My Fido Experience (Rant)

[R. Mutt]

The scenario I am about to explain is not meant to be long but will unfortunately be that way in order to explain what has happened. So those who hate reading here are the bullets:

Customer has been a FIDO customer for almost 5 years
Customer pays an average of $100-130/month
Customer wishes to unlock iPhone for purpose of travel
FIDO fails to unlock iPhone and will not be able to resolve issue for up to 10 working days
FIDO sends customer to Apple to resolve issue multiple times instead of taking ownership of the problem
FIDO recommends customer use 3rd party unlocking software or service at a much higher expense to customer
FIDO explains procedures customer needs to follow in order to resolve unlock issue with Apple manager present on phone as witness.
Custom follows said instructions verbatim and phone cannot activate thereafter.
Customer cannot make or receive calls or use any features of smart phone for that matter.
Customer goes to Fido in person to resolve issue but issue cannot be resolved.
Customer is forced to use phone at Fido sales kiosk to resolve problem since he has no other means to communicate.
Customer tries to cancel Fido account and is offered an unlocked iPhone 5C for no cost due to inconvenience caused and no way to fix current problems with phone activation in a timely manner.
FIDO resolution offer mysteriously changes between time of phone call and sales rep at kiosk from iPhone 5C to 8GB iPhone 4S
Customer wishes to just get 8GB iPhone and move on but is told he must sign 2 year contract in order to do so.
Next day call Fido and settle for 5C with 2 year contract and various fees and charges waived and provision for both unlock fee and 90 day wait period to be waived. Resulting cost of $30 for new iPhone.
Pick up phone, confirm with sales rep everything stated above and sign new contact. Told that I can call to get the phone unlocked immediately.
Call, provide interaction ID but told I must wait the 90 day period.
Call back and speak to another rep, make sure they read the 90 days wave clause in the interaction ID and they pass me to unlocking dept.
Unlocking dept rep says she can't unlock phone for 90 days and even so I must pay the $50 fee. Furthermore, whatever retention dept told me was wrong.
I ask to speak to supervisor, puts me on hold for 30 minutes and comes back to tell me she can unlock the phone and waive the fee.

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I have been a fido customer for about 5 years ever since I moved to Canada from the US. Up to this point I was happy with my service despite paying bills that averaged between $100-$130 per month.

This whole thing began on Saturday 26th of July at 3 pm and ended Monday 28th at 3:40pm. I have to say of everything I have ever been through with a company I don't know how people can stand for this.

I called Fido on Saturday the 26th of July in order to unlock my 16GB iPhone 4S. The reason being that I will be travelling next week Saturday and need to use my phone with another SIM card during that time. I went through the procedure verifying my identity and providing the IMEI number. The Fido representative was unable to unlock the said phone as the process resulted in an error. Thereafter I was told that due to the nature of the error there was little she could do to resolve the issue and would need to put in a formal request for Apple to "release" the iPhone. She added that this was an Apple related problem and there was nothing she could do. She used the word release verbatim. Moreover she said the process would take no more than ten working days. She added that it may be in my best interest to have the phone unlocked by a private 3rd party vendor so I could use it for my trip.

At the point I told her to go ahead with her request even though the issue would not be resolved in time for my trip at which point we ended on the phone call.

Thereafter I called Apple technical support in order to receive further assistance since I was told this was "an Apple problem." Long story short, technical support at Apple said that it is the carrier's responsibility to unlock the phone and they have no means of doing so. She did however explain that an Apple rep would follow up with me the next morning at 10 am Pacific time.

At 10 am Sunday morning I received the follow up from an Apple representative. After describing my situation they put me on hold and contacted Fido at which point I was transferred over to a Fido representative and repeated the entire procedure once again. As before, the Fido representative was unable to unlock my phone and explained that, once again, it is an Apple related problem and there's nothing he could do. He went as far as recommending that I take my phone to private 3rd party vendors in order to unlock it, which to my understanding, is NOT the correct procedure for Authorized carriers of the iPhone.

By this time frustrated and asked him to reach out to Apple in an attempt to resolve the issue since I was being sent back and forth between the two companies. He explained that this wasn't possible and he has no means to do so. As such, I asked the Fido rep to provide me with the exact error message so I could relay that information to Apple in order to solve my problem. The Fido representative then quoted the error:

"IMEI 013195000800733 Carrier 21 dallas fido. Mismatch for activation policy. ID 368 Canada MTS. Valid carriers MS all stream Canada."

