My account of terrible customer service

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Why I Hate Bell Mobility

I suppose I should have started logging this sooner. This is the abbreviated version of my nightmare with Bell Mobility. I just sent them a long letter summarized here. I'll keep this updated if anything else happens...

Dear Bell Customer Service:

I have been a customer for over 2 years now. I just renewed my contract (2 years) and got a new LG Chocolate. I regret my choice. Ever since I started talking to you about renewing I have had nothing but problems and TERRIBLE service. Beyond terrible actually. So bad I can't put it into words. You should be ASHAMED. Here is a summary of my NIGHTMARE:

1) First - you offer me this shitty little email form with this ultra small form field for typing this message. You don't make it easy for me to do this. Thanks Bell!

2) Your website says *611 customer service is open today (Sat) starting at 9 ET. Well it is 9 ET and I called and your ANNOYING Emily system says you're closed.

3) EMILY = HELL.

4) Bell called me to renew. They explained plans over the phone. The info I got didn't match what was on your site. I asked the rep to email me or mail me info. She said you don't do that. So you pressured me into agreeing to something over the phone without letting me see anything in writing.

5) When I got to the store to pick up my new phone, I learned the price was different that what I understood when you called me. Too bad for me I guess! I decided to shop the competition. Really nice that you give new customers the lower price, but shitty old customers like me get to pay more money!

6) I called Bell back explaining a better deal I got from Rogers. The rep said too bad! I had a verbal agreement over the phone and if I broke it I would be charged $400. I didn't even know I had agreed to anything! I felt threatened. When I explained the Rogers deal the rep said I should have got it from Rogers in writing. But when I asked Bell to do the same the rep said, sorry, we don't do that!

7) You only care about getting new customers not keeping existing customers. I feel CHEATED and USED.

8) I reluctantly ordered one of your crappy phones from your crappy rep (LG Chocolate). They sent me a black one when I ordered a white one.

9) You wouldn't send me the new phone to my office unless I changed my billing address. So I changed it and then I had to change it back. This is ECOMMERCE. People should be allowed to have different billing and shipping addresses.

10) I returned the black phone. The rep said they would send me the white one right away. I waited a week. No phone. I called back. The rep said I they couldn’t ship the white phone until they got the black phone. NOT what the other rep told me. Every time I call it is a different story. Everyone LIES.

11) I finally get the white phone. I have to call back to change my billing address. How fun!

12) I read the enclosed letter and called the number to activate my phone. I can hardly understand the rep. I ask her how I can transfer all my contacts. She says it happens automatically when I activate. I've never done this before - how should I know? She puts me on hold. She comes back. She tells me that my old phone has been deactivated.

13) My new phone hasn't been charged yet so I can't do a test call. So now I have NO phone. Neither the letter nor the rep told me the phone had to be charged first. How would I know that? I get attitude from the rep. I ask to speak to some one else. I get put on hold. Then I get DISCONNECTED!

14) I charge the phone and figure out how to activate myself. Hmmm. I don't see my contacts. I call back AGAIN. This rep tells me I have to do it manually or go to a store and PAY $15 to get it done. Completely different than what the other rep said. I explain. Too bad! There is nothing Bell can do!

15) I asked for voicemail on my new phone. Your support section of the site doesn’t help me set it up and I have had no voicemail for a week. I try to call today. Your site says *611 is open. I call. It isn't. Too bad for me AGAIN!

Oh and another thing. The rep at the Bell store said I shouldn't bother shopping around because I would have to change my phone number if I picked some one else. LIE. Do you think I am stupid? I know about Local Number Portability. Sneaky tactics like that don't do much for trust.

I would be entirely satisfied if I could just cancel my contract with no charge. It is the least you could do after putting me through this hell. But I'm sure you won't do that because you'll wave your shitty legalities in my face. After all, it is better for you to be "right" than provide good customer service.

I want to know why I should ever consider Bell again. I am locked in to a shitty 2 year contract. I want to know why your service is so terrible and why I get a different story every time I phone. I want to know why I have been treated like CRAP and I want to know what Bell is going to do for ME as a customer.


