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CB Telecommunications TELUS deceptive cancellation charges
TELUS

TELUS review: deceptive cancellation charges 10

B
Author of the review
12:00 am EDT
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I recently received a large bill from Telus Mobility after transferring my numbers to Rogers, due to poor cellphone reception and customer service issues. The bill contained (amongst other charges) a $240 cancellation fee. Upon contacting Telus customer service, I was informed that there were service contracts remaining totaling 9 months between two phones that were on the account (72 month commitment between the 2, 63 months fulfilled).

I requested a compromise for the 9 months remaining, since the value Telus attributed to the 72 month commitment was $400 (their quote to me), I offered to pay back the percentage remaining 9/72 of $400 or $50 total.

The agent refused to compromise - I then offered to reactivate the account in order to payout the remaining contract. They would not take this option either.

Finally, I quoted the more than 11 years (between the 2 phones) that I had been a customer - and asked was it their intention to make sure I would never be a customer again? The agent commented that they can not do any crediting of these fees.

I then asked if they would like me to cancel my other accounts (home phone, etc) with Telus?

The agent offered to do so immediately if I would provide her the numbers.

It's unfortunate that this is how Telus would treat a long-time customer, happily canceling accounts and leaving a sour taste that will long ensure I will never do business with Telus again.

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10 comments
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veryveryveryunhappy
Vancouver, CA
Jul 12, 2010 1:46 pm EDT

BTW - Telus Mobility should be thankful for their dealers because otherwise they would NEVER have any customers!

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veryveryveryunhappy
Vancouver, CA
Jul 12, 2010 1:45 pm EDT

Reading all of these posts is like a replay of my experiences with Telus Mobility. It is amazing how their 'customer service' people can quote and recite their contracts verbatim. Customer Service is not a part of this company's approach to dealing with clients.

I, too, have been a Telus Mobility customer for more than 10 years. I moved my business office and now my business cell no longer receives reception. The 'contract' did not tell me that I had to check out Telus' ability to receive a signal in the core of Vancouver! I've spent way too much time trying to find someone that will help me. I am now convinced it is an impossibility. I strongly

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Hongruimao
Toronto, CA
Aug 10, 2009 5:10 pm EDT

Well, I was a four-year loyal customer with Telus UNTIL last Saturday afternoon.

I came to one Telus store at the Eaton Centre, hoping to find a new cellphone and get another contract renewed. I was interested in two of the phone models, and asked to take a look at one of them. After that, for comparison purpose, I politely asked the representative to show me the other model. What I heard next was extremely surprising. She whispered to me with an atitude of indifference: "Are you gonna buy a phone or not? If not, I cannot open the box and show you another one, because I simply cannot open every box for every customer. You know what I mean?" Seeing me shocked at her response, she REPEATED the sentence again. Then, I replied immediately: "I was coming here to get a new phone. But after hearing what you said, I decide not to buy anything", and walked out.

Then, I quickly turned to the Bell Store upstairs, and had a very caring representative introduce me the high-end phones as well as bring out models to demonstrate. I liked how he presented himself and his company, and I consider the deal a fair one. Hence, I signed a 3-year contract with Bell right there, and got a very nice high-end phone.

In summary, the lesson here is that business IS personal and that how your personnel deals with customers have real consequences on your business bottom line. You can have a heavily invested Research Department, you can have the most advanced products in the market, you can have the most expensive advertising campaign on TV. But all of those efforts can be vain if your front-line personnel treats your customer poorly. In the long term, if your representatives screw your customers, your competitors will screw your company.

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Dman
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Nov 13, 2008 2:32 pm EST

Kal
I have a similar situation except for the fact that I was given improper information from Telus prior to the porting of my number. I bought an iPhone and explained to them that I needed my account active and needed to use it.
Prior to this I contacted my Rogers rep and they told me to my face that Telus needed to change my number over to my phone. This led to a little back and forth with the two companies.
Anyways Telus told me that my account would be made dormant, the number would be moved over and they could activate my account again.
So I called Rogers and had the number moved over. I then called telus to have my account activated again and they told me the account was closed and I owed them $460. From this point on I did not care which words I used to communicate with either company. I was told at the beginning of the previous phone call it was being recorded. It was not recorded. There was no log on their computer of the dialogue during the phone call. Which is impossible because every call for 11 years was recorded. So I wanted and needed to be their customer but that was not feasible. I welcome all legal input on this situation.
Then I called Rogers back and asked them why they did not inform that it would cancel my Telus account. They informed me it was not their responsibility and tried to skew the conversation towards their legal position. Which is fine and they likely have a very strong position. But how does business ethics and morality play into this. As a small business owner if I employed the same business practices I would be legally found liable for this situation because of my business ethics. But Rogers and telus have devious business ethics.
I welcome all recommendations on how to address this situation because I am still a customer of both companies with other phones and I have a hard time being a customer and getting bent over so hard.

