very disappointed with fido service

[rssweets]

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with terrible service from Fido . I am on the line with fido since I moved to fido. I have been with so long will Bell and unfortunately I switched to Fido. I lost a loyalty deal that I had with Bell. Fido offered me for a deal and but billed me with another higher rate. I have called so many times and got a case number and they told me . they will get back to me and never did. 

I want cancel the two line that I got from Fido and switch bach to bell. the problem is I cant get the deal that I have with bell for so long:((

[ashker20]

Hello , i've been with Fido for almost 15 years and I got a message in March saying that my plan was going up even though I have a contract , called the first representative and the guy kept telling me that that's how it is and wouldn't do anything that I had to call the loyalty department and spoke to them and the guy resolved the issue then I had to call again today to make sure all the changes went through, and I still had to pay the amount on the billing plan even though this has nothing to do with me and Hass to do with Fido messing up so far I've spent all day March 13 dealing with it on the phone and also March 28 dealing with it on the phone since 9 AM and dealt with a representative that would not transfer me to the loyalty department even though I asked 5 times , I had to get off the phone with him and call myself because he would not transfer me, spent from 9 AM on the phone because he does not understand a word I'm saying, very disappointed in the service will not be suggesting Fido to anyone wasted two days when it was not even my fault had to do with the phone company very disappointed, and angry!!!!!! :pouting_face: 

[Cawtau]

Hello Ashker20,

  Welcome to the community!

  Sorry to hear you're disappointed with Fido.

---

@ashker20 wrote:

.... I got a message in March saying that my plan was going up even though I have a contract....

  As far as I am aware, Fido services are no longer under a Term contract. Since they switched from their subsidised plans (included cost of devices) to the Payment Program (separate device financing), I believe services are on a month-to-month basis. If you do have a contract, it would be for financing a device only. Services are charged separately. Since services are on a monthly basis, they are able to make changes provided they give customers sufficient notification (see Terms of Service; section 2c).

  You should note that the forums are community-driven and not intended as a venue for customer services. If you wished to further discuss your situation, you would need to contact customer service again. In addition, they can also be contacted via Live Chat, Facebook, or Twitter. Those methods can be accessed via the contact page posted above.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[ashker20]

Which is illegal to try and charge any customer when they are locked into a contract and all your associates should be well advised and educated on that!!!! 
i have too pay extra on my bill because of this **bleep** ... I should be compensated for my time that I spent on the phone!!! 

[FidoKenny]

Hello @rssweets and welcome to the Community.

Thank you for sharhing your experience with us here. It's our always our priority that you get a plan that suits your needs.

We would be happy to verify what was discussed on your account. For future reference, when it comes to anyting related to your account, you can always find the ways to reach us here.

[JayDar]

I have had FIDO service for at least 10 or 15 years. On Aug. 8, 2022 I spoke with a FIDO Customer Service Rep and agreed to buy a new phone. I bought the Samsung Galaxy A03s and paid $275 plus tax. I completed the entire procedure over the phone and paid for the phone using a credit card.

Why am I so disappointed? Let me count the ways:

1) The person who sold me this phone never disclosed the phone came without any way to recharge it. Had she told me that, I would have tried to purchase a charger block at the same time. But as it was, I had to make a special trip to a local FIDO store to buy a $30 charger block so I could charge the phone. I consider that to be rather shabby sales procedure. I would have expected to be told the charger block was not included with the new phone so I could have possibly avoided an extra trip to a FIDO store.

2) I was never told there was a $50 setup fee. I consider this virtuallly illegal. If you go to a grocery store and buy a bottle of apple juice, how would you feel if the store added an extra $20 to your bill to cover the "processing fee" to convert the apples into apple juice. That would be OUTRAGEOUS and ILLEGAL.

At the very least, FIDO should have told me there was a $50 setup fee so that the $50 would not show up on my bill as a surprise. They should have told me the total amount that would appear on my bill. This is a very shady process. When someone makes a purchase, they deserve to be told the full price of their purchase before they are given the bill - NOT AFTERWARDS!  Talk about a sham!

