We have received many comments from supporters saying we have to do more than just send the petition to make a difference.

#1 Some have suggested there be a peaceful and organized rally / protest when we deliver the petition to Rogers.

#2 There have since been other offers from Rogers competition that are more competitive and some have suggested people cancel their Rogers contracts and that we start a separate petition that keeps count of how many people have canceled their Rogers contracts.

What are your thoughts?

There are a number of questions and concerns from supporters that Oilchange.com would like to address. Below you will find frequently asked questions and answers.

Q: Are you affiliated with any telecommunications company?

A: No, we are full service web design and Internet marketing company that has no affiliation with any telecom company.  We do however advertise Oilchange.com on 680 News, a Rogers owned radio station and we do pay for some other Rogers services and none of those services involve cell phone plans.

Q: Why are you taking over a grassroots movement?

A:  When we found out about this petition and heard about the data plans Rogers was offering for the upcoming launch we were as disappointed as everyone else.  Our executives used to be on Rogers wireless plans and they were too expensive so we then switched to Telus and they too ended up being too expensive.  We now use Verizon cell phones and save a significant amount of money and can travel all over Canada and the US and not pay extra for roaming fees or long distance charges.  

When we saw the site go down under control of the original site owner we felt strongly enough about this issue to acquire it and make sure the petition continues to grow without interruptions especially when momentum was building.  As a corporate entity we have more resources to manage this website and take it to higher levels.  The Paypal donation button has been removed because Oilchange.com is taking on the cost of this website. We have added video content to Youtube, accelerated the petition sign ups and are making adjustments to the website on a daily basis.

We are behind this petition 100%.

Q: What did you do with all the Paypal donations?

A: Oilchange.com has not received any payment from Paypal Donations. We are taking on all the costs associated with this website. The previous owner has told us to notify everybody that he used the funds to market the site and did not use any funds for himself.

Q: What’s your motivation?

A: The Rogers pricing of their iPhone 3G data plans is just one example of many in this country where Canadians are being overcharged. There are countless examples in every sector. We have created a platformCanadians.com to expose all of these price differences to make a difference here and obtain more competitive pricing on goods and services, more choice and ultimately put more money back in Canadian pockets.

Q: There have been some duplicate entries in the petition, what are you going to do about this?

A: We scrub the site once a day for duplicates and other spam posts.

UPDATE: And the final answer is NO.

20:38 EST – UPDATE: The list has been purged and no one will receive any other spam like this in the future. We apologize again for this situation.

I just called Rogers on the number you listed for the cancellations/retentions department. After a few questions back and forth, I chose to be up-front with the guy about the fact that I’ve already been running an iPhone since last September (!) on their “BlackBerry” plan. He offered the $30/month for 300MB plan and I took it. Most of my day I am close to a friendly wi-fi transmitter so this is plenty of EDGE data for me. Hope everyone else gets what they want, iPhone-wise… Cheers!

This could be a solution guys. What do you think?

I got this email around an hour ago, from someone from Rogers:

Hello,

My name is Nicole Burguess and I’m writing on behalf of Rogers to give you some additional information about the Rogers rate plans available for the iPhone.

The iPhone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the only price plans available to customers, they are the high value plans that allow Rogers customers to use the device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today.

That said, Rogers customers have more choices available to them and can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans if they wish. For example, they can select from the new data pricing (ranging from $30 for 300MB to $100 for 6GB or $50 Flex Rate plan) and add a voice plan, or they can choose a combined voice and data plan to best suit their individual needs.

Customers are not required to take the value packs, and can order most other features a la carte, such as $7 for Caller ID.

Existing customers can keep their existing voice service plan and pick a separate data plan (not in the iPhone 3G bundle) to meet their needs. They will need to check their upgrade eligibility, but any customer with a monthly service fee that is over $30 can upgrade to an iPhone 3G at $199 (for the 8GB model). Other options outside the iPhone bundle may be available depending on the customer’s individual information.

If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to help you.

Is it just me, or is Rogers caving to the pressure exacted on them by Ruined iPhone.com?! Either Rogers is taking an about-face about this, or they are extremely horrible at marketing.

The best part about this letter is that you can use your current voice plan, and upgrade to an iPhone. This is very very very good for me. I’m alright with the plan I have now, and if I could get a cheap data plan, or none at all, I’d be happy with that. I can always just use my iPhone on wifi. Let’s look at how this turns out, since this is obviously just the beginning.

Please, comment this post. How do you see that?

I have sorted through dozens of forums, blogs, and websites to collect the following information.

If we are to make a difference our complaints must have an impact. If you can, try the following:

1. Avoid buying the new iPhone from Rogers/Fido (if only for a few days/weeks)
2. Copy the information I’ve gathered below into an e-mail to all your contacts asking them to please read and forward it on.
3. Contact some and/or all of the people below and politely let them know how you feel about the situation.
4. If you own any Rogers stock sell it off starting Monday so they can feel the dip.
5. Copy the information below into a word or other document and print off a few dozen copies. Then on your way to work/school on July 11th make sure you stop by the lineups at Rogers/Apple stores and hand them out (from the public sidewalk) so people know they’re about to get ripped off for voice/data etc. Between all of us we could cover thousands of locations and really make the news with the issue.
6. Post the below information (or a link to this thread) on every blog, forum, newsgroup you know of or can think of.