I also emailed this summary to almost everyone I know. I cc'd 2 Bell corporate email addresses on the email. I have little faith that they will do anything to appease me.

14 comments:

Rude "noNonsense" JnSn said...

Bell, Smellus, Fido, Rogers ... they are all bad! It is the ultimate battle of choosing the best of the worst. I have heard such horror stories about all of the aforementioneded providers ... so flip a coin and run with it unfortunately.

As for contracts ... I would suggest just doing the year to year so worse case scenario you can always get out of it without a complete ass gouging ...

At least you can keep your # whiel doing the ol switch and test network trial until you find a provider that you can at least live with.

You should see the phone plans that Americans can get nowadays. It insane ... unlimited everything for $30 a month. No hassels ... :\

Unknown said...

I HATE BELL

I thought it would have been a smart idea 4 months ago to switch all of our essential services (home phone, tv, internt, cell phones) to one provider, that provider would be Bell Canada. The cost savings was nice about 200$ a month. 4 months later, that 200$ savings does not exist because of the time and energy spent on the phone with idiots at bell, plus the "SURPRISE" charges on my mobility. 169.99!!! for mobile web are you fucking kidding me, Bell honestly charges you an arm and a leg for data. So 169.99 out of pocket, where has the savings gone too?? Instead i end up spending more than i used to. I wish that in my lifetime i would see this company, "Bell Canada Enterprises" fall apart and is officially removed/erradicated as a telco; because no one that pays monthly to a monopoly (in my area) giant should be treated like shit, cause we as hard working CANADIANS should have CANADIAN CALL CENTRES so that we CANADIANS can speak to someone that fucking knows what they are doing, or at least know what you are going through. And best of all, i offered a deal to them, i would sign my fucking life away to them for another contract if they waive the fees, still a big "NO!" from some stupid supervisor. And many of you will ask why were you charged 169.99. Well i used mobile web. THAT WAS PROMISED TO ME BY A BELL REP THAT IT WOULD BE UNLIMITED UNDER MY PLAN! so at 8$ a MB, i used 25 MB for a gross amt of 169.99. When at home for 60GB i pay 44.95 (which is still a rip off). I regret my decision and i hope anyone with their right mind does not switch to bell, because when you do i hope your have pills handy cause you will need them.

If you have any questions about my experience email me at bellhtr@gmail.com

Marie said...

Saw your blog on google when i was searching about other people who also hate bell. I've been having problems ever since I got my phone a few months ago. BTW: never buy LG phones either, they suck. I'm having problems with my LG Shine. Horrible Service.. i just want my phone to be fixed and they are lazy asses. They dont care about you, and they probably don't care about our complaints either. So theres not much we can do..unless we make sure no body uses bell at all and make them bankrupt.

wyche1 said...

I too have a hate for Bell mind you Rogers wasn't a picnic in 2003-2006 either.

My current cursing point is where did my 1000 Long distance minutes go, it was a feature, it's been removed!

Yep I'll be hell bent for leather come Monday morning.. as they aren't available when real stuff happens! I'm stuck in the dare plan till aug 2010 3 cells, 2 people now, have to pay even though I want out.. they don't make that cost effective, so I use the 3rd phone as an alarm account, Oh family share don't do it Never!

wyche1 said...

had everything but internet with Bell
I now only have home phone and cell and I'm thinking hard about dropping the cells.. Except I could open my own store with all my phones, as it's always that upgrade or cellarama that's a good deal lets get another.

ilitigateforyou2 said...

I have been a Bell customer for at least 30 years. Grest service in the olden days. I have been on the net with them since 1994.
HELP I want out. For the last 2 years, but especially last year I've had to call them EVERY MONTH because of billing "mistakes". Now do we really believe it's a mistakes ???????? And every time I call, it takes anywhere between 1 1/2 hour to 3 hours. I'm looking elsewhwew....but I guess everywhere is the same, still can't take Bell anymore.

Unknown said...

Hey I figured a way to get $10 phone,text and data on a phone. I mean you can get it other ways but that's the real base price!
check out phaistoscommunications.com

arabianknight4ever said...

