ring your own damn Bell

Have you seen the new Bell Canada marketing strategy? It was one of those viral campaigns where they simply threw the two letters "er" onto white billboards for a few weeks and then overnight swapped em all to saying like "Texting just got better" or some such nonsense, along with their new cheap looking logo. I suppose they thought they were being clever.

I've just changed the way I use Bell; I got rid of my land line and am now cellular all the way, which while opening me up to certain potential health risks will work out a lot better for me in the long run. Trouble is, Bell managed to lose my disconnect order first, then started telling me about all the one-time fees they would be adding to my bill; the first person I talked to said a $15 charge for an automated message to tell callers my number had changed. When nothing happened and I called back, now someone else told me about a $17.50 charge for not giving them 30 days notice on my calling plan. My land line is disconnected at last, and there is no forwarding message, so there's one charge I do not expect to see.

So I expanded my Bell Mobility services now, and was told I would get a $250 credit towards a new phone. Great, I thought, this one I have now is looking a little worn, why not look into a new one. Oh, but for some reason, there's a $35 one time charge for this now, and I only get the credit if I buy another bundle of features (features I really don't need, like mobile internet browsing - who the hell has time for that?), and I am limited to a certain range of phones. All this information they never mentioned on the phone; maybe they're questions I should have asked, but if Bell is a sincerely competitive business they should make things more clear at the outset. Unfortunately I agreed to their 3 year contract before all this came to light - and then as I was coming home the other day I saw the inspired Rogers plan where your wireless phone connects to your internet router and you get unlimited calling when you go through it. So I'm kinda missing out this time, unless Rogers adds to their campaign and agrees to buy out the contracts of people who want to switch over.

There's a thought, eh Rogers?

But in the meantime, Bell can stick their one time fees up their one time ass. I will stick with my old phone for the duration of this contract, their $35 fee be damned. And then when that contract is up, I'm off to a different provider.

That is all.