[digao]

I ordered Optik last week (will be installed on Jan 8th) and I asked the CSR at the time what was the cancelation policy as I'm signing for 3 years.

The person told me I have 30 days to cancel without penalties, but I read some posts on this forum saying that they don't offer a "trial period", so I guess my question one of the Telus employees is: Do I have 30 days to cancel without paying the penalty or not?

Thanks!

Rod

 

[Wiremonkey]

That is my understanding, but I've never had one of my customer's cancel so I can't be certain.

Ask for your tech's business card so you can deal with them direct if you have issues.



- another TELUS tech

 

[digao]

No Trial Period

Just an update on this subject:

I called TELUS loyalty and was informed that there is NO trial period when you agree to a contract. The person I spoke to (very helpful btw) told me to get it without a contract and then, if I decide to keep it, sign for the 3 year contract.

Doing this way I will pay the rental in the first month but not the programming service, since TELUS currently offers the first month for free.
After that I will pay 45/mth for 6 months of the Your Pick TV (75/mth thereafter) and have the one rental PVR and one HD box for free.

Rod

 

[hugh]

Thanks for posting back with the correct information.

 

[mellaby]

digao, That's good to here. I'm going back to Telus for the summer. That 6 month package is just the right length for me.

 

[Battery]

I think that is the rate for the first 6 months of a 3 year contract.

 

[mellaby]

I guess I'll just have to contact Telus when I get back in the spring. I was assuming that I would be considered a new customer after a six month break in service.

 

[digao]

The 30 dollar discount for 6 months applies to all new customers, regardless if you sign a contract or not.

The 3-year agreement will give you the discount on the hardware rental, not on programming charges.

My understanding from checking the website and talking to the TELUS loyalty agent is that those two promotions are completely independent.

 

[Wiremonkey]

Perhaps someone on this forum would know for sure, becuase this is out of my area of knowlwdge. Isn't there a law in Canada that anything sold to you over the phone or door to door has a 30 day cancellation clause with out exception?


- another TELUS tech

 

[Battery]

The 30 dollar discount for 6 months applies to all new customers, regardless if you sign a contract or not.

The 3-year agreement will give you the discount on the hardware rental, not on programming charges.

My understanding from checking the website and talking to the TELUS loyalty agent is that those two promotions are completely independent.

Ah, makes sense.

When I called today the CSR told me to do the month to month then lock in. Then went on to say that if my reason for cancelling was poor quality he thinks if I made a big enough deal about it I wouldn't have a problem cancelling.

I'm pretty confident I wont need to though.

 

[TNSF]

Perhaps someone on this forum would know for sure, becuase this is out of my area of knowlwdge. Isn't there a law in Canada that anything sold to you over the phone or door to door has a 30 day cancellation clause with out exception?


- another TELUS tech

For the most part thats an urban myth. There is a law somewhere about door to door sales of certain items requiring a cooling off period, but its old and I think limited to physical products and does not include services. And I believe it was a short period, something like 7 days.

Certainly there is no widespread law covering this scenario.

 

[Meestor_X]

For the most part thats an urban myth. There is a law somewhere about door to door sales of certain items requiring a cooling off period, but its old and I think limited to physical products and does not include services. And I believe it was a short period, something like 7 days.

Certainly there is no widespread law covering this scenario.

It's 10 days in Canada, and only is applicable to "Direct Sales", as you mentioned, meaning typically door-to-door sales.

 

[Visor]

I was on the phone with a Telus agent today (Holly), and she told me that the 30-day cancellation window does exist for 3 year terms. It's just not advertised anywhere. I'd like to trust her, as she informed me about all the other fine print (e.g. $5 monthly fee for XBox, $100 installation fee if you buy any new receivers down the road, etc.)

Visor

 

[digao]

I was on the phone with a Telus agent today (Holly), and she told me that the 30-day cancellation window does exist for 3 year terms. It's just not advertised anywhere. I'd like to trust her, as she informed me about all the other fine print (e.g. $5 monthly fee for XBox, $100 installation fee if you buy any new receivers down the road, etc.)

