Review by ryangard 
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 3.7 years, 11 visits, last login: 101 days ago
 Stittsville,ON
 $80 per month
 Bell Canada
 "Stressing to even find good points. They were ok at the beginning."
 "Insistant on lying to you to try and threaten you to stay. Underhanded in tactics."
 "Avoid this company at all costs. It isn't worth the snake oil they provide."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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The speed we originally got was decent, but even it did not match up to what they were advertising we were to get. At best, we received 4mbps on a 6mbps line, however we did receive the appropriate upload of 768kbps. The beginning of the downhill slope began with bell canada removing the bandwidth cap without notifying their customers previously. This ensued with a battle of speaking with representatives, and getting different results and stories each time. We received a credit for a few months each month we called, until we got a representative that insisted that we needed to deal with the fact that we are going to have to pay for the overages and she would note on the account that nobody was to give us a credit. We accepted this fate, and dealt with it. Then just recently in April, we were preparing to move into our new apartment, and of course, called bell to arrange for a phone jack to be installed in the apartment, as there had never before been a phone line installed in the apartment. Everything seemed to finish with ease, until we found out they were still sending the bill to the wrong address. My wife called in 3 different times to ask them to change the address on the account, and they insisted each time they had, however, the address had never truly been updated on the account, and we still failed to receive appropriate notifications via the mail.
What struck us the most though was when the bill for the phone jack came. I called to pay it in the afternoon, around 3:30pm, while their billing department was still open. After fighting to understand the representative, as she spoke at hyper speed, even after being asked to slow down, she insisted that I did not have a bill due, regardless of the fact that the invoice is sitting right in front of me. Furthermore, she insists the bill did not exist. Then she persists to transfer me to another billing department (how many billing departments can you need?) to assist me. I read off the same information to this billing associate, and they give me the same verdict: they cannot find my bill in the system. At this point, my wife is awake and furious, as she works nights, and at this point she cannot sleep because she can hear whats going on. She asks for the phone from me, and she starts speaking to them, while they insist that they cannot do anything, as at this time, it is now 4pm, and the billing department that I should be speaking to is closed. A supervisor took down my credit card information, and insisted that it would be paid as soon as billing resumed operations the next morning. He also said he would call between 12pm and 2pm the next day to confirm that it had been complete. The representative also told her that they forced her account to be changed to the 7mbps plan, and they added an insurance bandwidth package to her account, all without her permission.
At this point, my wife is angry, and was looking for alternative means for internet access. After finding alternative means, she called to cancel our service with bell sympatico. After being placed on hold for 30 minutes after telling a representative that she wanted to cancel, a different representative picks up the phone, and persists to argue with her that she is in a contract, when she signed up specifically for a no-contract plan. Even if she was on a contract, the internet was ordered at a time where if she was in a contract, it would have already expired. After failing miserably at that argument, they threw the fact that they needed 30 days notice in our faces, which was already known and forthcoming, as if they could strong-arm us into staying with them. The phone call then ended quickly. The next day, my wife had to call bell's billing department at 2pm, and speak with another rep. She said that the credit card information was attached to the account, but the card was never charged. She had to put the charge through then, otherwise the other representative would have never run it.
Which brings us to May 14th. I received a piece of mail from bell on the 14th stating that I would be sent to collections in 2 days if I did not pay my bill, a bill of which was already paid. I got on the phone in the afternoon and asked to speak to the telephone billing department, of which I was told was supposed to handle any jack installation-related billing issues. She then persisted to tell me because it was a dry loop that she would have to transfer me to another agent in bell sympatico's billing department. I dealt with it, and waited for the representative to come onto the phone. The next part irritated me though. The next representative comes on the phone, and then persists to tell me I have to speak with somebody in the telephone billing department. At this point, I ask her why they cant just deal with it, and why I keep being flipped back and forth between departments. She persists to yell and talk over me telling me I need to be quiet and wait for a representative to come on the line. At this point, I am frustrated, and instead of speaking my mind, I hung up. I picked up the phone and called back, and this time their voice recognition answering machine decided it wasn't going to work appropriately, and transferred me to a call routing representative. At that point, I asked for a supervisor, as I was trying to get proof of payment and to ensure that they are not in fact sending me to collections. About 15 minutes later, a supervisor comes on the line and starts telling me that they will not provide me a proof of payment, but that the payment has gone through and should be taken care of, and to disregard the letter. I asked her if there was any way to get proof of payment, and she said the only way is to get your next invoice, which has the proof of payment on it. She then told me if i had any other issues, to ask for her specifically, and that she would deal with it.
