Tell Bell first: new Bell Canada demand
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Bell Canada now wants its bread buttered around the edges as well as on both sides.
In an arrogant move reminiscent of Verizon in the US, and which was struck down by the Federal Communications Commission, it wants the CRTC to order customers who don’t like its service to first check with Bell before moving on.
Currently, all anyone who wants to go elsewhere has to do is: call the competition and their phone number is ported away from Bell.
But Bell wants unhappy punters to call it first, “Giving Bell the opportunity to lower cost and offer incentive to keep the customer,” says Ottawa Gal, going on »»»
By forcing this new step Bell can literally cut the competition’s grass, so to speak, and cause the person to not experience the terrific service that exists outside the realm of Bell Canada.
Bell Canada has been hemeraging customers due to over-billing, traffic throttling, putting them on contracts with no notice, over-charging on bandwidth, changing their current contracts without notice or regard to the customer, not fixing customer line problems, and much, much more.
Bell’s last few quarter financial results reflect these losses.
Now Bell deems it fit that the customer has to first go through them to terminate their phone service and move to another provider.
This is clearly an anti-competitive move to stop their losses.
It’s also a huge blow to competitors who believe customers, and not the company, come first.
Per Bell: “31.
For the forgoing reasons the Companies request that the Commission remove from TSPs the authority to act on the end-users’ behalf in order to cancel local and long-distance services with their existing TSP during the customer transfer process. The authority to cancel service on end-users’ behalf is no longer warranted, continuing to mandate this authority is detrimental to customers’ interests, is an unnecessary hindrance to competition and is contrary to the Policy Direction.” If the CRTC caves in to Bell, it’ll clearly show all Canadians whose interests it’s protecting – and it isn’t those of the consumers.
More is sure to come of this.
Here’s Bell’s CRTC filing: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/public/partvii/2009/8657/b54_200903478/1023297.zip
Ottawa Gal – p2pnet
February , 2009
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February 19th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Don’t they ever stop trying to justify and keeping their pathetic existence of a service?
Now they want it mandatory for people to discuss why they’re changing phone service like some type of Doctor Phill show?
I bet the competition loves this one.
Pathetic.
I encourage everyone to try the competition out there for a few months to see the cost savings and to experience TRUE customer service without being treated like you’re only a dumb cash cow.
Change, before its too late.
February 19th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Can you give me an example of another monthly service where you don’t have to cancel? Also, wouldn’t it be to your advantage to be able to negotiate a better rate with your existing provider instead of going through the change? Given that the majority of people change service providers because of price, wouldn’t this make it easier for them to get a better price? Worst case scenario, you say “no”. Is that so hard?
February 19th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
With Bell its more than just price, don’t play dumb here john.
An this is not a “simple no”. OK shill boy?
This is a move to:
-lock them in contracts.
-Discourage them from changing. (This happens now with its internet users who call to cancel)
-Make it mandatory to jump through hoops to change provider.(This happens now with its internet users who call to cancel)
-Make it mandatory to listen to how sorry they are that they pocket raped you for years and now they will make it up to you. (This happens now with its internet users who call to cancel)
-Threaten you with fictitious termination fee’s (This happens now with its internet users who call to cancel)
- Also this is a move to not allow you from changing if Bell says you have an outstanding billing dispute
There is so much that Jon can write another 5 articles on this topic alone.
John (an obvious Bell employee shill), your shilling tactics won’t fly here. Try it else where.
Don’t even try to say all this requires is a “simple no.”
I know BettER
We know BettER
February 19th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I dropped Bell because of their BS they pulled on me. In March of last year I renewed my contract, then 2 months later I get a bill for 50% more then what was to be charged. When I called to complain they said that I had no contract total BS, I had to sign a new contract that was still about 30% more then previous. Then they started their throttling and I had enough, so I started to look for a new ISP and found Teksavvy who treats me great. I canceled Bell and moved to Teksavvy but Bell was not done screwing with me they sent me a final bill for $180 which I still refuse to pay to this day.
February 19th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
john said – “Worst case scenario, you say ânoâ. Is that so hard?”
But that’s not what will happen. You will probably have to phone them in an attempt to cancel, be put on hold, be relayed to a whole bunch of professional bullshitters who will try and convince you not to go (while not taking “no” for an answer until THEY are done talking), then be forced to respond to a 10-minute “customer satisfaction exit survey”, get delayed cancellations, etc. until you get so fed up with wasting your time that you just decide to stay with Bell. I bet dollars to donuts they have something like that up their sleeve. After all, they don’t want you to get a better rate, they just want to keep the priviledge of being able to gouge you.
