hmmmm.....service.....

This is not the right space to provide free advertising for companies that are already doing quite well, thank you very much. Yet I can't help giving Rogers a brief plug right here and now. Rogers? The giant cable TV company, you ask? The faceless corporation that fleeces thousands of citizens? The evil empire of cable that gobbles up small companies like so many jelly beans? Why would they need your endorsment, you ask....Well, let me tell you. Right at this moment I am quite pleased with Rogers.

I called the cable giant this morning (9:30) to order additional TV channels. After being routed through their mildly annoying voice mail system - easily bypassed by immediately pressing "0" - I was put through to a human operator within a minute or two. I gave her my address and phone number and while chatting pleasantly she looked up my account. "All you'll need is a digital box and you're all set", she said. "The box costs $8.95 a month to rent, each channel is $2.49. You'll get 50 additional channels for free for a period of two months, then call us and tell us which ones you'd like to keep. When would you like us to come by?"
I told her that mornings were usually the best for me, whereupon she suggested this Friday. "Wait just a second", quoth I, "this Friday is Easter..." "No problem, our guys are working through the holidays". Man, now I'm mighty impressed. We chatted a bit more, I told her I was already with Rogers for my cell phone service, then she said: "OK, dear, we'll see you Friday" (her exact words) and that was THAT. A total of about four minutes.

Then I remembered that they would also need my buzzer code to get into the building, as my name is not on the big board downstairs. So I called back, fully expecting to wait longer this time. Nope! I flew right through the voice mail system again and this time got a young fella who immediately asked me for my phone number and brought up my account on his screen. I gave him my buzzer code which he duly added to my account and then he says: "Sir, how would you like an additional discount on your digital box?" Hmmm...let me see...yeah, I think I'd like it. "Well, then, we have a special on right now and you'll be paying $5.49 for the first four months" No objection here! Then he tried to talk to me about ordering Rogers internet and a bunch of other services which I declined. "No problem, Sir! Have a nice day" And that was that. An additional three minutes of my time.

Now, it's quite possible the installers will not show up on Friday and I may change my sunny opinion of Rogers. But right now I say, if this is what huge, faceless, greedy corporations do - I have no problem with it.