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'F'n bell won't reconnect downed lineThis past Thursday morning (Jan 2nd) what I guess was a truck, snagged the wire coming into my house from across the road. No internet and no phone. I promptly called Teksavvy, who contacted Bell and arranged for a reconnection. The choice was Friday during the day or Saturday 12 to 4. I took the Saturday one so I could be there to verify every thing was in working order.
When I got home, using my cell I checked the messages for the home phone. There was an automated message from Bell. It said that their tech dept had been contacted about a problem with my line and asked me to participate in a survey about my experience. It left numbers to call back for the survey and for general enquiries.
At work the next day my co-worker told me he switched his home phone between Christmas and New Years from Cogeco to Bell after the ice storm because his phone went dead even though he had power and no lines were down in his area. He was connected the next day! The tech guy was pissed because he had been forced back in from his vacation because of clause in their contract that said Bell can do this in cases of emergency, weather in this case. But he wasn't repairing downed lines, he was doing new installations.
Saturday, no show. Call Teksavvy, who called Bell and where told by Bell that there was no repair ticket for my downed line. But they could send someone on Tues. or Wed. Took Tues. and Teksavvy gave the ticket number.
So I called Bell back to do the survey and left an appropriate response. Then called the other number and got connected to the tech dept. Gave them the home phone and repair ticket number and was told that everything was set up to do the repair on Wed. Told them that wasn't good enough and after a long discussion they agreed to do the repair Mon. evening between 5 and 9. Great, down for 4.5 days but better than 7.5.
Last night (Monday) I checked Bell's automated repair ticket update to find that yes someone is scheduled to fix the phone line between 5 and 9. A little later I heard something in the driveway where the phone line comes in. Took a quick peek outside and saw a Bell van parked across the road from my driveway. Good ran inside, got my coat and keys and move my truck so that the tech guy can park in the drive while he does the job. I back in the driveway so as soon as the truck was started the headlights are shining in his face. He turns from his tablet he working on and sees me leave to park up the street. Glances up from his tablet to see me come back and I go back in side. Half a hour went by and I didn't hear anything so I checked back outside, van's now gone and the line is still not connected.
I waited until 8 before I called the automated update line again only to find out that the tech ran into a difficulty and couldn't do the job so I needed the call and reschedule. 25 minutes on hold to finally get someone only to be told that there wasn't any one scheduled to do the repair until Wednesday. ??? This person doesn't know how I could have gotten the automated messages I did because the ticket says Wednesday.
I asked to be connected to the supervisor/manager. More wait time. This time I got a different story. First part was that the supervisor/manager that set up the Monday appointment didn't enter the information right so a tech couldn't have been sent to my house. When I pointed out the automated message had changed after the tech had left, he changed his story with no explanation as to why he left but still blamed the other supervisor/manager.
So now I have another appointment for this morning (Tuesday) to have it repaired. Fingers crossed.
On another note, my Lady and I are finally off of contract with our cell phones and can now leave another part of Bell/Hell behind us while saving a lot of money in extra fees. Going to sign up tonight. No contract, only the service we need. What a concept. |
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hlo207 join:2012-11-16 North York, ON |
hlo207
Member
2014-Jan-7 9:56 am
Different experience.....
My neighbor old fashion copper wires was snapped during the ice storm by fallen branches. That break occurred on Dec 22 Sunday in the afternoon. He called and got an appointment for Wed Dec 25. He met another Bell truck working nearby and he was told they will not fix anything if access is obstructed by fallen branch. He cleared the area and Bell did repair his line by running a new one from couple hundred meters away on Dec 25.
For my fibre optic FTTH, the physical line stay up thru the ice storm. ONT backup battery died after 16 hrs. The line sagged lower because of the weight on the line but it was fine. Good thing I insisted the Bell tech to run the fiber away from the property line so those damn pine trees will not affect it even if they fall over. Another mid size tree in the backyard shielded the main fibre trunk line from a fallen branch from a huge tree as well. |
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No branches to be cleared, no ice on driveway where the ladder would go. |
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hlo207 join:2012-11-16 North York, ON |
hlo207
Member
2014-Jan-7 10:12 am
Might me backlog. My guess anyway. Was your area affected by the Ice Storm 2 weeks ago? |
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resa1983 Premium Member join:2008-03-10 North York, ON |
to odieandsimba
odieandsimba: I'm not sure if 611 would help or not, but CRTC rules state that if a physical phone line is down, it must be repaired within 24 hours. I know that rule was probably on hold due to the ice storm, but that was 2 weeks ago now, and shouldn't be a reason that a 24hr repair can't be done.
