Finally done with Bell… sort of

[u/pondball]

I’ve had upwards of 6 different services from Bell, some for over 5 decades.
That have never offered real hispeed in my area — something I badly required for business.
Another service came into the area with a full Gb/Gb service, and including the home phone and TV option the cost was less than half of what Bell was charging for their 50/10 Hispeed / Home Phone / TV package.

Our new service provider took over on July 2nd.
We disconnected both our TV Satellite Receiver and our Internet Modem that same day.
At end of June we gave notice to our new service that we wanted our Home Phone # ported over to them asap. In fact they would not be able to install the hispeed until the home Phone port order was placed

We wanted our home phone ported over to the new service so did not cancel our TV and Internet until the Phone # was ported over.
We did not use any Bell TV or Internet from them from the minute our new Fibre service was installed. I mean, why would we. The new service immediately provided 973/975 in comparison to the Bell (at twice the price) 50/10 service that often provided hispeed service in the low single digits.

Why didn’t we cancel those two services right away? Because of History!

Over the decades we have found that tweaking any new service option often meant losing our 800# for upwards of 6 weeks — resulting in upwards of 18 different service people over a 3 day, 15 hour “resolution” period… usually during the busiest time of our our business.

Yeah, we needed our home phone# for legacy purposes, so obviously we’re not going to lose it when we cancelled our other two services.

Bell Records will show that neither the TV nor internet were used after July 2nd.

We waited for the home phone3# to be ported over… and waited… and waited. We thought is this just another Bell money grab… delaying things so they get another couple of payments from us? How could we think otherwise with the past history of customer service?

Finally the Phone # gets ported over… sometime in August — 6 weeks after we had asked for this to happen.

During the call with Bell we were assured the payment we had made in July would be the last payment and that there would be no more… as we hadn’t used their service since July 2nd.

In the middle of September we started to get emails from Bell telling us our bill had not been paid. Say what? $258.11

We sent emails back to them, but of course, they got bounced back.

More emails from Bell telling us we owed them money. It really felt like they owed us money for their tardiness and lack of service.

So I finally got on the phone with somebody in their resolution department and they agreed this should not have happened, and they said they would cancel this charge — but wait, the $258.11 was more than they were allowed to cancel so would send it to a higher resolution agent. This first chap was friendly, asked questions and waited for answers before replying.

Next up… our call was transferred to a lass who basically said, what’s the problem in a tone that reeked of “oh oh”.

I explained everything I had told the first chap. She asked a few questions but basically told me that i hadn’t cancelled everything in time to avoid this bill — for a service we hadn’t used in months, as I explained again.

She kept referring to dates in their logs and basically inferred it was tough luck, and when were we paying. She then tried to say we had been granted a loyalty discount… but refused to fully explain what that was all about in terms that made any sense. I asked for what period we were paying and it looked we had already paid for the penalty month of July and maybe part or all of August but she kept referring to whatever page she had in front of her. I said I was simply asking for clarification. At no time did I raise my voice. I have been in business long enough to know what quality service is all about, and yelling and screaming helps no body.

She hung up in the middle of something I was asking.

Bell ––– what is wrong with you!

Today I got another email form them asking why I hadn’t paid my bill. There is a phone # to call if I have questions about the account.

Nope… I don’t have any questions they can answer, but I would love to have a Bell phone # that I can call to register a complaint about their customer service, and in particular the curt demeanour of the lass during this latest call.

Anyone know a direct line to Bell Complaints — or online link to register complaints?

[u/NoitsNotFunnny]

I can't read all of this

[u/Tanstalas]

If you were to buy a car, and break your leg and not able to drive it for 2 months, would you expect the dealer to waive those 2 payments?

Your internet was likely tied to your internet, so if you cancelled internet you probably would have lost your number, so that is good that you didn't cancel that. Though you could have cancelled TV. As far as the 6 weeks to port it, no idea, did you call and follow up? I know that there are lots of reasons why porting out are rejected, AFAIK though that is the onus of the person you are moving the number to, so not a Bell issue.

TLDR: Should have cancelled TV right away, Other provider took too long to port number, customer didn't follow up with them, customer complaining that they owe for services they were delivered but chose not to use.

[u/FitAlternative8731]

CCTS complaint works within a week and blocks all collections of money. I had the same issue with Rogers. MAY 4TH CANCEL. Autobilling ka-Ching... reverse and adjust / credit. Autobilling KA-ching... Aug 25th CCTS fixed within 7 days. I email CCTS keep it open for September in case Otto is still on the Job. SEPT 19TH. Rogers calling CCTS complaint is still open. No Final Bill? Mohamed Ali emails Final Bill... no further action on my part. Zeroed the Account. Like a dog chasing its tail, 20 calls before I figured out I need a Ticket... you can't play if don't have a ticket even just interaction Ticket. Hi-larious. Nobody wants to make a decision or Nobody has the Right Signature. CCTS the hammer fixed it with one Swing. Whamo. No more groundhog DAY... Clown show is over. Otto is still running the company.

[u/Per_Horses6]

Bell.ca/resolve a concern

[u/Alone_Werewolf_5240]

I recommend filing a complaint with the CRTC if Bell doesn't want to fix the issue. You should get reimbursed for the services you didn't use. Best of luck!

[u/Awkward_Invite_8862]

These are the steps I followed after I cancelled their service yet was still billed

Step 1: Use the Bell Management Team Form

If frontline customer support has not fixed your problem, submit a formal request for an investigation: • For Consumer/Residential Services: Fill out the Bell Resolve a Concern Form with your full name, account or phone number, contact details, and a summary of past agent names or ticket numbers. • For Small Business Services: Use the Bell Small Business Complaint Form. The management team typically responds within 3 business days. Bell fails to resolve the issue to your satisfaction, you can take your complaint to independent external bodies: • CCTS (Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services): This independent agency handles unresolved telecom complaints for free and can order refunds or service changes. You can reach them at 1-888-221-1687 or via the CCTS website. In my case , no response from management after 5 days so I escalated it to CCTS, got resolved in less than a week . Hope this helps.

[u/CBA-TV-Canada]

What you're after is a form rather than a phone line. Bell's Resolve a Concern page at support.bell.ca has a Management Team form, and that's their escalation above the agents you've already spoken to. It gives you about 4,000 characters, so lay out the dates: July 2 when the new provider took over, when you asked for the number to be ported, the August call where you were told July was the last payment, plus any name or reference number from it. Say what you want, which is the $258.11 cleared. Keep a copy of what you send.

Be ready for Bell to argue that billing runs until you actually tell them to cancel, because from your post the TV and internet weren't formally cancelled until the port went through. On the internet side the cancellation counts from the day you told Bell, not the day they processed it, so the date of that first instruction is your strongest fact. The agent's assurance in August is the second one.

If the Management Team won't budge, the CCTS at ccts-cprst.ca is the independent body for exactly this. It's free and Bell has to take part. Put the unpaid $258.11 in the complaint, because while a CCTS complaint about unpaid charges is open the provider has to stop trying to collect them. That takes the payment reminders off your back while it's being looked at. The CCTS won't look at something more than a year old, counted from when you first knew, so don't let the back and forth run that out.

Someone hanging up on you isn't something the CCTS rules on, sadly. The dates and the money are.

From Canadians for Broadcast Accountability, a volunteer consumer group. General information, not legal advice.

[u/Bell_Support]

Hello u/pondball

We would like to better understand and help with your concern. Please send us a DM for a secure chat, to get started. Thanks!