Watch out for free gifts

[4extreme]

I few months ago I called into rogers and made some changes to my cell phone plan. All went good, I don`t have a contract just a month to month. At the end of the conversation the representative said I was entitle to a free tablet. right away I said no thanks. But she said it was completely free with no strings attached because I was a loyal customer. Well today I phone into rogers to see if they would match a price given to me by Bell. thats when I found out I was under a new contract with rogers because I excepted the tablet. Now this is not a Samsung or apple product...it was some Chinese tablet called the ZTE. Its been slow from day one and I play a few simple games on it because its bigger than my phone. The Rep on the other end learned a few English swear words today, some I`m sure he`s never heard before. So be careful excepting free stuff because there is no such thing as a free lunch.

[MeadowMark]

In my case, the Rogers "Tablet Game" worked a little differently.
They offered the ZTE unit for $180 at 0% interest, billed out at $10 per month.
This offer came with a Second Phone Number/Sim Card and an unlimited Data Plan.

Like you, I was a little suspicious, but accepted the offer as my current data plan was only 250mb monthly and I had grown weary of chasing WiFi connections for my phone everywhere to protect my meager data quota.

So in my case, I am locked in to Rogers for the 18 month term until the tablet is paid off, or I pay out the balance. I figured $10 a month for an Unlimited Data Plan was a fair deal and I might find a good use for the second phone line.

True, the tablet is a POS that I really don't have any use for, and Rogers hasn't authorized the second phone line for making phone calls with.
(Haven't bothered to call them about that yet...)

The "Tablet Game" isn't a transparent marketing strategy, maybe even shady but in my case it made sense to "fall for it".

[daveyn]

My wife had a similar experience with Bell, so its not just Rogers. She accepted the "free" tablet when she renegotiated her cell phone contract and now has an "additional device" charge on her cell phone bill. Apparently its part of the contract that she agreed to when accepting the crappy tablet.

[waldedw]

Yup no such this as " FREE " always a string attached in their favor :argue2:

[huntinstuff]

Yeah they dont build skyscraper office towers because theyre honest.....
11 page contract for a phone.....tells you something right there

Telus is no different. Constantly trying to squeeze a nickel out of you.

[7magtime]

Yeah they dont build skyscraper office towers because theyre honest.....
11 page contract for a phone.....tells you something right there

Telus is no different. Constantly trying to squeeze a nickel out of you.

Yup, been with Telus 20+ years and the only time I hear from them is when they want to sign me up for something else for more money or it's contract renewal time. When contract renewal time comes or I wanted to add one of our kids to our plan though I was offered crap plans and treated like a new customer that just walked in off the street.....
I look forward to the day that a couple new companies offer better services for less money, are not bought out by one of the big three companies and take away a lot of business from the big three.......

[JBE]

When Telus and other phone companies say you are under contract even if you have not signed anything can they hold you to it?

[TBark]

My free Samsung tablet with Rogers was free (but a $10 sim) as I also have my Phone plan with them, $70/mo for phone, plus $10 / for the tablet Sim, they share 33 gb data.
The $10 tablet sim is a 2 year min plan tho.
So ya, 24 mo of $10 will absorb the free tablet but I use it, kids use it too.

But, when I went to that deal, I cancelled my Telus plan with both a phone and a min plan $10 iPad 1 sim minimal plan I had for 10 years.
Silly me the Telus guy said I might as well keep the sim as it was a basic grandfathered $10 plan.
But this minimal plan sim kept my $70 Telus plan active, took me 2 mo of billings to catch that, the buggers.

TBark