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Canada’s “Worst Cellphone Bill” revealed
The CBC has been looking for feedback over the past few months to find out who has Canada’s Worst Cellphone Bill” and yesterday they revealed who it was. CBC’s Wendy Mesley took to the streets of Toronto, interviewed people across the country and received over 1,000 submission for the cause. The findings can be viewed over at the CBC and it is honestly a brilliant piece of work that showcases the major carriers and how they respond to high cellphone bill charges. In some cases the monthly cost soared to $6,000, others were just about being put on the wrong plan.
Mesley also interview University of Waterloo professor Srinivasan Keshav who explained that the cost of services such as text messaging, roaming and data are a cash cow for our carriers. You should check it out, the entire piece is over 20 minutes but gives you an insight into how the carriers treat their customers. The “worst” cellphone bill is not just about price, but about service. In this case Rogers, Fido, TELUS, Bell and Virgin have been interviewed. What’s shocking is that you see a frustrated customer connect with Virgin (her carrier) who eventually hangs up on her… FYI, Virgin won a whack load of J.D. Power Awards last year.
More here at CBC
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I haven’t watched the video yet, but what ever happened to that kid who was traveling overseas, lost his backpack with his phone in it, and then got a bill for $25000? I read the story on here months ago, and at that point the carrier had refused to concede anything at all and was going ahead with charging the full amount. Was that the end of it or did the guy get them to drop the charges, or what?
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http://mobilesyrup.com/2009/04/18/stolen-cellphone-rings-up-24000-charge/ This is the original article
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It’s having gone through stuff like this with Telus that has me stuck on a pay as you go account, so that I can pay ahead of time, with cash. I will never get a trumped up bill, I will never get overdrafted, and my payments will never go missing.
When Wind launches in Vancouver I’ll even be able to get proper internet.
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Its funny that the CBC lady thinks it is so terrible for Bell to tell a customer that they’re wrong, yet she has no problem telling Bell they’re wrong. Isn’t it possible for a customer to be wrong too?
Regardless, none of these stories should have made it on TV. A properly empowered front-line employee should have been able to resolve every single one of these issues AND made the customer more loyal than before.
BTW, this is journalism at its worst. What kind of story do you expect to develop when you ask people “do you have Canada’s worst cell phone bill?” Its pure sensationalism and viewers are not any better off for having watched it. Shame on you CBC.
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You are a liar, I bet you work for one of those worst customer service cell phone companies. Why should anyone believe you, you are biased, hyprocitical, hypocrite, you dont care about the people..only your own corrupt adgenda, and you can go to double L hockey sticks (figure out that one if you (still) think you are so smart!!!! No spam accepted, I work in internet technology so don’t mess with me.
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Honestly, yeah these charges are ridiculous, but they’re definitely not normal.
I was hoping the video would target carriers high costs of average consumer cell bills – not outrageous thousand dollar bills.
Really? Fab5 calling from the States? Most people in this video should read the fine print in the brochures. Most of the questions in there are clearly answered.
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I find this entire marketplace episode pretty annoying- perhaps cell phone companies aren’t competitive enough, and perhaps we the consumer get gouged sometimes, but you can’t really fault the cell phone companies if people don’t really read the contract. If the terms aren’t clear in the contract or if they aren’t clear in the description of the data/voice plan, then don’t sign, ask for written clarification and have that amended into the contract.
In the case of the Bell client, it sure is possible that a sales rep didn’t know what s/he was talking about and made a false claim. It happens. The client never got the rep to sign her “notes” or date them, so in essence she, nor Bell has any real evidence either way. Caveat Emptor.
As for the guy with Telus, if I use pay-per-service stuff not in my contract and I get charged for it, I don’t think it’s fair for the customer to rip up the contract and walk away just because they get pissed off. Imagine if you could do that with any other product or service! If you got pissed off because your new car didn’t come with a turbocharger when you simply thought it would have (and were not necessarily led to believe that the car would come with one) so you decide to stop paying for it and return it to the dealership after you had signed the contract, they’d laugh you right out of the showroom. It isn`t their fault you don`t didn`t do the research ahead of time! Same goes for the lady with the roaming. She should have asked about how much a kilobyte really means- a fraction of a text, a page of email, etc. It isn’t the cell phone’s mistake if you can’t understand common units of measurement!!
I’m not trying to say that cell phone companies are angels and that they aren’t ever wrong, but what I am saying is that people should be AWARE of what they are getting themselves into, and unless they have been deceived by commission or by omission on the part of the provider, you can’t fault the provider for people being ignorant and getting themselves into contracts! Not only do the providers need to take responsibility when they are actually wrong, but the customer also has to take responsibility when they are wrong too. It’s only fair!
And I am done my rant.
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But isn’t $6,000 Canadian just $24.95 U.S.? Just kidding. Well, sort of.
