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Bell Internet and Phone Complaint and Rant Thread

55K views 61 replies 42 participants last post by  zarf 
#1 ·
I just spent over an hour on the phone with Bell trying to get my billing situation sorted out.

For years we've had Cell (x2), Phone, Internet, TV with Bell on separate bills. Some time after they sent out the last set of bills, they combined everything onto one bill without notifying us.

All the services were paid to the appropriate accounts but Bell combined them all onto our most recent TV bill before the payments were received. Net net is the balance that should have been $112 was $591. When I called, they did re-assure me that the monies from the other accounts would be transferred to the new account at the end of 2 months (they claim money can only be transferred after 2 full billing periods!!).

I told them this was i) unacceptable and ii) I wanted my bills returned to the way they were. Since the agent I was trying to speak with said this was impossible to do I had to speak with her manager. The manager seems to have done what needed doing to restore things to the way they should be.

Thankfully, eventually all our services will be moved away from this idiotic company. I canceled some of our services last month and I think that may have triggered the billing consolidation. I hope I don't have to experience this joy every time I cancel something... I also had to get some bogus long distance cancellation charge reversed.
 
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#28 ·
I recent upgraded to Bell's 50/10. Although I'm only get 45/10. Went to their web site and saw the 50/10 to check the details and according to the info more or less there's nothing wrong. It appears depending on far you are from the switching staion your download speed can be from 46 to 50 and upload speed 9-10.I get 10.

Then I saw 175/175 and the price I think it was $145(or something like that.)/month?

Then I went to rogers to see what their largest was. 260Mbps(I think) for $225/month!!

ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR FRIGGIN MINDS!!! :eek: :rolleyes:

Thats CRAZY!!

Who in their right mind would pay for that just for internet(thats not including home phone,TV service or Cell.)
 
#29 ·
Bell Canada makes unauthorized changes to services

Just wanted to make members here aware that they need to be constantly vigilant when dealing with Bell Canada. I have recently been subjected to unauthorized changes to my phone and internet services, overcharges on my bills, etc. to the point that I have had to completely cancel my home phone line and if things continue as they are, my internet service will be next to go.

Our family has/had been a loyal customer of Bell for over 2 decades and had enjoyed Sat TV, Internet, land line and cellular bundles for many years. I phoned Bell in mid-May after being fed up of being constantly over billed for service. I was on the Bell Fibe 15/10 plan (with 100G) which was clearly advertised at $49.95 after bundle discounts but was routinely being charged $56.95. I was also paying close to $70.00 monthly for POTS phone. :confused: After threatening to cancel home phone completely (did not tell them I've been using MagicJack for past couple months already) they talked me into staying on and offered to knock my phone down to Home Phone Lite for about $30 per month and would only charge me $53.95 for my Fibe 15/10 plan. Like an idiot, I said OK and received a confirmation email from Bell for the changes. Couple weeks go by and I log in to "My Bell" to check my services. My internet Fibe 15/10 with 100G was now showing only $53.95 BUT with only 60G! My land line service was at that time showing "home phone Lite" as they said. Fast forward to mid-June and I log in again because I know you can't trust Bell. I now see that my fibe 15/10 internet is the same 60G but now for u/k reason they have decided to tack on an extra 25G upgrade package and are charging me $5.00! Did I call and ask for this addition? No! My phone line which had been set at "Lite" has now also been ungraded to "Home Basic" at $42.95. I call Bell to ask why and how they can just decide to make unauthorized changes to my services without my consent. Like the arrogant SOBs they are, I receive a reply to effect "Well, you know, we do make errors from time to time, but we can fix it if you wish." At this point I was fed up with the Bell Canada "song & dance" routine and told them to cancel my phone service completely. Same phone # for 25 years!
Bell has set up a "dry-loop" for my internet service at no cost to me and with no disruption in internet service although I am still being charged $53.95 for the Fibe 15/10 with a meager 60G allotment. In a few weeks I will likely dump Bell internet also and go with ElectronicBox which offer the same speed and 150G for $32.95 (will have to buy or lease their modem) For now we're happy with MagicJack; voice quality is great and unlimited Canada wide long distance, all for $39.95 per year! :D:D Oh yes, and our Virgin Mobile cellulars are working great! Sorry all this was so long but needed to make people aware they need to watch their Bell services and bills closely.
 