It seems that when FIDO tells you something over the phone - such as, "You have 30 days to evaluate the phone and if you are not satisfied with it, you may return it."

I did return this phone. But I have now heard there are many reasons why FIDO denies these returns. For example, if you make a phone call during the 30 day periold that is longer than 50 minutes, that will invalidate your right to return the phone.

It seems to me, people need to ask a great many questions about this kind of return to be certain they will be able to return the phone. I now expect to be told some ridiculous reason why FIDO will not accept my return. I cannot even imagine what excuse they will use to deny my return.

At this point, all I can say is, "SHAME ON YOU FIDO. YOUR SALES PROCEDURES REALLY STINK."

They are a sham at best and seem like they are ILLEGAL at the least. I will never ever buy another phone from FIDO and I'm looking to make the switch to a different service provider as soon as possible. I would never have believed FIDO could be so disreputable.

[FidoSaad]

Hey there @JayDar!

Sorry to hear about your recent experience and hopefully this might help clarify a few of your concerns.

Our devices are sold with the accessories provided by the manufacturer. This is the case for brand new devices, since we also sell certified Pre-Owned models. That being said, we do keep our website updated as often as we can to include all the details related to the phone you're buying. On our website you'll also find a section detailing what's included in the box of each phone.

I understand that seeing the $50 service fee on your bill was not a pleasant surprise. Your feedback is appreciated, though we can also assure you that this fee is billed when completing a new activation or a phone upgrade in store or with an agent, you can however avoid it by completing the transaction online on Fido.ca using the self-serve options. Other exceptions may apply (store promotion, technical issues, etc.)

You in fact have the option to return your phone within a grace period. The satisfaction warranty will vary based on where you've purchased the phone and the amount of minutes used is not taken into account. By returning the phone within the satisfaction warranty, we'd also refund the $50 service fee, but you'll be billed the days of service used.

Any charges or credits will appear on your invoice and you can view the detailed breakdown by downloading your invoice's PDF version. If you recently made changes to your account by returning the phone, your next invoice should detail the changes made.

Hope this helps and don't hesitate if you have any questions.

[JayDar]

Hello FidoSaad.

I want to tell you that you are the first person who ever told me that I would be billed for the days I used the phone. No one else from FIDO ever told me that during any of the many conversations I have had with FIDO reps about this phone.

You mentioned several times that I had a "grace period" during which time I could return the phone. But you never said exactly what that "grace period" was.  Is that because it is different for different phones? For anyone reading this thread, I think we should inform people I bought the Samsung Galaxy A03s and the grace period was 30 days. I don't know if that applies to all phones bought from a FIDO rep over the phone.

I do not object to paying for the 20 days I kept the phone. But I want you to know that I strenuously object to being charged for something or billed for something in a surprise. To be clear, in any financial transaction, I think that I should be informed if I'm going to be charged something. It should be illegal to charge a customer "by surprise" later on. Can you imagine getting a cash advance from a bank and then being billed some large amount of money but never having been informed they were going to bill you?

I bought my first mobile phone from FIDO about five years ago and it came with the charging cable and the charging block (the device that you plug into your electrical socket in order to charge your phone).  So, I wrongly assumed the phone would come with everything I needed to charge the battery. I later learned that for the past two years, FIDO has not been including the charging block with new phones. I do not object to paying FIDO the $30 to buy a charging block. My objection is that no one ever told me I would have to pay this $30 to buy a charging block. It was a very unpleasant surprise. It was not just the $30. It was the fact that the FIDO rep told me it would be so easy to buy the phone from her over the phone. But when I found there was no charging block, I had to make a trip to a FIDO store to buy the $30 charging block. I think whenever someone buys a phone from FIDO and it is shipped to them by courier, FIDO should warn the customer the phone will not contain a charging block if the manufacturer does not include that in the new phone.

I had several unpleasant surprises when I bought this phone from FIDO. I am so disappointed with FIDO that I am now considering terminating my FIDO account.

