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OK, here's my story for future generations :-) This time Bell enraged me so much I almost left. Unfortunately there are no good alternatives for me...
I had two cell lines with Bell, plus a landline. One cell was still on contract (9 months of 3-year contract left), another is out of contract.
I had both cells on $45 retention plan (200 min + unlimited minutes between us + 1Gb shared data). It's OK but data is a bit small even for us. One phone had a $7 messages feature (500 messages). Plus a $5 bundle discount for having it on one bill with my home phone.
What I wanted initially: a good plan with upgrade to Note 3 on one cell, no upgrade yet for another. Similar in price to what we had. After 3 calls to retentions 1 month apart - no luck, retention plans are ridiculously bad now. Nothing remotely close to what we had already was available - prices started with $55 with no upgrade and $65 with upgrade. Horrible.
I decided to change my requirements: get slightly more expensive plans with unlimited nationwide calling, and cancel my landline (connecting cellphone via blutooth device to our home phone with 5 handsets), thus even saving money.
- 2 more calls to retentions - no luck. Horrible plans even without upgrades. They offered me exactly the same plan as on their webstie for the same price. To my amused question "how is it a retention plan?" They answered "oh, it has a US messaging and a full message senter instead of lite!". I politely declined...
- I decided to go for their off-the-shelf small business BYOD (no term) plan, which is actually good: $40 first line + $40 second line + $30 2Gb shared data. And buy me a OnePlus One phone (which I did - amazing phone and very cheap, if you can get an invite). I'd pass my Samsung Galaxy S3 to my wife and retire her old Galaxy S. Those plans include unlimited Canada-wide calling, unlimited messaging (text, image and video) etc. I own a small business, so why not.
- But remember, I was still on contract for one line. So I called retentions again and asked to transfer me to that plan. They said they can't even see that plan because I'm on contract, but store should be able to do it for me. Hmm. I smelled something fishy, so I called the Bell store, explained how one of the two lines is still on contract and I want to get a $40 BYOD plan: and they said "Yes, sure, we can do it for you".
- So next day I drove to the store and literally wasted an hour until they run a credit check and all the phone verifications and holds... Before they began I explained my situation again and asked "are you sure you can do this?". They said "Sure!". And of course after wasting an hour they could not because I have a balance on my account. They assured me everything staid the same with my plans, they were just moved to small business account now.
- Next morning I found out that both lines have disappeared from the website. Then I realized that I must have lost a $5 bundle discount because they are not on the same account as my home phone anymore. So I called retentions again, to put everything back. Surprise: they can't! Because my plans don't exist anymore, and strangely it looks like moving to business account while retaining plans is fine, but back to consumer is impossible. So because of their mistake I only lost money without gaining anything, and they refused to correct it in any way or offer me any compensation. When I asked them weather they realize how ridiculous the situation is and how much time it has cost me - they still refused to do anything. That's when I almost left Bell. They are evil :-)
- Next day I called Bell again, thinking that I don't have any choice now but to pay full remaining balance on my phone (was quoted $200) and get those business plans. Wanted to speak to retentions, but regular CSR convinced me he should try helping me first. First he told me that my lines has already been cancelled! ****! I need to keep my numbers! But it was a false alarm... Then he couldn't do the update - computer won't let him. He put me on many holds, but he did try hard. After 40 minutes on the phone, he said he found a workaround - I should pay with credit card over the phone right away, and then he can get me those plans. I agreed. Surprisingly it was $117 and not $200 as I was quoted same day. And after activating the plans I asked if he could compensate for my troubles and Bell's mistakes. He said "Sure!" and gave me a credit for the next bill (yet to see of course) for the $117. While apologizing many times during conversation for holds and mixups... He was also nice to offer me 3Gb instead of 2Gb of data for the same $30 (which doesn't exist online). He told me "I see 2Gb or 3Gb for the same $30 - which one do you want?". Err... 3Gb, of course, I said...
- After another session in online chat, figuring out how to see the new plans online, it really seems now that I have that $40+$40+$30(data) plan. I'm yet to see my first bill, but I provided they didn't screw up anything else, I can exhale now. Just found out today that the $7 messaging package is still on one of the lines (ridiculous on top of unlimited messages), so I removed it today online (I've no more endurance for those calls).
- What's left is to order a dry loop from Acanac in parallel with Bell's line, make sure VDSL Internet works, then cancel the Bell landline and pray that they don't also disconnect the dryloop by mistake.
