Bell Prepaid Phone Woes: My Scam Experience and Terrible Customer Service

  • Thread starter zomgwtf
  • Start date
In summary, the speaker shares their negative experience with Bell, a Canadian phone company, after switching from Telus. They were charged for services they never received, experienced poor customer service, and had issues with their account balance mysteriously decreasing. They advise others to avoid Bell and stick with Telus for better plans, phones, and customer service. They also suggest not using prepaid services and potentially disputing the charges if paid with a credit card.
  • #1
zomgwtf
66
2
To all my Canadian brethren I feel so scammed.
I had a blackberry with telus on contract for 3 years. I ended up quitting my job so I decided to cancel my contract and just pay the cancellation fee. No problems.

I decided that it would be best for me to get a prepaid phone and the company that had a phone I was interested in was bell, they had the samsung vice. So I bought it with a 50$ activation credit. I signed up for a $15 text msging 'plan'. After the first month that I had my phone I started noticing that money was somehow evaporating from my account. It went very quickly from $28 all the way down to something like $7. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? I didn't make any calls at all... and to top it off I can't see WHAT I'm being charged for on their 'self-care' website because it hasn't worked for me, since I BOUGHT THE PHONE... As well when I called their customer care I was put on to hold for 20 MINUTES. That was enough to piss me right off, the money going missing I felt could be fixed but this 20 minute wait time?? That's just stupid. At telus if I had called cusomter service if they didn't answer my call in like 5 minutes then they would give you credit to use towards your bill, depending on how much longer you hd to wait, which was never veryl ong. In fact I only ever got credit for that from telus one time and the wait was like 11minutes. After the 20 minute wait I decided to just hang up and not bother with the phone anymore.

Well I've been needing a phone more recently so I decided to just top up my phone by purchasing a prepaid card. I added a 25$ card to my account and checked my balance... IT WAS 16$! Turns out that on my second month they decided to charge me again for the text msging package... so my account was -8 and change... HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE ON A PREPAID ACCOUNT TO BE NEGATIVE. THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF PREPAID IS THAT YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU WANT WHEN YOU WANT TO USE IT. Not they just stick their hands into the money on your account and take whatever they want for you to use in the future.

So now I've been losing money outta my account mysteriously, horrible customer service, and I had to pay for a full month of text messaging package that I never had even got the opportunity to use since when the account was negative my phone was 'deactivated'... isn't this just criminal? Like I do not understand how at all this can be ok for them to do, charge you for a service that you never get to use... it's just stupid. So now that I've added the money you would think that I could use the text msging package since I've paid for it, NOPE. my account is $16 and if I would like to add that package again then I have to pay AGAIN... WHAT THE %#%&??

[/rant]

For anybody wanting to buy a phone I highly suggest going with Telus. Another thing to mention is that the reception on bell phones is HORRIBLE. I never lost a call on my blackberry with Telus, yet my girlfriend who also has a blackberry loses nearly every call she makes (and she's gone to them and they've replaced the phone etc.) Telus has way better plans, their phones in contract are far superior to bells and their customer service is top notch. Stay away from Bell, those #$#*@(#~.
 
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  • #2
Well in the time that I posted that my account balance went down to $12.12 from $16.06. Who knows why.
 
  • #3
It must be paying for your "free" health care.
 
  • #4
I believe that technically no you can not be charged for a service you never received. They may have some contract condition that supposedly gets around that and more likely than that they probably just figure you won't waste the time and money to fight them on it legally.

And yeah, no, don't get prepaid.
 
  • #5
If you hang up on customer service whenever you wait 20 minutes you're going to find yourself hanging up on a lot of companies.

If you paid with a credit card, dispute the charges
 

1. What is your experience with Bell Prepaid Phone Woes?

I have personally experienced a scam with Bell Prepaid Phone Woes. I received a call from someone claiming to be from Bell and they convinced me to provide my personal information and credit card details. As a result, I was charged for services that I did not sign up for and had a difficult time getting a refund.

2. How did Bell's customer service handle your complaint?

I contacted Bell's customer service multiple times to report the scam and request a refund. However, I received very little help and was constantly transferred to different departments without any resolution. The representatives were not helpful and seemed unaware of the issue.

3. Did you get your money back from Bell?

After multiple attempts and long wait times, I was eventually able to get a partial refund from Bell. However, it took a lot of effort and persistence on my part. I also had to file a complaint with my bank to dispute the charges.

4. Have you heard of other people experiencing similar issues with Bell Prepaid Phone Woes?

Yes, after my experience, I did some research and found that many others have also fallen victim to this scam. There have been numerous complaints about unauthorized charges and poor customer service from Bell regarding prepaid phone services.

5. What advice do you have for others who may be considering using Bell Prepaid Phone Woes?

Based on my personal experience and the experiences of others, I would advise against using Bell Prepaid Phone Woes. If you do decide to use their services, be cautious of any suspicious calls or requests for personal information. It's also important to regularly check your account for any unauthorized charges and report them immediately to customer service. Consider using a different prepaid phone provider with better customer service and security measures in place.

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