I despise Bell Canada
Hate has been done...
---
Monday, June 27, 2005
To whom it may concern at the Bell Canada Executive Office of Customer Relations:
My name is Victor Rodriguez and I am writing to you out of absolute frustration. A quick Internet search shows me that I’m not alone in this feeling towards Bell Canada.
As a recent graduate of the Engineering Co-Op program at the University of Waterloo, I have had to move around numerous times over the past five years. As such, I’ve had to set up a number of new phone lines in the various homes where I’ve lived as a student. These experiences have rarely gone as expected, with at the very least minor troubles. On four memorable occasions, however, they tested my patience to its limits.
First, in May 2002, I called Bell to connect a line to my new room in a Mississauga family home. This was to be the home’s third line, but I was assured this would present no problem. A technician arrived as scheduled after I spent a week with no phone, and he spent about an hour behind the house before coming back and telling me that he would have to return the next day. He didn’t, and I had no dial tone. I called Bell, scheduled a new technician, and waited four more days. This pattern repeated itself three more times over the course of three weeks. Each time, the technician would simply leave and not return as promised, and the line continued to not function. One claimed the line worked at the demarcation box but he was unable to find a problem inside. Two couldn’t find a signal outside and insisted the line must not be connected yet. Two simply left without even telling me what they had found. In the end, after five technicians and with over a month of my four month co-op term finished, I chose to share the family’s phone line instead.
Now fast-forward to January 2004. I moved into a student rental home in Waterloo that had been empty for four months prior to our renting it. I called Bell to set up a new line, and this time it started working on the morning it was supposed to. I was impressed until I got the first bill. The bill had charges on it dating back two months. Of course, these charges weren’t mine, so I called Bell right away. After half an hour of explanations, they understood the problem and promised to credit my account. One month later, a new bill arrived, and it had been credited for the amount on the previous bill. However, the charges were still on the statement, and new charges had been added. These were harder to explain, as they occurred after the date when my line became active but were definitely not mine. I called Bell again and was told the old charges would be removed, but that the new charges must be mine. I insisted they were not and was told they would look into the problem and call me back. When this didn’t happen, I called again three days later. I was told the problem had been corrected and that a new bill was being issued. When the bill arrived, it had even more new charges that weren’t mine. I called Bell again and was again promised that they would investigate. Again, no one returned my call, but when I called back four days later, I was told that the problem had been found. A neighbor had connected his new phone line two months prior, but the line had somehow been connected to mine instead. He was making the calls. I was getting the bills. Of course, he didn’t complain. They credited my account and that problem was fixed. This took nearly two months.
In January 2005, I moved into a new rental townhouse in Waterloo and once again called Bell to set up a line. They gave me my new number, and everything went as expected until the morning when my line was to become active. At around 9am, the phone line rang, which I thought was odd because I hadn’t given anyone my number yet. I picked up to find only dead air with a clicking sound on the other end. I hung up, thinking that it must have been an activation signal and was happy to have a working line. Exactly ten minutes later, the phone line rang again with the same clicking sound on the other end. Exactly ten minutes later it happened again. And again. And again. I called Bell after the fourth call and told tech support what was happening. Their explanation was that often telemarketers use auto dialers to find potential customers and that there was nothing they could do about it directly other than selling me a blocking service or changing my phone number. Both would take two days. They also promised to try and contact whoever was calling me if I could get the number for them. I waited a few minutes for the next call, used *69 to find the number, and called tech support to let them know. They promised to investigate and save the results in my account for the next time I called. I also gave them my email address. Meanwhile, I searched online for this number but unfortunately came up with nothing. Calling it resulted it endless ringing. Over the next four days, I called tech support again and again, hoping they had found something, but they never did. Each time I had to explain the whole story from the beginning. I called the number that was calling me numerous times, at all hours of the day, trying to get in touch with someone there. In the meantime, I left my phone unplugged or it would ring every ten minutes. Finally, I looked up the legalities of this harassment, and discovered that auto dialers are illegal in Canada. I contacted the CRTC who promised to investigate, and that is what it finally took. The CRTC apparently contacted Bell, and I got an email from a central customer service center three days later. I was told that they were looking for the problem and that I could have the call blocking service for free until the problem was resolved. I activated the service and was able to use my phone. Another three days later they called. This time they told me the problem had been found. Apparently a Bell system was calling my number. The problem was fixed and so they were discontinuing the free call blocking service. The next morning, the phone started ringing again. I contacted customer service directly and they restarted the call blocking service, again telling me that they thought the problem had been fixed. I never heard back from them, and still had the free service when I moved out four months later.
