Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Bell
Innisfail, Alberta
Canada

I've just gotten off the phone with Bell and am shocked at how bad the customer service was...even in this day of poor customer service. I've been a Bell customer for two years and my husband and I each had a cell phone with them. Recently both our employers have issued us Blackberrys and the cell phones fell out of regular use. Our contract expired in the spring and in August I decided to cancel the service since we really didn't need it anymore. The CSR explained to me that I was stuck paying another month's fees since I was required to give them 30 days notice that I was cancelling my service...which bugged me, but shame on me for not reading the contract terms thoroughly. I was also told that I had 30 days in which to convert one or both of the phones to another plan or prepay. Since that day I had reconsidered and decided that I would keep one of the phones and just go pre-pay. Ironically I also received an email today from Bell stating that they were sad to see me go and would like me to reconsider. I called Customer Service to have one of the phone converted to pre-pay and they explained that I would have to pay $35 to do so. Now, the money isn't the point ( I've been paying much more each month for phones we haven't been using) but the principle is. I, a departing customer, was willing to leave my business with Bell and they, instead of welcoming me back with open arms, demanded that I pay $35 dollars for the priveledge of continuing to give them my hard earned money. I don't understand their logic. When I then told the CSR to not bother, I'd just let the phone cancellation proceed, she (Sal) began to argue with me...telling me I'd have to pay an activation fee with their competitor anyway. Except that I won't, since I don't "really" need the phone in the first place. The customer service representative was rude, kept cutting me off, and quite honestly didn't seem to hear a single thing I said AND when I asked to speak to a Supervisor, HUNG UP ON ME. I have NEVER received such poor service from any phone centre. There was one good outcome of the experience though: I no longer have any doubts about cancelling my Bell service.

Years ago I was told a customer service statistic...I don't know if its true, but I rings so with me. Every happy customer tells, on average, three people about their satisfaction with a company or product. Each unhappy customer tells 27 people about their dissatisfaction. And this time of the Internet...its sure to be exponentially higher. I can confirm that I will tell AT LEAST 27 friends and family about Bell, warm in the knowledge that I have spared them some pain.