Rogers have now (through @RogersMary) announced the details for exchanging our Rogers HTC Dream phones for HTC Magic phones. Below is the email I received from Mary, which she has also posted in the forums (and I assume sent out to other bloggers as well).
In summary: Limited time means January 12 (today) until January 26 only! In order to take advantage of this offer you will have to extend your contract equal to the number of months you’ve had the Dream to make it a full 3 year contract. Example: if you bought the phone July 1, your current contract would be extended by 6 months (July to Dec inclusive) to make your contract total 3 years again.
UPDATE: I asked RogersMary “Just realized, the announcement dos not indicate if users must send in the Dream, and if so, how?”
Mary’s reply: “They do not. Thanks for checking.“
UPDATE 2: RogersMary confirmed on Twitter that they will continue to sell the HTC Dream! Buyer Beware, you will be stuck on 1.5!
UPDATE 3: A visitor to this site commented below that he was told he would be charged $79 to do the exchange, but that he would be sent a coupon for $79 that he would then have to “send in” to get it back!? I’ve contacted RogersMary and asked her to confirm.
UPDATE 4: A user in the forum says he was told by CSR that the deal is ONLY for people “activated a new account” when they got their Dream, while others are saying they did not have that problem. I have asked RogersMary to comment.
CLARIFICATION: I have seen many blog posts elsewhere, as well as tweets on Twitter, that make it seem like you must get a new 3 year contract, as if it will add 3 years on to your current contract. This is NOT true. You will only have to extend your contract by a number of months equal to the number of months since you bought your Dream. So if you bought it 7 months ago (the most) your contract will be extended by 7 months, but if you only bought it 3 months ago, your contract is only extended by 3 months.
My comments follow Mary’s email:
Here are the details of the HTC Dream to Magic upgrade that Rogers announced Friday:
- Current Rogers customers who activated a new Rogers HTC Dream through Dec. 31, 2009 – either through upgrade or a new activation – may upgrade that device to an HTC Magic for a limited time.
- Upgrades must be done through Customer Care (1-888-Rogers1) or through Rogers.com (existing 3yr data plan required for online upgrades, instructions below). This special upgrade offer does not apply at retail.
- This limited-time upgrade is available between January 12 and January 26 only.
- The $79 upgrade cost of the device, plus the $35 administration fee are being waived. Customers who choose to take advantage of this offer get a $599 phone for $0 with the renewal of a three-year term from the date of the upgrade (For most customers, this will represent a contract extension of seven months or less).
- The upgrade is completely optional. Customers who choose to can stick with their HTC Dreams and remain in their current contracts.
If you run into any problems with this upgrade, please contact the @RogersHelps team.
Why is Rogers doing this upgrade? Simply put, we’re committed to our Android phones and Android customers. Although we pushed HTC to provide a 2.1 OS upgrade for the Magic, they could not do so for the Dream device due to memory limitations. We knew we had to help our customers with this one-time limited-time offer.
We’d like to thank all our customers for their patience and hope you continue to enjoy your Rogers Android experience.
To upgrade your device through Rogers.com, you must have an existing 3-year data plan. Otherwise, please call Customer Care at 1-888-Rogers1:
- Go to http://www.rogers.com
- Log in to your account through MyRogers
- Follow the Upgrade My Phone link
Thanks,
Mary
Now my comments:
I know a lot of people are going to be upset that they have to extend their contract at all, I personally believe that the misinformation many of us received in the beginning should have meant NO extension to the contract, but on the whole I have to give credit where credit is due. We took Rogers to task for this, we engaged them, and while the outcome might not be perfect, we did get a lot! I can’t help but wonder how many other big companies like Rogers would have been willing to do anything for their customers at all? Has anyone even heard from Bell and Telus yet about their plans to support Android? Realistically speaking, this was a sort of negotiation, and Rogers has made their final offer. I have to say, given how angry I was at Rogers, and how ready I was to walk and take my business elsewhere, the actions by Rogers to try to correct this issue have really convinced me of their desire to try to do right by their customers.
