Wednesday, June 08, 2005
I hate Bell
I know it's probably wrong for an IT/telecom journalist to come out and state they hate a company in the sectors they cover, but y'know what? After the shoddy customer service I've experienced from Bell Canada over the last few days, I've come to loathe the company.
Just because I want to vent, here's my story...
On Sunday night, the last call I was able to make or receive was at about 4:40 p.m. That's when Logan called me to tell me that he and Brian were dropping by early for the Mechamorphosis session. Somewhere between 4:40 and 5:30, my phone line went dead. Then a couple of hours later, it was up again, but I couldn't even really make out the dial tone through the really, really loud buzzing. It went completely dead again the next day.
Simply put, the line was fucked. Once the Mechamorphosis session was over, I trudged my way downstairs and called 310-BELL to discuss my problem with a Bell customer service representative. This used up about fifteen minutes of time on my cell phone (which is on Telus Mobility's service, not Bell Mobility's, I might add). Annoying, but a requirement, as I had no other way to call Bell.
I was told the earliest a technician could come around was Wednesday. I asked if it could be done before that, and I was told that nope, it wasn't possible. Fine. I would make do, for a few days.
This morning, I used my cell phone to pick up my landline voicemail messages. There was one waiting. Apparently someone from Bell came by yesterday (not today, but yesterday -- and nobody told me this!), did something outside and then left. He called my voicemail and left a message saying the problem was fixed. I only found out about the message because I called into my voicemail today from my cell phone, even though I had explicitly told the customer service person on Sunday to contact me via my cell. The jackass assumed I wasn't home, looked around, played with some wires outside and left, assuming the problem was fixed. The problem is not fixed, dammit! Our phone service is still dead!
I reamed out a Bell customer service person who told me that the earliest he could schedule another appointment was for the 11th! I told him that was unacceptable, because I work from home and require that phone line to be operational. And we freakin' pay for it to be operational! He said he would put in a rush service request, but there was no guarantee that it would be fixed before June 11th.
Man, this pisses me off to no end.
If it's not fixed today, Bell loses our business tomorrow. The telecom market isn't like it was even just a couple of years ago. We have other options. We could go completely cell phone, which isn't really the option I would prefer -- but it is an option, nevertheless; and Telus has always bent over backwards to make me a happy customer.
We can also sign up for a VoIP service. That would require some finagling inside the house, as the router is in the basement and we would want the ability to have phone service throughout the house. I'm a little leery of VoIP residential service because I would have to rely on my broadband Internet connection remaining stable. My Rogers high-speed service has been pretty good, but it does have its hiccups here and there. Another problem is that none of the residential VoIP service providers currently offering Ajax exchanges. The closest I can come is Oshawa, which would make calling Toronto a long distance call. I could go with a Toronto number, but then that would make us long distance to Jacquie's parents.
I'm already weighing my options. Unfortunately, none of the options are perfect. However, I'd rather have some service than no service, which is what I'm currently getting from Bell.
Just because I want to vent, here's my story...
On Sunday night, the last call I was able to make or receive was at about 4:40 p.m. That's when Logan called me to tell me that he and Brian were dropping by early for the Mechamorphosis session. Somewhere between 4:40 and 5:30, my phone line went dead. Then a couple of hours later, it was up again, but I couldn't even really make out the dial tone through the really, really loud buzzing. It went completely dead again the next day.
Simply put, the line was fucked. Once the Mechamorphosis session was over, I trudged my way downstairs and called 310-BELL to discuss my problem with a Bell customer service representative. This used up about fifteen minutes of time on my cell phone (which is on Telus Mobility's service, not Bell Mobility's, I might add). Annoying, but a requirement, as I had no other way to call Bell.
I was told the earliest a technician could come around was Wednesday. I asked if it could be done before that, and I was told that nope, it wasn't possible. Fine. I would make do, for a few days.
This morning, I used my cell phone to pick up my landline voicemail messages. There was one waiting. Apparently someone from Bell came by yesterday (not today, but yesterday -- and nobody told me this!), did something outside and then left. He called my voicemail and left a message saying the problem was fixed. I only found out about the message because I called into my voicemail today from my cell phone, even though I had explicitly told the customer service person on Sunday to contact me via my cell. The jackass assumed I wasn't home, looked around, played with some wires outside and left, assuming the problem was fixed. The problem is not fixed, dammit! Our phone service is still dead!
I reamed out a Bell customer service person who told me that the earliest he could schedule another appointment was for the 11th! I told him that was unacceptable, because I work from home and require that phone line to be operational. And we freakin' pay for it to be operational! He said he would put in a rush service request, but there was no guarantee that it would be fixed before June 11th.
Man, this pisses me off to no end.
If it's not fixed today, Bell loses our business tomorrow. The telecom market isn't like it was even just a couple of years ago. We have other options. We could go completely cell phone, which isn't really the option I would prefer -- but it is an option, nevertheless; and Telus has always bent over backwards to make me a happy customer.
We can also sign up for a VoIP service. That would require some finagling inside the house, as the router is in the basement and we would want the ability to have phone service throughout the house. I'm a little leery of VoIP residential service because I would have to rely on my broadband Internet connection remaining stable. My Rogers high-speed service has been pretty good, but it does have its hiccups here and there. Another problem is that none of the residential VoIP service providers currently offering Ajax exchanges. The closest I can come is Oshawa, which would make calling Toronto a long distance call. I could go with a Toronto number, but then that would make us long distance to Jacquie's parents.
I'm already weighing my options. Unfortunately, none of the options are perfect. However, I'd rather have some service than no service, which is what I'm currently getting from Bell.
// posted by Chris @ 11:06 AM 
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