30 day cancellation period & Cancelling Bell services (Merged)

  • Thread starter Thread starter eldavido
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eldavido

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I am canceling all my bell services (home phone, sympatico ,express vu). I am moving ,and I'm going with my local cable company.

My problem is it slipped my mind till today to actually call and cancel my bell services. The CSR is telling my I have to pay for the services for 30 days from today. Which is a bummer but not unexpected.

I'm wondering if there's any way around this or if you guys have any hints on saving some money for these 30 days?

Could I suspend the services? Could I down grade them to the very basics?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 


It's not like if it was a hidden fee...it's all displayed in the service contract you signed when you registered as well as on the service agreement you can see on line.

Why do they need a 30 days notice?
Often the client would start register with a competitor and then find out that it's not what they taught, or get upset that they can not have the install date they wanted and change heir mind about it. I saw lots of client who had an open order to cancel service calling back saying they changed their mind and want to continue.
Also, it gives them a 30 days period to call you back and attempt a win back offer incentive to make you stay
 
Imagine if you will that YOU provide a service to dozens, hundreds or thousands of customers.You happily collect the money on the first of every month. You fork over the cash to obtain whatever resources are necessary, pay for good/services to cover the next month, pay your rent, pay your staff, etc. You walk in on the second day of the month and find all have phoned in to cancel the service.

If you didn't have a policy allowing you to cover your costs for that last month you would be out a lot of money. As a business, this would not be a good sign and I'm willing to bet your stock holders would be unhappy.

It is standard practice, clearly documented as a term of service.
 
Hate to say it, but by the time you figure out if there is anything you can do, which there likely isn't, then your 30 would be almost up anyway.

It likely isn't worth the hassle to get a couple days credit anyway, you'd spend more time on the phone.

Although (all services companies) are willing to add a new charge to your account right away, you'd be hard pressed to find one that will terminate you without some compensation.

What can I say, next time plan ahead?
 
I thought that's why I have to pay a month in advance!
Now you not only want me to pay for a month in advance but you want to penalize me another month if I decide I no longer want your service.
It's a standard practice that should be stopped.
 
What do those extreme cases have to do with reality? Why bring them up?

Just imagine:
-every single person in your city/town decides tomorrow to leave the car in the garage and go to work by bus - it would be a disaster...
-every household turns on every single hydro-powered device in their house - it would be a disaster...

I have seen cases where BEV billing not only stopped after one phone call, it was even pro-rated.
But those were not games. Lawyer was involved in one of them. You have to be ready to go the whole 9 yards...
 
Just call them and tell them you are now in the USA and see how fast they will cut you offf. Use their "rules" to your advantage.
 


If he already called them they won't do it...




No...account needs to be active in order to enter a deactivation order



You could only downgrade on the first day of your billing cycle. Only one open ordercan be entrered at the time. If they do an open order to downgrade that time doesn't count as part of the 30 days notice.
 
Rogers does the same thing.... most people call to cancel when they no longer need the service so it's their way of making you pay for an extra month of service you'll never use so they totally gain from it. I really think this 30 days to cancel sucks and it's just a way to get money out of people. This practice really should be outlawed... They don't need 30 days to cancel your service they can cut you off in 30 seconds if they really wanted too.
 
What I did to cancel and minimize my costs was simply put my ExpressVu on suspension for 8 weeks and then I called back 4 weeks later and cancelled. Basically I paid $20 for the 2 months that it was suspended instead of 1 month at $115, my normal programming package.

It worked like a charm, and they never actually did suspend the account so for those 2 months I had all my programming available to me!

Just make sure you confirm the suspend programming order a few days after you first call it in and then wait a few weeks and call back to cancel your programming.

When they asked me why I simply told them we no longer watch any TV so please leave a note for retention agents to not bother calling. I never got a call!

During this call they did try to sell me on staying with incredible offers, but I went OTA nad haven't looked back since!
 
Some agents, like I was advise the client when he says he is switching from such cmpagny and wants install in a few days that there would probably be a 30 days notice period request by their current supplier, that if they want they can check up with the provider then call to book the appoitement.

I know there is probably not too many agents doing this, but personnaly I had no bonus, nothing on new clients so it didn't change anything for me
 
That's not how it works.
If you call thirty days in advance, you're billed to that date. If in the meantime your billing peroid comes around, you are sent a bill for the next billing period (one month in advance) because your deactivation hasn't been completed (because your deactivation date hasn't passed yet) After your deactivation date has passed, you are then creditted for any over payment and a cheque will be issued.

Nem, who's been there and been billed correctly.
 
The fact that you pay one month in advance is probably one of the reason why they request that 30 days delay.

Let's say your billing is issued on May 15...
You call May 25 to cancel the service...
Your service will be cancelled June 25, ut is already paid until June 15.
On June 15 a bill for a month will be issued...
On June 25 once the service will get disconnected the period from the 26th of June till July 15 will get credited...if you paid the bill you received that was issue June 15 you will receive 3-6 weeks later a check. If you didn't pay that bill you can call in and find out how much you actually owe.
 
A friend of mine called in a few days ago to cancel his BEV. He was told that there was a 30 day cancellation period.

Does anybody know if during this 30 day period your satellite subscription still works (i.e. can you still watch tv using your BEV subscription during that period of time)? Or does Bell cut you off immediately (or sometime through the month) and then you just pay for 30 days anyway?
 
You just need to give 30 days notice. The service remains active during that time.

-Mike
 
I guess it would be too easy to say you payed in advance up to June 15 your service will run till then. Thank You.
And everyone wonders why bell has billing problems.
 
Well, if you requested a disconnection date of June 25th, then no, it wouldn't be easier. :p


Nem, who thought that joke was too easy.
 
I went through this rigamaroll back in September. I had never heard of such a thing with my other providers in the past - Aliant, Eastlink, NS Power, etc. etc.

Yes, it was in the contract... the itty bitty print that is purposely long, hard to read, and hard to understand for some folks. It just never crossed my mind that I would HAVE to keep a service I did not want for 30 days.

I believe Aliant (being mostly owned by Bell) has now implemented the 30-day policy to their products.

And therein lies the ********: Aliant has been doing fine for many years, even with heavy, heavy competition from Eastlink. They've continued to evolve and offer new services. But now, all of a sudden, after most people being pleased with their customer service and such, they decide to implement Bell's policy?

Yes, it's in the contract and is now standard practice - but I don't agree with the policy. It's a cash grab. Don't give me a sob story about them covering their up-front costs for the month... If Bell, Aliant, *C, etc. were operating month-to-month I am pretty sure they would be out of business by now.
 
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