February 19th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
If a company genuinely wants a good solid base of customers, it will offer sensible pricing, good service, and respectful treatment… UP FRONT! Companies that do this don’t need to cry to the CRTC for motherly protection, nor do they have to worry about their customers suddenly walking out.
People spend waaaay too much time, energy, and sanity battling it out with Bell over just the basics, before deciding to switch. And, Bell coming in with a sweeter offer at that time (never sooner!) only serves as the final insult.
Bell’s hemorraging, indeed.
May it bleed to death, and shock the CRTC into a fatal heart attack as well.
February 19th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
“Worst case scenario, you say ânoâ. Is that so hard?”
Yes it is, as if I should jump through anyone’s hoops to cancel an existing service when the new company will take care of it for me. The idea of having to contact Bell to cancel their services is utter crap.
*** How about Bell offers the lowest prices and changes every customers’ service to a lower price without even having to contact them? Why should I check with Bell to see if they’ll lower their own prices? Why not just lower them right now, automatically? Show some goodwill to their loyal customers?
Why would someone like me cancel Bell’s services?
- They attempt to add another roadblock to their consumers (ie the above article)
- They lied about NOT throttling bandwidth even when they were doing so for months
- They still throttle bittorrent even when independent companies have determined the Bell network doesn’t get congested enough to warrant ANY throttling in the first place
- The customer service is appalling (Bell Sympatico has the worst customer service I’ve encountered, Bell telephone is second worst)
- Bell telemarketing continues even after I’ve politely asked them to remove me from the list. I receive 4 calls per day from Bell Canada AIC – according to my call display
- When I switched from Bell Sympatico to a local ISP about 5 years ago Bell stopped my phone service cold, no dial-tone for 4 days. I lost business income because I couldn’t receive MY customers’ calls. After repeated phone calls to Bell they stated there was no problem with my phone line, then they had the balls to tell me they’re recording me after I demanded my service be restored toute suite.
I could go on and on…
February 19th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
SCREW YOU BELL
Ya call so we can hijack hte line and try and trick hte person ,find out where htey go and actually screw competition
DO NOT LISTEN DO NOT SPEAK DO NOT DEAL WITH BELL CANADA
February 19th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
AND jon by time your canceling with bell canada , you really do not want ANYHTING TO DO WITH THEM.
i am not alone and ive been pmed many others stories that are afraid to come forward.
February 19th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
About 6 months ago I tried to get faster internet service from my little ISP here. They said the speed would increase by using their fiber optic line they owned in the city instead of Bell’s lines. Was hoping to go from 5 Mbps to 7 Mbps. What happened was it actually lowered my overall top download speed from 540 Kps to 420 Kps and they took 25 Kps off my upload. I called my little local ISP and they said that Bell had obviously modified things on Bell’s end and there was nothing they could do but reset the line back to the way it was. They tried to reset and then I started to get my bandwidth limited, couldn’t believe it.
Screw you Bell Canada, I don’t even want my phone line with you but all I can do now is go to dry loop DSL so that I don’t feed you my money any more. I encourage everyone reading these comments to dump Bell Canada right now, don’t wait. We’re likely a few steps away from being forced to keep Bell since they seem to ass-kiss the CRTC, always get their way with the CRTC, and find a new way to screw their customers.
If anybody has suggestions for a great ISP in northern Ontario that has dry loop/VOIP I’ll check it out and dump Bell Canada as permanently as possible, ASAP. I’m checking into my ISP but I don’t think they do dry loop yet. Since I’ve switched long distance calling and internet away from Bell all there’s left to switch is basic phone service.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I saw that Orbit mentioned Teksavvy as an option to using Bell. My question: Is Teksavvy affected by bandwidth throttling by Bell since my understanding is it’s mostly all Bell’s network across the country and even large ISPs have to lease a chunk of Bell’s network – or am I misinformed? Does Teksavvy throttle bandwidth with high bandwidth users even on an ‘unlimited plan’? I’m checking out my options. Bell rots.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Unfortunately Teksavvy is being affected by Bells throttling thanks to the CRTC but they allow MLPPP connections circumventing Bell’s throttling and it works using one DSL connection or more. As for a Company I have never been so happy they are the best, just look on DSL Reports they have a 92% customer rating vs Bell’s 58% rating. When you call tech support you talk to qualified & certified tech’s and not some joe blow reading a script on their screen.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Forgot to add Teksavvy does not throttle at any time, if they did I would not have been able to download 960GB last month. The only throttling is on Bit Torrent and thats Bell doing not Teksavvy’s
February 19th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
For information on TekSavvy I recommend this forum to ask about them and the throttle by pass:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/teksavvy
However, about 20$ of what you pay TekSavvy goes direct in Bell’s pocket, since they are a Bell wholesaler. I don’t like that part. So I would personally tell you to go cable.