In my conversations with RogersMary I’ve made it clear that the appearance Rogers has given the Canadian Android community is that they don’t “get” Android. This is likely what caused the problem in the first place; they didn’t understand these aren’t the usual “phones”, these are mini-computers that need to be updated. Even Mary said that this was an unprecedented circumstance for Rogers.
HTC needs to share a great deal of the blame is this, as does Google. While it’s great that the Android OS is open source, it seems to be great more in theory than in practice. Many have commented on the splintering of the Android OS because of manufacturers making their own versions of it, and then failing to support it. Google is trying to fix this in a way with the Nexus One phone, but really, we need more Android phones in Canada that are NOT branded! Hopefully Rogers will take away from this experience a better understand of, and appreciation for, Android, and the Android community. We are a tech savvy bunch, and we know how these phones work. Hopefully Rogers will create a team within the company that will become Android experts. That can’t be too hard to do, give them each an Android phone, and point them towards this site and others. Let’s also hope Rogers avoids the “carrier-branded” model of Android phone in the future, so this is not repeated.
For the record, I have a Magic, so it does not affect me as greatly as it does those who bought the Dream, but I don’t know that we’d get any more out of Rogers than they’ve offered now. In truth I have to give kudos to RogersMary for professionally, and cordially, putting up with us, and truly helping us to communicate with Rogers management. How many other companies have done this? Kudos also to Rogers for actually listening to us, and for being willing to engage, and in the end, offer a workable solution.
The options now are: Exchange for a Magic, or root your Dream.
Now… for the LG Eve!
Nice! Has RogersMary commented on the root cause of the issue? Sales reps providing false information to customers? I would rather hear “I don’t know” over an empty, meaningless, assumed “Yes, you can.” Are reps paid on commission? Why do they feel the need to tell people lies?
@nloko: I would imagine it’s more an issue of a lack of proper training/understanding by Rogers and CSRs, than it is lying.
Do you need to return the dream to rogers for this exchange?
So really, it means we get a free Dream, and a subsidized Magic, for renewing our contracts. This might be a really good deal, actually.
I have to say, I am simply blown away. $114 for a brand new htc magic, and we get to keep our htc dream, with the only downside an extension of up to 7 months? Wow! My entire impression of rogers just changed, thanks Mary!
Everything worked well on the site for me.
THANK You so much for pushing this issue mike and others!!!!!
@mjschmidt, if a customer is told they can do something, the rep makes a sale based on it, and later the customer finds out that what they said is not true, the customer will feel lied to. It doesn’t really matter what the reason is. So, what will Rogers be doing about it? Should we start registering more domain names now.
Just thought maybe I missed a statement from Rogers on how they will attempt to prevent things like this from happening in the future. Sad to say it, but I’m at the point now where I find it hard to believe anything a sales rep says from any company. 
@nloko: RogersMary has been very proactive at investigating our complaints when we have been told something incorrect by a CSR, tech, or sales clerk. I imagine she will continue to do so.
I have cautioned Rogers repeatedly during this (through RogersMary and the office of the president) that they need to do a better job of informing their employees.
Given what we know of the situation, I would caution anyone that the best thing they can do it to verify what they are told with RogersMary. It may be an imperfect system, but it seems to be working.
@mjschmidt, Indeed. She is awesome for all she has to deal with. Personally, I’d love to see Rogers eliminate commissions for CSRs. Anyway, congrats to the Dream owners. You guys got an amazing deal out of this.
Just talked to customer care and had my phone exchanged. It took less then ten minutes, including the customer care representative making sure I didn’t have to send my HTC Dream in. One thing to note is that they will apparently bill you the 79$ and mail you a coupon you have to send back to get a refund for the 79$. Anyways, I am now thoroughly impressed with Rogers stepping up to the plate on this(Even after some prodding by the community). Thanks to everyone that made this happen
I did an upgrade thru their website. It didn’t make any refrence to a $79 fee, it actualy showed a $50 credit after rebate.
I just completed the upgrade via the website and the total came to $0, with a $50 rebate coupon being referred to. It looks like the total cost will be $0. Not bad at all! Thanks Rogers!
I did the exchange online as well, this seems to be the fastest/easiest route rather then talking to CSRs.
