In a recent phone conversation with my parents, I was telling them how I hadn’t received my Shaw statement in the mail, the second time in five months. The first time I called Shaw to report it, they blamed Canada Post and said I should go after them. They refused to send out another statement, forcing me to look up the statement on-line and encouraging me to go paperless from here on in. I argued that for accounting purposes, I needed a paper copy and besides, why should I incur the cost of printing when I pay them plenty for my bundled cable, phone and internet.
When I called to report this second missing statement, the Shaw rep first blamed Canada Post and said I should go after them. I said that was their job not mine, among other things. Let’s just say I did not go quietly this time. To his credit, he agreed to send me out another statement and call me in a week to see if I’d received it.
As I’m telling the story to my folks, my 82 year old father informs me that Telus is now charging $2 a month to send out statements. Which means that anyone who doesn’t have a computer, and that includes a lot of seniors as well as low-income people, will have to pay the two bucks. Ah yes, the two faces of Telus. All those cuddly animal ads on TV are intended to make us feel warm and fuzzy about them, while the company rips out pay phones and charges poor people for statements. Yeah, they’re giving back to the community alright. CRTC, where are you in all of this?
The day after I read the riot act to my Shaw rep, I was heading to the pool for a swim. I hadn’t been for awhile, so I checked my bag to make sure all my equipment was there. And what do I find? My latest Shaw statement. Oops, apologies to the nice customer service rep.
I do love those red pandas, but I’m sticking with Shaw.