I've dealt with bad support from companies before, but this takes the cake. I would avoid this company if at all possible, as they just are not worth the headaches and issues they cause.
November 21st, 2008
--
I realised I never updated the review with my end result.
Before the switch, we received our next bill, trying to charge us for another additional month that we did not use the service for, however they were insistent that we paid for this month as well. I cannot give exact dates, because it has been several months since this, but I spoke with a supervisor on the phone shortly after. At first, the supervisor wanted to toss me back to a service representative, insisting that they would be able to assist me with the issue. However, after disclosing my issue of the unauthorized account modification coupled with the bill for DSL that i had not been using at all due to the cancellation I asked for, he hastily apologized and worked with me to make things right.
For once, I was happy. I had somebody who was willing to help me, and somebody who remembered that the customer is the important key in any business. He helped me ensure that the bill would be nullified so that the previous bill would be marked the last bill, and as such, I would not be owing anything to Bell. He also apologized for the representative who modified the account without permission, as he realized the legal reprocussions of such a move by a representative, especially when all calls are recorded by bell. Days later, I received the modem return package from bell, and sent it off without a hitch.
The tail end made things more of a relief, but I still won't be dealing with this company any time soon, due to the issues I have dealt with.
Followup comments:  
travisc
join:2001-11-09
Port Perry, ON | Business as usual Throw some numbers on your review so it affects their overall score. | |
| 
what2doIS
@videotron.ca
| try this. It worked for me and got me out of their damn BS I would contact kevin.crull@bell.ca (president of residential services).
Tell him your billing fiasco
Tell him you placed your 30-day advance notice of cancellation.
Say you want both these situations taken care of ASAP.
Give your phone# where you can be contacted at in the Email and the times you can be contacted at. This way there is no BS of I tried calling you etc.. | |
|
Conner Lingus
@bell.ca |  quit calling Bohica
Just A Thought | |
| adamh3000
join:2008-07-30
Montreal, QC
| is it legal?? they did the same with me. got my bill with $30 extra bandwidth charge. i called them, the first rep. told me that it was a result of the recent changes that i requested, then when i told him that i never requested anything and the last time i called them was more than one year ago, he put me on hold and then i was transfered to this lady (he said it was his manager) she realized it was a dead end trying to tell me that i requested changes to my account, so she didn't even bring that up, instead she lectured me that i am downloading way too much making it sound like i was committing war crimes (in a sneaky indirect way), and that sympatico no longer offer unlimited usage plans, and of course she started selling me one of their current plans, and she repeatedly failed to give me a clear answer on who gave them permission to change things without telling me. i interrupted her and said that i am not interested in hearing what she has to say about their current plans and that i was too mad and that my blood was boiling (true) and because i dont want our conversation to take an uncivilized path, i prefer to speak with them another time. so she let me go then i hung up
i read lots of posts on many site addressing the same issue. my only question is are they allowed to do that ? is this legal ? from what i know the company cannot change your plan without your permission. for example, i have the city talk plan from fido(fixed monthly rate regardless of minutes used) which is not offered anymore. just like sympatico, they try to get rid of every customer who has that plan, but still they never dared to change it without telling me so i still have it . even though they wont let me change the name on the plan to my sister's name who is the person who actually uses the phone, nor let me change my number or any similar simple things any customer would ask for without losing the plan. but again they didnt not change my plan just like that without my permission! the way sympatico did...
is sympatico allowed to do that ? does anyone know about this ?
thank you all. of course i don't need to say that i am gonna call again and cancel my service, but i first need to calm myself down after today's irritating experience. | |
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