Bell, why can't they get it right?

[Never Compromised]

Bell is my ISP and I find that I have very few technical issues with them. But their integration between their various companies is not done very well.

They had been "suggesting" to me to switch to "one bill" for over a year, and finally I was tired of them telling me how much money I would save and agreed to switch my phone and net to the one bill system.

Sixty days later, my net access gets cut off. I phone and am told that I have not paid. Seems like the different departments in the different divisions have not been communicating well. Swinepatico offers to make it up to me by giving me 30 days of free net. The next thing that happens is that Swinepatico decides to drop Usenet, yet seems to think that a price increase is ok. A call to customer service and some ranting gets them to reduce my monthly high speed to $35 a month. Well and dandy.

So, another 60 days goes by and I get cut off the net again. Another call to "customer service". Now the issue is that they do not have a PAC or CC on file. I remind them that I am paying on the one bill system and see no reason to give them a CC since I am not paying Swinepatico directly. After getting put on hold for far too long, I get transfered to a supervisor that finally decides that I really don't need to give them a CC number and decides to offer me a free month of net access for the inconvience of having my net cut off.

Fast forward to today. No e-mail. None. So I call Hell up and ask what is going on. They have cut off my account again. This time, it is because I requested it. WTF? Bull***t

So I ask to speak to a supervisor. Supervisor puts me on hold. Comes back and tells me that when I was changed from the account type I was on to the one bill account, someone had put in that I had requested a service disconnect, because the system was not set up to transfer between plans.

Of course, I am now very pissed. The supervisor tells me that there is no reason to be angry, belligerent, loud or rude. I ask her to look in the notes and to tell me just how many times I've been cut off because of their mistake.

Twenty minutes later, she comes back and says that she has taken care of the problem and that she noticed that I am still on the Nortel platform. As a courtesy, she is going to send me the latest DSL modem and have the field people upgrade my card to the latest/greatest in the CO. I will be given 2 months free access and my speed will be bumped up at no charge.

While I am happy to receive free high speed, I would be happier having an ISP that I could count on.

 

[hungry]

I hear you. One of my biggest fears in life is phoning Bell and Cogeco.
ps. I would love to pull the plug on Emily!

 

[Never Compromised]

ps would love to pull the plug on Emily!

that deaf bitch! I would love to drown her in the deepest, darkest part of Lake Superior.

 

[raven@mirage]

I had bell for about 3 months then I switched to Rogers. Rogers has it's moments but its nothing compared to Bell.

Then a year later when I ordered my dell laptop they said they will give me bell for 3 months free I told them the day it arrives I will send it back. They tried to convience me to use it and see what happens so I would have 2 internet connections.

I told them your wasting your time trying to upsell me. and when that damn bell box arrived I sent it back with the delievery guy.

 

[Never Compromised]

I do not have technical issues with Bell. I have had a lot of technical issues with Rogers over the years, both for TV and the Net.

My guess is that once an organization hits a certain size, customer service becomes a nightmare. I had dealing with on the A list banks a few weeks back, and it took me 30 minutes to navigate through "Emily" to find a person to talk to that transfered me to someone else that put me on hold. Rogers has consistently screwed up my billing for the cable, and curretly I am getting only partial service while they "upgrade" the system in the area.

 

[Cobster]

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-10/1090669/hell_mobility.JPG
That's all I got to say about them.
I worked at their head office and they are the SCUM of the earth.
Rogers I'm sure has their moments. But compared to HELL?
Not EVEN A QUARTER as bad as Hell.
Read this story about Hell
http://members.shaw.ca/projectx1/bellmobility.htm

 

[A-ROD]

A very good friend of mine is a top level manager for Celestica(IBM). He works out of the Bell offices as they have the contract to look after all of their computer systems. He has advised me on numerous occasions not to use Bells bundle payment system.
They have so many issues with it, he gets called at all hours of the day and night. He doesn't even use Bell...'nuff said.

 

[Dawgger]

you guys are just making my day...land line is Bell net is sympatico just switched to expressvu and its all on one bill.(Sky should fall momentarily)
SO FAR no tech problems...customer service is terrible,,,but thet will give you free stuff to make uo for their screw ups

 

[hot_scorpio]

And they wounder why people are leaving to Rogers.

I am going through the same thing with my bell mobility, I send them the money and they tend to loose it.

I had Bell Sympatico, and I switched do to customer service attitude, my home phone I switched for the same reason and cost.

I currently have bell mobility and I WILL be dropping them like a fly.

I do not want anything to DO with BELL.

Bell should look into how they do there operations in ALL divisons and make MAJOR changes.

If they keep up, they will not have anymore customers.

You guys should look into 3web.com for all your internet needs, they have cable service and DSL service for half the cost of BELL and ROGERS.

I made the switch to 3web.com about 6 months go and I am very happy with there service, and I will not go back.

Please feel free to send me an e-mail if you would like more details.

Thank you

 

[kingmm]

why cant big company's hire people that speak proper ENGLISH. Everythime I call one of these big company's bell, rogers, etc I speak to some person I dont understand. Hey I know everybody has to work, but WTF learn to speak proper english.

 

[Never Compromised]

Good Grief

Now the idiots have sent me a demand for me to return the DSL modem to them or I will face a $180 charge.

And of course, no one at Swinepatico seems to know why or whether I should return the modem or not.

I've told them that one more screw up will mean that I interpret their actions as breach of contract and I will ditch all their services.

 

[hot_scorpio]

Check out 3web.com, my friend....

The web site is www.3web.com..., they are up front with everything....drop sympatico and make the move over...

 

[emvee]

My guess is that once an organization hits a certain size, customer service becomes a nightmare.

Your guess is 100% correct. They start seeing customers as statistics instead of human beings. It's not only customers, employees get similar treatment. In a lot of big organizations, you might see your boss's boss a couple of time a year. At the next level, you are just a name in a directory.

 

[mrpolarbear]

Ive been going thru the same thing with Cingular for the last 5 months. Mine started when i fucked up and lost my phone. Went to the local cingular store and they tried to rape me since my contract wasnt up. Left pissed and called customer service ended up getting the special price plus a rebate. The phone comes but i cant get the activation going. call them back they work on it and tell me it will be on in a couple of hours. I wait still not actvated call back another rep tells me your bill was due yeterday it has to be paid before we will turn the new one on. I go down to the store any pay in erson. call from there the phone still wont activate now i am really pissed cause they tell me its a tech problem and it wont be resolved till monday. After bitching they give a phone to use for the weekend and one months credit. Cool . Then i get my rebate stuff in the mail one day before it has to be postmarked. I hurry up and get it together send it off and 4 weeks later i get a letter back denying my rebate for sending the wrong form in. I call again and they tell me i should have checked the form since they send out different ones depending on what part of the country your in. I go ballistic on them finnaly they give me a credit on my bill again in the meantime i got the correct form filled it out and sent it in lo and behold it comes in about 3 weeks. They told me on the phone that when they credited my bill for the rebate they would cancel the card i was getting in the mail. I get on the internet and couldnt believe it they didnt cancel it so i went and spent that 50. Got my bill lat month and they had internet charges of about 55 bucks called and bitched they took them off. got my bill today and they charged me 55 bucks again for shit i dont have i called bitched like hell and the lady is trying to tell me i have to call another number to cancel that stuff. i said screw that i never signed up for it and you took it off last month you can do the same. She pulls my bill up when i tell her how much it is and she asks me what bill im looking at and i said the one i just got in the mail today. The one shes looking at has differnt amounts charged than the one they sent me. After about 15 minutes she comes back on and says we are taking 110 dollars off i said ok i just doubled my amount plus she gave me another months credit so i wont even get a bill next month. I have actually come out way ahead but it is a hassle dealing with those people.I wonder how may people just pay the bill without checking it out to make sure its right.

