2010-07-20

`ell, only one letter off.

A few years ago I canceled my spare Bell internet account because they would nolonger allow me to suspend it and resumed billing me unannounced, would not allow me to move the email to another acitve account, and would not allow me to only pay for hosting.

$25/mo for an email service that deletes my email without warning was a bit steep and I told them then to close the account.

I figured that after a couple of years the name would be released and I would be able to reopen it with my current one. This is what happened:

System
Welcome Darren {### ####}.
System
Connecting to server. Please wait...
System
Connection with server established. Please wait...
System
Balaji has joined this session!
System
Connected with Balaji
Balaji
Hi Darren {### ####}, welcome to Bell Internet Services, my name is Balaji. By looking at the option you have selected, I see that you have questions regarding your account, how may I assist you with this?
You
I am tryign to move my old emailaddress again.
You
IN 2007 I canceled a redundant account when maintaining it became too expensive.
You
I was unable to associate my original username/email with my current account.
Balaji
Sure, I'll be glad to assist you in moving your E-mail address Darren.
You
I need to do so now to consolidate my identity.
You
thankyou.
Balaji
Welcome.
Balaji
Could you give me a couple of minutes so that I'll get the information for you.
You
yes.
Balaji
Thank you for being on line.
Balaji
Once the account is terminated, the E-mail account associated with the account is also terminated.
You
However the user handle was not. I am unable to use "{####_###}"
Balaji
I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.
You
The account { b1{######} / {#######} } still appear valid to one bill too, though I have forgotten the password.
Balaji
The E-mail also comes with the account. Once the account is terminated you can't access your E-mail Darren.
You
I never expected to; however the fact that the handle was not released is actually a good thing. It means that someone else cannot assume my identiy as easily.
Balaji
I am sorry for that.
You
Don't be, it was some major oversight that there is not an extablished proceedure for moving e-mail addresses between accounts.
Balaji
The E-mail also comes with the account when you have subscribed with Bell. Once the account is terminated you can't access your E-mail Darren.
You
... By which I mean that I have multiple bell accounts, but when I moved back to my mother's there was no mechanism by which we could keep both email's without paying full price for both accounts.
Balaji
May I have the b1 number of the active Internet service?
You
b1{######}
Balaji
Thank you.
Balaji
There is no possibility to have the {####_###}@sympatico.ca , because you account (b1{######} ) has been terminated.
You
...
You
There is no means by which the email from the terminated account can be associated with the active one?
Balaji
I have checked the information Darren you can't associate the active account. As your account is Terminated.
You
So since December of 2007 all bell customers who moved in together, got married, merged businesses, combined offices, ect. They all have had to either pay an obscene amount of money for 'just the email' or give up that identity, and the professional/personal connections therein?
Balaji
here is no possibility to have the {####_###}@sympatico.ca , because you account (b1{######} ) has been terminated.
You
Yes?
Balaji
The E-mail also comes with the account. Once the account is terminated you can't access your E-mail Darren.
You
If i were to pay to reactivate the account, would the email address then be portable?
Balaji
I do understand Darren. Unfortunately it is not possible to reactivate the account once it is terminated.
Balaji
Darren, I do understand your concern, Email is a service provided by Bell together with Internet service, and all email accounts are connected with their internet accounts.
Balaji
We cannot provide email service alone to any customer, The internet account once terminated cannot be reactivated.
Balaji
Darren, you can try to create the {####_###} email address with gmail, yahoo or hotmail.
Balaji
I appreciate your understanding in this regard.
You
THe problem is that I associated my {bank}, {portfolio} and other professional accounts with this address becasue at teh time I belived that this was safe. When emails started disappearing (becasue my ### stole the acount information and some idiot kept resettting the password for ###) I moved most things to another service, however these two accounts are permanently associated with this address unless I can countersign an email from them.
You
I understand that there is no established method for remeding this currently and I will pursue another avenue for resolution.
Balaji
I'm really sorry and I apologize for the current situation.
You
Out of morbid curiousity; Does Bell currently have a mechanism by which email-addresses be moved from active accounts can ?
Balaji
Darren, I can understand your need for the email address, however email addresses cannot be transferred to different address.
You
thank you for your efforts.
Balaji
You are welcome.
Balaji
Is there anything else that I can do for you?
You
I will be reposting this chatlog, would you like to have your screen name redacted?
Balaji
Darren, I have provided the information to you based on the actual policies of Bell.
You
Then that is all. Thankyou again.


So eventhough they know it's me, they still have the account on record, and will never use that username/email for any other purpose they will not even sell me my email and are telling me to go away.

The address cannot be moved from any account to another. The original address cannot be removed from the first account. And the account cannot be reopened for a couple of weeks for any amount of money.

It would seem that Bell is only interested in customers who are in a rut and are unprepared for / have no idea why anybody else would be on the internet.

In a nutshell;
if your situation changes for better or worse and you find yourself sharing your line with another Bell subscriber, Bell is telling you that you both would have been better off using Hotmail from the start unless you have the money to pay for two broadband connections, since Bell nolonger sells 'only email' or 'dial-up' anymore.

I am defintely going to see if I can't get bell to fix this.

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