Hello,
My wife (who has been a Fido customer for a long time) saw a promotion for an iPhone SE for $4/month for 24 months.
We ordered it. We were told in the confirmation email to wait until the physical store contacted us to say that the phone was ready. We were told we would then have three days to pick it up.
The physical store never contacted us. Finally, my wife cycled over to the store and the Fido store manager said that there is a bug in the system so that they don't receive all the customer information from the website. They had in fact received her phone, but they had not sent a message, so the three day window expired, and they sent it back.
Error #1: Fido.
Then we called Fido and explained what happened. The "new" price for an iPhone SE was now listed as $24/month on Fido. We explained that we had ordered the phone when it was $4/month and that Fido had made an error and we wanted the original price to be honored. The Fido customer service person confirmed this was possible and had the phone sent back to the store.
Again, we did not receive a message from Fido. However, my wife now knew that Fido's system wasn't working so she went there anyway.
They had the phone, but no details of the contract. She took the phone home. We go online and see that Fido is trying to charge us $24/month instead of the (twice agreed-upon) $4/month.
Error #2: Fido
Here's my question: at what point is this considered bait-and-switch? The Competition Bureau of Canada defines bait-and-switch as "when a product is advertised at a bargain price, but is not available for sale."
We have now been told twice by Fido that we would be charged $4/month and they are instead trying to charge us $24/month. The company is intentionally obscuring its responsibilities behind the veil of dysfunctional communications with its "central office."
It's a cell phone company: the main business is making contracts with customers. As I see it, there are two options: either Fido is so disfunctional that they actually can't communicate the details of the contract to their stores/agents or they are intentionally using this apparent disconnect to carry off bait-and-switch selling.
I feel we've done nothing wrong but have been inconvenienced and befuddled by Fido's behavior. Why treat customers this way?
So, here's the question: what are we supposed to do? We only have a 15-day window to return the phone. We aren't getting any clear answers from Fido because the customer care reps keep saying they are waiting to hear from "the central office." Are we supposed tend the phone back (even though we've used it)--and just switch to a different telecom provider? Are we supposed to just trust that eventually the central office will pull back the curtain and endorse their original contract? Should we file suit with Competition Bureau Canada for deceptive marketing practices?
Appreciate your input.
