Bell Canada's Customer Service Needs an Overhaul

I came home from work one night 2 weeks ago and my wife was excited to

show me the great offer that we received in the mail from Bell Canada.

The offer would allow us to have our phone/internet/cable in one great

package at a better price than we were paying now. I looked at the offer

and said it looks good as we had a different service provider for all

our services. We called on a Friday, discussed the details and arranged

for a Bell installer to come to our house on Tuesday. The installer came

and made all the changes and was on his way in about 3 hours. We watched

our new Bell service that evening but never had the opportunity to see

if our new high speed internet service was better, faster. When we got

up in the morning and turned on our television to watch the morning news

the message came up that our Smart Card was not working. I went from the

room to go check the weather on one of our computers and it said we had

no internet service.

This is the start of our nightmare.

Lets start with the Smart Card (starting here because you have to talk

to different departments for each service). We told the customer service

representative that we just had our service hooked up and it worked fine

yesterday but now the television is telling us the Smart Card is not

working. They said that this is the first time that has ever happened

(imagine that the first time out of thousands and thousands of

customers). I told her okay what do we need to do, is someone coming to

my house or can I go pick up a card somewhere, say some strange foreign

place like a Bell Store or representative. They replied that it would be

sent by mail and it would be at our house before the end of the week.

When Friday arrived and the card was not in the mail I called Bell again

and of course had to explain the whole story to them again to get a

reply that it takes 5 business days before we will receive a card. I

explained that we were told that we would get the card by the end of the

week. She said there is nothing she could do but we would get the card

in the 5 business days. Today is the 6th business day and of course the

card is not in the mail. Here we go again, I call Bell, explain

situation yet again to another customer service representative and her

reply was that it takes 7 to 10 business days to get a card by mail. I

told her that this very poor customer service especially to a new

customer and felt that this will reflect on what service is to come. How

is it possible in this day and age to take so long for a company like

Bell Canada to do something as simple as delivering a card to the

customer when it is obviously a faulty product of Bell. (This was the

simpler of my complaints and the least frustrating of the 2 I have.

Let's move on to the the most frustrating experience of my life to

date......our internet service.

As I was saying earlier the morning after we had Bell switch

everything, I went to use my computer and the internet wasn't working.

As this is a different department than my television I had to call

another customer service representative in the internet department. I

explained that we changed to Bell the day before and the internet was

not working. He put me on hold, then came back after 20 minutes and told

me that the signal was going through and there must be a problem with my

phone jack. I told him everything had been okay with it for the last 2

years so why is it a problem now. The customer service representative

said well sometime when the other service provider is cancelled they

will damage your jack...... Seeing that the other service provider we

cancelled never entered my house this is not possible and I couldn't

believe that they would even say such a thing. The customer service

representative said he would try again to send the signal. I waited

another 20 minutes and he came back on and asked if I recognised a

different phone number than my normal number. He said that he found the

problem and I had a dry loop line that was only for the internet on that

jack. He said that they would have it working overnight as the problem

could be fixed from the Bell office. Next day comes and internet is

still not working. I call Bell again, of course different person so

explain the whole story again. They say they have to transfer me to

repair. I explain yet again the whole story and the customer service

representative tells me that it will be fixed overnight. This was over 1

hour on the phone between the 2 operators to get to this point. The next

day arrives and of course no internet......here we go again call Bell,

got sent to 3 different operator, yes explaining entire situation each

time and I am finally told that someone would be coming to my house

tomorrow. This call was 1 and a half hours. I call work and book the day

off as my wife needed to be gone by noon and you get the usual time

frame of someone showing up somewhere between 9 to 5. Bell calls us at

1:30 pm and after 20 minute conversation the guy says he will be at my

house before 6 pm that evening. No one shows up, great waste of a

holiday.....thanks Bell. I call Bell at 6:30 and of course the office is

closed, so I call the repair number. I explain my situation in full all

over again and the guy say I can fix your problem right now, let me put

you on hold. He of course is trying to do the same thing as every other

operator and comes back in 25 minutes to say he can't fix it but he sent

it to the back room and they will have it done by morning. He gave me a

verification number and said to call Bell tomorrow to verify that the

fix has been completed. I again call Bell and after speaking to 2

different operators...and yes explaining from the start the issue I was

having, I am told that the repair will not be completed until next

Wednesday. I had enough and asked to speak to a supervisor. after

explaining again the issues and the poor service I was receiving from

Bell he was nice enough to switch me to another person who would discuss

my displeasure with the Bell customer service.......Surprise, surprise

this was on a Saturday and the number he switched me to is only during

business hours through the week....thanks again Bell. This was after

talking 40 minutes to the operator and Supervisor.

I call again on Monday this time to a customer complaint line and of

course no one is available to take your call but if you leave your

number they will call you back..... That was 30 hours ago....still

waiting.

I call again on today and finally got an operator who could make sense

of it all and she got hold of a supervisor who even as completely rude

as she started out to be by the end of the conversation seemed to

understand. Her tone and attitude changed greatly after a couple of

minutes and she has promised me that they will now put a new line in my

basement and someone would be at my house between 9 to 15 this Thursday.

This is where I am at so lets hope I am close to the finish on this

issue.

Over the last 8 days I have talked to 19 internet operators explaining

situation each time for a total of over 9 hours. It blows my mind in

this day and age with the technology and education system that we have

there is this many problems with a company like Bell for customer

service. Really, in the case with my Smart card why couldn't Bell just

give you a verification number which you could take with Identification

in hand to nearest Bell store and give you a new card. I know that a lot

of company's would be out of business if their customer service was this

poor and the only reason they are still here is the volume of people who

need the service... Shame on you Bell.

P.S. I am buying a new house in the spring and I think it is safe to say

you will not see any Bell services in it.....

Paul O'Connor

Barrie, Ontario