# Excuse this Rant - Bell ExpressVu Service!



## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

A few weeks ago I posted here asking about Bell vs Rogers for digital television. I opted for a Bell Bundle as it was much cheaper and I already have Sympatico and my phone with them. Anyway, last week they told us that today was the installation day. Yesterday we called to confirm this, and after a 45 minute wait to speak to a person, they confirmed someone would come between 12 PM and 5 PM today. 

No one came. 

No one called. 

At 6 PM I called them, and after a 75 minute wait, finally got through to someone who would not or could not help me at all. She couldn't tell me what the problem was or when we could expect someone... unless we rebooked for August 12th! We demanded to speak to a supervisor... and she told us that one would call us back next Wednesday!

Anyway... I'm very disgusted as I had to hang around all Saturday for this. My wife gave them a tongue lashing over the phone and I've written a nasty e-mail to their customer service section. However, I still felt mad... so that's why I'm venting here. Shame on you Bell! (I'll update this threat when/if they make good.)


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## RicktheChemist (Jul 18, 2001)

.


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## gwillikers (Jun 19, 2003)

Worst company I've ever dealt with, period. And I refuse to be shy about sharing that whenever I can. People need to know.

-Howie


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

We had the dish with Bell installed and yes we went through the
exact same thing, My girlfriend took a day off work to be around
for when they were to install the dish and the hookups but no
one arrived on the pre-set installation date.

We were told that there had been a mix up and that the earliest
that it could be installed is in another 2 weeks, We were ready to
say screw you guys but we really wanted the dish and to get
away from the high price of Rogers.

After 2 weeks we had it installed and the 2 tv sets were hooked
up and running on the same day, I've never looked back.

To us...It was worth the aggravation, But it would be nice if Bell
could just get a better more organized set of employee's and
have better communication with it's contractor's.

Dave


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

unfortunately i do not have an option other than Bell for television

they and their dealers are absolutely horrible

i had to have my dish re-installed after the 1st moron put it up in front of a tree that had not blossomed yet and then refused to come back to fix it

bell refused to help me out saying their dealers are "independant"

express vu called me the other day to ask how i like their service and when i told them it was horrible, the promptly discontinued the phone call

who knew i would pine for Rogers>?


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

I went through something very similar with Bell dealers.

We already had a dish that the previous owner had installed himself, but unfortunately, he had installed it so that it points through our neighbour's tree. Everything had been working fine for the past year and a half. but this spring the trees leafed out more fully and blocked the signal.

We called Bell to get an installer in to move the dish. After 4 failed attempts over 6 weeks, and a lot of very angry phone calls to Bell, someone finally showed up. Turns out, we would need to mount an 8-foot tripod to our chimney to get signal. We said no thanks, now we have Rogers. 

I must say, I was really happy with ExpressVu up until this issue. And once I got yelled my way first-level support and started dealing with the managers, customer service improved. They still couldn't do anything--they don't deal with the installers directly--but they tried to help and offered to refund money for lost service.

I've never been fond of large-company customer service, but Bell's system of installers is whacked.


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## Bjornbro (Feb 19, 2000)

Ping! Bell.  Pong! Rogers.  

Now, if DirecTV were allowed into Canada...


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## gundamguy (Mar 2, 2004)

Best thing to do is install the dish yourself, Bell is a huge company who couldnt care a less about their customers but most companies are like this. Best thing to do is purchase the unit, borrow a ladder if you have to go to home hardware and buy a 20.00 satellite signal finder, easy as pie. I remember installing countless mini dishes all over my parents house when I was younger and before Bell managed to get grey market DTV made black market.
On the upside what is there on tv worth watching anmore anyway? Ever since G4 bough techtv I havent watched a single show.


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## K_OS (Dec 13, 2002)

I have a Pansat 2500a FTA receiver no cards just a quick reflash if it ever goes down, I put the whole thing together myself installed the 2 dishes myself it took me 4 hours and now I can receive DishnNetwork


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## BigDL (Apr 16, 2003)

When I had my Bell system installed in the far east (New Brunswick) the contractor couldn’t have been any better.

He was on time, efficient, knowledgeable and he should have been the salesman demonstrating and selling the system. He was (is) fabulous. The info he provided to us made our choice “crystal clear.”

I am still really impressed with the contractor that installed our system. It just a pity all of Canada couldn’t have an installer like this one in South-Eastern New Brunswick.

I can not say I am overly impressed with Bell’s call centre however. The contractor provided the call centre with all of the correct information and I confirmed the information yet the name that appears on my account is wrong, both the first and last name are misspelled. After calls to the call centre to correct the information no luck. We were lucky to get the programming changes we requested.

In immortal words of “Red Forman” the employees of the Bell call centers are “DUMB Asses.”


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## Rob777 (Dec 17, 2002)

I've been pretty lucky. I installed the dish myself with no problems. The only reason I still have ExpressVu is that I've spent the money on hardware, the two receivers and a replacement remote. I feel obgligated to use it. I have gotten rid of Bell for everything else, I don't use them for local phone service anymore. 

I agree that the customer service is horrible. The wait time on the phone is ridiculous. Something I find interesting is that if you call and order a programming package they can activate it in about 5 to 10 minutes and they start billing you immediately. But if you want to cancel a package they can't do it until the end of the billing period.

