Here's one for you. I cancelled my Bell ExpressVu via e-mail so that I have everything in writing. I received acknowledgement via e-mail that they received notification on November 6th and cancellation would be effective December 6th. I didn't pay my November bill because it included charges (to December 17th) past my cancellation date. I have just received a December bill which includes my previous balance, new advance billing charges to January 17th, interest charges and a threat of a $25.00 administration fee if I do not remit payment within the next 7 business days.

Got my bill on Tuesday and surprise surprise no credit, so called and again complained, talked to someone who 'guaranteed' it would be on the next bill...just cause it's Xmas and I don't have lots of spare time, didn't bother arguing, we'll see in Jan what my next bill is

I e-mailed another detailed explanation of their error. Get this - in reply, they say they don't want to frustrate their customers (likely in response to my comment that I've heard billing errors are a frequent occurrence with them) but did not comment on my e-mail because they want my PIN number despite the fact that we have corresponded on this numerous times.

I sympathize with anyone having Bell billing issues. My main issue is that they charged me for a System Access Fee for an advance period when I was no longer subscribed. Billing date is the fourth. Cancellation date was the sixth. I received my regular bill in November, another bill in December and a third bill effective the cancellation date. The last bill provided programming credits but not for the System Access Fee. Numerous e-mails later, they still claim they are right! While they have instituted a 30 day notice period, you don't get the final bill issued until cancellation date. They expect you to pay all the bills prior to that date even if it was for advance billing for non-subscribed periods. However, they have a policy which says they don't issue refunds if under $10.00. Are they crazy?

I didn't pay my bill for November because it included charges for a non-subscribed period. Doesn't a person have a right to a final bill. Since I didn't pay, they charged me interest.

I decided to call. CSR spoke with a heavy accent. He had all my account information there yet he was asking me for my account numebr and spelling of name, etc. When I asked why, he spoke to me like I was an idiot saying that he's requesting a credit like I know the procedure.

Anyways, he did tell me that he has no authority to issue credits or refunds. He completes a form and sends it to head office. I can expect an answer in 4 - 6 weeks!

due to a recent problem with companies in the states and canada calling in and claiming they are the customer and they want reprints of their bill sent to another address (this way they then have access to all the ld call, or celllular calls, or tv channels subscribed to because of the detailed billing system) This resulted in a breach of confidentiality. In order to overcome this, if you are not calling from the tn listed on your account then they need to ask some questions to verify you are indeed the account holder.
Unfortunately with people now *data mining* Bell has to look out for the privacy of it's customers and this is the most effective way to do that.


nem, who offers a reason for some of the questions

Well, I was calling from my home number. It's just that you don't get this runaround from SC.

Now, if only BEV were able to secure their satelite signals from piracy in the same manner by being so fastidious...

It's just that you don't get this runaround from SC. That all depends on the issue. *C gave me the runaround for 6 months over a defective receiver.

Yea, not to say they are perfect but they are pretty easygoing for fixing a bill, particularly if there is a glaring error.

Just recieved my 2nd bill (first full month bill) and noticed that is was twice what it should have been. Oh lookie, they charged me $71.77 for rental of my 9200, interesting since I should be paying $15 a month.

Phone them up, on hold for only about 5 mins, and the guy tries to tell me they didn;t charge me for rental last bill, so they are makeing up for it.

Me: "Then it looks like you have charged me for almost 5 months of rentals (71/15=4.x months).
Him: "ya, thats right, October 24 to january 19"
Me: "How many months is October 24 to January 19?"
Him: (after some thought and my prodding) "....3"
Me: "yup"
Him: "....I'll credit you the $71.77"

After reading the stories in this thread however, I sure hope I actually see the credit on the next bill.

I predict much fun in my future.

To be fair, looking back at my first bill, they didn't actually charge me a rental, and if they are using the $25 a month charge that is standard (I got the deal for $15 a month for 2 years) then it probably would work out to $71.77 (just shy of 3 months) but hey, they screwed up so they can pay to fix it.

were there any credits on the bill? i ask because the deal you received is regular price for the 2 years and then $10 in credits every month.
you might want to double check the bill for the credits.


nem, who is just pointing something out

My Post-Christmas gift from BEV:

They desubbed my receivers!

