My Review of Cogeco Internet Service Provider

Cogeco Internet Service Provider  provides cable TV, Internet Services, as well as digital phone service. Yes this is an old post from 2008, so I hope Cogeco has improved since then, but I have a feeling they haven’t. Feel free to post your opinions, positive or negative.

I’m sorry to say that I have to switch my opinion that Cogeco is a company I love, to a company I now can’t wait to get rid of.

I’m going to keep my mainly positive comments about them below this post, so you can see how in just over a year they went from a company I admired to a company I will move from the minute I find an alternative.

Even though I have had problems with Cogeco in this new house when I moved again a year ago April 2008, I didn’t feel those problems warranted posting a negative review, but after what happened yesterday, I can no longer give this arrogant rude company my money.

It’s my policy to never stay with a company who doesn’t care about me as a customer, and it’s clear that over this last year Cogeco doesn’t.

All is well with them if you don’t have any issues, but when you do have issues, sometimes they help you, other times they don’t.

They also clearly don’t want to keep you as a customer, I was “this close” to getting their PVR system, but I had been misinformed about the cost of it per month, so when I learned it was around $15 per month, I was kind of freaked out.

I asked if I could get a discount and they said no. That’s when the manager (not just a low level customer service rep) told me that the discount I have been getting with Cogeco was about to expire and my price was going to go up.

I asked her nicely if she could extend that discount hoping that Cogeco (like Rogers) would do something to show me that they wanted me to stay their customer, but NOPE, the tone in her voice was just below arrogant and while she wasn’t mean, I could tell she thought I was nuts for even asking for a discount. This is Canada in case you don’t know, where customer service is often very low.

I hate people who talk like robots and you know all the while they are thinking nasty thoughts about you.

That’s when my opinion about Cogeco really started to change.

I mean if a manager from Cogeco is going to treat a customer like this, that means they are very very rigid in how they do things, and they really have no intentions of treating their customers like Queens and Kings.

So I forgot about the incident and went on my way.

I continued to have further problems with their digital phone service.

This went on for months until finally after several techies came by, the problem seems to be solved.

I asked for a credit and had to really insist on it because one CSR was only going to give me a few days credit even though this problem had been ongoing for months.

Fine, problem fixed, credit solved.

Fast forward to yesterday, I have been having problems with their TV Cable.

I had already written to the CRTC because I was essentially blaming them for some of the issues I was having, but the CRTC said it’s your cable provider who is the problem.

Since it was the TV and I’m a very busy person, I didn’t rush to tell Cogeco of the problems I’m having.

I also can’t stand it when Cable TV providers blame the customer. I often have to really fight to get someone who is intelligent at these companies, because I get blamed since I tape all TV shows onto VCRs, DVD Recorders and now a hard drive.

Rogers did this too, they would blame it on my recording of the show even though I knew it wasn’t the recording that was the issue.

Anyway, I call up and tell the CSR that I’m probably going to have to speak to a manager about it.

I already had an appointment scheduled re: pixelation problems, but it wasn’t until next week, and I forgot to mention these other 2 issues which were:

1. at the start or end of a TV show, there would be a slight problem. The show would start or end, and then loop around again for about 5 seconds. I hope I’m explaining myself clearly. The 5 or 10 second scene plays, then there’s a skip and it plays again.This has happened now at least 5 times. At first I thought it was just a glitch, but after 5 times (maybe closer to 10), I realized it’s a Cogeco issue.
2. the other day I was in the middle of watching Harper Island, and like 8 minutes into the show it suddenly switches to Criminal Minds if you can believe that. So I missed the entire show.In all my years of watching TV, I’ve never seen that happen before.

So I call up Cogeco to tell them of these other issues that I had noticed were a problem, and I was passed to this supervisor called Mehar – employee number #488.

Oh my god, what happened next was just terrible.