The tech rep explained that he was using a Apple website called "Skinny Albert" and this is how the procedure is done by Fido.

I ended the phone call and called Apple tech support once again. I then explained the entire scenario for the third time and provided them with the error message and name of the website the Fido rep mentioned is policy to use. I also explained to him that I had been through this exact scenario the day before and wish to speak to someone within the company who understood the nature of the problem and would not send me back to Fido. That I did am not trying to undermine his technical expertise but rather reach a person who is capable of resolving this problem be it with or without Fido. At this point he put me onto his superior and manager of the department. His name was Wes and he was very helpful. Wes took my information and provided me with his number and extension in case we got disconnected. He also explained that he has been through similar scenarios in the last two years and despite what I was told by Fido the problem is on their end. He made it clear to me that despite this he would remain on the phone with me until the issue was fully resolved with Fido. He took ownership of the problem which made me happy as a customer. At this point he put me on hold, contacted Fido, and we had a three way conversation trying to resolve the issue.

Wes of Apple explained my problem to the Fido tech rep who deals with unlocking iPhones. She said that in order to resolve the problem I needed to do the following:

1) Back up my iphone in iTunes
2) Take out my SIM card
3) Restore my iPhone using iTunes
4) Place my SIM back into my phone
5) Call Fido to follow through with the unlock

She stated that this may be necessary due to complications between the FIDO cellular system and the device. Wes was witness to these statement and made sure to repeat the steps to the Fido representative in order to make sure that we understood everything she said. He also made sure to ask that my phone would definitely be unlocked after this procedure. The Fido representative assured us that it would.

At this juncture the Fido representative left the conversation and I thanked Wes for his assistance in the matter and explained since my iPhone is my primary telephone I would need to hang up with him in order to follow the steps.

I followed the steps (as I have done many other times in the past restoring other iPhones including this one) however upon the restore I could NOT activate my phone. Meaning I could not activate it with iTunes or Cellular Network. I repeated the procedure a couple more time to no avail. I am always met with the following message:

"Your iPhone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable. Try connecting your iPhone to iTunes to activate it, or try again in a couple minutes.

If this problem persists, contact Apple Support at apple.com/support"

If I connect the phone to iTunes I get the following error:

"The iPhone "iPhone" failed to activate. Please try again later."

At this point I am unable to use my phone and it has already been a couple hours between phone calls with Fido and Apple, restoring my phone multiple times trying to activate. Moreover because I have no other means to make a call I cannot call Fido to resolve the issue. I am stuck and go to Fido at Pacific Center Mall to get help.

The sales rep at the kiosk tries to assist me but cannot resolve the problem and then allows me to use their phone to call Fido. The Fido tech rep cannot resolve the problem despite me trying a different sim card and rebooting the phone several times.

I am fed up. I have gone from simply trying to pay Fido $50 to unlock my phone to a phone that is useless. Still on the phone, I ask the Fido rep to cancel my Fido account because I want to cut my losses and move on. Fido couldn't resolve my problem and created a second one. I am connected to another department and speak to a woman named Kim.

I explain to Kim the entire scenario up to this point and express my utter frustration. She empathizes and offers me several options before cancelling. At first she offers to get technical support to look into the issue which they save is now a priority and will be resolved in two days. Two days? No, please cancel my account. At this point she offers me a replacement 8GB iPhone 4S to replace my now defunct 16GB iPhone 4S....free of charge. I decline the offer because I find it ridiculous that the best Fido can offer me after this entire poor excuse for customer service is a phone of smaller capacity then that which I currently own. The audacity to issue me an inferior phone "for free" after FIDO created and cannot resolve the problem. Again I only did what I was told to do by Fido which resulted in a broken phone. At this point I just want a phone that works AND is unlocked for all my troubles...I ask Kim to give me that I'll keep my account with Fido. Kim puts me on hold, and to her credit she is really trying. She comes back after 10 minutes or so and says to my surprise she can offer me an iPhone 5C for $0 and an exception to unlock the phone right away. Finally something that will resolve all my troubles: a replacement for my current phone that will be unlocked for my trip. I thank her for her help and she issues me what says is called an "Interaction ID" number which I will present to the Fido sales rep who in turn will provide me with the phone and unlock it right there with no fees or cost to me. She explains that the unlocking process is usually one that takes 48 hours but given the entire ordeal they are putting a note to make an exception and have it unlocked right away. I write down the interaction ID number, thank Kim numerous times for being the only person up to this point who has truly helped me on Fido's end of things and end the call.

