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Telus, you make me sooooooo mad!

  • Dec. 1st, 2008 at 10:51 PM
looking left
Seriously.

Yesterday I was happily surfing the internet over my morning coffee. Happily! Then my internet cut out. Aw, I thought. That sucks. But then I thought perhaps there was some maintenance going on, since it was a low-volume time. Ah, that's alright. I will actually go outside today and socialize with other humans! So I was happy again.

Until I got home in the evening, that is. Then I was quickly unhappy again. Still no internet!

So we gave Telus' tech line a call. Quel suprise! The account had been turned off for non-payment! What the? No, they couldn't fix it on a Sunday night. We would have to call Billing Department in the morning.

Went to bed very unhappy and a little miffed, to boot.

Woke up feeling similarily. Instead of surfing the internet over my morning coffee, I called Telus. Got in the queue. Finally found out that no, they can't tell me anything because the account is in my man's name, even though it's my credit card that is being charged.

So over HIS morning coffee, my man called Telus. Surely we should be getting to the bottom of this by now! Ah, so simple, the gum-snapping woman said! Our credit card expired! Oh, so it's no problem. I will give them the new info and we'll be up lickety split. What? There's interest? Well I hadn't known the card they had expired! They hadn't billed me since July! This is where it got fun.

My man: We didn't know the card had expired, so we didn't bother calling you.

Billing Woman: We sent you an email to the email address on the account. We sent out a mass email explaining our new account numbering system.

My man: I didn't know we had an email on the account. I use my gmail, not Telus.

Billing Woman: Well, we called you twice.

My man: What number?

Billing Woman: The number on the account.

My man: You have my cell number on the account. The number attached to the ADSL doesn't have a phone plugged into it. We got the ADSL because we didn't have to pay for a separate phone line that we would never use. Call the other number on the account. It's my business line. In fact, it's listed as the business number for my account.

Billing Woman: We sent you a letter.

My man: To this address? It never arrived.

Billing Woman: *sigh* That's not my problem. You should answer your phone more often. But this time we'll turn it back on and reverse the interest charges. You should check your email, too.

So today I have my internet back. But thanks to Telus, I have a much bigger headache.

Comments

[info]kcram3500 wrote:
Dec. 2nd, 2008 02:06 pm (UTC)
I changed my web host back in September over something similar. My account renewal date was October 1, and since I had changed jobs this year, money was a little snug, so I was going to wait until the last minute to renew. The fun started in early August when I logged in to the account management page to change my credit card (wanted to switch to the one with much lower interest). That was a 4 day exercise in futility since their system would not allow me to edit anything. They finally repaired it so it would take the edit.

I'm pretty diligent about watching my credit card activity, so imagine my surprise when I saw they had auto-billed my renewal on August 30. I contacted customer service and requested the charge be removed as it was unauthorized. No problem, they said. I don't see ANYTHING on the website about auto-billing. Ten days later, they auto-billed again. Now I'm ticked. I again demand it be removed, and also fill out the "Contact the president" form at the website. I then start looking for a new web host.

The next day, I get a call from a rep responding to my note to the president. He informs me that auto-billing is noted in the Terms of Use Agreement - yeah pal, I keep that handy after being a customer for 3 years. I inform the rep that I have located a new host and entered into a new contract. He says "ok, I will take care of the cancellation." A few days later, I check and the account is disabled.

The end, right?

On September 30, I notice at my credit card website, my available credit is ONCE AGAIN down by the renewal amount of the OLD HOST. It stayed that way for 2 days, but a charge was never actually posted. It then went away on its own. I just shook my head. Meanwhile, my new host has been completely "invisible", just the way a web host should be.

[info]stirling_b wrote:
Dec. 2nd, 2008 03:38 pm (UTC)
If you can, always try to deal with a small local provider. I use Kingston Online Services, mostly because they have an actual office in Belleville with real people I can visit. Also, to a small company, I am an important customer. To Bell Sympatico, I would be nothing. When there was a billing problem, I was able to have it dealt with and fixed in five minutes. It's something I learned in business. Get small suppliers. Your business is important to them.
[info]jecook wrote:
Dec. 2nd, 2008 06:06 pm (UTC)
+1, mostly.

I used to use Speakeasy for DSL services for the better part of 6 years before I moved to a place that had internet access as part of the rent agreement. For the large part, I never had any billing troubles with them.
[info]elligirl wrote:
Dec. 2nd, 2008 07:32 pm (UTC)
I've had a lovely hosting experience with Phatservers for the last six years. Their support is wonderful and the price is definitely right.

As for internet access, I have a choice of two companies where I live: Telus or the local cable company which just got bought by someone out east. Blah. They sucked before they were bought, and people are saying they've gone downhill since. So Telus it is!
(Anonymous) wrote:
Dec. 3rd, 2008 01:23 am (UTC)
Ugh. The urge to choke someone must be overwhelming for both of you. Hope it gets straightened out for the long run.
[info]bosbullterrier wrote:
Dec. 3rd, 2008 01:31 am (UTC)
The anonymous comment about the crappy Internet was mine. El-Jay at its finest.

Hi! I'm Elli. I'm a pornstar, I guess!

I mean, I do get naked on the internet. I do a lot more than just get naked, too! And yes, people do enjoy membership access at my website at ElliNude.com. But does that make me a pornstar? I have no idea... what do you think?

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