HELL
By: Lyon Tsang
Tags: True Story, Testimonials, Sad, Internet, Customer Service

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

I ate at Tandoori Sizzle once…

I think I got to the Bell store around 6 PM. I knew they closed at 7, so I wasn’t in a huge hurry.

Before walking in, I peered through the windows of the neighbouring stores. I think I caught someone’s eye inside Baskin Robbins — a little awkward.

Bell was empty. I approached the sales rep (thick beard), and told him I needed to get internet set up at my place again.

He asked for my address, and punched it into the system. He recommended that I get on the Fibe25 plan, and that there was a nice student discount going on as well.

Fibe25 promises about 25mbps download and 10mbps upload. This would be a huge upgrade to what I had last year, which was around 5 and 1 from a plan called Internet Plus.

I was pleasantly surprised. After all, I had been told last year that my complex did not yet have the infrastructure to support Fibe. We scheduled the installation for September 12 — a technician would come to my unit anytime between noon to 5 PM.

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Jazz apples are delicious

The technician called at around 1, letting me know that he was on his way. I had just taken the last bite out of my Jazz apple when he knocked on my door.

I shook his hand, showed him where in my room I wanted the router installed, and let him do his thing. After about 20 minutes of tinkering, he came out to tell me that everything was good—well, not really.

It turns out that Fibe was actually still not available at my complex, and that I would have to get back on Internet Plus.

I was a little disappointed, but then again I had already gotten used to streaming basketball games in 480p…

He assured me that he would flag his report in Bell’s system, detailing how the product installed was different from what the customer (that’s me) had ordered. Someone from Bell would reach out to me in the next few days to finalize my plan adjustment.

We shook hands once again, and bid each other farewell.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018

I was at the library to use their state-of-the-art machines, since my laptop was being repaired

I got a call from Bell in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I was also at the library.

Hiding in the middle of some shelves, I whispered back to the lady who greeted me on the other end of the line. It wasn’t the best time for a phone call though…

I was writing a cover letter to a company that has yet to acknowledge my existence. I respect libraries, and the studious students studying within them, far too much to be talking on the phone inside.

I asked if she could call me back in 15 minutes, which would give me time to dash over to my grad student office.

“Absolutely!”, she said…

…but I did not hear back from her ever again.

OCTOBER 2, 2018

I created a beautiful pizza at Blaze Pizza in Toronto under the alias of “Ryan”

Weeks pass by and suddenly, it’s October. Where did the time go ???

Well, I spent a great couple of days in Toronto to see some high school friends of mine. I also attended Poutine Feast 2018 when I got back to Kingston.

This is a bacon cheeseburger poutine

The point is, Bell never called me back. Perhaps I have some fault in all of this — maybe I should have taken some initiative.

Nonetheless, I received an email from Bell at 7:19 PM EST that night. Attached were my Terms of Agreement for (apparently) being a Fibe25 customer.

I logged onto www.mybell.bell.ca for more details, and this is where the nightmare began. According to my account page, I had been switched over to Essential Plus—what seems to be Bell’s worst Internet plan available.

Essential Plus would perhaps be more appropriately named as Essential Garbage (boom roasted) — Bell doesn't even advertise the plan anymore! A steep monthly rate of $69.95 got you 5mbps downloads, 680kbps uploads, and a ridiculously low 20gb usage limit per month.

To provide some context on how slow my internet here: all I do is listen to slow jams and smooth jazz throughout the day. I might watch some cooking videos on YouTube, some basketball, and maybe a little Netflix too — on SD of course. It takes 15 to 30 seconds just to send someone a photo on Facebook. I don’t even update my apps at home!

And yet I still manage to use anywhere between 2 to 8.5gb of bandwidth each day. I hope I don’t sound too whiny here (#firstworldproblems), but 20gb is honestly too low for home internet — people have 20gb phone plans…

What happened here was that Bell had switched my plan without first consulting me or asking for permission. I had signed up for Fibe25 because of the speed, unlimited usage, and student discount that made its price seem reasonable to me—it would have been only $54.95 per month.

Not only did Bell fail to deliver on what they promised me, I was also unknowingly (and unwillingly) placed into a much inferior plan.

My discounts were slashed as well. I don’t get angry often, but this got me pretty close—how can I be signed up for a service that’s actually unavailable at my address, get pushed into the most basic of plans without my permission, AND have the discounts that I was initially promised be taken away ???

It was late, and I needed to get to bed. I decided that I would get up early the next morning to call Bell. My assumption was that their phones lines would be less busy in the morning, and I wanted to get this resolved as soon as possible.

I went to their website—using precious bandwidth in the process—and found the number and hours for their Internet support line. The webpage stated that they were available from 8 AM on weekdays, and so I set my alarm for 7:45.

OCTOBER 3, 2018

“Angry Man Holding Crashed Mobile Phone on the Street Stock Photo”

How can you tell that this story is real? Well, I hit snooze a couple times and only managed to wake up at around 8:30.

I called the number that I had saved from last night, preparing myself to navigate the computerized menus of corporate phone lines designed to make it as difficult as possible for you to reach a real human being. Yet all I kept getting the same automated message — something about the offices being closed…

No time zones listed… DOES BELL EVEN WANT TO TALK TO YOU ???

