vB Easy Archive - My experience with Bell.

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My experience with Bell.
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Posted by: slowly drifting

I've only been a Bell Mobility customer for the past 3 months, but so far I've had a very positive experience with BM. Since people are more inclined to volunteer stories of negative experiences than they are of positive experiences, I thought I'd share my positive experience with Bell.

I'm on a Business Canada plan, which is the best long distance plan I've found amongst the four main carriers (Rogers, Telus, Fido, Bell), due to their unlimited local AND LD evening/weekend option - to my knowledge, none of the other carriers have a comparable option.

I've found coverage to be quite good in the areas that I frequent. I know that Bell has their dead spots, as does Rogers, Telus, and Fido, but the key is to find a carrier that provides coverage where you need it most, and Bell does that. I've found coverage in Markham and Kingston to be excellent, and I get good to excellent reception all along the 401 E to Kingston.

So far I haven't had any billing errors, and all 4 of my bills (Aug. through Nov.) have been available for me to view online within 4 days of my billing cycle ending. So, for any potential Bell customers who are freaked out because of the previous billing fiasco, so far I haven't had any errors...I'm crossing my fingers that I continue to have accurate bills, and that any errors I do have are resolved quickly!

I did have one minor billing concern, but it didn't turn out to be an issue - on my October bill, I noticed that my UL E/W and early clock feature didn't show up, so I was worried they'd been accidentally removed when I'd called to switch my plan from one Business Canada plan to another, and that all my evening and weekend minutes would end up being billed as peak minutes and I'd end up with a huge, scary bill. lol. When I called customer service, two different reps reassured me that the features were, in fact, in place, they were just removed and re-added when I switched my plan (which is normal procedure) and the bill was generated before they were put back on that day. Both provided me with their name and employee and informed me that since I wasn't billed for them on that bill they'd appear on my next bill. Sure enough, when my bill was available for me the other day it was all correct. (While I'm on the topic of this, thanks to CQD-dude who took the time to explain my bill and reassure me that what the CSR had said was accurate after I posted a worried thread about this at the time

)

I've found customer service with Bell to be pretty good, despite the horror stories and complaints I've read on here. Maybe I've just been lucky, but the majority of reps I've dealt with have all been friendly and helpful (that said, I've been calm and polite when speaking to them, as well). The only issue I've had with customer service was inconsistency in answers from reps at the beginning... When I first called to sign up for Bell's service, the rep told me he was giving me 3 months of the UL E/W on my business canada plan free, later confirmed by a second rep (I signed on a 1 year contract), and that there was no activation fee. I ended up not picking up that cell at a store, so the account was marked no show and cancelled. A few weeks later when I went in person to sign on with Bell I was told I couldn't get the 3 free months of UL E/W and that there was in fact an activation fee.

Aside from that, though, I've had no problems with Bell's customer service.

All in all, my experience with Bell has been pretty positive so far, and I have no regrets about signing on with Bell.

Posted by: jase88

Glad to hear that your experiences have thus far been good with Bell.

Most of the concerns that you've read have been from customers like myself who've been with Bell Mobilty for years. Bell's customer service circa 2000 was second to none: Friendly service, always eager to resolve any issues, and CSR's were very familiar with the hardware. I recall that Rogers CSR's were not trained on hardware whatsoever...

Fast forward 5 years, and customer service at Bell is not what it used to be. And while in general it's good (as has been your experience), compared to a few years ago, it's just not the same.

Posted by: slowly drifting

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase88

Glad to hear that your experiences have thus far been good with Bell.

Most of the concerns that you've read have been from customers like myself who've been with Bell Mobilty for years. Bell's customer service circa 2000 was second to none: Friendly service, always eager to resolve any issues, and CSR's were very familiar with the hardware. I recall that Rogers CSR's were not trained on hardware whatsoever...

Fast forward 5 years, and customer service at Bell is not what it used to be. And while in general it's good (as has been your experience), compared to a few years ago, it's just not the same.

Yeah, just to be clear I wasn't disregarding the experiences of customers who have had problems with Bell or seen a decline in the quality of Bell's service (I have no doubt there has been a decline), or saying that they are focusing too much on the negative, etc...I just wanted to add a positive experience to the mix as well

Also, I haven't had to call Customer Service about hardware issues or HUPs so I can't comment on their knowledge or lack thereof in those areas. I'm sure better training is needed - I also had some conflicting answers on things that should've been very easy to answer, like activiation fees. lol.

Posted by: jase88

^^ Good stuff--its nice to hear positive feedback as well.

Bell has a great network. And in many ways, they're getting better all of the time. I've certainly been impressed with their Blackberry offerings, and they're beginning to offer some top-notch hardware.

Posted by: dirtyjeffer

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase88

^^ Good stuff--its nice to hear positive feedback as well.

Bell has a great network. And in many ways, they're getting better all of the time. I've certainly been impressed with their Blackberry offerings, and they're beginning to offer some top-notch hardware.

i guess you will like the new 7130e when it launches very soon then?

Posted by: jase88

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirtyjeffer

i guess you will like the new 7130e when it launches very soon then?

I think the 7130e will be very popular. Due to design upgrades (according to what I've read on the net), the device will sound better than previous generations of the 7100 series.

However, as a seasoned Blackberry user since 1999, I'm stuck on the true qwerty keyboard. So I'll be holding onto the 7250 for a while yet...

Posted by: theranna

The 7130e has a QWERTY keyboard... it's set up differently. Each key has two letters, in QWERTY format and it's hooked tohe SURE type system, a cross between T9 and live keyboard. It's a pretty sweet unit.

