I am free of my (home) phone company now! I also hate them now, too.

I was a Sprint Canada customer, and then they merged or got bought out or whatever with Rogers, and with the change came new billing practices. It's been nothing but headaches for me, and they were never totally clear with what was going to happen to their customers -- or at least customers in my situation.

When I was a Sprint Canada customer, they were offering monthly discounts if you signed a one- or two-year contract. I signed up for a 2-year contract, giving me 15% off my total phone bill (before taxes) every month. They did notify how people's plans were changing, but it didn't seem like it was going to affect me. They just said to call Customer Service to make sure your plan wasn't changing. Mine is quite basic: land line with caller ID and voice mail.

I started getting the new bill and everything was fine, but about 3 months ago, the discounts just stopped. I called Customer Service, and they re-applied the discount for me, and told me that I was back on getting the regular discounts. But the next bill came, and the same thing happened -- with the same resolution. The last time I called, the CSR told me that on the screen, I was going to be getting the discount for 2 more years, but it wasn't going through. She said it was an IT issue and that it wouldn't be resolved for months, and that I should call every month to have them manually update my bill.

A pain, but I figured things would get resolved.

This morning I called Rogers and spoke to the CSR and said that my discount was no longer effective. I personally don't think she had a clue about my Sprint account despite me telling her that I was a Sprint customer. They have CSRs that don't have access to old account information, and I bet she was one of them. I only wish had the other phone number.

She just said that the discount didn't apply to me because I didn't use two or more of their services, i.e., no cable or Internet with them. I explained to her again that my discount was for signing a contract, and not for their current services. She put me on hold for a long time, and I think she was getting clarification from someone.

Anyhow, if I wasn't going to get my discount, I wanted to make sure I wasn't still under a two-year contract. I mean there was no formal letter explaining any of this. Legally, I assumed that the contract was then null and void, but I wanted to make sure. 

So...the lame CSR gave me a "goodwill" discount equal to the same one I got last month even though it would have been more proper to give me 15% of the bill I was calling about. She said it's been noted with my account that I understand that I will no longer be receiving 15% off my bill and that I am not under any contract.

It means I can switch telephone providers and not be penalized. I need the cheapest way to have a landline at home! Does anyone have any suggestions?