If you have a problem with your Bell Canada land line, you will have to walk through an IVR ‘conversation’ that asks you if it’s your phone, for the number of the phone you’ve a problem with (you’re probably not calling on it, eh?) and then it will ask you again if it’s a phone you have a problem with.

That’s small potatoes, but an annoyance, especially if you have to call back over and over.

In October my wife noticed that our ‘line 1’ seemed to be busy occasionally when nobody was using it. (light on 2-line phone on.) On Thursday October 29 it was on solid and that line could do nothing. So I called 1-866-310-BELL and was told there would be a service person coming the next day, Friday the 30th, between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m.

I have had a broken arm and am still doing physiotherapy. I had an appointment for 2:20 on that day. However my daughter (adult) said she’d watch in case the service person came before we could get back (expected about 3:30).

At 2:35 the Bell service person called me on my cell phone to say he was at the door and there was no answer. This is twenty-five minutes before he was expected; my daughter was downstairs in the shower and had to get dry and sort-of dressed to answer the door. I did not know this, of course, and told him I’d call her on her cell phone.

My daughter did not answer her cell phone because she was answering the door. Nevertheless the service person simply left without waiting. (I assume that meant, an early start to his/her weekend.)

At 3:30 I was back home from physiotherapy, called Bell, and was told the line would be fixed by 5:00 that day (still Friday the 30th. Nothing happened. I was also told that the problem was ‘nearly always outside the house.’

On Saturday, October 31 I called Bell again and was told a service person would appear between 12:00 and 5:00 on Sunday, November 1.

Nobody showed up.

On November 2 through 9 I was out of the country.

On November 10 I called Bell and was told a service person would be there between 3:00 and 5:00 that day.

The problem, as my son and I figured out later, was a short in the line between the house and the pole out back.

The two lines in use both entered the house near the side door.

There was another entry at the back of the house, which had been used about 18 years ago when my son lived in the basement and had his own phone line(s).

The Bell service person insisted on connecting to the unused back-of-house entry. There is only one jack on this set of wires as it all got disconnected when my son moved out and cancelled his own phone lines. I do not understand why even one jack still was connected.

Net Net result of Bell assistance:

• Arrived early once and left without waiting
• Failed to show up twice
• Connected to wrong lines
• Short in line 1 from old house entry to back pole precluded getting any phones to work
• only one jack now working on line 1

Net result of my son’s time and effort:

• Shorted line removed from line one connection
• Acceptable connection from working line to others (one standard cord)
• Everything works

Conclusion:

• I am not impressed
• The phones are all working, both lines
• If I find a reasonable alternative to Bell, I’m taking it. As we have cell phones now as well, we don’t need the ‘reliable’ land lines quite so much. Rogers, anyone?