At this point I'm beginning to cool off because there's finally light at the end of the tunnel. It is 5 pm and I have been dealing with Fido related phone problems since 10 am. I wait another 20 minutes in line after which I tell the sales rep what happened and explain that I was told I would be issues an iPhone 5C, phone unlocked and all fees waived. I provide the sales rep with the number, she makes a phone call, provides the relevant information and tells me, to my absolute amazement that it entitles me to an 8GB iPhone 4S.

I ask to speak to the rep dealing with the interaction ID on the phone. I cannot fathom how I JUST came off the phone and was told one thing only to find out another. She says that I cannot speak to the person so I ask to use their phone again in order to call back Fido to understand why I was told one thing and it turns out to be something completely different. The fido kiosk rep who is there in person is also on another phone calling back the interaction ID rep at FIDO to try and clear things up. I explain that they need to talk to Kim, I just spoke to her and she told me an iPhone 5S. They can't explain why, but simply say that's what the system says. I am not a liar and I did not mishear Kim when she explained herself and I agreed.

Nonetheless, at this point I am exhausted, I just want to be done with this, I just want to be done with Fido and get on with my life. I tell them just give me the 8 GB iPhone 4S unlocked that the system has on file. The sales rep starts talking to me about upgrading to a 5C and it will just mean using my Fido dollars and switching my plan. He explains that I'll just need to sign a new contract. I decline and say I just want to get my phone and leave. He explains that EVEN the 8GB iPhone that was issues via the interaction ID means that I must sign a two year contract with Fido in order for the fee to be waived. At this point I walk out and go home.

I want to tell you that in the 30 years I have been on this planet I have never had such a miserable and frustrating experiences dealing with a company as I have over the last two days with Fido. If I knew unlocking my phone would have caused this much stress and taken up this much of my time on weekend when I finally get time to relax I would have simply left it locked.

I should NOT have to sign a contract in order for FIDO to replace a phone that does not work due to errors and/or problems on their part.

Likewise if FIDO is not able to fix my current phone I should be given a replacement of equal capacity NOT one half the size.

Instead of just giving me a new phone and letting me get on with my life and remain a customer given the extenuating circumstances it showed me that FIDO's certainly puts customer satisfaction behind profit when in fact you want satisfied customers to generate revenue.

So today I call in and speak to someone in the "retention dept." who tells me they can't help me resolve it, but by the end of the conversation we've formed a consensus on an Unlocked iPhone 5C at the cost of a 2 year contract and $30 to my next bill - fine. She provides me with an interaction ID that I can gives to people moving forward.

I leave work go down to Pacific Mall, get the phone and the sales rep sees all the information made clear in the interaction ID which as grown so long it takes him a solid 10 minutes and my explanation to help digest. Thereafter he explains everything in the new contract and states several times that the 90 day clause for unlocking is waived for me so to ignore that section. In retrospect I should have made him cross out those lines and initial it though I doubt he would have been willing.

I get back to work and call Fido to unlock the phone...home stretch. First phone rep pulls up the interaction ID but tells me he can't connect me to the unlocking dept because they can't waive the 90 day period despite what's on screen. Conversation lasts 45 minutes and I end it with no resolution and only knowing that I can expect a manager call back withing 24 hours.

I call back immediately and speak to a different rep and tell her to pull up the interaction ID. I tell her to scroll to the bottom and look for the section which states that the 90 day wait period will be waived as well as the fee. She confirms it and puts me on hold for half an hour as she reaches the unlocking dept to explain the situation before transferring me.

I'm now with the Unlocking dept. "Sorry sir, company policy states that you MUST wait a 90 day period before we can unlock your phone. Moreover you will have to pay the $50 fee."

At this point my face looks like Akuma before he disappears to do a super combo.

