Rogers Communications has agreed in a deal with the Competition Bureau to pay refunds or credits to mobile phone customers who were charged for premium text services from two companies, and raised complaints about misleading advertising.
The refunds covers services provided by MMS between Jan. 1, 2011 and Sept. 30, 2012 and from Jesta between Jan. 1, 2011 and Aug. 31, 2013.
Rogers acted as billing agent for Jesta and MMS, which charged fees for services such as Mind Quiz, Love Crush and Joke a Day.
Rogers says it began making changes in 2011 in response to customer concerns and has since ended all premium text services, starting with MMS in 2012 and Jesta in 2014.
It has also worked with the Competition Bureau in determining how to compensate customers who paid for services from MMS and Jesta.
Current Rogers customers will get automatic credits on their bills in the next few months and former Rogers customers will be contacted by the company about the refund process.
“We heard from customers in the past that they had concerns with these third-party premium text services and between 2011 and 2013 we took action to protect our customers,” said Raj Doshi, Rogers executive vice-president, wireless services.
“Last summer we stopped the program all together and today we’re going even further. Though we’ve issued many refunds already to our customers, now all affected customers will get their money back.”
