Bell vs. Shaw

[Coys1882]

From a strictly quality point of view - is Bell's reception as good or better than Shaw?

Shaw's constant heel dragging when it comes to adding channels that I want is frustrating to say the least and I'm interested in switching to Bell.

Anyone have some success stories they want to give me to help make my decision?

[HOOT]

"Bell sucks" - OilKiller

"I love Bell" - HOOT

It doesn't matter who you ask you are going to get a different story. Some people have had horrible times with Bell TV customer service, where most don't have an issue in the long run. I have had Bell for over a decade now and have had zero complaints, never had signal loss (in both Calgary & Victoria winters) and love their quality compared to Shaw.

Just last week I phoned Bell and they ended up giving me 20% off my bill for the next year without extending my contract or adding any new programming. Bell has the better picture quality, where Shaw has better customer service, luckily with Bell you won't have to phone customer service all that often.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by HOOT

, where most don't have an issue in the long run

luckily with Bell you won't have to phone customer service all that often

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Great contribution! And you give me a hard time? At least I actually gave an answer.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by HOOT

where Shaw has better customer service, luckily with Bell you won't have to phone customer service all that often.

That's interesting Hoot as I've had NOTHING but bad experiences with Shaw's customer service - I feel I'm often met with CSR's full of complacency or complete apathy. Or... maybe I'm in for a rude awakening of what average customer service really is? haha

Thanks for your reply HOOT!

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

That's interesting Hoot as I've had NOTHING but bad experiences with Shaw's customer service - I feel I'm often met with CSR's full of complacency or complete apathy. Or... maybe I'm in for a rude awakening of what average customer service really is? haha

Thanks for your reply HOOT!

As far as I'm concerned any company that is servicing hundreds of thousands of customers, if not millions, is never going to be perfect when it comes to that sort of thing. Personally if I don't hear the right answer from a customer service rep, whether Bell TV, Shaw internet or whatever, I will just call back and talk to someone else.

As I've stated in the past I could have Shaw cable for free but I decide to pay for Bell for a reason, quality.

[taffeyb]

Depends on who you ask...I just switched over from Bell to Shaw due to bad customer service. I had limited feed from one of my boxes (the other one worked fine). Bell wanted to charge me for a service call so that I could watch the channels that I pay for on their rental box. This is in addition to arguing with them over my "discount" for 5 straight months before they finally got everything corrected. That being said, Bell was cheaper for the same channels. I just got fed up...

[ken0042]

I also called Bell to get 20% off my bill yesterday. A few weeks ago I called to make some changes to my channels. Both calls were as good as any service I have received from Shaw.

Picture quality is about the same. I have noticed Bell a little better with regular HD, and Shaw seems to increase the bandwidth for premium HD events; like NHL playoffs as an example.

One thing Shaw has in their pocket is the ability to bundle everything; TV, Internet and Phone. Bell doesn't have that, but Telus has their satellite service through Bell so you could bundle there.

The one thing that stops me from ever considering Shaw again was my last dealing with them. Worst cutomer service I have ever received; and that included a couple of calls back to escallate.

[Ryan Coke]

Maybe I missed something in the retentions thread, but what did you guys do to get the 20% off?

As for the thread, I have had bell for amost a decade as well, and have had no significant issues. The very rare time when I have had signal loss is for a few minutes during a particularly nasty thunderstorm. But really, it is very rare and has never lasted more then a couple minutes.

I also could have had shaw for free and kept my bell.

[oilfan69]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

Maybe I missed something in the retentions thread, but what did you guys do to get the 20% off?

As for the thread, I have had bell for amost a decade as well, and have had no significant issues. The very rare time when I have had signal loss is for a few minutes during a particularly nasty thunderstorm. But really, it is very rare and has never lasted more then a couple minutes.

ditto
How did you guys get 20% off for a year? My monthy bill is about $120 a month so it would be a nice chunk of change over a year...