I had two cell lines with Bell, plus a landline. One cell was still on contract (9 months of 3-year contract left), another is out of contract.
I had both cells on $45 retention plan (200 min + unlimited minutes between us + 1Gb shared data). It's OK but data is a bit small even for us. One phone had a $7 messages feature (500 messages). Plus a $5 bundle discount for having it on one bill with my home phone.
What I wanted initially: a good plan with upgrade to Note 3 on one cell, no upgrade yet for another. Similar in price to what we had. After 3 calls to retentions 1 month apart - no luck, retention plans are ridiculously bad now. Nothing remotely close to what we had already was available - prices started with $55 with no upgrade and $65 with upgrade. Horrible.
I decided to change my requirements: get slightly more expensive plans with unlimited nationwide calling, and cancel my landline (connecting cellphone via blutooth device to our home phone with 5 handsets), thus even saving money.
- 2 more calls to retentions - no luck. Horrible plans even without upgrades. They offered me exactly the same plan as on their webstie for the same price. To my amused question "how is it a retention plan?" They answered "oh, it has a US messaging and a full message senter instead of lite!". I politely declined...
- I decided to go for their off-the-shelf small business BYOD (no term) plan, which is actually good: $40 first line + $40 second line + $30 2Gb shared data. And buy me a OnePlus One phone (which I did - amazing phone and very cheap, if you can get an invite). I'd pass my Samsung Galaxy S3 to my wife and retire her old Galaxy S. Those plans include unlimited Canada-wide calling, unlimited messaging (text, image and video) etc. I own a small business, so why not.
- But remember, I was still on contract for one line. So I called retentions again and asked to transfer me to that plan. They said they can't even see that plan because I'm on contract, but store should be able to do it for me. Hmm. I smelled something fishy, so I called the Bell store, explained how one of the two lines is still on contract and I want to get a $40 BYOD plan: and they said "Yes, sure, we can do it for you".
- So next day I drove to the store and literally wasted an hour until they run a credit check and all the phone verifications and holds... Before they began I explained my situation again and asked "are you sure you can do this?". They said "Sure!". And of course after wasting an hour they could not because I have a balance on my account. They assured me everything staid the same with my plans, they were just moved to small business account now.
- Next morning I found out that both lines have disappeared from the website. Then I realized that I must have lost a $5 bundle discount because they are not on the same account as my home phone anymore. So I called retentions again, to put everything back. Surprise: they can't! Because my plans don't exist anymore, and strangely it looks like moving to business account while retaining plans is fine, but back to consumer is impossible. So because of their mistake I only lost money without gaining anything, and they refused to correct it in any way or offer me any compensation. When I asked them weather they realize how ridiculous the situation is and how much time it has cost me - they still refused to do anything. That's when I almost left Bell. They are evil :-)
- Next day I called Bell again, thinking that I don't have any choice now but to pay full remaining balance on my phone (was quoted $200) and get those business plans. Wanted to speak to retentions, but regular CSR convinced me he should try helping me first. First he told me that my lines has already been cancelled! ****! I need to keep my numbers! But it was a false alarm... Then he couldn't do the update - computer won't let him. He put me on many holds, but he did try hard. After 40 minutes on the phone, he said he found a workaround - I should pay with credit card over the phone right away, and then he can get me those plans. I agreed. Surprisingly it was $117 and not $200 as I was quoted same day. And after activating the plans I asked if he could compensate for my troubles and Bell's mistakes. He said "Sure!" and gave me a credit for the next bill (yet to see of course) for the $117. While apologizing many times during conversation for holds and mixups... He was also nice to offer me 3Gb instead of 2Gb of data for the same $30 (which doesn't exist online). He told me "I see 2Gb or 3Gb for the same $30 - which one do you want?". Err... 3Gb, of course, I said...
- After another session in online chat, figuring out how to see the new plans online, it really seems now that I have that $40+$40+$30(data) plan. I'm yet to see my first bill, but I provided they didn't screw up anything else, I can exhale now. Just found out today that the $7 messaging package is still on one of the lines (ridiculous on top of unlimited messages), so I removed it today online (I've no more endurance for those calls).
- What's left is to order a dry loop from Acanac in parallel with Bell's line, make sure VDSL Internet works, then cancel the Bell landline and pray that they don't also disconnect the dryloop by mistake.
