Fido customer service and long distance charge

[itseng]

Hello Fido Forum,

I hope this message finds the right ears within the Fido team. I have been a loyal customer of Fido for nearly two decades, having started my journey with you in the early 2000s. Throughout these years, I have appreciated the services Fido has provided. However, I am writing today to express my deep disappointment with recent experiences and unexpected charges.

On August 12th, my family was traveling abroad, and due to an emergency situation, I had to make an international call from Canada to reach them. I was surprised to find a charge of $174.90 on my bill for this call, as I had not received any warning messages regarding potential charges as I usually do. This incident has left me frustrated and concerned about the evolving quality of Fido's customer service.

Upon contacting Fido customer service, I was informed by the first agent that there should have been warning text messages for charges of $50, $100, and $150, which I never received until two days after the call. The agent also mentioned that he could not access the details of the long-distance charges until the bill was generated. He advised me to call back on August 22nd, after the bill had been issued.

Unfortunately, my experience on August 22nd did not yield any resolution. After waiting for 30 minutes on hold, the second agent I spoke to informed me that the bill was still not accessible and suggested I call back on August 24th.

I then scheduled a callback for August 25th between 10:30 AM and 12:00 PM, taking time off from work to address this matter. However, to my dismay, the promised callback did not happen. I engaged with Fido's text message system for nearly an hour, only to be told that I needed to reschedule the callback yet again.

Finally, after multiple attempts, I was able to connect with an agent named Atul. Despite my explaining the situation and my admission of making the emergency call, Atul's responses were not helpful. He suggested that there might have been a system error, yet he stated that he couldn't do anything about the $174.90 charge. I persisted in requesting to speak with a supervisor or a member of the management team, but it took significant effort to get Atul to agree.

After numerous requests, Atul offered me a $35 credit for future use. While I appreciate the gesture, I find it inadequate considering the circumstances. An emergency call on a Sunday warranted immediate action, not a future plan offer.

As a devoted customer for almost 20 years, I am deeply disappointed by this experience. Fido's failure to provide timely warning messages and then placing the blame on me for using the service is unacceptable. I hope that sharing my frustration on this forum will catch the attention of the customer service team and highlight the need for improvements. I look forward to a response that addresses my concerns and ensures a more satisfying customer experience in the future.

Thank you, Ivan

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello Itseng,

  Welcome to the community!

  Sorry to hear of your situation. Firstly, however, you should note that this is the community forum and not intended as a venue for customer services. So you have reached the ears of the Fido Community and not the Fido customer service team. 

  That said, it appears there may have been some misunderstanding and/or miscommunication.

---

@itseng wrote:

...., my family was traveling abroad, and due to an emergency situation, I had to make an international call from Canada to reach them. I was surprised to find a charge of $174.90 on my bill for this call, as I had not received any warning messages regarding potential charges as I usually do.

.....I was informed by the first agent that there should have been warning text messages for charges of $50, $100, and $150, which I never received until two days after the call. ...

---

  From what you note, you made an International call from Canada. As far as I am aware, there are no notifications provided to customers prior to making long-distance or International calls. The Wireless Code does not include any provisions about long-distance charges nor calling caps (see here). While Fido does not provide notifications for long-distance usage they do provide a means of monitoring call usage (ie My Account app).

  On the other hand, it appears as though the customer service representative might have been referring to notifications for roaming charges, though that cap usually refers to roaming data usage and not necessarily calls. 

  I understand the call was an under emergency circumstances. There may be compassionate grounds for providing credit for certain situations. However, long-distance calls are generally the responsibility of customers. If you do require to make International calls, Fido does offer a Premium International Rate add-on (see here). Unfortunately, it would not be possible to retroactively amend those calls with that add-on. 

  I, too, needed to make calls under urgent circumstances a while back. Those calls were costly, but were necessary. I now include the Premium International Rate add-on as a part of my services. 

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers