Yet another nightmare Bell story *Update on 3rd page*

[Shaner]

I apologize for the long post. But I need to share this story so others might think twice before going to Bell.

A few months back I bought a new Dell notebook. It came with 3 free months of high speed Bell Sympatico service. At the time, I was using Acanac and was happy with them and their price, so I stayed with them and just held onto the 3 free months voucher for a later use.

As time went on, Acanac's service deteriorated and I cancelled. I called Bell and tried to apply the free 3 months internet. The first time, the lady told me to call Dell and they would set it up for me. I argued with her for 15 minutes. I told her that Dell can't setup internet service through Bell (try to stay with me here, the company names are similar). She insisted that Dell had to do it because it was their voucher. I called Dell and they basically told me that the lady at Bell is an idiot. As I thought, Dell has nothing to do with Bell's internet service.

I called back and was told the same thing. This time I got mad and demanded a supervisor. I got hung up on while waiting. I called back, and this time they set it up. Once they found out I didn't have a Bell landline, they told me they can't set it up and I was out of luck. Even though the fine print didn't say anything about dry loop exceptions, the CSR insisted the voucher didn't apply to dry loop. I offered to pay the $8 per month dry loop fee. She said she couldn't do it and that I wasn't entitled to my 3 free months unless I got a Bell landline. I was irate at this point. I demanded a supervisor. I got hung up on, again. Unreal...

Called back, got a supervisor, and the supervisor told me that there was no dry loop exception and that I was entitled to the 3 free months. While setting it up, he asked when I purchased the computer. I told him about two months ago (as of the date of the conversation). He then changed his tune and said I was supposed to use the voucher right away and that it expires after 30 days. I kept him on the line while I read through the fine print. Nowhere was there a time limit on the voucher. I stated that to him and he said it was on Bell's site. I asked where, and he said it was on their intranet site. I told him to copy and paste it and send it to me via e-mail, he said company policy forbid him from doing that. I was doing everything I could not to lose my mind at this point. I argued and argued and argued, and he eventually said that for customer loyalty reasons, he would give me the 3 free months. I informed him that I will never be a loyal customer with Bell and that I am entitled to the 3 free months, it has nothing to do with customer satisfaction. I also called him a liar and told him I'd be complaining higher up the food chain. He literally said "sir, I don't care." Anyway, he set up the internet service and the modem arrived a few days later.

A week later, I noticed Bell charged me for the first two months of service (a total of $83.67). I called and demanded they refund it. They told me I had to fax in a copy of the voucher for proof. I agreed and did as they requested. I called back a few days later and they hadn't received it. They told me to fax it again. I faxed it yet again. This time, I had Bell World fax it for me. Same story again, they claimed they hadn't received it and told me to fax it again. I faxed it again, both from Staples and from Bell World. Same story, they didn't receive it and as such, refused to credit my card. I talked to a supervisor, same story. He refused to do anything. I gave him my Dell order # and told him to call Dell to verify. He refused, saying it wasn't his job to do that, it was my job. He gave me a different fax number and told me to fax it again. I went to Staples and faxed 10 copies. I then went to Bell World and had them fax 10 copies. What do ya know, they finally recieved it. All is well, right? Wrong!

Bell credited my account, NOT my credit card. They refused to refund the money onto my credit card. They claimed they don't do that, they only credit the account itself. He told me it would even out in the end (sure, if I planned on staying with Bell, which I do NOT!). I got nowhere again, asked for a supervisor, got nowhere again. I called them scam artists, hung up on them and immediately called back. This time I got someone who was really helpful. He refunded the money to my credit card and gave me 2 free months on top of the 3 free months I already have. And all I had to do was call about 10-12 times and send out 30 faxes.

Needless to say, even when Bell's offers free service, it's still not worth it. I'll be cancelling my service before the free trial is over and I'll never go back to Bell, not even if it's free.

[Shaner]

For those too lazy to read the above post. Here's a brief summary.

I got 3 free months sympatico internet service with the purchase of a Dell computer. Bell tried time and time again to deny me the free 3 months. They sent me to Dell first, then just plain told me "no." They lied to me over and over and over again.

I eventually got the service setup, but they charged me full price. I was instructed to send in proof of the free 3 months. I did as requested, they claimed it never showed up. I did this 3 more times with the same result. They kept saying it wasn't showing up. I tried and tried to get them to verify the free 3 months with Dell, but they refused. I tried once more (faxed 20 copies) and they received it.

Instead of crediting my credit card, they credited my Bell account. They insisted I had to stay with Bell if I wanted to use up the credits on my account. I was furious, but they refused to budge. I eventually got someone helpful, they credited my card and everything is fixed up now.

In closing, even when Bell is free, it's still a bad deal! I'll be cancelling before my free trial is up.

[Marlek]

Wow... that's abysmal service for you.

I love the part where you fax them 10 copies from two separate locations. Priceless. I think I would have probably just done a chargeback if and when they hit up my credit cards, but you probably have more patience than me.

[earthman]

ya tell me about it... :mad: :mad:

[Cyber6]

Wow... that's abysmal service for you.

I love the part where you fax them 10 copies from two separate locations. Priceless. I think I would have probably just done a chargeback if and when they hit up my credit cards, but you probably have more patience than me.

I was thinking the same thing. But then again, I know the way they work. :evil:


C.

[15-20_God]

put all that in a letter to Michael Sabia, he's the CEO and the person responsible for this debacle of a company.

[bobaroo]

if you decided to cancel after 3 months, you would still have a credit balance on your account at closure, which bell would write you a cheque for.

[najibs]

When you deal with Bell...you're guaranteed hell! :evil:

My fiancee also had an issue with them a few months ago. Her bills were high, around the $125ish range for cellular, so she called asking them to help her change her plan so that she could pay less, based on her calling habits.

Well, with Bell's "help" her bil jumped to $220 the next month! and the month after that $225...at that point I was fed up of Bell and told her to pay the $120 for cancelling service, because it would be cheaper to pay that POS and go to Rogers.

When she called to cancel, they told her she couldn't because her phone was an extra added to her dad's account, because she got the phone through him for a corporate rate. Anyways, her Dad calls to cancel, and they told him that SHE had to call and cancel.

By this point her Dad knows the story, and he absolutely hates dealing with salesmen, and customer service people, so he explodes on the phone threatening to cancel all his Bell accounts and gives them a piece of his mind and demands that it be done right away. Well, finally it was...and we got rid of Bell last month for good.

As soon as that happened, I call up Rogers since I already have my cable, internet and wireless with them. The girl I got on the phone was nice and I bargained a bit and I got my fiancee a great plan, they waived the activation fee, gave her a good deal on a phone, and off we go. We get out bill this month...$58 for the same type of usage she had with Bell before. What a difference!

Bell are idiots, and I will also never deal with them ever again. It's a POS company, and whoever is running it needs to see this type of customer complaints because that company is going down the drain.

[malaco0219]

Why are there so many bad stories about bells?

For those who are in the upper chain at bell, you guys should read this.

Is it just those who work under bell that are this bad?

Or is it the actual company?

[hightechfan]

Why are there so many bad stories about bells?

For those who are in the upper chain at bell, you guys should read this.

Is it just those who work under bell that are this bad?

Or is it the actual company?

There is just as many bad stories abut rogers.

[ji2o0k]

The company is a joke. The people that are running it have no idea what they are doing.

Look at Shaner's post. One common theme is that you get a different response from every single CSR. There isn't a consistency in the answers the CSRs give out.

What a joke. You call one person, they give a certain answer. You call another and get ANOTHER answer. WTF !

I am using Bell Mobility and really want to switch. I want to keep my number though and am waiting for number portability.

I have heard Rogers isn't that much better. I guess it all depends on who you get.

Basically you need to open up the field to competition to put some pressure on these large companies to shape up.

[YnD]

Isn't it just as bad with Rogers and those DATA bills that exceed into the hundreds for regular consumers.

Also, with Rogers Digitial TV, they purposely moved channels to other packages so you're FORCED to pay for that package just to
get one channel. How queer is that.


Bell = Hell

Rogers = Robbers

[najibs]

There is just as many bad stories abut rogers.

Every company has unsatisfied customers, but based on my experience, I've never had any problems with Rogers, hence why I have all my services with them.

Most people I know of complain about Bell, rather than Rogers. Again, it's not scientific proof. I hate Bell based on my personal experience.

[V A N Q U I S H]

Bell sucks period. Try getting into my father's shoes, a $996 bill for a second cell phone which he didn't sign for yet got charged, and was billed for unused airtime for some special trucker package.

We're with Primus now, instead of paying $150 a month for DSL and landline phone, it's $70 for both.

[najibs]

and....wasn't there a thread here a few months ago about an RFDer that got a $50,000 cell phone bill for a line he cancelled way before?

Someone should dig that up...

[hightechfan]

Every company has unsatisfied customers, but based on my experience, I've never had any problems with Rogers, hence why I have all my services with them.

Most people I know of complain about Bell, rather than Rogers. Again, it's not scientific proof. I hate Bell based on my personal experience.

Go to digitalhome under rogers you will see tons of hate with rogers.

[najibs]

Go to digitalhome under rogers you will see tons of hate with rogers.

I have no doubt. As I said, every company has unsatisfied customers. It is inevitable. I however am a satisfied Rogers customer, and un-satisfied Bell customer. That's all.

Kepp in mind though, on online boards it's mostly the un satisfied customers and the bad experiences people vent that you'll hear about. People don't usually post praise, because they expect good things, as a customer, so when they do receive bad service, they will telll everyone they know.

[CHINAdeals]

Why are there so many bad stories about bells?

For those who are in the upper chain at bell, you guys should read this.

Is it just those who work under bell that are this bad?

Or is it the actual company?


I'm guessing a little bit of both?

My story , with rogers (which I'm sure happens with Bell too) is pretty frustrating. I'm not going to go into the details but pretty much when our neighbour (who lives in the same house as us, just another 'section' - student housing) signed up for rogers home phone, they effectively came to the house and CUT OFF all bell DSL wires from our house. Leaving us w/o internet.

After many phone calls back and forth b/w rogers and Bell and getting permission from the person setting up the home phone (even thuogh it has NOTHING to do with us), Rogers couldn't do anything for us and we waited for a few days til' Bell came back and set back up our internet.

The Bell service tech rep confirmed our suspisions that Rogers had come and cut off our DSL line 'accidentally' and this happens VERY often (fierce competition - we complain to Bell, why aren't we getting internet - in hopes of going over to Rogers - even though they are the ones that CAUSED the internet to go 'down')

Whether or not deliberate or not, Rogers sure sucked it up big that time.


Thanks for posting shaner, I'm with 3web right now using rogers cable lines, works fine for me and I hope I NEVEr have problems b/c 3web's cust.serv. is NON existant.

[ferkel]

Dell are the ones that setup the 3 monthes free... Dell usually keeps calling asking if you're interested in the High Speed offer after you buy a computer. (They make $50-100 for each new signup). but Dell is a really messed up company too.

[hyperion]

Instead of crediting my credit card, they credited my Bell account. They insisted I had to stay with Bell if I wanted to use up the credits on my account.


Thats what they always do, and it should be considered fraud in my eyes. Bastards.

[CodecX81]

ouuuuch! that is a tough story!!

I can't beat that but I can add to it.

At the beginning of the month I was setup with Rogers cable/homephone/extreme internet but due to torrent throttling I had planned on switching to teksavvy.

Calling them, they told me I required a bell landline to get the 29.99/mo deal on the internet. I didn't want to spend extra to buy the VOIP gateway from them outright & I wanted to get Satellite for my new place, so I called bell to get phone and satellite service setup..

They were supposed to come on March 24th to set it all up for me...something happened and they said they could only come on March 23rd I said fine and made sure they had a number they could reach me at, as I was going to spend that day moving.

5pm hits and no bell...at all.

I call to see whats up.. and for some reason my appointments were outright cancelled. I was so pissed that I just told them to not bother rescheduling.

I went back to teksavvy and told them I'm switching to dry DSL & ordering the VOIP gateway...

On the rogers side of things, they tried to charge me $70 for dropping out of my bundles..saying i agreed to a 1yr commitment and I cancelled after 7 mos. I argued with them too (politely) and they waived those charges too..

They forgot to turn the cable off in my new apartment from the old tenant, so I'm going to milk that..When that runs dry, I am going to get a FTA receiver and pirate the hell out of expressvu for their idiocy.. bleed these companies dry people.. they deserve it.


I'm happy to be away from the Big Red/Fat Blue..

[malaco0219]

There is just as many bad stories abut rogers.

i havent heard one as bad for rogers. haha

oh well
each companies has their bads

[malaco0219]

I'm guessing a little bit of both?

My story , with rogers (which I'm sure happens with Bell too) is pretty frustrating. I'm not going to go into the details but pretty much when our neighbour (who lives in the same house as us, just another 'section' - student housing) signed up for rogers home phone, they effectively came to the house and CUT OFF all bell DSL wires from our house. Leaving us w/o internet.

After many phone calls back and forth b/w rogers and Bell and getting permission from the person setting up the home phone (even thuogh it has NOTHING to do with us), Rogers couldn't do anything for us and we waited for a few days til' Bell came back and set back up our internet.

The Bell service tech rep confirmed our suspisions that Rogers had come and cut off our DSL line 'accidentally' and this happens VERY often (fierce competition - we complain to Bell, why aren't we getting internet - in hopes of going over to Rogers - even though they are the ones that CAUSED the internet to go 'down')

Whether or not deliberate or not, Rogers sure sucked it up big that time.


Thanks for posting shaner, I'm with 3web right now using rogers cable lines, works fine for me and I hope I NEVEr have problems b/c 3web's cust.serv. is NON existant.

purposely cutting ppl's internet and making the other company look bad? =.=

well.. theres all kinds of people out there, and competition is fierce.

but i love DSL from bell, much better from rogers, but i hate bell for not having gsm and having ugly phones =]

[Jkim]

screw bell....their highspeed isn't that fast -_-" gonna call and cancel and prob switch to rogers or primus.

[Chrispy]

yep that's bell for you....I have many a horror stories about that damn company....

ugh...

[Shaner]

Dell are the ones that setup the 3 monthes free... Dell usually keeps calling asking if you're interested in the High Speed offer after you buy a computer. (They make $50-100 for each new signup). but Dell is a really messed up company too.

No they don't. I used to work for Dell, so I dealt with this stuff. Dell does not setup internet service with another company. Just listen to what you're saying. Do you really think that Dell and Bell have some kind of integrated system that lets Dell have a modem sent out to new customers? I can tell you they do not and that's a fact.

What Bell did was correct, they made me fax in proof and that's fine, but they should NOT have charged me in the first place (they didn't have my authorization to charge my credit card), and they should have credited my card immediately, not my account.

[felix]

Dell are the ones that setup the 3 monthes free... Dell usually keeps calling asking if you're interested in the High Speed offer after you buy a computer. (They make $50-100 for each new signup). but Dell is a really messed up company too.
Last time I signed up with Bell, I just called and told them I just bought a Dell computer and it came with 3 months free. They signed me up without asking for confirmation of order number or anything.

I'm wondering if I can still sign up for another family member now ... it's been a year since I bought my last Dell computer and never used the first 3 months free.

[BlueSpecVTO]

I could write many many horror stories about Bell, but refused to yet again.

But, today, for example, I called to cancel my Internet service. I spoke with one gentleman and he told me he couldn't do it, so he put me on hold to get the "business department". When he came back, no one was there, so he put me on hold a second time (now 20 mins), to which I then spoke with a female. She asked why I was calling. I explain my story again and then without notice, she puts me on hold. Several minutes later, someone else picks up "hello?" and I ask, "who's this?" This new person has no idea how I got to her desk, but assures me that I won't have to be transferred again. So finally, after about 45 minutes, I get my service cancelled (which of course is 30 days from now, as it's in their policy). huhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[marcopoloca]

i was on ultra hi speed, they cancel it without letting me know and then they charged me for bandwidth overloading.

i also find out they kept a black file on you if you somehow disagree with what they say, so instead of putting down they hung up on you they would put down you hung up on them!

i have been on the phone with them for the last 1.5 hours and they switched me to 4 different places, hung up on me and claimed it's all my fault.

problem started when i called in for technical support last month and they kept routed my call to india, the problem was never solved and now this un-ending issue with the bill.

first they tried to lure you into a higher bandwidth with a 3 months promotion but credits were never given, you asked them why and they say it's problem with the system.

#@%$%#@ :twisted:

I have had problem with bell from day one, i got to change all email and switch to someone who's not a monopoly.

[hightechfan]

I could write many many horror stories about Bell, but refused to yet again.

But, today, for example, I called to cancel my Internet service. I spoke with one gentleman and he told me he couldn't do it, so he put me on hold to get the "business department". When he came back, no one was there, so he put me on hold a second time (now 20 mins), to which I then spoke with a female. She asked why I was calling. I explain my story again and then without notice, she puts me on hold. Several minutes later, someone else picks up "hello?" and I ask, "who's this?" This new person has no idea how I got to her desk, but assures me that I won't have to be transferred again. So finally, after about 45 minutes, I get my service cancelled (which of course is 30 days from now, as it's in their policy). huhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Rogers has the same policy.

[davecanada]

When that runs dry, I am going to get a FTA receiver and pirate the hell out of expressvu for their idiocy.. bleed these companies dry people.. they deserve it.


I'm happy to be away from the Big Red/Fat Blue..

WOW!, get charged with a criminal offence that will show them!

Also, if you bleed these companies dry there is no company left. And if we want government run internet & phone & TV that is a scary proposition!

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[Shaner]

Wow, just when I thought things with Bell couldn't get any worse...

Like I said in my first post, Bell eventually refunded the money to my credit card and I thought everything was well and I could go on enjoying the free trial I was entitled to. Turns out I was wrong.

As of yesterday, Bell has billed me yet again. They billed me $49.93 for what I'm guessing is the cost of one months service. This is absolutely unbelievable and I am irate! Thank god Bell isn't open right now or I would probably get arrested for threatening the life of the first CSR who answered the phone. Bell is so bad I'm thinking of just cancelling my free trial and paying for internet through another company.

I never thought a company could get so bad that customers wouldn't even want to use them for free.

I guess I'll call them tomorrow and fight with them to once again refund the money to my credit card. I am then calling my credit card company and demanding they do something about this. Bell has no right to be charging my credit card. I didn't give them authorization at any point.

[infinite.chaoz]

you fight the power, bro.

I had similar experience with my bell mobility service.

[ronny1980]

Keep us updated Shaner.

[tigger03]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Shaner. The only reason we're staying with Bell is b/c they have no caps on their downloads (we've been with them since '99). I've had a TERRIBLE time with them regarding my dad's cell phone account:

rep gave us one plan and told us to upgrade phone with credit; we upgrade phone that night, use it over 15 mins, get second phone in mail (family plan) a few days later, only to realize she put another plan on our account ($25 more expensive)! .. wanted to cancel, sent new phone back but phone got lost. Cda post received it, scanned, but someone else used it after. Bills amounting to over $300, but they refuse to cancel until they find phone! I'm worried that my dad's credit rating may be affected, but stoopid Bell refuses to take back dad's original phone b/c of stoopid rep's mistake. End result: my dad got suckered into a 3 year contract!:evil:

I'm with Bell b/c of the EP1 plan ... if they can't match it when renewal comes, I'm outta there. I'm even planning on switching our home phone to Rogers! I hate Bell's monopoly!

Advice for ppl out there: STAY AWAY FROM BELL!!!

[infinite.chaoz]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Shaner. The only reason we're staying with Bell is b/c they have no caps on their downloads (we've been with them since '99). I've had a TERRIBLE time with them regarding my dad's cell phone account:

rep gave us one plan and told us to upgrade phone with credit; we upgrade phone that night, use it over 15 mins, get second phone in mail (family plan) a few days later, only to realize she put another plan on our account ($25 more expensive)! .. wanted to cancel, sent new phone back but phone got lost. Cda post received it, scanned, but someone else used it after. Bills amounting to over $300, but they refuse to cancel until they find phone! I'm worried that my dad's credit rating may be affected, but stoopid Bell refuses to take back dad's original phone b/c of stoopid rep's mistake. End result: my dad got suckered into a 3 year contract!:evil:

I'm with Bell b/c of the EP1 plan ... if they can't match it when renewal comes, I'm outta there. I'm even planning on switching our home phone to Rogers! I hate Bell's monopoly!

Advice for ppl out there: STAY AWAY FROM BELL!!!

OMG, thats by far one of the worst, and I thought I got ripped off bad. I order a $0 off of one of their promotions at P-mall along with a $100 credit when I signed up for 3-yr. After a while, I went to bell to try to get a second receiver fro my satellite with the $100 credit, they said that I had already used that credit to buy the phone. And that was coming from the same sales rep who sold me the phone that day along with $100 credit. I even ask her before I made the transaction about my $100 credit, and she said I could buy a satellite receiver next time I visit the store since they don't have it at the promotion booth at that time. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[tigger03]

OMG, thats by far one of the worst, and I thought I got ripped off bad. I order a $0 off of one of their promotions at P-mall along with a $100 credit when I signed up for 3-yr. After a while, I went to bell to try to get a second receiver fro my satellite with the $100 credit, they said that I had already used that credit to buy the phone. And that was coming from the same sales rep who sold me the phone that day along with $100 credit. I even ask her before I made the transaction about my $100 credit, and she said I could buy a satellite receiver next time I visit the store since they don't have it at the promotion booth at that time. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Worst part was that when I was speaking to someone at a higher level, all he did was offer me other plans. I told him that I was waiting for number portability, and the timing of my dad's contract expiring was perfect. We would just have to go month-to-month for 2 months, and then switch over to Rogers or Fido. To anger me even more, he said that it was due-diligence on my part to call in before I signed the contract to make sure it was the same plan on our account. I told him that I expect their employees to be well trained to put the same plan on the acct, ESPECIALLY as I had spoken to the rep only 2 hours before I went in for the upgrade. Was I supposed to tell my dad not to use the phone for 5 business days until the second phone came in the mail!??! Bell has that stoopid 15min/15 day rule ... Fido has it best with 15/day only. I'm still given the runaround until they find the phone ... now I'm supposed to call in every 2 weeks to find out what's going on ... that's the INFERIOR Bell Customer Service for ya!:evil: :mad: I hate their corrupt business practices, and HATE verbal contracts ... it's pretty much their word against mine, especially if the rep didn't take enuff notes on the account! I have the fax # to escalate my complaint, but I'm sure it'll just fall on deaf ears. Getting the rep's info didn't help much, either. Still, I'll forward the letter to the executive office, and send a copy to the Better Business Bureau. I'm waiting until this is over for some compensation. This has been going on for 2 months now!!!

[Shaner]

Figures, Bell's customer support is closed on the weekends. Apparently Bell figures their customers don't have issues on weekends.

Bell is officially the worst company ever.

[Cashflow]

Just got my new Dell PC Firday.
All excited, i called bell customer service today and fell on "Francois" to ask
for my 3 free months. He told me that it would be free but that I had to pay 35$ activation fee. I told him that was impossible as this was a promo with Dell where Dell covered all the fees. He put me on hold and returned and told me it was actually a fee for the modem they would send to me. Again i argued that Dell never mentioned this. he again put me on hold and went to ask a supervisor. He came back with the same answer, impossible to wave the 35$. I have enough of dealing with these guys ... why does a black on white simple promo have to be so complicated. I'm calling Dell on monday and will tell them that i want to return the system unless they want to fight a battle with bell that i don't want to. It's their promo ... if there is such an Activation/modem fee, then they should disclose it.
Anyone on RFD here got this deal and never had to pay this fee ... please tell me whet you did. thks

[Kommander_KornFlakes]

I HATE BELL SO MUCH I RATHER NOT FRY MY BRAIN CELLS REMEMBERING THEM.......

I got shafted by them 2 times with two different cell phones. Just let me say that I do NOT intend to pay them my last 3 months of cellular service.

It was stated in my contract that my cell phone bill would be $35 plus all applicable taxes. How come my bill comes for $67 without going over the minutes or long distances? I asked the same BELL center bastard who sold me the contract at Yorkgate Mall why the huge price difference and he gives me a 1-800 number telling me to call them, that he doesn't know anything about contracts... yet he sold it to me and seemed very knowledgeable about Bell contracts before giving him my money.

BOYCOT AND STAY AWAY FROM BELL
.

[broc]

I've just had my first ever brush with Bell and their literally incompetant "customer service" reps.

Me and my GF just bought/moved into our new house the beginning of this February. Bell, unfortunately, is the only company period that services the small community we live in. We phone em up to hook up cable and phone. They don't do internet out here- no problem, we found someone else who does.

Anyway, a few weeks go by and we haven't got a bill yet. We get lots of other mail/new bills, and some various mail from previous tenants. No Bell bill.

Finally, after 1 month of no bill, we call their Cust. Serv. # to see what's going on- as we don't want to end up with many months of a bill for hundreds of dollars down the road. We speak with some girl... tell her our prob of not having a bill yet.. she gets our basic info- name, address, etc. Then she says "the bill was mailed to you on Feb 1st. Mario Bluhm?"

We ask, who is Mario Bluhm? She says, the person who ordered the phone/cable/etc on February 1st. We tell, there's no way this can have happened- we BOUGHT the house just before then, it's in our name, and we called personally with only mine and my GF's names on the plan. She says, no, the bill is under Mario Bluhm! She insists Mario Bluhm (who wasn't even the previous owner of this house! nor does the previous people who sold us this house- and they lived there for 5 years- know who Mr Bluhm is) is the account holder. We have to actually argue to tell her that they are mistaken.

Anyway, she says somehow another person's info got put on our account. We remember having received a piece of mail from Bell for this guy, but RTS'ered it thinking it was a previous owner's mail or statement. She says she fixes all the info, that everything is in our name now and our own account. We ask when the bill is due (she tells us $180+ incl deposit), she says, 30 days after it is mailed out. She says she's going to send another bill in the mail. We tell her, we want to pay it NOW- today- so it isn't late. The next day would have been over the 30 days. Then (and this is funny), she says no it won't be late tomorrow, you have til the end of March. We said, if it's mailed out the 1st of Feb, it's due before March 3rd. She said no. Insisting 30 days would be March 30th!! We argued this point for at least 30 seconds. "If the bill was sent FEB 1ST... 30 DAYS FROM THEN IS THE BEGINNING OF MARCH". She still denied it
!! It took her literally 30 seconds to realize that March 30th was 60 days away from Feb 1st. I was doing everything to keep my cool and not swear at the idiocy she was trying to tell us. Finally she realizes, yes, the bill is due the next day!! Then, she suddenly says she's going to transfer us to another representative to help us better. She f'd up, so she didn't want to deal with us anymore. We said, don't transfer us, we just want to pay our bill before it's late and be done with this. She says okay, but then SHE WON'T TELL US OUR ACCOUNT # OVER THE PHONE- for "security reasons". We keep telling her we want to pay our bill so it's not late! Let us pay our bill!

Finally, she tells us our accnt. #. We write it down on a piece of paper for future reference. We pay our bill online at that moment, with internet banking. We're given a reference # at the end of this ridiculous ordeal, which we also write on the same piece of paper.

Now, 4 days ago, we got a 2nd bill from Bell.. that says we owe 254 dollars! We immediately call them up- they say we never paid the first bill!!! We check our bank account online- sure enough, there's a $180 payment to Bell. Rep says it's not showing up.

Turns out the buffoon who we talked to the first time, gave us the wrong account number. We paid someone elses bill. And they don't know who. We say, we have the reference #, we have the account # still that she gave us the first time... and this rep still tells us she cannot find a payment anywhere from us. WHAT THE F_ _ _ IS WRONG WITH THIS COMPANY?!!? Then, she wants us to pay the 254 dollar bill, and that when she finds the first payment (which she warns can take up to 2 weeks), she'll credit our account. We tell her no way- you screwed this up, we're not paying AGAIN what we already paid for. She assures us she'll look into this and call us in 2 weeks when she find out where our 180 dollars went to. We pay our actual monthly payment (the dif of 254-180), but she insists for us to pay the whole 254 dollars. It was all I could do not to have a freak out on her. We still said no- it's been paid and we have the proof. You deal with it.

UN. REAL.
So, I'm waiting with glee to see what our next Bell bill will look like. I am going to pull a Mike Tyson and tear someone's friggin heart through the phone, that's how frustrating this company has been in the 2 months we've lived here.

So, in short:

- Bell somehow signs up some random person to our address
- we bring to their attention this info is wrong, they "correct it"
- they tell us a bill that is due 30 days after Feb 1st is due Mar 30th. They stick to this point after we persist it is not (but finally come around)
- they don't tell us our accnt # so we can pay our bill. would rather us pay late
- they finally give us our account #, which we later find out is someone elses #. they don't know who's it is. We paid 180 bucks to it, but they still can't see it, even though we have the ref. # from our previous call, and the Accnt we were given from that same call

We are considering cancelling our landline and getting 2 cell phones. I've never owned a cell phone in my life and neither has my GF, but these are the extremes of madness to which Bell's incompetency is driving us.

[Paolo]

unreal wow!!!

bell sux

[malaco0219]

I've just had my first ever brush with Bell and their literally incompetant "customer service" reps.

Me and my GF just bought/moved into our new house the beginning of this February. Bell, unfortunately, is the only company period that services the small community we live in. We phone em up to hook up cable and phone. They don't do internet out here- no problem, we found someone else who does.

Anyway, a few weeks go by and we haven't got a bill yet. We get lots of other mail/new bills, and some various mail from previous tenants. No Bell bill.

Finally, after 1 month of no bill, we call their Cust. Serv. # to see what's going on- as we don't want to end up with many months of a bill for hundreds of dollars down the road. We speak with some girl... tell her our prob of not having a bill yet.. she gets our basic info- name, address, etc. Then she says "the bill was mailed to you on Feb 1st. Mario Bluhm?"

We ask, who is Mario Bluhm? She says, the person who ordered the phone/cable/etc on February 1st. We tell, there's no way this can have happened- we BOUGHT the house just before then, it's in our name, and we called personally with only mine and my GF's names on the plan. She says, no, the bill is under Mario Bluhm! She insists Mario Bluhm (who wasn't even the previous owner of this house! nor does the previous people who sold us this house- and they lived there for 5 years- know who Mr Bluhm is) is the account holder. We have to actually argue to tell her that they are mistaken.

Anyway, she says somehow another person's info got put on our account. We remember having received a piece of mail from Bell for this guy, but RTS'ered it thinking it was a previous owner's mail or statement. She says she fixes all the info, that everything is in our name now and our own account. We ask when the bill is due (she tells us $180+ incl deposit), she says, 30 days after it is mailed out. She says she's going to send another bill in the mail. We tell her, we want to pay it NOW- today- so it isn't late. The next day would have been over the 30 days. Then (and this is funny), she says no it won't be late tomorrow, you have til the end of March. We said, if it's mailed out the 1st of Feb, it's due before March 3rd. She said no. Insisting 30 days would be March 30th!! We argued this point for at least 30 seconds. "If the bill was sent FEB 1ST... 30 DAYS FROM THEN IS THE BEGINNING OF MARCH". She still denied it
!! It took her literally 30 seconds to realize that March 30th was 60 days away from Feb 1st. I was doing everything to keep my cool and not swear at the idiocy she was trying to tell us. Finally she realizes, yes, the bill is due the next day!! Then, she suddenly says she's going to transfer us to another representative to help us better. She f'd up, so she didn't want to deal with us anymore. We said, don't transfer us, we just want to pay our bill before it's late and be done with this. She says okay, but then SHE WON'T TELL US OUR ACCOUNT # OVER THE PHONE- for "security reasons". We keep telling her we want to pay our bill so it's not late! Let us pay our bill!

Finally, she tells us our accnt. #. We write it down on a piece of paper for future reference. We pay our bill online at that moment, with internet banking. We're given a reference # at the end of this ridiculous ordeal, which we also write on the same piece of paper.

Now, 4 days ago, we got a 2nd bill from Bell.. that says we owe 254 dollars! We immediately call them up- they say we never paid the first bill!!! We check our bank account online- sure enough, there's a $180 payment to Bell. Rep says it's not showing up.

Turns out the buffoon who we talked to the first time, gave us the wrong account number. We paid someone elses bill. And they don't know who. We say, we have the reference #, we have the account # still that she gave us the first time... and this rep still tells us she cannot find a payment anywhere from us. WHAT THE F_ _ _ IS WRONG WITH THIS COMPANY?!!? Then, she wants us to pay the 254 dollar bill, and that when she finds the first payment (which she warns can take up to 2 weeks), she'll credit our account. We tell her no way- you screwed this up, we're not paying AGAIN what we already paid for. She assures us she'll look into this and call us in 2 weeks when she find out where our 180 dollars went to. We pay our actual monthly payment (the dif of 254-180), but she insists for us to pay the whole 254 dollars. It was all I could do not to have a freak out on her. We still said no- it's been paid and we have the proof. You deal with it.

UN. REAL.
So, I'm waiting with glee to see what our next Bell bill will look like. I am going to pull a Mike Tyson and tear someone's friggin heart through the phone, that's how frustrating this company has been in the 2 months we've lived here.

So, in short:

- Bell somehow signs up some random person to our address
- we bring to their attention this info is wrong, they "correct it"
- they tell us a bill that is due 30 days after Feb 1st is due Mar 30th. They stick to this point after we persist it is not (but finally come around)
- they don't tell us our accnt # so we can pay our bill. would rather us pay late
- they finally give us our account #, which we later find out is someone elses #. they don't know who's it is. We paid 180 bucks to it, but they still can't see it, even though we have the ref. # from our previous call, and the Accnt we were given from that same call

We are considering cancelling our landline and getting 2 cell phones. I've never owned a cell phone in my life and neither has my GF, but these are the extremes of madness to which Bell's incompetency is driving us.

not to be racist or anything, but did bell outsource to india like dell? cause some of their reps dont know english honestly, and i had such a horrible time with them last weekend.

[Eddystone]

Damn what a problem, I would have gone crazy on them !!!

[in-ny]

not to be racist or anything, but did bell outsource to india like dell? cause some of their reps dont know english honestly, and i had such a horrible time with them last weekend.

yes, bell did outsource to india.
i had a situation with them a while back...

I kept receiving calls from bell telling me that they were going to send my dad a free modem for a free trial of their internet service. I kept telling them that we didn't want to try it cause we're happy with the one we had. but the person (both who call on separate times) kept pushing to go through and make sure our address and information is correct so that they would sent it to us. as i kept refusing, they became very rude with me, and at one point even yelling at me. the first time i just gave up and hung up on them. the second time i asked to speak to a manager or someone but they refused and once again started yelling at me for not going through with the process.
for one thing, i'm not the person they were looking for thus i can't give out my dad's information.
second thing, on call display it wasn't a local call...why was bell not calling locally? or at least within canada? and from their accents you could tell they're from India.
they didn't give up and kept yelling at me, thinking that would make me give in.
i hung up on them again and gave bell a call and ask them what's going on. the csr told me that yes bell has been outsourcing, hence the call was long distance but they are legit bell people...they took our number off their spamming list and luckily i haven't had to deal with bell since =)

[batman321123]

I am then calling my credit card company and demanding they do something about this. Bell has no right to be charging my credit card. I didn't give them authorization at any point.

Umm, it's called a CHARGEBACK. Forget Bell and go straight to your credit card company and tell them you want to do a chargeback.

[Harkonnen]

While my Bell experiences haven't been as bad as some peoples, I find that Bell doesn't have a clue about customer retention.

I was originally with ExpressVu, but got a call from Rogers with a switch offer: I trade in my Bell receiver and give them a copy of my ExpressVu bill, and they give me a HD PVR and 3 months of service for free.

I called Bell to see if they'd match the offer; I'd been with them for about 4 years and thought that I could at the very least get them to match the offer. When I spoke to the Bell CSR and explained the offer, she said that's impossible - Rogers would never offer something like that, and if I left Bell I'd be making a big mistake. Well I didn't appreciate being called a liar so I decided to cancel right then and there and make the switch. I was transfered to another dept. which wasn't open at that time. I had to call in the next day, and spoke to another guy who tried to get me to stay but would only offer me $300 off a PVR - which was the same offer new customers got at FS. I canceled ExpressVu and got sorted out with Rogers.

About a month later, I got a call from Bell asking why I left. 3 calls infact - they asked me to fill out a survey over the phone and I gave them a piece of my mind. I said that the rude CSR and the inability to match a competitors plan was the reason I left, and the person who was taking the survey said that they get that answer a lot. How messed up is Bell's system that they call me 3 times to do a customer satisfaction survey that i've already answered?

[YnD]

Alot of this billing garbage has happened to me on Rogers for Digital TV and Cable.

I don't think any of the corporations are good.

[marcopoloca]

Rogers has the same policy.

just becasue they have the same 30 days advance notice policy for cancellation doesn't make it right.
it's a result of total corporate greed that invented all these extra charges to nickle and dime you and me.
they just kept billing you excessively or "by error" hoping it'll go through one of these times, especially for people who are on pre-authorized monthly charges.

i can understand that a landlord needs 30 days notice before the tenants move out becasue it'd take a while for the landlord to do advertising, etc. to get another tenant; but what's the cost for Bell to cancel your service, it's just couple clicks away.

oh don't forget the $7.99 wireless "licensing fee" that they have been charging for a long long time; if anyone doesn't already know there's is no such licensing charge they only slap on this additional fee and gave it a fancy name.

These are corporate thief that has not been caught yet!

[temporary user]

...oh don't forget the $7.99 wireless "licensing fee" that they have been charging for a long long time; if anyone doesn't already know there's is no such licensing charge they only slap on this additional fee and gave it a fancy name....

Are you saying that we don't have to pay the extra 8 bucks per month? I am stuck with a 3yr student plan with them and I am paying $52 after taxes. $8 less would really make a difference.

-----------------

Back to topic.
I got a 1yr internet dry-loop contract with them back in October with unlimited bandwidth.
Up to now my mom payed online and didn't really check the price since no receipt was sent by Bell. At one point I see that we pay like $50/mo while I should pay only $20. I called them and they told me that I pay for the extra bandwidth.
After half an hour of arguing with them they finally seen that in my contract I have unlimited bandwidth, and they credited the extra $30/mo.
Anyways, this month the bill comes and we have to pay again an extra $30. Now I have to call them again. :(




Too bad there are not many dry-loop ISPs here in Montreal.

[Shaner]

Well, I called Bell and they refunded my credit card again. They also promised me an extra 3 months of free service for my trouble. The guy I spoke to was absolutely great, and if I could deal with CSR's like him every time I called, I would have no problem handing my money over to Bell in return for their services. The problem is that most of the CSR's at Bell have a grade 3 education and are some of the rudest, dumbest people I've ever talked to.

The CSR gave me his name, a reference number and his agent ID number and swore up and down that I wouldn't be billed again and that I would in fact receive an extra 3 months free service.

I'll still be cancelling after the free trial is up. I will not support a company that has caused me this much grief. Intentionally cutting someone, then offering to put a bandaid on the wound doesn't make it all better. That's more or less how I feel about Bell. They had their chance, they blew it.

[malaco0219]

Well, I called Bell and they refunded my credit card again. They also promised me an extra 3 months of free service for my trouble. The guy I spoke to was absolutely great, and if I could deal with CSR's like him every time I called, I would have no problem handing my money over to Bell in return for their services. The problem is that most of the CSR's at Bell have a grade 3 education and are some of the rudest, dumbest people I've ever talked to.

The CSR gave me his name, a reference number and his agent ID number and swore up and down that I wouldn't be billed again and that I would in fact receive an extra 3 months free service.

I'll still be cancelling after the free trial is up. I will not support a company that has caused me this much grief. Intentionally cutting someone, then offering to put a bandaid on the wound doesn't make it all better. That's more or less how I feel about Bell. They had their chance, they blew it.

good luck with it. hope you dont have anymore problems.

I am certainly glad i never had this much problems at home with bell.. maybe you just got a bad rep