Present day. On June 20, 2005, I moved into a rental home in Oakville. I contacted Bell about a new line and was told it would activate on Wednesday, June 22nd. On June 22nd, I was able to call my new number (905-845-5696) from an external phone and hear a ringing sound, but I had no dial tone in the home. Suspecting I had bad wiring in the home, I went to the demarcation box to find an absolute mess there. Knowing that Bell charges a fee if their technicians have to come into the home, I found my wires via a static test, connected my wires to the basement apartment’s line at the demarcation box, and was able to successfully use the phone. This proved that the inside connection was working. Over the course of three hours, I checked every pair of wires coming into the home. As there were six lines in the home at one point, this means a lot of wires. I was able to find only one dial tone, that belonging to the basement apartment which has been occupied for years and has a different number than the one I was given by Bell. Frustration mounting, I called tech support and scheduled a technician for Friday June 24th. I left my work number and email address with tech support. On Friday before leaving for work, I left the technician my work number and a clear description of the problem taped to the demarcation box. Apparently a technician did come while I was at work, but was unable to fix the problem. I received no calls while at work. Customer support told me this morning that he was unable to fix the problem because he could not get into the demarcation box. When I explained that it was on the side of the house next the driveway he undoubtedly parked in, and was not blocked by any trees, bushes, fences, locks, dogs or in fact anything else, she rescheduled a new technician for Thursday June 30th. I again have left my number at work and am waiting for Thursday with not much hope. After all, what can I expect to be different this time? In the meantime, I am dependent on the generosity of my basement neighbor allowing me to use his phone line, and my Sympatico box lies unopened on the kitchen table.
If Voice Over IP didn’t require a working phone jack, I would have switched to Cogeco Cable and VOIP this morning.
As a recently graduated professional in the technology sector living in the greater Toronto area, I expect better than the stories you have just read. In essence, at this moment I am paying for a service I cannot take advantage of, and am wasting my time trying to make it work. The frustrating tens of hours I have spent over the past five years on the phone with Bell tech support represent nothing but lost time to me, and lost money for your company. In addition, the opinion I have formed of Bell’s services and support system ensures that if a viable alternative to the Bell phone system ever exists, I will be among the first to switch.
It is my sincere hope that this letter finds someone who can make a difference. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Victor Rodriguez
EMAIL: (removed)
TEL (non-working home number): (removed)
TEL (work): (removed)
FAX (work): (removed)
This letter has been published in a public forum on the Internet.
---
Monday, June 27, 2005
To whom it may concern at the Bell Canada Executive Office of Customer Relations:
My name is Victor Rodriguez and I am writing to you out of absolute frustration. A quick Internet search shows me that I’m not alone in this feeling towards Bell Canada.
As a recent graduate of the Engineering Co-Op program at the University of Waterloo, I have had to move around numerous times over the past five years. As such, I’ve had to set up a number of new phone lines in the various homes where I’ve lived as a student. These experiences have rarely gone as expected, with at the very least minor troubles. On four memorable occasions, however, they tested my patience to its limits.
First, in May 2002, I called Bell to connect a line to my new room in a Mississauga family home. This was to be the home’s third line, but I was assured this would present no problem. A technician arrived as scheduled after I spent a week with no phone, and he spent about an hour behind the house before coming back and telling me that he would have to return the next day. He didn’t, and I had no dial tone. I called Bell, scheduled a new technician, and waited four more days. This pattern repeated itself three more times over the course of three weeks. Each time, the technician would simply leave and not return as promised, and the line continued to not function. One claimed the line worked at the demarcation box but he was unable to find a problem inside. Two couldn’t find a signal outside and insisted the line must not be connected yet. Two simply left without even telling me what they had found. In the end, after five technicians and with over a month of my four month co-op term finished, I chose to share the family’s phone line instead.
Now fast-forward to January 2004. I moved into a student rental home in Waterloo that had been empty for four months prior to our renting it. I called Bell to set up a new line, and this time it started working on the morning it was supposed to. I was impressed until I got the first bill. The bill had charges on it dating back two months. Of course, these charges weren’t mine, so I called Bell right away. After half an hour of explanations, they understood the problem and promised to credit my account. One month later, a new bill arrived, and it had been credited for the amount on the previous bill. However, the charges were still on the statement, and new charges had been added. These were harder to explain, as they occurred after the date when my line became active but were definitely not mine. I called Bell again and was told the old charges would be removed, but that the new charges must be mine. I insisted they were not and was told they would look into the problem and call me back. When this didn’t happen, I called again three days later. I was told the problem had been corrected and that a new bill was being issued. When the bill arrived, it had even more new charges that weren’t mine. I called Bell again and was again promised that they would investigate. Again, no one returned my call, but when I called back four days later, I was told that the problem had been found. A neighbor had connected his new phone line two months prior, but the line had somehow been connected to mine instead. He was making the calls. I was getting the bills. Of course, he didn’t complain. They credited my account and that problem was fixed. This took nearly two months.
