Getting an iPhone at Bell Mobility, a 3 Hour Process!
Let me preface this post by saying a couple of things:
1. Sit down, relax, grab a cup of coffee or glass of wine, this will be a long rant.
2. I used to work for said company and truly loved a lot about my time there but could not let this customer service experience go undocumented.
Last Saturday was my birthday. Yay me. Hubby got me the most amazing gift, a new iPhone! Yay me again!
I am an existing Bell Mobility customer with a blackberry and the weekend before my birthday, husbando had done all of his research so all we had to do was go to a Bell Mobility kiosk and do a little number switcheroo, get my new hardware, sign some papers and I too could join the iPhone club. He had been warned by the Rep at the Oakridge Mall location that this process could take up to 45 minutes.
Fast forward to my big day and we hop aboard the Canada Line and head down to Pacific Centre. At this point, I still don’t know what my birthday surprise is but when Jeff stopped in front of the Bell counter, I quickly figured it out.
I was giddy with excitement and announced it was my birthday and I was here to get my new iPhone. I eagerly handed over the old love of my life, my crackberry and Jeff pulled out the notes he had been given from the sales rep at the other Bell Mobility location.
The problems started right away. We were told we couldn’t have the plan that had been written down for my husband because it didn’t exist any longer. Yup, that’s right, 6 days after his previous visit, the plan mysteriously disappeared. We also could not have the Fab 5 long distance calling, just the local Fab 5 calling feature …
OK, wait just a minute … hubby calls Oakridge location and speaks to another rep who confirms that he can in fact have what was described to him and what was written down on paper. Phew, problem solved. Turns out our new associate Ron WAS able to get what my husband had been presented just days before. Must have been a typo on Ron’s pamphlet or he didn’t get the memo or something.
Except … there was one other thing …
The voicemail and call display bundle was $20 a month, not $15 … speed dial to Oakridge again. Actually they confirmed it WAS available for $15. Awesome, crisis #2 averted. Not sure why the Pacific Centre location wasn’t aware of this? Right hand, meet left hand.
All of the above took approximately an hour of us explaining what we had been told to Ron, Ron calling his helpdesk, us calling the Oakridge location, all the while our 2 children are trying to amuse themselves in the middle of Pacific Centre mall while hubby and I tag team to try to contain/entertain them.
Ron begins the process of transferring my number to the shiny new iPhone and a taking care of a few administrative items. Ron explains to me that once we transfer to the new iPhone plan, I will be unable to revert back to my old blackberry plan as it is no longer available. ”No problem” I say because I was getting a new iPhone, why would I need my old blackberry plan?
During this lag time, we shuttled the kids to the potty, got them an apple juice, checked out a couple of tops at Banana Republic. Since Ron was still working on things (it is now going on 2 hours), Jeff suggests I go to the Apple store to look at iPhone cases. I take Jamie up to the Apple store where she “works” on a macbook while I pick out a case. When I go to checkout, the friendly young Apple dude asks me what I need the case for. I point at my daughter and say, I need something that will protect the iPhone and give it more durability. He suggests I look at another brand that would be better suited for my purpose. Wicked! ”I’ll take it.”
He offers to email me my receipt and I’m out of the store in under 10 minutes. The actual transaction took less than 5 minutes, including his recommendation, the rest of the time was spent browsing.
So I come back down the escalator, expecting things will be wrapped up, sign a few forms and be on our way. Did I mention it was my birthday and Jeff had more surprises for me and the kids were getting rangier by the minute! (Yes, I know I am spoiled).
To my horror, when I get back, not only were we not wrapped up, there was another problem. Ron couldn’t give me the 6PM clock for evening calling, he could only give me the 9PM clock. This is when I lost it.
I told Ron I was no longer interested in getting an iPhone from Bell Mobility and I was no longer interested in giving Bell Mobility my business any more and that I would like to cancel my account immediately (with 30 days notice as per their cancellation policy of course) and that he immediately switch everything back to my blackberry so my family and I could leave and try to salvage the rest of our day.
Imagine my reaction when Ron told me he could not put things back the way they were because as he explained to me before, the blackberry plan I had was no longer available. Rock. Hard place. They have you no matter which way you turn. It really bugs me when companies bully you into doing business with them, provide no service or poor service and take your money month over month for 1-3 years at a time.
Ron decides to call his retention department to see if there is anything he can do to prevent me from cancelling my existing contract with Bell. Another phone call, more waiting, kids are going ape by this point!
Good news says Ron, we can give you 6PM calling for 1 year of your contract. Sorry Ron, that isn’t good news and it is not acceptable. I get on the phone with the Retention specialist (Ironically this is the department I helped launch and manage during my tenure at Bell) and she tells me the same thing Ron has already told me. The 6PM calling had expired on Wednesday apparently. So after more than 2 hours there is yet another hurdle for me to get over just to try to be a Bell Mobility customer for another 3 years.
I own a small business. It is an online kids store called www.raspberrykids.com and I can guaranty you if it was this hard for our customers to do business with us, our virtual doors would be closed and customers would certainly not be spending over $100 a month for our products and services over the course of 36 months!
My husband asks me if I’m going to be OK and if I am going to lose it on poor Ron and I say “Yeah probably” but he wanted to go and look for a cake for me since it was now after 4PM and our afternoon had been lost. Off he goes. My son is playing with hubby’s iPhone on the floor of Pacific Centre by this time and I am still battling to get what my husband had been told was available as one of Bell Mobility’s plans.
Finally! Ron gets the Retention specialist to give me the 6:00 PM clock for the length of my contract. Am I excited? Do I feel lucky? Do I feel grateful that after almost 3 hours I got what I should have got when I first walked up to that counter? No, I feel tired, beaten and I desperately do not want to give this company my business but I have no fight left in me. I actually broke down and cried. I realize this sounds melodramatic but after spending 3 hours at a mall with a 5 year old, a 3 year old and go from being elated to being completely deflated, I just couldn’t help it.
Ron continues with the paperwork and says he wishes there is something he can do. With 20+ years of customer service under my belt, I explain to dear Ron there IS something he can do. There IS an opportunity here. There IS the chance to turn this situation around. I suggested he share this experience with his store manager whom it would be lovely to hear from (They know my mobile number after all, it won’t be hard to track me down!) but I certainly will not hold my breath that s/he cares enough to make the call.
After over 3 hours (3 FREAKING HOURS) I left with my new iPhone (Which I absolutely love by the way) and hence forth, I have rebranded my dear old employer, Bell Mobility: Hell Mobility.
Rant is officially over. If you managed to read the entire post, I applaud you and thank you for your time.
Sue
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Sue Sinclair
Chief Executive Mom, Raspberry Kids
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