I give them a call, after 3 minutes on hold, I reach a CSR. She explains the reason is I'm 75 days overdue on my account (They charged me $210 on install charges that weren't done, and as of Dec 5th, it was SUPPOSED to be taken care of). Anyways, I inform her to check "the notes" on my account.

She says, yup, it says on Dec 5th, Reccardo explained that it would take 6-8 weeks to get reversed. And I reply with a blank "AND? What's the problem". Her reply "Well, you're overdue, and if it's not paid in full by 105 days, we'll terminate your account". So in a nice way I explained that I wasn't paying for their delinquent mistake, and since Bell Canada has crappy billing practices, it wasn't my problem, and if necessary I could draft a letter to their corporate office, carbon copying the CRTC. Followed up by saying I'm not paying for charges that aren't mine.

She agreed to re-instate the services, and proceeds to ask if the install charges aren't mine, how I got my system installed. By then I was still pretty PO'd, and that I explained it to the last 3 people I called and talked to, and wasn't explaining it again. After a mere 9 minutes (yup, actually done in 9 minutes -- what a refreshing change from the usual 90 minutes!), she "corrected" it, and the TV was back on.

Oddly enough, everytime she went to do something, she kept saying "Don't hang up if you want this done. Just a minute." I wonder home many people spaz at them and slam the receiver down????????????

And the thing that kept going through my mind: YOU WONDER WHY PEOPLE STEAL YOUR SERVICE?

Ordered BEV Oct 27, 2005

HDTV System - Model 6120 $10/month
4100 receiver - $2.50/month
Activation - $49.99

Promotion:
Rental credit: $240.00 => $10/month
Activation Credit: $49.99
Bell.ca online credit: $50

5 days later, HDTV programming promotion between Nov 1st to Dec 31st, 2005 was added on the Bell site. ($120.00 => $10/month for 12 months)

Call BEV on Nov 4th to make sure I will also get the HDTV programming credit.
The BEV CSR told me that I would qualify since I’m activating the service during the promotion period.

Installed Nov 8, 2005



1st bill shows $49.99 for activation.

2nd bill shows 2 months programming from Nov 8th to Jan 7th with no credits!

Call BEV to confirm all my promotion credits.

Guess what, they said I don’t qualify for the $120 HDTV programming since I ordered the service outside the promotional period which was only between Nov 1st to Dec 31st!

I told them that I called back in November 4th to inquire and was missed informed by their CSR.

The CSR put me on hold to talk to their billing department.
Minutes later, CSR comes back and offers me one month free service ($78 : Ultra combo + HDTV) on the next bill. I told the CSR that does not cover the $120 that I should be saving. CSR puts me on hold again for several minutes. Comes back and said the billing department is willing to add another $80 credit to my next bill.

It all sounds good but only time will tell when I get the next bill.

Tell you the truth, I would be more happier if they got my bill correct from the beginning than waste my time on the phone and get a few $$ credit on my account.

Just opened my January bill and surprise surprise no credit, so called and asked to be put on with a supervisor...she said there is a note on there system from 12/29 saying that it had been credited but was not on my latest bill, let's see if they can finally keep there word...

Too bad there billing system wasn't as good as there product!

It took me 5 calls to get those morons to correct my billing address. Here's to hoping they get it right for the upcoming month.:rolleyes:

Life is far too short to get stressed over a stupid tv bill...from a stupid company...so...take the "I want the telemarketers number" approach...play their game...and enjoy the ride :p

Great advice!

Ordered BEV Oct 27, 2005

HDTV System - Model 6120 $10/month
4100 receiver - $2.50/month
Activation - $49.99

Promotion:
Rental credit: $240.00 => $10/month
Activation Credit: $49.99
Bell.ca online credit: $50

5 days later, HDTV programming promotion between Nov 1st to Dec 31st, 2005 was added on the Bell site. ($120.00 => $10/month for 12 months)

Call BEV on Nov 4th to make sure I will also get the HDTV programming credit.
The BEV CSR told me that I would qualify since I’m activating the service during the promotion period.

Installed Nov 8, 2005



1st bill shows $49.99 for activation.

2nd bill shows 2 months programming from Nov 8th to Jan 7th with no credits!

