Very disappointed with Bell Mobility

[Shade220]

Have been Bell mobility customer for 20 years, and have never needed customer or technical support on a repair or replacement issue on the 4-5 phones I have owned, until I treated myself and bought my first Blackberry, Bold 9700. Now my 4 month old Blackberry does not work, and I’m in a customer support, technical support, insurance plan loop. Even with the Bell Mobility Premium Plan warranty which I paid extra for, which Bell says provides "peace of mind".

To make matters worse it seems that RIM contracts out service and support for its Blackberry products to the carrier, in my case Bell Mobility. This I found hard to believe, but it seems RIM provides no direct customer service and support for its products based on what I have found on the RIM/Blackberry forum. Also posted on the RIM Forum.

My phone has been through the repair loop once, and Bell Mobility told me that the phone would have to continue running through the repair loop 3-4 more times before they would revisit the situation. The first repair cycle was not a problem, but how many 2-3 week repair cycles would you expect to go through before the phone is written off and I could expect to get a phone that can make phone calls?

Luckily I kept my old phone, so I still have a phone to use for now.

Are the other carriers much the same? Have heard Rogers ads on the radio promoting that replacement phones are provided when you are under contract at no extra charge. Is there a catch to the Rogers service?

[dhaliwal06]

I have many friends on Rogers and all of them say that Rogers replaces your phone if it gets wrecked, all you have to do is send it in. To get a loaner phone you would obviously go to a retail store. I don't think there is a catch to that handset protection guarantee.

[Shade220]

Yes, these Rogers ads are really starting to annoy me Thanks for the feedback

I’m paying extra $ monthly for the Bell Mobility Premium Plan warranty. I thought or hoped that if the phone was defective I could take it in, and at most pay the $150 deductable, and exchange the defective phone for a working phone. I was willing to pay the $150 after the first repair cycle just to put this problem behind me. However, it seems the plan is administered by a separate insurance company, and it is significantly more complex to work through, and in my case I was told they will not cover the replacement at all.

[SmakBerry]

Bells insurance is BS. My bf is with Bell and has nothing but hassles.
I'm with Rogers, don't pay any insurance and if my phone breaks, they send me another one, yes its refurbished, but they have been better then new in most cases.
Good luck getting a new phone under insurance

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[aznlgcy]

The only advantage is about the insurance with Bell is the ability to pay the deductible to replace a phone that is physically or liquid damage, stolen or lost. The actual manufacture issues should be covered, you should try calling assurion directly, never had issues with anything. Only catch is they will only replace it twice from anything other than manufacture defects. Other than that the plan is BS.

Only does something really after the first year..................

[Shade220]

My Blackberry is now on the 3rd repair cycle with Bell Mobility.

Went into the Bell Mobility store to pick up my repaired Blackberry again, and again the phone does not work at all. Tech at the store contacted Bell and spent a couple of hours trying to figure out what the problem was, again. This time the phone could not get service and would not communicate with the computer when hooked up via the usb.

When will this end… Very disappointed.