EDIT: I think its actually 48 hours, and they try for 24. Looking for that order now. |
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to odieandsimba
sure why wouldn't a tek want to climb at night to repair your line? Maybe it's easier to see when the big light in the sky is up??? just saying...... if it's the line outside why in the hell would you need to be home... to supervise the Tek? I mean you should not have to wait so long but for cripes sakes it was Christmas and there was an ice storm. Never new a tek who would climb at night, and don't think I ever will. |
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to odieandsimba
Heads up all,complete incompetence on the part of the company.Funny how they were doing a quality sample before the repairs were complete.....BIG ole RED FLAG |
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to mintaka905
said by mintaka905:sure why wouldn't a tek want to climb at night to repair your line? Maybe it's easier to see when the big light in the sky is up??? They have had a couple of times to do this work when the 'Big Light' was up, including yesterday (Tuesday) when it was very sunny. The reason given yesterday was that the tech couldn't find the demarc box that was on the side of the house in the middle of the empty driveway at the other end of the wire hanging off the side of my house. said by mintaka905: I mean you should not have to wait so long but for cripes sakes it was Christmas and there was an ice storm. In my first post I describe how my co-worker was able to get a new installation in 1 day between Christmas and New Year. The tech had to run a new wire to the house. Make the connection out in the street. As well as set up the new modem and PVR for him. 'The tech guy was pissed because he had been forced back in from his vacation because of clause in their contract that said Bell can do this in cases of emergency, weather in this case. But he wasn't repairing downed lines, he was doing new installations.' As Tigerpaw509 says "complete incompetence on the part of the company". |
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taraf join:2011-05-07 Ottawa, ON |
to resa1983
said by resa1983:odieandsimba: I'm not sure if 611 would help or not, but CRTC rules state that if a physical phone line is down, it must be repaired within 24 hours. I know that rule was probably on hold due to the ice storm, but that was 2 weeks ago now, and shouldn't be a reason that a 24hr repair can't be done. You're assuming it's a physical phone line, and you're also assuming that the 3rd party provider escalated the ticket to Bell correctly. He's never said whether he's on VOIP or an actual Bell landline. Since he says his services are with TekSavvy, it could be either, but given that TekSavvy's had a stop sell on physical phone lines for a couple of years now, it's significantly more likely we're dealing with VOIP, in which case the obligation you're talking about doesn't exist. I agree it's getting somewhat ridiculous at this point, but I wouldn't make an assumption about which side is making the mistakes without further information. |
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said by taraf:You're assuming it's a physical phone line, and you're also assuming that the 3rd party provider escalated the ticket to Bell correctly.
He's never said whether he's on VOIP or an actual Bell landline. Yes as I said in the first post it is a land line that was pulled down by a truck. It's the same land line I used when I had phone/internet with bell more than five years ago. Since then with Teksavvy and no it is not VoIP. Yesterdays appointment didn't work because the tech couldn't find the demarc box that was in the middle of house, in an empty driveway at the end of the wire that was dangling down the side of the house. Bell is the one that messed up here and now because i complained about it they are pushing the repair date to Sunday |
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odieandsimba |
8 days and counting |
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Find an executive and send an indignant email. Tell them that your wife/husband works for a local paper. That being said I'm appalled by all the reports I've heard about techs not showing up or just running off without telling. Not climbing "because it's dark" is the most pathetic excuse in the book. |
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Amen. I work mostly rural where it is actually dark at night, ive got everything I need, headlights and beacon light on the van to point and a flashlight in my hand. As long as I can see where the hydro line is (so I dont touch it accidentally) I will climb. It hasn't happened yet I couldn't see. Once I came close to not being able to bbecause of where the pole was in the ditch and the only way I could park the van but my customer had a rack of lights on top of his jeep and he came and lit up the other side for me. |
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Day number 9
Well it seams that the Teksavvy people got bell to relent and a tech is scheduled to come today between 8 - 12. Not holding my breath. |
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resa1983 Premium Member join:2008-03-10 North York, ON |
resa1983
Premium Member
2014-Jan-10 9:23 am
I'd make sure to file a CRTC/CCTS complaint about how Bell kept blowing off the repair. |
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Less than an hour and a half to go.
Can bell do it?
Can bell prove me wrong?
Can bell restore my faith in corporate kindness?
Enquiring minds need to know. |
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odieandsimba |
It's not the tech's I am pissed with, it's management. They set the tone for how things work at street level. |
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odieandsimba |
Took 9 days for bell to pull it off but it's fixed.
Big that's to the rep's at Teksavvy |
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