Visor

Hi Visor,

I wouldn't trust this at all. I was told the same thing and after my friend received a different information I decided to call them again.

I definitely recommend calling them again, this time select the option to Cancel Services. This will route your call to the Loyalty department, which I like to believe has the most well informed CSRs. After all, if you call to cancel after the install you will have to talk to the loyalty department anyway... All the "fine print" she told you is available on TELUS Optik web page.

 

[Visor]

Hi Diago,

Thanks for the insight. I acutally just got off the line with another agent and he informed me that he didn't believe any 30 day cancellation policy was in place.

Actually, my head is spinning right now as he gave me a lot of information that either contradicted the original agent I talked to, or even contradicted himself when I asked him to clarify his claims (!) Let me give you some examples (and I apologize if this may be getting somewhat off-topic for this Cancellation forum):

• The original agent (Holly in Montreal) I called 2 days ago told me that there didn't appear to be any available Optik ports for my location. She said she was going to assign a tech to check it out and make a port available, but this would take 24-48 hours. When I called the second agent (Goodman in Edmonton) today, he said that nothing had moved and that I'd still have to wait yet another 48 hours to get the answer to this. After complaining to him about the delay, he sent text messages in real time to the tech team, who responded saying they would investigate today. I should also note that this second agent knew how to access the "back door" of the system and informed me that 22 ports were available.
  
• Goodman informed me that I could use my PC as a set top box; all I'd have to do is pick up a tuner card. This sounded fishy to me, so after I asked him a few questions about this, he said "Oh, sorry, I meant that if you hooked up one of our HD receiver boxes to it, you could use it as a PVR." Well, alrighty then.
  
• Goodman offered me the first month of almost all channels open for free. I fortunately had the forsight to ask if the channels would go away automatically. His answer was "Yes", but then in the same sentence he went into a rant about how I would have to call Telus a minimum of 2 weeks before the end of my first month. Umm... so shouldn't his answer have been "No"? I think the guy has a slight problem with clear communication... I don't think English is his first language

So at this point, I feel like this whole thing is about as fragile as a house built out of playing cards. I'd definitely want to just go month-to-month and avoid the 3-year term until I'm absolutely sure I'm happy with the system. That said, I'm tempted to just cancel the whole thing and only go for the internet service, as the original reason I was looking at Telus was that their internet service was $10/mo cheaper than Shaw's. (I haven't had any TV service for a year. However, I don't think that the bundle price for Optik TV + Internet can be beat?)

Regards,
Visor

 

[digao]

Visor,

Here's how my TV package will work, assuming I will sign a 3-year contract after the first month:

Month 1
- All channels
- $0 TV (first month free)
- $25 rental fee (1 HDPVR $15 , 1 HD box $10)
- $50 for Internet Optik High Speed Turbo (25 Mbps)

Month 2 to 7 (could be 2 to 6, that's the only part I'm not sure yet)
- Your Pick HD package
- $45 TV ($30 Off New Subscriber)
- $0 rental fee (3-year agreement)
- $50 for Internet Optik High Speed Turbo (25 Mbps)

Month 7 and beyond
- Your Pick HD package
- $75 TV
- $0 rental fee (3-year agreement)
- $50 for Internet Optik High Speed Turbo (25 Mbps)

I think the second agente (Goodman) was confused about the freeview for all channels and the service cancelation. Companies will usually ask a couple of weeks to disconnect a service, but if you select you package upfront and get one free month with all the channels, your package should kick in on month 2.

I will not call after the first month to remind them to remove the channels I'm not paying for... If they leave those active, that's their problem. I will just make sure I have the right package assigned to my account with the correct amount being charged.