#30 ·
Have had bell fibe 5/1 since february. Lost phone service 3 times since the . The first time because water had got into the outside box & corroded the connections. The next two times rewiring for improved fibe service resulted in techs disconnecting my phone line.
Stuff happens what shocked me though was the explanation given me when the tech didnt show on saturday morning.Allegedy he called in to say I was not home as required and that he had phoned my cell twice with no result so closed the ticket.
I will spare everyone the saga of calls ensuing to straighten it out only pointing out that I was informed that the reason the original tech didnt show was he had a family emergency!
So the blame is dumped on me at first & they employ a bare faced liar in the field or if he was traduced a barefaced liar at the call centre.
At any rate new tech shows up & fixes issue in less than 5 min.Aside from the fact I had all Saturday wasted all well.
Dont understand why Bell employs some of the people they do.
 
#31 ·
Can I get a Bell tech who knows what he is doing?

A week ago I woke up to the sound of my alarm system's keyboard beeping because the phone line stopped working and my alarm system could not report in. I've had my phone line for many years and about 2 months ago had fibe internet and TV installed.

I called in to bell to report the problem and was told that someone would call be back because the 1st agent could not fix the problem. No one called back but the line was partly restored and it allowed for an occasional use for a few seconds at times but would always cut off.

Bell sent a tech Sunday (4 days after my 1st call) and the tech kept telling me the problem was in my home (changed the wiring in the house ) but later told me it was outside and was bad bell equipment.

The tech left and when I called my alarm company to do a test the test cut the phone line, the internet and Fibe TV. I found the Bell tech outside my house sitting in his van and asked him to come back in. He then came back in changed the wiring again and as he was leaving I asked him what the problem was and if it was fixed and his answer was: quote- It's a bell technique, goodbye - unquote). I called my alarm company again to do a test and this time we noticed that the bell tech simply disconnected the alarm from the bell line and it could not report in. This time the tech drove off before I could get his attention.
Monday another bell tech comes and this time he says he fixed it but it was too late in the evening for me to get it tested. Today I called the alarm company to do another test and it's still not fixed. The alarm system does not take priority over the phone line.
Another bell tech coming tomorrow. Can it get any worse?
 
#33 ·
Loyalty Department Sucks

I had an order placed to cancel home phone and got a call from a loyalty agent. He offered to reduce my total bill (TV, internet and home phone) by $40/month if we kept home phone service. I agreed and asked for e-mail confirmation. E-mail arrives and there's no mention of the discounts (only $8 off phone). I call Bell and speak to another loyalty agent. He can't offer the same deal - I ask why? He says it's not available. I ask to have the phone call pulled - they can't. I ask to speak to a manager - he's busy. I ask to cancel the home phone again and find out that I'll be billed for another 30 DAYS!!

Bait and switch! Joke's on them since I'll be cancelling everything now.

Lesson learned - ask for employee number when getting a loyalty deal (if they even give you a real one).
 
#34 ·
I asked for the employee number plenty of times and still got taken in... it doesn't matter. You can quote their number and they will say no such person exists...

I've been living in a Bell free zone since April and my wife couldn't be happier. :) No more monthly calls from me ranting about them screwing up the billing on one of our services.
 
#35 ·
After getting completely fed up with Bell and their price increases on each of the different types of services (basic line, long distance plan etc) , I switched my home phone service over to Rogers. I called Bell well in advance of the date of the switch, offering to give them 25 days notice, and I was told that I didn't need to give them notice because I would receive a pro-rated bill after the cancellation was done via the switch. Well, the Bell bill just came in, and they charged me some sort of "30 days notice" fee. I was lied to and they grab at your wallet one more time as you are heading out the door. I've still got Bell Satellite TV, but am also fed up with their increases on the individual packages. Outdoor antenna, Free-to-air satellite receiver, and Netflix might be only means of getting tv in the near future.
 
#36 ·
Just ported out my Bell POTS number to a VoIP provider. When my VoIP provider submitted the port request, Bell dated to port out to coincide with my bill cycle. I assumed Bell did this on purpose to avoid any sort of proration which I was fine with.

They sent me a final bill with some sort of arbitrary "30 days notice fee". There is no mention of this fee in their terms of service and the amount they charged me did not even equal 30 days of service, so it appears they are just charging people random amounts. Called in and the rep reversed the charge without argument. I guess they just charge customers this random fee just to see if you'll pay it.
 
#38 ·
But there's one catch.

A lot of people are forgetting one thing.

