They will now.

Well finally, yes finally I think I have found an answer. Well at least a piece of an answer. There is a Company that I was informed of that will give me free phone service. Yes free phone service. Okay, right about now, you are repeating my first thought. “What’s the catch?” Well, here is what I have found out, and in my opinion it is far from a catch.

First let me say, I do not work for, get paid by, or receive any sort of benefit from this Company (other than the same free phone service you can get). I am simply a client, and feel it is my duty to pass this on to everyone out there to investigate for themselves.

The company is called Free Phoneline – http://www.freephoneline.ca/ FPL is first a software based solution that you can load onto your laptop and talk over the Internet, just like Skype. But further, and better in my opinion, it also allows you to tap into your high Speed Internet connection, and use a Voice Over IP (VOIP) phone line to talk using a real phone, over a real phone line (not like Skype). Local calls are free, as well as calls to a number of larger cities across Canada. For those areas where the service may not be available, and I have found some, you can either call from another phone line (cell, Bell ,Rogers), or you can pay a flat fee of $3.95 per month (current as of April 2010), to get unlimited long distance calling anywhere across Canada. Compared to other VOIP providers like Vonage, this is incredible. Check out Vonage’s rates and see for yourself.

I’ll let you read that last paragraph again, and wait for you right here, because yes, it does sound too good to be true. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

So here is the only catch if you can call it that. You do need to buy a VOIP router. Linksys makes one of the best and is what I use. The two line type that I have runs about $50 (onetime fee – it’s a piece of hardware), and a single line costs about $40 (for only one line). BTW, that is an either / or, not both (the $40 or $50). The other onetime fee, is a fee that you pay to FPL to get what they call a configuration file. It is really just a password.

I’ve been running this for about 3 weeks now and so far, not a single issue. You can also port over your phone number and keep your home line, or just use the one you get from FPL. In any case, I will be porting over after about another week or two of solid testing.

I am even going to offer to get into setting this up for people (at a reasonable fee), as there is some technical set up to it. But to pay $100 or so to have the chance to tell the huge Corporate World to shove it, I think it is a small price to pay. So let me know if you are interested in getting this done and if you need help.

In my eyes, this one is a good; really, really good!

Doesn’t it kind of make you wonder why these huge Coporates charge what they do, if another Company can do this pretty much for free?

Their logic, as stated in my previous post, is that they “require” 30 days notice to cancel my service.  Even though they bill me in advance of getting the actual service, they require 30 days notice. 

I asked both the second and third callers looking for the $200 if they had the ability to look at the notes on my account.  Of course I was told no.  Now why would one area of Bell, the one calling you and harrassing you for money, need to know anything about your account?  Absolutely insane way of operating…..

In any case, they do not have the ability to look at any of the notes or see that I cancelled on September 3rd, so they insist I owe for all of September and all of October.  I am telling them I will pay them for the 3 days in September and nothing more.

Again, I was told of their “policy” of 30 days.  I basically told them that they can shove their “policy” just north of their hamstrings.  I will not pay for service that I did not get.

This guy though did get pretty upset at me.  He told me to call the billing department and I told him that I did not care ot call the billing deparmtent.  They are the ones that screwed up, they can call me.  He told me to have a nice day and hung up.

Stay tuned!

I decided seeing as my telephone and Internet were already with Rogers, to check out their television services.  The long and short of it, Rogers like every other huge conglomerate, having the chance to chew up a competitor (Bell), made me some sweet offers and I made the change. 

I had an installation date set of Sunday August 30th.  They came, they installed, I was happy!

I did not cancel Bell Expressvu as I wanted to make sure that I was completely satisfied with the Rogers selections, service, etc. before I did.  So I waited a few days, and called Bell today, September 3rd to say I was done.

First off, the lady tried everything but offering me a brand new television to keep me on board.  I stated o her, that it was a shame that it took me leaving for Bell to offer me a savings on my services.  She agreed.  I stated that the only correspondence I ever receive form Bell is the letter that states how happy they are that I am a customer, and oh by the way, the government said we can sting you for more so we are, effective now!  (you know the letter I mean).  Anyway, I declined the hot tub, free vacation and new car and said I was still leaving.

Well much to my surprise, Bell informs me that they need 30 days notice to cancel my service, and that I was being billed until October 3rd.  October freaking third!  This from the company that charges their television subscribers 30 days in advance (i.e. you pay before you watch!).  This from the company that when you want to make change that costs more, they do it in a second, when you want to make a change that costs less, it takes a few days.  And yes this from the company that is ever increasing their prices. (Oh, and I am naive enough to think that Rogers is any better in this regard)

Well needless to say, I informed the polite lady on the other end of my phone that I would be paying my account until September 3rd and no longer.

