[StBernard] I am grateful to have a working phone so that the burglaralarm is monitored. However, we cannot tal

[Westley Annis]

John,

Look at your problem with the telephone company in a legal sense.  Basic
contractual law dictates a party paying for a particular service is entitled
to the benefits of that service.  If BellSouth is failing to provide you
with good, reliable telephone service, which they are legally obligated to
do because you have paid for it - and the Louisiana Public Service
Commission requires it - then they are in breach of contract.  Call them and
tell them you demand and expect a full refund or credit to a future bill
since they have failed to live up to their legal obligation after you've
paid them to do so.

I've been down this road many times with BellSouth and let me tell you what
works for me each and everytime - so much to the point I'm surprise
BellSouth hasn't caught on to this by now.  If the billing department
refuses to do anything for me regarding the problem I'm having - telephone,
internet, etc. - I then simply request to be transfered to their " service
cancellation" department.  That's right....they have to transfer you to
someone whose job it is to handle all customers who are requesting to have
their service cancelled..

When the rep comes on the line you say "I'd like to have my BellSouth
(telephone, internet) service cancelled please.  The BellSouth rep then
starts asking you "what's seem's to be the problem" type questions.  Tell
the rep how "extremely" unhappy you are with their service "especially after
you've paid for it" (oh, throw in a comment on how you've heard great things
about Vonage phone service, or Earthlink or MSN internet service and how
much cheaper it is - that part always gets 'em) and how you don't see the
need to stick with a company that doens't seem to appreciate their paying
customers and won't even give a justfiable refund.  When I do this, the rep
always offers me something....a credit on your next bill, and likely a
discounted price for a few months.  More than not, they offer me a few
months of free service.

I am not kidding...every six months I call BellSouth to complain about my
poor internet service (which really isn't a lie) and threaten to quit.  They
hand me over to the cancellation department rep and I always get my next
three months of free DSL FastAccess internet.  Really, over the past 24
months, I don't think I've paid for more than half that time.   I even got a
couple of months of full phone service FREE - and I have two lines in the
house.  Why does BellSouth do this?  Because they DO NOT want to lose you to
the competition.  I have a good friend who is high up with BellSouth and he
tells me they teach the Cancellation rep to do whatever it takes to keep the
customer.  This is because they are of the belief (according to market
research) that once they lose a customer there's little chance of getting
them to return.

And should the rep call your bluff, at the last second you can always say
"why don't you just have a technician come out to fix the problem."  But,
I've never had to do that - they always give in.

Let me say this.  If anyone thinks bad of me believing I'm taking advantage
of BellSouth with my threats of cancellation, this is how I see it...first,
with all the free months of service I get out of them I figure I'm then
paying only what they should have been charging me in the first place.  I
consider their service to be way over priced anyway, and after all the free
months it ends up averaging out to what their competition charges.  Second,
BellSouth initiates the offer to give me the free months to remain with them
- I'm not putting a gun to their head nor do I suggest it.  And there's
always their competition for me to go to - that's business.

Personally, I can't wait for BPL.  When it's finally available, I'm dropping
BellSouth internet like a hot potato.  If you're not familiar with what BPL
is, do a Google search keying in the letter BPL and read about it - I'm very
impressed with it.

Good luck and don't give up the fight,

John Scurich

P.S.  Westley, what are your thoughts on BPL?




----- Original Message -----

> Westley and Deborah:

>

> We also have the "humming/static" sound in the background whenever we 

> use the home telephone, which results in continued usage of our cell

phones.

> After two months Bell sent someone out to install new jacks for us and 

> cleared the problem at the same time, advising that the problem was 

> with

the

> switch box by St. Mark Church.  Unfortunately, the clear reception 

> listed two days and we are now back to the same problem, with an 

> expected service date of August 18th.  Why shouldn't the telephone 

> company refund some of

the

> charges since we are forced to use cell phones?

>

> John Richardson