I went online to use their Live Chat feature, asking the agent what numbers I should be calling. My respondent gave me a few, but all of them simply led me to the same message as before.

I called one more time, searching for solutions on Google as I waited again. After a few moments of silence, I was somehow patched through to a representative.

I tried to explain my issue as clearly as possible. The representative informed me that while it would not be a problem to switch me back to Internet Plus, it would be impossible to transfer over the discount credits — those were Fibe-exclusive.

Despite my protests, the representative did not budge.

I’ve been told that I am too soft with customer support people, but what am I supposed to do when they keep saying no? Ask to speak to their managers??? Wait a second…

As my resistance faded, the representative landed the finishing blow — a polite inquiry as to whether there was anything else I could be helped with before the call ended.

At that point, I was so frustrated that I managed little more than a grunt. Only upon hanging up did I realize how masterfully I had been dismissed.

I punched in the number again and got through to a different representative. After explaining my issue once more, I was told that some — but not all — of my discount credits could be salvaged. Different plans apparently had different allowances in regards to how much their rates could be reduced by. This was highest with Fibe25, and lower with Internet Plus — thus, a lesser discount.

I conceded.

OCTOBER 4, 2018

I turned to written communication as a way of voicing my displeasure

The next day, a bitterness continued to brew within me.

I can live with the fact that my internet runs at prehistoric speeds, as this was a physical limitation with my building’s infrastructure.

I can somehow accept the fact that I’m basically paying the same price for 5mbps as I would be for 25, since there aren’t many other service providers in the area to choose from.

But the frustration of being tossed around Bell’s phone system — along with having to interact with some mediocre staff along the way — made me feel like I needed to vent.

I went online to https://support.bell.ca/Resolve-a-concern and sent in a long complaint.

Should I send them this piece too?

Some time that afternoon, I missed a call from a lady in Executive Relations — she left me a voicemail. I think I was preparing myself a chicken breast in the kitchen or something (high protein diet).

I also received an email from her, which detailed when she would attempt to contact me again. She mentioned that I could call her myself, so I attempted to do so — it went to voicemail.

OCTOBER 5, 2018

This YMCA is where I forge my rock-hard muscles

My phone rang in the morning while I was at the gym. It was Executive Relations lady — let’s call her Matilda. We joked about playing phone tag.

Matilda said that she had read my complaint, and was very nice and apologetic about the whole saga. Ultimately though, she said there was nothing else she could do in terms of discounts and credits — the price that I was paying for Internet Plus was the lowest it could go.

I told her that I wasn’t trying to be difficult as I pressed a few more times for some sort of compensation. She called me sweet, and agreed that I had every reason to be upset. Unfortunately, there was nothing else she could do.

The call ended shortly after, and in all honesty I was just glad to leave this all behind me.

If only this story had ended right then and there…

OCTOBER 21, 2018

I was not ready for this e-bill

At 3:30 PM EST, I received my bill through email — demanding that I pay a whopping $115.56 for my first month of service.

Shame on you Bell !!!

After managing to somewhat decipher the bill, I deduced that I had been essentially charged for using Fibe25 and Essential Plus — in addition to my actual plan, Internet Plus.

How can they charge me for Fibe25, when the service itself does not even exist at my address? How can they charge me for Essential Plus when it was (1) not the service I signed up for, and (2) the plan they switched me out of without my knowledge?

Bell even outlined the exact dates and durations of my alleged usages. Conveniently vague in regards to matters of customer service and relations, yet so precise when dealing with fees and charges — corporate greed?

The first representative that I managed to get a hold of over the phone used the word “prorated” excessively. She had the audacity to tell me not to worry — that I would be credited back on next month’s bill. She told me that I would need to pay almost double my usual rate this month simply because bills were generated by the system, and could not be changed.

The second representative I talked to reiterated this fact. He did, however, acknowledge that it was wrong of me to be charged in this way. He told me that he would make a note for a customer relations specialist to reach out to me in 3 to 5 days — sound familiar?

OCTOBER 27, 2018

Perhaps there is still hope in this world

5 business days passed by without anyone calling.

So I decided to contact Matilda — I felt that it might be more effective to speak to someone who was at least somewhat familiar with my situation. I was surprised that the call actually connected, although whoever picked up seemed to end the call after a split second.

Did I violate protocol by calling a direct line? Perhaps…

I redialed the number, and it went straight to voicemail. I left her one, explaining how a new problem now confronted me. Since it was a Saturday, I really did not expect her to get back to me until the middle of next week.

I was about to head out for an apple pie scone when I decided to try Bell’s live chat one last time.

I carefully told my chat agent (let’s call him Jefferson) my story. I used CAPITALS and em dashes (—) for concision and emphasis. He acknowledged that the additional charges were unreasonable, and told me to hold while he made some adjustments.

Hope was in the air, but I tried my best to remain calm and to keep my expectations low. After all, Bell had dragged my heart and soul through Hell one too many times now.

Jefferson shot me a message after after a few minutes, noting that he would take off the $23 that I had been charged for Fibe25.

I was in the midst of crafting an angry reply to ask about the other charges when he messaged me again — he would remove the other charges as well. These changes would be effective right away and indeed, my online bill was adjusted almost immediately.

I thanked Jefferson several times, and made my way to Cobs Bread. Those apple pie scones sell out quickly…