[IGGYRULES]

As a bell subscriber for the past 6 years, I have made the change to shaw, installer comes Monday to hook us up. This is mostly due to their billing practices. Discounts promised are rarely applied until you call them and wait on hold for an hour and then the csr needs to figure things out. I'm certain they do this on purpose as many may not notice the discount wasn't applied. In my opinion they are quite shady for one of Canada's largest companies.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

Maybe I missed something in the retentions thread, but what did you guys do to get the 20% off?

Originally Posted by oilfan69

ditto
How did you guys get 20% off for a year? My monthy bill is about $120 a month so it would be a nice chunk of change over a year...

Just phone in and when the automated girl asks what you are calling about say "cancel" and when you talk to retentions just say "I'm looking at switching over to Shaw because they have a 50% off for the first six months and I'm wondering how much notice I have to give you". They will counter with 20% off and your set.

[ken0042]

My bill is around $120 as well. Called in- pressed the prompts to cancel, and told them Telus had a $59.99 offer and Shaw had a $79.99 offer. They tried to tell me they had more channels than Shaw, but I kept repeating "History HD."

[zarrell]

Originally Posted by oilfan69

ditto
How did you guys get 20% off for a year? My monthy bill is about $120 a month so it would be a nice chunk of change over a year...

If/when your contract is up, call Bell and choose to cancel your service. They may offer you a deal right then - depends on the CSR or your monthly bill. Looking at what you're paying right now, I'd say they will offer you the 20% off no problem. However that's not good enough. My bill is only about 60-70 a month but I was able to get 20% off and free HD PVR rental for the year ($240 value). If they don't give at least that to you, proceed with the cancellation and you will have 30 days until they will disconnect the service. Expect a call within a week from Bell offering you a better deal. Be as belligerent as possible and refuse to pay more than you want. They actually offered me 30% off my service (employee only discount they said) if I would sign a 2 year contract. Passed on that one.

[oilfan69]

Originally Posted by zarrell

If/when your contract is up, call Bell and choose to cancel your service. They may offer you a deal right then - depends on the CSR or your monthly bill. Looking at what you're paying right now, I'd say they will offer you the 20% off no problem. However that's not good enough. My bill is only about 60-70 a month but I was able to get 20% off and free HD PVR rental for the year ($240 value). If they don't give at least that to you, proceed with the cancellation and you will have 30 days until they will disconnect the service. Expect a call within a week from Bell offering you a better deal. Be as belligerent as possible and refuse to pay more than you want. They actually offered me 30% off my service (employee only discount they said) if I would sign a 2 year contract. Passed on that one.

I will call but my problem is I own 5 hd receivers and 1 sd receiver so I dont actually intend on cancelling. I know I'd have to dish out quite a bit to replace the hd receivers...

[ken0042]

You do need to bluff a bit. Also tell them Shaw is going to trade in your receivers

I have 5 as well and that never came up. Their only selling points were more channels, and Telus' contracts.

[Sylvanfan]

Anyone with an extra HD receiver that they'd be willing to pawn off? I prefer the channels offered by Bell, but some bad experiences with equipment in the past had me pretty livid with them. Sick the CRTC on their arse and than they might consider fair billing practices. Still in a small town they were my only HD option for the last two years. Now I have other options and unless they give me a sweetheart of a deal I'll go back to Shaw without hesitation.

[zarrell]

Originally Posted by oilfan69

I will call but my problem is I own 5 hd receivers and 1 sd receiver so I dont actually intend on cancelling. I know I'd have to dish out quite a bit to replace the hd receivers...

Even if they call your bluff (which they wont) you can call back within 30 days of canceling and tell them you've reconsidered. Nothing to lose by "canceling"

[chemgear]

Sidebar - Shaw is giving out free HD PVR upgrades if you commit to the NFL package for this year. Apparently the retail locations are pretty swamped with the deal/upgrades right now.

Some online forums do indicate that there may be minor issues with the new DCT 3400 though (video breaks if hooked up to a receiver rather than directly to TV?) Not sure how bad it really is.

[oilfan69]

thanks, called and now i'm saving $20-25/month