Call from BEV to "inventory" my receivers

  • Thread starter Thread starter I_Want_My_HDTV
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And neither will the last person standing when all the customers have left and they have to turn out the lights for the last time!

What a bunch of buffoons!
 
Not at a particular moment in time, but they know if they have been connected previously or not because the receiver would not be able to dial in if not conected. That's the whole reason for the phone call.
 
Montreal.... India.....whats the difference??

I think I just pi$$ed myself ...tooooo funny!!! :cool:
 
Depending on where you are located you may need multiple dishes. I have two 42" dishes with a single dula lnb on each running into a pair of switches. No rain fade that I used to have with my 18" or 20" 'stock' EVu dishes.

People in the territories will tell you that they do the same. Larger dishes with out multiple LNBs. You need two dishes to get 82 and 91 if you use a non EVu "Y" yoke dish.
 
It still seems a bizarre practice to me: Bell ExpressVu looks at the records and thinks you might have 3 or more receivers and calls you. Once on the list (a "No View List"?), they cut off, arbitrarily, receivers that they determine are "inappropriate". Maybe Grandma in the upstairs bedroom can continue watching the daily soaps; but, alas, ExpressVu has chosen to ZAP your main shiny TV in the living room. Oh well ... a small price to pay for ensuring Bell doesn't allow pirates to watch its signals. :rolleyes:

Can you imagine your bank "calling to verify you have your credit card" and arbitrarily suspending service because they can't reach you? Or having "lost" the records of your account?

Bell ExpressVu is saying that anyone with a legitimate fully paid up account is a suspect because they happen to own/rent 3 or more receivers. I get that if they allowed 20 receivers on an account you might be operating a mini-TV service. But since you can only attach a fixed maximum (of 6 isn't it?) number of receivers to each account, surely this is self-limiting?
 
Whilst I agree with your opening sentance, you have to remember that not ALL customers, myself included, have ANY other options.

I wish I did.
 
We don't accuse anybody...if receivers are not dialling out because they are not calling out our SAT group will call them to say that they need to update the receivers or update the receiver, not hey sir we think that you are not following the rules and the receivers may be in separate locations

It is not something we hide to the client. I is stated black and white on the service agreement that Bell Express Vu reserves the right to verify that all IRD's are at the same service adress
 
Could you explain how and exactly what is updated on my receiver when you call me at home.?
 
I got stung by the verification department only a short time ago and did it ever leave a bad taste in my mouth about Bell in general.

Background: I've got 4 Bell receivers. A 2700(my first), a 6000(first HD), 6100 and finally a 9200. They were bought in that order. 3 of the 4 are in use on my bedroom, living room and basement tvs. The 2700 is sitting collecting dust right now.

I was outside doing some yardwork on Saturday, April 28th. My wife took a call from Bell(as it turned out it was this verification department). She gave me the message that they'd called but I was busy with other things so just planned to call them later. I'd heard that they were checking on receivers so figured that it was in regards to that.

Monday night, decided to give them a call before heading out, but after being on hold for about 15 minutes, I hung up as I had stuff to do.

Tuesday morning, I wake up to go watch sports in the living room before work. I get a message on the screen saying that the channel isn't one I've subscribed to. I go upstairs and check but it's actually working in there as it was in the basement. It was then that my wife mentioned(or I forgot?) that I was supposed to call Bell by May 1st apparently.

That night I get on the phone and call back. After being on hold for about 25 minutes I finally get through. Did I mention that I was insanely pissed? So the guy gives me the whole song and dance about needing to update my receivers(BS). I then proceed to walk around the house getting the various Location IDs and receiver IDs. After all this, he gives me the statement about it taking 15 minutes to 2 hours. As it was, it was back up and running quickly. He then stated to do his wrapup of the call but I didn't let him off that easily. Probably kept him on the phone for another 10 minutes ranting about the fact that I was deactivated.

It really bugged me that Bell deactivated all my receivers. If they want to check up on me because I have multiple receivers, I'm cool with that, but it shouldn't be MY responsibility to be going out of my way to call them(and be on hold) just so they can see if I'm legit. They call once and that was it and then a few days later turned off all my receivers. Very good way to lose customers.

If I had been on vacation when that message came with my PVR set, then I guess it's just my fault for having more than 1 tv?
 
