Bell Lets Talk About How You Stole From Me And How You Get Away With It

 

***UPDATE April 11th, 2021 info at the end of this post.***
***UPDATE March 5th, 2021 info at the end of this post.***

    This is going to be a major rant about how I was treated and completely fucked over by Bell Canada and how they just get away with it when I (the customer) have no way to deny, dispute, or reject their claims about me having their TV, Internet, and home phone services.

Back in around between May and August 2019, I got their new iPhone 11 Pro Max on a 2-year term agreement. But upon getting their service, I had nothing but terrible reception. I was lucky to maintain a connection of One Bar signal. It didn't matter if I was indoors or outdoors. I'd get a 'No Signal' notification or barely hold on to a single bar.

I made many calls to support and they would always say they'll have a technician look into it on their end. I've troubleshot with them so many times I pretty much did their whole script for them in the later calls. "A technician will look into it and we'll get back to you,"  was all I ever got. Never a solution, no calls back, no reduction in billing for services not being provided that were promised in their package deals. NOTHING! They couldn't tell me why their service sucked but had absolutely no problems charging me Full Price every single month for services they couldn't provide.

    My girlfriend liked my iPhone and decided to get one for herself also, but she saw how terrible the service I was getting with Bell Mobility and knew better than to go with them. She went to Rogers. When she got her phone set up and ready to go, the signal strength was good and strong! She teased me a lot about this too. I wasn't too happy with the difference in signal strength we were getting side by side. The cell towers were even just down the road from us too. It made no sense.

So I decided to bite the bullet around December 2020. I decided to move my services to Rogers. So I paid off the amount owing for the iPhone 11 Pro Max in full, which was about $1,200 I think and I went to a plan from Rogers. Everything was ported over. The phone number stayed the same and all I had to do was pop the new sim card into my iPhone 11 Pro Max and BOOM! I had an actual strong signal!

"What does all that have to do with the claims you said you were trying to dispute?" you may be asking yourself. Well, all that was just to show how bad this company is and also to note that the only service I EVER had with them was a Mobile Account. Never had TV, Internet, and home phone service with them, EVER! But they sent me a letter saying I did out of nowhere.

    Apparently, an account (#4985634) was also created under my name and identity. An account for TV, Internet, and Home Phone service that never existed here in this home. But they claim that service was set up around the same time I had my iPhone account set up with them. They claim that the service was set up around May 2019  and disconnected in August that same year.

So from May 2019 up until January 26th, 2021 I never received one single bill for these services that they claim that I have with them. NOT ONE! No phone calls, no letters at all. 

The letter I did get from Maria Ferranti - Vice President - Bell Collections on January 26th, 2021 said that I owe them $476.79 and that it needed to be paid in full by February 8th, 2021 or it would be sent to collections. I ended up calling the 1-800 number on the 28th (the day I finally got through to somebody and was also transferred 4 times to get to agent #1) to tell them that they made a huge mistake. I told them they need to remove these charges and delete the account because I never had their service aside from a Mobile Phone service. I told them if this goes to collections and fucks up my credit (I've been fighting to get a good rating for years) I'll blast them all over Social Media and I'll make sure everybody knows who they really are and how they really care about their customers. The rep (Randy) couldn't tell me what the charges were for and said it may be for TV, Internet, and Phone. He said he couldn't do anything about the charges and I told him I need to speak to his fucken manager because I wasn't going to just let this go.

RANDY: "Sir, please refrain from the language. Keep professional on the call, and don't be swearing on it, please."

ME: "Raaannndy. Don't tell a person who you've just pissed off to stop fucking swearing. That's the worse fucking thing to tell somebody who's pissed off at you. It's just going to piss a person off more and wanna jump through the phone and strangle the fuck out of you. Now put your god damn manager on right now!!"

Randy said he couldn't get a manager on the phone and that he would have one call me back within 24-48 hours.

A week goes by and it's getting closer to the end date. I call in again (Thursday, February 4th, 2021) and also get transferred around about 5 times before somebody marginally competent enough could handle the call. I think his name was Chris and said that Randy didn't put any notes in about a Manager, and he also said that he couldn't tell me what the actual charges were for either. So I demand to speak to a manager again, and yet I'm told again that one will call me back. *sigh* I make it very clear about what's going to happen if this goes to collections and that the end date is very close, so this manager better call back soon.

    Friday, February 5th, 2021 - I was writing names down but I'm not sure if was Doris or not, but is the one who called back this day. She was a manager. We went over the whole thing again. She said I owed them money, I said I never had service, and she said it was set up in my name and ID, I said I don't care because I never had the fucking service, and it went in a circle like this for about 5 + minutes or more.

I asked her what the charges were for, and surprise, surprise! She couldn't tell me either! And then she said that the account has already been sent to collections!!