1. He proceeds to start playing mind games with me almost from the minute I explained the situation to him. First he says the worse thing you can say to a customer “no one else has complained about this.”
2. He then tries to blame it on my recording devices and when I tell him it’s not that, he says well you will just have to call us when it happens again. I said I AM calling you right now.I say I can’t call the minute it happens, because I already told you I never watch straight from the TV. Later on I realized that what he was trying to say, is that I should stop watching my TV show and call Cogeco. So in his little mind he expects me NOT to tape anymore of my shows, plus I should MISS the show I’m watching in real time.He then implies then there’s nothing he can do to help me.
3. I ask to speak to his manager. He refuses to let me speak to his manager.Then I get the same BS I get when someone at a company refuses to let you speak to a manager, it’s the same robotic statement, “They will just tell you what I said.”
4. Then he proceeds to ask me WHY I want to speak to the manager LOL.They do this all the time, they know damm well why I want to speak to a manager, they are just being control freaks who totally disrespect customers.
5. I end the conversation and then call back, this time trying a different department.I ask to speak to the Office of the President.Darren, the CSR, tells me he doesn’t know that number.Mehar must have been waiting for me to call back (can you imagine that, he has nothing better to do with his time then to wait for me to call back), because the guy Darren, said hang on, someone is here to help you. I think he’s going to pass me through to the office of the president, but NOOOOO, he passes me through to Mehar who obviously knew it was me calling, and wanted to intercept the call.Mehar proceeds to be a total prick (so what else is new) and again refuses to give me his manger. Then he switches to his attempt at playing games with me again by asking me WHY I want to speak to a manager.Then he starts lying saying that there’s no one here, he will have to get them to call me within 24 hours.

   He tries to play every mind game in the book which I won’t accept and I rebut with things he can’t ignore. All the while I’m yelling of course because I can’t believe this little immature idiot is stone walling me.

   I eventually tell him I’m going to post our conversation on my blog. He starts telling me I can’t do that and I just hang up on him.

I doubt any manager will call me, and after I hung up with Mehar, I suddenly remembered how one time several months ago I tried to get the head office of Cogeco. No one would return my calls and no one answered the phone They just had a voice mail system.

Can you believe that, a huge corporation like Cogeco, and they don’t even have someone who answers the phone at their head office??? LOL Too much.

They are located in Montreal I think.

So the bottom line is, Cogeco has everyone by the balls, because wherever Cogeco is located, that means Rogers isn’t, so residents have no options other then to be stuck with this company who is mean spirited.

I did call Rogers and they said they are going to be getting into every city within Ontario within 1 1/2 years, so that’s a good thing, but doesn’t solve my problem now.

I can’t wait for Rogers to tear down Cogeco, because while Rogers has been an issue a few times over the years, when I had left them because I moved, their level of customer service had been improving, and by and large I was always able to speak to someone higher up. They also have an Office of the President, and I’m trying to remember if I ever had anyone as bad as Mehar and I don’t think I ever did. I can’t be 100% sure, because I was with Rogers for minimum 10 years. Even longer with them for Cable TV since clearly they monopolize the market.

———————————– (see positive review from before)

I had been with Rogers for years now (at least 10-12) until I moved far enough away, that Rogers didn’t have service in that city.

I almost became furious with Rogers for trying to charge me because I moved so quickly, and I couldn’t give them their 30 days notice. I NEVER remember having to give them the notice before, even though most of the time it was an account transfer.

After getting VERY serious with the Office of the President, they finally waived the $30 charge for service I never would have gotten anyway, but it was touch and go there for a moment, and I also never heard back from the woman who served me.

They had service in the Windsor area, but it was slow, and it was only for wireless internet. There was no TV, or digital phone service.

I started investigating Cogeco, and liked the speeds they were giving us, which was faster than Rogers. Their bundle package was also a smidgen cheaper than Rogers’ too.

The TWO issues I had when signing up with Cogeco, was:

1. they required that I pay them one month upfront, and I wasn’t even moving for like 2 1/2 weeks.
2. they charge you a $69 setup fee which I’ve NEVER paid with Rogers or anyone else for that matter.

I grudgingly paid them as I had no choice, and eventually got their service.

There were issues the first week I moved there.

Because the furniture wasn’t arranged the first day because of landlord issues, and Cogeco isn’t like Rogers where the digital phone service is hooked into the junction box, the technician had to put a phone jack near my desk.