Stay tuned, this will likely drag on a bit! 

Bell customer service?  Bad!

And what is even better is that plans start at $25.00 per month, which gets you 500 MB of usage.  For the casual internet surfer, to check emails, etc. that is more than enough.

So I called today and was all ready to sign up and get going.  But alas, Rogers has decided to slap on a $6.95 per month access fee, just like they and all cell phone providers do for Cell phone plans.  At least they had the cahones to put right on their web site that this was a non-government fee.  What that means is that Rogers has decided you need to pay an additional $6.95 per month because $25 per month is not enough for them.

Well shame on you Rogers.  It will be up to the individual people to decide if they need this bad enough, but for me?  It will be a cold day in hell before I pay another $6.95 for an advertised $25.00 service.

In the interest of Customer Service…..a RIPOFF!

Well, I was very impressed with the fact that the owner of the Company did come on here and put up a post.  That to me was very refreshing.

In the same vein, I also feel the need to tell everyone that I made a call after my second audit to find out about my energy rebate.  That call was immediately returned, a full explanation given as to expected timelines and I was encouraged to call back if those timelines passed without receiving anything.

As I was told, my government rebate cheques did come in (in the timelines I was given) and this story did have a good ending for me.

So for what it is worth, Acan came through in the end and gets a GOOD from me!

Now I do have to say that the service so far (phone and Internet) has been fine, but at the prices we pay for these sevices, it should be fine.

My complaint is as it relates to the human side of things.  I was encouraged during a phone conversation to “sign up” for online billings.  After thinking about it for a bit, I thought it was a good idea to save a few trees and get my bills using the technology available to us.

Not realizing when Rogers says online it does not mean you will get a bill emailed to you; it means you have to go to Rogers web site, sign in (good luck), and go find your bill to know how much you owe.  Well it was a catastrophe trying to sign up. 

Remember I do not have a bill in front of me and the first thing you are asked is your account number.  Well without a bill how the hell is one supposed to know their account number.  Of course if I can remember my last vacation spot (as it asked me), the system will tell me my account number.  Forget it, I called Rogers.  Well now the real live person on the other end wants to know my account number.  I explain to them, that that is what I want them to tell me.  Immediate red flags are sent up, and I feel like Judge Judy is going to be knocking on my door any minute.

After explaining the situation, the attendant informs me that they cannot give me that information over the phone.  So I informed the attendant that they will be waiting to get paid then, because without an account number, I cannot pay my bill.

I received a phone call a few weeks later asking if I knew my account was overdue.  What a shock to the poor person calling when I said “absolutely, and I;ve been waiting for you to call me”.  So, yet aain, I explain the situation, and inform the kind lady that I’d like to be removed from online billing, because I did not realize that online meant the customer does everything.

Today, now two months later, I received yet another call from Rogers asking if I knew my account was overdue.  Well I shocked a different lady this time by saying “yes, I imagined it would be, but had no idea how much was owed”.  Again, this prompted an explanation, and another assurance that it was “in the works”.  

So I apologize to all those environmentally friendly folks out there (which I am one myself).  I tried to save tress, but stupid people got in the way and I had to revert back to the old way of doing things.

In terms of Customer Service – BAD!

After my move in early December 2007 I left Bell;s service for Phone and Internet to go with Rogers……yes I know from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Anyway, Bell’s Internet Service sucked, so I took it along with my phone to Rogers (the phone went because I could not pass up 6 free months).  The only reason I did not leave Bell for television was the fact that I have purchased over the last short while close to $1000 in equipment for High Definition TV.

I called Bell anyway, and told them that I was considering leaving.  When they heard that, they pretty much fell over themselves to keep me a customer.  It’s funny how places like this will do nothing for you until you threaten to, or really do leave. 

***Sidenote: since leaving for Rogers with my phone and Internet, Bell has called me three times!

In any case, they (Bell) offered me 2 months completely free TV, 6 months at 30% off, and the kicker….. A new High Definition PVR (Personal Video Recorder) for one year, FREE!   Needless to say, I stayed and this is where the fun began.

First, although Bell knew where to send my bill (because I got one at my new address they sent the installer to my old address.  It was explained that the departments don’t always talk to one another (go figure)!  So the refundable $100 installation charge went onto my account twice (because of their mistake), and only came off once.  I hd to fight this for a few calls, and on March it was dealt with.

Second, getting my two free months of TV has been like trying to walk on water!  Countless calls in January, February and yes indeed March I think I am finally going to get 2 free months.

