SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
CBC reports that a Canadian man has taken the giant Bell Canada corporation to small claims court after they tried to increase his cable and internet prices despite the phone salesperson promising a fixed price for twenty four months.
The sales agent told (David) Ramsay he could get Bell's Fibe TV and internet services "for $112.90 a month for 24 months" and then said he'd get an "email confirmation of everything that was just discussed."
But when the email arrived, it said prices were actually "subject to change" and that Bell was planning to increase its price for internet service by $5, two months later.
Ramsey, who was self represented, argued that he had a verbal contract with Bell. The judge agreed and ordered Bell to pay Ramsay $1,110 to cover the cost of damages, his time, inconvenience and miscellaneous costs. In the lead up to the trial Bell made two attempts to buy him off with offers of $300, then $1000, but insisted on a non-disclosure agreement. Ramsay refused, hoping that a successful case would lead to many other long-suffering Canadians to launch similar suits.
In Canada Bell, Telus, and Rogers control most of the telephone, wireless, and cable markets, as well as most television, radio, and publishing. Canadians pay among the highest prices of any country for what most people consider some of the worst service.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Tuesday May 01 2018, @08:57PM (1 child)
An hour of my time is worth more than any monthly saving that's possible on a phone connection.
Especially if the saving is "I just won't use you."
The first problem is actually illegal in any sensible country. But I just Googled, say, Bell's packages and they were quite clear on the pricing page.
The second problem is (also) highly frowned upon to the point where most places are forced to advertise "utility" deals on comparison sites to even be considered by most people.
That your consumer law sucks is sad. That you pay something like $80 a month for 1Gb data in a developed country (I just Googled some random places) is just pathetic, to be honest.
Honestly, you have a bad deal. If you just keep giving them money "because you have no choice" then you'll never escape that.
I pay £20 a month (that's about $35) for a SIM card and my phone company don't even bother me unless I'm using 9Gb or more (and that's seen as a crappy deal for people who don't use much data). For $80, I could quite literally get 100Gb of data a month, free calls and texts to just about anything, and nowadays free EU roaming (including data) in 20+ countries.
But I still wouldn't be arguing on the phone for an hour to even bother. I would rather spend twice that just to avoid them by some less sufficient method entirely.
(Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Wednesday May 02 2018, @12:21AM
Yes, it's that bad in Canada.
But I just Googled, say, Bell's packages and they were quite clear on the pricing page.
Ah, don't be so sure. For instance, I signed up with Telus a couple of years ago for wireless and was flabbergasted to discover that my (then) $50 a month included a voicemail box that would only accept three messages at a time, and then delete them after a fixed number of days. You need to wade through many pages to find any reference to that limit, and last time I looked there was no mention that they would charge you an extra $10 month of you needed a real functioning voicemail service.
Any of these three companies will usually try to shortchange you on things that should automatic and unquestioned.