Rogers Isn't Modifying Bills After The Storm Unless You Ask & This Ottawa Woman Is Fed Up

Towards the end of May — hundreds of thousands of households in Ottawa went without power for several days. But judging by Rogers Communications and other companies' billing practices, the May derecho storm may as well not have happened.

At least, that's what some folks are saying once they saw no changes made to their bills after having no power for days.

Michelle Schafer, a small business owner and a career coach, went without power for eight days in Glabar Park in Ottawa after the storm. She relies heavily on the internet to make her living, and with no power, she had to travel to another location to access the Wi-Fi for over a week.

But, on June 6, she opened her Rogers bill for May, and it looked surprisingly familiar. She saw the same $125 amount she's used to seeing. Immediately Schafer wondered why the amount wasn't adjusted. After all, May's power outages were well-known across the province.

"It was a disappointment, for sure because, I mean, the neighbourhood had already gone through enough with having lost power, and, we all had to throw out, you know, in some cases, hundreds of dollars of food," Schafer told Narcity. "There was obviously the inconvenience of not having power and not having internet."

While Schafer was able to move to a different location to access Wi-Fi, she worried that her neighbours could have missed out on a week's worth of work.

Bill frustrations were shared by many in Glabar Park

So, on June 7, Schafer took to a neighbourhood Facebook group to let people know about her troubles with Rogers.

"Calling all Rogers customers - I just got my bill and noticed there was no discount provided to account for the week the power was out," she wrote.

Neighbours responded, thanking Schafer for the heads up. Some, too, expressed similar frustration, along with long call waits and enduring the run-around.

One Bell Canada customer said they were only offered 2MB, while another Bell user said they received 50GB.

Schafer then spoke with a customer representative, and the agent confirmed that there was a power outage ticket for eight days in her region. After some calculating, the agent said Rogers could give her a $41 discount.

"It wasn't just $4, like, it was $41, you know, so it was a sizable amount," says Schafer. When Schafer asked why her bill wasn't automatically adjusted, she was told that clients must request to make those changes.

"The fact that they're saying, 'well, no, you actually have to call to make that request,' means that there are so many people in the neighbourhood that if they didn't pay attention to their bill, or maybe just didn't even have time or didn't think about it, Rogers is pocketing all that money at the expense of customers who have already gone through enough," she added.

The small business owner said she prides herself in quality client service and fairness, which she believes Rogers didn't honour.

In the past, Rogers had offered rate adjustments when widespread outages have occurred. But when asked about their billing practices following the storm, Rogers responded by email, saying, "if customers have questions about their account, they can reach out to us, and we would be happy to assist them."

Hydro Ottawa bills also do not always show power outages

Apparently, it's not only communications companies that are not reflecting the power outages on their bills. Hydro Ottawa customers' bills seem to be varying from user to user in their accuracy.

Some Ottawa residents took to Reddit saying their Hydro Ottawa bills didn't reflect days when they had no electricity. When checking their bills, some saw that the regular usage was charged. Others said their bills showed no usage for the times they had no power.

"I don't like the idea of averaging or making it up later in the month," said one Reddit user. "I thought we were all on smart meters. Maybe some are smarter than others?"

Narcity reached out to Hydro Ottawa for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

As for Schafer, she says she won't just blindly pay her bills in the future.

"I think it's just, it just reinforces that as a customer, you have to always be vigilant, and you always have to advocate for yourself and what you notice," the career coach concluded.