I HATE Bell

[bargain_hunter_lola]

When I lived in Ottawa I had Bell as the service provider for my Phone, Cell Phone, Internet. I received such HORRIBLE service from them that I switched to Rogers when I moved. After receiving tons of "we want you back" flyers from Bell (and the fact that there isn't another service provider where I now live) I decided to give Bell another chance when we moved this past summer.

BAD IDEA!!!

We have had nothing but problems with our PVR (maybe its called DVR?) for the last month. When we moved our living room around there wasn't enough satellite/cable wire so DH just bought more and used a coupling. Ever since then our PVR wont record! How frustrating. I've missed soooo many of my favourite shows! We've called over 5 times (spent hours going through ways to fix it) and it still wouldnt work. Finally tonight I told them I want someone to come look at it. They said they would charge me $75!!!! WHAT????? Apparently on their end things look fine, so its OUR FAULT because we chose to move the TV/Satellite. Again WHAT???? The woman told me that it must be because we have a coupling, the cord has to come directly from the satellite in order to work. OK, so why wouldn't they give me more than 2 feet of cable then? Doesn't everyone change their living rooms around once and awhile? Her answer is that it have would cost $75 for extra cable. Installation is only for where the TV is when it is installed, not for future spots. REALLY? COME ON! We moved it literally 10 feet away!!!! So, why didnt anyone tell me that then??? "I'm sure they did" was her response! Ah, no nice try! Then she actually had the nerve to say "then that was a problem you had with installation and you should have complained back then. Its too late now." I didn't have a problem until NOW!!! So, now my options are:
a) Pay $75 for a tech to give me more wire
b) Move the TV back to the original spot

I think everyone can guess what my choice is!

I cannot believe how awful Bell's customer service is. It took 5 phone calls and numerous employee's (that dont give a crap and treat you like you are stupid because you dont understand their high tech lingo) to tell me I'm SOL. Why didn't they tell me from the get go that I cannot move my TV/Satellite??? I wouldn't have missed a month of recordings!!!! Not to mention all the time spent calling them!!! And the worst of the whole situation is that I am locked into a 2 year contract with them! When its over I WILL NEVER DEAL WITH BELL EVER AGAIN!!!!

Sorry for my rant, I am just sooooo mad!

PLEASE, think twice before dealing with BELL. And if you do get Satellite from them, move your TV to the furthest spot it might ever be. That way you'll have enough wire and they wont try and charge you $75!!!

[NancyM]

$75 for more wire that's insane i'd be so pissed off when we moved they charged us a fee to disconnect us lol they were the only ones mind you we called and they did reverse it i don't see how wire should cost $75 i think they are just trying to rip you off

[Junerose]

Wow, Lola. That's incredibly frustrating and maddening. Sry you had to go through that. Go directly to management. Sometimes, you can get nowhere with the reps at the call centers. When Telus used to be BC Tel, I called to change the name on the bill from my sister's to mine. Nothing else needed to be changed. The service rep insisted on charging me a $90 service charge. I was livid as all they had to do was enter the name change and nothing else. I got ahold of one of their managers at the head office and ended up paying a $10 charge.
Good luck!

[freebie lady]

Count me in? I had a bad experience with Bell. Im thinking to swith to Roger but I hope this will be a good idea!

[gourmetsue]

Can you try The Source or somewhere like that for additional cable that won't cost you $75 and it will save you the headache of having to deal with Bell. We have Rogers and I can tell you they have similar crappy customer service, I don't think there is much to pick between any cable / communications company.

[~London mom~]

I would def. talk to the manager! They're being completely rude! I had issues with Bell before, and I told them I was willing to pay the fee for breaking a contract, because of their sh***y C.S and bad attitudes! (PS~ They ended up letting me out of my contract for free because I'd had so many issues with them in the past and I wasn't willing to pay for a service that kept crapping out on me!)

[bargain_hunter_lola]

I should add that I was finally transfered to a manager last night and she was just as bad if not worse than the other call reps.

UPDATE: my DH decided to get a different type of coupling when we were out shopping today. Guess what!!!! The PVR is working perfectly now!!!! Recording and everything. Something must have been wrong with the coupling, maybe it was broken or the wrong style but the new one is working perfectly fine. THANK GOODNESS he thought to try another coupling!!! I cant believe they actually told me that I needed to have 1 continuous wire or the PVR wouldn't work. They are just out to make money and dont give a damn about customer service.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. It's disheartning to hear that I'm not the only one who has had so many problems with bell. I wonder how they are still in business??????

