Good Riddance Fido

Have I mentioned how happy I am to have changed from Fido to Bell? I love my BlackBerry. The phone actually works. I don't get cut off every 30 seconds. I have call display, so if I miss a call I can actually call the person back. The email and web access is awesome. I can read my email while I bus to work or while I'm in the elevator (yes, it works in the elevator). I can read all my blogs while I'm at our rural house, without having to pay for high speed access (which would cost just over $35 per month from the only high speed provider in that particular area). I can even log into my Blogger account, type out what I want to say and post it from my phone. (True, it means I have to type with the funky little keyboard but I can do it even if it takes me just slightly less than forever.)

In fact, what I've been doing when I'm at the house is to read my email and blogs on the BlackBerry and figure out what posts I want to comment on. I type up my blog posts in Word on my laptop and save them. Then, when I go to town I can just log on and do what I want to do in a minimum of time. I make the comments I meant to make and post the things I've already written and don't have to spend forever sitting at Safeway. But the key thing is that I'm not tied to being able to get to town. I could be snowed in at the house and still post. The typing would just take me longer.

So I got my final Fido bill. It must have arrived on Friday because there was no mail delivery on Monday but I just saw it today. I had spent about 6 weeks paying off Fido previously but somehow I still owed them around $75 for the previous month, plus about $25 for the portion of the month where I cancelled my service. Okay, I'm getting paid tomorrow. I'll pay the overdue portion and deal with the current month later.

Then Fido started phoning me. First, my BlackBerry rang and, when I picked it up, a recorded message told me to stay on the line for an important call from Fido. Hi, you called me and I'm the one on hold? Still, I held the line because I wanted to finish with them. Two or 3 minutes later the call vanished. My service was still fine so I figure it dropped off on their end. Yeah, that's a good ad for you. You can't even maintain a simple call to someone who can talk in an elevator with her new service.

An hour or so later the phone rang again. This time there was a live person on the phone. True, he had an accent that was so strong I had to ask him to repeat about every second sentence, but it was a human being. I must be coming up in the world. Of course, he wanted to know when I was going to pay them. No, that's not correct. He wanted me to charge the entire amount owing on my credit card right that very second.

I told him that I don't pay by credit card, but by telephone banking and I'd pay the roughly $75 later this week after I get paid. And when would they get the rest? By the end of the month, I said. No, I needed to give a date. I pointed out that I didn't have a calendar in my hand. The bill is due by the 17th. Would I be able to pay by the 24th, a week after the due date. Fine.

He asked me if I was absolutely sure I'd be able to pay it by then. I held my temper and said yes. Then he ordered me to go write it down, both the date and the amount I was going to pay. That was the last straw. I said, "You know, there's a reason why I've cancelled my service with Fido. Thanks for calling. Goodbye now." And I hung up on him. I don't even hang up on telemarketers.

I'm sure they wanted the money as fast as possible because, once you cancel your service, they have nothing to hang over your head if you don't pay. They can't threaten to cut off your phone when you've already gone over to someone else. But the bad attitude was outrageous. That type of insulting manner from their so-called customer service is a big part of why I switched.

Good riddance, Fido. I love my BlackBerry!