Split: Unfortunate ExpressVu Customer of the Week - My Little Rant

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nimiq 1
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I never said they were incompetent...

Nimiq 1 pointed out that many new suscription has the wrong adress in their order and I told him it was Direct Sales, not the CSR from Customer Service who were placing those orders

I never said that they will tell you whathever to make a sales, but I know in some autorise dealer they will

I belive it's better to call them instead of going to an autorise dealer since they are Bell employes and we can make a follow up on who said what when if you buy in the store we are not able to.
 
Just because your managers use the same applications as you doesn't mean they don't have access to resources that you do not AEV.

There is a process in place that you should follow for a reason.
If you ask the customer if you can help them and clarify what it is that they want and you can help them great... if they say it's okay. If they object to you helping them and ASK you to transfer them to a manager, that is what you should be doing.
In some cases, it will actually anger the customer more if you DON'T transfer them and you try to help.

In a case where a customer has been helped by multiple CSR's and none have done the job properly, do you really think the customer is going to believe it when the thrid or fourth CSR says "Oh definately I can help you with that!"? No, they won't.
They want to speak to a manager to express their frustration at the CSR's who couldn't fix the problem in the first place. So... let them. It's what the customer wants and it's a simple request.

Nem, who thinks that ARR laughed his ass off.....uh oh....
 
Really? I'll refer you to your own post back in February:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=59685&highlight="direct+sales"
"4) If agent didn't do the job right on previous call, then we can not really make a follow up. When you send papers in we don't neccesarly put notes on account. If you call to know if we receive it is impossible to know. Bell Express Vu has many call centers all over Canada... we can not know which one you sent it to."
 
I was a SC subscriber prior to my foray into the EV world. I don't watch much TV, and was more than happy with them on all counts, but I took a tenant and needed an independent second room solution. SC's offering was more than I was prepared to pay for a possibly short-term solution so I researched EV's offerings.

I settled on a 3200 dual-tuner model that would serve my purposes nicely, but was then informed that the 3200 model was no longer available and was pushed towards a 3100/2700 two receiver solution. This was more money, and the slow performance and lack of PIG feature on the 2700 convinced me to look around and see if I could find a retailer with some 3200 stock.

As luck would have it, a local dealer placed an ad in the local paper offering a 3200 system fully installed at a price of $69.00 after $30.00 rebate. Proudly, I informed friends and acquaintances of my find, only to be cautioned by several of the shoddy installation practices of the retailer. I was also able to verify the extremely poor installation standards first hand.

Having stumbled through a self-install with the SC and being unfamiliar with EV technology, I resolved to have the installation done by others.

Information in hand, I queried the retailer if I had a choice of installers and was informed that I could select my own installer, pay his fee, and submit my installation bill to EV and I would be allowed a $99.00 credit. This sealed the deal and I committed to a term contract.

My installation was completed very professionally and neatly at a price of $150.00 and I activated my receiver and forwarded my installation invoice to EV. All was fine for the first 3 months and then when I failed to see neither my $30.00 programming credit nor my $99.00 installation credit appear on my bill I called EV to inquire when I would receive my credits. I was advised that I would receive neither. The reason given was that the local 'authorized' retailer had been dropped by EV due to shoddy installation practices outside EV's standards, and therefore any incentives offered me were now null and void. STRIKE ONE

I was stonewalled at every further attempt to escalate the issue.

Being under a term contract, I continued with EV and fulfilled my commitment and then continued with the service as my tenant was still in residence and I had committed to provide him the service as part of our ad hoc agreement.

When my tenant gave notice, I made the decision to suspend service for 6 months to give me an opportunity to consider my options - stay with EV, return to SC, revert to OTA, or look to the local cable provider who could also offer me high speed internet (impossible with Bell or SC).

I had recently received notice from EV about their new RCA and the temporary suspension term changes to $15.00/mo, so I made the call well in advance of the date it came into effect and confirmed my charge for the suspension was a one-time $10.00 fee. I immediately paid this amount via on-line banking and it shows as a line item on my next EV invoice. (At the time of the suspension, my account was in full compliance and was pre-paid one month in advance.

By the end of the six month suspension, I had determined to stay with EV and hooked my receiver back up to my TV only to find an 'un-authorized receiver' message being displayed. I simply figured I had miscalculated my restart date and left it at that. I should add that I had not even opened my EV mailings over this time period as I felt they were just informational in nature - either flogging product/services, and/or confirming my one-month pre-paid status.

Three weeks into the month, my invoice arrived in the mail and I was stunned, to say the least, to find that EV had not only accepted my $10.00 suspension fee, but had also been billing me at the rate of $15.00/mo as a suspension fee under the new RCA as well as administrative charges for non-payment. It also confirmed my service was supposed to restart at the beginning of the current month as I had anticipated and I verified that I indeed still did NOT have service to my receiver three weeks after the restart date.

With invoices, bank statements, and prior notes in hand, I immediately called EV to iron out the problem. Over 45 minutes on hold and then the fun and games began.

I explained my problem and was told that the charges were correct. I persisted and after several more extended hold times the CSR informed me that indeed the monthly charges had in fact been applied incorrectly in my case. I was offered a $115.00 credit - $90.00 for 6 months of suspension @ $15.00/mo and the $25.00 administrative fee. That was all well and good I told him, but I also had a 1 month pre-paid credit and had not had the service for over 3 weeks of that time. He advised that that was correct, but while my service had been 'restored' within the billing system, EV had not actually re-authorized my receiver because of non-payment of my
 
your points are all just good standard customer service practices used daily by professionals.
 
Everytime I've dealt with a manager at EV, they have been able to do more than the CSR, often they have actually been able to resolve my issue.

In some cases it may simply be that they know what they (or a CSR) can do and how to do it rather than get a person on the first day of their new job. I'm not necessarily saying they have increased abilities or authority, however that did appear to be the case.

Also, it is necessary to at least say you followed that step before going to the next one, contacting the executive office.
 
It does suck that they charged you for service you didn't use for a part of a month, but at least they recognized their error in charging you the monthly 'service on hold' fee for the six months. Sometimes you do get yourself in a bit of a pickle by cancelling in the heat of the moment, but it does not excuse a company for imposing ridiculous "administration fees" and the like. I would offer to pay the fees for the months of actual satellite TV service they are billing you for, and that's that--the 30 day notification of cancellation clause or whatever. That is what you should be on the hook for, no more and no less.

DO NOT deal with a CSR, make absolutely certain that you talk to a manager or someone higher up, for obvious reasons. If they pass this on to a collection agency, that is simply unethical. There is a big difference between disputing charges and simply not paying for service received. One should be dealt with through negotiating/small claims, the other via a collection agency. Make sure to point this out to the manager with whom you speak. Threats to screw up your credit rating should be dealt with very seriously.
 
...horrible story, MPEG4. I hope it doesn't come down to these pirates crashing your credit rating by turning it over to a collection agency. It only takes them 5 min to ruin your rating, and it takes months to years for a person to restore their rating, if it was wrongfully done!! :(
 
I don't see what the problem is...

Temporary programming suspension charge is 15$ a month if done throught an agent and 10$ a month if done throught our self serve toool (internet-channel 188)...it's the same thing for every clients and client are notified when they place their services on Temporary programming suspension

If you are on temporary programming suspension for a period and are not paying the bill, the service will be disconnected after 75 days for late payment, just like any other account. At 105 days we need the full payment before we could reconnect

The months spent on temporary suspension doesn't coun as part of your contract...they add up at the end of the contract

And when you terminate an account we have a 30 policy...you account is not disconnected right away! Probably the 75$ you are talking about...

The only problem or mistake I see there is getting the installation credit...and the promotionnal credit!
 
Let me explain you something JB1...supervisors in call centers do not have more power than us over issues like this. I'm almost certain that most supervisors in my call center will refuse to take this supervor call if client was to request. Not because they don't want to do their jobs... Why? Because this a issue that a CSR could resolve! ALso when you call and immediatly request a supervisor agent needs to make 3 attempts with you to resolve the conflict or situation prior to any transfer


If I understood the hole story the charges for the TPS Temporay Programming Suspension) were already credited for him. He choose to reconnect the service when he foud out that it was disconnected, but since it was because of our mistake that this happened he should call in and ask for a satisfation credit of 50$ for that reason. By reconnecting that means that for that day on if he wanted to cancel he had to give us the 30 days notice, just like any other client. During that 30 days notice client has all the programming active...if he was not able to see it he should have called in for tech support. For the 25$ administration fee since it was proven that it originated from our mistake he should also call in and request a satisfaction credit of 25$ (preferably if he has the bill in hands and is able to tell them when the charge was it could help). The 50$ and the 25$ credit will be requested seratly so the agent should provide him 2 comfimation numbers.
 
Nemnoch I never said I would not transfer the client to the supervisor...i'm just saying that if I haven't followed the steps that Djino descibed in his post, supervisors will most probably refuse to even take the call. Also if it's a issue with for example programming package, or a tech problem that we already found a solution for (for example a red guide issue and a hit was sent) the supervisor will probably tell me to advise the client that everything has been done to solve the problem and reassure the client. And I say again that supervisors uses the same applications we do, I verified a few times with them...
 
AEV, I believe this is what you took issue with in my post to MPEG4. I say this NOT because of any issues/problems I may or may not have with CSR's, but simply because he is NO LONGER A CUSTOMER. The 'C' in CSR stands for Customer. As such, CSR's should not be his point of contact. It has gone beyond that for him. Supervisors in a call center cannot help either, but, like I said, a manager may be able to help. Or someone higher up.
 
Gimli the funny thing is you never said she called anyone incompetent.
You ask if the company is.

You said
 
I feel for your issues MPEG4. It was a glorious day when I cut the ties completely with anything Bell. Especially the sattelite and internet service was a nightmare.
Although I've had issues with my current provider (Rogers) there has never been anything that wasn't easily worked out. The big problem with Rogers is that almost every month there is something wrong with the bill but a quick call and it is always fixed. The problem with Bell is once they got your money they never want to give it back even when its proven thier wrong. Thieves!!
 
I'm pretty sure if a customer were to ask to speak to a manager and the agent just automatically transfered without first making an attempt to resolve the issue, then you'd see customers waiting forever in a queue for the manager. Or you might aswell have a ton of managers being the front line agent.

Thats why it makes more sense to follow the scenario I described in a recent post.
 
So Bev thinks he should pay for the service he could of had if Bev had not shut down his receiver.
 
Oh I'm happy now, just found the thread where she implied that Direct Sales were the ones making mistakes and that she was part of the people who fixed them :D Unfortunately I'm having a hard time locating the one where she said that the Direct Sales guys say anything to get people subscribed, which I clearly remember from a couple of weeks ago...



Shortly followed by...



http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=69264&page=2
 
Thats still a fine chunk of green tied up in cyberspace, perhaps he has better uses for it than fighting BEV!! If you factor in your time and effort wasted fighting with bell, lets say at an hourly rate (conservative) of $25/hr, and he wastes 4 hours on phone calls, then he should be reimbursed what he's owed + wastage of his time!! :eek:
 
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