I must confess to a certain smug satisfaction in seeing the pages of ads in the Saturday Globe and Mail from the big three cell phone companies desperate to sway Canadians to their side.

In January 2009 I wrote this letter, below, to the head office of Rogers Communications. Receipt of the letter was never acknowledged. I was not alone in my complaint, I later learned. The website "ihaterogers.com " had many, many more. Now, it is stories like this that are coming back to haunt all three of the cell phone companies when they want and need our loyalty to keep out a U.S. competitor.

I feel I was rather prescient in my prediction that one day Rogers would regret not focusing more on customer support and satisfaction. While I believe we should have a level playing field, I also believe Canadian cell phone companies must provide fairer prices and policies and better customer service.

January 2009

Dear Rogers,

In August 2005 I got two cell phones for my two teenage daughters, then 14 and 12, and signed a three-year contract with Rogers.

The two numbers were linked to my name on one account. Within four months, the youngest lost her phone. The cost of replacing it was more than $150 for the cheapest option. I determined it was more cost-effective to have her join my plan with Telus, in which she would get a better free phone and lower over-all rates, than to pay the Rogers charges to replace her phone or exit the contract. We let her Roger's  number go dormant and I paid the minimum $25 a month for no service and no phone. I planned to quit the contract in August 2008 and marked the date.

In July 2007, with one year left on the contract, my older daughter, then 16,  dropped her phone in a puddle, rendering it useless. She took it to the local Roger's store to see if it could be fixed, but was instead "given" a "free" replacement phone. Neither she nor I knew that by doing so, automatically the two numbers rolled over to another three-year contract until July 2010.

It was August 2008, when I tried to quit the younger one's dormant number and stop the $25 a month payment, that I learned that due to my underage daughter's actions on her phone,  I was now on contract to 2010 for both daughters — without my knowledge or consent as the signee of the original contract — and that I would have to continue paying the $25 fee for another two years or pay $800 to get out of the contract for the younger one's non-existent phone.

Then, the older daughter's replacement Rogers phone was lost  just a few weeks later. I made sure I went with her this time to the Roger's store. To get a replacement would cost $150, or we could "upgrade" the one phone but either way we would be forced to sign another three-year contract to 2011 -- for two phones!!

Rather than do either, I am now paying $50 a month for no phones and no service until July 2010, a total of $1200. But to quit both numbers outright, I will have to pay close to $1600. I have repeatedly tried to talk with Roger's customer service agents since the first lost phone in 2005, but have been met with condescending agents who tell me that if my children can not be trusted to care for their phones then I should not have let them have them;  a contract is a contract.

Granted, the problems started with kids losing or breaking phones, and my frustration is also with my kids -- but they are teenagers, and notoriously irresponsible as a demographic (which is why, no doubt, cell phone companies market to them.) And despite giving my teenagers consequences for losing their phones I am still stuck paying $50 a month for no service to a company who seems to be taking advantage of this situation and who, in my mind, illegally extended the contract with a 16-year-old.

On a related manner, when my credit card expired to which the $50 was being billed, I tried to contact Rogers agents to let them know. I tried five times to get through to give my new number. After waiting more than 20 minutes, I would hang up. I also tried to use the Rogers website to update the information, with no luck. Astonishingly, even when I am trying to pay my extortionist bill, I receive bad customer service!

I finally figured, if Rogers wants the money you can come after me — which you did  this month.

The Rogers collection agent was very professional —almost kind — the first one in your company who listened to and commiserated with my story. She seemed to understand that it was very difficult, psychologically,  after all we have been through,  to pay a $300 bill when we have no working phones and no service. She transferred me to a customer service agent. I was put on hold for 15 minutes. When, yet again,  I told my story, the very rude and condescending young man actually LAUGHED and blamed my irresponsible teens and my "poor parenting" for my trouble.

His laughter and berating astonished and enraged me. Never in my life have I been subjected to such treatment. I told him he can laugh now, but customers will have the last laugh. A company that pays no attention to earning customer loyalty is, in the long run, committing business suicide.

I have consulted a lawyer and find that to fight you will come at a high financial cost. I am writing to you now to let you know that I while I find your practices appalling, and even illegal, I will pay the contract until July 2010, but I will never, ever use any Rogers service — wireless, cable, video —ever again.

And I feel certain that there will come a time when you will be sorry that you created a company culture in which it was more important to lure new customers into vice-like contracts than to earn and keep the loyalty and trust of the customers you have.

Sincerely,

Anne Mullens