Bell Express Vu

I switched to Bell Expressvu from a cable service in October of 2005, my experiences with Bell have been awful from the beginning.

The installation was scheduled for the morning (8-12) on a particular day, I took the day off work. I called Bell at 12:30 because the installer had not arrived and I was told that he was running late and would be there in the afternoon. At 4:30, still no installer, I called Bell again and was told that the installer had been at my home at 8:00am, but I wasn't there. Very plainly, I told the customer service person that was not possible and pointed out the obvious contradiction, nevertheless, the installation was rescheduled for the following week.

Once the satellite was installed, I experienced intermittent problems with the HD channels only, the picture would deteriorate and the sound would skip. I called Bell for technical support several times, and was put through the "please unplug the receiver" routine each time with no resolution. Finally, a technician was sent out and changed out some connectors, but the problems resurfaced a week later. A second technician was sent out - he was much more helpful and concluded that the receiver may be faulty, he also commented on the sloppy job the installer had done installing the system in the first place.

Not too long after that, the receiver failed completely and Bell agreed to send out a new one. I explained that we were leaving on an extended vacation in 3 days and would prefer to get the receiver before we left so we could use the PVR (video recorder) function. The response from the customer service rep was that he could not guarantee that it would be there within 5 business days. I repeatedly asked whether it was possible, his automated response was that he could not guarantee it. Not unexpectly, we left on vacation and the box had not arrived.

We returned from vacation 18 days later and found that the box had arrived, we picked it up from the courier company the following day. Included with the receiver was a note that if they did not receive our old receiver within 5 business days, we would be charged for it. I called Bell immediately and was told that there was no record of my conversation from before the vacation. I insisted that the conversation had taken place and was told that I should keep copies of airline tickets in case I need to prove to Bell that I was in fact on vacation! I stated that if it came to that, I would cancel my service entirely.

Any additional problems with HD or this charge for a receiver they sent knowing I wasn't going to be here and I will cancel my service immediately.

KT