Abstract
Rogers is a communication service provider that produces phones as well as other data devices. In my study of the services provided by Rogers wireless international, I looked at three of its customer care services and their impacts on the operations of the company. Three articles were studied which contain information on sudden price hikes by the company, levying of charges on received text messages, and the removal of system access charges by the company.
Introduction
Rogers is the largest communication service provider in Canada with a large customer base of about five million, over five million wireless voice and data customers, and about two hundred thousand paging subscribers. To emphasize its market share, it is approximated that about 93% of the Canadian population is covered by Rogers. Just to mention but a few, Rogers is the producer of Palm Treo, Blackberry and HP Ipaq model’s data devices. Moreover, Rogers is an international company and its subscribers across the globe are able to use its wireless services through roaming services. Customer service has been a key concern for the company; however, some of the customer service issues such as a sudden increase in prices, charges on text messages, and charges on system access have affected the operations of the company both positively and negatively.
Customer service issues
One of the articles studied was on the sudden price increase by Rogers. The surprise price hike by Rogers especially on the internet connection and a subsequent limitation of the customer’s usage has not really been received well by the consumers (Roseman para. 2). Some customers complained of an increase in the charges for the home phone services, and feel shortchanged since the charges are always increased once a person has acquired the connection; thus they feel cheated given that their main attraction to the service was its low cost (Roseman para. 3).
Rogers had been over the years not been charging for the receipt of text messages. This was a sound strategy for attracting and retaining the customers because, at that time, other telecommunications service providers were levying charges on the text messages that a person received. This article titled ‘’Rogers charges for free text messages’ by Mansbridge (para.2) Highlights the plight of a consumer who signed a contract with Rogers when buying phones for her three children. Part of the deal was that Rogers would not be charging her for the messages that the children received. She feels that that has changed since the company is now charging her fifty cents for each message received (Mansbridge para. 3). In fact, this was not part of the contract as she says and she feels that she should be allowed to end the contract prematurely, her worry is that she will be expected to pay twenty dollars a month for each of the phones until the contract expires in case, she ends the contract before the due date. According to the article, one of the woman’s sons is planning to quit Rogers once the contract expires (Mansbridge para. 3), an action that will impact negatively on the sales of the company.
The last article, ‘wireless ends system access charge’ highlights that Rogers wireless has been charging the consumers of its services an access fee of about $ 6.95 to access its communication services (Sorensen para. 2). As the article says, the consumers should not really be elated by such a decision since it is bound to result in an increase in other charges such as the fee for government regulations that will range from $2.46 to $3.46 (Sorensen para. 3). According to the company, this is just but a strategy to clarify to the consumers their monthly expenditure and to enable them to know how much money they will be paying for the company’s services and for the government’s regulations.
Results
My findings were that Rogers wireless has been involved in a number of adjustments of the services it offers the consumers of its services. These adjustments have been either aimed at lowering the cost of services or to meet the extra expenses that the company is facing while trying to offer the services to the consumers. For instance, the company has been obliged to start charging the consumers for the receiving of the text messages. This has not been received well by the consumers which argue that that was not part of the agreement, the effect of which will be lack of customer satisfaction and possible loss of business.
Rogers has been raising the prices for some of its services such as the home phone connection and the internet connection. The customers seem not to understand that at times the company has to come in with new adjustments in order to meet its operational costs. However, this increase in the internet and home phone charges has had consumers feeling very unhappy and dissatisfied, and therefore, despite enhancing the company’s financial strength, it might work against the company’s market share.
Finally, the removal of the system access charge by the company acted as a real benefit to the consumers who feel that they can now access the company’s services freely. This kind of move by Rogers has instead been criticized on the grounds that it will result in increased charges to the consumers who will now have to pay some more amounts to cater to government regulations.
Impact on the company’s operations
The above three customer service strategies by Rogers have had both positive and negative impacts on its operations. To start with, the decision of the company to charge for the text messages by the company is not bad after all as it is meant to benefit the company. The only thing that should be done is to inform the customers about it and to allow them some time to make adjustments before the decision is implemented. However, this decision is likely to make the company lose some of its customers. The increase of the costs for home and internet services is another decision by the company that is likely to have negative impacts on the company. The customers are not only complaining about the increase in the costs, but they are also complaining about the quality and reliability of the services, which they say is quite low. The removal of the system access charges by the company is of great benefit to the company since it will enable the customers to know how much money they need to pay for the services of the company and government regulations. A problem could arise later when the customers realize that they have to pay extra charges in order to use the communication services and this may significantly scale down the company’s credibility.
If I were to work in the company, I would contribute a lot of management skills. I will ensure an enhancement in the quality of the services provided by the company. I will also endeavor to see the establishment of efficient and open customer-company relations strategies. This will help in ensuring that a great level of transparency exists between the company and the consumers of its services, the result of which will be customer satisfaction, retention and royalty.
Works Cited
Mansbridge, Peter. “Rogers’s charges for “free” text messages.” National CBC television. (2009). Web.
Roseman, Ellen. “Surprise price hiking adding to Rogers’ telecom Troubles.” Toronto star (Canada) (2010). Web.
Sorensen, Chris. “Rogers wireless ends system access charges.” Toronto star (Canada) 2009. Web.