Horrible Telus Experience

[mintybird]

My experience with Telus has been horrible. The services provided are great, but I am frustrated with what has happened to me. I am currently burdened with a $1600 balance owed to General Credit Services through no fault of my own. My experiences and how I got to this point are to follow.

I was initially approached by what I assumed at the time was Telus. The people that approached me were in fact not Telus, but rather a marketing who were contracted by Telus to get sales. I was offered a deal on home security and mobility.

For mobility, I was misinformed by omission because I was not made aware of several key facts that would apply to the deal that I was getting from them. Had I known about the limited amount of time that my deal would have been in affect for (one year) I would have never signed up my mobility with Telus in the first place. Furthermore, I was never informed that this deal was limited to three mobile devices, yet I was promised four. This was only corrected once I escalated with customer support where I was properly informed of these terms. The process of getting this resolved from when I first noticed that the bills were higher than expected because of the one phone being charged more and the time I had it resolved was about a month and a half, or three phone calls. While I do not blame Telus for this issue, the omission of key facts leaves a bad taste with who Telus chooses to work with.

Regarding my home security, there have been multiple issues from the start. The first of which was just trying to get it installed correctly. The marketing company that I was approached by offered me a takeover because I was with Vivint at the time. I assumed that this would mean that they would transfer my services directly over to Telus and have it on the same account as my other services (TV, phone, internet). All they did was come in and swap out the cameras and it was left on the old Vivint account. My fault for assuming that based on the terminology used I guess.

The second time I asked them to have it moved to the same account as the other services, so that was done. However, there were some parts of the home security that did not work as expected. Mainly that I had to use two different apps for the home security. To arm and disarm the alarm, I had to use the Vivint app. For cameras and the other installed devices, I had to use the Telus Security app. This was inconvenient, so I requested for the home security to be changed such that it could all be done on the Telus app. This required another appointment, but I was fine with that. What I was not fine with was that this time around the home security service was moved back to the Vivint account. Home security was no longer on the same account with the other home services, but everything was working how I wanted it to. While this is fine, it is not ideal.

I called Telus again for a fourth time regarding this and was told that I would need to cancel the home security service on the Vivint account and purchase the service on the primary account. One caveat was that there would be a cancellation fee applied to the Vivint account, but I was assured that I would not need to worry about this because the cancellation fee would be waived/credited for me on that account. I move ahead with the purchase on the "new" home security system where they once again replace every device in my home. The home security was finally done correctly on the correct account.

Early November, I took a look at my credit card bill and noticed an unusually large amount was charged from Telus. The other Telus charges were consistent with what I expected from my mobility and home services for the month of October. At this point, I call Telus trying to offer information regarding this large charge to find out where it came from, but I was ultimately turned away to dispute the large charge with my bank. The bank issued a charge back and that was supposed to be the end of that.

Turns out that the large charge was from the original Vivint account that was supposed to be cancelled. I discovered this in early December when I received an email from the supposedly closed Vivint account that I owed Telus money for the home security cancellation fee. I called Telus and was told that the process for getting the balance removed from the account had started. Nearly two weeks later I receive my first notice from General Credit Services about this balance and I call customer support again. This time I was told that the balance had a credit applied from Telus's side and that I could safely ignore this issue.

The week after (yesterday) I receive my second notice about this balance. This time I am informed that I have seven days to pay off this balance. I call Telus again and was told that the timing of the balance being credited was unfortunately too late for General Credit Services to not be sent the debt that I supposedly owe. I was also informed that I should have received confirmation from Telus that I do not have an outstanding balance on the account and do not owe any money shortly that same day. I did not receive any confirmation.

Today, I have gone back and forth with Telus, but I have been informed that my issue is in progress and will need to wait at least a week to hear back. The thing is, is that I have less than a week to settle matters with General Credit Services. I also contacted General Credit Services, who required additional information from me which I would need to acquire from Telus, yet this information could not be provided. The best part of this was there was a suggestion that I go and pay General Credit Services. I am more than capable of paying the amount owed, but I know that if I pay I will never see that money again. I guess my credit score will take a hit for Telus' incompetence in resolving this matter for my home security. I was informed that they could correct my credit score, but after having gone through this, it is hard for me to trust what customer support says regarding this matter.

And to top it all off, I was offered $50 of credit on my next bill for all the trouble I have gone through after I asked for some sort of compensation. I understand it's a business, but I have wasted so much personal time on this outstanding balance that came through no fault of my own that it really leaves a sour taste in my mouth.