My Last Hope for Rogers (updated)

My calls kept going to people with no power to affect change, so rather than keep explaining to people who could do nothing, I thought I would post my problem and see if the people who read it and want to make something happen. I've been a Rogers Wireless customer for a while.  According to them, Fall 2007, but that was really just when I got the latest number.  Before that I had other numbers, work provided Blackberrys, as well as other services like Cable at various locations.  The story begins with the RIM Blackberry Curve 8310.  It's a nice device when it works, but mine started to give me problems over a year ago.  I attempted to use the proper process, and called tech support and did arrive at a solution.  Wipe the device. Reload the OS. Hope for the Best. My Device is now no longer in warranty.  According to RIM and Rogers, the device should only keep working until 1 year after it's turned on for the first time, after that, you as a customer, are on your own.  I disagree.  My device says Rogers on it.  It also says Blackberry.  Since RIM will not do exchanges, because of their agreement with the providers, it's up to Rogers to say "Yes, this is a known situation that RIM should handle Mr. Customer.  Here's a working device, and we'll handle the issues on the back end with RIM, as we likely do this all the time for other customers who are submitting malfunctioning phones, and who within their warranty period. I'm not looking for a handout.  I'm looking for RIM and/or Rogers to take responsibility for this systemic and documented problem and simply replace the device.  They can both SAVE a customer and oil the squeaky wheel. Nola, Don, Sarah, and others (though I'm pretty sure they use assigned fake names) were all (mostly) understanding to my dilemma, and empathetic to my situation, but they simply could not raise their hand to their boss or their bosses boss and say "Hey, we need to just give this guy another device, same as the old, but that works. That will shut him up."   Nobody can do that. A few friends/colleagues have mentioned that if you escalate enough at Rogers, you'll eventually get to a magical 'really good' level of customer relations rumoured to be .  I think it's likely equivalent to emailing sjobs@apple.com and getting your problem solved, whether it's Nadir or not.  (Which we all know it's not.) Now just the fact that I'm writing this on a blog, it's been indexed by Google already, I know the name of the CEO of the company, I'm referencing customer services terms and technical terms, and that I'm (for the most part) being pretty polite--- should sound the alarm bells.  How is Rogers going to react to this post?  Will I get another generic tweet back from @rogersrob saying " Try Live Support".  The Twitter team can direct and offer suggestions, but cannot affect change.  They're not looking up accounts (most likely) because it wouldn't make sense to give these people access to things based on what people tweet about.  That could be dangerous, so all they can really do is I understand that a company is in business.  They are trying to make money.  If they give stuff away, then they can't make money-- however they didn't lose money on a device for me to become a customer, I'm not on a contract.  They get my money on time every month (because VISA deems it so...) and because of this, and my unwielding resolve, I've decided to provide an ultimatum (because they're always awesome):  Either something significant will happen on Rogers or RIM's part for this BROKEN PHONE-- REPLACE IT issue, or I will start shopping for a new service provider, port my number to Bell Canada or Telus, and likely get a new phone anyway.   RIM will not be the loser in this situation, because I will undoubtedly get another Blackberry-- however Rogers needs to evaluate the LTV of me as a customer and see if they still want me?  (See, more jargon, I'm worth paying attention to!) /Your Move.  UPDATE:  I will post the resolution to this issue here. UPDATE 2: To clarify, Rogers still sells the exact same model of Blackberry. UPDATE 3: Got a phone call from The Office of the President today after work.  (I've put my SIM in a loaner phone so I don't lose my mind). So far it was more of the same. No offer to represent me to RIM to swap my defective device with a working (even refurbished) unit.  Lots of offers to have me sign up for a contract and get a on a . He was really dwelling on the fact that my device is out of Warranty. We all know that at this point. I get it, it's not going to be an easy switch.  Right now it's a case of Rogers wanting to keep me as a customer, but not wanting to do anything above and beyond to achieve that. He's going to call back with a follow up, so we'll see what the verdict is from the Office of the President.   Stay tuned. UPDATE 4: (Friday 5:30pm) Emile just called back from the Office of the President with a resolution. Rogers has stepped up. They are going to swap the phone with a refurbished model of the same (The Blackberry Curve 8310).  I look forward to continuing to be a Rogers customer.