In Steffan’s case it was all about the service activation fees. My case is about collecting “Fido Dollars” (FD).
The expression itself suggests that while collecting them you have something associated with value, expressed with money or the like. I have no bloody idea how the system works when collecting FD but with every single bill to pay you’re reminded of some more and more FD accumulated on your account. And it looks fine when looking at numbers. At some point you may learn that your FD can be used when upgrading your telephone and getting a new one.
Can I pay my phone bill with FD?, I am asking. No, you can’t, but you can get a new phone of the value equivalent to the already acquired FD. At this point my FD went down in value for the first time.
Then I renewed the contract in 2007 following the notice from the company about expiration of the contract. I went to the Fido store in Metrotown Centre in Burnaby and physically signed another contract by putting a signature on paper. In 2010 there was supposed to be another contract renewal but nobody had ever reminded me about this renewal. I silently, without paying any attention and not accepting anything, went to pay-as-you-go plan, technically no different from what it was before. I was still collecting FD, still thinking about getting a new phone in times of new upgrades of equipment that was sliding under our roofs every new day.
One day I phoned Fido customer service to get a new phone and they gladly gave it to me. We agreed that I could use the FD for it and I started to use the phone which came in mail a few days after I had arranged everything.
While talking about FD, they practically gave me a new phone but I had to pay for it.
During my all dealing with Fido to get a new set for FD, I was not interrupted by the customer services rep about my ineligibility of using FD while being a pay-as-you-go client. So my FD got devalued for the second time and I was collecting money for nothing – heyyaaa Dire Straits, money for nothing and cheques for free you’re singing about is just my case!
Why did I get the new phone has been a lingering mystery to me or has it? They simply wanted money for the new set, even if I was not eligible to use my FD in the light of their current regulations. After calling these suckers back I learned about everything for the first time that the FD were just numbers to please customer who couldn’t do anything with it. Also, I told them that I never signed anything on papers, no signature from me on any paper dated back in 2010. For this I got the answer that after 2010 I went on pay-as-you-go plan automatically.
To get a plan I have to let them know and that’s fine with everybody but to change its condition is like doing the things “automatically”? Is that a good busines practice?
The situation got calmed down until early summer 2011 when I got a notice from the collection agency about my payment due to the unresolved payments with Fido. Now I am a big sinner, as always, bad guy as I have always been in many life situations before, this time thanks to Fido.
Now I am again under contract, still collecting FD but for what reason? Maybe because to warn others that doing business with Fido is a lying dog worth effort and headache at the end of the day.
