Telus logo
A couple of days ago I received sales calls from Telus Communications Inc. (on my business line) and a few minutes later from Rogers Communications Inc. (on my personal line). A coincidence, I assume, that two of my arch enemies would call on the same day within literally a few minutes.
I haven’t done business with Telus in over twenty years, and I never will in the next thousand years! Among other reasons is that Telus ripped off (or stole) money from an older relative of mine for years, and then refused to return the stolen money. When I realised what had been going on after looking at bank statements, I cancelled one of the automated debits (which I almost never use myself) and they refused to return more than 90 days worth of debits in line with Interac rules. This was despite the fact that they were charging for a dial-up Internet account for years that had been cancelled years previously when it was replaced with broadband from another company!
Shortly after that I replaced the Telus phone line with VoIP from another provider, whom I will not name because I wouldn’t recommend them at this time. (That said, I’ve been using them [VoIP.ms] for sixteen years, so their service is at least acceptable, even if their support department seems to be hell bent on getting rid of their clients as fast as possible!) And not a cent has been paid to Telus since. Telus returned the favour by reporting me to the credit bureau.
I gave the Telus representative the concise rundown after they asked for details and gave the disingenuous impression that “maybe they could help”, and then I told them there was no way I’d ever again do business with Telus when he demurred.
Rogers logo.
In the case of Rogers, after their negative option billing fiasco in 1995 that affected my father, I swore I’d never do business with them. And then the government of Canada completely gave up on fostering competition in the cable television market, and allowed Rogers to buy Shaw, which I was using for TV and Internet. So when that happened and I had no other option, I was doing business with the reviled Rogers. That happened four years ago now, so I’m ashamed to admit that I still haven’t executed a departure from Rogers, but it will happen the next time I move.
Anyway, in that phone call I told the Rogers representative that I would not be buying anything else from them and would be cancelling my account with them at my earliest opportunity.
Just another day in the life of someone who likes to complicate his life by boycotting companies (and now countries!) with no scruples. I’ve had an article in the works since about October 2024 that explains why I’ve been boycotting Cadbury, Nestlé and Mars Inc. (and probably a few others) since I realised that they support Russia’s war effort against Ukraine and the killing of their civilians.