Telus: Another Reason I Hate Them...
Roger Walker
And how true that is with Telus. There are two incidents I have had (still
having!) with them that makes my blood boil...
The first is their analog paging service. I had been with them on a month
by month basis for over a year. I decided to reduce my costs by arranging a
contract with them. Within a couple months of signing the contract, the service
went to pot. Messages that never arrived. Messages that took 30 minutes to
arrive. In other words, I was paying for a service that provided no service. I
contacted their customer service by phone, I sent email to their website, and I
sent them letters directly. The customer service rep said she had the same
problem - too bad - live with it. My email and letters were completely ignored.
A contract requires an offer, an acceptance, and something of value to change
hands. I was getting nothing of value, and I decided not to pay for the service
any more. It was not an easy decision to make, because I also use the pager for
business (think of letterhead, business cards, making sure everyone gets
contacted - just to give them my new pager number, not to mention the extra
cost of the new pager, etc.). They had the nerve to demand not only several
extra months of payments, but also a $200 cancellation fee. Now they have
Financial Collection Agencies harassing me (I made it clear to every caller,
and their lawyer(s) that I disputed their claim and would refuse to pay
anything, yet they keep on calling, sometimes threatening, sometimes
sympathetic - yes, the good guy, bad guy game).
The latest incident is with their Internet service. I am sharing access on
Videon's 10 Mbit fiber. I have a portable class "C" that needed to be moved
from Metronet (but controlled by PSI Net) to Videon. At first PSI Net refused
to release the class "C", but for some unknown reason, did so after several
hours of negotiation. After functioning for a while, I discovered that Telus
(whom Videon peers with) was not routing my class "C". I can no longer
communicate with OA Net, Compusmart, Telus-anything, and so on. Telus refuses
to do anything about it until Tuesday, at the earliest, presumably because
their NOC people are so incompetent that they cannot change the routing without
creating a security problem.
Videon is not without fault, though. For their part, once the class "C" was
released to them, they set up their routing with a typo that left me down for
most of the day. Also, if they have a peering agreement with Telus, they have a
right to demand action from Telus. If not, why not? On Telus' part, it seems
obvious that they are just screwing around because I am not a direct customer
of theirs. For Videon's part, they need to review their peering arrangements
and learn how to provide a real backbone service.
I find that I am happily reducing my Telus services to as little as
possible. Actions such as they have taken has done more to reduce profits from
me than anything.
BTW, I am talking about Telus, the organization, not the people of Telus. I
know several employees personally, have worked for and along side many of them
directly. It's a shame that the masters can't seem to get things organized
properly...
NightSky 421
> "We don't HAVE to care - We're the Phone Company!"
>
> And how true that is with Telus. There are two incidents I have had (still
>having!) with them that makes my blood boil...
>
When they were selling Ed Tel, I liked (sarcasticly speaking) how city council
was promoting the sale by saying that the sale would "benefit" Edmontonians.
So I guess what city council meant by benefits was that the city would not be
paid in full for the utility right away, local phone rates would go up, the
local monopoly would continue and workers would get laid off. Telus went back
on their promise of keeping the head office in Edmonton. Some benefits, huh?
And despite the sale, property taxes in this city continue to go UP each year.
If it wasn't for other long distance companies competing for business, I'm
sure Telus would have jacked up the long distance rates even higher than they
were with Ed Tel.
~NightSky 421~
Jack Wang
[...]
>
> If it wasn't for other long distance companies competing for business, I'm
> sure Telus would have jacked up the long distance rates even higher than they
> were with Ed Tel.
>
> ~NightSky 421
I agree 100%. When I moved a few months ago, Videon transfered my
cable over to this new place without charging me anything. Telus,
however, charged me about $40 for the phone transer. I called them
when I found out that the phone jack in the living room doesn't
have a dial tone. They asked me to pay another $40 before they'd
check the problem out. I refused to pay another cent so now I
have to run a line from my kitchen. If only there were another
phone company in this city!
Several months ago I received THREE phone calls from Telus in two
days asking me why I wasn't using their long distance service. Man,
was I annoyed.
Jack
NightSky 421
>
>I agree 100%. When I moved a few months ago, Videon transfered my
>cable over to this new place without charging me anything. Telus,
>however, charged me about $40 for the phone transer. I called them
>when I found out that the phone jack in the living room doesn't
>have a dial tone. They asked me to pay another $40 before they'd
>check the problem out. I refused to pay another cent so now I
>have to run a line from my kitchen. If only there were another
>phone company in this city!
