Yeah a while back, when I acquired a cell phone….because the price had come down and the landline price had gone up….I tried to end the landline.
One day while entertaining some chums….I related my frustration. The “phone store” declined because you have to call them from your home phone…..and on and on.
Of the 3, 2 were practicing lawyers and 1 a Phychologist. The lawyers were dismissive and wouldn’t believe my version. The doctor got on the phone and represented himself as me. Within a minute or so, the rest of us were monitoring on extensions.
The shrink was a model of composure until the company fool extended an offer….to reduce the monthly billing by exactely half If I retained the service…..then he lost it….It was like Jeremy Clarkson slugging Piers Morgan….
After the call ended with success, the shrink repaired to the porch and let out a yell that would make Tarzan jealous….
That brought 2-3 neighbors to investigate (rural)….suitably armed and wary….I got the first responders (sarc) to stand down….the one lawyer enquired whether ony one had called 911…response “why”…the other lawyer suggested drinks all round…
The dog returned from the upstairs….or somewhere….
I recall Lilly Tomlin doing a gag on this sorta thing….it’s not new nor novel nor rare….
Reminds me of the passive aggressive style the timeshare hucksters use when they start getting desperate. “Do you have something against relaxing tropical vacations?” “Do you hate spending time with your family?” “What kind of horrible person are you?!”
It took me almost 2 hours to get off AOL. I will never forget the insanity of them trying to keep me when they has all but cut Canadians out of the chat rooms.Australians as well. Paying for a service that actually blocked the internet. I finally had to resort to threatening phoning the CRTC of all places. What a company. After 12 years of being with them, I wasn’t allowed in the same chat room I had used for so many years? Glad they are almost dead. Though I must admit they had the best mail system online.
Thank you for that video,Edward. I love truth in advertising,which I’ve seen as often as the Ogopogo.
I had a similar experience about 12 years back when I was moving from one city to another.The cable woman just couldn’t accept the fact that I wanted to disconnect,and NOT reconnect with them in my new city.
In a moment of inspiration,I realised the EASY way out was to tell her I was moving to a remote town that didn’t have cable services.
When I said I’d be happy to continue with them in Blue River, her defeated and deflated reply,”oh, I’m sorry, we don’t provide service in that community”, was worth the aggravation of not getting the hell off the phone with her in the thirty seconds it should have taken.
My apologies to the good people of Blue River for having exploited your fine community for personal advantage.
I’ve had an ever worse experience with bell. In one year they billed us 14 times, 5 different account numbers and a $900. bill that just ‘appeared’ without explanation at all! That amount went from $500 to $900 up and down, in a flurry of invoices they sent in a matter of weeks – nothing made sense, even through I had been calling for over 7-8 months about the aforementioned billing mess.
No cell phone bills involved in this.
When I tried for days on end over a 2 month period to get resolution- they responded by putting our account/names into collections, while we were still paying our contracted price as agreed.
I had HAD it, so I called up other services and went with them; didn’t pay bell their last 3 weeks, threw their modem down the basement stairs and the dish in a heap pile in the garage. My name was already in collections so may as well add some legitimacy to it. :). So I did all that laborious form filing and complaint in writing and I totally admitted to owning the three weeks and broken modem, dish was fine and they can come and get it all.
My file was amongst the many that they lost in that last large suite, thankfully.
They never sent return labels for their junk as they were suppose to nor that final “real” bill – so now their sat is a bird bath, their other stuff has since been thrown away.
TOO boot another on going problem, bell often would takes DAYS to repairs our ONLY comm line, the land line on our road, always lots of noise on the line – they even sent a half dozen filters and told me to triple filter from all outlets! This occurred a few times a year for days at a time. ( We even were warned if they came in and found the noise on our end they’d charge us – we agreed, but noise was on their end and we didn’t get billed for that service call.) Was one of bell’s rep and the guy was very professional, courteous and worked with us. Had to cut drywall to reach inside box for testing – done on the spot -we gave no objections- then proof was – outside line -noisy.