Call BEV to confirm all my promotion credits.

Guess what, they said I don’t qualify for the $120 HDTV programming since I ordered the service outside the promotional period which was only between Nov 1st to Dec 31st!

I told them that I called back in November 4th to inquire and was missed informed by their CSR.

The CSR put me on hold to talk to their billing department.
Minutes later, CSR comes back and offers me one month free service ($78 : Ultra combo + HDTV) on the next bill. I told the CSR that does not cover the $120 that I should be saving. CSR puts me on hold again for several minutes. Comes back and said the billing department is willing to add another $80 credit to my next bill.

It all sounds good but only time will tell when I get the next bill.

Tell you the truth, I would be more happier if they got my bill correct from the beginning than waste my time on the phone and get a few $$ credit on my account.


3rd bill ==> still no credit :mad:

Call BEV and the CSR said the credit was issued. (one free month + $80 credit).
I told the BEV CSR that there's no credit on my ONE BILL (Landline + cell + internet + EVu).

BEV CSR now said I have to call Bell One Bill since they are different department.:confused:

I thought I was being smart to sign up for ONE BILL so they will not make any mistakes.

Called Bell One Bill and the CSR comfirmed that BEV did issue the credit but it was after the One Bill statement was issued. I should see the credits on my next One Bill.

Now I have to wait another month to see if they are going to get it right this time.

One more thing. The Bell CRS(One Bill) had to put in another note enquiring for the $49.99 activation and $50 bell.ca online credits which I qualify.

Thought I'd add to the fun as I've been having problems too. Had BEV installed Oct 23, so I qualified for the $10 credit on hardware (yes, I signed up as a rental customer). Since then, not one bill has been correct. Actually called about an error on my second bill (they charged $100 for instalation of a second tuner, I only have one), and the CSR acknowledged the mistake and said he would credit my account. Sure enough, next month, it's still there. I call back and spoke to another CSR, she says, the notes say about the call, but the CSR didn't credit my account because it doesn't say I'm a rental customer, that code is not in there (Yet they charge me, incorrectly, for a receiver rental, go figure). She promptly puts in the form to refund the $100. I then tell her that I'm also being overcharged (and have been) for my receiver rental. She then fills the form for that refund ($38). She actually said that she could see my next bill (This is a few days after getting my bill, my next one is already on the system) and I was still being overcharged for the rental so she refunded me for that (part of the $38) and apparently fixed my account so I'm now a rental customer. But she did ask me to FAX in my rental agreement to prove that I'm a rental customer, how bad is that? What floors me is that their system is capable of charging me a month in advance, yet it will take 6 - 8 weeks for them to put the refund on my account. And they also expect me to pay for their mistake, like I'd ever see my money back after that. So far I've been paying what my amount should be. We'll see what happens when they try to charge me interest and I fight it, hihihi. This is just comical relief onec a month now.

Got my bill yesterday, they still haven't corrected the $210 they overcharged me with. But they did add $25 administration charge to deal with my overdue account, plus a threat that they will charge me $50 disconnection fee and send me to a collection agency!?!!?!?!

Again I ask, why do they wonder why people steal their service? You get treated like a criminal when you pay!!!!

So, filed a complaint with the CRTC, and one to Bell through their website. With a memo at the bottom stating if my account goes to collection, I'll sue for harassment. This is getting rediculous!!!

They must make their money like this. It was a couple years back when I subscribed with them and was supposed to get monthly credits which never showed and I had to keep phoning them.

When I cancelled (just recently), they resorted to making automated calls to my number with threats. No chance to even argue with them. The best threat was if I didn't pay, they would deactivate my service and I would lose my programming - obviously one message for all delinquent accounts.

I really can't believe that even after you bring errors to their attention, they have to fill in some form (no authority) and while waiting, they expect you to pay the entire bill or they ding you with a $25 admin. fee.

You have to admire companies (like SC) which resolve billing issues while you are on the phone.

I had billing problems as well. After 3 or 4 months I wanted to cancel everything and somehow I got transferred to just bell. she read my file.....all the calls I put in.........and said I am putting your credit right now. She said she was writing a letter to the execs. as well.

IMO..................bell is great if you have no billing issues and are part of the privilidges program which removes wait times to min's.