Bottom line is I'm not a fan of Bell, but what else am I going to do?


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

After my move a year ago, I almost dropped my Bell phone service in favour of Rogers. Why?

Day of the Move, a Rogers tech was there before I got to my new house. He had already checked all the external connections. I let him in and then he checked all the internal connections. After he was done, he said he'd come back when the TVs got moved in. Chances are everything would be okay, but he just wanted to make sure. All this was done before the moving van arrived at the new house and it was all done FREE. After the moving van had left, the Rogers tech was back to check out the TVs, Even connected one of the TVs as I had only connected 1 of the 2 TVs. 

Bell, well first they lost my installation request. Then after a week without service they finally arrived to get the installation done and required that I be there just in case they needed access to the house - they didn't need access to the house. The installation fee was $55. The installation didn't work; I found after a week I could phone out but no-one could phone me. They fixed it. After 2 months I again had a problem with receiving calls. They fixed it again. Again, after 2 months I had problems receiving calls. They fixed it again. Finally things worked properly. I swear if the line had problems again I was going to go to a Rogers cell-phone.

Rogers may not be perfect, but at least they try.


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## Cameo (Aug 3, 2004)

The waiting time on the phone is most likely because there are just soo many problems ane complaints!!! I don't know if they just don't care since they are such a big company or if they just can't keep up.


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

[No message]


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## K_OS (Dec 13, 2002)

I'm lucky that a good friend works on the DSL side of Bell's technical help lines but otherwise I hate waiting for 30 minutes just to talk to someone just because theres soemthing wrong with the line. I hate dealing with either Rogers or Bell so much so that I've learned how to wire up anything inside my house that has to deal with phones or TV I've even gone as far as buying purpose tools for RJ6 and Cat3 repair and installations.


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## Cameo (Aug 3, 2004)

What gets me is how Bell (possibly other cell phone companies) get you onto a plan and how they keep you there.

If you want to get a discount on a phone you have to enroll in a plan of 1-3 years. With no discount the phones cost around $200. to $500. The phones rarely last more than two years - one sales rep admitted that they are only designed to last a couple of years.

If your phone pooches before the plan ends they give you a hardware upgrade (a discount) and start you off again at the beginning of another 1-3 year plan if you want to pay a reasonable price for the phone. So you are reeled into continuing with the plan or paying $200. 00 to get out of it. 

I am in the process of having to replace my phone for the 4th-fifth time in 8 years with bell. I may just pay full price for a cheaper phone just to finish my contract a change. I just wish I had the reassurance that other companies have better service.


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## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

I just received a very lame e-mail apology from them and a new appointment next week. I e-mailed them back and am trying to get them to waive the installation charges or credit the amount to future bills. It's really the least they should do...


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

Fink-Nottle, make sure you speak to a manager--ask for one--and be very, very clear about how angry and bothered you are about the stupidity of the installation service. Reread your own original rant. Remember the wasted time and the frustration. 

By doing this, I was able to get Bell to agree to credit back my installation fees--you fax in the paid receipt, and they will credit your bill. 

Make sure you make note of the names of the people you talk to as well--the managers give their names quite readily.

I normally don't advocate yelling at the poor reps on the phone, but unfortunately, I discovered that with Bell, I got much better service faster that way.

Good luck.


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## James Z (Oct 12, 2002)

I installed my dish myself as well and did not have to deal with Bell or their contractors.The problem with bell is they contract out almost everything now and they will blame the contractor for work not being done.I had my phone line go down after my line got hit by lightning, I phoned them on my cell telling them I needed it fixed, they said they would be out in 4 days to fix it.Not!!I asked if it could get it fixed any earlier and they said no.Being I live in the country and have 2 small children we need a phone line.I asked for the person's name and their position, as well as the name of their supervisor.Right away they can fix my phone between 12-5pm that afternoon.They patched up my line that afternoon and said someone(contract) would be out in the week to lay a new line.Bell phones me to give me a date the contractors will be here to lay the new line, they come on a different day and i'm not home, so they are unable to connect the line inside(just left it laying their).I phone Bell they said they would be back next week(contract) to hook up my line.Couple days later my phone goes out again, Bell sends out one of their guys to look at it and asks why the new line is not hooked up?I shake my head and tell him the story, he say's he'll patch my old line again, as he's not allowed to do the contractors work.So he patches it up.Next day my line goes down again(did I mention are line suck out here in the country), i get the same Bell guy out here.He decided to just go ahead and put the new line in which required drilling through the foundation into the basement.Does a test on all my line inside the house(without charge, it's like $95 i think the second they look at your interior wiring now since your resposible for it now).Even rewired 60ft of line to another jack free.So the moral of my story is Bell's plan to service sucks, yet the workers do the job that they are told to do, but alot of confusion happens when they contract out so much of their work.I now have a second line put in for internet service and since are lines are so bad out here i opted for the service plan for $5 a month, some will laugh but i'll tell you as soon as i have static on my line i phone them and i've never waited past a day to have it looked at.


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## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

In addition to their apology they have now offered a two month rebate... about $80. If they make their next appointment (August 12) I won't be too annoyed... as long as things are working for the upcoming football (soccer) season. Go Saints!

*Southampton Saints Football Club*


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