 

[Cobster]

If you wan't a great ISP with pretty damn good prices, http://www.canadianisp.com
More specifically, if you're in Toronto or the surrounding area, click...
Ontario at the top
choose Toronto
choose DSL
then you'll get a chart with a listing of providers.
The best ones for DSL Toronto with no limitations aka "CAPS" are.

Cybernet has gotten an average rating of 4.39 out of 5 from 150 people over the past 3 months.
http://www.mycybernet.net/
http://www.canadianisp.com/cgi-bin/ispsearch.cgi?ispid=78&sp=ON&serv_type=dsl&busper=res&maxprc=&city=Toronto&SUBMIT=showdetail

and

TekSavvy has gotten an average of 4.81 out of 5 from 98 people over the past 3 months. this is the company I'm thinking about joining soon. Apparently their customer service is incredibly fast and great
Best part is, they use Bell's lines haha f'k Hell.
http://www.teksavvy.com/
http://www.canadianisp.com/cgi-bin/ispsearch.cgi?ispid=75&sp=ON&serv_type=dsl&busper=res&maxprc=&city=Toronto&SUBMIT=showdetail

 

[Shades]

Add me to the list

....of Bell fans.

I have been having issues with them and now have filed a formal complaint with the CRTC. Bell have 20 days to respond to CRTC and satisfy my complaint. It will be interesting to see what happens.

For your info, from the CRTC procedures;

The CRTC will ask the telephone company involved to address your concerns before it reaches any conclusions. Companies are generally given 20 days to respond and must reply directly to you, with a copy to the CRTC.
The CRTC's Client Services will review your concerns and the company's response in light of approved tariffs and applicable legislation to determine if follow-up action is necessary. Client Services may:
determine that the telephone company's response is satisfactory and that further regulatory action is not required;
require further information from you or the telephone company to determine what, if any, further regulatory action is required;
refer your complaint to the CRTC's Telecommunications or Legal Directorates for further investigation.
The CRTC may decide that a more formal proceeding is required to resolve issues raised by your complaint.

 

[Cobster]

They'll pay someone off, Hell is like that.
Or they'll address it, give you some free months of whatever service you want or they give and it'll shut you up.
Free cell service doesn't cost them a PENNY.
Airtime doesn't cost them shit on a stick.
That's how we trained, give the customer a free month of service, except the mandatory $7.95 airtime rip-off fee.
People think they're getting a great deal with a free month and Hell Mobility just laughs.

 

[MarkII]

why cant big company's hire people that speak proper ENGLISH. Everythime I call one of these big company's bell, rogers, etc I speak to some person I dont understand. Hey I know everybody has to work, but WTF learn to speak proper english.

I think I have the answer for that.

I had a problem on my Biz line with Bell. I called 611 and after rpeated calls as I simply could not undertand the Indian accent I finally asked "has Bell switched their call centre?" Yes was the answer to India. Look I don't want to start a flame war at all..so please do not.

But I have to tell you I was really dsiappointed at Bell over this. If they won't hire Canadians who will?

Did my repair get fixed..no. Twice. Why, and I hate to say this is was language barrier. I had to explain for an hopur to someome named Gupta..i think..that an Identical line does not have an outgoing ring tone.

WTF? My fax line isn't working...and I have to explain the facts of phone life to a SUPPORT person? I want to know the name of the bean counter that felt this was a good move.

I would love to hear the converstations from Eastern Canada as they try and talk to each other.

It's now a joke. I called twice in one day, and I am very forgiving on language...but I could not understand a single word they were saying.

M2 Please don't frag me...it's not about language it's about service.

 

[Zam]

Get ready for more crap from Bell.

Over the weekend I got a survey call from Bell. It seems they are putting out feelers to see how to go about a rate increase. That's right, they are going to increase their rates.

Most of the questions dealt with express vu and how much of an increase I would accept before I decide to ditch them. I told them any increase and good bye.

 

[Cobster]

So that means Rogers will to.
They do it at the same time.