In January 2005, I moved into a new rental townhouse in Waterloo and once again called Bell to set up a line. They gave me my new number, and everything went as expected until the morning when my line was to become active. At around 9am, the phone line rang, which I thought was odd because I hadn’t given anyone my number yet. I picked up to find only dead air with a clicking sound on the other end. I hung up, thinking that it must have been an activation signal and was happy to have a working line. Exactly ten minutes later, the phone line rang again with the same clicking sound on the other end. Exactly ten minutes later it happened again. And again. And again. I called Bell after the fourth call and told tech support what was happening. Their explanation was that often telemarketers use auto dialers to find potential customers and that there was nothing they could do about it directly other than selling me a blocking service or changing my phone number. Both would take two days. They also promised to try and contact whoever was calling me if I could get the number for them. I waited a few minutes for the next call, used *69 to find the number, and called tech support to let them know. They promised to investigate and save the results in my account for the next time I called. I also gave them my email address. Meanwhile, I searched online for this number but unfortunately came up with nothing. Calling it resulted it endless ringing. Over the next four days, I called tech support again and again, hoping they had found something, but they never did. Each time I had to explain the whole story from the beginning. I called the number that was calling me numerous times, at all hours of the day, trying to get in touch with someone there. In the meantime, I left my phone unplugged or it would ring every ten minutes. Finally, I looked up the legalities of this harassment, and discovered that auto dialers are illegal in Canada. I contacted the CRTC who promised to investigate, and that is what it finally took. The CRTC apparently contacted Bell, and I got an email from a central customer service center three days later. I was told that they were looking for the problem and that I could have the call blocking service for free until the problem was resolved. I activated the service and was able to use my phone. Another three days later they called. This time they told me the problem had been found. Apparently a Bell system was calling my number. The problem was fixed and so they were discontinuing the free call blocking service. The next morning, the phone started ringing again. I contacted customer service directly and they restarted the call blocking service, again telling me that they thought the problem had been fixed. I never heard back from them, and still had the free service when I moved out four months later.
Present day. On June 20, 2005, I moved into a rental home in Oakville. I contacted Bell about a new line and was told it would activate on Wednesday, June 22nd. On June 22nd, I was able to call my new number (905-845-5696) from an external phone and hear a ringing sound, but I had no dial tone in the home. Suspecting I had bad wiring in the home, I went to the demarcation box to find an absolute mess there. Knowing that Bell charges a fee if their technicians have to come into the home, I found my wires via a static test, connected my wires to the basement apartment’s line at the demarcation box, and was able to successfully use the phone. This proved that the inside connection was working. Over the course of three hours, I checked every pair of wires coming into the home. As there were six lines in the home at one point, this means a lot of wires. I was able to find only one dial tone, that belonging to the basement apartment which has been occupied for years and has a different number than the one I was given by Bell. Frustration mounting, I called tech support and scheduled a technician for Friday June 24th. I left my work number and email address with tech support. On Friday before leaving for work, I left the technician my work number and a clear description of the problem taped to the demarcation box. Apparently a technician did come while I was at work, but was unable to fix the problem. I received no calls while at work. Customer support told me this morning that he was unable to fix the problem because he could not get into the demarcation box. When I explained that it was on the side of the house next the driveway he undoubtedly parked in, and was not blocked by any trees, bushes, fences, locks, dogs or in fact anything else, she rescheduled a new technician for Thursday June 30th. I again have left my number at work and am waiting for Thursday with not much hope. After all, what can I expect to be different this time? In the meantime, I am dependent on the generosity of my basement neighbor allowing me to use his phone line, and my Sympatico box lies unopened on the kitchen table.
If Voice Over IP didn’t require a working phone jack, I would have switched to Cogeco Cable and VOIP this morning.
As a recently graduated professional in the technology sector living in the greater Toronto area, I expect better than the stories you have just read. In essence, at this moment I am paying for a service I cannot take advantage of, and am wasting my time trying to make it work. The frustrating tens of hours I have spent over the past five years on the phone with Bell tech support represent nothing but lost time to me, and lost money for your company. In addition, the opinion I have formed of Bell’s services and support system ensures that if a viable alternative to the Bell phone system ever exists, I will be among the first to switch.
It is my sincere hope that this letter finds someone who can make a difference. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Victor Rodriguez
EMAIL: (removed)
TEL (non-working home number): (removed)
TEL (work): (removed)
FAX (work): (removed)
This letter has been published in a public forum on the Internet.
4 Comments:
wow. Makes me wonder why you haven't switched to a cell phone yet.
Think you can write something just as seething for, say, Rogers cable? I hear you can score up to a year of free services from them. :)
By
Anonymous, on 4:10 PM, June 27, 2005
Yay! My phone line works! I got it working myself, and am now considering whether or not to call Bell to save them the trouble of sending their technician.
Oh, and cell phones don't lend themselves well to two-hour-per-night conversations :)
Rogers you say? Hmmm. I'll see when I get my next place. I hear Cogeco Cable Internet is great in Oakville.
By
Victor, on 11:01 AM, June 28, 2005
Hey...it's called a monopoly that has no incentive to improve its services.
Seriously, that's a real bummer. It reminds me of the Rain God in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Call us!
RJ
By
Anonymous, on 4:38 PM, June 28, 2005
I will RJ. Have you sold the car yet? Are you two willing to drive/GO over for dinner sometime?
Danielle, I just read your letter. You should have sent it...you may have actually scored that free month you wanted. This place is just a two month rental. When I get something more permanent, I want to have a big potluck, and this time I'll be *sure* to invite you :)
By
Victor, on 11:45 AM, June 29, 2005
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