Why is everything such a struggle with Cell phone carriers.

[Sally888]

So a few months back I upgraded my cell phone with Virgin, decided to go on a Supertab. Week later online I noticed im on the three year. So I contact them, they say no probs its fixed....

Sure it is.

Until I get the $400 plus tax effing "early cancellation" fee on my bill.




This is about the 50th thing they've done to me. I'm ready to freak.... out again on them. When I first got them they were great, in the past year every step of the way they are screwing me.

[Patty Smyth]

Same here, Bell, switched to satellite 2 years ago then the land line and internet thinking all in one would be great. I have not received more than 4 statements in thsoe 2 years that did not have an error on it.

[pac182]

It's because Bell bought Virgin. I had no problems with Virgin before Bell and they bought them and suddenly I could no longer login into my account and my phone number was not found

[FallenPixels]

I too switched from Virgin because their service level last year was ridiculous, as soon as Bell bought them, it just went downhill and got worse

[vibrantflame]

I hear you!! I swear it is because Bell took over. We've been Virgin customers for 3 years, never had any issues at all, loved them in fact. As *soon* as Bell took over, we started having issues. At first, it was just "little" things, like cutting the due date down from a month after bill received to two weeks. Then it's just gotten worse, two months ago they screwed up our bill so badly that they overcharged us by over $400!!! We are cancelling as soon as our contract is up.

[Sherbear609]

Because there is zero competition up here... You have three main companys..
Bell, Rogers, Telus...
Rogers owns Fido
Bell owns Virgin
Telus well nothing that I know of yes

So Basically the monopoly is right there... fight amongst those three to see which will give you the best... it sucks... but until something like At&t gets up here ... well we are stuck ... I wish Sprint was up here some of there cell plans are amazing!!

[GoJays]

it seems that everything bell touches turns to sh*t

[Candini]

Fido screwed me over hardcore.
I purchased a BB October of last year; it broke 3 months later. They sent me a new phone. It was broken. They sent me another one. THAT was broken. I flipped, asked if this was some kind of joke. They refused to credit me anything. Said I could pay to cancel my phone and pay again to get an iPhone LOL. Or a $50 gc...

I got in contact with the president of Fido and could only fight to get my cancellation fee in half; they sent me a new BB and I sold it for $40

After that I havent had a cellphone and refuse to get one. I spent probably a month calling them, writing them all on my mat leave off with my daughter. I was SO angry nobody could help me. Huge waste of time and money

[cheapcheap]

Because there is zero competition up here... You have three main companys..
Bell, Rogers, Telus...
Rogers owns Fido
Bell owns Virgin
Telus well nothing that I know of yes

So Basically the monopoly is right there... fight amongst those three to see which will give you the best... it sucks... but until something like At&t gets up here ... well we are stuck ... I wish Sprint was up here some of there cell plans are amazing!!

telus owns kudoo

[annedougherty]

I haven't had problems with Virgin *yet* but I got screwed over by Rogers so bad once that the sight of their bill in the mail made me feel faint because I knew I'd have to lose 4 hours of my life on the phone...starting over explaining the problem to someone from the beginning and they wouldn't even get what I was saying, and of course no one gives a sh*t. It wouldn't be resolved, and I'd be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Basically texts between the two phones on the plan were free (this was about 5 years ago) so we texted more than we talked obviously...alot. Every time I would get the bill we were charged for every text. The worst part is they could not get what I was saying. The outgoing texts on my line matched the incoming number of texts on the other line and vice versa...it's not like it wasn't evident the texts were between phones. The told me it wasn't included in my plan...it was. They told me "we can't help it if you don't know who your husband is texting." Each time after managing to get it through their heads what was going on they would tell me it was fixed...

Till the next month when I would get the bill...and have to start all over again. ULTIMATELY after the 5th month they told me it COULDN'T BE FIXED???!!!!!!!! And so I said..."so you are telling me I have to lose my mind on the phone with you every month to have the charges reversed?" They said yes, that's what I would have to do.

I told them to charge my account the 600$ cancellation fee for both phones and a few choice words. It was worth every penny.

[Natalka]

Sometimes it's just good luck after talking to a lot of people, doing research, and making choices...
My son is on 7-Eleven Speakout - no problems ever either with service or billing for over three years. Pay as you go phones, they always have specials and deals on minutes and phones - and have a cheap texting plan. No monthly access fee, just 911 charge. His friends, stuck in crazy contracts and some with awful service, are quite jealous of him.

Hope you get things resolved to your satisfaction!

[dch]

If customer service won't reverse the charges your best bet - Customer Relations.

I'm not sure about the fine print for them but for Rogers there is a line that NO ONE ever notices that says basically if you DON'T agree with or accept the term you can have it dropped/reversed back to what it was. I used to work for Rogers and unfortunately this happens a LOT.