So again, couple of years ago, after another long 3-4 day stretch of no service (internet, phone), I had had it. No longer a bell customer but I knew BELL is RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LINES, I called our MP’s office, our municipal office, our current phone service provider – yes, they were very helpful in regards to this, our insurance agent/company – to let them know we’re were paying taxes/bills but not able to get basic service and especially emergency services due to bell, followed up in writing. Suddenly bell trucks everywhere on our road within a couple of weeks – things been working perfectly since.
When bell initially came here, even bell’s repair guy couldn’t get a consistently strong cell signal to go out on his cell phone, one of his own calls was dropped.
Obvious we need our land line.
Happy to say since those repairs NO phone outages :). The line is clear and always there. Been almost 4-5 yrs with their competitors and am much more satisfied with this Canadian style of customer service and far more effective and real than what bell offered by only routing all calls to India’s sales offices, while pleasant and earnest as they usually were – about as helpful as a snow shovel for mowing the lawn.
Also realized we needed a totally separate internet feed/source so we got SAT service, a bit more money, but far better than relying only one source, those being bells land lines.
Must say we don’t miss bell, nor their endless sales calls from India pushing to sell us their cells & services every week. Silver lining, being on bells do not call list!
Well that’s my bell-hell saga and still keep all the paper work -about a three inch pile mostly from them, will never trust these guys again, be crazy to.
My sister encouraged me to go with Virgin Mobile almost 3 years ago. Best decision I made – Telus land line was costing me $ 70/month and Virgin is $ 27/month. Virgin employees are super nice as well and are authorized to give a rebate if you feel you have been unfairly charged. I am with Access Communications in SK for Internet/Cable – again super-nice people and great prices.
I picked up a locally-owned DSL service. Decent customer service, reliable speeds, and polite finance people. (Bill collectors take note, if you are a nice and friendly person, people will feel bad about not paying you) If you are in the Chicago area, I’d certainly recommend DLS.net (not a typo)
AT&T home phone has an evil automated system, but a very professional team of customer service reps. They do upsell you, but they drop it when they realize you aren’t interested.
Also, Verizon is usually pretty good. They have a lot of competition, though, which keeps them honest
That is the precise reason I loathe having to reconnect with another Internet service provider as I must in the next month.
The First Honest Cable Company
Yeah a while back, when I acquired a cell phone….because the price had come down and the landline price had gone up….I tried to end the landline.
One day while entertaining some chums….I related my frustration. The “phone store” declined because you have to call them from your home phone…..and on and on.
Of the 3, 2 were practicing lawyers and 1 a Phychologist. The lawyers were dismissive and wouldn’t believe my version. The doctor got on the phone and represented himself as me. Within a minute or so, the rest of us were monitoring on extensions.
The shrink was a model of composure until the company fool extended an offer….to reduce the monthly billing by exactely half If I retained the service…..then he lost it….It was like Jeremy Clarkson slugging Piers Morgan….
After the call ended with success, the shrink repaired to the porch and let out a yell that would make Tarzan jealous….
That brought 2-3 neighbors to investigate (rural)….suitably armed and wary….I got the first responders (sarc) to stand down….the one lawyer enquired whether ony one had called 911…response “why”…the other lawyer suggested drinks all round…
The dog returned from the upstairs….or somewhere….
I recall Lilly Tomlin doing a gag on this sorta thing….it’s not new nor novel nor rare….
Reminds me of the passive aggressive style the timeshare hucksters use when they start getting desperate. “Do you have something against relaxing tropical vacations?” “Do you hate spending time with your family?” “What kind of horrible person are you?!”
It took me almost 2 hours to get off AOL. I will never forget the insanity of them trying to keep me when they has all but cut Canadians out of the chat rooms.Australians as well. Paying for a service that actually blocked the internet. I finally had to resort to threatening phoning the CRTC of all places. What a company. After 12 years of being with them, I wasn’t allowed in the same chat room I had used for so many years? Glad they are almost dead. Though I must admit they had the best mail system online.
Thank you for that video,Edward. I love truth in advertising,which I’ve seen as often as the Ogopogo.
I had a similar experience about 12 years back when I was moving from one city to another.The cable woman just couldn’t accept the fact that I wanted to disconnect,and NOT reconnect with them in my new city.
