Bell cuts phone service to family struggling to pay surprise $1,800 bill (lol)

[rage2]

Hilarious that this is actually considered news. Entitled people crack me up.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bell-phone-service-wireless-code-family-bill-1.5035728

TL;DR

Family has a phone plan, daughter texts someone in US thousands of times. She gets warnings. She ignore warnings. Racks up $1800. Dad pissed warning didn't go to him. Bell emails dad if he doesn't pay his service is getting disconnected. He doesn't see those warnings, might have ended up in Spam folder. Work is slow so now dad is fed up with Bell and will go elsewhere. Wah wah wah.

[firebane]

And ironically.. .its rage posting about it ;)

[Tik-Tok]

"We just feel like they're bullying us," said Joy Zylstra. "I don't know how they're able to get away with this."

Stop making us personally responsible for our bills!!! :cry:

[firebane]

Stop making us personally responsible for our bills!!! :cry:

Adulting is hard.

[ExtraSlow]

I have something on my account that cuts data when it reaches a certain amount over my plan. Is such a thing available for a certain amount of dollars over your plan? It should be and it should be mandatory.

[JRSC00LUDE]

I left my water running in my kitchen sink for 3 weeks while I was on vacation, those bullies at "City Hall" think I should pay for the WHOLE WATER BILL!!!!!

[msommers]

Family fail, cries to media, media able to get bill reduced. History will repeat itself.

Bell should just say GFY

[rx7boi]

:rofl:

Wait until they switch to another provider, someone in the family does the same shit again and they find that there's no difference between TELUS, Bell, and Rogers.

That said, they did try to put $400 towards the bill and just needed more time. $1800 can be a bit of change for what I assume to be an low income family.

[jaylo]

I smell a GoFundMe starting up...

[Doozer]

I have something on my account that cuts data when it reaches a certain amount over my plan. Is such a thing available for a certain amount of dollars over your plan? It should be and it should be mandatory.

According to the article, this fell through a loophole in the system:


Following complaints about teens running up data overage fees on shared phone plans, the CRTC, Canada's telecom regulator, added protections to the Wireless Code in 2017: it mandated that the account holder must approve all data charges beyond $50.

Unfortunately for the Zylstras, the same rule doesn't apply to texting charges.

I guessing "texting" data is different from all other data...:dunno:

[triplep]

I find it funny that they mention they have a business plan for their cell service. I bet the full amount is being deducted in the business yet I am sure the daughter does absolutely nothing for the business nor the wife. Would be funny if "CRA" bullied them and denied the expenses in the company and tacked on a taxable benefit for using the company's phone line.

[Xtrema]

14 year olds still texting each other?

I thought they are all IG this, sanpchat that.

[ExtraSlow]

I guessing "texting" data is different from all other data...:dunno: This relic of history is maddening. Many carries are getting away from it though.

[Swank]

Many carries are getting away from it though.
I can't find any info about that, help! I still find texting to be the most prominent way that people message each other in my personal and professional circles.

[jltabot]

According to the article, this fell through a loophole in the system:



I guessing "texting" data is different from all other data...:dunno:

It could be applied to MMS. Although data is required to be turned on to send pictures via SMS, makes sense since it isn't using a strictly data based (???) messaging service like imessage or whatsapp.

Stupid gonna stupid

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I can't find any info about that, help! I still find texting to be the most prominent way that people message each other in my personal and professional circles.

The only people that text, are my family. Everyone else uses Facebook Messenger, What's App, or Google Hangouts.

[ExtraSlow]

I can't find any info about that, help! I still find texting to be the most prominent way that people message each other in my personal and professional circles.

I mean carriers getting away from charging for each text. Not getting away from offering that product. I didn't make that clear.

[ThePenIsMightier]

I'll play Devil's Advocate and say Fuck Bell.
I guess those electrons were quite costly and it's totally fair for them to immediately require full payment on a bill that was 20x higher than normal so they could recoup all those "costs" that they are carrying for a bunch of extra texts. You know... Those costs?
I thought the new regulations that came in about 2+ years ago were supposed to curb these issues. The same regulations that the Big 3 spent millions to fight in ad campaigns. I thought they had higher obligations to notify their customers of wild overages to prevent this. I hope they didn't technically meet those obligations and they get nothing but irregardless they should not be demanding full payment within a month for something so extraordinary.
Again, fuck Bell. Canadians pay some of the highest rates in the developed world for cellular service that is essentially a commodity.
Adulting is hard but not being a corporate cunt is showing to be harder in this instance.

[rage2]

I'll play Devil's Advocate and say Fuck Bell.
I guess those electrons were quite costly and it's totally fair for them to immediately require full payment on a bill that was 20x higher than normal so they could recoup all those "costs" that they are carrying for a bunch of extra texts. You know... Those costs?
Does what it costs them matter? I mean it's clear it doesn't cost them that much when they offer an unlimited package for $12/month. Who are you to decide if they have a wildly profitable option that really only stupid people would use?


I thought the new regulations that came in about 2+ years ago were supposed to curb these issues. The same regulations that the Big 3 spent millions to fight in ad campaigns. I thought they had higher obligations to notify their customers of wild overages to prevent this.
They do. They were notified. They were ignored.


Again, fuck Bell. Canadians pay some of the highest rates in the developed world for cellular service that is essentially a commodity.
Adulting is hard but not being a corporate cunt is showing to be harder in this instance.
I mean I'm not defending Bell or anything, as you're right, cellular service is expensive as fuck here. To be fair, I would be more than happy to continue paying what I pay for the level of service that we receive here. I travel a lot, and I've mentioned this many times, whenever I land back in Canada, I'm back to 2019 and mobile internet speeds are normal. Everywhere else I've traveled, either there's a ton of shitty spots, or massive congestion where you can barely load a web page.

We are spoiled here in Canada in terms of performance + reliability. Anywhere I am in the city, I can fire up a TV stream in perfect quality over mobile networks, at times even better than whatever place I'm at with their free wifi.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Does what it costs them matter? I mean it's clear it doesn't cost them that much when they offer an unlimited package for $12/month. Who are you to decide if they have a wildly profitable option that really only stupid people would use?


They do. They were notified. They were ignored.


I mean I'm not defending Bell or anything, as you're right, cellular service is expensive as fuck here. To be fair, I would be more than happy to continue paying what I pay for the level of service that we receive here. I travel a lot, and I've mentioned this many times, whenever I land back in Canada, I'm back to 2019 and mobile internet speeds are normal. Everywhere else I've traveled, either there's a ton of shitty spots, or massive congestion where you can barely load a web page.

We are spoiled here in Canada in terms of performance + reliability. Anywhere I am in the city, I can fire up a TV stream in perfect quality over mobile networks, at times even better than whatever place I'm at with their free wifi.

You're right but if your customers are humans, the business needs to be a bit humane from time to time.
If simply notifying in some manner that likely went to a spam folder meets the regulations, then that's a shame. Service should be cut off once a bill is 2x to 4x higher than normal and the onus is then back on the adult to contact Bell/Rogers/Telus and simply say "it's all good, switch me back on" or "holy crap - thanks for warning me". I don't know what extent the regulations demand on "notification".

[killramos]

Sounds like a snowflake that should be on a prepaid plan.

[silvercivicsir]

Imessage would have saved them tons of cash.. but honestly bell should have offered a usa-text plan, and credit back the difference.. ie $20 unlimited sms to merica, and we credit you back the 1980 in overages.. [atleast this is what i would have done if i was "bell customer" service]

[Swank]

I mean carriers getting away from charging for each text. Not getting away from offering that product. I didn't make that clear.
Ah gotcha, thanks. Yeah charging for texting seems silly these days, even unlimited calling is more the rule than the exception.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I mean, it's a business plan, so the assumption is that they're not humans, they're a company.

Either way, business plans usually give you a lot of control over the additional lines on your plan. It's his fault he didn't set them up.

[Asian_defender]

WTF is wrong with these guys, it sounds like they dont want to take responsibility
-Our daughter is a little shit and racked up 2k worth of texting because she ignored warning messages, Bell decided to be nice and cut it down by $200.
-They gave us a due date to make a payment and we missed it
-Bell cut us off

How is Bell Bullying in any way here? There were services consumed and they haven't paid. If this was a small time restaurant where they ate couldn't pay I bet people wouldn't say the restaurant is being a bully.
Why do people feel the need to attack Bell in this case:dunno:

[sabad66]

You're right but if your customers are humans, the business needs to be a bit humane from time to time.
If simply notifying in some manner that likely went to a spam folder meets the regulations, then that's a shame. Service should be cut off once a bill is 2x to 4x higher than normal and the onus is then back on the adult to contact Bell/Rogers/Telus and simply say "it's all good, switch me back on" or "holy crap - thanks for warning me". I don't know what extent the regulations demand on "notification".

i'm with you on this one. just because they CAN charge $1800 here (and likely make $1795 profit on it) doesn't mean they should.

The negative PR here will certainly cost them more in the long run. All it will take is losing 1 current or potential customer and the $1800 is gone (assuming $80 a month x 2 year contract).

On the other hand if they would have cut them some slack then maybe they would have recommended Bell to their friends for being so nice. I know i personally recommend companies that give me freebies/go above and beyond.

[Swank]

^the amount of business lost from this will be as negligible to Bell as the $1800, same goes for the business they would gain if they refunded/waived the $1800, so they'll just do what's easiest which is probably nothing.

[rx7boi]

Couple years ago I got a new GPS bike riding app on my phone that stayed on and used up all my data and then some.

I think I was something like 7GB over before I noticed and when my bill came I shat bricks :rofl:

Called Rogers and they let me off the hook as a courtesy since I've been with them for so long.

[heavyD]

The biggest question is what exactly is going on with the daughter. Thousands of texts over the continent in a month? That's crazy.

[Tik-Tok]

The biggest question is what exactly is going on with the daughter. Thousands of texts over the continent in a month? That's crazy.

Maybe she was texting Momo.

[eblend]

It could be applied to MMS. Although data is required to be turned on to send pictures via SMS, makes sense since it isn't using a strictly data based (???) messaging service like imessage or whatsapp.

Stupid gonna stupid

This is why I liked Windows Phone, you could enable MMS while keeping mobile data off, had a funky "Allow MMS if Data is Off" option. My sister was on Virgin and had a windows phone without data, Virgin had unlimited MMS but my sister couldn't use it because the moment you enable data, background data downloads etc etc made her bill jump with pay-per-use data usage. With that feature it was a simple flick of a button and she could send unlimited pictures without incurring data fees, I don't know why android and I presume apple never got that feature to this day. Perhaps you can work around it with APNs but it was so simple in Windows phone.

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/tutorials/102332d1474386075-enable-disable-sms-sync-skype-windows-10-pc-mobile-w10_phone_skype_preview_sms_sync-7.png

Going back to the article at hand, didn't bother reading it, but from the comments seen here sounds like something fishy is going on with the daughter...

[HiTempguy1]

I have telus for rural internet (50mbps lte).

Recently, as I was around quite a bit at Christmas AND got sick the day after New Years (took 3 sick days and stayed home all weekend, it was brutal).

So I watched a lot of youtube/netflix/torrents.

I've checked my usage before, MANUALLY, online just to see what sort of data I was using relative to my cap. Never gotten close to 250gb.

Obviously, I assumed Telus would email me like they did with my condo fibre internet if I got near the cap. Nope!

Even though there is an option for it (hidden) in the online account manager, you have to enable it AND enter an email address for it to send notifications to, even though THEY ALREADY HAVE THAT INFORMATION AND WTF ITS THE 21ST CENTURY.

So yes, I certainly did bitch them out over the first $40 in overages that I wasn't informed about.

Oh, and they did not even have the internet stop at the cap, they had the "we wont notify you until $40 of overages have occured option" selected.

And finally, they had the gall to tell me "oh, you need to install some software to monitor" even though its already available through their online account system.

Was just fucking stupid. So on one hand, yea, pay your bills, on the other hand, fuck the company for not having that shit enabled off the bat. Maybe in the 90's that would be acceptable, but come on.

[D'z Nutz]

Here's another whiner.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/parents-wireless-charges-phone-1.5077272

Family has a shared phone plan, gets a bill for $6,774, mostly from son who is racking up the long distance calls. Bell forgives $521, family files a complaint to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services and Bell forgives an additional $1,163. Family still has $5000 bill to deal with. Like the previous story, the son was getting the text and voicemail warnings and ignored them all.

[dirtsniffer]

Sucks to be her I guess. Kids phone was in her name and received multiple calls and messages. Obviously he is responsible

[ExtraSlow]

This is all a good reminder for us parents to set up the cellphone bills to notify an adult about overages. People don't realize this, but a cellphone is as serious as a credit card.

[Darkane]

This is all a good reminder for us parents to set up the cellphone bills to notify an adult about overages. People don't realize this, but a cellphone is as serious as a credit card.

The plastic things that let us buy stuff consequence free are serious? Whaaaaaat?

[Disoblige]

I think in the near future, we will see limit cap offs for text, minutes, and long distance calls, just like how there is limits set for data and roaming charges. People just don't pay attention enough.


That limit is already in place — but only for data and roaming fees, not for long distance, talk minutes or texting charges.

To help prevent bill shock, the CRTC mandates that telcos must cut customers off once they hit $50 in data or $100 in roaming fees — unless customers consent to further charges.

In the case of shared plans, the account owner must provide that consent — a rule the CRTC introduced in 2017 following complaints about teens running up data charges.

[ZenOps]

Well… Past a certain point (baller status) you can technically cut up plastic with less seriousness. If you owe $915 million its arguably far easier to declare bankruptcy than trying to owe $100 as a plebian.

Not necessarily the way to run things, but this is the reality we live in.