In late 2007 I ordered an internet promotion from Telus. The web ad showed a picture of a choice between a computer with flat screen monitor or a notebook in return for a three - year contract. I have a computer with a regular monitor and decided to upgrade. I applied for the service. The service that I already had was cable internet month-to-month and was $5.00 cheaper, but the new computer with flat screen justified the extra expense and contract in my mind.
They sent the modem and months went by with no further communication with Telus. I went on holiday until mid-March and returned to an email sent to my Yahoo account, telling me that I had to go to the Telus website to confirm delivery address for the new computer. I tried and failed to access the page using the information sent. I called Telus and received assistance from one of their agents, Greg. While on the phone with Greg, we discovered that I had not been sent a username and temporary password from Telus to access my Telus email account and so had been unable to respond to any of the emails regarding the service sent to me by them. They had been corresponding with me at that email address for several months. He rectified the situation and credited me 3 months as I had been unable to use it the service.
We confirmed delivery of the promotional computer and I received it on April 1st. When I opened the box I discovered that the unit had come with a conventional monitor and on April 2nd sent the following email:
“I'm sorry Rebecca. There must be some mistake. I received the computer but it was supposed to be a flat screen monitor and they shipped a regular monitor.
Please tell me how to get the flat screen.
Thanks a lot.”
By April 8th I had not received a response to my question and sent the following email:
“I have not received an answer to this question that I sent to you on April 2nd. Is it maybe because that someone at Telus doesn't want to deal with it?
Please respond asap and include a copy of the promotional web ad that I responded to (with photos). I don't understand why I would contract to pay $5.00 per month MORE for telus internet (and a three year contract), as opposed to month to month cable internet when the promotional product supplied comes with an obsolete screen that I believe is not even manufactured anymore. That wouldn't be very smart, would it? I was under the impression that I had a choice between a notebook, or a computer with a flat screen.
I'm eagerly waiting to resolve this.”
That was the beginning of 6 weeks of total frustration. First “Ramona” responded the same day with this email:
Hello Cheryl
I apologize for the delay in responding to your April 2nd email, currently we have a high volume of emails and are slightly delayed in responding.
We can no longer send you the link for the offer that was online since it is now expired and has been removed from the website. Below you will find the specifications concerning the PC offer you requested. When the PC was ordered you have the choice of upgrading to flat screen monitor, the cost of the upgraded flat screen was $269.00 and it had to be ordered at the time of redemption.
Lenovo 3000 Desktop Computer
$5/month for 3 years
Model only available with TELUS offer
AMD Sempron 3400 processor
512mb ram
80 GB SATA hard drive
Windows Vista Home Basic
17" CRT monitor, mouse, keyboard
CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive
1 year manufacturer warranty
Network Card (NIC) (not wireless)
Value $628
Optional upgrades to desktop
512MB RAM (total 1GB) - new $54.95
Dvd-rw - $134
19" widescreen LCD monitor - $269.00
Later that day “Suzanne” responded:
Hello Cheryl,
I apologize for the confusion with the monitors. The way it was explained to you, is how it is for all of our customers who have ordered that promotion. The only time a client will receive a flat screen monitor, or any other upgrade, is if they make that request at the time they redeem the offer. They also have to pay the required cost associated with the upgrade as well.
Thank-you for your email inquiry.
Here was my response, also sent on April 8th:
Nothing was explained to me at any time. This entire exercise has been totally fraught with frustration. No one ever contacted me and in fact, were sending emails for me to a telus email address that I was not given a username and password for until last week. Check my file.
The online ad showed a computer with a flat screen monitor. That is why I switched from cable to Telus internet.
I feel that Telus has conned me into signing up for a more expensive internet service than the one I was already on, by showing the computer with a flat screen monitor. I would like this situation to be rectified please. I already have a computer with regular monitor and have no need for another.
Thank you
April 14th I had still received no response so sent the following:
I am still awaiting a response to this email that I sent on April 8. I feel that the customer service needs working on.
Thank you.
April 16th I received this response from “Elaine”:
“Thank you for your e-mail.
I have reviewed previous correspondence regarding this.