ME: WHAT!? IT BETTER NOT BE FUCKING GONE TO COLLECTIONS!! 

DORIS: yeah, it says that this account t is closed and is being sent to collections already. 

ME: THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN TILL THE 8TH!!!! 

DORIS: (sigh) Yeah, I see that, but the system.

Why is it that just because they say, "The system did it." makes it so it's out of their hands? If the system did it, they need to make the fucking system un-do it! Saying, "The system did it" is a cheap copout and a pathetic cowardly way to say, "not my problem."

If I owe somebody money and they can't tell me why I owe them money, I find that a little bit suspicious. How can companies just say, "Hey you owe me." and get away with it like that? You'd think that they would need proof right?

I argued with Doris, and she didn't seem to give a shit about fucking my credit over. She didn't care at all. She suggested that when I get a call from collections that I explain to them that this may be a case of ID Theft.

ME: LOL! What the fuck? Are you serious!? Those assholes that call you have one job, and that is to harass you till you pay up. They don't give a shit about you or your sob story. This should have NEVER gone to collections if you suspect ID Theft!

DORIS: I'm sorry but there is literally nothing I can do now that this account has already been forwarded to collections.

So basically I got a big, "Fuck You." from Doris and, "THE SYSTEM."

I can't understand how people can get screwed over by companies like this. Why is this allowed? How can the average Joe defend against this?

Because of Bell Canada, my credit rating that I have been trying so hard to get in good standings is going to go back into the shitter because of a "SYSTEM". All because (What I suspect) some idiot made a typo in billing or accounts. Or clicked the wrong button because they were distracted by the Gossip on the call center floor. A mistake that's going to cost me $476.79 and a hit to my credit rating.

So, I am posting this on all the social media sites I can. Just to share my personal experience on how I was treated mistreated. It would be super awesome if you also shared it. I believe this story needs exposure. I think there should be a non-profit group that can help fight this sort of abuse of power by companies. Maybe there is, I am just not aware of it.

Don't let the "SYSTEM" get away with this abuse. I can't understand why they can do this and get away with it. I also find it hard to believe that I'm the only one who Bell Canada has fucked over like this.

***UPDATE: March 5th, 2021.***

Well, this next part just got me to the point of having an aneurysm!
I got another FINAL NOTICE from them Dated 2021/02/25. Even though the last one was supposedly already sent to collections on Feb 5th, 2021. This Final notice has an additional $200 owing now. 

I again spent hours on hold and was transferred to multiple agents, all of who can't say what the charges are for and tell me there's nothing they can do. None can explain why I'm getting a SECOND Final Notice when the first was already sent to collections and how or why this second one has an additional $200 charge on it.

I submitted a complaint to Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) because I just can't let this go. I hope that they can put some sense into somebody's head at BellAliant.

How does somebody get service in 2019 and never get a bill until 2021?

***UPDATE April 11th, 2021 info at the end of this post.***

So a few weeks ago I spoke with Customer Insight & Resolution Specialist at Bell Aliant after the CCTS go to them and they still insist that I ordered something that I didn't and I stood my ground and denied it. Anyway, they sent me bills showing that they set me up (Bills that I never got until two years later) and I told her that that doesn't mean anything to me. Old Bills don't have my signature or a recording of me agreeing to such service. I told her that somebody with fat fingers obviously made a big typo and I got shafted with somebody else's bill.

Thanks to CCTS they told Bell not to send this to collections until it is resolved. But all we did was go in circles, YES YOU DID, NO I DIDN'T, YES YOU DID, NO I DIDN'T!.... etc... 

Eventually, Bell Aliant agreed to deduct a few things from the $675.79 bill that they just randomly send me from a service I didn't have 2 years prior.
They agreed to Remove  a late payment charge of $15.01 (2-year late payment only $15??? See why I smell something fishy???) That wasn't going to do so eventually I got the following e-mail:

--------snip-------

As a good will gesture I have issued additional adjustment for the late payment charges billed from May to October 2019 for $49.31 ($49 now huh, what happened to the $15 late fee? They can't even get their story straight! They just throw random number around)

 

$476.79

$228.85 (adjustment for modem)

$49.31 (adjustment for late payment charges)

$198.63

 

This will leave a balance owing of $198.63.

-------snip---------

Right now, I want this to all be over, so they Won. I paid the $198.63 just to get them to Fuck off.

If they would have done the right thing from day one by deleting all charges, they may have had me as a customer in the future someday. But after this ordeal and me just throwing almost $200 away for peace of mind, I WILL NEVER EVER GET BELL ALIANT OR ANY BELL SERVICE EVER! I hope anybody reading this post uses this info when making their decision on whether to get their service or not. I would recommend NOT to.

Post your comments below, and share your stories also.
Please share this post everywhere. This type of corporate theft needs to be exposed.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my rant.