Bell Mobility is a Corrupt and Unethical Corporation Whose Business Practices are Sleazy and Possibly Illegal

Prelude to this madness.

A quick reminder of how I already feel about our corporate titans.

And I am not alone with my grievance against Bell Mobility.

Comments from other Bell Mobility Customers

Another complaint.

Update.

CBC.ca: " Bell Mobility clients hit by billing errors"

Let me begin my saga by stating that it is my opinion that Bell Mobility is Canada's Enron.

My note to Bell Mobility outlines my grievance [August 7th Addendum. After hearing feedback from a BM customer service rep, I must admit that he/she has a point in that the conflicting rules that lead to these types of SNAFUs come from the top. The executives make the big bucks and those rotters ought to take responsibility. This is why I have revised my letter to BM accordingly]:

You head a company that I consider to be disreputable, unethical, and whose business practices I believe might possibly be illegal. What would lead me to make such an outlandish accusation? My experience with Bell Mobility. Here are the details:

Since the middle of May my wife has attempted to cancel her Bell Mobility cell phone account (#X, for cell phone # X) on three separate occasions. She has fulfilled all of her contractual obligations to Bell Mobility and wishes to close the account. However, Bell Mobility steadfastly refuses to fulfill her request. Each time she phoned a customer service rep has assured her the account has been cancelled. Yet more invoices arrive at our house demanding more fees, accruing charges for services we don’t want and have not used.

At first, I chalked this up to incompetence. However, when an invoice arrived at my home after my wife’s third phone call to your customer service, I came to believe that this may well be part of a shady, uncouth, illegitimate, possibly illegal, and certainly unethical business practice on behalf of Bell Mobility to squeeze more money from us.

You see, Bell doesn’t get to be a leviathan telecommunications company, stringing high speed Internet access, cell phone towers, and space-age technology across the second largest land mass on the planet by being incompetent. No. Bell makes satellite technology available to ordinary users, but it cannot manage to cancel a single cell phone account?

I believe it is Bell Mobility’s unstated policy NOT to cancel accounts. Furthermore, I accuse Bell Mobility of unethical business practices that include continuing to send invoices to people wishing to cancel their accounts with the hope of bullying them, wearing them down, and badgering them into keeping your service when they no longer want it. You tangle customers who wish to cancel in red tape hoping to throttle them into submission, so you can continue squeezing money from them.

And here is where it all falls to you. Having spent more than a decade of my life working front-line customer service jobs, I know firsthand that CS reps merely follow the rules set out for them by management. So, my question is, who has made the refusal to cancel accounts your policy? If it is not your policy, then who is responsible for the training of your CS reps? You are the people in a position of responsibility, and I am writing this letter to ask you to take responsibility. If it’s a failure of technology—glitchy software, uncooperative hardware—then where is your Chief Technology Officer? In my frustration over this situation, I have succumbed to berating your CS reps, but logic and experience dictates that all problems emanate from the executive level.

To say that I am dissatisfied with Bell Mobility is a gross understatement. Please note that I am so disgusted with Bell Canada as an entity and a monopoly—at least, it still conducts business like it’s the only game in town—that I pay $10/month more for my non-Sympatico high-speed Internet access because I simply refuse to give another cent to Bell. This ridiculous experience with Bell Mobility has done nothing but solidify my antipathy for your over-sized, over-complicated, bureaucracy-laden corporation.

With any luck, others who are suffering this same fate will contact me, and we might unify to launch a class-action lawsuit against Bell Mobility.

This is just the beginning. You will hear much more from me very, very soon.

Misanthropically Yours,
Matthew St. Amand

Do you have a grievance of any sort? Got a bad hotdog from the corner vendor today? That squeak in your shoe still making you the laughinstock of the office? Have you been screwed by a cell phone provider?

Unleash Here!

My note to the Better Business Bureau:

For the past two and-a-half months my wife has tried on 3 different occasions to cancel her cell phone account with Bell Mobility, and Bell Mobility steadfastly refuses to cancel it. Instead, Bell Mobility continues sending us invoices with accrusing charges, seemingly with the the hope of wearing us down to the point that we'll simply pay them.

My wife has spoken to three different Bell Mobility operators, each of whom assured her the account was cancelled. Yet a new bill shows up weeks later with new charges.

My wife and I don't have an endless supply of free time to devote to this futile battle. Bell Mobility isn't listening to us.

Can you help?

And my note to Canada's respected news digest, The Fifth Estate:

As if Canadians don't have enough to worry about these days with the economy tanking, unresponsive government, and leviathan corporations making it their unstated policy to screw over private citizens.

I'm talking about every Canadian's favorite monopolgy -- Bell Canada and it's redheaded, left-handed, bastard step child, Bell Mobility. The first two times my wife attempted to cancel her cell phone account with BM, and it mysteriously didn't "take", I could chalk-up to incompetence. The third time it didn't take, I got to thinking, "I believe it is Bell Mobilitiy's unstated policy NOT to cancel accounts. I am accusing Bell Mobility of unethical business practices that include continuing to send invoices to the homes of people wishing to cancel their accounts with the hope of bullying them, wearing them down, and badgering them into keeping your service when they no longer want it. You tangle customers who wish to cancel in red tape hoping to throttle them into submission, so you can continue squeezing money from them."

To my thinking, Bell and its miscreant spin-off, Bell Mobility, are Canada's Enron -- with a silent, yet tangible, policy of unethical, shady, illegitimate, and possibly illegal business practices. All with the hope of squeezing a few more pennies out customers who don't want to be customers any more.

If you're doing any programs about corporate wrongdoing and the lack of ethics, competence, and logic in Canada's corporate desert, please keep Bell Mobility in mind. Surely my wife and I aren't the only people going through such a saga with them.