[cabmonk]

Online I have seen sites where you can get a whole 1000ft box of coxial cable for under $100us. You could re-wire your whole house 10 times over for about what they want to charge you.

http://www.computercablestore.com/10...ed__PID63.aspx

[NancyM]

yeah glad to hear that it works now and that you are $75 richer

[putt]

roger's is just as bad or in my experience: worse!
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[YesI'mcheap]

I thought Telus was the worst.

[rgillis]

I'm also sick of Bell and Rogers !!!!!!...I switched from Rogers because They accused me of stealing a Digital Cable Box (which was never installed, it left with the contractor because we needed an HD Box)!!It was never checked back in, and in turn I was charged 300 dollars! No matter who I talked to, or how indignant i got, they wouldn't even consider Dropping the charges!!!!..that account went to a collection company who insist on haunting me everyday at dinner time.

And bell..

They sent someone to install my dish. it was Friday evening of a long weekend. A young guy showed up and immediately barged in, and proceeded to drag mud across my carpet. He looked out the backdoor and said "its not possible to set it up here too much obstruction".( a 30 second, no compass prognosis)

He pointed out a tree, and said "this tree is right in front of us". I agreed, as the tree most definitely was.....right in front of us

He got his boss to call and confirm , which i grudgingly did. The man on the phone assured me that there would be no cancellation fees and that no more charges will come to the account because "it wasn't my fault"

Well..3 months later I received a bill with about 800 dollars in fee's for an early disconnection, normal cable charges for 3 months, and rental fees!!!!

I called, they claimed to have no record of anyone ever coming to my house..or making that phone call!!..The Bell rep said "there's nothing I can do, we have no proof"..(yet they record our conversations for quality purposes?)

This is when I lost my cool!..after dishing out a well orchestrated string of passive "criticism" I demanded to speak with the manager who apologized profusely and said not to worry he would straighten it out. Which he did..for 2 months..however, this monthi got my bill and there's 400 dollars in cancellation fees and monthly cable tax!..

Sorry about that long rant..It's a subject I feel strongly about lol!

[xbbx]

I thought Telus was the worst.

same here,

Im with bell for mobility, no problems so far.... but we switched from Shaw to Telus for HDTV and Internet, and OMFG...every bloody morning I gotta reset the router for my computer and laptop in my room to connect to the internet.

the sad thing is my room is a room over where their wireless router is.

[redsky]

Yeah, I absolutely hate Bell too. My brother and I had a 1 year cell phone contract with them. That year was hell, our bills were fluctuating, their customer service was horrible, and the reception was terrible. I will never ever go back to Bell. I was so happy when my contract expired.

[bargain_hunter_lola]

I dont know how Telus is for home phone and cable etc since they dont have those services in my area. Both DH & I have our cells through Telus though and they have been great. Only $75 a month for both phones. We can call each other as much as we want and DH also has the Fav 5 thing (he can call home, his dad, brother, uncle, and my mom's house as much as he wants). It's been great for the past 2.5 years (our contract is up in less than 6 months).

Now Bell on the other hand. *shakes head*. I originally signed a contract with Bell Mobility for 2 years. Right after the one year mark was up my phone died They said because it was 2 weeks past 1 year that they wouldn't give me a new phone. I had to either sign another 2 year contract (and get the free phone) or pay for a phone (at the time it was about $300) or just pay the cancellation fee. I chose to sign another 2 year contract and get the free phone. This time the guy suggested on paying the extra $$ each month for insurance (cant remember the exact cost somewhere around $7 or $8 a month). The insurance SUPPOSEDLY covered wear & tear, theft etc. About 8 months into that contract my DH (BF at the time) stepped on my phone (he had it in his jeans pocket). So, I thought no problem! This is what I've been paying insurance for (around $60 by that point). When I brought it in they said they wouldn't cover it since it was done intentionally. Huh???? Who breaks their phone intentionally? Anyway, they refused to cover the damages. The screen was completely busted! I couldn't see what I dialed, the time, address book, caller ID, nothing! The sad part was that when I asked if they would cover it if it was stolen they said "of course". So, I figured guess it's going to get stolen!!!! NOPE. The guy said that they will know its fraud since he is logging that its already broken into the system and that they would require the theft report from the police. AHHHHHH, I hate Bell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, I paid the money to get out of the contract and went straight to Telus (been happy with my cell since then).