Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Yesterday we learned of my quandary with Bell Mobility who seemed to have overcharged me for a phone that was no longer on their network, today we learn just how obfuscated this can all become.

Billing a Number Not On Network

Billing for a service that was not delivered was the first point I brought up with the young lady from Bell which I spoke to. I attempted to remain well behaved and was not rude, since that is the first rule of negotiating with a customer service agent (if you want to succeed, keep your cool, stick to your guns but don’t swear, or you automatically lose).

I pointed out that my wife’s cellular phone was no longer on the Bell network, however it took about 10 minutes for the service agent to confirm that yes the phone had been “suspended” from the network. That term “suspended” worried me, so I probed about what that meant, and she pointed out that the phone goes to “suspended” when it is ported out of their network and then a month later it is in “Removed” state (remember that part it is important).

I then pressed the point about why was I being billed the entire month for a number no longer on the network. My service agent wasn’t very clear on that so she went away to get the exact details (this took about 15 minutes on hold) and when she finally returned the answer left me with a very sour taste in my mouth.

Evidently in the Bell system, if you have your number transferred to a different carrier the number “stays on the books” with bell for a month, and thus the consumer is obligated to pay for that number for that entire billing period. That was kind of what I expected, so I then made an assumption and asked, “So it will not show up on my bill next month, correct?”, silence again. More consultations on hold were held, and when my agent returned I was told, No, I would be billed for the next period as well, since the 30 days “on the system” was linear time and thus it overlapped into the next billing period so I have to pay for it for two months. I asked for that to be repeated, and it sounded just as much like a rip off the second time. I asked if there was anything that could be done (for a long time customer) to waive that fee, but was told brusquely, No!

This is your warning that if you plan on moving away from a Bell Contract figure out when your billing period is and transfer your phone out as close to the end of that period as you can, to try to mitigate the penalty fees you will incur.

Changing My Service Package

After failing miserably on my first point I continued on my discussions about how MY phone had been transferred into a strange billing package, which ended up charging me $22 extra for text messaging. The service agent was not sure, so she disappeared on hold again to go find out, and when she returned she implied (but did not say directly) that I must have changed service packages and that was why.

At this point I could have flown into a rage and pointed out how screwed up that was and how that was just WRONG, but I managed to keep my cool and I pointed out that the change in service package happened on the exact same day that my wife’s phone moved over to the Telus network. Silence for a few seconds was my answer, and then another prolonged wait on hold, for more consultations about what I had just said.

My agent returned again, to say, yes in fact the service package had been changed on that day, but I must have done it when I called in the phone number transfer for my wife’s phone. My response to that statement was that I did not actually call that in, the nice people at Telus did all that for us, so I did not agree or ask to have my service package changed then. Silence for a few seconds, another pause on hold to consult.

Upon return I was told that yes, that must have been what happened however, Bell had tried to call me to tell me I HAD to change my service package and what did I want to change it to? I pointed out that I didn’t receive any calls like that, and no messages were left on my phone (or text messages on my remaining form), but my agent was determined to tell me that someone had tried to call me.

I continued my statement of the fact that Bell had put me in a service package without my ok and now was attempting to gouge $22 in services from me that I was not going to pay for. My agent said she needed to consult a bit more, and disappeared on hold again.

Upon her return her tone seemed to change and she said that Bell would be willing to “forgive” the charges for this past month and she would now help me to put me into a Service Package to my liking. Quick thinking on my part caused me to point out, “I am not prepared to make this a NEW contract, my contract has expired and I am happy to not renew at this time”, causing more silence and a return to the land of “On Hold”.

Finally a return, and a confirmation that yes this was not going to be a new contract and I was put into a package that should fit my usage needs (I suspect it is going to be a lot more expensive than I want to pay, but I still have the option to “Vote with My Feet” next year). After about 66 minutes, I finally hung up with $22 back in my pocket and a very sour taste in my mouth.

Will I stay with Bell? For the next few months I guess, but as soon as the new Wireless Carriers in Canada come on line, I will be looking into what they offer and more likely than not will be leaving Bell for a cheaper Wireless service.

So as my regular readers know I have been grappling with how to lower my cell phone costs (without getting rid of them completely). About a month ago my wife took the bold first step of going from a Bell “Contract” (which had expired) over to a Telus “pay per use” phone.

This was done as an experiment to see how things might work, and we found out that:

• To set up the new phone is relatively painless, but know which phone you would like first and make sure you use the on line system management capabilities to track your account.
• Number Portability is easy to use, but has a few pitfalls in it. If you are going to port a number, make sure you bring a Customer ID or your old phone bill to the NEW carrier (to make this work faster).

My wife had her new phone working with her old phone number within an hour or two and she was very happy with her new phone (she loathed her old phone) and has been happily texting and using her new set up.

This all transpired about 2 weeks ago.

A few days ago the Bell bill showed up and that is when I lost 66 minutes of my life and about $36 as well.

I checked the Bell Wireless bill on line and was confused to see the total on the bill was about as much as it normally was, given my wife and I were “twinned” on a single plan, however, given my wife’s phone number no longer was running on Bell I suddenly needed to read much closer.

So two major things looked like gouging wrong on my bill:

1. My wife’s old phone number was still being billed by Bell, even though it was connected to the Telus network
2. My phone (which was still connected to the Bell network) was running a different “service package” and I had been billed for $22 worth of texting charges

I was confident that if I called the Bell 1-800 number I would get satisfaction and would get these charges reversed, however I was only 1/2 correct.

