another reason to hate Bell Canada

Has it really been ten days since I last posted? Hmmm, whom or what can I blame? The heat? Nope. Myself? Probably. Bell Canada? Yes, why not!

And what is my latest reason for hating Bell Canada you may be asking? Well, they're making me pay for long-distance phone calls I didn't make. Yep, indeed. Here's the story. It's a longish one, so get yourself a drink.

Got my phone bill and noticed 15 long-distance phone calls that were made in the space of three days. Problem is that I didn't make any of the fifteen. In fact, I didn't make any long-distance calls for the entire billing period. So I get on my Bell Canada operated phone to enquire/complain, and of course encounter Emily. Now Emily and I don't get along too well in part because Emily isn't a person, but an automated voice recognition system. In other words, a computer and an annoying computer at that. Call me weird, but I don't really like the phone to begin with, and while I don't mind pressing numbers to indicate what I want, I resent having to speak out loud to someone who doesn't exist. Plus, when "she" keeps telling me, I'm sorry, I missed that, or I'm sorry, but I still didn't catch that, and You're trying to ____________. Is that right? I get testy real quick. When IT finally says, Let's try again. Tell me what I can help you with. You can say things like..., well, I end up saying things I'm sure she wasn't programmed to hear. Snort. 

This time I yelled CUSTOMER SERVICE REP! right away, and was put through to a real person. Who said, brpt brpt brpt brpt brpt brpt brpt brpt Angela brpt brpt brpt, to which I replied in my best Emily-like voice, I'm sorry, I can't understand your accent, could you please transfer me to someone else? Because you see, Big Corporation Bell Canada is so damn greedy, that in an effort to make itself more money, it has outsourced most of its call centre workforce to India. And while I actually feel bad for any employee Bell Canada is exploiting, when I'm agitated I don't want to have to struggle to make out what someone else is trying to say. Her response? Brpt brpt brpt not authorized to do so brpt brpt brpt. Well, I said, I guess the only thing I'm authorized to do is hang up. Which I did. 

So I called back and talked to someone I could understand a bit better, but not with better results. They tried to convince me I had somehow forgotten I'd made those calls. Kept telling me who some of the numbers belonged to as if that would prompt my memory. And parrot-like I kept repeating, I didn't make those calls, I didn't make those calls, I didn't make those calls. I finally told them to check my previous phone number and record (I had moved in June) to see how infrequently I called outside my local area. They then had the gall to tell me they already had. In other words, they could see this wasn't my usual calling pattern, but wanted me to pay anyway. Well, that pissed me off, and when I told them so, they finally agreed to give me a credit on my next bill.

The problem though is that they didn't try to figure out and fix what was going on. How can my phone line be registering calls that I don't make? And what about the next bill? What if this happens again? Their response? Oh, just call again and we'll send out a technician to troubleshoot because we can't have you calling every month. Um, no. And now that they know the situation, I certainly won't be paying for any more calls I don't make, credit or not. I have a pre-authorized payment system set up with them, but if I see any non-authorized calls, I'll cancel that so quick Emily won't know what hit her!

I'll keep you posted. Pass this on to other Bell Canada-hating Canucks! :)

Comments

[Krissa]

This same thing happened to Nick and me in the US. I think it's called 'cramming' if I remember, but that doesn't sound corrent. Regardless, if you google something to the effect of "illegal long distance charges" or anything like that, you'll see a very interesting history of this problem. And the phone companies are totally aware of what's going on. Usually the source of the call is a pay phone at a truck stop or some such. When it happened to us, our phone company had not yet outsourced its customer service to India (our internet had though and that's another story) and I was able to get the problem taken care of. Unfortunately I did have to resort to threats. I had an attorney at that time who had represented me against a truck dealership, but again - another story. One thing you can do when you get the Indian customer service reps on the phone is tell them to "stop reading that script". There's other things to say too, but it's too long so I'll pass it along in an email. One thing, does Canada have a Better Business Bureau? Report them. And report them to your local Attorney General's office. I'm not sure if Canada is exactly like the US as far as these things are set up, but it's probably so and even though it is not fair that you have to take your time to report your stupid phone company left and right, it's worth it. If you're feeling really feisty, write a letter to the editor of your paper or see if they'd do a story on the problem. Trust me, it's happening to a LOT of people. Sorry you had this happen. It is very frustrating. Let us know how it all turns out!

