I No Longer “Bell-ieve” in Customer Service
I recently moved to Fergus, and because of this move my mail sometimes takes a few days to find me.
But find me it does. I paid for a year of forwarding from Canada Post, which admittedly has me so complacent I haven’t yet changed my address for several of my contacts and business relations. Why should I? Canada Post has me covered for a year. I’ll get to it after I’ve cut the grass, fixed the leaky basement, put up the 200’ fence across the front of my property, dealt with MPAC for property assessment, hired an electrician, planted after the late spring, etc. (I could talk about the perils of purchasing fixer-upper farm houses, but that might take a while.)
So imagine my surprise when, on May 21st, I pick up my mail at the post-office (a snow plow took out my rural mail box – yet another thing to repair) to find a letter from Bell Canada saying I had an outstanding $50.25 bill. I had left Bell a couple of months earlier, opting for a local VOIP provider who could relocate my old phone number to my new address.
There was a contact number on the bill, so I called it on May 22nd. I spoke with Sharon Martin at Bell, who informed me that the amount was now $51.22 and that I owed it for “outstanding charges and a cancellation fee”.
I have been a Bell customer for over 25 years. I have remained loyal to them no matter the promises of lower long distance or promises of better service. My only reason for switching now to VOIP is that my father, who suffers from severe senile dementia, and his care-providers in British Columbia have my number, and I don’t want to confuse him or them at this late stage of his life with a new number to remember.
“No problem,” I replied, “just send me an invoice so I can see what I am paying for and why.”
To me, this is logical. Before I pay for something I expect to see an itemized invoice. To Bell, however, this is an inconvenience. They want to charge me $5 to send me an invoice.
Really? I have to pay to see why I should pay? This is Samuel Becket ludicrous, Monty Pythonesque situational ridiculousness at its best. Ms. Martin said I had already received an invoice. “Actually,” I told her, “I haven’t. But if you send me one I will look it over immediately.”
Easy peasey, lemon squeezey. All I had to do is pay the $5.
The conversation was circular and, eventually, heated. I ended up telling her I would not pay the $5 to find out why I owe Bell money. She suggested I should call Bell Customer Service. “Not my job to take time and effort to chase this thing down,” I told her. “You send me an invoice and I will call if there’s a problem.”
We agreed to disagree, I suppose.
On May 27th I received another call. I reiterated to the Bell employee on the other end of the line the need to see an invoice before payment. I was told I already had the invoice. Interesting, and slightly Orwellian. Did they have cameras in my home to see what mail I receive? If so, did they confuse mine with another home? In this home, in my home, there had been no Bell invoice for $50.25.
Bell story short, I told the Bell employee if he sent me an invoice I would look it over, that I had to know what I was paying for before I paid. He refused. I told him simply to send the invoice, or to contact people who could send the invoice, and not to bother me again until I had seen the bill. I told him about my conversation with Ms. Martin and why I was confused, and that I was simply asking for proof I owed the money.
Sure — only $5.00
On June 10th I received another call, this time from Vanessa. You know how well it went: for only $5.00 I could find out why I owed money to Bell. She asked me to call the Billing department when I explained for the third time that I hadn’t yet received an invoice. I told her again: “It’s simple. Send me an invoice and I will look it over.” She cut me off, and she wasn’t interested in solving the problem other than to refer me to another department. Of course I was angry, of course I refused to pay. What has happened to customer service, what has happened to trying to find a solution that is at least attentive to the customer’s concerns?
Bell is a bull dozer.
Is it any wonder why people so hate big corporations like Bell, like Telus, like Rogers, like Cogeco? They roll over us. Move or get flattened, they threaten. The next call from Bell will say, “Do you want to squash your credit rating, your dreams for a home or a new car? It’s just a Bell bill, only $52. Are you willing to lose your financial credibility for so small an amount?”
No, but I wish I could afford to take you to court to show you how wrong you are.
No, but I wish I could tell you to your face how insolent you are.
No, but I wish you cared enough about people, about your customers, to develop a consumer policy that didn’t resort to Gestapo tactics.
It’s only $52, after all. Are you will to lose customer loyalty for so small an amount?
Bell is what’s wrong with Canada.
Sadly, with its influence and development, it could be what is right.
Geoff Little