Wireless carriers can’t keep up after weekend price-cutting promotion

TORONTO – Canada's major wireless carriers are apologizing for long customer service wait times as customers look to cash in on limited time promotional offers.

Numerous Facebook, Twitter and chat room commenters are reporting two- to three-hour wait times for call centres and online chats.

Rogers, Fido, Kodoo and others are advertising an offer of 10 gigabytes of data for $60 per month that expires within the next few days.

The promotions appear to be a response to a pricing initiatve announced in Ocotber by Shaw's Freedom Mobile, which is offering 10GB for $50.

The Rogers twitter feed said it had experienced "longer than normal wait times" due to the high response to a pricing promotion that was announced late last week and updated on Saturday.

The Telus twitter feed said its team was working hard to assist everyone as soon as possible.

And the Bell Mobility shopping site said none of its chat representatives were available and that the company regretted the inconvenience.

However, none of the Big Three national carriers responded to requests for an explanation for the delays — given the importance of pre-holiday shopping for their fourth-quarter financial results.