the commission’s reports are released.

“With recent sharp cutbacks in human agents per call received at the big telcos, and an attempt to replace them as much as possible with AI agents, I am expecting CCTS complaints that were already rising sharply to spike even further.”

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More competition would help, Hatfield says

Hatfield noted that Canada’s concentrated telecom market leaves consumers with few alternatives when automated systems break down.

“Customers can’t easily punish bad corporate actors if they only have two to three options in their local market,” he said.

“With the big telecom companies replacing their human agents with AI at the same time, there is nowhere for a person who values good customer service from human agents to go.”

He said opening up the market to effective competition would improve customer service.

Herscu, meanwhile, is happy his situation got resolved, but wonders how many others are in the same boat.

“Rogers needs to accept that they need their call centers back,” he said. “Their call centers, while overwhelmed, were incredibly useful and you could get through and talk to somebody.

“It took too long for me to reach a human.”

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X: @bryanpassifiume

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