Rogers Home Monitoring Scam - Rant

I recently had a horrible experience with Rogers that has left me feeling incredibly frustrated. Wanted to share here so that others don't run into the same issue.

For context, I have been a Rogers customer for as long as I can remember, and currently (until today) have my home internet as well as Smart Home Monitoring with them.

I was on a promotional plan for $20 per month for Smart Home Monitoring. I know there are other Home security options, but my wife likes the fact that SMH is linked to a central Monitoring station and has the ability to dispatch police. I figure $20 per month is a small price to pay for her peace of mind.

My promotion was expiring, at which point my monthly price would jump up to $40, so I phoned Rogers to see if they could extend the promotion. The CSR i spoke with offered me a deal that would allow me to pay the same $20 per month as my current deal, and would throw in an extra camera. Skeptical, i asked whether it was the same exact coverage as i currently have, plus the camera. The CSR assured me it was. I asked him to confirm, three times, whether the Home Monitoring including the ability to dispatch police, would continue to be included. He assured me three times that it would be, at which point I agreed to the new plan.

Today the Rogers tech came in. Right off the bat, he started with "just want to make sure you are aware, your new plan does not include Home monitoring". I was confused, and told him that the CSR had confirmed to me three times that it indeed does. The technician told me that he figured that might be the case, and let me know that Rogers is phasing out their home Monitoring service because it costs them too much money, and replacing it with what essentially amounts to a (starting at) $20/month rental of equipment that you can purchase outright for a couple hundred dollars online. Furthermore, he let me know that the new equipment he was going to install would only work as long as it was paired with a Rogers internet service, and would not be compatible with any other ISP...and by making customers sign a three year contract for security, they are essentially also locking you in for internet for three years. And while the price of the security is locked in at $20/month, they can jack up your internet rates when your internet contract is up, and theres nothing you can do about it since you're locked in to their security plan (unless you want to pay the cancelation fees for canceling security).

He also told me that hes been going to a ton of installation calls for customers who were lied to in the same way that I was, and its a really common tactic the CSRs are using to get customers to switch over to a plan that costs Rogers nothing each month.

For what its worth, the tech that came over was incredibly helpful.

I ended up canceling the plan right away, and am going to seek out other alternatives. Am also planning on canceling my Rogers service in a few months and going to a different ISP as soon as I have the chance. Just wanted to share my experience in case others are in the same boat as i am!