Rogers Voice & Data Plans for the iPhone

UK vs. US vs. Canada iPhone Comparison

Now to Compare Apples to Apples…Rogers costs $247.47/month after adjustments
- 300 less daytime minutes at $0.35/minute is $105.00/month in overage charges
- Starting Evenings/Weekends at 6pm to match is $7/month extra
- Data Overage is $0.50/MB over 400MB so $30/month extra for even 60MB overage
- Text Messages are 125 less so add Rogers $10/month unlimited text - Call Display is $7/month extra
That is roughly $180/month extra to make the plans balance.

This math forces a Canadian iPhone user to go up to the next plan and even then the iPhone in Canada costs $75+$20+$7.45 = $102.45/month plus tax = $115.77/month and you still don’t have unlimited data or as many daytime minutes.

Rogers…give Canadian Wireless customers fair plans that compete with the rest of the 1st world countries. Or at least let us keep our current plans and add unlimited data for $30/month like your Canadian (Telus/Bell) and US (AT&T) competitors.

COMPARISONS

Telus Mobility – unlimited data $30/month (all smart phones)

Bell Mobility – unlimited data HTC Touch $7/month
unlimited data $30/month (all smart phones)

Rogers/Fido – 300MB limit $30/month (all smart phones – EXCEPT iPhone)
1GB limit $60/month (all smart phones – EXCEPT iPhone)

CNN Money: Rogers + iPhone = Ruined
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com…e-rate-relief/

Sign the Petition
http://www.ruinediphone.com/

WHY?

Why can’t iPhone users keep their existing plan and add a data package to it?
Why do Telus and Bell give UNLIMITED data for $30/month and Rogers/Fido have limits?
Why do the new iPhone plans have reduced daytime minutes and stripped features?
Why can’t iPhone users get family plans?
Why can’t iPhone users get Megatime plans?
Why can’t iPhone users get Mega incoming plans?
Why can’t iPhone users get Business plans?

ROGERS – CONTACT INFO
Here is the contact information for a few of the top people at Rogers.
Please email them, politely, to express the disappointment you feel with the new iPhone voice & data plans

NAME, DEPARTMENT, NUMBER, E-MAIL

Elizabeth Hamilton, Corporate Communications, 416-935-8710, elizabeth.hamilton@rci.rogers.com
Bruce M. Mann, Investment Contact, bruce.mann@rci.rogers.com;
Eric A. Wright, Investment Contact, ric.wright@rci.rogers.com;
Jan Innes, Corporate and Media, jan.innes@rci.rogers.com;
Heather Armstrong, Wireless, heather.armstrong@rci.rogers.com
Suzanne McMeans, Rogers Wireless Relations, suzanne.mcmeans@rci.rogers.com
Robert Bruce, President of Rogers Wireless, robert.bruce@rci.rogers.com
Nadir Mohamed, President and CEO of Rogers, nadir.mohamed@rci.rogers.com
Ted Rogers, trogers@rci.rogers.com
J Innes, Vice President, jinnes@rci.rogers.com
Jane Haitsma, Customer Relations Executive, jhaitsma@rci.rogers.com
Dan Coombes, Investor Relations, 416-935-3550, dan.coombes@rci.rogers.com
Deborah Deroche, Investor Relations, 416-935-3551, deborah.deroche@rci.rogers.com

SKIP REGULAR *611 CUSTOMER SERVICE COMPAIN TO THE CANCELATION/RETENTIONS DEPARTMENT – DIRECT NUMBERS
Fido: 1 888 259 3436 / Rogers: 1 888 936 7283

APPLE – CONTACT INFO
Here is the contact information for a few of the top people at Apple that need to know what Rogers has done to their revolutionary product.

NAME DEPARTMENT NUMBER E-MAIL

Simon Atkins Canadian Media Relations satkins@apple.com
Steve Dowling US Media Relations 408-974-1896 dowling@apple.com
Katie Cotton VP Communications katiec@apple.com

Apple iPhone Feedback
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Competition Bureau Canada – Let the Government know you’re not happy that Canadians pay more for cell phone data than many third world countries.
http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/e…en/01260e.html

Contact your Member of Parliament here:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Com…e.aspx?Menu=HOC

Digg.com
http://digg.com/apple/Rogers_you_ruined_my_iPhone_dream

Bill C-555 GET CONNECTED FAIRLY ACT
Petition – Canadian consumers pay on average 33% more for cell phone use than American consumers
http://www.davidmcguinty.com/english…s_d_acces.html

Terms and Conditions

Rates and offers effective July 11, 2008 and are subject to change without notice.

* Applicable to all plans: Local airtime usage, data usage and/or text messages over that allotted in the plan, long distance and roaming charges, additional wireless service options selected and applicable taxes are extra and are also billed monthly. An Early Cancellation Fee (EECF) applies if, for any reason, your service is terminated prior to the end of the service agreement. The ECF is the greater of (ii) $1100 or (iii) $220 per month remaining in the service agreement, to a maximum of 400 (plus applicable taxes), and applies on each line in the plan that is terminated.

Is it me, or it’s getting worse each days? 1,100$ ouch…

From Canada.com’s article :

Liz Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Rogers said the company had no comment on the petition but said it was apparent there is “confusion in the marketplace” about Rogers pricing plans for the phone.

She said iPhone 3G bundles are high value and offer customers savings over voice and data plans that exist today though they are not the only plans being offered.

“These are the best value for customers who wish to use the iPhone 3G as it was meant to be used, but as always our customers have choices,” Hamilton said in an e-mail.

She said customers can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans, or order other a la carte options so they don’t have to take the value pack.