Our telephone service had been "bundled" under Bell Aliant. Bell Aliant had all sorts of personal information from us, including formal permission that both my husband and myself could talk about the phone account, which included various landline services for two residences, two cellular services, Expressvu and high-speed internet.
When my husband asked for one of the two cellular services to be decoupled from the bundle for business purposes, he was met with nothing but rudeness, unskilled staff, lies and costs.
First, Bell wanted to set up the "new" account. According to Bell staff (contractors actually), he did not have authority to talk about the account. It appears Bell Aliant, although owned by Bell, does not share customer agreements through their systems. After a couple of days, the proper notification reached Bell and they agreed to create the new account.
Next, there was a charge to move the existing cell phone service to a new account. Kind of a nickle and dime approach to a customer with 20 years of loyalty, who pays $200 per month, but whatever. We paid the $35. Or whatever the fee was.
Next, my husband asked about an iPhone. Was it better to rent or buy. If he bought, were the rates lower? According to one retail outlet, the answer was yes. At another retailer (at the same mall), the answer was no. I called to inquire and got the name of the representative who said, yes there is a discount if you buy the phone. The next day, when my husband called to place the order, he was told that no representative of Bell would ever say such a thing and that his wife was a liar. Nice.
We continued to be billed for the cellular service when our Bell Aliant bill arrived that month. Figuring it would take some time for reconcilation to occur, we could live with that and paid the bill. But lo, the same thing happened the next month. However, in addition to the Bell Aliant bill, we also receive a bill from Bell. All for the same service. When we called Bell Aliant, we were told it was a Bell issue and to call them. When we called Bell, we were told it was a Bell Aliant bill, speak to them.in the end, we were told, "Trust us", pay both the bills and we will catch up to you. You will have a credit next month.
We won't hold our breath on that one. Meantime, the new iPhone drops calls continuously, in areas that are supposed to be fully covered by Bell Aliant's latest and greatest 4G network. Right!
When our bundle contract is up in a few more months, we will move everything — TV, two local services, two cellular services, high speed Internet and anything else associated with Bell / Bell Aliant over to Bell Aliant's most challenging competitor.
It's horrible to feel victimized by one company that calls itself whatever name suits its purpose. It's also horrible to think about what was a great phone company here in New Brunswick and the shell of a company that has systematically been hollowed out by the Bay Street thugs who call the shots for Ms. Sherrif. NB was once the most technically advanced geographic region in the word, thanks to the leadership and foresight of past NBTel presidents like Lino Celeste and Gerry Pond. Within a few more years, it will be much like the State of Maine, underprovisioned and not worth the attention of the "big boys" in TO who simply want to cut off the low-hanging fruit and suck the market dry before moving on.
0 comments