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Bell Home Phone - "Service Area Charge"

13K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Vldavies 
#1 ·
I've been with bell for my landline phone service, and was somewhat impressed several months back when they finally made available the different home phone choice plans. I hated needing just something like call display and having to drop $8/month for that feature. or spend $18/month for features i never used.

anyway, i ordered home phone basic a few months ago. $29.95/month it shows on the website, of course there'll be the 911 fee and touch tone service. and of course if you were to want to be able to make long distance calls at a non competitive rate of 10c/min you'd have to add 6/month for network charge and another 2/month for 10c LD. i have an alternative for LD so i'm happy i can avoid the network access fee.

what i'm not sure about now is that on my bill for the first few months so far is a "Service Area Charge" for $3/month. i've called bell each month that this has happened. the first time i was told it was a 1 time charge for something that sounded like total BS. i wasnt going to kill myself arguing over $3. now it seems its a recurring monthly fee, and what its doing i have no clue - better yet, every time i call bell the reps are just as clueless. i tried to get hold of a supervisor to find out and i'm not waiting to hear back, as i've been told they will give me a call to inform me about the charge.

just wondering if anyone else has this charge on their bill? or anyone who understands what it is could inform me?

i asked if i changed to just a plain home phone line for something like $20/month instead of home phone basic which includes call disp + call waiting, if the charge would still be there, and they said no.

i find it crazy.. if i had kept the 10c/min LD plan like i had on a different line the advertised price of 29.95/month would end up being $44/month before tax
 
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#2 ·
This fee appeared when switching to 'Home Phone Choice'

I am on the phone now with Bell. It was explained that 'costs have increased' and areas previously not subject to the service area charge are now suddenly eligible for the extra charge. No notice.

I was told that this 'Service Area Charge' was just effective at the end of November. How convenient; just when I make a change to my landline configuration. But, what about the previous poster; his post is dated September.

Something fishy is going on.

All of the above is what the front line service advisor was telling me (i.e. what she had just been told since she had to go find out)

I asked to speak to a supervisor. His explanation was that by switching to the 'Home Phone Choice' option (whereby you get basically 5 features for $15), that triggered the extra $3 'Service Area Charge'. If I go back to 'ala carte' and pick just the two options I really want (Call Display, Call Answer = $15), then the $3 'Service Area Charge' goes away again.

But wait, this must be boxing week, there is ANOTHER bundle of 3 features including Call Display, Call Answer and another whose name now escapes me and I probably will never use it that only costs $13.50 (and NO Service Area Charge). I told him to sign me up for that instead, toss the other features I never use or were useless (Call Privacy/Call Blocking - doesn't work on US telemarketers) and I'll go back to saving $5 per month.

The web site at Bell mentions the 'Service Area Charge' for the home phone choice but despite going to the link on the web page where you can check against your postal code (I did for my postal code, and it doesn't apply according to bell's web page; oops they say, we'll fix that) the Service Area Charge still appeared on my new bill.

Bottom line on considering switching to the 'Home Phone choice' is to make sure you find out if the extra $3 charge will apply to your line AT THE TIME YOU ORDER; do not rely on the web site since it is currently incorrect.
 
#3 ·
This is not a hidden price increase. If you have service through BELL in scertain areas, you're already paying it in the cost of your monthly service.
It's a tarrifed item based on rate centres. THe Home Phone CHoice Packages have one listed price plus an additional cost if you are in one of the areas where the rate centres are a bit more. (I belive Oakville is one of those places but don't quote me on it) It's not a hidden charge. It should be quoted when the price of you line is quoted and it doesn't apply to all areas of Ontario.

Nem, who is multiposting
 
#4 ·
Its hidden when one part of Bell says 'No', and it still appears on your bill

When you check to see if the Service Area Charge applies to your postal code, and are told 'no', but then the charge appears anyway, I consider that to be a 'hidden' charge (and I only discovered it because I examined my bill).

It isn't hidden in the sense that Bell does (and has always had) this charge for rural areas.

However, when you live in the same place for 15 years, pay no 'Service Area Charge' for 15 years, then make a change to your account trying to save money at Bell's suggestion (and USE the web site to check if the Service Area Charge applies), and automagically, the 'Service Area Charge' appears, I don't consider that to be very up front about it. Maybe 'hidden' isn't the correct term, but perhaps 'sneaky' is more appropriate.
 
#5 ·
yeah, i've this charge since about sept or earlier when i changed to home phone choice.
the plan is a good one, but now i've got the 3/month charge.

the best answer i found was on bells website mentioning possible extra service area charge. from the site you can even put in your postal code and see if you are in an area in which the service charge applies.

i live in a pretty new subdivision and it applies for my address. i tried several other postal codes for older areas in the city and none of them have it applied.
the other thing i find interesting is that i cannot change my service to a different provider. this is since i moved into this house about 1.5 years ago. cogeco cannot take over my phone#, neither can rogers or primus as pots services for example.. maybe something to do with it being new area? i dunno
 
#6 ·
kad3190, how much was your basic service before you went to the home phone choice?
Look at the line where it says '1 Residence Line'. What was the dollar amount that showed there before you went on home phone choice?

Nem, who can clarify if he has the information above.
 
#7 · (Edited)
19.53

That was basic service before home phone choice switch (excluding the 911, touchtone, etc. ); 1 residence line 19.53

The latest bill, that line changed to Home Phone Choice service at $34.95 (and now this is really strange) in addition to the 4.23 partial month credit, there were 3 $1.00 credits for call privacy discount, call forwarding discount and call return discount), then further down the 'Service Area Charge' of $3.00 which is what started this whole discussion (I see that now because the paper bill just arrived on my desk 30 minutes ago)

Now, was the 3 $1.00 discounts (coincidentally equaling the $3.00 Service Area Charge some means of making my effective Home Phone Choice rate what was advertised ($34.95), and it is just a bunch of accounting magic to keep the regulators happy? If so, it would be nice if the CSR's at bell knew about it; because if true, I ended up canceling the service because no one at Bell could explain it (the Service Area Charge) other than 'it was added recently because of increased costs' (exact words told to me by bell CSR).

As noted in the other (cross post in BEV area) the Service Area Charge only went on with home phone choice, and was removed when home phone choice was removed and I went with the magic $13.50 bundle of only 3 services (call display, call answer, and one other that I can't remember and probably don't need). And the Web site still tells me my Postal Code does NOT apply for a Service Area Charge.
 
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