>
>Several months ago I received THREE phone calls from Telus in two
>days asking me why I wasn't using their long distance service. Man,
>was I annoyed.
>
>Jack
That sounds like the typical kind of story I've heard. Although we've had no
problems ourselves, I hear complaints about Telus on a semi-regular basis.
From what I can gather, their attitude seems to be, "we've got a monopoly on
the local market, so what are you gonna do about it?"
Unfortunately, people need telephones, so they give in. Another local company
competing for local phone business (if it's allowed) would do a lot to tune
them up.
One thing for certain is that the city better not ever sell Edmonton
Power/Epcor. I'm glad most of the councilors had the wits to vote against
selling the utility recently.
~NightSky 421~
D L
Just a few months ago, Telus decided to bump up the residential telephone rental
rate without telling many people. Since I keep all my bill payments on system, I
quickly noticed that it's gone up, so I immediately took my phone to the nearest
phone exchange to have it returned.
When I check the next month's bill, the credit never came through, so I called to
inquire, the person told me he'll credit me, so I wait. When I got next month's
bill, no credit was issued, so I called again. This person again promise to
credit. When the bill came, a credit was issued, but only from the date of the
last phone call! So finally after maybe about 10 calls (after getting things like
rude language, and hung up calls), I finally spoke to a customer service/ombudsmen
person to get the credit that I want!
Another thing is that I haven't received Sept 20th bill that's due this weekend.
So I called Telus to find out what I owed. And when I dialed them, no one was
answering the phone for 15 minutes. So I hanged up and tried again, same thing.
Next I tried to get a different option to get an operator, the thing just loops me
back into the call attendant. I then tried the self serve phone option, it says
system is having problems and will transfer me to human, again, but no, back to
the call attendant. I then go on Internet to access the self serve, it keeps
telling me my id/password invalid. When I tried to invoke the option like "forgot
password" or "forgot userid", it keeps saying I'm already logged in and can't do
that! When everything is said and done, I make a payment based on my last month.
If it turns out to be different, they better waive whatever late charges.
Dave
sp...@spam.com
> check the problem out. I refused to pay another cent so now I
$40 complete isn't really that bad to fix it. Myself a self employed
electrician I would charge no less then $50 an hour to fix the problem,
therefore if it took me three hours you'd be billed $150..
Why is it everyone in this group just whines?
dm
Actually, very few of us in here whine.
There was a few crybabies carrying on about the price of gas a while ago,
but they seem to have done us all a favour and disappeared.
Oh wait ! I forgot ! I killfiled them.
Which is exactly what I suggest you do if you find someone "whiny".
:-)
dm
sp...@spam.com
Do you not think I'm not totally aware of that option? It was mearly
an obersvation. I really don't require your advice on the concept of
filters. I have been aware and have used them for many years. However
one can not simply make a filter to eliminate those who are sniviling
whiners, or those with cynical recomendations.
Did you catch that one?
Teneray Clarke
dm
Teneray Clarke <soul...@home.com> wrote in message
news:38042472...@home.com...
> Wow.. anal much?
LOL
I would say he / she / it is anal LOTS.
:-)
dm
sp...@spam.com
Interesting judgment..
Allthough very narrow minded, and based on so little. I shall turn
my other check and allow you to slap it.
Speaking of anal, I can recommend a place you can go from time to
time...
sh...@ecn.ab.ca
Distribution:
sp...@spam.com wrote:
: > I would say he / she / it is anal LOTS.
: Interesting judgment..
: Allthough very narrow minded, and based on so little. I shall turn
: my other check and allow you to slap it.
Hand, paddle, belt or cat'o'nine tails?
: Speaking of anal, I can recommend a place you can go from time to
: time...
--
dm
> > I would say he / she / it is anal LOTS.
>
> Interesting judgment..
>
> Allthough very narrow minded, and based on so little. I shall turn
> my other check and allow you to slap it.
>
> time...
No thanks !
dm
Tony Toews
>When I moved a few months ago, Videon transfered my
>cable over to this new place without charging me anything.
Everytime I've moved I've always had to pay a fee to every utility. I'm very
surprised Videon didn't.
>I called them
>when I found out that the phone jack in the living room doesn't
>have a dial tone. They asked me to pay another $40 before they'd
>check the problem out.
That's very reasonable. You, or your landlord, are responsible for everything from
where the telephone line enters the apartment building or the house. For example from
the utilities panel in your basement to your jacks is your responsibility. After all
its the electrician, or later the home-owner, who runs these lines throughout the
house or apartment.
Tony
----
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Tony Toews, Independent Computer Consultant
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