Keep the change: Canadians furious after estimating Rogers outage credit

After Rogers’ prolonged internet and wireless service outage, subscribers are discussing how much they could get in credit from the communications company, and it could likely be a tiny amount.

On Saturday, Rogers President and CEO Tony Staffieri said the company will “proactively apply a credit to all customers impacted by the outage,” which spanned over two days, starting at around 5 am ET on Friday.

Customers woke up to find themselves completely offline and unable to start their work day. Many flocked to their nearest Starbucks and scrambled to find reliable internet. The outage brought business to a standstill.

“We will make this right,” Staffieri told subscribers in a reassuring letter.

People began calculating how much this outage credit could be. Of course, the amount might vary given the package you’re signed up for, but it could be an average of less than $4 per subscriber.

“Rogers ARPU (Average Revenue Per Unit) is $57.24, which means that the average Rogers Customer will receive an account credit of $3.80,” tweeted human rights activist Rob Gill. “RETWEET IF THIS IS NOT ENOUGH!”

You could figure out the amount you might receive by calculating how much you pay per day according to your bill. Multiply that by the number of days you were affected by the outage.

“This is not enough! I lost business over this!” said a Newfoundland resident — one of the thousands airing their frustration with the internet service provider.

Another Canadian, a Fido subscriber who drives an Uber, said he lost around $200 on Friday.

One Torontonian complained about Rogers’ per-day late payment chargers being higher than the $3.80 amount, which is just about enough to buy a small latte at a coffee shop in the city.

Gill suggests personally escalating the matter if you want to be compensated further.

Aside from affecting Rogers subscribers, the outage also impacted Interac, debit card, and credit card users. It caused flight delays and problems with ticket bookings nationwide. But the most detrimental part of the situation may have been the fact that people could not dial 911 for emergencies.

These things have left Canadians wondering what Rogers will do for those outside of their customer base.

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