I got one more unpleasant surprise. The phone kept "sticking". To explain, when I was presented with a screen and I tried to tap something or swipe something, the screen was absolutely frozen. I could n ot do anything. I had to press the POWER button to make the screen go blank and then pressing it again to make it come back and work again. This happened once or twice per day. It only started happening after one week and I kept the phone for two more weeks because I could not be certain that maybe I had done something wrong and it caused this anomoly. In any event, I consider this problem to be enough for me to call the phone "DEFECTIVE" although admittedly since it only happened once or twice per day, it was not a huge problem. Sill, I don't think I should be billed for using the phone for the time I kept it because I had to return it due to this problem.

I will never buy another phone from FIDO again and I will never buy anything over the phone again. When I buy anything associated with my phone or modem, I want to see it before I buy it so I can check what is inside the box. This applies to any company and not just FIDO. I realize you said there is a section on FIDO's web site that explains exactly what is in the box, but I never saw it. I would consider that to be like the "FINE PRINT".  I should have been informed of this before FIDO shipped the phone to me.

[FidoPhilippe]

Hey @JayDar! Philippe here.

To help clarify, the ''grace period'' that FidoSaad was referring to is, in fact, the satisfaction warranty period. As for the period, please note: 

   If you purchased at the Fido retail store, count 15 days from the purchase date. 

   If you purchased from Fido.ca or the Fido call centre (including Express Pickup), count 30 days from the date the order was shipped.

I do sincerely apologise if certain clarifications regarding the device accessories (or lack thereof), and most certainly for the $50 fee, were not mentioned at the time you made the order. We do expect that all our staff be fully up-front with all the fees that may apply. That all said, this information would have been included in the agreement we sent you via email and you do have the option to return the device with the satisfaction warranty if it did not meet all your expectations.

I thank you very much for your feedback and your loyalty! Let us know if you have any other questions.

[JayDar]

FidoPhillipe, thanks very much for your reply.

For anyone else who may be considering buying a phone from FIDO, I want to tell you all that today I finally got my refund credited to my credit card account and consider the entire matter over and done with -- with one exception.

I would like to send an email to the appropriate person or department in FIDO where I can complain about several things associated with this affair.

All of my complaints are about a lack of notification. All during this process (buying a FIDO phone from a FIDO rep over the phone), there were many things that no one told me about and many things that I received  no notification. All of these items cost me money or cost me wasted time. I had to make three trips to a local FIDO store and I consider all of those trips to be wasted time and money. They all could have been avoided if only I would have been notified in advance of some money I would have to pay or some service for which I would need to travel to the FIDO store.

I would appreciate if anyone can please tell me the appropriate Email address where I can send this email detailing all the items for which I was never notified and for which I believe I should have been notified.

But I want you all to know that I managed to get my credit card refunded about one week after I returned the phone and I do not consider that length of time to be a problem.

My complaints are that no one ever informed me of the following:

1) Under certain conditions I would be billed a $50 "setup fee". When I first saw this charge on my FIDO bill, it came as a total surprise and I believe the FIDO rep who sold me the phone should have told me about this $50 setup fee.

2) I was told that I had 30 days to evaluate the phone and if I was not satisfied, I could return it for a refund. But no one ever told me the $300 refund would be left in my FIDO account where it would take me six months to use it up paying for my phone. Every other time I ever paid for something using a debit card or credit card and then needed to get a full or partial refund, I have always been told that there is no option to how I would get that refund. It must be applied to the same card I used to pay for it. Leaving it in my FIDO account was the first time I was ever given a refund that did not apply to my credit card. To be fair, I called FIDO and asked them to please remove my credit balance from my FIDO account and transfer it to my credit card. FIDO did that within a few days. So I have no complaint with the amount of time it took. My problem is that no one ever told me the refund would go to my FIDO account instead of my credit card.