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I kinda think WIND might be up here next year due to their roaming fees on Rogers.
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Plain and simple, wireless is not straightforward enough. Certainly the value contained in the plans and extra charges have been a major consumer letdown.
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” Isn’t it possible for a customer to be wrong too? ”
Anyone who has sold cell phone will tell you: YES! It happens alll the time!
“Plain and simple, wireless is not straightforward enough.”
So true. The problem with the cell phone industry is that the carriers don’t advertise the flat cost well enough, although now they are much better than before. That and 80% of cell phone buyers are far too retarded to do even an ounce of the homework required when buying a phone and a phone plan. They by law tell you everything in the fineprint. No one WANTS to read fine print, but you always should whether its a phone, car, mortgage, etc. People like to take the lazy way out.
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Marketplace is on the side of the consumer so this is the kind of show you are going to get. I did wonder how the Prof calcuted the “real cost”. did he include all the employees and their benefits as well as infrastructure?
I am with Bell and I’ve found the reps to be friendly and knowledgeble. Maybe it’s because in a small town you’re more likely to be recognized away from work or it could be because of good management. Bell Corporate can issue all the memos it wants about customer service but if the wrong people are hired it all goes down the drain. Bills need to be simple and clear; contracts need to be simple and clear. Most people don’t understand the rest of their utility bills either but cell phones have so many options it gets users in trouble.
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Free does not mean free as in cellphone.If you don’t want to sine a contract then buy the phone out right.Also do lots of research ie coverage(I don’t mean the color maps witch are to vague) ,plans,check out each carriers store feel it out,Are you comfortable there ask lots of questions.When I look for a new phone I generally know more than they do.
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Seems like a few bell reps are responding to this canada’s worst cell phone bill article. Funny thing is that 2 bell companies are represented in the show. You would be right in saying that many people don’t read the fine print. However, I’ve been told something by a bell rep when I was purchasing a phone and later found that the rep was incorrect. I went back into the store when I was having a problem with my phone and spoke with another rep. Sure he was nice a polite but nice and polite doesn’t fix my phone. This rep told me the exact same thing that the first rep had told me. I had to explain to this rep what in fact the policy was in regards to their smart phone care. The rep appeared shocked.
I often find that this is the case when you speak with certain reps over the phone, they are nice and polite however policies change from one rep to the next apparently. In essence, reading the fine print is garbage because most people don’t speak that language, the legal”ese” language. This is why they have honest reps who explain it to those people. I guaranteee you that reps don’t understand the fine print either. Then when you’re locked into a contract for a three bloody years, you get even more upset when you’re charged for things that you didn’t ask for. When no one is available to help you, they basically say screw you, you’re in this contract and you’re going to have to live with it. It shouldn’t be that way. I know my way around contracts, I worked in retail management for years including a large electronic retailer ahd the policies don’t even make sense to me. I recently had my phone shut off and when I spoke with the reps at bell, they told me that if I wanted it turned back on, I would have to pay almost 1200 bucks. When I asked to speak to customer service for about the 5th time in 2 months to have it corrected, a rep and supervisor managed to get the bill down to just over 400 hundred bucks. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t pay a bill that I am clearly overcharged for. Do you think bell would turn my phone back on after the error? Nope. Had to pay 300 bucks. This is after I explained that I won’t pay my bill when I am clearly being overcharged and the bell rep and supervisor agreed with me by crediting my bill 800 bucks. I understand that bell doesn’t NEED my business, they’ve got thousands of customers, if not millions. However these companies should start acting like they WANT my business. Maybe now that the government has somewhat opened things up for foreign business and new companies, they’ll change their tune.
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it’s all about how wrong the companies are… they should educate the customers and their employees, because on several occasions I know I have been given the wrong info… If someone like my mother was given that information she would go with it and rack up the charges!!! It’s not okay and it pisses me off how companies can just get away with s**t like that, then tell the customer it was their fault! Ugh anyways, VIRGIN and Bell and Solo SUCK! I have dealt with every one of them and NOT ONCE have I had a good experience!!!
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I use to work for a popular cell phone company as CSR. Sometimes customers are wrong, sometimes they are right!! You get customers who start talking down on you freaking out and the rep can’t get 2 words in, how to you expect to resolve any issues if the person is freaking out throughout the entire phone call? – I also love the customers who call and want to know why there phone is disconnected or suspended … maybe because you didn’t pay your bill for 3mths? (we don’t want to hear your excuse) and they still manage to blame the company. Or the customers who can’t take “no” for an answer. My final thought… customers can be just as bad or worse then reps!!! you know that old saying “kill them with kindness” well if customers did that more with reps they would be helped more, while the rep is following the guidelines through the company
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I meant to say H E double L hockey sticks (you would’t be smart enough (at all) to figure it out unless I put in the first two clues.
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