Ok, so I spend the last 2 months reading all there is to know about HDTV. I purchase a Panasonic 50" plasma screen that arrived 3 days ago now. For my HD feed, I decided to go with Bell's 9220 PVR as I currently have a PVR for cable and wouldn't be able to live without it.
I went in to a local Bell World store to see if I could pick one up. Of course they were all out of stock. They did however have a 9200 sitting right in front of my face, but wouldn't let me purchase it even though the contents of the boxes are identical. The only bloody difference is the little sticker on the box! They said it'd be mid October before they get any more in. Fine, I decided to go try calling Bell directly...
I call bell up and the lady I spoke to on the phone said that there was no shortage of these units and I could place an order right away and have it installed in a week. Great! So I order the receiver, which by the way they charged me for a couple days after ordering instead of charging me when I actually get the receiver. Then we go to schedule an installation date, and it turns out there is only one installer for Sault Ste. Marie, so I had to wait until October 11th to get it installed (was about 2 week wait). I wasn't that concerned about it as I didnt even have my TV at that point.
So I leave for Thanksgiving weekend late Friday afternoon and return on the Monday to find a note on my door that they tried to deliver my TV, and that they'd try again on Tuesday. I'm thinking, Great! I get my TV and satellite all on the same day!
Tuesday morning comes and I get my TV nice and early. Now just had to wait for the Bell dude. So we waited... and waited. They said he'd be there between 9am and noon. 12:30 rolls around and still nothing. So I call Bell.
First off, I had to wait in line to talk to someone for probably 25 minutes. I used to work at a call center, and the WORST it got for waiting times was 10 minutes. That was a contract for Gateway computers. This shows me that Bell doesn't care as much about pleasing its customers and understaffs phones! No real suprise, as it is consitant with everything else.
So after actually talking to someone, who was very kind and well spoken, I find out that the installer wont be comming by today because he doesnt have my receiver. :\ I obviously ask when he will be getting my receiver. That was apparently unkown. I also asked why I didnt receive a phone call telling me that the installer wasnt comming today... no answer to that either. At this point I'm not feeling that great, so I ask to talk to a supervisor.
The supervisor talks to some dealer or something and apparently gets them to order a receiver for me to arrive October 19th, 21st at the latest. So I have to wait another week. She also gives me 1 month free programming. Well thats better than nothing. So I hangup and go about my business.
Today (Oct 13th) I am thinking to myself, hmmm... I wonder if they scheduled an appointment to install my new receiver? So I call them up, and again after waiting 10 minutes during a slow period of the day, find out that, No they did not schedule an install appointment. So I ask to do so, and the earliest available is October 25th. A full 2 weeks after my initial install date.
I explained to the lady (who was also very nice) the history, and asked if there were any notes in here system about any of this? She said there was nothing in her system because I was a new customer. I am quite mad at this point, but remain calm. I ask how am I supposed to get a free month's service if there are no notes? She says all you have to do is call them up and say there was a problem during installation and that a supervisor agreed to give me 1 month's free service, and they will give it to you. So this means that once I go to activate, I will have to go through all of this again because there are no notes in the system! Also, to any new customers, just say u had big problems and you get a free month apparently.
So as it stands right now, They are comming in the morning of October 25th. I wish there were an alternative to Bell ExpressVu. This is COMPLETE garbage! I have worked in several business customer service departments, and this is just horrendous. They (Bell execuatives, not the poor souls on the phones) truely do not care about keeping their customers happy.
If anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it.