If something goers wrong with your phone line(assuming your provider is using Bell's phone lines)its up to your present provider to fix the issue. You can't call Bell, even if your present provider tells you to. Bell will simple tell you your not our customer call your provider to fix your issue even thougfh it may be their lines. Your provider has to call Bell and make the arrangements to get it fixed.
 
#40 · (Edited)
How to contact Bell in writing.

If talking to Bell's customer service representative leads to frustration and no proof to what was agreed to here are some other ways to communicate with Bell.
On Bell's website use Live Chat to talk to Bell's customer service agent. At the end of conversation check the box to have the transcript sent to your email. This will give you proof to what was agreed to.
If the problems were not resolved to your satisfaction escalate your complain by filling out the form here: http://support.bell.ca/Escalation_WebForm
Bell will email you the confirmation of your message on this form. At the bottom of this confirmation email will be a link "Legal". Click on it, it will take you to Terms of Service and other legal documents.
Read Terms of Service to familiarize your self with your rights and obligations. You might be surprised to find out how many CSRs' have not read or properly interpreted Bell's Terms of Service.
Bell will not reply to your "escalation form" by email. It will have CSRs' call you over and over until you pickup the phone.

Starting January 23, 2015 new rules will come into effect:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/...ox&utm_content=internet&utm_campaign=30cancel
 
#41 ·
This is going to be Just about the internet. (Sorry if its in the wrong area)

So recently, I have had Various issues with the service "bell Media" has given me. I should have 25 Down and 15 up. BUT all I get is 22.2 Down and 6 up. on top of that my wireless signal (even when sitting directly beside the Modem) is absolute trash. Load a video? Nope. Load Facebook? 20 minutes later. I know it's not the phone as I have removed many app's, music, video's, Pictures.

Not only that as well as trying to watch something from Twitch.tv is absolutely pointless as the DNS issue's is with Bell. "We are aware of the Bell-related DNS issues. Sadly, we also don't think we can solve them on our side. This problem has been very consistent with Bell users. It would be great if you could call Bell and notify them of the problem." - Twitch.tv Network Staff. That was the response I got when I asked one of them if it was an issue with them or Bell.

On top of all that, it's almost impossible to get a straight answer out of a Bell Rep about my Speed's being lower then they should be, and my wireless being non existent for watching anything on. Watch a Youtube viedo at lowest quality still lags, Twitch can't even play 100% except on the main computer which is a Gaming computer, that's hardwired to the Router.


Bell needs to step up. It's making me wonder if going from Rogers to Bell was ever a good idea.
 
#42 ·
I also got fed up with Bell's price increases and have cancelled my services. Start.ca is coming next week to install cable internet and phone. For TV I am going to Shaw Direct.
Bell's customer service is atrocious. The rep in the loyalty department would not let me speak to a supervisor until I cancelled. The supervisor did call me back after about two hours, and repeated the same BS the 1st rep gave me. I wanted Bell to honour the price I thought I should be paying. They would not do this, hence they lost a customer. They are liars and insidious. I can't see a reason for ever being a Bell customer again.
 
#43 ·
I agree.....it's all garbage that they spout. I'm in the process of finding a new provider for my land-line and internet. In one month, I will have all of my contacts moved over to my MSN account. I've been with Bell for landline for 35 years and internet since 1996. They just abuse their customers with continuous increases and changing their packages. I'm done with them....I'm finally cutting the cord, forever. Over time, I've also gotten rid of Expressvu and Bell Mobility. This corporation needs to fall from grace.
 
#44 ·
Here's my rant. I've been dealing with Bell support over the last week for a move my parents are doing. Other than an issue rescheduling the move, the biggest thing I noticed that each time I talk to them it seems like the audio quality to their call centre is very poor. It doesn't help that they seem to be using overseas call centre agents with a strong accents but the number of times I needed to ask them to repeat themselves was particularly frustrating. To top it off, I just had a callback from them and almost didn't answer it because it showed up on my call display as my own telephone number. I usually ignore them as I know that it's a spoofed number but answered and was surprised to hear that it was Bell calling back to confirm details of the move. Why would they do that when they must know that it's a trick used by spammers and people are learning to screen the calls?

Cheers,

jayson
 
#45 ·
Bell / Telus / MTS vs Rogers / Cogeco / Videotron et al

Where to begin.

I am a former customer of Bell Canada's. Was a loyal customer of theirs for 40 plus years.