Posted by: frankie5string

How's this for service:
I guess something changed yesterday... I received a call yesterday at my office from a Bell rep - thinking it was for corporate I decided to listen to the guy and see if it had anything to do with our upcoming office move I was working on... No, it was retentions at Bell mobility! A soft-spoken guy to explained that he had reviewed my account and the numerout ESN changes I had done to see if my AV-8600 still worked and offered to work something out with me...Specifically he said he'd roll my hardware upgrade back to 18 months (which is what I'm at now) provided I accepted a 36 month agreement and a data plan...

Once we determined I was willing to acquire a 36 month contract, and I was interested in moving to a data device anyway, he decided I could receive a 7250 Blackberry and the promotion (which has been mentioned here) for a Jawbreaker + 60$ data plan to match the minutes and features (minus call forwarding) I had on my RTP 350 plan. That would get me the Blackberry for 45$... He was firm in explaining I'd be locked into a voice + data plan for the life of the contract and it was a take-it or leave-it situation... So I can change my voice plan (when I travel to the US) but cannot change my data plan for the life of the contract... works for me!

They're shipping my 7250 to me...

So that shows me that Bell is truly committed to it's users who show they're willing to be patient and aren't resistant to change...

So I would say that's phenomenal customer service for the industry... Over the past year I called in and showed "interest" in data devices, repeatedly made it known that a phone I had purchased no longer worked properly and remained patient...

So I'm lookin' forward to my Blackberry - not only for the data, but from what I've read, the 7250 has phenomenal RF and is very reliable - oh and my poor iPaq from 4 years ago finally bit the dust last week and I've been working out of a very very stuffed daytimer that's driving me nuts ;-)

Posted by: Jivs

Yeah but that is great for high end users with blackberrys and bills that amount to a lot, but for me who is an average user and whos bill comes to about 40-45 dollars a month with taxes and everything, bell isn't as nice to me as it was 3 or 4 years ago. I remember I could call in and ask if they had special promos and say that fido and rogers are giving me this...and Bell would give me 1-year free caller id, or 1 month free voice mail. Now a days I call in, and they aren't as educated anymore and keep pushing me to change to a higher plan. I'm hoping once number portability comes into play (hopefully by 2007) than I'll have more of a leverage. The only thing keeping me from switching to rogers is my number and that fact that Bell reception is far better than rogers. But then I also like the fact that I can finally buy phones from ebay that are never going to released in canada and are so much better and put them on the GSM network. I hope there is some serious competition out there because without it, we all suffer.

Posted by: frankie5string

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jivs

I remember I could call in and ask if they had special promos and say that fido and rogers are giving me this...and Bell would give me 1-year free caller id, or 1 month free voice mail.

See that's the thing... A lot of peoples perceptions on how the carriers treat them has to do with WHEN they entered the market and purchased their cellphone and plan. For me, it was late '99... and back then, there was only a 150$ mail-in rebate card I had to send in... and it took about 3 months before the credit appeared. Afterwards, when I went to a Startac and then Timeport, yes they still charged me for a "Value Bundle"... I didn't get any freebies - they just repackaged things to make them easier to associate on your bill. So I was never privy to a lot of these newer deals that came out and honestly, didn't really mind too much because my service was working...and handset problems can usually be worked out...

I actually don't like the free XX for a month or free XX for 90 days... because it leaves me to monitor and reconcile those freebies and then I have to opt-out of them to keep from being charged if I don't like them. That happened with my wifes phone when I got her set up on BM last July... she got freebies and I had to go back after 6 months and see what she was paying for a remove some of the stuff she never even used...

On the other hand, this is the first time I've been on the receiving end of a huge savings in mobility use and product (namely the internet component, which was always hellishly expensive prior to the unlimited data plan)... But I don't expect Bell to come along a year from now and offer me anything at a discount now. Also, my landline, wireless, expressvu, and my internet are all bundled... and all of my services are on contract so I'm getting discounts all over the place...

My thought is: If they do offer you the discounts, be sure you can/want to commit to the term/life of the contracts, or prepare to trade that low price in for the "safety" of being able to switch at a whim... Bell has taken a lot of the guesswork out choosing from their product portfolio... Good for them because they can ram then entire portfolio down your throat for an attactive price, good for you because you can have everything you want and get rewarded for having everything you want...

Does that make sense?

Posted by: Jivs

That is very true, and I totally agree, but it is hard to leave the notion of what Bell use to be to what it is now. I mean I've been with Bell for nearly 5 years now, and I can't help but notice some of the things that they have done. For example, they are trying so hard to bring new customers in, but what they should worry about is there existing customers. I want to switch over to the jawbreaker (i think) 35 where its unlimited incomming calls, but I can't unless I'm a new subscriber. Now if number portability was in place, I could just switch to Rogers where they offer the same thing to new customers.
It is annoying to monitor those 90 day free deals, but before I didn't even have to ask, they would just give it to me and say "you know what, since you've been a customer with us for over 2 years, we're doing this new promo..." But what I'm really trying to get at is that without competition, we all suffer. I think that Bell should give their existing customers a little bit better, especially those who have average plans. But regardless of all of that, Bell has been good to me, mainly their reception.

Posted by: jase88

Quote:

Originally Posted by theranna

The 7130e has a QWERTY keyboard... it's set up differently. Each key has two letters, in QWERTY format and it's hooked tohe SURE type system, a cross between T9 and live keyboard. It's a pretty sweet unit.

Okay, allow me to rephrase:

I prefer a qwerty keyboard which has one letter per key.