A couple who lost their home in a British Columbia wildfire this summer had to face an additional challenge after the fire, cancelling their internet and cable. On Aug. 1, Greg Brown and his wife woke up to learn a small grass fire had started close to their home near Lake Okanagan. Having been evacuated before, they packed some important items just to be safe and waited to see if fire officials could extinguish the flames before they spread. “There were five planes and two helicopters that were working on this grass fire, and we felt they might be able to get it before the winds kicked up, and they did not,” Brown said. “The fire blew through in minutes at about 80 km/h sideways through our whole community, and it wiped out everything as we understand it.” They made it out with both vehicles and some possessions, more than others did. “A lot of people didn’t even have time to get what we got out and lost absolutely everything,” Brown said. “They’d gone into town for the day. They couldn’t get back. They lost pets. They lost their homes.” Access to the area following the Bradley Creek wildfire is still restricted, but Brown says he knows his home is gone. Now, Brown is in St. Albert while his wife is in Calgary, staying with family while also trying to go through the next steps of putting their life back together. One of the things the Browns needed to do was cancel services they didn’t need anymore, like cable and home internet. “My wife called to cancel our Rogers account … and she was told, despite our situation, that we would have to pay a $660 fee to disconnect … or pay us $10 a month to hold the account until we land somewhere again,” Brown said. “Those were the options we were given, with nothing else.” After learning of a neighbour’s experience dealing with Rogers after the fire, Brown also expected to have to pay for the equipment that was destroyed. “We can’t understand how a corporation that big, worth that much money, has zero compassion for people who have just lost absolutely everything,” he said. New rules came into effect in B.C. on Aug. 1 “requiring businesses to give consumers the ability to cancel subscription contracts at any time, without charge,” according to a government statement. Those rules applied to contracts signed on and after Aug. 1. Brown’s contract had been renewed just weeks before the fire. CTV News Edmonton reached out to Rogers and was told the company has a policy in place for these types of situations and the cancellation fee should have been waived. Rogers refused to provide a copy of the policy to CTV News or say when it came into effect. “We are reinforcing this policy with our frontline agents to ensure customers get the support they need when they need it most,” a statement from Rogers said. “We apologize to our customer for their experience, and we’ve reached out to them directly to make it right.” On Monday afternoon, Brown says they received a call from Rogers and were told they could now cancel without any fees, and that equipment charges would also be waived. “I don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” Brown said. “We’re going to be OK … others may not have been so lucky.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
