Rogers' Rules

Most people are probably not aware of the clause in Rogers home telephone contract (and in other telephone service provider's contracts, including Bell) that cancellation of the service will require one month's notice. When changing phone service providers, consumers do not have to worry about it as the new provider takes care of this. People come to know about this clause when they move from one home to another.

We did not think this would apply to us as we had planned on continuing Rogers phone service, not cancel it, after moving to our new home. About a week before our move, when we phoned Rogers to make the change, we found out that Rogers service was not available in the area where we were going to move. In that case, we had no choice but to ask Rogers to cancel our current service as we would moving from our old home. We were told at that time that we would have to pay for the entire next month, even though we would not be in that house and not be using their service, because we did not give them a month's notice for cancellation. They did not have any answer to the fact that they themselves are forcing us to cancel the service as they do not offer it in that area.

In today's electronic age, why do communications companies need one whole month to cancel the service? I fail to understand. Even if they find some excuses to justify this unfair practice, they should not be penalizing consumers for their own inability to provide the service.