The technology changed, and instead of 7 digit diling, had to switch to 10 for local calls. Then came the 'opening' of the phone market with the ability to buy my own phone was the begining of the end for Bell.

When they had a Monopoly on the service, they were ok. I can understand that not everything works properly 100% of the time, but since the '90s and the '00s , Bell's customer service was slowly but surely going into the trash can.

Then came Mobile Service, and the change from Analogue 700 Mhz phones, to Digital. Since Bell was not willing to keep the infrastructure humming, I was not willing to pay for a substandard service with new hardware and fancy add-ons.

So, Bell decided to get into the Internet ISP business by offering DSL.

I knew how DSL was an upgrade for the last mile of service, however the ability of the network to handle the traffic resulted in slowdons and delays in packet transmission. They kept on saying one thing about speed, yet I knew over the years that they were incapable of upgrading the service unless they added additional fiber links into the hubs, there is no way the speeds would actually improve.

Then came the introduction of VOIP service. Well, with the new players in the market, and the addition of high speed links to foreign countries, that facilitated the demise of quality service from Bell. They started forwarding calls for techinical support to agents in India.

I don't mind if Bell with their majority of customers being in Ontario, and Quebec sending the CS calls to New Brunswick, or other CANADIN provinces, but out of country, that takes the cake.

So, I switch phone providers, and pick a provider that has their call centre in Burlington. The phone quality from COGECO was terrible. What is the point of having a phone service if you can't manage ECHO, GAIN and TELEMARKETERS!?

Try another provider that clains to have the fix for Telemarketers. Finally , peace during the hours of 4 to 8 pm.
Not quite so, since those presky Credit Card and Duct Cleaners just blank out the Caller ID, and the calls get placed without impunity. [Where's Lenny when you need him?]

OK, I admit, that most of the telemarketers are now held at bay, but unfortunately, all calls to Customer Service get routed to the Philippines.

I cannot win.

Late 2016, the Feds in Ottawa now want Canadians' help to get rid of telemarketers? Well, the illegal ones won't abide to any law, so why would they even resepect anything that Ottawa would dream up.

The CRTC is filled with ex Telco bigwigs who just rubber stamp, what appears to be price increase after price increase for Telco Service.

I finally cut the cord, and went with a 3rd party Cable Internet Connection , and now have my home phone over VOIP.

Since this is a Bell Internet forum, I leave with the suggestion that the insanity of buying growth now has migrated to the former electric company. That too is another dumb decision. Internet is relatively easy to switch, Electricity providers, not so easy-- use kerosene and Ice delivery?

Bell, still cannot block telemarketers, yet they have the technology to do it, just not the willpower to admit that they were wrong. So they lost this customer.
 
#46 ·
That was a very good rant!
We manage to avoid the dread telemarketers by only answering incoming numbers we recognize. Not having a widespread set of family, friends and acquaintances this is not too difficult.

To add to the Bell rant. When are they going to get rid of the seemingly random need for the initial '1' in front of some numbers in the same area code. I know it used to be necessary in those far off days of electro-mechanical phone switches, but now? My cellphone manages to deal with it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
#47 ·
With 10 digit dialing the initial 1 is not needed. I suspect it's required to remind the caller that it is long distance and may incur extra charges. Since Bell gouges it's customers for long distance calls, that's probably a good thing.

Which brings me to my rant. The beginning of the end for Bell with me was the constant gouging. Bell always gouged its customers but at least a basic land line was reasonable and necessary (before cell service was widely available.) If anything extra, like long distance, was required you were gouged but at least it could be avoided. (Letters were very popular.)

Slowly, the gouging escalated. Even though costs for everything in the communications sector fall year after year, Bell keeps raising its rates. Even a basic phone is now over $41/mo but that's not the end of it. You get gouged for extra fees that are not divulged until the first bill arrives. Bell just keeps inflating the prices for popular services. Call display is the most notable example. Costs to provide call display are minimal but they keep increasing the price to gouge customers for what many believe is a necessary feature. Then there are long distance charges. Both the basic rates and long distance plans are outrageously priced considering what it costs to provide the service. And what's the "network charge." There's a fraudulent fee if I ever saw one. The $6.00/mo long distance plan I was sold actually cost $9.00 when the network charge was added, despite the fact the salesperson lied when he said there were no extra fees. The same thing happens with internet, wireless phone and TV. Popular features are layered on top of high priced, less popular features that most don't want or need. Want an Apple or Samsung phone? Sorry, that's only available with our most expensive plan. Want that channel you really like? Sorry, it's only available in our most expensive package. The only things you can be sure of with Bell is that prices will go up and deals don't last long. Then there was the time they tried to double my internet price because they lowered to caps to an arbitrarily low figure. I switched the next day and haven't gone back.