I hope it helps,

Rod

 

[Visor]

Hi Diago,

Yeah, I was offered a similar deal, but because I'm only looking at getting TV Essentials, it looks more like this:

Month 1
- All channels (well, except for PPV and some other specialties)
- $0 TV (first month free)
- $20 for Internet Optik High Speed (15 Mbps)
- HD box rental fee (haven't decided which box I'll be getting yet)

Month 2 & 3
- $23 for TV Essentials
- $20 for Internet Optik High Speed (15 Mbps)
- HD box rental fee (assuming I haven't gone on a 3-year term yet)

Month 4 and beyond
- $23 for TV Essentials
- $37 for Internet Optik High Speed (15 Mbps)
- HD box rental fee (assuming I haven't gone on a 3-year term yet)


Goodman actually surprised me when he called me back on Friday evening to tell me the techs were still working on getting an Optik port for me. At least he's following-up. I will probably call them later today or tomorrow to find out the latest. (Maybe I should call now, to make sure things are still moving along?)

Visor

 

[Amiga]

I was told that there was a 20 day remorse period. Mind you, I'm on month to month with no term / contract / promotion. I initially bought my boxes from TELUS, but returned them (within 20 days) when Best Buy / Future Shop had the CIS430 PVR for $99. FYI, you can add multiple PVRs to the account, but only the first acts as a recording device. Most CSRs don't know this and will argue with you. Why buy a CIS330 or Xbox when the CIS430 goes on sale for cheaper?

 

[Wiremonkey]

I was told that there was a 20 day remorse period. Mind you, I'm on month to month with no term / contract / promotion. I initially bought my boxes from TELUS, but returned them (within 20 days) when Best Buy / Future Shop had the CIS430 PVR for $99. FYI, you can add multiple PVRs to the account, but only the first acts as a recording device. Most CSRs don't know this and will argue with you. Why buy a CIS330 or Xbox when the CIS430 goes on sale for cheaper?

Because the 430 is less reliable because it has more that can go wrong with it? As well it requires more power and runs hotter if you need it in a cabinet with other equipment.

Those would be my two reasons why I will NEVER buy a 430.

It’s also a bit bigger if that matters and it will to some.

I much prefer the 3 year rental waive option. If the 430 breaks, TELUS will replace it free, you don't have that option if you purchase. I see no reason to worry about the contract thing. Most people were with their previous provider for years and years. I honestly see no real alternative coming within 3 years that will be better than Optik, of course that’s just how I feel. Optik is a great fit in our family and I would never consider going back to ShawDirect, and I will never have Shaw cable in or on my house again. In fact I have to say it's been quite nice this year to NOT have to go out and remove snow from a dish to watch TV! Oh ya Optik forever for me.


- another TELUS tech

 

[Visor]

Hello again,

Okay, so my original agent (Holly) called me back this morning to inform me that the manual port push had supposedly been completed. I told her about the situation with conflicting information regarding the 30-day cancellation. She contacted one of the cancellation agents herself, and the agent told her that the 30-day policy is federal law, and that they always honor the cancellation request when the user calls in. I will probably still contact the cancellation agents myself to confirm this personally.

That said, the only reason for me to go on a 3-year term right away is because they're offering a deal where I can get both an HDPVR and a second HD box rent-free for the entire term. This offer may or may not still be in effect in February, but Holly doesn't know what the February promos are at this time. I currently only have one TV, but I could always pick up a small second TV for my bedroom. I actually have a spare 19" computer monitor that has a DVI input; do the Telus HD boxes utilize HDCP? If not, then I could probably just hook the second box up to my monitor, using a DVI->HDMI adapter for video and a separate stereo system for sound.

Meanwhile, Holly informed me of a promo for $10 off TV for the first 3 months, which would bring down my TV Essentials to $13/mo for months 2-3 (Edit: I was going to update my previous post with this info, but it looks like I can't edit older messages once I've posted a new one). Diago, Holly also explained your promo to me, and it definitely sounds like you'd get the $45/mo offer for months 2-6, not 2-7. You should call to confirm, though.

Lastly, it appears that one of the systems still shows that no ports are available, so she's currently straightening things out and will call me back again. What a ride so far...