Bell Mobility Scam

[Chubbydeer]

Hi There,



Please let me explain my situation. I had a contract with bell that ends on Feb 5., because before the new year, virgin was offering some really good plans without contract, and I signed up for one. I was assured by virgin that I could transport my number from bell without extra charge at the time. (It is very important to me to be able to transfer this number because I run a small business and I would prefer to be able to answer my buyers with one phone.) So, I phoned bell to make sure. I was told by them that 1. that if I want to port my number over, I’d have to go through virgin and 2. that they require a 30 day notice for cancellation, so I have to phone virgin 30 days before Feb 5 if I want to keep my number. So I phoned virgin on Jan 6, exactly 30 days before Feb 5, and explained the situation to them as asked them to give bell 30 days notice before transferring my number. They said they cannot do that and that they could either transfer the number right now (in which case bell would charge me $100) or I could call back on a later day, but they have to transfer the phone number on that exact day and then my account with bell would be closed when the number is transferred over. So I phoned bell and virgin back and forth twice. Each time, I was told my virgin that I there would be a $100 charge if I did it this way, and by Bell that there would be no $100 charge if I cancelled today through virgin(and those are their exact words), the second bell agent, Kam, even assured me that he would put a note in my account that I had called in to ask them about this problem, and that the note would say not to charge me a cancellation fee. He seemed empathetic with my situation that I had already paid for the final month and just wanted to tranfer my number without issue. So finally feeling reassured, I told virgin to go ahead with transferring my number.



Low and behold, today, I was sent an invoice from bell wanting to charge $103 for my final bill. When I logged into my account, the charges were broken down like this. I had $8.40 credit on my account that they gave back to me because I did not use their services for a month, and then they charged me $100 cancellation fee plus $12 tax. I don’t know how obvious I could have made it to both sides that I did want a cancellation fee, had I known that they would charge me the $100 anyway, I would have done everything in my power to avoid it. Such as calling virgin on Feb 5 to ask them to contact bell to transport the number, even if I have to pay for an extra month with bell. So my beef is that neither side (essentially same company) explained the situation clearly to me and there seems to be some discrepancy as to how bell and virgin handles these situations and I’m forced to pay a price. I understand that $100 is a relatively small sum, but to me it is the principle of the matter.



I am very mad about this situation, because when I phoned them they pretended they didn’t know what I was talking about. And they were very argumentative and curt to me, saying that they are not in the business of giving out $100 credits when they had not right to charge this $100 after Kam and the first agent assured me that I would not be charged.



Please advise and thanks,



Chubbydeer

[ericaraina]

I think this can be sorted out. Keep calling until you reach the right person. If the notes are in your file, they will see that you were told you would not pay the 100$ fee. They have a record of every phone call you make. Try to get in touch with customer retentions, they should be able to help you out! I order bill internet once and decided to cancel before i even installed it. Got bills for about 8 months for a service I never even used and eventually they sorted it out and told me "no maam, you don't owe us money, we owe you!" and strangely enough I got a check in the mail!

[maribel]

I would call them back, ask for a supervisor and explain the situation. I usually just ask nicely for what I need, "please look on my account for the note regarding the cancellation fee, that i was not supposed to be paying it" and it helps if you know what day and time you talked to them about it last. Given that they were less than accommodating the last time you spoke with them, you might ask them to pull the tapes from the last phone call you had with the agent who assured you of the credit. If one person cannot help you, you can always ask for their boss, and just keep going up higher in the chain until you get what you need. Keep calm, and polite, and usually you can get some resolution. Hopefully you can get it sorted out!

[vesper]

I quit using Bell when I moved from Banff to Sask.

I called to close my account, but the ignorant lady with little english skills kept trying to convince me to keep it, and then asked me to find someone to take over my phone (my contract was up). I gave them my 30 days notice... except 4 months later they claimed I did not.

well, I was livid! Got that sorted out and I bet Bell attached a special note to my name

Bell is a very creepy company. I mean it. The brief time I had Bell TV, I swear the ads I would see on PPV were always for adult smut films. Somehow it seems, they knew my demographic (single man) and thought I would like to watch that. I don't. Got rid of that to.

[aurora04]

I agree with what was said already. Keep calling back until you get someone that will help you! If the last agent (and hopefully the one before that as well) properly noted your account, it should be very clear that they told you that you would not be charged. I used to work for Bell Mobility (call centre) several years agao, and if a rep told a customer something (and noted it), then we had to honour it (even if the rep was in error). You can ask to speak to a supervisor, and if that doesn't work, speak to their supervisor. Someone has the power to waive that fee. I know when I was there, I always had to get supervisor approval to waive the cancellation fee (even when it was clearly noted). I'm trying to remember what the rules were when I was there for porting over the numbers, and I believe even if you port your number over, you still get charged for that final month (which would have been the end of your contract), so there should not have been a charge (if I am remembering correctly). Just because you port your number, it did not mean an automatic cancellation, you still had the 30 days (only just weren't using their services of course) to pay for. Like I mentioned, I'm pretty sure that was the rule when I worked there, but it has been almost 3 years since I left them, so things may have changed. I hope you get it straightened out quickly!

