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[DSL] My story so far on switching from Bell to TS...

Hi there,

So I decided to try and switch (more on that later) to TS from Bell. I just want to describe the process and some pieces of advice for TS in their attempts to retain/gain customers. I am in Montreal, QC FWIW.

I first called Bell to give them my 30 day notice before I would sign up with TS (on their advice). Bell spent 20 minutes trying to retain my business by offering some discounts etc. It was pretty ridiculous to be honest and by the end of it, even if the price was pretty much the same as having Bell for my phone line and TS for Internet, I had decided to switch anyway.

First piece of advice to Bell: when people already call to leave you, it's too late to try and offer discounts to make them stay. Especially when your prices increase two or three times a year anyway.

So I was happy with that move until the next day my Internet stopped working. What do you know I find out that Bell didn't give a sh*t about those 30 days and had cut me off earlier. I was frustrated but I figured I'd sign up earlier with TS and that would be perfect. That evening I just could not get the TS line to pick up. The system was dead I think (Sept. 26 or 27). That doesn't bode well for an ISP .

I signed up with TS (15/1 DSL using my existing Bell line), got my first invoice, agreed with all the terms etc. I then set up my appointment with techs (2 of them are required: 1 Bell for the terminal and 1 contractor for the inside POTS splitter etc.). Nevermind the fact that I have consistently tried to tell TS that I already had all the inside stuff setup since I had phone + DSL with Bell so I had that setup anyway. I was told tentative Oct. 3 for installation. I thought that was a shame but could deal with 1 week of hotspotting on my iphone when needed.

On Oct. 2, I got a call letting me know installation would be confirmed for the 4th instead of the 3rd. I was upset but whatever 1 day extra is fine. I just had to be available between 12 and 9 (12 to 5 for Bell, 5 to 9 for the other contractor).

The real problems started when the guy from Bell came in and had an order for a dry loop. Something I never ordered from TS nor had I been billed for. My guess, somebody screwed up the order on the Bell portal. Anyway long story short the guy initially thought it might be required anyway. He spent about 2 hours looking for the entry point of the line (we're all underground here) and could not find it. Meanwhile I was trying to reach TS tech support (on my cell of course because the Bell tech had the home line busy to try and locate its entry point). For about 1 hour... I tried French, English, etc. I just couldn't reach anyone to try and tell them I did not need what the guy was here for. The Bell guy was just trying to do what he was asked to do. I don't really blame him even though he should know that a dry loop makes no sense when you have a home line...

Second piece of advice to TS: when you call to confirm the date of installation etc. take 2 minutes to recap the order. Anybody would have mentioned dry loop there and then I would have raised a flag. Your customers are mostly, well... tech-savvy people. So bottom line is, treat them as such. You will save time and money. 1 hour to reach your tech support is just plain retarded. That is so much like PC "hotlines" from the 90's it reeks of amateurship (if there is such a word).

When I finally reached the TS tech support, I explained to them what the problem was. I was put on hold for a total of 40 minutes I think throughout the call while the guy was checking stuff (I don't know how long it takes to look up an order...). Then he informed me that the order had been wrongly input and needed to be re-created, at which point I had to have another 2 techs come over at a future date. That future date had to be at least 5 days later because by contract TS has to give Bell 5 days to schedule the work. I also would have to look for myself that I don't get billed for a dry loop installation that never happened. Another 12 to 9 day of waiting for techs, hoping that this time things would be actually done as per my order.

I ended up talking to a supervisor because after 1 hour on the phone with TS, I had had it. I stayed polite but I just can't understand why things have to be so complicated. I am certain that Bell does not try to make TS' life easier, but holy crap I wasted so much of my and TS' time today, that's gotta cost everybody money... Anyway, TS has done the grand gesture of giving me a 2 week credit on my next bill, a whopping $20 or so for my troubles. I asked if they couldn't simply waive the activation fee ($50) and I was told no. Ahem...

And what do you know? 1 hour later the second tech shows up, not knowing that he was not needed because no work was performed anyway. So there you go, more work billed for nothing for TS.

Third piece of advice to TS: If I call Bell to sign up, I will get somebody much sooner than 5 days. Therefore you cannot compete with Bell on that, you depend on them. Try to focus on the reasons why people hate Bell so much (it's easy...) and do better than them on those things you can control.

In the end I am waiting to see if I can get this thing working for TS next week. By then it will be 2 weeks without Internet. I don't think it has to be that complicated. I am giving TS a chance for now, but if my service is flaky or if I have any issues with billing etc. I'll just cancel right out and switch to somebody else (at that point even Bell does not look so bad, seriously). My hope right now is that once things are hooked, they work and nobody touches anything.

So TS I am still rooting for you but boy are you trying my patience! If I wanted that kind of crap I would have signed up with Bell or Videotron all over again.

Cheers,

Greg

P.S: $20 of credit is more insulting than anything. I wasted a whole day and have to reschedule a whole bunch of stuff because I will have no Internet for another week. I don't know how TS thinks that kind of "compensation" is worth anything. Like my wife was saying behind me, how about we don't get the $20 credit and instead just have somebody come sooner?

Good Morning Greg,

Sounds like we dropped the ball on this one. I'm very sorry for what happened and want to ensure everything goes smoothly from here. We definitely appreciate you giving us a second chance.

I'd like to review your account and follow it from here. Could you please PM me TSI Jonathan your account information?

Cheers,

TSI Jonathan
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Online Experience Manager
Authorized TSI employee - Teksavvy Solutions Inc.