Rogers has recently launched a website located at RedBoard.Rogers.com which is supposed to be their way of interacting with customers on a social front, and to seem like down to earth and caring people instead of a corporate blood letting machine preying on the young, old, and weak.

The website currently only features a couple of posts with regards to Txting to Help Haiti, Changing Preferences on your Rogers Cable box, and an introductory post explaining just what Rogers RedBoard is.

In theory this website is a terrific way to interact with your customers in an off-the-cuff approach, however beneath the shiny new website lays more corporate BS than you could possibly imagine.

I personally commented on the first post on RedBoard congratulating Rogers in listening to their customers. I felt like they took a step in the right direction, but as Paula Abdul used to say “One step forward, and two steps back….”

As much as Rogers is trying to come across as a hip company that wants to better understand its customers, using canned responses such as the following:

“Rogers is committed to providing all our customers with the best Internet experience possible while maintaining competitive, fair monthly rates that reflect how they choose to use the Internet. Only a small percentage of our total customer base goes over their monthly usage cap. For those who do consistently go over the maximum usage, our customer care representatives can help review their current plans and to decide which best suit their needs.”

The above comment makes @RogersMary sound more like a corporate puppet moreso than someone who is looking to actually answer questions.

Any company that is interested in interacting with customers on a social level need to understand that customers want answers…… REAL answers. Not useless canned responses that you use for every Tom, Dick, and Harry you speak to. Otherwise you are a glorified CSR that just finished training and hopped on the phones.

Now apart from the above rant, I have one more.

Rogers claims to be an innovator, but lets take a look at some facts about Rogers.

Rogers claims to be the first GSM carrier in Canada, however Microcell (better known as Fido) was the FIRST GSM carrier in Canada.

Rogers Android devices are all still running 1.5, and nobody at Rogers can seem to give us Android users a valid answer as to when we will see 1.6 (Donut) or 2.1 (Eclair?)

As a Rogers customer for almost 8 years, I am more than outraged at the crazy claims Rogers makes about their network speeds.

I think if you look at the facts, you’ll find that Rogers has consistently been first to market with new devices and network innovations, from being the first Canadian carrier to launch iPhones and Android phones to being first in North America to launch wireless internet connectivity at speeds of up to 21 Mbps

The above comment made by @RogersKeith with regard to Rogers’ Wireless Network Speeds. Never have I ever experienced 21MBPS on any Rogers 3G HSPA device let alone my HOME INTERNET services with Rogers.

Once again this is my opinion on the whole RedBoard thing, and I would be happy to discuss it with anyone that would like to leave a comment either on Twitter or right here on AndrewGoldenberg.ca

That being said, I reshaped the images into wallpaper images for a Blackberry Bold running a theme called Sterling.

You can download the theme HERE

You can download the wallpapers HERE

Click on the images to see the full papers.

This evening I came across a story in Consumerist.com that I feel signifies both what you get for minimum wage, but also how ridiculous the traditional press outlets are by comparison to the internet writers.

The story above talks about a man who picked up his Pizza Hut pizza, and at the bottom of the reciept instead of finding his own name he found the word BIGBLACK instead.

The first point I will make about this occurrence is that the employee that produced this receipt is either a complete and utter moron, or figured he wouldn’t get caught. In any case, this does no justify being a complete and utter ass hole! That being said, this is what you get for minimum wage. You get someone who could care less about their job, the businesses’ clients or the general well being of any visitors that may enter your place of business. Do you really want the people that handle 80% of your day to day operations creating situations like this in your business.

If you want to save face, pay a decent wage! Not to say more money will make the problem go away, but you can almost be certain that you will keep that employee happy and motivated. Money motivates people. Sure some people can be persuaded with “perks” or ” a great career” but at the end of the day; money talks and shit walks.

The second point I wanted to make about the article if you even noticed, the writer didn’t once assume the event was racially motivated. In traditional media, that is almost the first card they lay for this kind of act. I would be willing to wager a million dollars that says race didn’t play any kind of role in this event. I’m sure if it was a big fat white guy at the counter, the reciept would have read BIGFATFATTY or WhtieNormous!

It’s just general disrespect for your customers, because you employees feel under-appreciated and under-compensated.

Big businesses: Do yourselves a favor and just put up or shut up. Stop paying your execs 6 figures, and spread it out among your FRONT LINE EMPLOYEES! They earn your fat pay cheques.

Just my $0.02

Hiya Folks!

It’s been a while since I posted, as nothing much has transpired. Just living life and enjoying my time.

I’m very happy I checked out Twitter today, as Joel Gardiner (FPS_Doug) tweeted about the screening of 3 episodes of Pure Pwnage at Bloor Cinemas in Toronto!

As you all know, I’m a huge fan and supporter of their show. I’m happy to have met the guys and gals as well as have a few beers with them!

Anyways I am super stoked for the trip, as it will be my first long haul drive to Toronto with Jenn in the passenger seat.

I cannot wait! Now to schedule the time off, and GTFO of Ottawa for a couple of days!

Hope to see all of my fellow fans / friends there!

The only other thing I can think of at the moment (because I’m damn tired) is that my new bed turned up today, and I will be taking it for a test sleep this evening!

This is my video about my Blackberry Bold’s trackball dying on me. It’s really sad, because Blackberries are the only mobile devices that I can stand for any long period of time. No matter what device I’ve owned, I’ve always fallen back to a Blackberry.

Long time no talk it would seem!

It has been quite some time since my last official post here on my blog. I do post a lot more often to my Twitter and FourSquare accounts, but I’m sure I could start posting more here as well.

The reason for my absence as of late has been nothing short of sheer laziness. To be totally honest I’ve had absolutely nothing to write about that wasn’t intensely personal.

Last weekend Jenn, myself, and my folks looked at beds at Leons and we ended up choosing one that is going to be not only super comfortable, but really nice too! We are both very excited for our new bed!

I’ve been working a lot on restoring NerdyBlog to its former glory, but am missing a couple small things that are needed. I call them writers. If you know anyone that would be interested in writing for a technology site on a voluntary basis, have them send me an email with a sample article / review / commentary.

That’s all I have for you for now. Ill try to be a bit more frequent on here in the future.

Speak Soon!

Now you can reply and comment to my posts VIA twitter. Simply reply to me and watch it in action!

I am stoked to have a new way to comment on this blog without all the spam that comes with a typical Wordpress install!

Enjoy!