[My brother had an experience with his Internet Service Provider that he'd rather not re-live. With his permission, I'm posting his final communication here...He lives in Montreal...]
Re: Switching long distance and internet service to Bell for account number xxx
To whom it may concern,
I recently switched my long distance plan and internet service (ISP) to Bell, and I am writing to tell you it was the most frustrating experience I have ever had with a telecommunications provider. The level of incompetence that some of the Bell employees demonstrated was breathtaking. I would only be able to recommend switching services to Bell to someone with five hours to waste and the ability to spend hours on the phone while at work. To be truthful, I will not be able to recommend to anyone that they switch to Bell.
Why?
When I contacted Bell on March 2, 2011 to ask for long distance plan rates, the first customer agent could barely speak English (her mother tongue was not French, either). Getting a straight answer on the cost of a LD plan took a long time, thanks to Bell’s near-endless list of plans, specials, bundles, caveats, exceptions, outdated, insufficient and/or misleading website information.
When I got that straightened out, I asked about the cost of Bell’s internet service. I was transferred to an agent who handles that. To my astonishment, the agent I was connected with had been told that I wanted this service, and I found myself already signed up for it. I had to repeat about seven times that I just wanted prices, to someone who had only the barest grasp of English (no, this was not a French agent).
I do not appreciate being called Mister Cornick, or Mr. Carroll. Is Bell operating call centre sweat shops in China or India?
Thanks to Bell’s byzantine collections of plans, promotions, bundles, moving-target prices, etc, etc, it took me over an hour to decide that I could save money by switching my LD and internet services to Bell.
But then, when I received an email confirmation of my order, the LD plan was listed, but the internet plan was not. So I had to spend another 45 minutes or so on the phone to get the internet service added. One agent I called spoke such poor English (no, it was not a French agent) I hung up in frustration and called again.
To my amazement, despite your website stating that a technician would visit me to install the modem, I had to argue with another agent to get this service. He insisted that it was “very simple” to install a modem and most people can do it themselves, and receive the modem by mail. Does Bell train its agents to blow off customers this way?
Anyway, I had to make more calls because the prices on the order were not the same as those quoted to me, the technician visit day was screwed up in the order … by call number six I was speaking to the Loyalty Department, a presumptuous name, I think. It should be called the Fix the Screw Ups Department.
I got good service from the Loyalty Department, I must tell you. But then on the next confirmation order the technician visit/modem install date was wrong, and I had to call Bell again.
The technician arrived and did a good job. I was very satisfied with that phase of the operation.
Since my faith in the competence and ability of Bell to do what I asked it to had long vanished by this point, I made another call to make sure I would receive all the services I had asked for, and at the prices quoted to me, well, at one of the prices quoted to me.
Most recently, I checked my Bell account to see what services were listed there. Of course, the LD service was not listed. I called Bell again.
Then I got some sort of service summary from Bell, which included a $49.95 one-time modem rental fee. I called Bell again and was told that this form was outdated and that there was no fee. The agent said, “It takes time to make these changes.” Was he kidding? Bell doesn’t have the manpower to make changes to boilerplate forms it sends to how many tens of thousands of customers? Bell would prefer that its customers scream out loud than update its damn form?
I asked the agent for a phone number or email address where I could lodge a complaint with Bell, and he could not find a number for me. I hung up in total disgust. I went back to the Bell website and found your email address, deeply buried. I only found it by doing a word search on your website.
Thanks for making it so hard to lodge complaints. I appreciate your desire to … waste my time!
I had other miscellaneous problems with your website: To log in I had to enter my user name and password three times!!!! before getting in. When I tried moving to the page that listed my services, the website threw me out and I had to log in again. What the hell is going on???
In summary, your technician visit and service was great. Your Loyalty Department agents were good.
Your first-line agents were variously incompetent in English (no, they were not French) could not quote the same price two times in a row, had to repeatedly leave me waiting while they found things out. One didn’t even know what ISP meant! That’s like a shoe store salesman not knowing what shoes are. Your pricing is so complicated that I could have screamed. I received a discount special for buying a bundle, which entitles me to $15/month off, for one year, I think, I hope. I am still deeply suspicious of your agent’s repeated assurance that I will be able to renew this discount next February, for another year. I can tell you now that it is the discount, not the basic price/service, that made it financially worthwhile for me to switch to Bell. If the discounts are not repeated, I will be looking for a lower-priced provider next February. As it is, your prices are too high. Telecommunications providers are gouging Canadians, and that is a fact.
I made nine phone calls, spent who knows how much studying your “designed to confuse” pricing, had to fight to log on to my account, had to endure agents with an insufficient command of English, just so Bell can save money, I am pissing away another hour writing this damn letter, which Bell will probably ignore, and I can look forward to who knows what billing errors in the short term, and price increases next February.
I have left out some details, but I hope I have painted a picture you can understand.
I will happily recommend Bell to every masochist and self-flagellator I meet, but not to anyone else.
Yours with great disappointment and disgust....
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