Getting to keep the Dream is great, now I have a dev phone!
I did my upgrade earlier today by phone with no issues and its cool that I get to keep my Dream.
Now, lets see what happens with the LG Eve
Congratulations Dream Owners…. “YOUR DREAM HAS COME TRUE”
It turns out that Dream owners are luckier than Magic owners…
because they get to keep the Dream phone and getting Magic for free (the extension of 7 months is not a big deal at all and is totally acceptable).
So, you guys have got TWO phones for the cost of ONE…. Congrats and Cheers !!!
I just filled out my upgrade online, looks like no charge, and a $50 credit? >_> Well I’ll believe it when I have the phone in my hands, and my bill isn’t totalled, But really, if Rogers is actually going to do something this nice for it’s customers… I guess I Don’t mind a 7 month extension
[...] It has been about eighteen hours since @RogersMary, otherwise known as Mary Pretotto (AKA “Wonder Woman”), from Rogers office of Social Media Monitoring & Engagement (So cool. Seriously, how can I get a job there “monitoring media”!?) made the official announcement about the exchange being offered for Rogers customers who bought the HTC Dream. (See her email here). [...]
Android in Canada has just been unPARRd!!!1
Awesome work on this issue. While I will miss my Dreams keyboard, getting an OS that can actually be upgraded is worth it. And still having a Dream is a bonus.
I also just completed the upgrade via the website and the total came to $0, with a $50 rebate coupon being referred to AND free shipping. Nice work, Rogers! Thank you.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Clint Lalonde and Josh Hayes-Sheen, Michael Schmidt. Michael Schmidt said: Also, if you exchange the Dream for the Magic, you get to KEEP your Dream! http://www.iwantmyonepointsix.com/?p=114 [...]
Wow, just WOWWWW!!
I can’t believe something came out of this. Thank you Rogers for listening. Thank you mjschmidt and all the people on the android forums. Gonna miss the physical keybroad, but hey, at least i got a magic to play with now.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by grevian: Holy Crap. Rogers Wireless did a good thing! How… totally unexpected! http://www.iwantmyonepointsix.com/?p=114 #android #rogers…
This isn’t really cause the Dream cant support 2.1
its cause it has a 911 problem. Read about it at http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1612180&page=4
@Martin: The Dream is not being upgraded past 1.5 because HTC and Rogers claim it can not support 2.1 for hardware reasons, and they won’t issue an update to 1.6. Instead they allowed Dream owners to exchange for the Magic.
The 911 bug is a _separate_ issue affecting BOTH the Dream and the Magic. Read the most recent post on this blog (Jan 20) for more info. Believe me, we already know what’s going on.
I called yesterday and was told to call back next week?
I have had nothing but trouble with this upgrade. Tried doing it on Rogers.com, but the site crashed before the upgrade finalized. Called Rogers and was told that all was well, I would receive a tracking number the next day. When that didn’t happen, I called, spent hours on hold, and am now being told that they have somehow charged $186 to my account and don’t know when my phone will be shipped! And no two CSRs can give me the same answer! I like that Rogers is offering this upgrade – least they can do, after telling me point-blank there would be further Android upgrades – but I’m not going to be impressed until I can manage one transaction with Rogers without delays, misinformation, or extra fees. That day has not yet come.
i see now an update has come out for the magic and dream for the 911 issues, i will try Monday for the upgrade.
Tried doing the upgrade through Rogers.com; I got a blank page when I got clicked on the upgrade link. So I called Rogers and they told me that their system is down for the weekend so she wasn’t able to confirm anything for me. I asked if the system being down might be related to me not upgrading my phone online; she said it is. She told me to call back on Sunday after noon.
I wouldn’t have found out about any of this if they didn’t force me to update my Dream to fix the 911 bug. Thanks for all the work you guys have put into this.
Does the 911 fix mean rogers will discontinue the free upgrade deal? I called in on the 24th and was told that the deal is suspended for now because the magics are having the 911 problem as well. Can I claim a new magic later since I called within the time period and considering on fair basis that other dream owners got their new phone too…it would be really unfair if the free phone is given out to some customers and not others..