Tomorrow: How hard could it be to right such obvious wrongs? Oh naive reader, you just wait.

Back to the Carnivals

My post about Risk has been picked up by Carnival of Money Stories , and the  The Carnival of Personal Finance (Thanksgiving Edition) go on over and read some of the other interesting posts there as well.

So I finally broke down this weekend and rented an HD terminal box from Rogers, just to see what it all looked like, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the picture is quite good and I did enjoy seeing Hockey and Football games in High Definition format.

I did not buy the terminal box, I will rent it for a month or two, and hopefully the PVR or terminal itself will go on sale (again) and I may purchase it at that time, because having an HD television which doesn’t receive the signals does seem a little silly (albeit frugal).

The interesting tricks in getting this new service is:

• My bill goes up $12.95 a month (plus taxes) so that is the know kick in the teeth.
• I then received a note about my account and I also get hit with a $2.99 Digital Services fee.

The second fee is what has me scratching my head, because, I already have two digital terminals in my house (both for regular TV, but they are digital none the less). Does this mean I pay this fee on each of them? This is not a “rental” fee, because I own those boxes, so I am paying over $10 for the right to have a digital terminal?

What Next With Digital TV?

Here is another interesting question to answer, when Canada finally follows the US and stops broadcasting on the Analog frequencies for TV, what happens to the Cable signals? If I connect an “aerial” I can receive digital (and HD) signals right now in the Ottawa area (very limited channels, but it is still possible), but what happens when digital takes over?

• Will we need “Digital Terminal” set top boxes? You’d think the answer would be “no”, but I am pretty sure the real answer is “Yes”, at least for now.  These boxes allow your Cable provider to monitor your usage and control your access very easily.
• Will HD signals be “free”, or will I be paying a fee to receive those as well (i.e. either buy a Set top box, rent one or what)?

My Cable bill is now about $90 a month again, I am not happy with that, and am thinking, this may have to change very soon.

Any ideas or opinions on this topic Home Entertainment/Home Expense subject?

Don’t Taunt the Bear

Yes, I must remember the “Mojo will get you” if you complain too much about things, and sure enough the day I write about the “Techno Vulture: Fix Your PC” business sure enough I got the Blue Screen of death (from Vista, I didn’t even know you could get a blue screen of death from Vista, but I digress). I also got a nice note from TD claiming that due to the “Credit Crunch” they were going to jack up my Line of Credit interest rate another Quarter Point to a full 1% above “Prime” (remember their Prime, not the real Prime (neither of which is a Prime Number right now either, but again I digress)).

Random Thoughts

In the Blogosphere this week aside from me tilting at Windmills and messing with the Karmic Wheel (at least my own Karmic Wheel), some interesting posts came to light:

• Michael James continued his Quixotic adventure with Credit Card Interest Personal Battle Update, he continues to keep his credit card in his pocket for fear of incurring more interest charges. If he starts singing, “To Dream The Impossible Dream”, I’m outta here.
• The Canadian Capitalist reviewed a set of Cartoons from the New Yorker in The New Yorker on Money, I have always enjoyed money humor (as long as it is at someone else’s expense).
• The Four Pillars write about their experiences with the 7-11 Cell Phone, which is good to see given I am about to give Bell Mobility the boot.
• Larry MacDonald thinks the ETF Revolution has Gone Too far, why, are they stoning Mutual Fund Managers now?
• And Gail Vaz-Oxlade puts it all nicely into perspective with Put Up or Shut Up, I really like the way Gail writes in her blog, a little grittier than her TV show, Testify Sister!

My weekend will be spent extricating my PC from the Karmic Wheel I have run afoul of…

PC Repair For Fun and Profit

After reading an interesting blurb in Wired about the Geek Squad I am astounded at what passes as genuine good customer service. I have seen more articles about “We’ll Come Fix Your PC at Home” services (maybe I should copyright that name) and what they charge, it really does make me scratch my head.

I am one of the folks that people call when they aren’t sure what to do about their computers. I am by no means an expert, but more of a well informed “noodler of technology” and the stuff I know, I usually have learned through trial and error (emphasis on error), however I am glad to help friends who ask questions or need help (I am also quick to point out when I am in an area I have little experience in). Most of the people I help, usually pay me back by helping me in other areas, or they let me drink their liquor or beer (which is fine payment by me).

The “We’ll Come Fix Your PC at Home” seem to offer similar services, but their fees seem much higher than the job warrants (yes they have overhead like those annoying VW Bugs with logos all over them, and all those nifty T-Shirts they wear), and I wonder if this is really not just a “mugs game”.

Who really uses these services? Let’s assume small businesses use legitimate service providers in these areas, so the folks that are using this are families and folks that do not know computers, and thus are easy prey to these “Technology Buzzards”, who can do what they want to your system and you won’t know whether they caused the problem or not (much like a lot of Car Repair shops work, but let’s stay away from that subject for now).

How can consumers protect themselves from this techno-scurge? Find friends who know computers and ask them questions, most folks will gladly help out (but make sure they know what they are talking about too). Take courses at your local community college, if your PC is an important part of your life maybe you should know how it works? Only use repair services that have been recommended by people you respect and who you think know computers, better still ask the folks at work that support your computers about things, sometimes they are glad to help out too.

Don’t pay $249 to get someone to come to your house to do an Operating System Installation/Upgrade, unless you really don’t want to do that, then Caveat Emptor is all I can tell you.