Billing and customer service

I've been a customer of Bell's for about 15 years. Recently I switched my phone and satellite service due to poor customer service such as waiting for over 45 minutes to talk to a customer service representative when my service was interrupted.

I canceled my phone easy enough. When Shaw came to install my new phone line they took care of disconnecting and canceling my Bell line.

For my internet I was forced to keep paying for it after I disconnected in July 2008, until September 2008. After I continued to receive bills in October and November 2008 I called again and found I was still paying for the service that was supposed to be canceled. 2 months, many calls to Bell and after being told 3 different amounts, the service was finally canceled. After paying off the balance on 2 different occasions I was eventually refunded with 3 different checques but this took months of calls and speaking to different people, all giving me different stories and amounts I owed.

My cell is still with Bell until my contract ends. I recently found out they had reported me to the credit bureau (Equifax) in April 2009 for a 'late payment'. I had to call Bell several times until finally getting through to the billing department where a representative told me 'if you don't pay your bills you get reported'. I kept telling him I had, and have the payment records online through my bank to show it. He hung up on me and I called back several times but go nowhere. I then filed a dispute with Equifax and sent them my payment statement to show that in April 2009 I paid $50 and my bill was about $36.

I was told that I had carried a balance of $2.68 that month, and there was another previous month that I carried a balance of $6. I told the person at Bell that I had to call twice for bills that were not delivered, but had made the payments when they arrived.

Anyone at all considering Bell should be aware that being late $2.68 with them will be reported to Equifax, and your credit score hurt. Yet nothing happens to them when they mess up my bill and have to send me 3 refund checks when they months later, figure it out.

11 months, 2 weeks before my contract is up and I'm rid of them forever!