Third, I noticed in January, and again in February that I was suddenly getting charged $20 a month for the PVR; remember the free PVR for one year?  So a few calls in January and again in February I thought I had this cleared up.  In March, they cleared the two months of charges to my bill (from January and February), but again charged me $20 for the rental.  This then led me to what probably amounted to my 15th – 20th phone call in the last 2-3 months.  As at March 24 / 2008 I m being told that my account is cleared up.  We shall see…….

In the interest of Customer Service………..BAD!

The company we dealt with was great (Total Home Comfort); they were in and out in about 5-6 hours, and we’ve been happy ever since.

As a part of the purchase though, the salesman informed us of a number of great rebates available from the Ontario / Canadadian governments, Enbridge, Ontario Power Authority, etc.  To be eligible, we simply needed to have a home energy audit done, of course ata cost of $341.25.  At that point we had up to 18 months to make adjustments to our house to become more energy efficient.  Included would be the new furnace and the rebates would total somewhere in the $1400 – $1500 range.  Now I should make a point that we would have purchased a new furnace anyway, but these rebates only solidified our decision.

So we  used a company recommended by Total Home Comfort; a company called Acan Energy Solutions.  We had the audit done on January 30 / 2008.  The gentleman that did the audit informed my wife and I afterwards that his computer would not allow him to print our report.  He explained that he had just had a software upgrade done on his computer, and there was a bug in it.  He insisted though that we would get a copy either emailed to us, or sent via regular mail.  That was on January 30 / 3008.

I’m writing this on February 27 / 2008, a full 28 days later.  Needless to say I’ve not received my report, my phone calls have only been returned by what I would guess is a receptionist stating that she has passed on my requests to the man that did the audit.

Finally today I called Total Home Comfort to see if they can help me in getting this report.  I am awaiting their call back and will update as soon as I have more information.

Customer Service – BAD!

I purchased a Garmin GPS Navigation system from Future Shop (which ultimately was stolen from my car a week before paying for it).  I used the no fee, 3 month plan, where you do not pay anything, yes anything, for 3 months.  About 3 weeks later I saw a great deal on a 37″ LCD television and they were promoting there 24 equal payments plan.  I scooped one up.

So my next statement comes in and I owe $62.00; my first of 24 payments for my television, and nothing on my GPS.  I called the 800 number on my bill, which is as good as Bell Canada’s 800 number (crap!), and ultimately ended up going into the store.  My questions was: if I pay $100.00 what happens to the $38 extra that is paid.  The clerk in the store called the finance company(not sure who, but she got through a heck of a lot quicker than I ever would).  She was told, and passed onto me, that “any extra funds over an above the required payment will go toward the purchase that comes due the earliest”.  So that meant my GPS right?  Wrong.

My next statement comes in and the entire $100 is against the television; yes the no interest, 24 equal payments, why rush television.  So I call Future Shop, and this time I had a trick up my sleeve.  I hit the key combo to tell them I wanted to raise my credit limit.  Holy cripes, to my amazement they could not get someone on the line fast enough (take this info down it really did work).  We get it all straightened around and I jokingly bet the guy on the line that this WILL happen again.

Next we hit the expiration of my 3 months and at the exact same statement date, I also owe my regular $62.00 television payment.  Total owing this month $365.99 ($303.99 GPS + $62.00 television).  Being the smart guy I am I call them and explain that I am making my payment and ask them to clarify that yes indeed the amounts will go to exactly what I stated above.  The same gent that helped me last time, helps me again.

Voila, the next statement comes in and a $0.00 payment was made on the GPS, which by the way is now past due, so I get hit with a $28.96 interest penalty (not bad for 3 months huh?).  The remaining $365.99, yes the entire payment goes against my television.  Yes, that would be the 24 equal payments, interest free, no extra charges, why rush and make extra payments television.

So back to the phone we go, and I have to straighten this all out again.  I do so, with a very helpful gent, a new one this time.  When finished I tell the gent that I want to speak to a Supervisor because I’m a little miffed at my experience.  He tells me that all of his supervisors are really busy and I might get voice mail.  I tell him that is fine and I will leave a voice mail.

So I get transferred to extension 4126.  It rings…….and rings………and rings some more and guess what.  Ultimately I get told by a nice lady that “this person does not subscribe to that service”. 

You cannot leave a voice mail for a Supervisor.

I was able however to back out to “0″ to the operator, who I did not get (of course), and left them a message to have a supervisor call me.

To date………no call.

In the interest of Customer Service………Absolutely Disgustingly Ugly!