Even worse are Bell's sales tactics. Their salespeople lie about charges, lie about service specs and even lie about what service is being offered. I had a salesperson show up at the door and made what sounded like an incredible offer for a Fibe bundle. It turned out that what he claimed was Fibe TV was really satellite, the 50Mbps internet was really 5Mbps ADSL and (after six months) the phone was twice the price of what we already had. It doesn't end there. Think you have a sweetheart grandfathered plan? It won't last long. Bell unilaterally changes features and makes you upgrade to higher priced services to keep the same service. They doubled the per minute rate and call display price for my phone plan and removed the monthly carry over. That made the service next to unusable as I could only make 8 minutes of calls per month. As expected, the price for a usable plan was 50% higher.

I'm proud to announce that as of late last year, we are a 100% Bell free household. That means no more unexpected charges on services, no more unreasonable price increases, no more unilateral removal of features, no more unreasonable charges for things like call display or long distance, no more lies and, best of all, no more gouging.
 
#48 ·
ExDilbert said:
I'm proud to announce that as of late last year, we are a 100% Bell free household. That means no more unexpected charges on services, no more unreasonable price increases, no more unilateral removal of features, no more unreasonable charges for things like call display or long distance, no more lies and, best of all, no more gouging.
Yeah, the network charge drives me a bit nuts for sure. For months that I haven't used long distance and then I need to make a single long distance call, I'll use my SpeakOut cell phone so that I won't incur the silly network charge.

I keep my Bell Home Phone to qualify for the 3 services discount that gets me a $20 Fibe PVR for no cost. It seems worth it, although some months I wonder if I get more telemarketers than actual personal calls.

But sure, I could be a 100% Bell free household and I wouldn't have Fibe TV, which I really like. I wouldn't have Bell internet, which works just great and supplies far greater bandwidth than advertised, and I wouldn't have hard wired Bell phone that works regardless if the power is on or not.

Can you match that with your new situation?

elyk
 
#49 ·
We are already a Bell free household.
Doesn't stop them from sending pretty girls around to try to sell me their services and the last one was very attractive indeed.

Back to Bell phone services. About 30 (before cell phones) years ago The Economist suggested that if phone service was priced on a fixed amount to make a connection with everything else after that free the worlds phone companies would be even more profitable as their billing processes would be so much simpler. Of course in NA this would involve a charge, perhaps tiny, per local call which might be politically difficult...and then along came cell service!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
#50 ·
I can reasonably say yes. The TV features and equipment aren't quite as good as Bell's but good enough right now and there are other things that compensate. We have legacy POTS phone for almost half the price as Bell charges with a free long distance plan and no bogus network fee. The price has only gone up once in the past 10 years and that's because we made a service change. Internet is half the price of the comparable Bell plan and is rock solid. The price is locked in for another 4 years. Bell's retail prices are bogus. They could sell their products for half the price but don't because there is no real competition. In any event, the question is moot because Bell has chosen not to wire our area of the city for any fibre supported services like high speed internet and TV. When I did have Bell services, they treated me so badly it's unlikely I will go back.
 
#51 ·
I'm a rogers free home and am so happy I got ride of them. Like timlocke, instead of Bell I get Rogers. Not representatives from Bell, but tones of Rogers junk mail.

I'm not saying Bell's totally excellent they too have some issues but not as bad as Rogers(in my case).

For the price I pay for my mothers ethnic services $45 for 12 channels, I would be paying $40 for only 4 channels which 8 of the channels Rogers doesn't evemn carry.

I like Bell Fibe TV and am hsappy with their service.

I'm not sure how Bell treats all their customers but in my case I really don't have any major issues with them and have mostly been treated well by them. According to a CSR I spoke to before I asked about a "Prefered Customer Calling card I got in the mail. According to the CSR I'm on a VIP/Preferred customer listed in which if I have any issues I call the number on the card and I get bumped to the top of the waiting list on hold for customer service.And I seem to always get good deals ontop of my bundles when the deals expire.

Now grant you I'm paying for 4 services and basically paying almost $5,000 a year for those services, while that has anything to do with it I'm not sure? :confused:
 
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