Being that I didn’t know EXACTLY where my desk was going to be, when it was finally set up the next day, the cables and wires were all in the way. I had to jump over them just to get out of my desk, as I only exit from the right side.

I called them asking them to come back, and at one point I think they even wanted to charge me which I wasn’t going to accept at all.

A day or two later, we realized that none of the jacks were working in the house, so we couldn’t set up our cordless phones. The technician hadn’t noticed that.

It took over a week to FINALLY get a technician to come in. They were late several times, and they didn’t call my cell when I told them to. I was out shopping, and I didn’t like the fact that you had to be home from 8-4 or 5 just to wait for them.

With Rogers it’s a 3 hour window, but at least Cogeco would call you an hour before coming, Rogers gives you a hard time about that.

If memory services me, it took 3 technicians to finally make everything perfect, but once it was, I was happy.

Only once I had phone issues which they seemed to fix, and one thing I did notice, is that they are very nice over at Cogeco, not like Rogers, where there is attitude 90% of the time and most techies over there are morons.

When I moved again, I had the same sort of problems again and they wanted to charge me one month in advance again. I had to scream my way out of it with a manager, but finally I was educated as to why they even take the one month in advance. The CSR didn’t know, she just said it was company policy.

So I paid a little off my bill and they were right, they didn’t bill me for 5 weeks, and the bill that came was double the price.

Once again it took 2-3 technicians to fix the problem with the wires, desk, and other jacks in the house, but once it was set up, I had no more issues with them.

I only had one day where service was down for 2 hours. Granted that isn’t normal for Rogers, but it has happened a few times in the 10-12 years I was with them.

I must say that during that down time I called them, and was on hold for 1 hour and 45 minutes before I finally hung up. I didn’t remember to call and speak to a manager about it the following day, so I hope that isn’t a repeat performance.

A few other things to note.

They don’t offer 3 way calling which is standard with ANY phone carrier, and there is no long distance outside North America, so they have an arrangement with this phone card type company they refer to you, where you can load your phone with $5, $10, $15 dollars etc., and you have to call like a phone card to call outside of North America.

Where this becomes a problem, is the following:

1. The phone card company’s site sucks. It’s poorly coded, so I had problems using it with FireFox, and then when FireFox came out with 3.0, I couldn’t even add any funds to my account.
2. There’s no “forgot your password” link which is TERRIBLE and has caused problems a couple of times now.
3. You can’t change your billing address, they have to do it for you.
4. Their tech support is in the Philippines I think, so there were problems there.
5. I just found out that if someone wants me to call them overseas and they want to pay the $5 on my account for me (obviously it’s cheaper for them to just use this service), they CAN’T pay to load up my account because it’s NOT a Canadian credit card. That is soooo lame, I’ve never even heard of anything like that.So if you are a tourist in Canada, and you go to a retail store, has anyone ever told you that you can’t pay because you don’t have a Canadian credit card? LOL I don’t care if they aren’t retail, they are online and while it may cost them a few more pennies because the merchant account charges more for International cards, they are making more money off of me.

My last complaint about Cogeco is their operator and 411 service.

Several times now their 411 has been useless and while it’s FREE, yes, you heard me, it’s free, 🙂   I’ve never had such moronic 411 service before. Half the time the operators can’t find the number (it may be their database isn’t up-to-date), and because they don’t offer the long distance calling outside of North America, you can’t even call the operator and ask them what time it is in another country which is what I normally do when I have to call a client overseas.

They tell me to look it up online, but what if I wasn’t near a computer. What if I don’t use the computer like soooo many people and Canadians don’t?

I am always near my desk, but they don’t know that, so all and all, it’s not a great service like Rogers or Bell Canada was when it comes to 411 and the Operator.

My overall assessment though it that Cogeco is a nice company even though they’ve already raised their prices once, and I’ve only been with them 4 months now. I know one guy who canceled saying they raise their prices too often.

I would recommend them if you can get them in your area, but remember, every area is different, although the customer service and tech support should remain consistently friendly and they should know what they are talking about.

Michelle