Yeah, really interesting game Rogers is up to here. My other utilities all charge me for the preceding month's service. I get the service, I pay the bill. On automatic withdrawal the payment was withdrawn 1-3 days after that month's service ended. I think it was a bit longer grace period under Shaw, but that's OK, I used the service, I should pay for it ASAP. BTW as others have pointed out with electronic banking, the lag time in minimal.
However, Rogers has become even MORE greedy than they were previously. They don't like waiting until the end of your moth's service to have you pay, so they have moved the payment schedule up two weeks so you pay in the middle of your service for that month. Let's say you had a billing cycle from the 1st day to the last day of each month. You used to be billed for your prior month, and that bill was due on around the first of the following month, so you were paying for the services you just used. Rogers wants to split the difference, and now they want you to pay halfway through your billing cycle, so you are paying for two weeks of past use, and two weeks of unused service (future service), so they are prebilling you for half of you month's service.
Now, I can see two main reasons for this, either Rogers doesn't trust that we will pay for the used service at the end of our billing cycle, so they are "compromising" at half way or more likely it's because they are getting paid for half a month services they have yet to provide, improving their cash flow. It's sort of like you are paying a deposit half way for the upcoming two weeks of services (yes, I know months are on average 4.3 weeks, but I'm using 2 weeks and 2 weeks to simply the explanation).
Rogers seems to be flush with cash for buying sports teams, arena naming rights, none of which does me a lick of good being I don;t go to those venues and I don't not following any of their sports teams, so they are basically "borrowing" money from me each month for half a month interest free. My phone bill, power bill, water bill all get charge once I use the full service. I DO NOT TRUST ROGERS, they have proven themselves to be untrustworthy. They made promises to be able to acquire Shaw, and they have been using loopholes ever since to violate their agreement with the government in principle. They clearly don;t trust me to pay my bill after using the service, so why should I trust them. For nearly 20 years I have dutifully paid my bill on time, but that doesn't seem to matter to them. I will wager this "half way" is a "half way" move and in a few years (or sooner) they will move billing ahead another half a month so we are prepaying for the whole amount.
So, Freedom mobile has just gotten into internet and TV services for much of Canada at a LOT less money (you do need to become a Freedom Mobile client as well, but they have $5 a month plans). They have drastically improved their coverage sound quality on Mobile as they erect more 5G towers. I will be looking there, and I will also be emailing the Competition Bureau of Canada suggesting they look at what Rogers is up to with pricing increases, to see if they are following their agreements. I have no affiliation with Freedom Mobile. But at least they are not Rogers.
