~ honest. sincere. embarrassing. funny. with a healthy dose of sarcasm. ~
___________________________________

Saturday, February 27

Bell Canada has a Potty Mouth.

I wasn't going to post about this. In fact, this particular episode happened about a month ago....and I didn't even discuss it in my Facebook status. But it's been stewing inside me - and I did a little research on complaints against Bell Canada and was blown away. I would be surprised if I could find one person who is happy with Bell Canada. One person? Nope, I highly doubt it.
And yet, they have the business of the majority of Canada. How does this seem work? Everyone has a horrible Bell story to tell -- and yet we are all forced to use their system in some way or another.

One word: Monopoly.

We had Cable phone, internet and tv through Cogeco at our last house and LOVED IT. The customer service - the price - everything was a million times better than dealing with Bell. Then we moved here - out in the boonies and they don't offer cable all the way out here yet. But believe me - we will be switching as soon as our little community joins the 21st century.

Now, my "Bell Canada Sucks" story; (Try typing that phrase into Google!)

I didn't want to share this story because it starts with a humbling truth that we were a few days late on our Bell payment. I was embarrassed to share that. But the more I talk to people - the more I realize that it has happened to everyone at some point. While I'm staying home with Cameron now - we are adjusting to the different income - with added baby expenses! - and have had to shuffle a few bills some months. So there. It happens.
Well, apparently when you are a few days late on your bill, Bell figures that they should call you 16 times a day to remind you. Because the bazillion other dollars that they receive from everyone else trapped in their Monopoly Hell isn't going to fill their pockets enough. No, they need my $150 for my phone and satellite too....or else they might go bankrupt. (And yes, as a side note - $150 is RIDICULOUS for only phone and satellite! We were paying that for phone, internet and cable with Cogeco!!) I would also on a side note like to mention that we have never been late paying before - so it's not like we make a habit of this - which is why I was so confused about the amount of phone calls I was getting!!

Any mother will tell you how annoying the phone can be, I get very annoyed when I am in the middle of something (putting the baby to bed, feeding the baby, doing laundry, even sitting down and having a cup of tea) -- and the phone rings. But when that phone rings, you run to answer it, only to find out that it is Bell - AGAIN - telling you that you are late, it's hard to remain calm.

I did though - remain calm. Well, most days.

One day, I had spoken to someone from Bell in the morning, calmly explaining that it would be paid the very next day. Well, that afternoon, when they called back - I was not as nice. As soon as he said he was from Bell - I hung up. That's it. I HUNG UP.

I have a temper - I have hung up on my husband before, I've hung up on my Mom - probably a few other people in the world have dealt with being hung up on. They have all gotten over it.

Not this guy. No, this Bell Canada guy decides that he should call me back. I guess I hurt his feelings?

I, of course, don't answer. I know who it is. So you know what he does?

LEAVES A MESSAGE.

And - I might add - not a nice message.

I had to listen to it a few times to get the full effect. He had an accent, was clearly speaking quietly and very close to his phone; (Censored for your sensitive ears...but you get the point)

"Jessica, go bleep yourself. You bleeping bleep."

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen - Bell Canada - the wonderful company who has 90% of Canada by the balls, making you proud.

3 comments:

Michelle said...

wow,that is incredibly rude! i hope you save the msg and forward it on to his superiors.....

Anonymous said...

Yes Jessi I hope you reported him! Late or not that is no way to deal with a customer. By the way, we switched to Rogers two years ago due to Bell's inability to fix our phone line. It would cut out in the middle of a call; be out for days, even after someone had been here to repair the line! The day after I switched to Rogers the Bell lines were blown down in our back yard due to a storm. Our neighbors phone was effected but because the cable was in my back yard I had to call Bell. Finally after about 4 attempts to make the person on the phone understand the problem, I called back and asked for "Customer Service in Canada" . The young man I spoke with tried his best to get me back as a customer (I had been with Bell for over 30 years). I finally hung up on him! Thank goodness they do not have the monopoly here in Toronto. Rogers customer service is excellent and the cost is reasonable. And on the note of missing your payment: I missed the December payment for whatever reason. When I received a notice in the mail I paid it right away and called as well. The gentleman on the phone was very pleasant. When I explained that I did not want my credit rating effected by this one missed payment, he assured me that all was okay as I had an excellent payment history. Bell should also be able to see that you have always made your payments! The more people I can convert to Rogers the better!

Jessi said...

Yes, I did report it to the supervisors - we called Bell and played it back for them.
However, we have no idea what happened (if anything) to the employee because "Bell doesn't make a habit of sharing that information with it's customers" ....so we hope that something was done -- I doubt anything was. I think Bell figures "Oh well - he got us the money, that's all that matters."

Maybe I'm just a cynic.