But if you don’t want to go cable (say because throttled Rogers is your only other choice), then yes, TekSavvy would be your best bet to by pass the throttle and they have amazing service and very low cost long distance. Worth changing everything over to them to see a nice cost savings + have reliable support that doesn’t dick you around.
February 20th, 2009 at 1:24 am
was a real circus to cancel……when you call if you speak english here in quebec. BELL has your call is transferred to another country…..when you do cancel, very important that they give you a confirmation number and that they email to you as i did
February 20th, 2009 at 3:52 am
Just say no ?
Rofl ! I went from Bell to ElectronicBox.net for Cable and Phone + i switched my number too. You have no idea how much trouble bell gave me before being able to switch my phone number. If this one pass with the CRTC this is a real JOKE ! I am glad i made the move before. Customer service of small isp is amazing and dedicated !
February 20th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Recently, I was at my regular grocery store. A sign was posted at the entrance announcing that, by government order, we would now have to check first with this store before buying groceries at another store.
That was a turning point for me.
The next day, I managed to sneak across the DMZ and I settled in Seoul.
February 21st, 2009 at 1:05 am
chronoss we don’t want you as a customer, that is why we disconnected your phone, using someone else’s credit card is illegal by the way and so is stealing pvr boxes
February 21st, 2009 at 10:42 am
@john…
Whether CHRoNoSS actually did these things or not, is irrelelvent here.
If Bell has a problem with him, I’m sure they can take it up with him – in a more appropriate venue.
You want to troll here for Bell?
Fine with me, really, but if you’re going to participate, I suggest you stick to the topic. If you have something constructive to say in Bell’s defense (though I highly doubt that), you would be doing them more of a service by presenting that, instead of what you’re doing.
As for the type of customers Bell does want, I would say the definition for that is getting narrower all the time, judging by how many its hemorraging. I can tell you, they certainly don’t want people like me as customers either. Not only do I continue to actually use the bandwidth I’ve paid for, but I don’t let them scam me with illegal contract revisions.
Bell only wants “good corporate consumers”. Those who will continue to pay for a premium connection while only checking e-mail one a week (and not engaging in file sharing), and blindly accepting every illegal concession Bell arbitrarily decides to make on their accounts without a peep.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Re: John
Have you tried to cancel services vs contact a sales dept? When I switched carries I was very happy I only had to call the people I wanted to switch to and not stay on hold for 30 minutes to fight with Bell. You say that people might be able to hagle a lower price well they still have that option if they so choose. The point here is Bell is trying to make that our ONLY option.
Screw Bell and all the cronies that keep it propped up. Can’t wait to see that ship sink.
February 25th, 2009 at 12:31 am
Bell’s move is like telling a rape victim that she will have to negotiate with the rapist. I don’t think so.
I can see they are scared to death with the new competition around the corner but they might try something new for a change like decent service. The January issue of Consumer Report (with Canadian supplement) rates Bell as the worst cell phone provider in Canada. Way up at the top, Virgin Mobile is the clear winner. The irony here is that Virgin runs on Bell’s infrastructure. The only difference is the way the company deals with the public. VM spends more time training their staff and provides them with the right attitude: the customer is always right. Well, almost. Bell customers are victimized by endless extortion fees (SAF, 911, outrageous SMS charges etc) that go straight into Bell’s pocket. Enough is enough.
February 25th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
@justme
“Way up at the top, Virgin Mobile is the clear winner.”
Virgin is a Bell brand.
I will never use Virgin because of this fact.
I will wait for the new start-ups this year instead, or go Rogers.
February 27th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
This article is a little outrageously sensational -> “Now Bell deems it fit that the customer has to first go through them to terminate their phone service and move to another provider.” Uh, maybe I’m missing something, but why WOULDN’T you cancel your service, whatever that service might be, prior to switching? Wtf!?
March 14th, 2009 at 5:21 am
@John, well you just revealed your bias, and, one can assume, your employer.
HOW DARE YOU REVEAL SUCH PRIVATE INFORMATION ABOUT ANOTHER – I believe a complaint to the webmaster is in order!
Apropos the article:
The fact that Bell cheats people left, right and centre and steals money from people’s bank accounts should be enough to convince anyone not to have anything to do with them. (They insist on having access to a bank account if they provide internet service. However, they add charges and do not notify people that they are taking out extra sums. A number of my friends had extremely nasty surprises and it was almost impossible to get their money back when it was Bell’s mistake!)
BTW once you change they have no right to contact you for 3 months. However, I am still getting mail from Bell even though they don’t come close to my current package deal and my experience with their customer service was only worsted by Roger’s customer service.
GOOD RIDDANCE to them both!