This is a re-post of a Facebook note by Jenny Stadnyk. Please distribute widely to increase awareness:
I wanted to share this message with everyone, and encourage you to share it with others if you know of anyone thinking of subscribing to Internet service with Velcom DSL.
I had been a happy customer with Velcom DSL since July 2008. When I moved from the condo to the house on March 31st, the Internet was transferred over. The very first week, we did not have an Internet connection. Over the month of April I made over 20 calls to Velcom, repeatedly telling them that the connection kept dropping and that when I first had service at this location in 2008, the same issue happened, and it turned out that Bell didn’t connect the line properly. I did all the tests Velcom told me to do, accepted a test modem (with a $45 deposit paid), tried it and determined that the modem was working fine. I sent the modem back at a cost to me of $13.90. They finally agreed to call Bell to come out but wanted a $100 deposit on the call because if the problem was within the walls of my house, I would have to pay a service fee. I managed to have the fee waived, Bell came out on May 1st, inspected the line, took a look at the connector boxes in the neighbourhood and determined that my Internet connection was hooked up to the wrong house!! They said the reason why I sometimes was able to connect to Internet (for 30 seconds to 3 minutes at a time) was because I was connecting to someone else’s connection).
This is where the problems began. I called Velcom to request a refund for the month of April because the line was hooked up to the wrong house and they refused!! Initially the customer service reps I spoke with agreed that I would be reimbursed for the $45 modem deposit, the $13.60 shipping fee and a full month service fees, however once I was connected with the manager, they told me that I hadn’t called them to complain, even though my cell phone bill lists 20 calls each of over 15 minutes with the company since the 4th of April. Then they told me that when I did call I was calling about my wireless router, although there was never a problem with my router. Finally they agreed to refund two weeks only but would not refund the shipping cost of returning the modem. even though I told them from the very beginning that the problem was with the line and that the modem worked perfectly in the condo, only days before the move.
I provided the company a detailed list of the calls I made and the problems I was having and each time I called I was told that a manager would call me back in the next day. Two days would go by, I’d call again and be told the same thing.
Finally yesterday, my husband called them a final time and was told the same thing, that we never called to complain and that even though, yes they admit that the line was connected to the wrong house for an entire month, they would only reimburse us for 2 weeks of service.
We had him email proof of how much credit is remaining on our account and cancelled our service as of the last paid-up-to date. I told the manager how disappointed I was that they didn’t care about me as a customer and didn’t appreciate my business and kept getting the “I understand, but we’re not budging”.
So. I want everyone to know about my stressful experience with Velcom and warn those of you currently with the company or thinking of signing up with them. They do not care about you as a customer and do not go out of their way to be understanding when there is a problem with the service.
I am now hunting for a new ISP, so any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, and I am making a phone call to the Better Business Bureau, as I feel that Velcom is withholding my own money paid to them, although I did not receive a service in return.
The thing I find the most amusing is on the main page of their website it says “At Velcom, we have high standards. Our primary goal is to be the strongest, most infrastructurally sound Internet Service Provider in Canada. We put our years of experience to work for you every day, and are committed to providing 100% customer satisfaction to every client”.
Thanks for listening,
Jen
