Bell Canada's Disgusting Customer Service

Yet another unsatisfied customer. The individual in the post explains an experience he had with Bell and their poor customer service. According to the post Bell charged the person for work they said was free. Contacting Bell turned into a nightmare. Here is earthman's post, titled " Warning!!! Bell Canada = HORRIBLE Customer Service = Thieves = Scam Artists":

"I placed an order with Sympatico Canada dry-loop for the internet service and was told that there would NOT be any charge for the work being done by technician they were sending in. I asked if I can pick up the modem package from a nearest location but I was told that they had to send in a technician regardless.

So the technician came in and did some wiring works and installed a jack in the basement. A few days later I got a invoice of charge for $104.94 (for inside wiring - work) from Bell Canada apparently for the wiring and jack work he'd done.

Now, here is the problem I have with Bell/Symaptico. I was told there would NOT be any charge for anything. Also I specifically asked the agent if there would be any extra fee for dry loop line and he said no. However, I was charged for something I wasn't informed of AT ALL. I mean, even if they were gonna charge me, the technician should've mentioned the fee before doing any work.

I surely felt that I was being cheated.

Now, first of all, I did eventually get the matter resolved but it took me about an hour and a half and had to spoke to 6~7 different agents. The experience overall was disgusting to say the least and especially the agents I spoke to were the most incompetent creatures on the face of Earth.

• The first and second ones I spoke to had very bad attitude problem and had hard time understanding the core issue. (one of them tried to argue the difference b/w installation of a jack v.s. wiring work. she's being a complete moron)
• The third lady I spoke to try to defend Bell's shabby business practice when I said that what Bell is doing is taking advantage of customer, a hidden charge, a way of stealing $$ off people. Her defense was that there are a lot more hidden charges out in the world and blah blah blah. How SHAMEFUL... So what she was saying is that Bell is like any other cricks out there...
• I went through a few more agents and finally... I was advised to call back at Sympatico to see if they could credit the charge. (This charge was on a separate system [Bell Canada], so technically it had nothing to do with Sympatico)
• All of the reps I spoke to kept giving me all kind of excuses and kept transferring me. I got hung up twice... LAME!!!!
• The last rep I spoke to at Sympatico was very very professional, very friendly and understandable. He took care of the issue in about 3 mins time.

I've never had such a horrible experience with any company before. After this fiasco I can conclude that Rogers has a much better customer service than Bell...

On the side note, if I had no concern for money, I would've sued Bell for this. For not informing the customer for the hidden charge."

My favorite comment (on page 4, in response to another user's post of bad service):

"Sorry to hear about your encounter with Bell. There is a substantially lack of competition here in Canada and I don't see this changing any time soon. There is no doubt that other smaller ISPs are out there competing, but they aren't much of a force just yet because Bell and Rogers are still going about ripping people off with their skyrocket high charges. I think government is also to be blamed for this duopoly.

- earthman"

Another unhappy poster's comments (on page 4):

"Bell Canada is absolutely atrocious. Thieves and Scam Artists are definitely fitting words. They screwed my family in our contract as well. Everyone in my family vowed never ever to purchase anything through Bell again. Do they not know that screwing people over is not going to keep customers happy and they're going to leave? The sad part I guess is that there's so few alternatives.."

- onehaehyuk

Bell Canada Stole My Money For 2 Years

Bell has been stealing my money for the last 2 years. They have taken my money without providing the quality of service I signed up for.

I went for a 3 year contract at Christmas time back in 2004 and picked up two phones (Audivox CDM-8910BM) on a shared plan with my wife. In January of 2006 we started having problems with the phones with reception and battery life of both phones. In the middle of the city I would have to stand outside on my back porch to make phone calls. I could only talk with the phone plugged into the charger as the battery would last a maximum of 10 minutes. It was an unworkable situation that basically made the phone unusable for anything other than short conversations.

I contacted customer support at Bell in February 2006 in my first attempt to deal with the problem. I was told by the Bell customer service representive that the Audivox CDM-8910BM was the wrong phone for my area. When I asked why Bell would allow this to happen I was told this was the sales person's issue at the Bell store. I was perplexed by this response given that the Bell store is located in the same area I live in. Why would they have phones in stock that were not suitable for the area?

I jumped through a couple hoops including a software/firmware update to the phone and even changing the number. According to the Bell customer service not only was I using the wrong phone for my area but I was also using the wrong tower. Changing the number was supposed to make my reception better. It did not. After exhausting all of my options I called Bell back to fix the problem.

In March 2006 I contacted Bell to resolve the fact that I could not use my cell phone due to terrible reception and a faulty phone. I was told my only options were to 1) renew my contract for another three years, get new phones, AND pay a higher monthly rate OR 2) cancel the contract at $400 per phone ($800 in total). While talking to a manager I was rudely asked "What does it matter that you are having issues with your phone? You are not even using your phone." Pardon me? I explained, as politely as I could muster, that I was not using the phone because THE PHONE WAS BROKEN. The conversation finally boiled down to me asking if Bell would fix the problem so I could use the service I was paying for. A repetive circle ensued with me asking the manager for a "Yes" or "No" answer to my question and the manager telling me my two options. It was obvious that Bell was not going to fix the problem without taking more of my money.

I had no desire to be locked in for three more years at a higher monthly rate with Bell. Nor did I want to give Bell a lump sum of $800 to cancel a service that I could not use as I had originally intended. At this point the phones were delegated to "emergency use" in our vehicles each with a lighter power adapter. I decided to wait the contract out.

And now the day has come. My contract expires this month and I have ensured that my desire to NOT renew has been made clear to Bell. Bell has been taking my money for a service I reported broken almost two years ago. In total Bell has stolen $1,000 dollars from me since I reported the issue. When I requested they fix the problem their proposed solutions were to take more of my money. Bell trapped me in a terrible and frustrating contract and did not provide the service I signed up for. I will NEVER use Bell again.