[joseff]

I thought Bell and Virgin were owned by the same company?

[MTLcouponer]

I can't even begin to tell you the problems my boyfriend is having with Bell, they are one of the worse companies I've ever encountered. I can't thank my lucky stars enough for not having been caught in their web because once you're in, you never come out.

[walkonby]

I am having flashbacks of some troubles we had with Bell too....it DID get rectified but you have to be a pit bull ( I mean DO NOT let go of that bone) to get it resolved, they love customers that act like my shih tzu's ( roll over )

Good luck!!

[Dayanara]

I thought Bell and Virgin were owned by the same company?

Yup they are both owned by Bell.

[i_forget]

Yeah, Bell is a real PITA.

I remember when I moved, I had Bell satellite, home phone and internet. Well, they were not able to service my house for internet (even though I live in a city). So, I was forced to cancel my internet, and then they sent me a bill for early termination! Eff THEM! They cannot service my house, and I have to pay??? Then there was the months of service charges for services I never even ordered.

I hate Rogers, but I hate Bell a little bit more.

Do NOT give up, and fight them tooth and nail.

[vesper]

Yeah, Bell is a real PITA.

I remember when I moved, I had Bell satellite, home phone and internet. Well, they were not able to service my house for internet (even though I live in a city). So, I was forced to cancel my internet, and then they sent me a bill for early termination! Eff THEM! They cannot service my house, and I have to pay??? Then there was the months of service charges for services I never even ordered.

I hate Rogers, but I hate Bell a little bit more.

Do NOT give up, and fight them tooth and nail.

I'm not sure if you have Telus in your area, but I have never ever had any issues with them at all. Used them for home phone when I moved to Calgry in the late 90's, internet, and now cell phone. I became so used to abuse by cell phone and internet companies that I thought it was normal! Telus is glorious!

P.S. SouthWestern Bell in Texas was a horrifying company to deal with to.

[LuvToUseCoupons]

aurora04 is right, after you port your number Bell will charge you for 1 more month of service, they did it to me, they do it to all there customer, it's there policy. But what I am thinking is that they charge you that $100 as a early termination fee for leaving before Feb.5. I think if you had waited until Feb.6 to port your number you would have never been charge that as you would have no longer been under contract with then, hence you just pay them for there 30 days cancellation fee that they charge.

[ellis123]

Bell will charge you that fee regardless as I have found. My one year contract for internet with Bell came up for renewal and I renegotiated the contract a few days before the contract ended and they charged me the $100 fee even though I was still with them for another year. Their systems seem to charge that fee once the contract date has not passed. Keep at it to get it reversed, they reversed mine.

[Peachykeen2007]

First off I work for MTS and whatever Bell told you was WRONG!!!! and same with Virgin Mobile!!!

If you port your number to a competitor you do not have to give that new company ANY notice!!! What happens is when your new provider takes the number from Bell it AUTOMATICALLY tells Bell you are cancelling your service! and Bell will then send you your final bill.

You pay for any charges up until the point of when you transferred your number.

If your contract was not up until Feb 5th then Bell has EVERY right to charge you a cancellation fee for breach of contract even with the NEW law in place.

What you should have done is on Feb 5th gone to Virgin and ported your number out from Bell Mobility - it takes a matter of minutes for this process and you wouldn't have gotten any cancellation fees

We do not speak to ANY person from a competitor about porting your number, it is all done over the internet threw filling out forms. It is a computer that responds to the new service provider if it is ok to port a number NOT a person

The ONLY time you are required to give 30 days notice is for TV or Internet

The problem lies in that a Bell representative did not clearly tell you if you ported your number out before your contract date was over than you would be charged

Phone into Bell customer service and inquire about it - every single call that is made into customer service is recorded - and to be honest Virgin Mobile is a smaller company of BELL if you didn't know

[LauraWill]

All of these calls you have made to bell are recorded, call back and inform them *again* of the situation. Explain that it is to your understanding that all calls are recorded for call quality. (the automated message you hear while you wait for an agent lets you know that your call will be recorded <- federal regulation) Once you request that they go back and listen to the call where you spoke with Kam, they will have you passed on to a supervisor or someone with the capability of going back through the calls OR they will take you at your word (and hopefully some notes on your bell account) and credit you back that final bill. Hope this helps, don't give up!

Regardless of weather or not Bell typically reimburses the cancellation fee, in this case you were told that it would be which is cause alone for you to be reimbursed. These situations irk me.