Jan 2010 Price Increase

  • Thread starter Thread starter cslusarc
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Wonder what will happen to us really "old" grandfathered packages. The only increases they hit us with are "add-on" fees. The ones some of us still have that Bell guaranteed would be available to us as long as we remain subscribers. LOL

Wonder how many people still have "The Works"?
 
Threaten to cancel and receive 20% or more discount like many people have. When they no longer offer me a discount I'm going
ota.
 
I realize the dialogue you wrote was facetious, but you're never asked to pay any termination fees upfront.
 
bartlett,

click on "Shop", then "TV", and then "TV Packages". There you will find each TV Package they advertise.
 
Im not a Bell customer but might be soon. What do you get out of having a contract? In most cases for communcation service its to protect the price, so I am confused.
 
Is the price increase a valid reason for terminating a contract without having to pay the early termination fee?
 
You can use anything you want to get some type of discount. Are you entitled to a discount because of that mistake?
 
Keep that transcript. When you get the increase, complain and refer to it. You should get a discount. I always ask Bell questions via chat and I always get the CSR's number. I save the transcripts for later when they deny ever promising or saying what I have documented.
 
Well seeing as we've all concluded that Bell (and other cable providers) seem to use contract law to their benefit, I did a little research and found names of people we can write to. These people are senior policy makers when it comes to consumer protection measures. There are two people in Industry Canada and I've attached the provincial contacts for Ontario and BC. If anyone wants contacts for another province, give me a shout and I'll forward you that information.

I've also drafted a letter that we can all send to the Director General in the Office of Consumer Affairs. You could probably just CC this letter to the rest of the contacts.

Mr. Michael Jenkin
Director General
Co-Chair
Office of Consumer Affairs
Industry Canada
235 Queen Street, 6th floor
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0H5
(613) 954-3277
Fax: (613) 952-6927
[email protected]

Mr. Christian Boulianne
Senior Competition Law Officer
Fair Business Practices Branch
Competition Bureau
Industry Canada
Division A 50 Victoria Street
Gatineau, QC
K1A 0C9
(819) 994-6039
Fax: (819) 953-2557

Ms. Anne Preyda
Manager of Legislation
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Corporate Policy and Planning Office
1019 Wharf Street, 6th Floor
P.O. Box 9823, Station Prov. Gov't
Victoria, BC
V8W 9J7
(250) 356-2932
Fax: (250) 387-2631
[email protected]

Mr. Rob Harper
Senior Policy Advisor
Ministry of Consumer Services
Policy Branch
777 Bay Street, Suite 501
Toronto, ON
M7A 2J3
(416) 326-8865
Fax: (416) 326-8885
[email protected]
 
So, dosborne, so let's use an example here:

You signed up for a monthly service, but because you get a discount, you have to agree to a contract of 2 years. You think that is is ok, because you get a discount, and you can afford the monthly fee. You know about the cancellation fee, but you don't think you will ever have to use it.

Fast forward 2 months into the contract, your provider tells you that your monthly fee is going to increase from $100. a month to $2,000. a month. You know that you don't even save that much on your initial purchase, so you told the provider that you cannot afford it and you must cancel. Your provider tells you that you must paid the cancellation fee, and at this point, you have little choice but to pay, because you will end up paying more if you continue.

Now after you pay the $200. cancellation fee, you end up with over a thousand dollar worth of used receivers, not useful for anything else as they are proprietary products, so those are wasted. Selling them on the used market is now becoming impossible because everyone is going away from them, and few people are signing up after the new price increase. You lost more than just the cancellation fee, but the initial investment on the hardware as well.

So the provider took your cancellation fee, your previous monthly service fee, the money from the purchasing of the hardware, and minus the discount on the hardware (but the cost on hardware is actually a virtual game, they didn't exactly cost as much as they claim). Sure the provider has little to loose, and even probably made a few bucks in the process.

I don't know about you, but old school taught me that this is called Bait And Switch, and it is illegal. I don't care what the contract says, because if the contract says that it is ok for them to it, and you agree to it, that doesn't make it legal if the law says something else. That's why I don't have to read the contract, because it is possible that the contract has violated some part of consumer law somewhere, if that is what you implied.
 
At one time, price was protected for the life of the contract. I've also seen times when customers were given a limited time to cancel after price increases. I wouldn't be surprised if it would be possible to cancel or get a small price reduction if you call a plead poverty.


Call Bell and cancel. Citing a competing offer really helps as well. Just be patient. They almost always provide a counter offer. That is, unless you harass them and they'd rather see you go.
 
"You signed up for a monthly service, but because you get a discount, you have to agree to a contract of 2 years."

I agree, that would be a mistake. Pay the regular rate, and retain your freedom. Never make any assumptions with Bell, always double and triple verify whenever making a change. I made the mistake of assuming that if I buy the PVRs I won't be locked into a contract.
 
"What is the Cancon fee?"

It is a 5% tax that is embedded into your programming cost. This in addition to other taxes such as LPIF.

According to CRTC regulations, "cable and satellite television distributors in Canada are required to contribute 5% of their revenue to the Canadian Television fund, which the companies can pass on to their customers in the form of inflated rates service. Since such consumer costs are embedded in their fees for service, consumers are subject to pay the 5% levy plus P.S.T. and G.S.T. on the cost of the company subsidy program."
 
I think I have The Works package ... had the same package since ~1998, costs about $50/month, all networks and most cable channels.

However I didn't realize there were channels I could not get with my plan ... is there a list somewhere? If it's just international channels then no biggie, but could I be missing out on some good stuff?

(Everytime I call in for something they're always trying to get me to "upgrade" to a new package ... and everytime when we run the numbers it comes out to $10-15 more, for maybe a couple of new channels. Needless to say, I have no plans on "upgrading".)
 
Bartlett, I don't think it's worthy of a discount. CSRs make mistakes everyday, however that shouldn't be your problem. If you have documented proof that you were told your charges won't change (and I see you do), then you most definitely have something to hold against your service provider and in good faith they should honour what their agent told you. Good on you for keeping the log.



Fortissimo, Bait and switch is bad definitely. However, they really aren't switching anything. The contract says you have to be a Bell client for a period of time (1 or 2 years) after you get your incentives. It does not say you have to have all the packages you ordered, simply that you maintain some sort of a service. (Even just the basic service.) So because they are increasing prices on the services you have received in addition to your basic fee, it has nothing to do with the contract.

I can understand your frustration with this tactic, but I can also see Bell's argument that they need to be able to incent customers to sign up, which gives them the right to have some sort of mechanism to recover the cost of those incentives.
 
No contracts these days have price protection.

A two-year term is a commitment from the customer to keep the service for two years. Bell's commitment under the contract is a free installation and whatever other promotions they offer you for signing up under that contract.

There used to be price protection, but no customer signing up these days has that.

Bell doesn't want your first-born child. Bell wants you to keep it so you'll buy BabyFirst TV.
 
The last time they had a price increase when I was there they explained me that:
-If CX is a rental customer only the cost of the rental is protected
-If CX is a purchase customer only the cost of the programming is protected

BUT

-If you made any "downgrade" since you suscribed (an it could be as stupid as removing the extra feed for 1$) that automatically void your price protection

On the accounts most client that were "on a contract" were price protected regardless if they were rental or purchase customer...

Supervisor claimed, one day, when I told him I had a client that wanted to speak to my supervisor about the increase, that he was upset, he taught that he was protected by his contract:"If he has the money to buy himself a big HD TV and a 600$ receiver then he has the money to pay that 2$ increase".

Bell was sugesting, back then, to offer the client who complained the equivlent of 1 month of the increase, then if the clint still compained the equivalent of 2 months, in worst cases the equivalent of 3 months of the increase. To easily "get rid" of the client lots of agents were somehow trying to get the client to say they wanted to deactivate their account due to the increase so that they coul transfer them to retention departement who they knew will give them a way better deal. It's a shame we have to threathen to leave to get a good deal. Instead o offering all these "goodies" fo clients not to leave why don't they work at improving their customer service and in giving us better rates all year long?



No...if you cancel your servic due to the price increase early termination fee will apply

The very few cases were early termination fee does not apply are:
-If you move where it is forbidden to install a dish (and you must provide proof)
-If you can not get signal (and must be confirmed by a Bell tech)
-If you move outside Canada (and you must provide proofs)
-If the client dies (and you must provide death certficate)
-The first 10 days of the contract

If there is others you can think of please feel free to add them



You are considered a "new client" 6 months after you deactivated you service

BUT

if you don't tell them lots of store (espacially the retaillers, not the Bell stores) will not verify if you had, in the last few month, an account. You could end up being signed as a "new client" before your 30 days cancellation notice is up
 
Does anybody know if there will be any channels added to the digital standard theme pack. Since it is going to go up $2.00 in January the least bell could do is add or move channels from another theme pack.
 
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