I tell myself to be calm, and explain the entireeeeeeeeeeeeee scenario I've written out here as concisely and clearly as possible. I try to empahsize that given the extenuating circumstances that this is an exception. She still tells me no the other department is wrong. I explain that miscommunication between departments is not my problem as a customer...I was told X, Y and Z. I ask to speak to her Supervisor. She puts me on hold for half an hour, comes back to tell me:

"Sir I have good news, I spoke to my supervisor and I will be able to...."

"Really?" I say in a sarcastic tone. "So, let me here you say that I was right and you were wrong."

"No sir, I was not wrong, [...] is the company policy for unlocking phones. My supervisor made an exception in your case."

"This entire time I've been telling you that my interaction ID states an exception is being made in my case. I told you I know what the company policy rules are [...].

At this point I have nothing more to gain and know I just need to finish this shit up. I've already lost 3 days of constant phone calls, exhausting conversations and hours on hold. I stfu and let her unlock the phone so I can be done.

FUCK FIDO

The End.

[Mr.HappySilp]

You got the run around...... When I had my s4 unlock I simply went to a fido store paid $50( I got it credited on my bill already). Phone was unlock in 5mins.

Fido simply don't want to unlock your phone that's all.

And that 90 day thing is pure BS. I sign a 2year contract and was able to get my s4 unlock in a week.

[R. Mutt]

I sure did. It is what it is...I'm just glad to be done with it. It felt like a miracle when I saw the unlock message in iTunes...literally like I had accomplished a life goal or something.

[Mr.HappySilp]

so you got the iphone 4s 8GB at $0 on a 2 year contract or did they give you the iphone 5c?

[entrax]

pretty sure Fido had such a big issue unlocking it because your old phone's IMEI did not match the carrier.

013195000800733 checks out as a "MTS" iPhone according to online checkers.

partDescription : SVC,IPHONE 4S,GSM,16GB,BLACK,CI/AR,
Simlock : Locked
nextTetherPolicyDetails : Canada MTS

Usually it says Canada Rogers or Canada Fido. Even if you have the box that says Fido, any it's stamped with Fido all over the phone, Apple has this registered as from MTS, meaning Fido actually couldn't do it.

third party unlocks it the proper way, i've done one through third party websites and I was even able to ask Apple reps to confirm and they confirmed it was unlocked on their servers/databases. just avoid jailbreak unlocks/gevey sim bs. although, i haven't seen any site offering to do MTS iphones...so you're still stuck.


However, their handling of your issue when they offered to replace the phone, to being bounced around and getting the runaround with the new phone is absurd. That's disgusting.

[Mr.HappySilp]

^^ well that's how cust service is these days. If it is not under normal procedure try to avoid it at all cost. No one wants to get their hands dirty and get in trouble from management and if something goes wrong they can't be blame for it.

[R. Mutt]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

so you got the iphone 4s 8GB at $0 on a 2 year contract or did they give you the iphone 5c?

I got a 5C 16GB for $30 on a 2 year contract. They used my Fido dollars and a bunch of credits for that to happen.

Originally Posted by entrax

pretty sure Fido had such a big issue unlocking it because your old phone's IMEI did not match the carrier.

013195000800733 checks out as a "MTS" iPhone according to online checkers.

partDescription : SVC,IPHONE 4S,GSM,16GB,BLACK,CI/AR,
Simlock : Locked
nextTetherPolicyDetails : Canada MTS

Usually it says Canada Rogers or Canada Fido. Even if you have the box that says Fido, any it's stamped with Fido all over the phone, Apple has this registered as from MTS, meaning Fido actually couldn't do it.

third party unlocks it the proper way, i've done one through third party websites and I was even able to ask Apple reps to confirm and they confirmed it was unlocked on their servers/databases. just avoid jailbreak unlocks/gevey sim bs. although, i haven't seen any site offering to do MTS iphones...so you're still stuck.


However, their handling of your issue when they offered to replace the phone, to being bounced around and getting the runaround with the new phone is absurd. That's disgusting.

This is good to know. The 4S was a replacement issued by Future Shop under a protection plan. When I called to unlock the phone they said they couldn't until I proved to Fido I got it replaced through Future Shop. Went to FS got a copy of my sales receipt, went to Fido and they updated the IMEI on their system from the old phone to the new FS replacement 4S IMEI. It's only after this was done they moved forward with the unlock.

So this 4S iPhone cannot be unlocked? I've never heard of "MTS".

[shenmecar]

MTS is a regional carrier in Manitoba.