Bell Canada Home Phone
Bell Canada - No way to get refund on unauthorized charges

Bell Canada is the worst service provider in my books for two solid reasons, and I now refer to them as Bell Can'tada:

1) Bell Can'tada wasted 5 hours of my time over a four week period just to have a new line installed in a basement apartment aftet I moved (over which time I did not have access to the phone service.

2) Bell Can'tada would not credit my account for any of the time wasted, AND Bell Can'tada charged me $99 for the install, even though I only agreed to a $50 charge, which is what they told me over the phone.

(By the way, this isn't the first time I was burned by this horrible company. They increased my home phone line by $2.50 a month for long distance, even though I never ordered this service. They also started charging me for incoming text messages on my cell phone.)

To help other people, and stop them from making the mistake of going back to Bell Canada, here is a bit more detail:

I called Bell Can'tada in the middle of November 2008 and told them that I need to have the phone line moved to a new location (a basement apartment just down the street). I also told them that a new line needs to be brought into the house, not just a "jack install". The representative told me there is a $50.00 fee, and I said fine. I originally thought it might be a good idea to just go with another provider and avoid the activation/install fee, but I decided $50 is the limit. If it was more, forget it.

They did not schedule a time with me to have a technician come over, so when I came home from work nearly a week later and found a note from a technician I realized that I could not rely on Bell to figure out such a simple task, and I had to call them to schedule a time that works (well not really, I had to come home from work an hour and a half early).

So another week goes by and the technician that shows up at about 7pm (I got home at 4:50pm, and waited because the representative on the phone could not guarantee he would not come exactly at 5pm). He tells me "Oh, I was only told this is a 'Jack install', I cannot bring in a line from outside, it is too dark out." He also told me that he would fix this situation and make sure the next guy would be prepared. He asked what time would be good, I said Saturday.. then he asked me around what time. Why can he arrange any time, but the rep on the phone who took my order can't?

So about 5 more days go by until the Saturday that another technician shows up.

He said "You need a jack install". Then right away he saw my face and said "someone came here before didn't they? ". Louie, the Bell technician that came seemed to make everything better. He was able to do the install anyway. I asked about putting the line behind the drywall, and de said "we don't fish lines, that is not included", BUT he said if I was able to fish the line while he did work outside, then that is fine (which worked out). So Louie, thanks, you did a great job. Unfortunately your employer is dishonest and makes you life very difficult.

So my Bell bill just came in, and they credited the $55.00 back, only to charge me $99.00 instead!! (plus tax). If I knew it would cost that much, I for sure would not have paid for this install, and changed providers instead. I would have never agreed to $99.00 just to install a dumb line. I have so many other options (I wish I looked into them earlier).

The worst part is I cannot get the money back, and if I do not pay my bill, I will get bad credit and probably have annoying collectors calling me.

Bell Can'tada, you have been dishonest, frustrating, and unreasonable. I would never recommend your services, and I would only recommend that anyone who has an account with you to do a bit of research online to save money and get better service.

Bell Can'tada does not have competitive prices, they are ripping you off. I was so impressed by a VOiP provider that charges only 60% as much and has service representatives that are much more helpful, that actually listen.

Please look up other home phone service providers. You can save over $50 per month (Treat yourself to a really nice steak dinner and glass of wine once a month instead of being a customer of Bell Can'tada!)