In Canada, one of the biggest telecommunications companies is Rogers. Recently, Rogers announced a service offering to it’s customers called TechXpert. You can see the announcement here. After looking past the marketing materials, I found this service to be incredibly interesting. Join me as I look a little deeper at what Rogers TechXpert is, and isn’t.

First and foremost, you’re paying for ONLY remote access support. If it can’t be solved by phone or remote control, you’re out of luck. The terms describe is as “anything outside the scope of remote PC support” is not included. Which is to say that this service is not going to be able to resolve the issues that require an actual physical person.

Rogers also says one limitation of TechXpert is “Un-resolvable Issues.  While we will attempt to resolve your technology issues, you acknowledge and understand that there will be certain issues that we are unable to resolve through the Services.” The question is, who defines what’s resolvable? If Rogers gives up, is that the definitive answer regarding your issue? I’m certain this clause gives Rogers a great deal of leeway, and gives you little. Also, it did not seem clear what Rogers “Commitment Period” was for this service. You will be bound by Rogers main terms of service that ascribes a penalty for cancellation before the “Commitment Period” ends.

You’ll also get no refunds except in the case of the “One-Time Service” where the problem was unresolvable. But, in Rogers broad terms of what’s a resolve, they can simply provide advice and to them, your problem is resolved.

There are all sorts of very troubling details that come up when looking closer at the fine print

1. There are a full two terms of service that you have to agree to in order to receive this. The full Rogers terms and the added terms for TechXpert. There are a massive number of pages that govern  Rogers terms and privacy policies. You should probably read that.
2. You won’t get “training“, but will get “advice”. Does Rogers know the difference?
3. They won’t help you on Windows 2000 or earlier, Mac earlier than OS X or Linux derivatives. Does this apply only to the supported machine, or will the discovery of a Linux machine in the mix void your  services?
4. They won’t help you with “any data backup or restoration services” – this seems to be one of the most common scenarios a home user comes across.
5. “cabling support” is also hands off for them, but perhaps they’ll give you “advice” on how to plug in that console?
6. There is no clear provision of directing you to the free Rogers support you are entitled too if they discover something wrong with a Rogers product service you’ve purchased.

All told, I have to wonder who this is gear to specifically? If you are a Rogers customer in any capacity, shouldn’t the standard support agreement apply to you when you have an issue (For example: Internet failure)? I tend to think the possible abuse of sending issues that should be supported by standard tech support to a department that makes you pay – a dangerous conflict of interest. Furthermore, given the failing market conditions of home tech support services and the general culture of “no” in tech support departments, this service seems more puzzling.

What do you think? A winner? Would you pay for this kind of support from Rogers?