One company that I have come to loathe is Bell Canada. Based
on my experience they are the epitome of lousy customer service and poor value
for the services they provide.
At one time my business
with Bell consisted of my home and cellular phones along with their satellite
television. All that remains is my cellular
phone and based on my most recent experience, that too may be short lived when
my contract is up for renewal.
On November 6th
I visited the new Bell store on Hurontario Street in Collingwood. That location is in fact not a “Bell” store,
but a franchise and in my opinion it should be clearly indicated as such. Real estate offices are essentially the same. My office is in effect not Royal LePAGE per
say, but an independently owned and operated Brokerage and by law, it must be
identified as such but I digress.
The purpose of my
visit was (a) to see if my current cellular plan was the best one based on my
usage and (b) I wanted to purchase a roaming package for a trip I was making to
the U.S. In all fairness the salesperson
in the store was helpful. She verified
that there was a more cost effective cellular plan for me to be on but I would
have to contact Bell themselves to make the switch. Has Bell ever called to offer me a better
plan based on my cellular phone and data usage?
No. Why not? My bank calls periodically to advise me of a
better package for my banking needs and good for them. That’s how you build a stronger relationship
with your valued clients.
After returning to
my office I called Bell direct, verified that the plan recommended to me was in
fact better, made the switch and also purchased a roaming package at a cost of
$60 to take effect the following day, November 7th. Bell’s roaming packages are for 30 days in
duration only. Why? How many people take a holiday or are
otherwise away for 30 days. Why are they
not available say on a per day basis? Because
they essentially have you under contract, a monopoly so-to-speak and can get
away with it that’s why.
Six days later while
in Santa Barbara, California I received a text message from Bell advising that
me I was exceeding my data plan suggesting I call them for a roaming package, which
I had already bought. I called them only
to find that my roaming package had inadvertently been applied to my son’s cellular
phone (he is on my bill). After some 25
minutes on the phone I got the mess sorted out or so I thought. The following day I had no network access for
data so no emails either in or out.
Despite two more calls to Bell I remained unable to send or receive
emails for the remaining 5 days of my travel as they had effectively suspended
my data access.
Upon returning to
Canada thus ending my roaming, my network access started again but only after I
powered my phone off and on. Two days
later (yesterday) my emails ceased coming yet again and once again I found had
no network access. Yet another call was
necessary to Bell today to have the problem resolved. All tolled I’ve made 6 calls to Bell in the
past week which consumed well over an hour of my time. In the end, my $60 roaming plan was of no use
to me as (a) I did not have one for the first six days of my travel the result
of a Bell employee setting it up on the wrong phone and (b) once the roaming
package was on my phone I had no network access.
One more call will
now be required upon receiving my next bill in order to get a credit for all
the data roaming charges that I racked up while away. I will also be requesting a refund for the $60
roaming package I paid for yet effectively never had use of.
Life’s best lessons are
best learned by experience. Will I ever
buy another roaming package? No! While out of the country my best advice to
you is to turn off the roaming feature on your phone. Free Wi Fi is quickly becoming available
everywhere. It was available free at the
real estate conference I attended, free at my hotel, free in restaurants,
coffee shops such as Starbucks etc. Using
the Wi Fi feature on my phone or iPad I will simply send and receive email messages
that way thus avoiding the cost and aggravation that I have endured over the
past week dealing with Bell. It’s not hard
to see why the CTRC is clamping down on the mobile phone carriers. They have had it too good for too long and
Canadian consumers deserve better service and better value.
If like me you have had a similar frustrating experience I would like to hear from you.
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