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T
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Nov 13, 2008 2:42 am EST

read your contracts people, it clearly states for the cancellation fees that there will be $20 multiplied by the remaining number of months in your contract with a minimum of $100

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tiljjh
carmel, US
Sep 02, 2008 12:58 am EDT

When you port your number to another provider it is no longer in the system and can not be reversed, it is up to the consumer not to act on spur of the moment urges to take a supposedly "good deal" from other providers that will make you think that the transition is easy, its not.. its complicated when it comes to billing and you should have asked them what the fees were before making the decision instead of pleading insanity after making the mistake, suck it up you screwed up. Also please tell me why they should want to waive your cancellation fees so you can Leave them and not make them any more money? who in their right mind would want to lose more money then the have to, you cancelling is already losing them money. Cancellation fees are always clearly explained by the reps and if they aren't then dont sing an unread contract, on top of that please read the copy that YOU get to keep. Finally telus mobility and Telus communications are separate companies. Just like dealers in western canada aren't corporate owned. When you ### and yell at a rep at a store, they are NOT telus, they are franchised dealers and cant do anything about your fees and bill problems. All you need to understand is that all cell phone providers are the same, dont sign a contract if you dont want the problems of the contracts, pay the full price for a cell phone and all activation fees. The problem is everyone has is they want the free stuff, the good deal hunters, and sometimes good deals come at a price you have to be willing to pay. Be it repair fees for a phone that doens't last 3 years, or cancellation fees when you teminate a promotional rate plan and free phone (which really costs $400) early. Buyer beware, be smart shoppers and dont jump into anythign wihtout researching and thinking it through.

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Bizness Man
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May 29, 2008 11:30 am EDT

I agree and got lucky on CellPlanDepot.ca where someone took over my contract and saved me the $500 cancellation fee...I can't believe that they are allowed to charge that much.

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Bob Douglas
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Apr 27, 2008 1:46 pm EDT

I have had endless problems with Telus, especially since they were removed fro scrutiny by the CRTC. Now they are pretty much self regulated and that has resulted in a serious decline in customer service. WHen I changed my long distance I was called by someone from Telus who told me how "Stupid" I was to have made the change. When their fax to e-mail service canceled my service in error they would not release my faxed to me then ultimately erased them from the system so that I could never get my communications.

On the Telus Mobility side, I have had endless problems of dead spots in areas where I travel frequently. When I politely asked to be let out of my contract so that I could get the service I needed for my business, I was told that there wold be a $360 penalty plus taxes. There was no compromise available and even my telling them that I was about to discontinue all of my Telus services if I could not get better service, they could have cared less and stood by their guns.

This has become a company unworthy of our business.

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AJ
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Feb 22, 2008 12:23 am EST

FYI! A Telus Mobility resp cannot cancel your home phone or internet.

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L. Shields
,
Oct 18, 2007 3:33 pm EDT

My husband and I have had the same experience - we have both been Telus Mobility customers for nearly 7 years +. Together, over all that time, amounting to a huge sum of money for our cell phones. My position was relocated out of Canada and Telus would not provide us with telephone numbers in the U.S. (although we asked for this). Thus, in my mind Telus is unable to provide me with the cell phone service that I contracted for and have reneged on our contract. Instead, they intend to charge each of us nearly $600 for the remaining 2.5 years left on each of our contracts, simply for the 'benefit' of no longer having cell phone service with them. I have read that the 'administrative cancellation fee' that Telus Mobility attempts to charge when you cancel the service is not a valid charge to ground a claim for collection agencies given that it is an 'administrative fee' not a fee for services rendered. I will fight Telus Mobility on this as I have endured years of poor customer service and improper billing. TM absolutely refused to negotiate a more 'appropriate' cancellation fee with me, showed no remorse and did not care at all that I told them that they would be losing 2 customers and that I would tell everyone about my experience and ask all my friends and family members to never give TM their service in the future. Clearly, customers mean nothing to Telus Mobility and they have a corporate policy that is built on unethical business practices with complete disregard for providing the services they allege to sell to you.