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Join Date: Nov 2007
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A True BEV Billing Nightmare
( Originally aired in Canada on the CBC )
John Furch lives in North Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife and two young daughters. Things can get pretty hectic around the Furch household.
There isn’t much downtime, especially when dinner needs to be put on the table. John says sometimes the only salvation is the family TV set; it can occupy the kids for 20
minutes while he and his wife get supper started.
The girls’ like to watch their satellite TV - when it’s connected properly. The family subscribes to the BEV system, which is attached to a satellite dish outside
the house. When the system is working properly, they have access to about 150 channels.
The trouble is, the system isn’t always working properly. Not because of any problem with the dish or wiring, but because of a glitch in the billing process.
John’s woes began after he made a payment for his BEV service. “We woke up on Saturday morning and our service had been cut off,” he says. “We phoned and
said ‘What happened, what’s going on? Why is the service cut off?’” The customer service representative on the other end of the line informed John that he hadn’t paid his
bill.
John pays his bill online, the same way, every month. The money for the problem bill was taken out of his account - he’s got a bank statement to prove it. But BEV says it
didn’t get it.
“The ironic thing is we made payments the same way since then and they’ve been received,” says John. “Obviously there was a disconnect somewhere.”
John is the marketing manager for a national company. He says he’s just a regular guy - an ordinary dad in an extraordinary battle. “This has gone on way too long, it’s a
situation that didn’t have to come to this.
“I’ve probably called BEV upwards of 15 or 16 times, and I’d say the average length of phone call is anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour… I’m trying to deal with this, but I
really do not know what else to do - I don’t know what else to do. The definition of insanity is to do something over and over and over again and expect different results.”
John says he just wants his problem solved - his money found, and a reinstatement of his satellite service. So far, his fight has gone on for nine weeks. There have been
umpteen phone calls. And he says things are about to get ugly.
Two months after they cut off his service, BEV restored it. Then they cut it off again.
The phone call
“I have to warn you, I am a pretty pissed off customer,” he tells the customer service representative who’s taken his call.
BEV representative: I understand you’re upset but really…
John: Well do you? You’re going to cut off my service again. Do you really understand what I’m going through? I’ve called you guys now for eleven weeks. For $194 I’m
still being threatened to have my service cut off. I don’t think you get it.
BEV representative: Okay, well you obviously don’t know what I do get or what I don’t get. So if I say I understand you’re upset…
John: And today, by the way, I got my statement in the mail and an administration fee for $25 showed up. What’s that for?
BEV representative: I’m here to help you out, but if this is a hostile phone call we’re not going to get anywhere, as you can appreciate.
John: You know what, I’m trying not to make it hostile, but this is probably the 15th bloody time I’ve call you, so please don’t….
BEV representative: I understand, but the call is really in your control, how badly this call goes.
John: Oh is it really? Then how come I’m still dealing with this two months later?
BEV representative: Okay, you can fight, I’m not here to fight you through this whole call. Let’s make that really clear.
John: Okay.
BEV representative: I’m here to help you out but I absolutely refuse to fight you every single step of the way.”
John: Okay, then I’ll let you speak.
BEV representative: There is a manager that called you today.
John: I had my cell phone on and nobody called me.
BEV representative: Okay, like I said, I’m not here to argue with you.
John: Well, then don’t tell me someone called me, because nobody did.
BEV representative: All right. Listen, if I have to argue with you one more time this call will be over.
John: Argue with me? You’re the customer service person are you not? Are you the customer service person?
BEV representative: This call is over. Goodbye.
John is exasperated. “He hung up on me! That’s the second time now BEV's hung up on me because they’ve screwed up. I’ve had it. I’m sorry; I’m pissed off.” But John’s no
further ahead. And the onus is on him to call BEV again.
“I’m not trying to argue, I want to solve the problem,” John insists. “We’ve made the payment, okay? We made the payment two months ago. I’ve called repeatedly - twelve,
thirteen, fourteen, fifteen times, to just solve the problem. I’m not trying to screw anybody. I’m not trying to get money out of this. I just want the problem to go away.”
John admits that he’s lost his temper with customer service representatives along the way, but contends that he “shouldn’t be expected to explain the situation a dozen
times… I shouldn’t have to explain myself like this, I shouldn’t have to defend myself like this repeatedly… especially when you’re telling some of these people that ‘this is
the ninth time I’ve called, I’m pretty upset,’ you’d like think they’d be trying to defuse the situation - not escalate it.”
A few days later, John’s cooled down and is back on the line with BEV. He explains his problem again to a new customer representative, who tells him the company needs
to verify that it received the payment.
John: We know where it went.
BEV representative: You know where?
John: It went to BEV Canada. I’ve been through this.
BEV representative: Which service?
John: It went to BEV Canada, isn’t it a simple…
BEV representative: BEV Canada is huge.
John: Exactly! Exactly!
Although he seems to have made a meeting of minds with the representative, things quickly go downhill.
John: It’s been two months man!
BEV representative: I don’t care.
John: You don’t care?!
BEV representative: Yes, I did for a long time but that's 25 minutes for you.
John: Oh, you know what, we’re getting nowhere. Can I talk to your boss?
BEV representative: No.
John: Why can’t I talk to your boss?
BEV representative: You are my boss.
John: Oh really, but you don’t care. If I was your boss and you don’t care, you know what I’d do? I’d fire you.
Eleven weeks into his battle with BEV, the company cuts John’s satellite service for a third time. He calls and arranges an appointment to speak with a manager.
At the agreed time he calls again, but the manager isn’t there. John waits for 45 minutes and calls back. This time, the manager answers:
John: Hi, it’s John Furch.
Manager: How are you?
John: I’m good how are you? I guess we must’ve got our wires crossed…
Manager: Eventually your payment will probably be located, but that’s probably not going to be any time soon, I would probably say about two or three months, you’d
probably locate that payment.
John: So…
Manager: It would probably get sent back here, but I don’t know how long this has been going on.
John: This has been going on for 10 weeks.
Manager: Okay, so you’re already up there. Eventually they’ll probably locate it.
John: I appreciate this explanation. Why couldn’t somebody do this two months ago? When should I expect to hear from you again?
Manager: You’ll probably have a response back by Friday from me.
John: Okay, thanks.
Manager: Not a problem, have a good day.
John: Bye.
The manager never calls John back.
Patience pays off.
After five months, the company finally agrees that John did make the original payment, but it went to BEV Canada, not BEV.
John’s money had been lost in the big BEV Canada system. John’s payments had been going to the wrong division. A simple error that BEV could have easily solved, and
easily told John about. Instead it takes months of e-mails, letters and calls until BEV finally fixes the problem.
As for why he kept fighting, John says, “it became a principle thing. I’ve never wanted exorbitant amounts of compensation. All I wanted is for this to be settled.”
In the end, that’s all John gets. He doesn’t receive a month of free service to compensate for all of his lost time and energy. He doesn’t receive anything at all, except for a
good dose of resentment:
“I don’t know what else we could possibly have done. And I think what’s lost in all of this is we’re the customer. We’re the customer. Where is the customer service? Not
one person ever said, ‘you know what, we’re sorry this happened.’”
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