3) When I bought my first phone from FIDO, it came with everything I needed to charge the battery. But this phone did not come with the charging block and I had to make another trip to the FIDO store to buy this charger block which cost me $30. My complaint is that no one ever told me I would not be able to charge my new phone and I would have to buy this charging block first.

Every FIDO rep that I spoke with about this problem told me that for the past two years FIDO has been selling the new phones just as they come from the manufacturer - without any charging block. It was a real pain in the neck to make a special trip back to the FIDO store to buy this charging block and if only the FIDO rep who sold me the phone would have told me about this, I could have saved making that trip. I understand that information is available on the FIDO web site. But I spent a lot of time reading the FIDO web site and I never saw anywhere where I could find this info. I believe it is a lot like the "fine print" on a contract and the FIDO rep should inform their clients they may need to buy a new charger block to save them the time and trouble of making this special trip.

4) The FIDO rep who sold me the phone never told me that there was a $50 "setup fee" that may apply under certain circumstances. When I first saw the $50 charge to my FIDO account for a "setup fee", it came as a complete surprise. I sure do wish the FIDO rep would have told me about this $50 charge when I bought the phone. I had to make a separate trip to the FIDO store to get them to transfer the SIMM card from my old phone to the new phone. They spent no more than 10 seconds to do this and I got this $50 "setup fee" for them to do that.

I am not at all savvy with technical things and so I could not change the SIMM card myself. My complaint is that no one told me I would be billed $50 before I saw that on my FIDO bill. To be fair, they did remove the $50 charge when I complained about it. My complaint is that no one ever told me about it in advance.

There are a few other items for which I never got any notice, but I'm just too tired to go through them all.

My point is that FIDO really should get "Informed Consent" from clients before they charge them or before the client has to make trips to the FIDO store - especially when this notice would save the client time or money.

Thank you for listening to me.

[Cawtau]

Hello JayDar,

  Firstly, I'm glad to hear you finally received the refund for the returned device. I understand you have concerns you wish to share. You should note Fido does not provide customer services via email. If you wish, you could express those concerns to the Omsbudsman or Office of the President. However, you should note that you will only be referred to the Office of President or Ombudsman once the proper escalation process had already been exhausted (see here). Every organisation has an escalation process. You would need to contact customer service and have them escalate your concern. In addition, they can also be contacted via Live Chat, Facebook, or Twitter. Those methods can be accessed via the contact page posted above.

  You might also refer here for steps to Resolve a Concern.

  That said, I would like to comment on one of your complaints:

---

@JayDar wrote:

...3) When I bought my first phone from FIDO, it came with everything I needed to charge the battery. But this phone did not come with the charging block and I had to make another trip to the FIDO store to buy this charger block which cost me $30. My complaint is that no one ever told me I would not be able to charge my new phone and I would have to buy this charging block first...

---

  I understand mobile manufacturers have previously included the charging block with their devices. However, there has been a recent trend for them to not include them anymore (see here). More specifically, Samsung notes the Travel adaptor and headphones are not included in the box, albeit in fine print (see here). In addition, reviews on that particular device also note there is no charger in the box (see here).

  I also understand that some people may not be very technically inclined and don't keep up-to-date with the latest information. My point, however, is that it has been fairly public knowledge that many smartphones do not include charging blocks anymore. While that information might not be generally known to everyone, it has been readily available to anyone looking to purchase a new device. As such, it might be considered reasonable for a seller to not mention the lack of charging block as a part of the box contents.

   I suppose it comes down to a matter of perspective. You were not aware the item was not included so you wished you were told. On the other hand, someone who is aware of that fact might resent being told and assume the sellers are trying to upsell accessories. What would have been the proper course of action?

  I do understand it was upsetting having to make a special trip in order to get a charging block. However, you should have been able to use the cable with most USB charging blocks, possibly even from your old device. While the device might not charge as quickly as with a Samsung charging (or similar) block, it should still be able to charge. Alternatively, USB charging blocks are readily available at many places.

  In addition, you should be able to plug it into a USB port on a computer and charge it that way as well. While, not ideal, it should charge.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers