Hello Telus, Anyone There?
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 3:45 AM
It is difficult sometimes not to cross the from what you do in your business life and what you write . There are however a few instances where crossing the line seems the only way that you can get results.
This is one of those instances.
On Monday May 13th I placed a call to TELUS after receiving a bill for $306.00 for a month of service on my new phone.
As I write this piece I can tell you that I have waited on the phone for now, 1 hour and 47 minutes to have someone talk to me about how they have come up with such an enormous bill .
I called TELUS the day after I bought the new phone, as the people who I purchased it from said that I should get on to a plan because my old phone was a “hello-goodbye” phone which is really all I need
.
So I contacted TELUS at that time, (had to wait a significant time on the line at that time too) after which I was told that they were putting me on a special plan, thanked me and hung up. I failed to get the person’s name, but I can tell you, they did not speak English very well. You know both English and French are acceptable languages in Canada and I was having difficulty understanding the person on the other end of the phone . TELUS might want to insist in the future that people handling their inquiries should have at least a limited knowledge of either English or French when speaking in Canada.
But back to the call about my enormous bill, which has now had me waiting 1 hour 53 minutes with no answer. Periodically, a female voice comes on the phone and informs me that they are “experiencing higher than normal volumes of calls on the business lines” (seems I am not the only one who has received their phone bill) and my “patience is appreciated” … thank God.
So let me carry on with this piece, I had been briefly connected with a human who advised I had reached the wrong department and transferred me to the “sales” people, who then transferred me over to the “business” people, and here I sit, waiting for a human to come on the line. For a moment the music quit playing and I thought I was finally going to get someone at TELUS to answer the phone, however no such luck, I think they were just changing the tune .
Now back to that bill, how do I complain and how many others are faced with this problem every day? I feel for those that have to call under the residential phone line, which I got, according to the second person I talked to, accidently.
They said in all instances that this call may be recorded, thank God again , perhaps the head of TELUS, Darren Entwistle can be put in a room and then forced to hold his ear to the phone and listen to this music for a couple of hours.
I forgot to mention that in addition to my cell phone, the company has another four that we pay for under the same bill as well. So you say that must amount to a lot of money every month, yes you are right and you can see by the service that I am receiving that TELUS considers me to be an important customer. Perhaps they are just having trouble waking up the panda to take my call.
Oh… a break in the music, this is it…..nope, false alarm, it’s just “ thank you for continuing to hold, we appreciate your patience” blah blah blah… Ahhh what the hell, what’s an hour or two in my life, I could be doing something constructive , for example looking up some other mobile phone carriers that might want to talk to our company about the importance of our business.
I’ll send a copy of this comment onto the CRTC and ask them if they would be so kind as to call TELUS to have them get in touch with me so that I can settle this bill.
Oh, another break…. This time a message giving me three options, it tells me to press 1 to activate my new phone, press 2, or three for other options. I press 2. The message repeat itself, As instructed, I press 2 again, and again and again. All that happens is the message starts over again. I feel like I have been put in a round room and told to sit in the corner
.
Maybe I should just let Telus take me to small debts court to try and settle the bill, because it is obvious all the promises they make in their t.v. ads mean nothing. Maybe I would get better service if were an otter, or a hippo, a lizard, a pig or koala or a lion or cheetah cub .
It’s been 2 hours, 3 minutes and 14 seconds of waiting, you win TELUS, I’m going to hang up now . Maybe with all those critters Telus forgot their REAL customers are REAL people. Or maybe they just can’t wake up the Panda.
I’m Meisner .
Comments
Shaw is the best.
What people have to pay for cell phone service (and the poor customer service that goes with it) should be criminal.
I’m like you Ben, I only need a phone for hello/goodbye. I don’t need it to keep track of the hockey scores, do my banking or tell all my peeps what I did every 10 minutes via text.
I use 7-Eleven’s Speak Out cell service. It’s pre-paid, so there’s no contract. Unlike other pre-paid plans that last a month, Speak Out lasts a full year. I pay $100 a year.
The quality is decent enough as they use Rogers’ cell system.
As for Telus, I walked away from every using that company’s services years ago after they royally screwed me on my home phone bill a decade ago. I was on a bundle with them for years, when I noticed that the price on the same bundle had dropped significantly. My bill hadn’t changed though. When I called I was informed that they cannot lower my rate without ME asking them.
When I said, “but you increase my rates without me asking”, the guy on the phone got snarky. At least at that time, the person on the phone was employed in Canada.
Rogers PayGo cell phone service is about 10 bucks a month, unused time is carried forward and perfectly alright for use in case of an emergency like when traveling in the province by car. Never needed to try to talk to a representative in Mumbai as they have a friendly booth in town wherever one goes.
I believe Telus has one too in the Mall.
As per usual the Canadian public gets screwed by the 3 major landline and cell providers.
Try the old Telus 10 buck a month charge for long distance during certain hours and then add the 4 buck a month administration charge.
Waaaa! Go down to BK or where ever you got your phone from and get the number for the local calling Center. They do have one here in Pg and the service is most excellent.
I have many times told people on the other end ” I can’t understand you, please put someone on the line that speaks English.” If they don’t I hang up.
Why don’t you have a local business account contact Ben? My son has one for one phone and he gets excellent service.
The pay as you go plans are useless for smart phones and more expensive.
Has anyone ever received confirmation of the contract in writing from any cell phone service provider.
When we were with Rogers they always had some excuse such as “the rate is a special rate” hush hush …. Also, their plan service and their pay as you go service were different numbers which made it very difficult to discuss the most inexpensive way to go based on the usage pattern my records showed.
In the end they were so unhelpful that I simply said goodby to them and went with a simple pay as you go provider.
In the US, pay as you go service is interesting. All calls within the USA are “local”. Calls out of country are long distance.
TelUs have forgotten about customer service and customer loyalty. Have not been with them as per similar experience.
I guess they are “TellingUs” we are not important or acknowledge us as customers….
Agreed, Telus is garbage and it might well have to do with the suffix of their name.
No wonder my brother told me a long time ago to never phone Telus.
As Columbo would say, “One more thing….” Some “foriegner” phoned me about something and I asked him, “Where are you calling from?” He replied with a “Gunga Din” accent that you will just have to imagine. He replied, “I am sorry, we are not allowed to tell you that.” I suspect the last word that was missing was “Sahib”.
The Philipines.
I switched to Rogers many years ago and am grateful I did.
My bill had never been incorrect, versus having to call in to
Telus each and every month because of billing errors, my customer service reps are located in Canada, and I have never had any issue understanding any of them.
I do hope you get this sorted, Ben. Best of luck.
Telus doesn’t take you to small debts court where you would have a chance to dispute it. They sell the bills to a collection agency, and if you don’t pay them, it immediately goes to the credit bureau and is reflected on your credit score.
Good luck finding someone at Telus that you can dispute it with after that happens.
Telus, Shaw, Rogers, they all have their faults an horror stories. I personally have never had a problem with Telus or getting through when I needed to, but that’s not everyone’s experience.
Until the CRTC allows better competition, this kind of thing will continue.
Ben, there’s no way I would have waited that long on hold. I would have hung up and called back. You obviously got forwarded to the wrong place.
Just keep pressing 00000000000000000 as many times as possibe until you get somewhere.. One of two things will happen
1-You will get a person.
2-The system will cut the call off.
The zero trick usually works because it confuses the automated systems and will forward you to a person. Its worth a try and sure a hell beats waiting around..
Good luck..
BC TEL, oh how I miss you. Since the merger customer service has gone the way of the Dodo. Fortis got smart and repatriated their customer service but, Darren digs the Phillippines. I’ve received 3 calls in the past 6 months from an espicially thick accent trying to sell me Telus TV the call comes all the way from Manila and I just know it would be a major snafu trying to set something up with these guys who an barely understand me, let alone me understanding them. I might consider the switch if a call centre from this side of the country approached me but I doubt that’s ever going to happen. Fortis you are wise, I applaud you.
We were all conned years ago, when business and corporations went to the Customer Service mantra.
Customer Service for most business’s is in fact a 1-800 number that usually gives you the run around. At the end of the call quite often you are more upset than when you first called.
Huge savings for business and a royal screwing for customers. Whats new???
Petro Canada – bought the phone at the 5th avenue station and pay as you go minutes. I first heard about it here on Opinion 250 – and that’s all I’ve used for a couple of years. Nothing fancy – but does what I need, and no surprise huge bills.
I love how you ended this story Ben “maybe they can’t wake up the Panda”. Made me laugh.
I am not a fan of any large corporation but I can tell you that I once had an amazing chat with a fellow from the Phillipines who was handling my problem with a Telus internet connection.
We talked about our lives and countries and the differences between us. It was one of those conversations with a stranger that just make you feel better about the world as well as making you feel that we are all the same no matter our color or language.
I have been to BK four times with my telus problem and the guy knows who I am when I walk in the door. I overpaid them online by clicking the wrong telus entry. They were supposed to send me a cheque 5 months ago and instead I keep getting a paper bill with a negative $183.00; exactly what they owe me. This June will be the end of Telus in this household.
I too had problems with Telus billing and then not being able to get through with them. I closed all my accounts with them and won’t ever go back to that kind of service again.
Currently use Solo Mobile… its a subsidiary of Bell. They answer my calls with a person that speaks good english and no waiting.
I pay $25 a month for my cell phone and get unlimited calling evenings and weekends, 100+ minutes, free long distance in North America, and unlimited texting international and domestic. I just don’t use the phone for internet because that’s when things get expensive with any plan.
Oh and with Solo I can pay month to month, no contract with the plan.
the sole purpose of this company and most companies. Make money at all costs….nothing else.
suck money out of canadian people then hire ten thousand foriegn workers exploit them with low pay. Rake in the money and hand it out to the CEO and all his friends.
all on the backs of everyone and an expense to our country.
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