Review of Bell Sympatico - dslreports.com

Matha

@bell.ca

Bent Over By Bell in Peterborough Ontario

Years ago, when Bell Sympatico High Speed became available in Peterborough I ordered it, paying for a speed up to 3 Mbps.
Going from dial-up I thought I was in heaven with no sense of what "up to 3 Mbps" really meant. I remember the constant phone calls I made to 310-SURF because of disconnections and sporadic speeds (slow) of my internet service. Over and over again, I heard the same routine eg. problem with the connection to the modem, how is the filter hooked up, how many phone jacks, problem with your equipment, check lights on modem (almost like these Bell techs were reading from a script) at the end of each conversation they would say "we have to run tests and we will call you". Those return phone calls never came. At some point, I switched my service up to a speed of 5 Mbps for $47.95 per month. Again, same problem with disconnections and sporadic (slow) speeds and constantly calling 310-SURF for technical support to no avail.
In early December 2007, I called to complain again about the disconnections and sporadic (slow) speeds of my internet. I talked to someone at Bell Sympatico that said I could have a faster speed of up to 7 Mbps and it would only cost me $35 per month on a 3 year contract. I agreed because that was a savings of $12.95 per month with a promise of faster speed. (At this time, I was still ignorant about being able to test my own connection speed). After I was switched to this contract, the disconnections and slow speeds were worse than before. I must have made at least 6 calls to 310-SURF that month.
This year in 2008 I have made a least 12 calls to 310-SURF about this problem. In September, I called to follow-up on a complaint I had made in August (no record found by Bell). Previous to my call, I followed a link that I found to speedtest.com to check my internet speed which came in at 1.42 Mbps and 302 upload after a ping to Toronto. When I spoke to the Bell Sympatico technician, I asked them to check my connection speed which was found be 1.48 Mbps. This tech tried to tell me that I must have filters on every jack in my house. (I have and pay for 2 independent lines coming into the house, it didn't make any sense to me so I asked him to explain why this was necessary but he couldn't. I remember at the time saying "I am paying for a speed of 7 and I am getting what? "Maybe there is something wrong with the line from the outside box to the house because these problems seem worse when it rains. That's never been checked." I was then immediately switched to the Bell Repair Department (India) who didn't have a clue to what I was talking about then quickly passed me over to Bell Customer Care in Canada. The person I talked to there said "normally it would be handled by the Repair Department (India) but he would take care of it" he arranged for a technician to check the outside wire who came the next day. This technician unhooked a jack that he said was causing the problem (strange that it was fine in August when I was running around the house with my modem to have 310-Surf (India) check my connection). When I came home that day, I checked my internet connection speed it was still around 1.4 Mbps no change from the morning.
I called Bell to a supervisor in the Billing Department. It took him all of 10 seconds to tell me that "You should never have been put on high speed in the first place because your telephone line has never been capable or will be capable of it". (Well, in my mind all the lights went on How many years have gone by with me paying top dollar for high speed? something that Bell knowing could not ever deliver. How many years now of the same problems?, how many phone calls to 310-SURF? I am thinking to myself how many other people is Bell doing this to. I must not be the only one!). This supervisor told me that I was in the wrong profile that I should be in Essential Plus which is up to 2 Mbps. He did the following for me: Canceled the 3 year contract, let me keep the existing security package that I have free for a year (normally $10 per month), gave me a $10 discount per month off the normal package price of $39.95 for year. All up it would be $29.95 per month for a year. He told me that this was a good deal and I foolishly agreed.
On September 28th, when my internet service was changed to Essential Plus my speed went down to 1.02 Mbps from an average of 1.42 Mbps previously. I have called 310-SURF at least 4 times since to no avail. I even spoke to a Bell Canada technician (not Sympatico) in Canada who told me that they had never received any reports from Sympatico about my internet problem.
My October 6, 2008 bill just came in today, it looks like I am being charged $35 per month for the internet (not what was agreed). I called Bell Sympatico Billing Department to complain and had to explain everything again, they were nice and adjusted my account to what was agreed upon. Sometime in this conversation I asked them "So how many gigs of internet usage have been recorded since Sep 28th because I know that one of my kids have taken up watching anime videos on their computer" they replied "37.8 gigs which would be an additional cost of $30 because it is over the 20 gig limit for the Essential Plus Package". Well they might as well of slapped me in the face and knocked me off my chair. I remember saying "What? You mean to tell me that I not only owe for an internet service that was knocked down to $29.95 per month but now I have to pay an additional $30 for internet usage? Grand total $59.95 plus taxes." They sympathized with me and said that there was nothing they could do and asked me if I wanted to be transferred over to cancellation. What the "H_ll"? I have had enough.

I need to get away from Bell asap. Obviously, as a current Bell customer I am not very important as I am paying for 2 separate phone lines coming into the house with features, 1 business line with features, 2 Bell Mobility, 2 Solo and one internet service. I need to find another service provider asap but I am so afraid of being lied to and bent over I am just not sure who to believe or where to turn.

permalink · 2008-10-17 01:33:58 · Print ·

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