The Consumer Complaints Blog

On May 22, 2010 I contacted Bell Express Vu loyalty department regarding an offer I had received from Rogers. The idea was to get my $103 bill down. After talking with them I accepted a deal that was offered. Imagine my surprise when my first bill was $481.80.

The deal I was offered included bundling with my home phone. The following is what I was told on May 22, 2010.
· My current TV package would be reduced to $73.00 including taxes
· My home phone would continue to be $34.15 plus taxes
· A free rental HD PVR for 12 months

· A purchased HD receiver at $199.00 of which I would receive a $100.00 credit on my first bill. Total cost $99.00

The above would be approximately $225.00 for the first month bill.

When my bill arrived for June, I contacted Bell on June 18 to discuss the amount of $481.80. After 45 minutes of being told that I should pay the $481.80 and it would be fixed later I asked for the cancellation department. Instead of cancellation I was passed to the loyalty department. Agent 6033286 told me that I shouldn’t pay the $481.80 and that the billing errors would be fixed on the next month’s bill. She agreed with the approximate price of $225.00

On July 20, 2010 my July bill arrived. The amount on this bill was $431.57. If you add the approximate $225.00 that the first bill should have been to the approximate $107.00 for satellite and land line the total should be around $332.00.

On July 21, 2010 I proceeded to call Bell and asked for Express Vu cancellation. After 20 minutes of speaking to a person and explaining the situation I was told they couldn’t help and that I had to talk to the people in bundling. After 10 minutes with bundling, where I had to repeat the entire saga again I was told they couldn’t help and that I had to talk to the people at Express Vu. At this point I asked for cancellations. I was transferred to the loyalty department. The person who took this call did not want to listen to what I had to say. She had no interest in the June bill and only wanted to talk about the July bill. She repeatedly stated that she didn’t want to discuss “past problems”. After 45 minutes on the phone she finally said she would look into the problem and call me back within 30 minutes.

One hour later I got a call back. I was told that the bill was accurate and that the “purchased” HD receiver was $199 with no discount. Also the line item on bill that says “refund” is actually a deposit charge. A very strange use of the English language. Once again I asked for the cancellations department.

This time I spoke to somebody to whom I once again had to start at the beginning. After telling them I did not want to speak to anybody else and that I no longer trusted the word of Bell employees he actually gave me a cancellation date for the account of August 21. I asked for two boxes to return the rental HD PVR and the “purchased HD receiver”. I was told that they would send me a box for the rental HD PVR but I now owned the second receiver at a price of $199.00. I explained it was a purchase at $99.00 and not $199.00. This seems to be an extreme version of ‘bait and switch”.

I am extremely disappointed with Bell as a corporation if they feel this is an acceptable way to treat customers.

I have no issue paying the agreed costs for Express Vu and the landline, but under no circumstances will I pay for an HD receiver that was sold to me at one price and then billed at another.

Dave (last name protected for privacy)

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.