I don't understand why after all the shitty experience you people go through with "Bhell" and how you're treated , you still stay with the company and not go anywhere else. Then complaint about their quality of service. Bell will not fix anything because they like the way it works and know that you people are cowards and way too passive to actually do anything.

If this was across the world, people would have went out and protested this or done something serious ...not whine and complaint like little girls without doing anything about it.

annonymous said...

Hi All,


You will see on Facebook, there is the 1st Annual I Hate Bell Day. The purpose of this event is to get all customers of beel who are disatisfied with there service to call and file a complaint about Bell's poor customer service on the 17th of August. Hopefully we can get hundreds of people to call in and flood there lines, so that maybe Bell wakes up and realize that they need to change the way that they treat others.

Please check it out, and call Bell to complain on the 17th of August 2011

Colleen Tran said...

Funny thing is that I called in to complain without knowing it was the international day to call Bell and complain!
I received a phonebill of 85.15, I paid the amount in full, but then the next phonebill that came was charged an extra 22 dollars. It said that it was unpaid balance from last time !!! So of course I'm not willing to pay that 22 dollars for no reason, I called in but they said I needed to show proof- but I threw away my last phonebill... Its so not fair! 85.15 was the only phonebill I had that was under 100 dollars for over a year now.. I had an lg phone that got damaged.. Thing is I had to pay min for it for 3 years!!!!! Until the stupid contract is done.. So pretty much an extra 25 dollars a month for a phone that can't be used at all.. And a blackberry was always 80 dollars to pay for ! So the two of them together would always be over 100 dollars... And surprisingly I'm always getting charged over the top.. I've received bills that were 250...350! I hate bell so much.. But to cancel both my phone would have added up to 1,000..... Even though the first one is useless- I leave it on my desk just laying there... Cancellations fees are way to high... And to top it all off. I'm a student working part time at a fast food store. Don't even have enough for gas and university.. I hate BELL-- maybe one of these days I'll just cancel my blackberry, buy a phone just for texting and calling so that I only have to pay 30 dollars a month! Who needs a stupid blackberry ... Cost wayy to much!! Don't need internet on my phone no more. PLEASE don't be stupid like me- research what the bext company's for phone are first.

Anonymous said...

Bell is not nice with staff! they treat them like animals and have the perfect ingredients to create BURNOUT!

WORSE COMPANY I HAVE EVER HEARD ABOUT THRU CLOSE FRIENDS OF MINE AND ROGERS IS CLOSE TO BEING ON THAT TRACK TOO!

Ninaaaa said...

I HATE BELL TOO. They lied and fooled me!!!

In 2010 September wanted to get smart phone from Bell and had to sign a contract of 3 years but since I got a smart phone the contract had a clause that I had to get internet ($25/month) for the duration of the contract (3yrs) and if I were to cancel the internet it would cost me $200. After seeing this I told the representative in the bell store that I no longer wanted to sign a contract or get a phone from them, but the representative insisted that it doesn't matter what the contract says if and that If for some reason I do not want the internet I could just call them or got to a bell store to have the internet option cancelled free of charge.

So after having the internet for about year and half I decided I didn't need it anymore since I rarely ever use it so I called bell to have it cancelled and they said if I were to cancel it then I will have to pay $200 even when I explained to them that this is not what the bell Representative in the bell store told me. I went to the store and the representative removed the internet option for free. 2 months later I had phone bill for data roaming $57 for 1.5MB. When I called Bell for this they charged me $200 so I wont have no more roaming on cell and refused to remove that $57 charge. Moral of the story STAY AWAY FROM BELL and NEVER trust their representative. IF you must be with bell then hire lawyer to check the contract before you sign it.

Mike Blouin said...

http://bellcanadadoesnotcare.blogspot.ca/

Unknown said...

Bell Canada is the worst of the bunch.

I have an audio recording of the Bell representative telling me one thing, and then they did the apposite..

Their representative refuse to listen to it and say no we never said that.

I hate bell soo much. I am IT manager of 4 different companies. I've transferred one over from Bell canada to rogers (atleast their customer service reps are not rude) and will do so for the other 3 as soon as their contracts expire