I Hate BELL!!!

[Finner]

So i figured I would start my own thread to rant about how terrible our telecommunications companies are.

So i've been with bell for about 5 years now, 3 years on my first contract, and another 2 more on another 3 year and I received a letter from them today stating the following:

(Summarizing)

Due to increast costs, as of August 8th, 2008:

Call display will increase from $5.00 to $7.00, Message Centre Express will increase from $5.00 to $7.00 and all text messages RECEIVED will be charged $0.15 unless you subscribe to a plan or bundle.

WHAT THE HELL!!! Why the hell do you sign a contract if they can just up your rates whenever they want.

And charging for RECEIVING text messages? So if my friend sends me a long message about his weekend i get charged? I get no say?

I already pay a phone bill of about $90 (it serves as my home phone ase well) per month for:

450 minutes anytime
6PM - 8AM and weekends unlimited talking
75 Text messages
Call display
Message centre
Unlimited web browsing

I probably send about 100 text messages / month and receive 150...so now i have to pay to get messages. I will basically see my phone bill go up at least $14 assuming I pay for unlimited text messages.

Thats my rant. Any ideas what I can do?

[wpgflamesfan]

wow your getting raped for what you have. i'd call rogers or telus up and see what kind of deal they could give you. Tell them your switching over from Bell

[Finner]

And i bet this is going to happen to all bell customers.

The problem is its going to cost me $200 to get out of the contract and even more money to get a new phone (preferably a shorter contract). Will rogers or telus give me a deal on a new phone? Also i still want the unlimited web browsing. Which company is better?

[Kev]

Basically what it should say is:

"Due to increased costs (perceived and real) everywhere, and although it doesn't affect our industry nearly as much as others, we would like to take this opportunity to increase our costs at a time when it is most likely to be least resisted, and hopefully increse our profits in the process.

We would also like to take this time to thank you for your continued ignorance and apathy regarding these matters."

[MJK]

edit...ummmm..wrong thread.

[Khel]

Kooooodo!!!

Kick those fees....

[Buff]

They are currently having a nationwide outage. At least thats what they told me when I called regarding our wireless modem not working.

[Metro Gnome]

Call Bell and threaten to leave (sincerely). If they don't do anything to retain you, pay the charge, get out the contract and look for a better deal elsewhere. That's what I would do, at least.

[SaprykinPWNSjoo]

Bell does not retain you. I just called to close my account last week and they said ok done. You then get a letter in the mail about 5 days after advising you to call their retention line as your business is valuable. In my opinion this is ######ed way of doing things. But I will keep everyone posted once I give them a call and see if they will retain me

[wooohooo]

Wow... you pay way way way too much. I haven't even been with Telus for a year and they've switched my plan and made it better about 3 times now. I have a pretty good plan IMO, just gotta talk to the right people (retensions... they have the power to do anything! )

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by fotze

The contract you sign says they can chage the terms at any time with 1 months notice, you are able to break the contract at that point but pay all penalties. It is amazing that people like myself will sign such horrific contracts so they can save $50 on a phone that is antiquaited (sp?) 3 months later.

No kidding, any other business tries to do that and i'd tell them where to go and how to get there, but for some reason they always sucker me in with cheap phones.

[OilKiller]

Yikes....15 per received text message.

I'm with Bell. Nothing about that on my last bill.

[Bob]

Canadian telecom companies are one of the few sources of irrational hate I have.

Oh, to be a dictator for a day ...

[Finner]

Originally Posted by OilKiller

Yikes....15 per received text message.

I'm with Bell. Nothing about that on my last bill.

It wasn't on a bill. It was just a one page letter i received from them today. From the way it reads, it effects all bell cell phone users.

Keep an eye out for yours in the mail as well.

[Finner]

Originally Posted by fotze

Oilkiller knows full well about Bell and is lubing up his hind region as you read.

I didn't get any lube. At least he has prior notice, I just got chaff marks.

[OilKiller]

Originally Posted by fotze

What the fata is wrong with us, both with Bell, are we fatain stoopid?

I bitched so much that I ended up getting a wicked deal with them, so I stayed. Can't say I'm impressed with this news though.

Originally Posted by Finner

It wasn't on a bill. It was just a one page letter i received from them today. From the way it reads, it effects all bell cell phone users.

Keep an eye out for yours in the mail as well.

Oh I'm gonna'...

Originally Posted by fotze

Oilkiller knows full well about Bell and is lubing up his hind region as you read.

Yep...just went to the store to get some more lube in preperation for the main event. Fricken' Bell...

[Rathji]

I had pretty much the identical plan about 6 months ago. I looked into Rogers and figured out I could get a brand new phone, a plan to save me 35 bucks a month. So I called up Bell, explained that I wanted them to take thier plan and shove it and I would happily pay out the charges since I would save 2X that amount over the course of 2 years.

They signed me up to Fab 5, gave me extended evenings and weekends for free, no charge call display and gave me an additional 100 bucks towards a new phone. They will kiss your butt to keep you signed up. Just do your homework to know what you can get.

Another tip for if you need a new phone. Phones you buy as pay as you go are way cheaper ( they wanted 200 bucks for my replacment phone to put it on my contract, so if you walk in and without giving them any information on yourself say you want to buy the phone as a pay as you go phone, but without any prepaid time. Then when the transaction is final, hand them the phone back and tell them to activate it on your account.

[wooohooo]

I've found the retentions with bell is much more difficult than with say... Telus. My sister has bell and they pretty much just offer to cut her plan while telus just tries to keep you.

Then again, Bell has better reception (I was told it shouldn't be... but in my apartment I get 1-2 bars my sister gets full) and have more phones.

[604flames]

Has anybody else run into this?

I've been trying to pay my bill online for an hour, something I've done for 3 years at least now rather than receive it in the mail, and bell.ca keeps telling me that I haven't linked an account to my profile! I don't have my account number 'cause I haven't gotten a paper bill ever and it's not anywhere on my contract.

[SaprykinPWNSjoo]

Hey guys just called bell for my exclusive offer and got nothing. Was put on hold for 30 mins finally someone came back and said there is nothing we can do sorry for that. And just like that I am leaving bell