Massive Rogers Service Outage Costs Moncton Businesses
MONCTON – A massive, nation-wide network outage affecting Rogers took debit payments off the table for many Moncton businesses on Friday.
Starting Friday morning, Rogers customers across Canada reported loss of mobile and internet services – something the telecom giant didn’t acknowledge until hours later. The telecom giant has now restored services to the “vast majority” of customers.
These outages also had an impact on Interac services, leaving many customers and businesses dependent on card services in the lurch.
Ida Chen, manager of Cinta Ria, told Huddle the network outage disabled the restaurant’s online order system and forced staff to take orders on their personal cell phones, since their landline was also out of commission.
“Everything is connected to the internet. We are accepting cash and have to turn on our own cell data to take calls,” said Chen. “A lot of people call in for takeout, too.”
Like many other restaurants in Moncton, Chen said Cinta Ria was only able to accept credit card and cash payments.
“The number you’re calling now is a personal number, not a business number,” Chen said.
“We’re not even able to divert incoming calls. We had to post on Facebook and tell everyone to call another number if they want to place an order,” she added.
Marc Arsenault, an employee with Vape Clouds Inc. near Dieppe, said, “It’s been a day,” on account of disabled Interac services.
”Almost 70 percent of our transactions are usually debit – sometimes more,” said Arsenault, noting the lack of debit service hurt the business.
“I had to send a few people to the ATMs, but luckily enough I’m a pretty friendly and happy-go-lucky person, so it didn’t do too much damage on that side,” he said.
Frank Gallant, owner of the Irving Oil gas station on McLaughlin Road, said hamstrung debit services led to an immediate, drastic drop in people getting gas.
“Did you buy gas this morning? People aren’t gassing up today and they’re not using their credit cards to buy gas either – they’re walking,” Gallant said, in a call with Huddle.
Gallant suggested he wasn’t surprised to see customers become scarce with the loss of debit services, noting “nobody uses cash anymore these days.”
Gallant’s was the first business to pick up the phone after several of Huddle’s calls to other businesses in the city suddenly dropped – a potential indication of how far-reaching Rogers’ technical difficulties are.
RELATED: Widespread Outage Affecting Rogers, Interac
Anu Kaur, a manager at the Main Street Tim Hortons, shared Gallant’s perspective: “There are a lot of issues with sales because nobody carries cash nowadays – that’s why we’re having a problem here.”
Kaur noted the lack of debit service ate into customer traffic at the restaurant – a location that sees many come through the door in the city’s downtown center.
“Most of our customers pay with debit,” Kaur said.
Amid the frustration of mass service interruptions and debit payments being rejected, it’s not all been frustration and anger.
Despite only having credit and cash available for customers at the Subway she supervises on Main Street, Jascinda Scott said customers have been understanding and obliging, in a gesture of Maritime gentility.
“We haven’t had too many customers upset about it – mostly just curious why our credit works and not our debit. People have been pretty understanding, so it’s been a good day,” said Scott.
An employee who withheld their name at a restaurant on McLaughlin Road said that while some customers were impacted when they paid for their food, they only had difficulties taking card payments with TD- and Scotiabank–affiliated cards.
Another employee, who wished to remain anonymous, at a business in the McLaughlin area said the debit service interruption was frustrating to see as someone who manages a business.
“It’s frustrating to see customers diverted. Nobody can use debit at all. You’re out of luck if you don’t have a credit card or cash,” she said. “We’ve lost some business from it, but most people do have a credit card or cash – so it’s been fine.”
Residents React
In addition to business, the outage has many Rogers customers concerned and users of telecom services frustrated.
In an online correspondence, Moncton resident Gabriel Leblanc called for a more competitive Canadian telecom market, saying,” Let the U.S. companies in, as clearly, Rogers and Bell are not cutting the mustard.”
“Guaranteed, if U.S. companies were to come in, Rogers and bell would try harder. Honestly, they would become non-existent because people would leave (them) in droves. They know it, that’s why they cry to the CRTC every one-to-two years,” Leblanc added.
In an online correspondence with Huddle, Moncton resident Jessica Johnson said the outage has made her reconsider her phone plan with Rogers.
“Not being able to call out at all leaves me feeling uneasy,” Johnson wrote. “I realize these things don’t happen often, but I can’t help but wonder what could have happened, had there been a real emergency.”
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].