I'm sorry, but, the 17" CRT Monitor is what was advertised on our website (as follows):
Includes 17" E773 CRT monitor (not LCD flat screen),
Keyboard & optical mouse
1 year warranty with Dell Technical Support
AMD Sempron 3400 processor
Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Works 8 (does not include Microsoft Word)
80GB hard drive
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 2DIMMs
16X DVD-ROM Drive
Includes NIC (does not include dial-up internal
Modem or wireless NIC)
Retail price $529 (subject to change by Dell)
BC & AB customers will need to enter a credit card #
And AB customers will be charged a $22 ECO fee GST
During offer redemption on the Dell.ca/telusoffer
Site.
We do not have any way whatsoever to get you the flat screen monitor.
Firstly, to get the flat screen monitor, customers were required to pay an additional $269 via their credit card at the time of redemption and, secondly, once the computer is ordered, there would be no way to revert back (to Dell or TELUS) in order to request the flat screen after the fact. The promotion is now completely closed and Dell will not honour this request.
I'm sorry that you feel that TESUS' intent was to trick you into switching to TELUS for internet service. Our intent with this promotion (and all of our promotions) was certainly not to trick customers into switching from competitors to TELUS. The computer was a bonus gift for agreeing to a 3 year term on our High Speed Enhanced service.
I do not have access to a picture of the computer promotion ad as it expired long ago. However, if you require, I can check with the Marketing department who may have this information available to print so that I can send it to you via mail.”
My response the same day:
“Hello,
I did not receive a Dell computer. I received a Lenovo computer. And yes, I would like you to check with the Marketing Dept. I would like to see the web ad.
Thank you.”
Later the same day I received another stock response from “Jessica”. My response the same day:
It's very hard to believe that a communications company would have so much trouble communicating with someone.
I am not interested in going around and around with different agents sending me the same response.
Here is the latest one that I received:
"Hello Cheryl
My name is Jessica and I will be taking care of your request today.
We can no longer send you the link for the offer that was online since it is now expired and has been removed from the website. Below you will find the specifications concerning the PC offer you requested.
When the PC was ordered you have the choice of upgrading to flat screen monitor, the cost of the upgraded flat screen was $269.00 and it had to be ordered at the time of redemption.
Lenovo 3000 Desktop Computer
$5/month for 3 years
Model only available with TELUS offer, etc, etc, etc
Regards,
Jessica
If you will read the text below, and my file, you will see that we are far beyond the stock response above.
I am now well beyond any patience that I had with this situation and expect a resolution by Monday, April 21st, or I will be filing a complaint with the CRTC over what I consider are deceptive business
Practises.
A phone call would probably be in order, or at least dealing with the same agent instead of multiple ones.
Maybe you should just tell me where to return the computer, monitor and modem and we can cancel the contract. This whole exercise has been filled with miscommunication and misrepresentation. I don't want to deal with incompetence anymore.
By April 22nd, I had still received no response from Telus so I sent an email asking where to return the computer and saying that I wanted to cancel the account. Received a response from “Janet” advising that she was forwarding my complaint to the Customer Loyalty and Retention department.
I spoke to 8 different agents via email over 3 weeks. I received a stock response from most and multiple responses from the same email! Not one followed up and one wasn’t even talking about the right make of computer that I received. I requested several times to deal with only one agent and was ignored.
I thought that finally I would be able to speak to the same person more than once and resolve the issue. On April 30th I called the 866 number that I had been given and spoke to “Farzana” in the Customer Loyalty and Retention department. After speaking for quite a while she promised to have someone from promotions call me and told me she would call me back asap to update me. She said it might take a while and asked for my patience.
By May 13th, I had still not heard from her and again called the 866 number. The person answering the phone would not connect me with Farzana, even though she was there. I asked for Farzana’s voicemail to leave her a message and was told that she didn’t have one. She said that Farzana had to receive permission to speak to me directly and would get that permission and call me back later in the day. Guess what? I didn’t get a call.
It’s beyond belief that a communications company would have such difficulty communicating with its customers. I am way, way past the point of attempting to resolve this issue with Telus and now only want an address of where to return the computer and modem and for them to cancel my internet account at no charge to me. Please help me.
Update: It is now June 15th. The computer is still sitting in a box in my living room. The CRTC can't help me with my complaint. I am now waiting for the results of a Better Business Bureau investigation, but we all know Telus doesn't care about that.
I guess I will be keeping the crappy computer and paying the extra $5.00 per month for the duration of the three year contract because I won't be paying to cancel it.
However, for the entire three years I will be telling absolutely everyone that I can speak to about this situation and Telus's response to it and the second the three years is up I will be cancelling not only the internet account, but also my landline and I will deal with ANYONE BUT TELUS.
0 comments