My gosh, seven calls from Bell Canada in the past two weeks asking me once again if I would like to sign up for their cell phone service. At the first call I ask to be put on the no call list. Eventually the calls slow down and stop. Until… the next time. Then once again the process begins… again and again… and again. OK, enough of this. I will write to Bell and complain to the higher ups. Oops, there is no place to lodge a complaint about this problem. You can complain about most everything else… but I couldn’t find a place to complain about sales practices. Ah, perhaps I didn’t look deep enough into the murky bowels of their website. I did find an email address at the end of the complaints resolution process. So I wrote to them. Here is a copy of what I sent them.
My name is Joseph Raymond. My wife, Linda, and I had been a loyal Bell Canada phone subscriber for over twenty five years. We were very pleased with the home phone service and the long distance program we had. Then about five or more years ago we began getting telephone calls to expand our services with you. For years I told whoever called that we were not interested and please stop calling us if the purpose of the call was sales. At times the person who called us would be a bit too belligerent. Eventually we thought we no longer had any recourse but to cancel our service with Bell and went to Primus for our phone and long distance needs.
Over these last few years we still get calls from Bell Canada sales representatives. I have asked many times to be placed on the no call list. After another 6-12 calls there would be peace, short-lived, and calls would resume once again. I have come to the point of hating these calls. I repeatedly ask to be placed on the no call list. When I ask to speak to a supervisor I get from some form of abuse to simply being told to wait on the line and then at some point they hang up on me without talking to me. These are extremely bad business practices.
I can guess that you have farmed out the sales contacts contracts to some company in India, judging from the accents, to take advantage of lower costs. However, if you lose long term customers because of the frequency, and sometimes abuse, of these sales calls I cannot see it being to your long term advantage. Perhaps you can do something about this problem. A no calls list should be honoured no matter where the sales calls originate if the company being represented is Canadian.
I am not the only one who is complaining. Others I know also complain yet at this time most haven’t done anything to stop it. Honestly, they don’t think anyone from Bell cares or would do something to correct the abuse. I am of the same opinion. Yet I write this email in the hopes of being proven wrong.
You never know, sometimes, someone listens and something gets done. I can only hope.
Good letter, Joe. I sent one years ago, telling them of my loyalty over the years, and asking them if they could lower some price of some kind, to be competitive. They didn’t even answer. So I switched to Sprint. Switched back to Bell once, regretted it, left, and can’t imagine any motivation that would bring me back to them.
They really do have an awful reputation in that way, don’t they?
I’d love to hear if you get an answer.
Laying in bed… trying to get my eight hours sleep in just twelve hours… High Noon… the telephone rings by the bed. Not sleepy so I answer the phone. Bell Canada…
I was about to get upset…
Ooh! This is in response to my email. Sales executive office is calling me. What happens next is a small delightful conversation. Profuse apology. Seems they don’t get many e-mails on this very subject. The man promises to put me on an exclusion list and send it out. Now he did say it would take 31 days for my name to propagate throughout the Bell empire.
“Oh”, I said, “does that mean I will never ever again get a call from Bell Canada?”
“Hm-mm”, said he, “can’t guarantee that.”
Sign up for the National don’t call list? Naw, I don’t mind some business calls.
So we chat a bit more. And the conversation ends. He more apologetic and me less apoplectic. Overall a nice conflict resolution. Wow, who would have thunk it possible?
😉
Hi Joe: Interesting experience you had with Bell. Glad it turned out the way it did. Big organization—hard to control a lot of employees—many of whom would be unlikely to know where to register a “stop calling” order if they were inclined to do so—-also, it would cut into their time to make the next call with it’s potential to produce commission—which is likely how they are paid. To me, it’s just the reality of the world we live in—electronic communicatiion in it’s many forms is here to stay and continue to get more sophisticated. It’s difficult to put some heart and soul into big business practises.
Now to share stories—I left Bell a couple of years ago for Rogers. The day after I arranged the change, I discovered there was something I didn’t like about Rogers—called them—-couldn’t resolve the issue, so, cancelled the order. Phoned Bell, discussed the situation—they took my account back with increased facilities for twenty bucks a month less than Rogers. Rogers took my line over even after it being cancelled and it took me six months to persuade them to stop billing me for service I never received. Twice since then Bell has made increases in the cost of my service and in both cases I have phoned to complain and come away with a lower rate than before. The last occasion was in September. I think it’s the way you hold your mouth—they are approachable.
I’ve often wondered if a call to the Better Business Bureau would make any difference.
I looked at going through the BBB and got lost looking for the right form in the right location with no promise that they could do anything. I didn’t bother them.