Kandkt you are totally wrong...when we restart a receiver that was deactivated from an account it only takes 15 minutes to 2 hours! In mots cases channels are there before I even do my recap of the call. And lately, since they added a new call center in Brampford, the delays to get to a rep are less than 5 minutes... During the day period there are long period were we have agents availlable, meaning that as soon as you finish the dialling part you have an agent right away.

Same delay if you cancelled an account and want to restart it, or if your account was deactivated for non-payment and we could restart it

When it takes 24 hours is if you put your account on Temporary programming suspension (also known as Vac Ajust) in the case that you would have chosen to get 2 separate accounts and put let's say the cottage account on TPS for the winter because cottage is closed for the winter. In that case it could take up to 24 hours cause the TPS system only let's you put the restart date for the next day
 
Actually had something very close to that happen. Went to use my company card and it wouldn't work. Had my wife call and find out why. Turns out I had used the card twice at the same place. I guess this triggered some kind of alarm and their security department froze my account. They sent me a new card and all is well again.

I guess it's not a perfect world!
 
Do the customers called get some sort of credit for wasting their time?
I know the Power Bars you are talking about, they have a phone jack in/out put as well, to protect your phone equipment
I thought I had a DOA, because I bought the same setup, wireless phone jack, and power bar (Am I the only one in Canada, that doesnt have a phone jack behind the TV?
I ended up taking back the wireless jack, and power bar, and I am anticipating a call from Bell, for an interogation session as to why my boxes are not hooked up to a phone line...
 
Yes I am well aware of that fact, I myself use a 24" dish for 91 and a 30" for 82, to minimize rain fade.

I was discussing the possibility of having electronic serial numbers in each piece of hardware ALL tied to the account, thus stopping receivers being moved around.

This scenario will not work everywhere but will cover a very large percentage of Express Vu's customers...
 
You have to admit, it's kinda funny. How companies like this stay in business, is beyond me.
 
It was in response to AEV's off topic remark about call centres and India and overflows.

I hardly call it Bev bashing, more a question, observation, opinion.

P.S., the Montreal - India thing, while it may be construed as funny, was intended to be a question as to why some functions run from a particular call centre and peoples experiences with various locations.
 
I've never had my 6100 or my 3100 connected to a phone line. I have had these for at least three years, and not a single call, yet.

My 9200 was zapped by lightning (via the phone line) in early June. The only function that went dead was the phone line connectivity (dial out, caller ID). Bell CSR's were convinced that it was a problem with my phone provider (in that caller ID would not work), and were completely and totally unable to determine that the phone line connectivity was completely dead. That is to say that even though my machine would not dial out, and I got a fail indication on the system info screen, and I told them this, they were convinced that it was a problem with MTS. And they confirmed that Bell's "process" to track the receivers out in the field is futile, fruitless, and frustrating.

After an hour on the phone with the front line techs and level three techs, I convinced them that to satisfy their requirement that my 9200 be connected to a phone line, I would need a new 9200. They agreed to replace my out of warranty 9200 for "purely customer satisfaction purposes". The refurb they sent me whined like a loose fan belt. The brnad spanking new unit they sent me to replace the refurb works like a charm. And surprise, the phone can now dial out, and I get caller ID. In short, the 'dial out' process is clearly pointless, and utterly useless to Bell.
 
What I said, or wanted to if it didn't sound that way is that we are speculating here...we don't know what notes was on the client's account, if he frequently called with red guide issues, or if he had called in the past (and it could be as far as when he registers, all notes stay on the account) and say that he was at the cottage

You people based your jugement on what this specifc person told you and with a situation that a few clients are complaining about, out of many thouands of suscribers, you decide that the compagny is bad,or that policies sucks

The thing is out of the many thousands of suscribers that have multiple receivers many don't get verified throught all their suscription
 
Its a stupid beaureaucratic mess is what it is. Still out of 1.7 million subs, many are probably unaware and uneffected by this policy. That doesn't make it a dumb policy. If they charged for a 2nd location like competitors they may be able to still meet the CRTC's guidelines as well. They'd keep a small chunk of subscribers as well.

With BEV, as long as you don't have to call them, your happy. Thats my theory.
 
Don't you just love how Bell corrects a problem with their equipment and says that they are doing you a favour when you know it's a problem they should correct anyway? They're slime!
 
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