[Krissa]

Well just call me an elephant because I googled "cramming" and my memory was correct. Anyway, here's a link. I didn't read the info, but it looks like it has a lot there.

http://www2.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cramming.html

[piggy bank]

Thanks for the link Krissa! I hadn't heard of "cramming" before, so it's good to know. I'm thinking this may not have actually happened in this case (I'm hoping it has something to do with the fact that my line was accidentally connected to my neighbour's when it was first installed -- which was reported and fixed), but I'll have a better idea with my next bill.

But yes, I'll make sure to do an update!

[fed up with Bell. WHERE IS THE CRTC?]

Bell is the worst company in Canada. It makes me ashamed to be Canadian.
I hate Bell. I hate Bell. I hate Bell. I hate Bell. I hate Bell.
Last night they called me to tell me that I hadn't been paying my bills. I checked and Lo! I hadn't--because I HADN'T RECEIVED ANY! Despite the fact that they did my move order and hooked me up at my new place 6 weeks earlier, they didn't have a record of my new address!?!?!?!? WTF? Then they have some collections agency tell me I'M a delinquent?

[piggy bank]

I hear ya! And to have a collections agency call you? Not right. Plus, it's their error, so in my books that means you shouldn't have to pay. Are you with Sympatico as well? Because I hear a lot of people are moving all their stuff over to Teksavvy. Might be worth checking out!

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1169108842]

Here goes,
I hate Bell with a vengeance. I can write books about their bad service. It is never their fault. "repairs" are being done without coming to the scene. I get the whole selling conversation every time I call. Do I want their internet; No because your service is so lousy that I can barely hear the people who call me from the static. I wanted to be listed in the yellow pages because we have a small business . Guess what Bell owns them and kind of forced me into changing our residential listing into a business listing (otherwise no listing on the yellow pages). The next thing is that our crappy lines are now 2X as expensive and I have to pay $90.00 a month to be listed in the yellow pages. All for a total of just under $200.00per month tax incl. Just for the privilege of using Bell telephone lines (no airtime).
When I noticed what had happened I called right away and asked to cancelthe yellow pages. his can be done in about 12 months. There is no way out of this other then cancel my number al together. It is a shame I have now other provider to go to because we live in a rural area (10 minutes from London). Still, I'm so pissed with Bell, I'm cancelling our subscription and I'm going to try VOIP with xplornet wireless.
THE RTC should be ashamed of helping Bell out all the time, TAKE away their monopoly. "thanks for calling bell!!"
Have a great day
Ron

Rn

[piggy bank]

Sorry to hear about your Bell woes! And I agree that customers not having a choice because of the Bell monopoly is not a good thing. So yeah, sounds like wireless may be the only way for you to go. Sucks though. I wonder if Bell knows (although I guess it can afford not to care) how many people are so turned off by them? And I wonder what other recourse (other than not using Bell) we have?

[Melissa]

I am also not a fan of Bell Canada.I cancelled their so called sneaky services a couple of years ago.But my problem with them now is that they won't stop calling me trying to get me back.They call me atleast 2x a day 6 days a week(And i'm not kidding)it's not always the same person calling, but i've tried yelling,swearing,hanging up or just not answering the phone when i see the number.Nothing stops these people.Is anyone else having the same problem?

[piggy bank]

Hi Melissa, wow. I know Bell Canada has a service for if you get obscene or harassing phone calls, but not sure what you can do when the harasser is them! Yeah, I wonder too if hounding people is a regular practice for them. Wish I had some good advice to give!

[Melissa]

Yup it's a tough one not sure really what i can do.Bell has so many offices throughout ontario.I had the main office in Toronto calling me, now i got the bell centre in Oshawa calling.You would think that they would have given up on me by now.

[piggy bank]

Hey Melissa, I'm going to be writing another Bell column soon which hopefully will have more ideas, but in the meantime since Bell Canada doesn't seem to mind contacting YOU daily, why not email the President and CEO himself every day and see how he likes it? Snort. Don't know if this would work, but it can't hurt! If my Googling enquiries are correct, he can be reached at: george.cope@bell.ca