In a moment of inspiration,I realised the EASY way out was to tell her I was moving to a remote town that didn’t have cable services.
When I said I’d be happy to continue with them in Blue River, her defeated and deflated reply,”oh, I’m sorry, we don’t provide service in that community”, was worth the aggravation of not getting the hell off the phone with her in the thirty seconds it should have taken.
My apologies to the good people of Blue River for having exploited your fine community for personal advantage.
I’ve had an ever worse experience with bell. In one year they billed us 14 times, 5 different account numbers and a $900. bill that just ‘appeared’ without explanation at all! That amount went from $500 to $900 up and down, in a flurry of invoices they sent in a matter of weeks – nothing made sense, even through I had been calling for over 7-8 months about the aforementioned billing mess.
No cell phone bills involved in this.
When I tried for days on end over a 2 month period to get resolution- they responded by putting our account/names into collections, while we were still paying our contracted price as agreed.
I had HAD it, so I called up other services and went with them; didn’t pay bell their last 3 weeks, threw their modem down the basement stairs and the dish in a heap pile in the garage. My name was already in collections so may as well add some legitimacy to it. :). So I did all that laborious form filing and complaint in writing and I totally admitted to owning the three weeks and broken modem, dish was fine and they can come and get it all.
My file was amongst the many that they lost in that last large suite, thankfully.
They never sent return labels for their junk as they were suppose to nor that final “real” bill – so now their sat is a bird bath, their other stuff has since been thrown away.
TOO boot another on going problem, bell often would takes DAYS to repairs our ONLY comm line, the land line on our road, always lots of noise on the line – they even sent a half dozen filters and told me to triple filter from all outlets! This occurred a few times a year for days at a time. ( We even were warned if they came in and found the noise on our end they’d charge us – we agreed, but noise was on their end and we didn’t get billed for that service call.) Was one of bell’s rep and the guy was very professional, courteous and worked with us. Had to cut drywall to reach inside box for testing – done on the spot -we gave no objections- then proof was – outside line -noisy.
So again, couple of years ago, after another long 3-4 day stretch of no service (internet, phone), I had had it. No longer a bell customer but I knew BELL is RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LINES, I called our MP’s office, our municipal office, our current phone service provider – yes, they were very helpful in regards to this, our insurance agent/company – to let them know we’re were paying taxes/bills but not able to get basic service and especially emergency services due to bell, followed up in writing. Suddenly bell trucks everywhere on our road within a couple of weeks – things been working perfectly since.
When bell initially came here, even bell’s repair guy couldn’t get a consistently strong cell signal to go out on his cell phone, one of his own calls was dropped.
Obvious we need our land line.
Happy to say since those repairs NO phone outages :). The line is clear and always there. Been almost 4-5 yrs with their competitors and am much more satisfied with this Canadian style of customer service and far more effective and real than what bell offered by only routing all calls to India’s sales offices, while pleasant and earnest as they usually were – about as helpful as a snow shovel for mowing the lawn.
Also realized we needed a totally separate internet feed/source so we got SAT service, a bit more money, but far better than relying only one source, those being bells land lines.
Must say we don’t miss bell, nor their endless sales calls from India pushing to sell us their cells & services every week. Silver lining, being on bells do not call list!
Well that’s my bell-hell saga and still keep all the paper work -about a three inch pile mostly from them, will never trust these guys again, be crazy to.
My sister encouraged me to go with Virgin Mobile almost 3 years ago. Best decision I made – Telus land line was costing me $ 70/month and Virgin is $ 27/month. Virgin employees are super nice as well and are authorized to give a rebate if you feel you have been unfairly charged. I am with Access Communications in SK for Internet/Cable – again super-nice people and great prices.
I picked up a locally-owned DSL service. Decent customer service, reliable speeds, and polite finance people. (Bill collectors take note, if you are a nice and friendly person, people will feel bad about not paying you) If you are in the Chicago area, I’d certainly recommend DLS.net (not a typo)
AT&T home phone has an evil automated system, but a very professional team of customer service reps. They do upsell you, but they drop it when they realize you aren’t interested.
Also, Verizon is usually pretty good. They have a lot of competition, though, which keeps them honest